From the Pork Barrel: Help Put Dick in the White House

* Show your support for a true American hero in 2012! (Or else!) [via Tosh.0]

* Wanna be Barack Obama's Chicago neighbor? (But, be warned, the price is literally unimaginable.)

* GOP aims to overthrow White House czars in glorious House revolution (hopefully by October).

* Now you can watch the president call Kanye West a jackass! God bless us, everyone!

Tags: Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, House of Representatives, Illinois, Kanye West, Pork Barrel, Republicans

David Brooks Sees Decline of America at VMAs (But Not in the Obvious Way That We All Do)

Does Kanye West's asshole-ish behavior at the VMAs signal the beginning of the end for America? The obvious answer to that question would seem to be, No, but patently stupid suggestions like that might be.

However, David Brooks — New York Times columnist and big Taylor Swift fan (apparently) — would disagree (for some reason)… 

I am heavily invested in Ms. Swift’s welfare and was grievously afflicted when Kanye West ruined her big moment the other night. My fear is this trauma will send Ms. Swift into the slough of despond and her next album will make Alanis Morissette seem like a trip to Disney World.

My secondary fear is that this moment will mark a turning point in World History, like the battle of Gettysburg, the defeat of the Spanish Armada or when Hot Lips became sympathetic on "M*A*S*H." I've really begun to get quite glum about the future of the republic.

In addition to the swiftboating of Swift, there is this fact: there is a broad consensus on what we need to do to solve many of our major problems, but no political way to get there… It all reminds me of a thesis that Mancur Olson came up with many years ago, which was nicely explained in Jonathan Rauch's book, "Demosclerosis." The thesis was that as nations age they develop entrenched relationships that close off certain avenues of change. This leads to the decline of nations.

Somebody needs to drive to David Brooks' house and make sure he's okay.

When he's not looking, you'd better pull all the knives out of the silverware drawer and hide them.

Tags: David Brooks, Kanye West, Music, New York Times

From the Pork Barrel: Said vs. Meant

* A useful guide for translating from Teabagger into English.

* So, it turns out there really were 2 million people at the 9/12 march. Give or take 1,930,000.

* Yo, Kanye. I'm really happy for you and I'ma let you finish, but TMZ has one of the best audio recordings of Barack Obama calling you a "jackass" of all time.

* Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) to health care protester: "I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg, it wouldn't be worth wasting the urine."

Tags: 9/12, Barack Obama, California, Health Care, House of Representatives, Kanye West, Pork Barrel, Racism, Tea Party, Town Hall

Kanye West Interrupts President Obama

Because, of course…

In his defense, Beyonce supposedly does have one of the best single-payer health care plans of all time.

Tags: Barack Obama, Health Care, Joe Wilson, Kanye West