Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup: In memory of The Anchorman

I apologize for the delay. The dog ate my homework. I had a death in the family. I got caught in traffic. And then my car broke down. But, as President Obama told us last week, “no excuses”:

Without further delay, your PostBourgie-approved reading material from the weekend:

As a native Houstonian, I feel the need to mention that Walter Cronkite had deep roots in the Bayou City. (Bi)

Funny but true: With the death of Kronkite, Fake Virginia at Daily Kos offers up The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart as the most trusted man in America. (Bi)

Shem Walker, 49, stepped out of his brownstone in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, to see a man sitting on his stoop. He told the man to get off his stoop, and the man didn’t — he was wearing headphones, and couldn’t hear Walker —they got into a violent altercation. But the man on the step happened to be an undercover cop — and Shem Walker is now dead. TNC: “What continues to amaze me about these cops, is how they seem to, all at once, lack basic street sense and basic training. Why are you sitting on some dude’s stoop, in Clinton Hill, in the first place? With earphones on, no less? You’re just asking for beef. Why are you pulling out a gun and shooting someone over a fist fight? You’re a cop, for God’s sake. Why do you think pulling a gun and saying “Freeze, police!” but not showing any fucking ID, is gonna work? Don’t they know that any drug dealer could do the same thing?” (GD)

On the subject of cops, the NYPD – the largest police force in the country – is steadily shrinking due to a lack of cash and a paucity of recruits. (GD)

Embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has not talked about his stroll along the Argentine trail nearly enough. No, really. More, more, more! (Bi)

Sex miseducation: After years of steady improvement, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise again among U.S. teens, according to a new federal study. It’s probably because too many kids know how to use condoms and take birth-control pills. Clearly, Bristol Palin has a solution for all that. (Bi)

Adam reflects on President Obama’s address to the NAACP last week, noting that there was a lot more to the message than “no excuses” for teh Negroes: “Obama wasn’t wagging his finger. When he said that ‘all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not, in and of themselves, make a difference if each of us, as parents and as community leaders, fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children,’ he was stating the obvious. That’s why everyone cheered. But if the President actually believed that all that was required was a stronger grip on our bootstraps, he wouldn’t be pushing health care reform.” (Bi)

What would Pat Buchanan have to say to be forever excused from polite company? Claim that AIDS is nature’s retribution against gays for violating the laws of nature? Advise that the Republican Party strongly consider the political platform of a one-time grand wizard of the KKK? Call Adolf Hitler an “individual of great courage”? No, no and no. Indeed, Buchanan might outlast us all, like cockroaches after a nuclear winter. Media Matters reviews through the lengthy historyof an unapologetic race-baiter. (Bi)

Lou Dobbs is a birther? (Bi)

RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that he “doesn’t do policy”? No shit. (Bi)

Via Yglesias, Ryan Powers points out the U.S. Senate’s “proud tradition of standing against social progress” with significant health care reform on the horizon. (Bi)

Oliver Willis imagines what might have happened if Fox News had been around to cover the March on Washington in 1963: “The tranquility of our nation’s capital was disturbed today as some 250,000 plus negroes invaded and occupied the Lincoln Memorial.” Film at 11. (Bi)

Speaking of Fox News, guest military pundit Ralph Peters suggested Sunday that if the American soldier recently captured by the Taliban deserted his unit, uh … “I don’t care how hard it sounds, as far as I’m concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.” Wow. You can see it all here. (Bi)

HBO is airing a documentary on a high school in Charleston, Mississippi, which had its first racially integrated prom in 2008. (GD)

Since I spend roughly two hours a day commuting to and from week, I’ve figured out ways to talk, text and read while driving. Obviously, none of these behaviors are safe. And, in fact, might be more dangerous than getting behind the wheel after downing a couple beers. We all might be better off if our state and/or federal government went about the business of considering legislation that might discourage such behavior. (Bi)

The federal government has been pushing to make it easier for people to use food stamps at farmer’s markets. (GD)

If you’re like me, and you’re prone to eating anything that is not nailed down or poison, then this list of six binge-proof foods that will keep you full and satisfied for hours might come in handy. (Bi)

Malcolm Gladwell suggests overconfidence might be a major reason for the Wall Street collapse: “Several years ago, a team headed by the psychologist Mark Fenton-O’Creevy created a computer program that mimicked the ups and downs of an index like the Dow, and recruited, as subjects, members of a highly paid profession. As the line moved across the screen, Fenton-O’Creevy asked his subjects to press a series of buttons, which, they were told, might or might not affect the course of the line. At the end of the session, they were asked to rate their effectiveness in moving the line upward. The buttons had no effect at all on the line. But many of the players were convinced that their manipulation of the buttons made the index go up and up. … They were traders at an investment bank.” (Bi)

OMG: Sonia Sotomayor confirmed! (Judging from that pic, she hasn’t aged a bit.) (GD)

In quite a tremendous gesture, Tyler Perry is sending those kids who were turned away from that private Philadelphia-area swim club  to Disney World. (Bi)

Hilzoy’s final post. We’ll miss her unique, eloquent and passionate voice. (Bi)

Are girls’ sports more “innocent”? (GD)

Is there anyone out there who can offer a safe, nurturing home for an abandoned, NFL quarterback? He’s got a bit of an aggression problem with other pets but he loves to run and is eager to learn new tricks. (Bi)

But if you’re looking for good football news, you can’t do much better than former Florida State star-Rhodes Scholar-Superman Myron Rolle. He’s announced plans to build a medical clinic and sports complex in Steventon, Exuma in the Bahamas. Yeah. He’s better than us. (Bi)

ESPN’s Lester Munson reports on an antitrust caseagainst the NFL now before the U.S. Supreme Court that “could easily be the most significant legal turning point in the history of American sports.” If the NFL prevails, all major professional U.S. sports leagues could be immune from all forms of antitrust scrutinty. Wow. (Bi)

Ok. I’m off to watch the new T.O. reality show. Enjoy Shaq:

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.
  • awesome links. i especially love Tyler Perry right now

  • ladyfresh

    immediate thoughts on Funny but true: With the death of Kronkite, Fake Virginia at Daily Kos offers up The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart as the most trusted man in America. (Bi)

    that’s more scary but true

    wow at the state of news that we have more newscasters and less trustworthy sources