video Rumors have been swirling that 89-year-old John Paul Stevens will be retiring from his position as Supreme Court Justice, due in large part to statements Stevens made both in today's New York Times article and a recent interview in Washington Post. Though Stevens has not made any declarations about leaving immediately and has acknowledged the difficulties of filling a Supreme Court seat before midterm elections, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin (who interviewed Stevens for the New Yorker) believes that the Justice will do so before his 90th birthday...which is coming up in less than three weeks.

video St. Louis Tea Party activist and budding citizen journalist Andrew Sharp talked to Fox's Neil Cavuto about his run-in with Democratic Representative Phil Hare, during which the young man got the Congressman to say on camera that he cares more about the lives of people than finagling over the finer points in the Constitution as it applies to the health care reform bill. "Jackpot baby!" Sharp says off-camera. After the Cavuto video, watch Hare's response, in which he calls his own response to the "gotcha-type" journalism "out of context."

video Bill Maher, not really known for being the most moderate of liberals, spoke with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show about the passing of the health reform bill. Leno should have known what he was getting himself into when Maher started off his reply with "Dems win!" and then went on to thank all the entire Tea Party (which he called "tea baggers") for being so crazy that America decided to go with "the calm Black man." Except that "America" didn't vote on the health care bill, Congress did. So...

Singer/songwriter Erykah Badu has come under fire recently for her latest music video "Window Seat," which shows the African-American songstress stripping down around the site of JFK's assassination. Along with being charged by the Dallas police for a misdemeanor in public nudity, "Window Seat" has also been pulled off of YouTube, despite the fact that all the R-rated portions were blurred out in the video.

video Jack Cassells is a Florida urologist who has put signs up outside his office urging patients who support Obama to go seek treatment elsewhere. Florida Dem. Congressman Alan Grayson has never been one to shy away from controversy, and last night he told CNN's Anderson Cooper that since many Obama supporters in his district are African-American, this was akin to violating the Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm," regardless of a person's race.

The day of reckoning is finally upon us: Will the iPad live up to the hype, or will those overnight lines that have been forming around virtually every Apple store in the country be all for naught? Luckily, The New York Times has nothing better to do on this gorgeous Saturday either, and has devoted the day to chronicling customers' experiences through a liveblog: a systematically updated entry that is usually reserved for award ceremonies and prime time television dramas.

video Megyn Kelly is a bad ass. There, I said it. While debating with Bill O'Reilly on the finer points of Westboro Baptist Church v. Matthew Snyder's father (where the fallen marine's funeral was interrupted by members of the church holding "God Hates Fags" posters), Kelly took the unpopular side that legally, Westboro may have not done anything illegal. O'Reilly disagreed. Things got heated.

video ...of which "the bondage-themed strip club" is just one of many, many more this week. After all the damage control the left has had to do over the sex scandals of Eric Massa/John Edwards in the past several months, you'd think that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann might have a little more sympathy for an RNC pamphlet which accidentally directed viewers to a phone sex-line. But it's not to be: "Maybe it wasn't a typo," the host smirked while reading off Politico's description of one outraged donor's accidental phone call to a "nasty girl."

video Tonight on The O'Reilly Factor, was it a slip of the tongue or purposeful prose that caused Bill O'Reilly to say President Barack Obama was "converted" to Christianity by Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Judge for yourself after the jump.

video Today, Scott Roeder was sentenced to life in prison after shooting Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas late-term abortion doctor, in last May. Roeder took the opportunity of his public appearance to read off a statement condemning the courts for the hypocrisy in "a man is allowed to speak openly and freely at his sentencing but not...at his trial." He defended his actions and the process by which he came to believe he was justified in the murder, which he claimed made "Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies."

video The Daily Show is never going to miss an opportunity to take a swing at Sarah Palin or John McCain, and the recent reunion of the two while McCain struggles to maintain is position in the Arizona senate is prime picking. Jon Stewart does raise a good point though: "No matter what Sarah Palin is saying about John McCain, she can't help but make him look bad. Just by sitting next to her...he's just sitting there in her radiant aura." While Stewart is poking fun, there's little doubt that at this point Palin is the star of the show and McCain comes off as not the man who plucked her out of obscurity, but merely the object of her latest of her endorsement.

video Fox is having some problems with their Sarah Palin special tomorrow, namely that two of the segments stars, LL Cool J and Toby Keith, have claimed that their interviews have been lifted from year-old videos they did for the station, and that they were unaware they'd be featured on Palin's new program. Which makes the former Alaskan governor an absurdly easy target for Keith Olbermann tonight, albeit a little unfairly.

