Let us begin by acknowledging that burning books isn’t a particularly Enlightened thing to do. Nor is it practically effective: Where centuries ago you might stand a chance of torching an entire print run, today your chances of removing the suspect document from existence are practically nil.

Any residual value a book-burning has today is totally symbolic: You’re making a statement. And what that statement amounts to is usually this: I am the kind of person who burns books.

Which we think adequately describes Terry Jones of Florida.

Terry Jones burned a book a few weeks ago. As it happens, that book was the Koran.

And by now, you probably know the rest of the story.

It can be argued that Terry Jones set off a chain of events that culminated in the murders of twenty-one innocent people (so far) in Afghanistan. It can be argued that Terry Jones is responsible for those murders. If Terry Jones hadn’t burned that book, those twenty-one people would still be alive.

The first and third of those statements are true.

But they don’t demonstrate the second.

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We’ve been saying for a quarter-century that Americans are Aggressively Ignorant: It’s not that they can’t handle the truth, they just don’t want to know it. Fox News exploits that information gap, not by being deliberately misleading — well, lying, to be honest about it — but by telling its audience what they want to hear. First rule of business: Find a need and fill it.

CNN, on the other hand, still styles itself “The Most Trusted Name in News”. Which makes this one of the most self-damning headlines they’ve ever run:

CNN Poll: Americans flunk budget IQ test

In particular, this item was getting some attention Friday:

According to our poll the public estimates that the government spent five percent of its budget last year on public television and radio.

Not even close. The real answer is about one-tenth of one percent.

Not even close! Stupid, stupid public! Where do you pick up such foolish ideas, anyway?

We don’t have Jon Stewart’s squad of interns to review every second of coverage the past few weeks since the O’Keefe video put NPR in the crosshairs, but let’s see what we can find at the CNN Transcripts site by searching all their news programs for NPR stories…

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Alan Hale, a Republican representative for The Great State of Montana, says that DUI laws are “destroying a way of life”. Alan Hale also happens to own the Silver Saddle Bar and Café in The Great Census-Designated Place of Basin. And we suspect that Alan Hale was enjoying a delicious glass of his own product when he wrote his campaign statement.

But never mind all that. As you can see from the video, Alan Hale rocks a bitchin’ beard and Gambler Tie. Alan Hale makes us proud, if just a wee bit frightened, to be American.

Bar-Owning GOP Montana State Representative Says Stricter DUI Laws Are ‘Destroying A Way Of Life’ [ThinkProgress]

Because today’s news out of Afghanistan is too fucking depressing for words, here’s a preview of Ikea’s newest piece of furniture…HUNDSTOL.

“The Comic Sans® typeface, one of Microsoft’s most popular designs, has received a makeover courtesy of Monotype Imaging. Today the company has introduced the four-font Comic Sans Pro family of typefaces.” [BusinessWire]

(Or you can just visit Google today and search for “Helvetica”.)

It’s not like we’re looking for this stuff, but once you become aware of it, it’s unavoidable:

A $600,000 frog sculpture that lights up, gurgles “sounds of nature” and carries a 10-foot fairy girl on its back could soon be greeting Defense Department employees who plan to start working at the $700 million Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. this fall. That is unless a new controversy over the price tag of the public art doesn’t torpedo the idea.

We understand that this could become debilitating over time, and we plan on entering a twelve-hop progr— no, no, no, no, no!

Pentagon Art: $600,000 Gurgling Toad Sculpture [US News]

We’re very late to this one — we caught the echo, not the original event — but if we didn’t formally document the existence of Penis Gummies, we would just feel bad about ourself.

Oh. Bubba and Talibunny. Right. Well, Penis Gummies are in the news because Katie and Suri sampled them at Serendipity 3, a swanky Manhattan joint that features a $25,000 edible-gold sundae. And, looking at its photo page, it seems the proprietor likes to pose with fashionable politicos.

So there.

No, you’re right, we’re not being totally honest with you. The photos are legit, but the real reason we’re bothering to include Bubba and Talibunny is that we’re too chickenshit to run a product shot of Penis Gummies all by themselves. We have to wake up to this site too, y’know.

Katie Holmes “Horrified” by Suri Penis Gummies Incident [Us]