Happy Easter to all!

While you were sleeping all snug in your beds last night, The Easter Planet was hiding political Easter eggs in this article.

Following are anagrams of the names of people in the news we’ve written about at The Planet all year. See if you can find the name in its hiding place! Answers will be provided on Monday, good luck!

1. I Shag Bum Hurl.

2. Ha! Me Run Lame.

3. Anal Parish

4. Only In Capes

5. Me Lie, Earn Job

The official Super Bowl Sunday began January 15th, 1967 when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs.

The NFL had full control of the game since 1920, until the AFL began in 1960.

June 8th, 1966, the two leagues agreed on a merger, with the condition that the winners from both leagues play against each other to determine the champion.

Originally, NFL Commissioner, Pete Rozelle, wanted to call the game “The Big One”, but it was the AFL founder and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Hunt, who suggested “Super Bowl” and the name has stuck ever since.

Super Bowl Fun Facts:

• In most years, the Super Bowl is the most watched television event.
• Exclusive television rights to air the game rotate between 3 major networks – CBS, NBC and FOX
• Due to the popularity of the game, commercial airtime is the most expensive for the broadcast
• Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day of the year for eating after Thanksgiving
• 8 million pounds of guacamole is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.
• 14,500 tons of chips are eaten along with that guacamole.
• The average number of people at a Super Bowl party is 17.
• 5% of Americans will watch the game alone.
• Of the top 10 most watched television programs of all time, 9 of them are Super Bowls.
• Budweiser has been the exclusive Super Bowl beer advertiser for the past 13 years.
• The Super Bowl is measured in Roman numerals because a football season runs the span over two calendar years.
• Since the 1980s the Super Bowls have always started around 6pm Eastern Standard Time.
• More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday compared to any other day of the year (except St. Patrick’s Day), according to the Insurance Information Institute.
• 35% of people who attend the game write it off as a corporate expense.
• Over 700,000 footballs are produced annually for official NFL use and 72 of them are used for the Super Bowl.
• The Dolphin Stadium in Miami has vomitoriums, which is actually an architectural feature, not an official place were people can puke. It’s a passage below a tier of seats in an amphitheater through which a crowd can spew out after the game.
• The Super Bowl has been played in south Florida 8 times; this year’s game will be the ninth.
• Super Bowl fans spend more than $50 million on food during the 4 days prior to the Super Bowl.
• Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest winter grilling day of the year.

http://www.yumsugar.com/125068

My husband and I plan on staying home for the game and eating the traditional guacamole and chili (both homemade) and plenty of beer, of course, which will probably result in some scented sound effects around half time!

GO COLTS!

I was struck by a clip of Joe Lieberman during his most recent campaign for the senate. I heard the clip on Randi Rhodes and now it has been posted by the Daily Kos. Thanks to both of these tireless fact-trackers for digging this out of the archives and reminding us of something important:

Joe Lieberman, campaign promises, October 23, 2006:

“What I’m saying to the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you and your families, to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance… I’ve been working on health insurance reform for more than a dozen years. I have offered a comprehensive program. Small business health insurance reform. Something I call MediKids to cover all the children in America on a sliding fee basis up to the age of 25. MediChoice, to allow anybody in our country to buy into a national health insurance pool like the health insurance that we federal employees and members of Congress have. Medical malpractice reform. It will cover 95% of those who are not covered now, and it will reduce the pressure on rising costs for all the millions of others who are covered.”

Not only does he dangle health care in front of the voters as a reason to vote for him, not only does he promise a Medicare-type public option similar to the coverage he gets as a federal employee—he presents himself as the voter’s best chance for getting this type of legislation passed. Their best chance.

Today, of course, Lieberman is presenting himself as the insurance industry’s best chance of blocking health care reform. Their best chance.

Brazen hypocrisy aside, this reversal demonstrates once again that the Senate is America’s Kingmaker. Lieberman said he would caucus with the Democrats—that promise has been tossed aside. He clearly knows his constituents are expecting health care reform, or he wouldn’t have campaigned on that promise. The rest of the country sees that he’s not representing his state. He’s not upholding any constitutional principle with his obstruction. Certainly not any principles of his own. And if he wanted something in exchange for his vote, he’d likely have more leverage by working behind the scenes. His motives seem to be entirely mysterious and personal. He is being a King.

The Kingmaker problem seems particularly onerous for Democrats. With the GOP, voters tend to get what they vote for—if not what they deserve. When I vote for a Democrat, I’m never sure what I’m going to get in terms of representation—in the House or Senate.

In the House, where terms are two years, a problem can be quickly corrected. Our district came very close to replacing Jane Harman in 2004 because of her constant war mongering and pandering to the GOP—so close that her voting record changed dramatically after that election. She even came out very strong for a public option this year.

Senate terms, on the other hand, are six years long—long enough so that bad votes are often forgotten when re-election comes up. And this means losing a seat is at most a vague and impotent threat for most senators. I am at a loss whenever Diane Feinstein casts her lot with the Republicans on some issue. In Lieberman’s case, 2012 is a ways off, and our health care bill will either be passed or added to the long list of failures by that time. We need accountability right now.

I used to think my vote for senator amounted to little more than ticket for someone to enjoy six years at one of the nation’s most prestigious country clubs. As it turns out, my vote is much more than that. It’s a coronation.

In 1997, Fareed Zakaria wrote:

What is distinctive about the American system is not how democratic it is but rather how undemocratic it is, placing as it does multiple constraints on electoral majorities. Of its three branches of government, one — arguably paramount — is headed by nine unelected men and women with life tenure. Its Senate is the most unrepresentative upper house in the world, with the lone exception of the House of Lords, which is powerless. (“The Rise of Illiberal Democracy” in Foriegn Affairs)

The Senate’s own rules exacerbate the Kingmaker effect: One senator can block an appointee. One Senator can initiate a filibuster. One senator can put a “hold” on a bill.

So what is the progressive solution? It is unimaginable that we can only sit back and watch popular legislation implode because of a Senate King. We must find a way to get real representation from the senate—even when one or more of the members decides to act like a monarch. But what is our recourse? How do the people exercise their power to push back against our outdated nod to obsolete aristocracy?

Putting the day’s frustration behind me, I am kicking off a Friday night trivia game thread which I hope you’ll all feel free to join in and give both questions and answers. Here’s the rule I’ve come up with after consulting with many of our greatest minds in internet guessing games.

Whoever is first to posts a comment with the correct answer, wins.

At the end of the night we’ll add up who has gotten the most answers correct and they will receive a brand…new…damaged hard drive actually used by PlanetPOV!!! And a Fun Size Snickers!

And please, this is just for fun, no wagering please.

Okay, this is movie dialog from three different movies, guess the actor who said all three sets of dialog:

1. “All right, Curly. Enough’s enough. You can’t eat the Venetian blinds. I just had them installed on Wednesday.
2. “I hate this detail. I hate this fucking chickenshit detail!”
3. “You’re not an idiot. Huh! You’re not a goddamn looney now, boy. You’re a fisherman!”

Good Luck!