video The Obama administration may be following due process for repealing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy," but that doesn't mean it's happened yet. And for Congressman Barney Frank, an openly gay politician, the White House hasn't been clear enough in their time line for the repeal...or if it even plans to take legislative action at all. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gets a little bit snippy as he answers The Advocate's senior White House correspondent, Kerry Eleveld's questions about the president "ducking" this (possibly) historic precedent of allowing openly gay members into the armed forces.

video Amidst the recent PR disasters that the Tea Party movement has endured of late (accusations of shouting slurs at Democratic Congressmen and and throwing money at a sick man,) a new face for the movement appears to have emerged from the most unlikely of places. Meet Pam Stout, the well-spoken, middle-aged woman from Idaho, who appeared as a guest on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman.

video The mere fact that both Sarah Palin and her grandson's father Levin Johnston are both getting reality shows says more about the transformation of American politics into pop culture spectacle than we ever could. So we'll just have the MSM speak for itself, courtesy of Newsweek.com.

video Monday's shocking revelation for most people wasn't that Menudo singer Ricky Martin was a "fortunate homosexual," but that the 90s pop icon was coming out of the closet now, years after his turn in the American spotlight. Then we found out he was pitching his autobiography, and that made a little more (business) sense. But there was at least one person for whom Martin's sexuality was a total "surprise": as Stephen Colbert said on his Comedy Central program, "I knew he was livin' la vida loca...just not that loca."

video Yesterday a video emerged on the Internet that had the perfect elements for a viral sensation: the last scene in an apparent grade-school production of Brian DePalma's Scarface. Instead of cocaine, lil' Tony Montana had a mountain of popcorn. Instead of swearing, the tiny Michelle Pfieffer in a blond wig screamed "Fudge you, Tony!" At the end, an audience of proud parents clapped. As some outraged individuals pointed out, we've heard of putting your kids on a theater track early, but a tiny tots Scarface was more ridiculous than Rushmore's high-school production of Serpico. And, as it turned out, just as movie-magic fabricated.

video When news broke yesterday of Republican donor Eric Brown's (allegedly) $1,900 bill to the RNC for a lesbian bondage strip club session, can you blame the MSM for jumping on the story like a pack of ravenous wolves? Sex, the political party associated with family values, and early reports the GOP Chairman Michael Steele was personally involved (though he was on a plane)? It's better than the Eric Massa-massage scandal two weeks ago! Lets watch the feeding frenzy, courtesy of Newsweek.com.

video Sitting in for Campbell Brown on CNN, Rick Sanchez offered insightful argument during a segment with Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson and Jordan Marks, Tea Party activist and head of Young Americans For Freedom. After debating whether or not RNC politicians have played a hand in the recent ugliness that some Tea Party members have expressed towards Democratic congresspeople, Marks pulled out a line we've been hearing a lot lately: How can the GOP be racist, when our Chairman Michael Steele is black? Watch Sanchez's response below.

video Phoebe Price was a 15-year old Irish immigrant who hung herself in January after years of threats and taunts from classmates in her South Hadley, Massachusetts high school. Now nine of those bullies are being charged by local prosecutors for violating Price's civil rights, as well as stalking and criminal harassment, as well as two charges of statutory rape. NBC's Chief Legal analyst and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams weighed in on the issue this morning on Today.

video Much better than the inevitable John Boehner/"No You Can't" viral mashup (that we totally called, by the way), this music video about RNC Chairman Michael Steele's bondage club spending scandal - created by the people over at KatieHalper.com - will forge the slogan "Drill baby drill" and Fat Joe/ Lil Wayne's "Make it Rain" stuck in your head for the rest of the week. Which isn't to say the vid isn't full of misinformation, but like any good parody song, is pretty entertaining and ingratiatingly catchy.

Because logging on to your Facebook app from your smartphone wasn’t easy enough already, now Yahoo (slogan: We’re still pissed at Google about YouTube) has teamed up with Mark Zuckerberg’s social-networking site so you can update your status from your email. Synergy!

video There is a precedent for everything, but sometimes it's nice to slip back into the familiar. So since this is the first time Keith Olbermann has done a "Worst Person" on Countdown since his father's death three weeks ago, it's oddly comforting that he would bestow the title on Bill O'Reilly. All is right in the world. Well, except for the whole "Bill O'Reilly reading Playboy on a plane thing."

video This weekend was a big headline maker for Sarah Palin, who not only got to switch the dynamic between herself and former presidential candidate John McCain, but went on to lead a rally in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Nevada hometown as well. But after all that the McCain camp said about Palin post-election, isn't it a little bit odd that the senator would be willing to take backstage to Sarah's homegrown stardom? Newsweek.com takes a look with their Daily Obsession.

