The decline and fall of civilization, continued.

So, today’s top story is the president releasing his long-form birth certificate, with the aim of ending the “birther” (non) issue. Guess what? It ain’t over. Despite the upcoming Royal Wedding that will undoubtedly crowd the news for the weekend, right-wingnut radio and real estate mogul Donald Trump will try keeping the issue alive. For the moment, “The Donald” is glowing in accomplishing what no one else was able to do. He, and he alone, flushed out the long-form birth certificate. But he is not satisfied. The unannounced candidate for president wants the president’s school transcripts, never mind that no president has ever released school records. The bar is tilted a bit for president Obama.

Elsewhere in the story…

Former White House press secretary and Obama confidante Robert Gibbs is throwing down the gauntlet on Donald Trump.

"Donald Trump said he’d release his tax returns as soon as the president released his birth certificate, so the ball is in his court now and I know everybody is anxious to see his tax returns over the last 10 years," Gibbs told POLITICO.

Trump first floated the trade-off in an interview with ABC earlier this month.

"Maybe I’m going to do the tax returns when Obama does his birth certificate," said the real estate mogul, whose wealth has long been a matter of dispute. "I may tie my tax returns [to the birth certificate]. I’d love to give my tax returns."

At a Wednesday morning news conference in New Hampshire following the president’s release of his birth certificate, Trump repeatedly ignored questions about whether he'd fulfill his pledge, POLITICO’s Maggie Haberman reports.

(from politico.com)

While we wait for The Donald to announce his candidacy on the final episode of Celebrity Apprentice, let’s ponder these eloquent words, in a letter to the editor to the Oregonian from a Mr. Dennis Lively, from Tualatin, Oregon:

Politics as entertainment

The election run has just barely started and already I am so discouraged that there are Americans who feel The Donald makes any sense as a candidate for the highest office in the land. A man who can't come to terms with his own hairline is trustworthy?

Just seeing the lies and base behavior makes me wonder how he can be the favorite of anyone. The tea party folks who claim they own "basic American values" must see this overbearing clown for what he is, or do they? Is there any hope that we can elect someone who understands the difficulty of the job? Next we will change our election process to a reality show like "Dancing with the Stars," and the winner will be chosen by call-in votes.

American politics has become a joke, and the voters are the clowns.

I could not have said it better.

Victoria Taft

Portland's own suburban mom suicide bomb talk-show radio hostess

One of my least favorite right-wingut radio personalities is Portland’s own Victoria Taft. I have written about her before. I asked her to shut up back then. I’m asking again. Please. You are going beyond embarrassing yourself… you are revealing yourself to be a humorless racist, ironically wrapping your despicable anti-American attacks toward the president in the American flag. I caught a snippet of her diatribe today. I tried calling in, got the wrong number and gave up. Which was a prudent thing. I was driving. It is illegal to use a cellphone is that manner while driving in Oregon. It also posed a health risk. I could have had a coronary trying to talk sense to Ms. Taft. Among the barbs she slung at the president is that he is not “one of us.” Hmmm. Really? And what exactly does that mean? Do we need to draw a picture on that one? She said, repeatedly, that the president hates America, even though he has reaped every benefit from being an American. Personally, I wonder why someone would campaign and spend gazillions of dollars to take on the most stressful job in the world if he “hated” the employer, the employees, customers and clients?

Take a breath, and head for the caves. The slingers of shit are advancing.

WORST CELEBRITY BASKETBALL FAN

In mild fan attire.

The Boston Celtics swept the New York Knickerbockers in the first round of the NBA East playoffs. This is a glorious thing if only for the fact I don't have to watch Spike Lee until he shows up at a Yankees/Red Sox game.

