Cheap shots and fever spots

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Wednesday Addams deals with the national debt. The film's auteur is—apparently—John Hilt, head of the little known and less effective Exposing Marxists PAC (h/t The Wire). His letter to Louisiana Representative Louis Gohmert suggests he's an entrepreneurial job-creaty seeker after some of that wingnut grift:

Louie, I’m a tea party activist, walked for Joe Walsh in 2010, been active ever since with Awaken America (Carol Parisi) in Palatine, IL. Am producing a youtube channel designed to present American Exceptionalism to teens, in a comedic fashion that will get their attention. I’m hoping you can give me some leads on potential sponsors. 

Thanks for all you do! A link to the youtube channel is below.

Yours, John Hilt

http://www.youtube.com/rebelnationfilms

I think maybe "comedic" is a typo for "comedogenic". If you know of any potential sponsors be sure to let him know.

Image via How Stuff Works.

And speaking of infections...

...there's an ongoing measles outbreak in New York City:

New York City health officials have identified two more cases of measles, bringing the total to 26 in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn.

The outbreak remains centered in Northern Manhattan, where at least five hospitalizations have occurred as a result. The cases range in age from 3 months to 63 years, with 12 of the patients children and the other 14 adults.

Can we blame this on anti-science cultists obsessed with an imaginary connection between vaccination and autism spectrum disorders? Certainly not entirely: the first infections got picked up in an (unidentified) airport, and it looks as if the main reason for its spreading is insufficiently experienced medical workers in New York facilities who didn't recognize it in time to stop the disease by quarantine; you can't really throw anybody in jail for that. But according to that Times report

Of the nine children, seven were too young to be vaccinated or within the window of 12 to 15 months old when the vaccination is recommended. The other two were from families in which the parents refused to allow the vaccination.

So some people can't be vaccinated because they're too young, and some can't remember whether they were vaccinated or not because they're too old, and then there are these fanatics who choose to endanger the entire population because of one fraudulent researcher and one airhead celebrity. Sometimes I really wonder if freedom isn't a little overrated; isn't "general welfare" in the Constitution too?

Marco Rubio. Via EyeOnMiami.

@BraveConWarrior You mean like no politician since Communism existed. Rubio, the candidate from the Land of Yesterday!
— Yastreblyansky (@Yastreblyansky) April 16, 2014

Edward, Edward!

Another Snowdenian possibility (Snoudenskiy posibil'nost') re the intrepid young journalist's interview of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: maybe he was constructing a Teachable Moment. Remember how he kept saying it would be a waste of time to go to the authorities and complain about spy agencies doing illegal surveillance because they'd do nothing about and refuse even to admit that it was happening. Now he's gone to Putin, asked about illegal surveillance, and Putin's refused to do anything about it and won't even admit it's happening. See what I mean? Èdvard was proved right!

Coffee in Siberia. February 2010, photo by Alexei Druzhinin, Reuters.