Sometimes things are just so unbelievably wrong that they need very little by way of introduction. With that, the extremely disturbing styling of Ted Pillman. Also known as the worst advertisement for Snickers candy bars… EVAH. (Warning: there is no nudity or language to make this NSFW, but it’s still really disgusting.)

(Note: Details of the following program will be discussed on today’s edition of Mid Stream Radio at 10 am Eastern time.) My fellow Americans, Much time and energy has been spent debating both the need and nature of massive health care reform in our great nation. Unfortunately, while this is very admirable, it doesn’t go nearly far enough. That’s why I’m here today to unveil our new PonyCare program. It is well known that all children love ponies. But for too long now, here...

Thursdays have turned out to be problematic of late for our weekly radio show, so if you would care to tune in and/or comment on Iran and a few other issues, Mid Stream Radio will air tomorrow at 10 am Eastern time. In the first half hour, we will welcome Ed Morrissey of Hot Air for a brief but civil debate on the situation in Iran and President Obama’s response to it. Your comments in chat or live calls will be welcome. We can’t take up the entire hour on it, however, since other pressing...

Yesterday quite a few of our regular TMV readers engaged in a lengthy, spirited debate on the subject of the unrest in Iran in the comments section of my column on this topic. It was a topic which our friend Ed Morrissey of Hot Air and I were debating and certainly an important one. In that column, I posed three questions for our readers. Two of them were, who won the election and who will we have to deal with in the future? The answers to those are still unknown. The other question I asked was,...

We’ve lost another of the classic names of the small screen. NBC News is reporting that legendary Tonight Show sidekick and promoter of everything, Ed McMahon has passed away. He had been battling a number of different medical problems for some time. The era of the Tonight Show when he partnered with Johnny Carson was a part of the fabric of life for so many Americans. A long road and a job well done. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends today.

With a hat tip to Ed at Hot Air, we find out that U.S. forces in Afghanistan will soon stop attacking Taliban elements in urban and suburban areas where civilian casualties are more likely. KABUL — The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the battles do not kill civilians, a U.S. official said Monday. The order would be one of the strongest measures taken by a U.S. commander to protect Afghan...

I don’t link to ThinkProgress all that often, but here is one story that’s unfortunately worth a look. It centers on MSNBC regular Pat Buchanan. Please go read the article, but it features Pat hosting an event where they would discuss the best way for Republicans to regain their majority status. One avenue under discussion was to fight for English only initiatives. (For the record, I favor some of these in appropriate areas, while I firmly believe that local interests should be able to...

Up until now I’ve remained largely silent on the recent goings on in Iran, partly because I, sitting in my living room watching the news on CNN and Fox, am hardly any sort of expert on that nation. (Unlike so many other self-styled pundits across the sphere, sitting in their living rooms watching this on CNN and Fox, who apparently are experts on Iran.) Iran is one of those places where we have pitifully small intelligence resources and it’s sometimes hard to know exactly what’s...

Miracles and wonders, my friends. Miracles and wonders indeed. Among the various campaign promises made by Barack Obama during the roughly two decade long 2008 presidential race, one of the first to get chucked under the bus after he took office was his promise to post all bills online for five days before signing them. This, supposedly, would give the public time to read them and comment. It was a nice idea, but I don’t know that’s it’s even been done once since he took office....

With no malice intended, I feel a need to comment on a recent piece here by Kathy Kattenburg regarding George Will’s recent comments on the situation in Iran and President Obama’s response to them. You can take what you will from the discussion and form your own opinions on the Iran situation, but what caught my attention was Kathy’s characterization of Mr. Will’s remarks as being from the “credit where credit is due” department. Every time I hear this from a liberal,...

Ok. The headline isn’t true. But it may as well be. NIH Funds $423,500 Study of Why Men Don’t Like to Use Condoms The federal government is spending $423,500 to find out why men don’t like to wear condoms, a project government watchdogs say is a nearly-half-a-million-dollar waste of taxpayer money. Researchers at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, are investigating why “young, heterosexual adult men” have...

I come before you today not to praise the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but to condemn him. I say this to you as one who defended the nomination of John Roberts by George W. Bush. While I fretted over the potential fallout, I maintained then, as I do now, that the president had the right to select his own nominee and that Roberts’ qualifications far exceeded the minimum bar, even as he brought gravitas and powerful writing skills to the bench. This week, however,...

