Image from The New York Times

Another natural disaster leaves more than 100 dead and thousands of more without homes.

Someones gotta go! Supreme Court tells California to cut its prison population.

Last laugh: Comedienne turns anti-gay protest into fundraiser for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization.

Was it his first choice? Former-RNC Chairman gets a new job…at “liberal” news network.

And, Obama follows his roots back to… Ireland?

We know with Spring fast approaching,  few people have the patience to sit and read the news.  BUT CHECK THIS OUT… We have found some nuggets of pure comedy gold for your reading pleasure:

Here is what’z been up:

News flash! Senator (and former Presidential candidate and America’s great maverick) John McCain is no longer a maverick!

In a recent statement McCain told Newsweek that he “never considered [himself] a maverick.” Huh???

Let’s do a poll:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

No, this is not a late April Fools’ Day joke — he really is saying this. To be honest, we’re really not sure how to take it. Because, being a maverick has defined McCain’s 23 year career in the Senate. So what does this make him now?

Shown above, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart brutalizes McCain for his flip-flopping/apparent amnesia.

Or maybe it is our fault. Perhaps for years we have been labeling the Senator as a free spirit, and the conformist McCain has just been too polite to correct us until now.

There is also speculation that McCain is moving further right to compensate for a Tea-Partier primary opponent…

Family Day At the Gun Range:

In an attempt to soften their image, the Michigan Militia is hosting a family field day. Their slogan, which is “Show, shout, shoot, then sip some tea with us,” exemplifies the good old fashioned fun some families can have by shooting things.

The group is trying to negate the backlash created after the FBI arrested members of the Hutaree militia several weeks ago.

Mr. Chuckles:

Any wise-cracker knows a sharp tongue can get you into trouble. A Qatari diplomat found that out late Thursday night.

Apparently the diplomat, Mohammed al-Madadi, was smoking in the lavatory of an airplane (a practice which is frowned upon) and was asked to stop.

It was at that point that he made a smart (in this case dumb) remark that he was lighting his shoes on fire . . . to a US Marshal.

For a period of time last night the incident was reported as an actual shoe-bombing attempt, but has since been proven as a case of wise-ass-ness (or is it, wise-assed-ness?). Mohammed has full diplomatic immunity meaning he cannot be charged, and he gets to smoke and park (almost) wherever he wants.

Some Deep Reading:

Jennifer Senior wrote a piece for New York Magazine looking at the Senate. As regular readers know, we have done a bit of our own analysis.

Anyone interested in becoming more versed in political mumbo jumbo should seriously check it out.

Best For Last:

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a blogger’s best friend. He is like the chicken who lays golden eggs, and those eggs are great stories.

Well now all the gaffes, scandals, and tension that has been circling the RNC seems to be coming to a head and many are calling for Steele to resign or be fired.

Easier said than done!

There is a concern that if Steele is let go, he will cause more problems than his termination will solve.

If fired, Steele could go on a media campaign to discredit a lot of people in the party. So it seems the GOP is locked in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t style dilemma.

Steele is regarded as a loose cannon, and the problem is he will do damage no matter what happens.

More awesome Mardi Gras pictures at thedailybeast.com!

Who dat leading the Mardi Gras celebrations?!

Let’s talk… Just not in public… says Steele to the Tea Party guys.

Bye bye, Bayh! Oh come on, that was too easy.

Thanks to TPM

Scott Brown was sworn in yesterday as Massachusetts’s junior senator. He completes the GOP’s 41-59 majority.

Playing politics. As if they don’t already have enough nonsense to cover, posters find the Super Bowl to be partisan issue.

Harold Ford Jr. and RNC Chairman Michael Steele squared off last night in a debate for America’s future.

From Politico

We here at USDemocrazy know what it’s like to say stupid things. Fortunately for us, we can always rely on our elected representatives in Washington to outshine us in the “stupid” department.

This week’s foot-in-mouth champion is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.(Thanks for helping us out, Harry!)

Reid’s blatantly bad blooper comes from a book set to come out this week, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.

Here’s his quote, provided by the Atlantic,:

He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” as he said privately.

This isn’t even the first “oh darnit” moment Reid has had, but the GOP’s Michael Steele is taking advantage of the situation to call upon Reid to resign.

Steele was pretty adamant about his feelings on the situation, remarking on “Meet the Press”:

whether [Reid] steps down today — or I retire him in November, either way, he will not be the leader in 2011.

It should be noted that Reid did apologize to Obama, who promptly accepted, saying:

I accepted Harry’s apology without question because I’ve known him for years, I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice and I know what’s in his heart. [...] As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.

Though much of the other things in the book are quite scandalous (Clinton in-fighting, details of the Edwards’ relationship pitfalls, and, well, something not as news-worthy about Palin and McCain and stuff), Reid’s comments are the ones hitting the fan the hardest.  (Aside: to read more visit Politico [writing on "the freak show"] andNew York Magazine [which has a juicy excerpt!].

