With the news that Robert Kennedy’s grandson was contemplating a run for the House of Representatives, I began to wonder how the sprawling Kennedy clan goes about selecting their best candidates for public office.

Is there some kind of meeting of the elders at their Hyannisport compound? An intra-family “primary” campaign for the opportunity to run?

Then, after some sleuthing around the web, I stumbled upon this remarkable (and rare) video of the Massachusetts political dynasty’s “Olympics”-styled selection process:

See also: BREAKING: Gonzo Kennedy Will Run To Replace Patrick Kennedy

Doctor Zero has written another beautifully life-affirming piece.

You might have decided your fellow men are rotten to the core, and you’re weary of their company. Listen to the music of Mozart, or look upon the work of Michelangelo, and consider the argument of those who profoundly disagree. Maybe part of your problem is that you’ve been listening to the wrong music, or looking at the wrong pictures. Dark waters are easy to drown in. The judgment of the human race will not lack witnesses for the defense, and they will make their case to you, if you give them a chance.

See also:
Victory Against Despair

Here are some photos from today’s first anniversary St. Louis Tea Party event on the steps between the Gateway Arch and the banks of the Mississippi. (Click on the thumbnails to view the full photograph.)

UPDATE: Sharp Elbows and Reboot Congress have more photos and video.

What’s happening in the developed world today isn’t so very hard to understand: The 20th-century Bismarckian welfare state has run out of people to stick it to. In America, the feckless, insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany, and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, they’ve reached the next stage in social-democratic evolution: There are no kids or grandkids to screw over. The United States has a fertility rate of around 2.1 — or just over two kids per couple. Greece has a fertility rate of about 1.3: Ten grandparents have six kids have four grandkids — ie, the family tree is upside down. Demographers call 1.3 “lowest-low” fertility — the point from which no society has ever recovered. And, compared to Spain and Italy, Greece has the least worst fertility rate in Mediterranean Europe.

So you can’t borrow against the future because, in the most basic sense, you don’t have one. Greeks in the public sector retire at 58, which sounds great. But, when ten grandparents have four grandchildren, who pays for you to spend the last third of your adult life loafing around?

Maxine Waters vs. Ben Bernanke:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Maxine Waters vs: Timothy Geithner:

There are some topics that she has almost mastered:

More than political figures, the men tend to target celebrities. “There’s something uniquely aggravating about the smugness of liberal Hollywood,” Matt said. “You have to laugh at Alec Baldwin when he gets political. You have to. He is an amazing actor, he may even be a great guy, but that shit is funny. Sean Penn getting on TV on CNN and talking about politics, Sean Penn running around Katrina and Haiti that is funny. That’s all. That’s fucking funny. And we’re going to make fun of you, Sean Penn.”

“Giant douchebag with legs running around Haiti = funny,” Trey added.

Gore was seated in the first row, along with his six fellow board members, in Apple’s Town Hall auditorium as several stockholders took turns either bashing or praising his high-profile views on climate change.

At the first opportunity for audience participation just several minutes into the proceeding, a longtime and well-known Apple shareholder–some would say gadfly–who introduced himself as Sheldon, stood at the microphone and urged against Gore’s re-election to the board. Gore “has become a laughingstock. The glaciers have not melted,” Sheldon said, referring to Gore’s views on global warming. “If his advice he gives to Apple is as faulty as his views on the environment then he doesn’t need to be re-elected.”

Via JammieWearingFool.

That line is moving faster than mine. Segregation!

The whole “everything is racist” thing was beginning to lose some steam. Then, today, Senator Tom Harkin gave us all a wonderful gift– the evocation of segregation to decry the variable treatment of different health risks by insurance companies!

I didn’t have any idea how bad the problem was until I started thinking through a typical day…

• McDonald’s wouldn’t serve me an Egg McMuffin at 10:45 this morning because I arrived too late for their breakfast menu. Segregation!
• AT&T customer service made me wait longer than the people who had called in before me. Segregation!
• General Electric would not negotiate with me for the purchase of an aircraft engine, citing the fact that I don’t in any way intend to use it, nor am I wearing pants. Segregation!

One more thing. Don’t bother accusing me of trivializing segregation. Tom Harkin already did that much more effectively than our feckless snark ever could.