HUFFPOST HILL - 'Hi, Senator! I'm President Barack Obama. You're As Immature As A 12-Year-Old Girl. Let's Make A Deal.'
By Eliot Nelson, Ryan Grim & Arthur Delaney
Rudy Giuliani is combating same-sex marriage, one alienated gay friend at a time. The AP is opening up a Pyongyang bureau, meaning the Stylebook will no longer be the organization's only Great Leader. The major news networks couldn't be more grateful for society's debased interests and God's unrelenting cruelty. And Heath Shuler burned through his congressional career faster than he used to burn through three downs on the football field. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, June 29th, 2011:
DEMOCRATS GOING AFTER MITCH MCCONNELL'S PORK - Tonight in Roll Call from Steven Dennis and (hey, look!) Meredith Shiner: "Senate Democrats are trying to hit Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) where it hurts -- at the racetrack. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) will go to the Senate floor Thursday to call for eliminating $126 million in tax breaks for the horseracing industry authored by McConnell in the 2008 farm bill. Democrats are dubbing it the 'Bluegrass boondoggle' and are spotlighting it as part of a broader offensive to pressure Republicans to agree to eliminate corporate tax breaks in a bipartisan debt deal."
PRESIDENT OBAMA CALLS FOR DEBT CEILING DEAL, COMPARES REPUBLICANS TO CHILDREN - At his first press conference since March, President Obama urged lawmakers to break the impasse over the debt ceiling and warned of dire economic consequences if an agreement is not reached. "If everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and do tough things in order to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction, then I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we're not willing to come to the table and get a deal done,' or, 'We're so concerned about protecting oil and gas subsidies for oil companies that are making money hand over fist, that's the reason we're not going to come to a deal,'" he said. Taking a page from -- well -- The Game, the president tried to cajole Republicans into doing things his way by playfully insulting them. "Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time," he said. "They're not pulling all nighters. They're 13 and 10. You know, Congress can do the same thing. If you know you've got to do something, just do it." [HuffPost's Debt Ceiling Liveblog And Moonbounce]
Boehner: "His administration has been burying our kids and grandkids [Editor's note: don't forget our grandparents -- death panels!!!] in new debt and offered no plan to rein in spending. Republicans have been leading and offering solutions to put the brakes on this spending binge. The President has been AWOL from that debate."
Democratic senators are now considering canceling their July 4th recess break to tackle the debt issue. A congressional aide confirmed to Erik Wasson that Harry Reid will huddle with with his colleagues to discuss whether to heed the president's advice/public condescension and redouble their efforts. "You know, they're -- they're in one week, they're out one week, and then they're -- they're saying, 'Obama's got to step in.' You need to be here. I've been here," the president said during the press conference. If the upper chamber DOES stay in session, that will leave them with roughly 592,823,512 vacations/district periods left this year. [The Hill]
The president also defended the U.S.'s involvement in NATO's Libya operation, a mission that has come under attack from Republicans (and a not insignificant number of Democrats) in Congress. "We've engaged in a limited operation to help a lot of people against one of the worst tyrants in the world," the President said. He added that the "fuss" made by lawmakers about it is nothing but political posturing. SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE. It's a limited operation! Try not to think of it as a war per se. Try to think of it as a series of love taps with cruise missiles. [MSNBC]
ACTUALLY, NEVERMIND: BANKS WIN SWIPE FEE FIGHT - The Federal Reserve finally delivered the punchline to the year-long joke that has been the lobbying blitz over debit card swipe fees. Amid heavy Wall Street pressure, the Fed nearly doubled the amount it will allow banks to charge retailers under a new regulation, and effectively exempted an entire class of debit card transactions from the rules altogether. Retailers reacted quickly with outrage. "The Federal Reserve very clearly did not follow through on the intent of the law," said Mallory Duncan, Chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents stores both large and small.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - After Gov. Scott Walker signed a budget bill on Sunday making unemployment benefits stingier for new layoff victims, more than 10,000 jobless Wisconsin workers are still waiting for state lawmakers to pass a bill restoring long-term benefits that expired in April. Walker supports the benefits, even though he said "further extension of benefits won't create a single job or encourage citizens to rejoin the workforce." So is anybody going to get their money back after Wisconsin's political leadership failed to prevent the entirely preventable loss of benefits? Nobody knows. PS to Scott Walker: Workers are generally required to remain in the workforce -- i.e. search for work -- as a condition of receiving benefits. [HuffPost]
Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF HEALTH CARE REFORM -Stewards of the Global Socialist Conspiracy A federal appeals court today approved the Marxist takeover of our Republic upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. In a two-to-one ruling, the three judge panel -- made up of one Democratic and two Republican appointees -- concurred with an earlier decision that Kenyan anti-colonial radical Barack Hussein Obama has every right to shepherd your grandmother into an early demise Congress can mandate that Americans sign up for insurance coverage. The case will likely reach the Supreme Court in the next year or so. [Cincinnati.com]
SCABTASTIC: OBAMA SIDES WITH MANAGEMENT IN BOEING DISPUTE - Back when President Obama was first elected, Jon Stewart joked that he was aiming not just to be elected president, but to have his face printed on U.S. currency. Now, it seems, the commander-in-chief is positioning himself to be the antagonist in Pete Seeger's next anthem. Asked during his press conference about the ongoing dispute between Boeing and the NLRB, the president responded in a manner that can best be described as "proletariat-wary." "We can't afford to have labor and management fighting all the time at a time when we're competing against Germany and China and other countries that want to sell goods all around the world," he said. Dave Jamieson: "In a complaint filed in April, the NLRB's acting general counsel said Boeing broke the law when it made plans to create a production line for its 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina, rather than in Washington state, where it had an existing workforce of unionized employees. The general counsel, Lafe Solomon, alleged that Boeing's move was illegal retaliation against the Washington workers for having gone on strike in the past." [HuffPost]
For the first time in ten years, the network news broadcasts saw their ratings increase. Thanks to (or as a regrettable consequence of) the killing of Osama bin Laden, the royal wedding and the Japanese tsunami, "Nightly News," "World News" and "Evening News" saw a 12, 9 and 8 percent bump in their ratings, respectively. Now if Brian Williams would retreat to his conspiracy lair/experiment dungeon and forge some kind of engaged royal Poseidon-like creature that hunts down terrorists in its free time, the Big Three will NEVER AGAIN have to worry about their 6:30 time slot. [NY Mag]
The Associated Press is opening a bureau in Pyongyang, making it the first western outlet to do so. The news organization reportedly reached an agreement with the Korea Central News Agency to expand access for AP photographers and reporters and to co-host a photographic exhibition in New York next year. We eagerly anticipate the first dispatches from this presumably North Korean-monitored bureau: "REPORT INDICATES EVERYTHING FINE" and "KOREANS APPLAUD VISIONARY 'LESS FOOD' INITIATIVE." [AP]
REP. HEATH SHULER MULLING RETIREMENT - Blue Dog Rep. Heath Shuler is reportedly considering ditching the Congress to become the University of Tennessee's next athletic director. Shuler, a former professional quarterback who leveraged his dubious leadership abilities into a super-shitty run for House minority leader earlier this year, is none too popular House-side. "Shuler is in play," Radio host Tony Basilio blogged. "Yes he did call [former Tennessee head football coaches] Phillip Fulmer and Johnny Majors to get their thoughts on this potential opportunity but he hasn't been offered the job. In fact, Tennessee hasn't 'offered' the job to anybody as of yet." Good luck with that, congressman. Watch the double coverage. [WaPo]
The DSCC is buying up Google advertisements stemming from search queries for "Michele Bachmann" and variations thereof, Kyle Trygstad reports. Web surfers who click the ad are sent to a DSCC website that encourages visitors to "Sign below and stand with the DSCC against eliminating Medicare, abolishing the EPA, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Tea Party." This strategy -- appearing right when Republicans are at their most crazy -- has basically defined Democratic politics for the last 40 years. [Roll Call]
A PPP survey indicates that Charlie Crist would trounce Florida Governor Rick Scott if Crist ran as a Democrat. The polling group finds that Crist would DESTROY Scott 56 percent to 34 percent. Also, 59 percent of voters now disapprove of how Scott is doing his job. So ... ouch.[PPP]
IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN WARS COST TO REACH $3.7 TRILLION - Elise Foley: "The United States will have spent a total of $3.7 trillion on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, costing 225,000 lives and creating 7.8 million refugees, by the time the conflicts end, according to a report released on Wednesday by Brown University. The report, written by more than 20 economists, political scientists, lawyers, anthropologists and humanitarian personnel for Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies, gives staggering estimates for the cost of military action in those three countries. Nearly ten years since U.S. troops first entered Afghanistan, the report estimates the final cost of all three conflicts will be between $3.7 trillion and $4.4 trillion -- far higher than the $1 trillion price tag referenced by President Barack Obama earlier this year. The report estimates the U.S. government has already spent between $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion and will spend at least a trillion more over the next fifty years." [HuffPost]
It's been an agonizing week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, out on the edge of the prairie: "At least 116 million U.S. adults experience long-lasting pain -- the kind that lingers for weeks to months -- and too often feel stigma rather than relief from a health care system poorly prepared to treat them, the Institute of Medicine said Wednesday." [AP]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Ladies and gentlemen: A puppy farts on a corgi's face ......... YOU'RE WELCOME.
