Man, Sarah Palin is retarded. If her not knowing that there is no such "Department Of Law" at the White House isn't scary enough, her understanding that its job is to "look at some of the things we've been charged with and automatically throw them out" really ought to be enough to silence every Republican for the next 3.5 years.

However the repeated speculation that she is still going to make a run in 2012 leads me to believe that Republicans are willing to scorch the earth if it means they don't have to admit that they were wrong and Prius driving Democrats were right.

Quoted: As to whether another pursuit for national office, as when she joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the race for the White House less than a year ago, would result in the same political blood sport, Palin said there was a difference between the White House and what she had experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations.

Quoted: "I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," she said.

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So very very weird. Bobby Jindal, what are you doing about this?

Quoted: Hurricane Chris is honored and then performs on the floor of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

I don't know how I missed this announcement. I caught it this morning as a footnote to an article about former Michigan tight end Jay Remiersma's run for Congress (seeking the seat that will be vacated by Hoekstra).

I'm not sure if I'm on board just yet. Hoekstra was interesting to follow when he was a rising star from a neighboring Congressional district, but when it comes to opinions and platforms I think I might think he is a dick. I don't know that the Democratic candidate is anyone of note, but Hoekstra doesn't appear to be what I'd call a progressive Republican.

I can't decide if this proves that waterboarding is incredibly effective or completely ineffective. Or maybe these two guys are just badasses.

Drew, Liz, now that you're both lawyers can you explain why we still need court room sketch artists? And what do they make relative to stenographers, bailiffs and other court room professions?

Quoted: CIA interrogators used waterboarding at least 266 times on two top al Qaeda suspects, according to a Bush-era Justice Department memo released by the Obama administration. The controversial technique that simulates drowning -- and which President Obama calls torture -- was used at least 83 times in August 2002 on suspected al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, according to the memo. Interrogators also waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times in March 2003. Mohammed is believed to be the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

This was one conversation I wasn't prepared for this morning

Dad: Who is Karl Penn?
Me: What? I don't know
Dad: Apparently he is an actor.
Me (internally) :"Maybe he means Kal Penn, but why the hell would he know Kal Penn's name? Oh well"
Dad: Well whoever he is, he quit acting to work for Obama?
Me: *spit take* *pulls up Google*
Dad: "So what has he been in?"
Me: "ummmm... (thinking about Harold & Kumar)... nothing"

Quoted: New Jersey-born actor Kal Penn, who played a stoner Guantanamo Bay escapee in the movies and a doctor on TV's "House," has scored a job in the White House. Penn, 31, will become associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison, administration officials confirmed Tuesday.

The market for disgraced former mayors is red hot. Kilpatrick has asked for permission to fly to Texas for a job interview the day after he is released from jail. I'd love to know who is so desperate to have him that they couldn't give him a day or two to compose himself.

Quoted: Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may leave Michigan for five days after he is released from jail.

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Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you what is sure to create the greatest animated gif ever posted to internet political forums. Its too bad its going to get only another 30 days of use.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the security team's reaction. This was the quintessential slow-motion dive to take one for the President training exercise, and they were all apparently eating hot pockets in the break room on the right.

Quoted: President Bush gets a shoe tossed at him. Not once, but two times.

Remember the alleged Michelle Obama "whitey tapes"? Apparently that was all part of a clever 419 scam designed to lighten the wallets of desperate Republicans willing to believe anything. Its a little unclear how much was donated, collected or paid, but at one point the scammers were seeking $2 million.

Quoted: The scam mutated into an allegation that the LA Times had some kind of tape that would once and for all, destroy the Obama campaign, but that it was withholding the tape because of the aforementioned vast left-wing conspiracy to hand the country over to Obama.

What really annoys me is that the news going into the weekend was about how arrogant the auto execs were to ask for a bailout but then show up to the hearings in private planes. Yet Citigroup gets a red carpet escort through the whole process and nobody once mentions that their CEO has been pain $216 million since 2007.

Quoted: This is in addition to the $25 billion infusion already approved by the government through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).