A couple of art students have an amusing idea. Great picture.

I don't dislike Bill Frist as much as some people (though I certainly thought his Schiavo conduct was scummy), and I'm far from an insider-trading-hawk (or whatever people who get worked up about financial improprieties might be called), but this HCA stuff is fishy. And any time the editorial boards of the Washington Post and the New York Times call for an SEC investigation on the same day, it's at least worth a further look.

Actress Sara Rue takes a stab at making Red America hate Hollywood liberals even more than they do now:

"In my mind I'm pretending that Geena Davis is actually running the country because it makes me feel a lot more secure."

Warren Beatty goes on the offensive. At some point, you just have to start feeling bad for Californians, don't you?

"Who Am I?"

Multiple-choice, matching Members of Congress to their headshots. Tough, but fun (and it'll probably be even more fun once all the Hotline traffic dies down and their server recovers).

Rick Santorum discusses the Bush administration's poor political strategy:

"You've just defeated your opponent, and, you know, you take a 3-iron to the beehive," Santorum said. "You go out there and whack the beehive, and you wonder why all these bees are buzzing around your head. And not only do you whack the beehive, but then you don't do anything [more] for two months."

Added Santorum: "I'm crazy!"

Ruth "Bader/There's Not a Chance in Hell That George Bush Would Listen To Me" Ginsburg offers the White House her assistance:

"I have a list of highly qualified women, but the president has not consulted me," Ginsburg said during a brief interview Wednesday night.

It's almost shocking that the White House Counsel's office isn't knocking down her door.

What kind of people are terrorists, Mr. President?

"They're the kind of people that look at Katrina and wish they had caused it."

Ah. Right.

"Oh, it's already been broughten!"

Dan Froomkin makes an amusing point about the David Safavian arrest:

And for a White House so desperate to build public confidence in its ability to respond to the Gulf Coast disaster, it doesn't exactly help that the man who up until Friday was overseeing contracting policy for the multi-billion dollar relief effort has now been charged with lying and obstructing a criminal investigation.

Kerry's speechwriter goes berserk:

Using the nickname Bush used for [Michael] Brown, Kerry said, "Brownie is to Katrina what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq, what George Tenet is to slam-dunk intelligence, what Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad, what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy, what Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning, what Tom DeLay is to ethics and what George Bush is to 'Mission Accomplished' and 'Wanted Dead or Alive."

Nicholas Kristof sums up Pervez Musharraf in two words: "He's nuts."

A former MacArthur fellow writes about the experience of being a "genius." Amusing.

"Crazy People: No Longer Just in Idaho!"

A message King County elections workers found scrawled on a yellow Post-it note and mailed with an absentee ballot left little doubt about what was at stake in Tuesday's otherwise ho-hum primary election[:] "Please count my vote this time you Marxist morons. Have a nice day."

Effective, concise, to-the-point; you can't fault the man's rhetoric, and you have to admire his fortitude. Sticking around to vote even after he becomes convinced that the Marxist morons in charge aren't counting his ballots? That's patriotism.

This entire story (headlined "Storms wrought by Japan's mafia?") is funny because it seems like it's fake, but is actually real.

Great joke from Leno last night:

[Rita] is like the ninth hurricane this season... You know, maybe this wasn't such a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance.

For interest's sake, Jon Stewart made almost the exact opposite (and equally-funny) joke a couple of weeks ago, after Bush announced the National Day of Prayer (which I will paraphrase, because I don't quite remember it):

National Day of Prayer? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Katrina was an act of... God. Maybe now's not the time for praise. Maybe now's the time for... shunning.

Barry Bonds disses Congress, giving Tom Davis's spokesman a chance to be funny:

Told of Bonds' comments, Dave Marin, a spokesman for House Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said: "Members of Congress, particularly Tom Davis, can walk and chew gum at the same time."

I like that he singled Tom Davis out. "Like, Tom Davis is so capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, man. You don't even know."

Protesters in Harrisburg indicate their displeasure with state legislators by installing a large inflatable pig on the steps of the Capitol. Really.

Today's Last Call! picks up a great quote from Redskins linebacker Marcus Washington, regarding last night's four-minute-flurry: "We're heroes, all of us."

Arr.