Our Endorsements: David Letterman Gets a Medal

http://youtu.be/UTPMsCJ4htE

* Cutting up with Letterman at the Kennedy Center Honors.

* Wow. They did nail it.

* Being Lieberman, from Buzzfeed.

* Wikipedia has become self-aware.

* Give your child the gift of Republican science.

* The Bugle podcast is great for fans of comedy and politics.

* Les Fiscal Miserables is worth the price of admission.

* What does your work happiness look like in chart form?

* Employees must wash hands after going to bar last night, from The Onion.

Tags: Daily Links, John Oliver, Paul Ryan, Republicans, Science & Technology, The Onion, Wikipedia

Our Endorsements: Dissecting His Obamaisms

* On Letterman, Fred Armisen discusses his Obama impersonation.

* Mitt Romney stands for things and stuff.

* You asked for it, Westboro Baptist Church.

* In his second term, Obamacare is going to be referred to as Obamadoesntcare.

* Some hilarious instances where members of congress corrected their Wikipages.

* You've been indoctrinated by these movies and you didn't even know it, from Cracked.

Tags: Barack Obama, Daily Links, David Letterman, Health Care, Hollywood, House of Representatives, Senate, SNL, Wikipedia

Gingrich Staffer Publishes Alternate History on Wikipedia

Newt Gingrich is well-known for his novels of historical fiction, but even a professional historian of his caliber needs help to craft the ultimate in alternate universes: one in which Newt Gingrich isn't just a thrice-married adult baby with serious ethics issues, who delivers lectures on the meaning of America from his favorite table at L'Auberge Chez Francois and expounds on fiscal discipline while maintaing a $500,000 credit line at Tiffany's.

Luckily, Gingrich has in his employ Joe DeSantis, who apparently spends all his time as the campaign's communications director making minor edits to Wikipedia and arguing on the site's Talk page…

Wikipedia records show DeSantis has made over 60 adjustments to entries in the online, publicly-edited encyclopedia to the biographical entry on Gingrich, the similar page on his wife, Callista, and a separate page on one of their books, Rediscovering Good in America.

DeSantis has actively lobbied for changes to the articles since mid-December in a discussion forum called "Talk" on the site, and previously from May to June of last year, though his most recent direct edit to the site was in June of 2011.

Because nothing says "communication strategy" like "I'm sorry we haven't put out that press release yet…someone is WRONG on the Internet!"

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: History, Newt Gingrich, Primaries, Republicans, Wikipedia

The Daily Show on the Online SOPA Protests

I'm so torn on this SOPA thing. I don't know who to trust. The thousands of technophiles who make their living on the Internet and have created an information pipeline unlike anything that has ever been seen on this planet prior to a few years ago? Or the middle aged men and women who publicly ridicule science and innovation so that superstitious grandparents will continue to pull a lever for them every few years. There's so much to say for both sides!

Coverage continues with Senior Newest Correspondent Jessica Williams…

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11/10c.

Tags: Google, House of Representatives, Internet, Jessica Williams, Jon Stewart, Nerdiness, Science & Technology, Senate, SOPA, The Daily Show, Video, Wikipedia

SOPA Supporters Retreat in the Face of Funny Cat Picture Blackout

There's much that separates the life of a typical voter from that of a successful politician.

The median net worth of a Congressperson is $913,000, compared to $100,000 for the rest of American households; the days of presidential candidates are punctuated by charter flights, high-stakes meetings with donors, and conspicuous consumption of deep-fried food products (okay, in some ways we are still One America).

But today, thanks to online protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act and its Senate counterpart, PROTECT IP, which will have Wikipedia going dark for 24-hours, all Americans can feel a little like their leaders — unbridled from the harsh chains of "facts" and "reality…"

Around the country, Americans will wake up without some of the oddball essentials of online life. No Wikipedia. No Reddit, a compendium of links to stories and funny pictures that draws millions a day. And no icanhazcheeseburger.com, which is the world's best-known collection of funny cat pictures. In Washington, however, the day will have another significance. It will culminate a surprising lobbying effort in which technology companies such as Twitter, Wikipedia and Google have used their massive reach into Americans' daily lives as a political weapon, to whip up support from online users.

Woah, there! It's one thing for Wikipedia's blackout to turn us all into Rick Perry for the day, but taking away adorable kittens is political hardball. Supporters of an open Internet, Pat Leahy iz in ur Senate, somewhat mollifying ur concerns…

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is scrambling to rewrite his bill to soften the blowback from the high-tech sector — and from senators worried about the political implications of jamming an industry that has the capacity to communicate across the planet in fractions of a second.

Copyright-holders still exert a lot of influence in Congress, it's just that LOL Cats and those who love them may have more.

Photo by Lester Lefkowitz/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images

Tags: House of Representatives, Internet, Patrick Leahy, Senate, Wikipedia