Steve Benen has a great report and analysis on how substantive health care reform is swirling near the bottom of the bowl today. He helpfully reminds us of the old axiom about the making of sausage and why you don’t want to watch it. This process is no different. Taking that as a starting point, I don’t think it’s all that difficult for us to draw a few conclusions about the main stumbling blocks which are driving this thing off the rails. 1. It’s all about the Benjamins....

The recent incidents of domestic terror and violence have left me pondering what role, if any, the blogs, the cable bomb throwers and the media in general play in such things. Does hate speech on the air translate into hate action in the field, at least for some? Or are we talking about sick, deranged people who would have killed somebody anyway and just latched on to political dogma as a convenient mechanism? This is the subject of my column this week at Pajamas Media, Revenge of the Little People....

This breaking news story of hope and change comes to you directly from the Washington Post. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that worrying about the U.S. government’s finances “keeps me awake at night” and the country needed to start planning now to tackle soaring deficits. Man. I wish we’d had a president like you a couple of months ago. Oh… wait…

Back in 2003 when I was still a card carrying member of the Republican Party, I swear that I felt like the only person in the GOP who opposed the Iraq war. But I kept right on protesting and speaking out against it, and finally my efforts have paid off. I see that today the entire House Republican membership is going to vote against further funding for the war. It’s good to know that I wield such influence, even if it’s a bit late in coming. But there’s more work to be done, citizens!...

The short answer: “No” The somewhat longer answer: “Well, at least not yet.” It’s true that our citizens are not dropping dead in the streets of disease and starvation. Nor have Skynet’s robots begun ravaging the landscape. Much to the consternation of many Republicans, President Obama has stubbornly refused to declare America a Muslim Nation and set fire to the Constitution on the East lawn. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned, though. This...

Yes, my friends, good news comes in many forms. This weekend, it’s a reminder that you can still redirect your hard earned dollars away from workaday concerns like bills, vacation or retirement and into the coffers of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Just head on over to the Alaska Fund Trust (AFT) and let the love flow! And what, you may ask, will this money be going for? Her reelection as governor? A 2012 run at the White House? No, I’m sorry… nothing quite so pedestrian as that....

A scene from somewhere in my imaginary world: “Good news!” said Madge, my hypothetical business unit manager. “You’re getting a raise!” “Really? That’s great!” I hypothetically responded in the precise fashion that I always react when somebody tells me I’m getting some money. “Yep,” she answered. “An extra two thousand per year. Just sign these forms and we’ll get it all processed.” “Yes indeed!” I beamed,...

All through the endless election of ‘08, I was annoyed by the Republican habit of scritching, sniffing and scratching around Reverend Jeremiah Wright in their efforts to find a cudgel to wield against Barack Obama. The results at the ballot box were a testament to the lack of traction that line of attack bought for them, but I always disliked the argument on principle. It’s a sad fact that there are still divides which stretch between various identity groups in our country, be they along...

I thought it would never happen again. Hell’s Bells… I *PRAYED* it would never happen again. But the Obama administration has done what I thought was impossible. Some time ago I quit smoking cigarettes. It’s a terrible habit. It was shortening my life. It was driving away my friends. It smells bad. It’s just awful. But as of 3 pm this afternoon, I have news for you, President Obama. I’ll give up all of the money I was spending on green veggies, victory gardens, compact...

The media is lighting up like a pin ball machine on tilt (hat tip: Memeorandum) over the “coup” in the New York State Senate yesterday, but residents of the Empire State who follow the news are probably not very surprised. The chief characters involved in this passion play are well known, and some beat reporters from the Big Apple declared this to be a likely scenario before the last election, even naming the participants. The move to take the Democrats out of their newly minted senate...

After investing the better part of a quarter billion dollars into the effort, Will Ferrell’s new film, Land of the Lost, opened to sparsely populated theaters and sneering critics, netting less than twenty million over its first weekend. Everyone has a flop once in a while, but this makes about four in a row for the star of Anchorman which were either limp at the box office or flat out flops. Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly seems to agree. Anyone who’s honest with themselves...

Word on the street is that the President is pushing for healthcare reform in a big way, and draft legislation is being circulated. I don’t have much hope that this is going to be enacted in any sort of frugal, sensible fashion, but I agree that there is room for improvement in the system if it’s handled intelligently. Unfortunately, we may not be off to a smashing start, as Ed Morrissey notes at Hot Air. The title:Quality Affordable Health Care for All Americans. And the first thing past...

Hat tip to Max Boot. Here’s Harlan Ellison in a very memorable rant about why you should pay writers if you want them to write something for you.