Midday open thread

• Nate interviews wingnut. Hilarity ensues.
• Missouri results were supposed to be finished yesterday, yet the outstanding counties (St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Jackson still don't appear to have updated their results. Maybe today? This week? This year?
• Remember the documentary "Hoop Dreams"? The Trib follows up on the two subjects of the movie.

  One haunting line in that movie has always stuck with me:

  "People always say to me, 'when you get to the NBA, don't forget about me.' Well, I should've said back, 'if I don't make it to the NBA, don't you forget about me.'"

• NJ-Gov: The annual "give New Jersey Republicans hope" parade has begun.
• Newspapers are truly fracked. And I don't say that with any gusto.
• Conservatives are firing back against Kathleen Parker for claiming in her column this morning that the GOP's Christian-Right wing is too powerful and makes their party essentially unelectable. The argument is that the Christian Right is powerless in the GOP, and that its agenda gets short shrift. John Cole fires back, with a nice little list.

  1.) Justice (“Just Us”) Sunday
  2.) Schiavo legislation
  3.) Jesus is my philosopher.
  4.) Michael J. Fox must be mocked for wanting stem cell research.
  5.) The never-ending fake war on Christmas (Christmas keeps kicking ass, btw, and shows no sign of ending. Funny, that).
  6.) Federal Marriage Amendment and the never ending gay-bashing as wedge issue.
  7.) Evangelical support for torture.
  8.) The ceaseless idiocy about displays of the Ten Commandments.
  9.) Pharmacists for Life deciding that they get to choose whether or not you need your prescribed medicine.
  10.) School prayer arguments.
  11.) Demanding that intelligent design (aka creationism) be taught.
  12.) Meddling in the FDA.
  13.) Abstinence only as the only sex-ed.
  14.) The take-over at the Justice Department from the God Squad.

  I did that in a few minutes, and without needing to think too terribly hard about it. Feel free to add your own.

• Buchanan wants us to have a cabinet spot. I'm not one for tokenism. I'll be happy with Obama fulfilling his campaign promises.