Rudy Giuliani, whose spotty marital history is the stuff of legend, somehow found a way to spoil gay marriages, too. The New York Post reports that Rudy has broken a promise to wed the gay couple who housed him in 2001 during his contentious divorce (never forget). We don't usually go in for tabloid-y stuff, but this was too good. According to one of the men, the former mayor promised to marry them once it became legal for New York LGBT couples to do so. "He said, 'Howard, I don't ever do anything that's not legal. If it becomes legal in New York, you'll be one of the first ones I would marry,'" auto dealer Howard Koeppel told the Post. So Rudy can now add a hospitable gay couple to the list of New Yorkers who hate his guts. Members include 9-11 first responders, squeegee men, Ruth Messinger, HuffPost Hill circa 1999 and his own children. [New York Post]
JEREMY'S WEATHER REPORT - Bo-ring. Tonight: It will be fantastic, as we dip just below 70. With only a hint of clouds, you can go out and stargaze. Tomorrow: A lot like today, actually. We reach the high 80s, but a bit more humid. Still, it won't get to unbearably annoying humidity levels that we may otherwise see. Thanks, JB!
COMFORT FOOD
- "My Little Pony" but ... darker. [http://huff.to/mkzL68]
- For whatever reason a Cirque du Soleil performer (dressed in full tribal garb) threw out the first pitch at a baseball game. America is weird. [http://huff.to/kk9Tr6]
- Maybe the worst possible time for a reporter to be caught smoking. [http://huff.to/l8zYXr]
- Here's a poster for The Godfather made out of bacon cause ... y'know. [http://huff.to/j6D0Oy]
- Scared kitten refuses to jump off a couch. Mom cat is clearly peeved. [http://huff.to/m2zANG]
- There still exists quite the glass ceiling in the world of female professional eating. [http://huff.to/jW6KBV]
- Speaking of sexism in unexpected places, this skit underscores the disparity in male/female medieval armor. [http://huff.to/jlgdqW]
- Someone on Buzzfeed took the time to curate 99 pictures of bananas. That's all it is -- just bananas, but we felt compelled to honor the effort. [http://huff.to/j7OLKf]
TWITTERAMA
@zachdcarter: New Obama talking points on debt ceiling. RT @AndrewWK I'm not here to impress you, I'm here to party with you.
@SarahPalinUSA: @politico
@pwgavin: Now everyone at Sidwell knows whose homework to copy the night before.
ON TAP
TONIGHT
6:00 pm: Tom Harkin raises funds for his PAC, "To Organize A Majority," arguably the most political memoir title sounding PAC out there [Lounge 201, 201 Massachusettes Ave NE]
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm: We don't usually think of the W Hotel as a hotbed of Republican activity, but for at least one night it will be. Saxby Chambliss, John Cornyn and Richard Burr convene for an NRSC event [The W Hotel - DC, 515 15th Street NW].
6:30 pm: Pat Roberts' PAC is called "Preserving America's Traditions." If his group were true to its name, it'd fund fighter jet flyovers of sporting events and overly pasteurized dairy products. Unfortunately, it just funds campaigns. [Caucus Room, 401 9th Street NW].
TOMORROW
8:00 am: Nothing says a good time quite like a morning get together with representatives of the American Institute of CPAs. Just ask John Barrasso [1455 Penn Ave NW 10th Floor].
8:30 am: Mike Crapo attends a campaign event for his Freedom Fund PAC held at the office of tax lobbyists, the stewards of Republicans' chief enemy [Capitol Tax Partners, 101 Constitution Ave NW Suite 675 East].
8:30 am: Where's the beef? Why at Dean Heller's fundraiser, of course! ... Sorry for that joke. Anyway, the newly-minted senator shakes hands and pats backs with beef lobbyists [National Cattlemen's Beef Association PAC, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave NW Suite 300].
8:30 am: Dianne Feinstein's fundraiser is at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. What, you think Dianne would skimp and have it at Legal Seafood, or something? [The Source by Wolfgang Puck, 575 Pennsylvania Ave NW].
7:00 pm: Dean Heller is back with another fundraiser. Hey, House money can't win Senate elections, y'know? [National Republican Senatorial Committee, 425 2nd Street NE]
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
DEMOCRATS GOING AFTER MITCH MCCONNELL'S PORK - Tonight in Roll Call from Steven Dennis and (hey, look!) Meredith Shiner: "Senate Democrats are trying to hit Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) where it hurts -- at the racetrack. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) will go to the Senate floor Thursday to call for eliminating $126 million in tax breaks for the horseracing industry authored by McConnell in the 2008 farm bill. Democrats are dubbing it the 'Bluegrass boondoggle' and are spotlighting it as part of a broader offensive to pressure Republicans to agree to eliminate corporate tax breaks in a bipartisan debt deal."
PRESIDENT OBAMA CALLS FOR DEBT CEILING DEAL, COMPARES REPUBLICANS TO CHILDREN - At his first press conference since March, President Obama urged lawmakers to break the impasse over the debt ceiling and warned of dire economic consequences if an agreement is not reached. "If everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and do tough things in order to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction, then I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we're not willing to come to the table and get a deal done,' or, 'We're so concerned about protecting oil and gas subsidies for oil companies that are making money hand over fist, that's the reason we're not going to come to a deal,'" he said. Taking a page from -- well -- The Game, the president tried to cajole Republicans into doing things his way by playfully insulting them. "Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time," he said. "They're not pulling all nighters. They're 13 and 10. You know, Congress can do the same thing. If you know you've got to do something, just do it." [HuffPost's Debt Ceiling Liveblog And Moonbounce]
Boehner: "His administration has been burying our kids and grandkids [Editor's note: don't forget our grandparents -- death panels!!!] in new debt and offered no plan to rein in spending. Republicans have been leading and offering solutions to put the brakes on this spending binge. The President has been AWOL from that debate."
Democratic senators are now considering canceling their July 4th recess break to tackle the debt issue. A congressional aide confirmed to Erik Wasson that Harry Reid will huddle with with his colleagues to discuss whether to heed the president's advice/public condescension and redouble their efforts. "You know, they're -- they're in one week, they're out one week, and then they're -- they're saying, 'Obama's got to step in.' You need to be here. I've been here," the president said during the press conference. If the upper chamber DOES stay in session, that will leave them with roughly 592,823,512 vacations/district periods left this year. [The Hill]
The president also defended the U.S.'s involvement in NATO's Libya operation, a mission that has come under attack from Republicans (and a not insignificant number of Democrats) in Congress. "We've engaged in a limited operation to help a lot of people against one of the worst tyrants in the world," the President said. He added that the "fuss" made by lawmakers about it is nothing but political posturing. SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE. It's a limited operation! Try not to think of it as a war per se. Try to think of it as a series of love taps with cruise missiles. [MSNBC]
ACTUALLY, NEVERMIND: BANKS WIN SWIPE FEE FIGHT - The Federal Reserve finally delivered the punchline to the year-long joke that has been the lobbying blitz over debit card swipe fees. Amid heavy Wall Street pressure, the Fed nearly doubled the amount it will allow banks to charge retailers under a new regulation, and effectively exempted an entire class of debit card transactions from the rules altogether. Retailers reacted quickly with outrage. "The Federal Reserve very clearly did not follow through on the intent of the law," said Mallory Duncan, Chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents stores both large and small.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - After Gov. Scott Walker signed a budget bill on Sunday making unemployment benefits stingier for new layoff victims, more than 10,000 jobless Wisconsin workers are still waiting for state lawmakers to pass a bill restoring long-term benefits that expired in April. Walker supports the benefits, even though he said "further extension of benefits won't create a single job or encourage citizens to rejoin the workforce." So is anybody going to get their money back after Wisconsin's political leadership failed to prevent the entirely preventable loss of benefits? Nobody knows. PS to Scott Walker: Workers are generally required to remain in the workforce -- i.e. search for work -- as a condition of receiving benefits. [HuffPost]
Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF HEALTH CARE REFORM -
SCABTASTIC: OBAMA SIDES WITH MANAGEMENT IN BOEING DISPUTE - Back when President Obama was first elected, Jon Stewart joked that he was aiming not just to be elected president, but to have his face printed on U.S. currency. Now, it seems, the commander-in-chief is positioning himself to be the antagonist in Pete Seeger's next anthem. Asked during his press conference about the ongoing dispute between Boeing and the NLRB, the president responded in a manner that can best be described as "proletariat-wary." "We can't afford to have labor and management fighting all the time at a time when we're competing against Germany and China and other countries that want to sell goods all around the world," he said. Dave Jamieson: "In a complaint filed in April, the NLRB's acting general counsel said Boeing broke the law when it made plans to create a production line for its 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina, rather than in Washington state, where it had an existing workforce of unionized employees. The general counsel, Lafe Solomon, alleged that Boeing's move was illegal retaliation against the Washington workers for having gone on strike in the past." [HuffPost]
For the first time in ten years, the network news broadcasts saw their ratings increase. Thanks to (or as a regrettable consequence of) the killing of Osama bin Laden, the royal wedding and the Japanese tsunami, "Nightly News," "World News" and "Evening News" saw a 12, 9 and 8 percent bump in their ratings, respectively. Now if Brian Williams would retreat to his conspiracy lair/experiment dungeon and forge some kind of engaged royal Poseidon-like creature that hunts down terrorists in its free time, the Big Three will NEVER AGAIN have to worry about their 6:30 time slot. [NY Mag]
The Associated Press is opening a bureau in Pyongyang, making it the first western outlet to do so. The news organization reportedly reached an agreement with the Korea Central News Agency to expand access for AP photographers and reporters and to co-host a photographic exhibition in New York next year. We eagerly anticipate the first dispatches from this presumably North Korean-monitored bureau: "REPORT INDICATES EVERYTHING FINE" and "KOREANS APPLAUD VISIONARY 'LESS FOOD' INITIATIVE." [AP]
REP. HEATH SHULER MULLING RETIREMENT - Blue Dog Rep. Heath Shuler is reportedly considering ditching the Congress to become the University of Tennessee's next athletic director. Shuler, a former professional quarterback who leveraged his dubious leadership abilities into a super-shitty run for House minority leader earlier this year, is none too popular House-side. "Shuler is in play," Radio host Tony Basilio blogged. "Yes he did call [former Tennessee head football coaches] Phillip Fulmer and Johnny Majors to get their thoughts on this potential opportunity but he hasn't been offered the job. In fact, Tennessee hasn't 'offered' the job to anybody as of yet." Good luck with that, congressman. Watch the double coverage. [WaPo]
The DSCC is buying up Google advertisements stemming from search queries for "Michele Bachmann" and variations thereof, Kyle Trygstad reports. Web surfers who click the ad are sent to a DSCC website that encourages visitors to "Sign below and stand with the DSCC against eliminating Medicare, abolishing the EPA, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Tea Party." This strategy -- appearing right when Republicans are at their most crazy -- has basically defined Democratic politics for the last 40 years. [Roll Call]
A PPP survey indicates that Charlie Crist would trounce Florida Governor Rick Scott if Crist ran as a Democrat. The polling group finds that Crist would DESTROY Scott 56 percent to 34 percent. Also, 59 percent of voters now disapprove of how Scott is doing his job. So ... ouch.[PPP]
IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN WARS COST TO REACH $3.7 TRILLION - Elise Foley: "The United States will have spent a total of $3.7 trillion on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, costing 225,000 lives and creating 7.8 million refugees, by the time the conflicts end, according to a report released on Wednesday by Brown University. The report, written by more than 20 economists, political scientists, lawyers, anthropologists and humanitarian personnel for Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies, gives staggering estimates for the cost of military action in those three countries. Nearly ten years since U.S. troops first entered Afghanistan, the report estimates the final cost of all three conflicts will be between $3.7 trillion and $4.4 trillion -- far higher than the $1 trillion price tag referenced by President Barack Obama earlier this year. The report estimates the U.S. government has already spent between $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion and will spend at least a trillion more over the next fifty years." [HuffPost]
It's been an agonizing week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, out on the edge of the prairie: "At least 116 million U.S. adults experience long-lasting pain -- the kind that lingers for weeks to months -- and too often feel stigma rather than relief from a health care system poorly prepared to treat them, the Institute of Medicine said Wednesday." [AP]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Ladies and gentlemen: A puppy farts on a corgi's face ......... YOU'RE WELCOME.
Rudy Giuliani, whose spotty marital history is the stuff of legend, somehow found a way to spoil gay marriages, too. The New York Post reports that Rudy has broken a promise to wed the gay couple who housed him in 2001 during his contentious divorce (never forget). We don't usually go in for tabloid-y stuff, but this was too good. According to one of the men, the former mayor promised to marry them once it became legal for New York LGBT couples to do so. "He said, 'Howard, I don't ever do anything that's not legal. If it becomes legal in New York, you'll be one of the first ones I would marry,'" auto dealer Howard Koeppel told the Post. So Rudy can now add a hospitable gay couple to the list of New Yorkers who hate his guts. Members include 9-11 first responders, squeegee men, Ruth Messinger, HuffPost Hill circa 1999 and his own children. [New York Post]
JEREMY'S WEATHER REPORT - Bo-ring. Tonight: It will be fantastic, as we dip just below 70. With only a hint of clouds, you can go out and stargaze. Tomorrow: A lot like today, actually. We reach the high 80s, but a bit more humid. Still, it won't get to unbearably annoying humidity levels that we may otherwise see. Thanks, JB!
COMFORT FOOD
- "My Little Pony" but ... darker. [http://huff.to/mkzL68]
- For whatever reason a Cirque du Soleil performer (dressed in full tribal garb) threw out the first pitch at a baseball game. America is weird. [http://huff.to/kk9Tr6]
- Maybe the worst possible time for a reporter to be caught smoking. [http://huff.to/l8zYXr]
- Here's a poster for The Godfather made out of bacon cause ... y'know. [http://huff.to/j6D0Oy]
- Scared kitten refuses to jump off a couch. Mom cat is clearly peeved. [http://huff.to/m2zANG]
- There still exists quite the glass ceiling in the world of female professional eating. [http://huff.to/jW6KBV]
- Speaking of sexism in unexpected places, this skit underscores the disparity in male/female medieval armor. [http://huff.to/jlgdqW]
- Someone on Buzzfeed took the time to curate 99 pictures of bananas. That's all it is -- just bananas, but we felt compelled to honor the effort. [http://huff.to/j7OLKf]
TWITTERAMA
@zachdcarter: New Obama talking points on debt ceiling. RT @AndrewWK I'm not here to impress you, I'm here to party with you.
@SarahPalinUSA: @politico
@pwgavin: Now everyone at Sidwell knows whose homework to copy the night before.
ON TAP
TONIGHT
6:00 pm: Tom Harkin raises funds for his PAC, "To Organize A Majority," arguably the most political memoir title sounding PAC out there [Lounge 201, 201 Massachusettes Ave NE]
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm: We don't usually think of the W Hotel as a hotbed of Republican activity, but for at least one night it will be. Saxby Chambliss, John Cornyn and Richard Burr convene for an NRSC event [The W Hotel - DC, 515 15th Street NW].
6:30 pm: Pat Roberts' PAC is called "Preserving America's Traditions." If his group were true to its name, it'd fund fighter jet flyovers of sporting events and overly pasteurized dairy products. Unfortunately, it just funds campaigns. [Caucus Room, 401 9th Street NW].
TOMORROW
8:00 am: Nothing says a good time quite like a morning get together with representatives of the American Institute of CPAs. Just ask John Barrasso [1455 Penn Ave NW 10th Floor].
8:30 am: Mike Crapo attends a campaign event for his Freedom Fund PAC held at the office of tax lobbyists, the stewards of Republicans' chief enemy [Capitol Tax Partners, 101 Constitution Ave NW Suite 675 East].
8:30 am: Where's the beef? Why at Dean Heller's fundraiser, of course! ... Sorry for that joke. Anyway, the newly-minted senator shakes hands and pats backs with beef lobbyists [National Cattlemen's Beef Association PAC, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave NW Suite 300].
8:30 am: Dianne Feinstein's fundraiser is at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. What, you think Dianne would skimp and have it at Legal Seafood, or something? [The Source by Wolfgang Puck, 575 Pennsylvania Ave NW].
7:00 pm: Dean Heller is back with another fundraiser. Hey, House money can't win Senate elections, y'know? [National Republican Senatorial Committee, 425 2nd Street NE]
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
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