“A politician in a New York suburb called police on two 13-year-old boys for selling cupcakes and other baked goods without a permit, according to a report Monday… New Castle Councilman Michael Wolfensohn called the police after discovering the sale was not for charity.” [MSNBC]

OMG, Islamoterrorists are invading Phoenix! Prepare for Crusade!

A new dome-like structure near 19th Avenue along Interstate 10 in Phoenix is the Light of the World church, a nondenominational Christian church hoping to modernize traditional worship services, a church spokesman said.

Since the distinctive dome shape went up, church leaders said they have received phone calls from concerned neighbors who’ve mistaken the building for an Islamic mosque.

Perfectly understandable. We often mistake concerned neighbors for fucking idiots.

Christian Congregation Builds Domed Church [KPHO, via ThinkProgress]

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Antonin Scalia would prefer that we trim a few branches from the Tree of Liberty:

Scalia called the writing of the Constitution “providential,” and the birth of political science.

“There’s very little that I would change,” he said. “I would change it back to what they wrote, in some respects. The 17th Amendment has changed things enormously.”

That amendment allowed for U.S. Senators to be elected by the people, rather than by individual state legislatures.

“We changed that in a burst of progressivism in 1913, and you can trace the decline of so-called states’ rights throughout the rest of the 20th century. So, don’t mess with the Constitution.”

Scalia joins Louie Gohmert and Glenn Beck in the quest to roll back the ravages of direct democracy, as well as Senator-Elect Doppelgangster. We’ll just note, again, that nobody really cared about this issue until The Sheriff Was Near.

Which, come to think of it, explains Scalia’s “states’ rights” reference.

Scalia, Breyer Spar Over Supreme Court Issues [Fox, via ThinkProgress]

“Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York asked federal agencies Sunday to investigate and ban reusable shopping bags with dangerous levels of lead following a Tampa Tribune investigation that found high levels in bags sold in the Bay area.” [Tampa Tribune]

The President’s Advisers are making a lot of noise about “getting” this election, never mind their repeated failure to get the last one:

The advisers are deeply concerned about winning back political independents, who supported Obama two years ago by an eight-point margin but backed Republicans for the House this year by 19 points. To do so, they think he must forge partnerships with Republicans on key issues and make noticeable progress on his oft-repeated campaign pledge to change the ways of Washington.

Ummm, right. You’ve already adopted the Republican healthcare plan, Republican financial reform, the Republican security state…

Oh, geez, that’s really impolite of us to start off Monday with a bummer. Any new kitty videos out there? No? Well, maybe this will be good enough for a laugh:

Read more »

Jalopnik asked me the question, so I thought I would ask my fellow Stinquers – what’s the most white trash car of all time?  One Jalopnik commenter beat me to my choice – the Chevy El Camino.  So what’s your choice, and what white trash car have your owned? Mine is probably the Olds 88 wagon I owned for about a year, complete with fake wood trim and a leaky aftermarket sunroof.

Title: “Decision Points”

Author: George W. Bush

Rank: 1

Blurb: “Shattering the conventions of political autobiography, George W. Bush offers a strikingly candid journey through the defining decisions of his life.”

Review: “But this book isn’t perfect. Glorious Leader Bush’s experiments with firecrackers and frogs — experiments that shaped His thoughts on justice — goes unreported.”

Customers Also Bought: “The Gift”, by Susan Boyle

Footnote: 1,090 of 1,364 people found Gen. JC Christian’s top-rated four-star review helpful. Including us.

Decision Points [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]