Other commentators are chiming in, like former Vice President Cheney’s daughter Liz Cheney, criticizing racist comments no matter in private or public:

How is Reid holding up? Well, he won’t be resigning any time soon. Instead, he and his staff are adamant about pointing out the GOP’s attack. As his spokesman Jim Manley put it,

Unlike others who advocate moving our nation backwards, and viewing this moment for political gain, he’s working, today, tomorrow and the next day to move our country forward.

Because Reid will face an election this year, many are wondering if Game Change could live up to its name. What do you think?

TMP Photo Galleries

We at USDemocrazy are used to poor leadership. The more our editors want to talk, the more we want to walk (more often run) in the opposite direction.

The Republican Party is suffering from a similar problem. Only on a much larger scale.

The problem is Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman, Michael Steele.

He has a history of scatter-brained TV outtakes (he once referred to himself as a cow on the tracks blocking the health-care train). Some call it distracting, others call it stupid, either way many Republicans have had enough.

Yesterday, a conversation between RNC and Congressional aides, became heated when one aide called Steele a “fool” while a colleague suggested to the RNC “You really need to have him be quiet.”

But it appears Chairman Steele has no intention of keeping quiet. Quite the opposite… yesterday on ABC News Radio, he barked back, telling other Republicans to shut up:

“I’m telling them and I’m looking them in the eye and say I’ve had enough of it. If you don’t want me in the job, fire me. But until then, shut up. Get with the program or get out of the way.”

At this point it’s unclear whether this verbal jousting is just office politics or the start of an uncivil war. (The later would no doubt be more fun to watch).

Steele has trying to exert his control of the party for some time now. For example, setting up a purity test for candidates.

Interestingly, Steele has been courting the anti-Obama “tea party” protesters, telling them to come on home to the GOP.

It is apparent that the Steele is trying to create some kind of movement. The question is whether his movement will be in the direction of the exit door.

I’ve search your person, you pockets, and your luggage. Now may I have your D.O.B. to make sure you’re not lethal?

Hey Google! Thanks for saving our butts! Love, Twitter.

“Russian Vodka Consumption Shocks Even Russians.” We believe that is enough said.

WHY DID YOU STOP PANICKING?!?! Swine flu is not gone!!!!

Shocking! Apple announces an electrifying feature of its iPods and iPhones.

Michael Steele: Back and With a Vengeance. Summer blockbuster or real life?

So, Guantanamo, what’s new with you these days? No one is sure…

We here at USDemocrazy ponder politics quite a lot. (That’s why we get paid the big bucks — wait… we haven’t been paid in a while… Gotta go talk to someone about that.)

You know who DOES get paid? Senators… and right now things are really paying off for Democratic Senators.

Yesterday it was announced Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator Arlen Specter… is SWITCHING OVER TO THE DEMOCRATS!

That’s gotta make some people (namely, Republicans) unhappy, right? You betcha. (Michael Steele said Specter basically “flipped the bird” to Republican leadership…)

The best explanation for this monumental switch can be heard straight from the horse’s mouth (or do we call him a donkey now?), which you can see in the video above.

Now… this switcheroo is kind of a big deal.

Specter’s addition to the Democrats in the Senate would give them a filibuster-proof majority (it takes 60 votes… they currently have 59).  This will allow the Democrats to straitjacket any Republican opposition and  bulldoze through their (and President Obama’s) agenda.

This a body blow to an already reeling Republican opposition.

There’s so much news on this subject right now that we’re going to let those people who are WAY smarter than us do the talking. I mean, those journalists get paid too… So they better be doing a good job.

Here goes:

Salon explores “The Specter of a shrinking GOP”

The NYT gives us the deets (that’s hip-talk for details, we’ve been told).

Was this just a career-saving move? Some say yes.

The floor is now open for debate on what will be Specter’s contribution to the Dems.

Can he alter Obama’s financial agenda? Really?

What does this supermajority truly mean?

How’s the GOP taking this? Maybe better than we thought? (But maybe not.)

He was against party-switching before he was for it.

Finally, what does our good ol’ Vice Prez think? As a Democrat, he’s pretty happy. Here’s what he had to say:

I welcome my old friend to the Democratic Party. Senator Arlen Specter is a man of remarkable courage and integrity. I know he will remain a powerful and independent voice for Pennsylvania and the country.

Do you think party-switching should be allowed? How do you feel about Specter’s choice? We know we’re still caught up in the whirl of news stories, so we’d appreciate some opinions…

Some people just don’t want to give up their jobs. We can hardly believe it!

iTunes takes a hike. And some people are none too pleased!

Sarah Palin makes for a hot ticket! John McCain said so himself.

Don’t worry, Steele’s got a strategy. Something about yelling?