For the last game of the series, (tonight), Mr. Lee wore a burnt orange porkpie hat with a wide band of deep lavender. Team colors, okay... but with the matching square cut sport coat and red and white polka-dot ascot, the guy like some Cab Calloway wannabe. Enough about Mr. Lee's sartorial splendor. The guy's seat is court side, on the floor. He evidently takes this to mean he can stand up, get on the court, call plays or time-out in the refs' faces. He was standing on the court!!! The only one standing on the court-- further onto the court than Knicks' coach Mike D'Atoni. Who the hell does he think he is? You don't do that! Take a lesson from the number one L.A. Lakers fan. Jack shows up in black, somber clothing. He's got his signature red-orange shades, okay. But he sits in his seat. He doesn't plant his feet on the court, waves his arms up and down like some guy flagging in a plane on the runway, calling plays.

Maybe he forgot he is a "fan" and not on the Knicks payroll. He does make a pretty pathetic cheerleader, who has clearly overstepped his bounds. It was reported in February that he had a confrontation with Kevin Garnett during a game in Madison Square Garden. “Garnett needs to calm the fuck down,” he continued. “There’s no reason he should be cursing at me the way he did the last game. So you can put that in the article. It was disrespectful and I would never do nothing like that to him.”

Think what you will about KG. He has been an all-star every season he has played in the NBA. He is a team player and, while no one disputes his on-court intensity, his contract does not stipulate he has to put up with confrontations with wealthy and self-important fans.

Maybe Mr. Lee is suffering from an identity crisis. Perhaps, he's deluded himself into believing he isn't a has-been in his chosen profession. He has long since stopped "Doing the Right Thing" and has become a sports groupie with the irritation level of an oversized gnat.

Spike... your 15 minutes are way over. Get into the cheap seats and... shut up.

More truth than you know.

On Friday, Arizona Senator, John Kyl said on the senate floor, "If you want an abortion, you can go to Planned Parenthood, and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."

It seems that Mr. Kyl was only off by 87%. When it was pointed out to the senator that his math was beyond fuzzy, his office issued a statement. The senator's remark "was not intended to be a factual statement but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, an organization that receives millions in taxpayer dollars, does subsidize abortions."

Alas, the truth does come out. To a point, and to mostly deaf ears.

Maybe Paul Ryan can adopt this philosophy, too. Maybe he can come out and say his "path to prosperity "was not intended to be factual."

And so on.

It would be funny, if these teabagged dimwits weren't bulldozing the country into total disaster.

Sign we're approaching the apocalypse.

Baseball & Beatings--the season begins.

Being a Boston Red Sox fan is, for some, a choice. For others, like me, it is both a birthright and, like the pre-2004 Sox, a curse. I inherited my love for the team from my grandfather, who would watch them on the black & white, with Curt Gowdy doing the play-by-play. They were bums, then. The '50's were not the greatest decade for the team, but with a history going back to 1901, and a following that spans generations, you simply don't leave the Red Sox.

Before the season began last week, almost all prognosticators had the Red Sox as favorites to win the 2011 world series. Now, granted, there are 162 games for each team to play and so, losing three is not exactly a big hairy deal. Except when they are the first three of the season. Call it a bad omen or a fluke, an extension of spring training or a team that believes the press and gave it less than a 100%. Jon Lester is one of the best pitchers in the game. John Lackey has seen his best seasons already, and Clay Bucholz is a pitcher on the rise.

But they seemed unable to do anything with the Texas Rangers. They go up against the Cleveland Indians tomorrow for a series before heading to Fenway for their home opener, against those damn Yankees. Now, that'll will signify the real beginning of the season!

Suspected "Dodger Fans"

Just as being a Red Sox fan is in my blood, so is my dislike of the New York Yankees. However, that doesn't mean I would beat the living daylights out of someone for wearing a Yankees cap. Evidently, the rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants is a little more rabid. On opening day in L.A., two "fans" beat up three Giants fans in the parking lot, one bad enough to be in the hospital with what is being reported as a medically-induced coma. The suspects were described as Latino males, in the teens or 20's. The two had reportedly driven off with a 10 year-old in their car.

Two years ago, on opening day, a Giants fan was stabbed in the parking lot.

I wouldn't dignify the suspects by calling them fans. Nor would I rush to a Dodgers game. I love the game, but I am not willing to die for it.