“Evading questions… is a strategy most often utilized by people with something to hide, and will only further pique the media’s interest. Weiner either has something to hide, or he has no idea how the media operates.” [New York, via Political Wire]

ABC’s “The Note” describes itself as “Washington’s Original and Most Influential Tipsheet”. Let’s find out why!

Congress Mulls Cuts to Food Stamps Program Amid Record Number of Recipients

This, strictly speaking, is true. But half of Congress is controlled by Democrats, the other half by Republicans. Guess which half is Mulling Cuts?

Congress is under pressure to cut the rapidly rising costs of the federal government’s food stamps program at a time when a record number of Americans are relying on it.

Under pressure? By whom? Are a record number of Americans gathering at the Mall to demand that Our Glorious Nation starve them to death?

The House Appropriations Committee today will review the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill for the Department of Agriculture that includes $71 billion for the agency’s “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.” That’s $2 billion less than what President Obama requested but a 9 percent increase from 2011, which, critics say, is too large given the sizeable budget deficit.

Ah. The House Appropriations Committee. The one run by, y’know, Republicans.

But who are the critics? It’s a mystery!

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“Ted Haggard will make a cameo as himself in a Christian sex comedy promoting abstinence, with the tagline ‘abstinence never felt so good.’” [TPM]

Like most Americans, we would just prefer to ignore Sarah Palin at this point — unless she says something notably retarded, of course — but as someone more clever than us said over the weekend, she puts the Me in Memorial Day, and here we are.

So, first: About her unexpected debut as a Motorcycle Mama Grizzly. Organizers of the DC Rolling Thunder event said they had no fucking clue she was showing up. Someone in the Palin camp said they warned the publicist, or something. This reminded us of the frequent claims that Palin would be gracing one event or another, only to be scolded that her appearance was not confirmed, and how amateurish it was to say otherwise. Clearly the situation is different when you’re the glamorous gate-crasher.

Or, to draw the all-too-obvious conclusion: The Rules Don’t Apply to Sarah Palin.

Which is why, on the basis of an unannounced aimless bus trip, Palin Prez Chatter is back! She doesn’t have to organize a campaign like lamestream candidates — she’s Sarah Fucking Palin, and she’ll win by spontaneous combustion!

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My top 12 podcasts (in no particular order):

1. Marc Maron’s WTF?

2. Adam Carolla

3. The 40 Year Old Boy (comedian Mike Schmidt)

4. Car Talk

5. Nerdist

6. Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me! (the NPR news quiz)

7. Waking from the American Dream (Kelly Carlin)

8. Judge John Hodgman

9. Comedy Death Ray

10. TBTL (microcelebrity Luke Burbank)

11. Jet Kingdom (first NY Jets podcast ever)

12. The Professional Left

And so many more: Kevin Smith’s Smodcast, Never Not Funny, NPR’s On the Media, Savage Love, Studio 360, RadioLab …

So what podcasts do you listen to – what am I missing?

For a brief, shining moment, the following appeared on the PBS Newshour website Sunday night.

Tupac still alive in New Zealand

Prominent rapper Tupac has been found alive and well in a small resort in New Zealand, locals report. The small town — unnamed due to security risks — allegedly housed Tupac and Biggie Smalls (another rapper) for several years. One local, David File, recently passed away, leaving evidence and reports of Tupac’s visit in a diary, which he requested be shipped to his family in the United States.

“We were amazed to see what David left behind,” said one of sisters, Jasmine, aged 31. “We thought it best to let the world know as we feel this doesn’t deserve to be kept secret.”

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George Carlin pretty much predicts the GOP’s attempts to end Medicare: