Olio, Ab Ovo Edition

• Recommended reading: Dahlia Lithwick, "Irony Board: How many ways can Senate Republicans show intellectual hypocrisy?"

Or, for that matter, How did Dahlia Lithwick come to be writing for Slate? (Our theory is that she's the Anti-Contrarian Double Reverse with a Half Twist version of their staff, just as it's likely they have a water cooler somewhere where the water is dispensed downward.)

So the very gang responsible for the Filibuster Is a Sacred Rite! No, Wait, It's an Unconstitutional Pillaging of Our Sacred Order! Oh, Sorry, It's a Rite Again! routine, and the very guy who publicly defended the stealth confirmation of Sam Alito, now demand answers! and more answers! from Elena "There Is A Good" Kagan on the grounds that she may have supported reproductive rights at some point in her life.

And, y'know, fine by me; the Senate is supposed to be the deliberative body, and this is the modern substitute. I'd just like to know where Chuck Todd is, and what th' hell happens to all those people who pop up to complain about Congress wasting precious time on, say, AIG bonuses, or overt cheating in a designated anti-trust proof professional sport, the other 51 weeks of the year?

• Southern Baptists may wish to readjust their ballast when Newt Gingrich converts to Roman Catholicism this Easter. And remember, a nice Thank You note is always a sign of good breeding.

• This plan, not surprisingly, has already given quick theological study Newtie a free hand to call the President "anti-Catholic" and object to his speaking at Notre Dame.

Although if Newt were really savvy you'd have expected a religion where your own sins are kept private, but you get to complain loudly and long about everyone else's, would have attracted him much earlier. And if you're like me, familiar with both the details of Newt's romantic history and the techniques of the fight game, you're counting the days until he suddenly finds himself trapped in an elevator with a supple and accommodating Hindu woman.

• The Notre Dame thing--can you guys not shut up about anything?--prompted Richard Viguerie--I've got no idea how I wound up on his mailing list--to email his shock! shock! at the school's abnegation of sacred religious principles to which Viguerie himself does not, apparently, subscribe. (He did, however, get his start working for ambidextrous kiddie diddler Billy James Hargis, so there's some degree of kinship.)

And look, Carter, Reagan, and Bush II all spoke at Notre Dame, despite the latter two being, respectively, the guy who denied working people their just wages and rejected the idea of community obligation to the Poor, and the guy who took a, well, rather rampant delight in executing prisoners, and the former being a religious non-hypocrite.

• Meanwhile, America's Third-Worst State Legislature™ (Motto: So "Bobby" Jindal's A Foot Taller Than Our Man. What National Economy Did He Ever Set On The Road To Utter Disaster?) ponders requiring hospital admitting privileges for any doctor who performs an abortion in the state, based on allegations of complications linked to a Fort Wayne doctor.

(Again, you can find the details at the Racist Star if you wish, at least for the next few hours, but I'm not linking you to it when there's any chance at all you'll see the comments.)

Abortion would be the only out-patient surgery affected, of course, since Jesus was notably silent about the morality of installing big plastic hooters. And this is the same Third-Worst State Legislature™ which continues to shield faith-healing cults from the advances of 19th century medicine, including, especially, dependent children and women in childbirth.

The good news is that we've made our peace with irrational numbers.