Ted Nugent at the State of the Union

In April of last year Ted Nugent stated that he would either be dead or in jail within a year if Obama were re-elected in November.

This statement earned him a visit from the Secret Service due to the reasonable interpretation of this statement as a threat against the President. Now, Nugent has evidently been invited to tomorrow's State of the Union address by a Texas House member, Steve Stockman. If anyone wants evidence that Tea Party conservatives are the primary authors of the nasty tone in Washington, look no further than Mr. Stockman. His invitation is not only unseemly, it's chilling.

Tolerating the Intolerant

Credit: Eva Rinaldi

Although he may get some flack for this, I think Russell Brand struck the right chord with the representatives from Westboro Baptist Church. He managed to treat them with respect (that is, in the context of his zany style) but managed to hit home that their message is a total perversion of Jesus's. If having a civil, public conversation with these folks makes your average born-again Christian want to run in the opposite direction, it's worth it.