video President Barack Obama spoke to approximately 2,500 assembled American servicemen and women today at Bagram Air Base during his surprise trip to Afghanistan. Obama met earlier with President Hamid Karzai to address issues such as drug trafficking, and cracking down on insurgents.

video The Internet still can't get over Chatroulette - that semi-anonymous video-chatting service that allows you to connect to strangers all over the world and (more often than not) see their genitalia - despite the fact that we've seem to have hit a wall in terms of interesting things to do with the service. Much like Google Buzz, it seemed to be a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon that people would take a novelty interest in, and then forget about. But then Merton showed up.

video So there can be healthy debate between the two parties without devolving into slurs and name-calling. Who knew? Today on NBC's Meet The Press, David Gregory sat down with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to talk about the recent health care battle and the nasty attitude that people on both sides of the political spectrum have adopted in this fight.

video President Barack Obama made a surprise trip today, touching down in Kabul, Afghanistan to visit the country for the first time since he took office. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was notified about the American President's arrival just an hour before he showed up, and the trip has been kept under such tight secrecy that reporters were only allowed to write about the event after Obama departed. CNN's Candy Crowley quickly rounded up a bunch of pundits for speculation on State Of The Union, though with so little information flowing out, it's mostly a guessing game.

video While Congress is in recess, President Barack Obama is using this time to appoint 15 new members into key positions in his administration, including "extremist" pro-Union lawyer Craig Becker as the newest member of the National Labor Relations board. Becker's nomination - and what it may mean for Big Business - is going to stir up a lot of GOP outrage.

February's numbers for unemployment in New York State saw them actually decreasing .2 percent from January, which is a good thing, right? New York is also one of nearly half the states in America that is currently adding jobs, though Florida remains the only state that was able to employ over 6,000 new workers. So what's the bad news?

I've never been a huge fan of the Sunday Routine section of The New York Times: It's self-indulgent, highlighting the lazy days of the rich NY celebrities that we already see too much on our television. This weekend defines for me the crux of its problem when it chronicled dorky vegan electronica musician Moby around as he complained about people who eat meat, not being able to sleep in, and making smoothies. Oy.

video Former First Lady Barbara Bush was admitted into Methodist Hospital in Houston Saturday morning after she claimed she didn't feel well. Over the past year, Mrs. Bush has suffered from several health scares, including a hardening of her arteries and open-heart surgery a year ago. A spokesperson for the Bushes said that Barbara's doctor was just being "overly cautious" in admitting the octogenarian when she started feeling ill. The day before, she had been reading to children at a public school in Texas, which doctors take as a good sign that the condition isn't serious.

video Well no one can say Sarah Palin is slacking off: Directly after speaking at a rally with John McCain out in Arizona, the upcoming reality TV show star and Fox News pundit sped directly to Searchlight, NV, home of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a tea party rally that some are calling "the Conservative Woodstock" but which Palin herself referred to as "the Showdown at Searchlight."

Okay, this one just steps over the line of good decency: Last night on HBO's Real Time, Bill Maher not only compared John McCain campaigning with Sarah Palin to the Senator's time in a Vietnam POW camp, but said that the latter was favorable.

Well this is interesting: If the readers of CBS' website are any indication, despite passing a historic health care bill this past weekend, President Barack Obama has failed in every "subject" of his presidency, according to the latest online poll.

video For the second day in a row, Sarah Palin is stumping for John McCain, her former running mate in the 2008 elections. Then, along with thousands of Tea Party members gathered to protest the (already passed) health care law, the former Alaskan governor plans to descend onto Sen. Harry Reid's hometown of Nevada later today. Meanwhile, at least one heckler has been forcibly removed from the premises.

There's no love lost between Wall Street Journal and News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch and New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., and just in case you thought that newspaper men played fair, today's issue of the WSJ should easily dissuade you of that notion.

As if the verbal abuse against politicians wasn't enough this week, the horrible news that former Georgia Senator Nancy Schaefer and her husband were found shot to death in their home this morning was another shocking reminder. Schaefer, a prominent Republican at 73, was watching her husband suffer from cancer, and the duo apparently frequently talked about a suicide-pact.

Citing that his outburst during the Congressional passing of the health care bill was outrageous, but that his explanation for the "baby-killer" remarks were "downright nutty," Salon has named Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer their mascot for "This Week in Crazy."

video "The one crime we can't think of without vomiting, that's the one crime the Catholic Church wants wiggle room for," intoned displaced journalist Christopher Hitchens on last night's Real Time With Bill Maher. Hitchens, who admitted he was on the program to "gloat" about the recent scandal involving the Pope and his knowledge of child molestation in the Roman Catholic church, wasted no time in condemning the entire institution of the Vatican, both political and "as the head of a giant cult" for the coverup that was recently uncovered in a Wisconsin School for the Deaf.