It's that time of year again…

Republican senators Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sam Brownback offered such a measure on Tuesday, saying it would be good to get fresh blood on Capitol Hill.

"Americans know real change in Washington will never happen until we end the era of permanent politicians," DeMint said.

Absolutely, and that's why Jim DeMint has been so supportive of the fresh-faced, inexperienced newbie from Chicago who ran for president last year after serving less than a full term in the Senate… oh, that's right, no he hasn't. Well, what does it matter? Sen. DeMint's first term expires in 2011, and I'm sure he'll do the honorable thing by refusing to run again.

Just to set a good example for others.

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Is it notable because he attempts to bring the hammer down on porn too? Is it newsworthy because attempts to assert a causal connection between heterosexual porn and homosexuality using some freshman philosophy class bullshit? Or maybe it's notable because he admits to having sex with children.

"It's been a while since I was associated with pre-adolescent boys."

Even so, it's like Edwin Edwards said: "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy. But even then, probably no one would care except the blogs."

The stink of RINO traitorism hung heavy in the air…

"Your judicial record strikes me as pretty much in the mainstream of judicial decision-making," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Added Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.: "You have, as a judge, been generally in the mainstream."

Oh really? Because that is the exact opposite of what scientific research says. When was the last time John Cornyn and Lindsey Grahamnesty set foot in mainstream America, anyway? Well, take heart, Mainstream-Americans. Someone's on your side…

From the outset, the National Rifle Association has respected the confirmation process and hoped for mainstream answers to bedrock questions. Unfortunately, Judge Sotomayor’s judicial record and testimony clearly demonstrate a hostile view of the Second Amendment and the fundamental right of self-defense guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

And so the NRA will not be voting for this terrible Constitution-hating judge.

Unless, of course, she proves her commitment to the Second Amendment by making good on her threat to shoot Tom Coburn.

That's what I gather, at least, from this strange, rambling explanation she gave to Sen. Tom Coburn earlier today about something or other…

"If the threat was in this room, 'I'm going to come get you,' and you go home and get — or I go home. I don't want to suggest I am, by the way. Please, I'm not — I don't want anybody to misunderstand what I'm trying to say.

"If I go home, get a gun, come back and shoot you, that may not be legal under New York law…"

No, it might not. But, then again, I'm not a lawyer, so there's always a chance that I'm misunderstanding when it is and when it is not legal to murder somebody in cold blood with a fire arm for making hypothetical threats of a vaguely violent nature during congressional hearings.

Though, I'm pretty sure she could make a case for beating him to death with a pair of nunchucks.

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.

Senator, please tell us, though. Will Justice Ginsburg at least be killed by the good kind of cancer that you get better from?

"Bad cancer. The kind that you don't get better from," he told a crowd of about 100 at the old State Theater.

The holy man then went on to predict that Barack Obama's stimulus package would drive the nation further into debt before asking his stunned congregation for some tithings…

"I'm not only asking for your support, but if you have a $25 check somewhere, or whatever, you can send it, I'll cash it," he told the group.

He then finished up his rites by placing a hex…

on National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn of Texas… for not using Senatorial committee funds to help him and conservative Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and David Vitter of Louisiana."

Well, now that there's video…

…it's clear to the sharp-eared among us that Coburn wasn't singing Elton John's 1972 classic "Rocket Man."

He was singing William Shatner's 1978 classic "Rocket Man" (and he's not the first to be inspired by it):

Man, it's a good thing I'm high as a kite right now…

Forget all those inaugural concerts. The most pressing musical issue in the nation's capital is whether a stone-face senator from Oklahoma will hit the high notes in "Rocket Man" to pay off a college football bet.

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is slated to serenade Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida with his very own rendition of Elton John's 1970s classic Wednesday afternoon.

Coburn owes Nelson because the Florida Gators defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 in last week's BCS title game. Nelson chose "Rocket Man" because he is a former astronaut who flew on the space shuttle Columbia in the 1980s.

If Oklahoma had won, Nelson would have had to sing the title song from the musical "Oklahoma!" It also happens to be the official state song.

If Plaxico Burress hadn't shot himself in the leg, you wouldn't have had to know about that.