Because of Blogger acting up, I'm proud to be bringing you yesterday's news today. All in all, that's probably a good thing, since there's not much one can say about the apparent death of Zarqawi aside from "good riddance" and "wait and see." (I suspect the filled cabinet posts might be the more important story from Baghdad this morning.)

In any case, surrounded by mayhem in Iraq, continuing misery in Louisiana, spiraling deficits, a looming energy crisis, health care woes, and countless other real issues, the Senate earlier this week turned its attention to the grave and gathering threat to America posed by these people:









(More stomach-churning visages of evil here.)

Yes, it was Bash The Homos Week. If you think I'm being excessively sarcastic about the threat the Senate perceives from your gay friends and family, let's listen to Louisiana Senator David Vitter:



Wow -- no issue more important. For Vitter, preventing scenes of joy like those above is more important than addressing actual, real devastation in his home state. Katrina victims? Forget that, we've got the gay-hating vote to pander to!

Meanwhile, not to be outdone in the "most important" sweepstakes, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe hauled a big blown-up photo of his enormous family up to the Senate podium and boasted:



This raises a lot of questions (Does he really keep a "recorded history" of his family's sexual activity? Is this a written record, or are there video tapes? And what went through Dick Cheney's mind when he heard Inhofe's preening?), but beyond that, I'm eager to witness the "I'm more righteous than you" one-upmanship that seems imminent in the House.

If we're very lucky, we might see a Representative on the floor of the House renewing his vows with his high school sweetheart while kicking a gay man in the ribs. I'm sure that's what all of us have in mind when we think of our government addressing the problems of the country.