Supreme Court Poll Shows Stupid Americans are Stupid

With all the recent talk about Obamacare and the role of the Supreme Court, it's useful to stop and remember just how little Americans know about the judicial body that will control their access to affordable health care.

According to this incredible Pew poll, the majority of Americans cannot even name the chief justice…

Who is the Chief Justice of the United States?

Don't know: 53%
John Roberts: 28%
Thurgood Marshall: 8%
John Paul Stevens: 6%
Harry Reid: 4%

It's pretty sad that 53% of the country can't identify the leader of one of our three branches of government. Even worse, it was a multiple-choice question. Even worse-er, a bunch of people thought the chief justice was Thurgood Marshall, who retired 20 years ago. I guess we should just be happy most respondents could tie their own shoes.

This poll really puts into perspective just how staggeringly uninformed Americans are when it comes to basic issues of government. Which, come to think of it, might explain the temporary popularity of Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Perry last fall.

Well, good thing we don't let all these people do anything important. Like, you know, pick the President of the United States. That would be a total disaster — Oh, right…

Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Group/Getty Images

Tags: Harry Reid, Health Care, John Paul Stevens, John Roberts, Judiciary, Laws, Polls, Supreme Court

Paul Ryan Unveils New Budget for Democrats to Attack

Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ayn Rand devotee and the answer to the question "whatever happened to Eddie Munster," released the GOP's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal.

Surprise! There are tax cuts for the wealthy and just enough money budgeted in discretionary spending to make sure the poor get a copy of the Constitution and Atlas Shrugged delivered to their tent cities…

The tax code would be simplified to just two tax rates, 10 percent and 25 percent, with the closure of tax credits and deductions. The 35 percent corporate income tax would be lowered to 25 percent and the existing, worldwide system of taxing corporate profits would be changed to a territorial system in which only domestic profits were subject to United States corporate taxation. But the budget assumes revenues would stay consistent with revenues under the current individual and corporate tax codes.

(Because magic. And the elimination of deductions and tax expenditures. But mostly magic.)

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Tags: Budget, Harry Reid, House of Representatives, Paul Ryan

From the Pork Barrel: El Gee Bee Tee

* After three years, Barack Obama suddenly remembers that gay people exist.

* Louis C.K. has agreed to perform at the the 68th Annual Radio & Television Congressional Correspondents Dinner in June. Just goes to show you: Give a guy a little bit of success and he starts fraternizing with a bunch of lowlifes.

* Kind of nice of Fox News to let all those candidates talk at their debates, huh?

* In debate with John Boehner and congressional Republicans, Harry Reid is holding out for a really dramatic moment to fold.

* Can anybody tell me exactly why Mitt Romney is collecting money from that guy who broke Batman's back? (One would think he wouldn't be so blatant with his ties to supervillains.)

Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Group/Getty Images

Tags: Barack Obama, Debates, Fox News, Harry Reid, House of Representatives, John Boehner, LGBT, Louis C.K., Mitt Romney, Money, Pork Barrel, Senate

Congress Ready to Stop Being Congress for Awhile

Rank-and-file lawmakers are ready to give up and quit for the holidays already. Why? Well…

Congressional leaders are sneering at each other across the aisle and from one end of the Capitol to the other, locked in yet another year-end death match over massive bills that have real-world implications for every American.

Blah, blah, blah, etc. and so forth. What's going on is Harry Reid, who's a professional lawmaker who earns money by going to Washington, D.C. to help make laws, is having problems with a number of other professional lawmakers – who are paid to do the very same thing! – over whether certain laws should be made.

What laws, you ask? Why, every kind of law. Can they agree on whether to cut unemployment benefits? No. Can they find common ground on a massive oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast? Nope. But surely they can see somewhat eye-to-eye on whether loopholes allowing wealthy Americans to avoid paying their taxes should be ended, right?

…Right?

I cannot stress enough that lawmaking is not a hobby for any of these people. It's the main thing they get paid to do.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Harry Reid, House of Representatives

Quote Unquote: Unicorn Job Creators

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the job creation class…

"Millionaire job creators are like unicorns. They are impossible to find and don't exist."

I beg to differ. As a matter of fact, I just saw a millionaire job creator and a unicorn just the other day. They were hanging out with a dead marijuana addict, an objective TV news reporter and a terror baby.

And they were all playing hacky-sack with Harry Reid's balls.

Tags: Harry Reid, Quote Unquote, Senate, Unemployment