“The same people driving the lawsuits that seek to dismantle the Obama administration’s health care overhaul have set their sights on an even bigger target: a constitutional amendment that would allow a vote of the states to overturn any act of Congress.” [NYT]

It was a year without sex scandals.

Well, good ones. We’re sure that, if pressed, we could come up with something. But nothing with a marketable catchphrase like “Hiking the Appalachian Trail.”

And so, breaking with a long and storied tradition, the 2010 Stinque Awards for Achievement in Infamy will be the first without honoring the Best Spill of Precious Bodily Fluids in an Inadvertently Public Role. But not to worry — we’re sure that with so many new Republicans taking office in a few weeks, pestorking nominations for the 2011 Stinque Awards will be delightfully oversubscribed.

Until then, your immediate attention is required to the following categories:

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Title: “Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People”

Author: Amy Sedaris

Rank: 32

Blurb: “Did you know that inside your featureless well-worn husk is a creative you?”

Review: “Not a craft book for the family. I love her sense of humor, and was very gung ho about getting it for my mom for chirstmas. BUT, it is kinda creepy at parts.”

Customers Also Bought: “Barbie Collector Mad Men Collection Betty Draper Doll,” by Mattel

Footnote: The Sedaris kids are tag-teaming the Amazon Top 100 this week.

Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]

I’m heartbroken [Spike Kinsey/Facebook, via karen marie]

We can’t even start writing this without telegraphing the punchline, so please, withhold your outbursts for the benefit of the children and slower members of the audience.

First the setup, as broadcast last week across the wingnutsphere:

Federal Reserve examiners came to the Perkins [Oklahoma] bank last week to make sure banks are complying with a long list of regulations. The team from Kansas City deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say “Merry Christmas, God With Us,” were inappropriate. The Bible verse of the day on the Internet also had to be taken down.

Seems the bank had violated a federal regulation that forbids “the use of words, symbols, models and other forms of communication [that] express, imply or suggest a discriminatory preference or policy of exclusion.” At least, that’s how the Feds saw it.

But all’s well that ends well: After the bank alerted James Inhofe and others to its plight, the Feds backed down, and the crucifixes went back up.

We actually don’t have a problem with Mammon Community Bank getting all pious on our heathen arse. We would just hope that, in the interest of comprehensive exegesis, their daily verse includes the line about overthrowing the tables of the money changers.

After Outcry, Feds Back Down; Banks Can Display Crosses [KOCO]

Captain Beefheart, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet, dies at 69 [Entertainment Weekly]

“President Obama and his wife Michelle will not be invited to Prince William’s wedding next year. Because Prince William is not yet heir to the throne, his wedding to Kate Middleton is not classed as a ‘state occasion’ — and the couple feel under no pressure to fill the 2,000-strong guest list with heads of state, the Mail understands.” [Daily Mail]