From The Daily Kos's priceless morning humor column Cheers and Jeers, authored by the inimitable Bill in Portland Maine:

Oh! More Things I Know:

...

It seems odd that members of the Republican netroots, who act like they're the badassest badasses on the planet, would get so excited about organizing little tea parties. (Pinkies up, girls!)

When I stage my tax revolt against the government it's gonna be a fuckin' whiskey rebellion!

Laughed my ass off, right here at the kitchen table!

North Korea has nukes. Iran is almost there. According to Sy Hersh in The New Yorker a few years back, Pakistan has aided North Korea in missile technology--right under the nose of George W. Bush, on his watch, as Bush laughably declared Pakistan our 'ally' in the 'war on terror'.

I think our elected officials use the threat of our enemies' possessing nuclear weapons much the same way that Republicans use abortion to rally the troops, to shake us down, to elicit an emotional reaction. A reaction of fear. A slide into the reptilian brain stem, in order to achieve one thing--agreement, solidarity, Us against Them.

That shit doesn't cut it with me. I'm so old, I remember when countries had nukes aimed at us. For all we know, they still do-both Russia and China, maybe Pakistan, too. We just don't know.

But the reason it doesn't cut it with me is simple: Mutually Assured Destruction, the same logic that brought mankind through the Cold War. Because of all those nukes (and yes, I protested against them in the streets, back in the early '80s), we never had a real war, and haven't had one since The Big One.

Stay with me. Sure, you say, but what if terrorists got ahold of nukes? What if suicide bombers decided to nuke New York? D.C.? Sodom and Gomorrah, otherwise known as L.A. and San Francisco? What keeps them from nuking us?

Believe it or not, the same principle. There is one spot on earth that even the craziest al Qaeda terrorists would not want to see retaliation against. You get one guess as to where that place is...

How do I know this works this way, and will continue to do so? It's worked pretty well so far...hasn't it?

So whenever I see a headline or a politician warning about Iran getting a nuke, my reaction is a mix of disgust, snorting in derision and/or "how stupid do you think I am?" Something like that.

Well...at least he missed watching it from the comfort of his own domicile.

All kidding aside, all points about Obama being a regular guy aside, I have to respect this. He could have arranged this trip so he was home sitting on the White House couch, drinking a microbrew, chewing pretzels and NOT passing out. We all know what George Would Have Done.

I know it's a small point, but I couldn't help but think of it as I heard each news report of where Obama was this weekend, with the NCAA Final Four bouncing around in that other part of my brain. Obama's picks were front page news. He's a huge basketball fan. Yet he chose to work through this annual event.

Nice. I'm not sure I'm quite used to a President who works, not just yet.

The US military budget will be used to bankrupt our nation. Either that, or it will be used to pay for weapons that will be used to rob whomever the trillions were borrowed from. This country's biggest problem is the Pentagon, and that's been the case ever since Eisenhower made the point almost fifty years ago.

Anyone who really thinks that Obama will take away Americans' guns is clearly insane.

Anyone who really thinks that Muslims could ever possibly 'destroy' this country, literally or figuratively, is clearly insane.

Anyone who really thinks our government's policies should reflect the last is clearly insane.

Anyone who really thinks Obama would install Sharia law in America is clearly insane.

Anyone who believes ten percent (a certain ten percent, granted) of what is flogged about on FOX News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter's columns and books, or Bill Kristol's rants is clearly insane.

Clearly. So: Either FOX News, et al, is addressing the clinically insane, or they don't mean 90% of what they say. Hmm.