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.