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]

A few capitulations ago — honestly, we’ve lost track — the question on the table was whether Obamacare, with three legs lopped off, still had a leg to stand on: Whether the final bill, awful as it was, was still better than the status quo.

Yes, we ultimately — and very unhappily — decided. Although we were likely to be among the uninsured folks screwed over by “reform”, we were convinced by arguments saying the bill would still help millions of Americans. We were willing to take one for the team, as long as the team could still put some points on the board.

The Grand Tax Compromise raises a similar question — although this time, we’ll personally benefit if the appeasement succeeds.

Problem is, many others won’t. Many, many others.

Read more »

Friday’s Nice Liberal Thought for the Day, from Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly:

President Obama established the Democratic baseline on tax policy quite a while ago — permanent cuts for those making less than $250,000; Clinton-era top rates for the wealthy — and he’s stuck to it for nearly two years, including through the election season. The president appears poised to yield to GOP demands now, which is unfortunate, but is largely a reflection of what transpired on Capitol Hill, where Dems chose to stray from the baseline Obama had already set.

Well, that’s certainly a perfectly reasonable explanation.

So, how’s this for a perfectly reasonable response:

We don’t care.

That is to say, we hold Democrats collectively responsible for the most colossal squandered opportunity of our adult life.

Read more »

Cookie Monster announced this week that he would like to host SNL.

Which is a, um, monster inside joke, because the Muppets were on SNL from the very first episode.

Read more »

If you’ve ever ventured beyond the dank and musty walls of your university’s medieval manuscripts collection and interacted socially with at least three other people who can’t read Latin, then you probably know a “car guy“. And if you ask this car guy what he’ll be doing tonight at 10:00, chances are he’ll reply with something along the lines of: “Not sure… can’t make my mind up as to whether I should take a chance on the new Top Gear America or spend the evening playing Gran Turismo instead” (other possible answers include: watching Bullit for the 60th time, laying fiberglass, or doing donuts in the mall parking lot). Read more »

“I was at a dinner last night where everyone in the room had to name a few policies that they thought would increase economic growth in the coming decades.”
—Ezra Klein, age 26, Washington Post

• “I’m sorry, is the riotous orgy next door?”
• “Pardon me! I’m usually able to hold it until I reach the curb.”
• “Your mother’s in here. Would you like to leave a message? I’ll see that she gets it.”

Read more »

Huffington Post, Friday morning:

George Bush Book ‘Decision Points’ Lifted From Advisers’ Books

Keith Olbermann, via Twitter, Friday afternoon:

Oops. Bush lifted others’ passages for “Decision Points” http://huff.to/9BG8Gn Dramatic readings substitute for Thurber tonight on Countdown

Read more »