Census Worker Found Dead

Rachel led off with an update on the disturbing murder of census worker Bill Sparkman.

On Friday the Clay County coroner confirmed that “fed” was written on Sparkman’s chest with a felt tip pen, and the Associated Press reports that Sparkman was found naked with his hands and feet bound and his census ID taped to his neck.

The Truth about the Lies about Acorn

Rachel gave us an update on, as she called it, “the ongoing effort to destroy and demonize ACORN.”

She and her guest Jeremy Scahill, the author of Blackwater, made some good – and occasionally enraging – points. While, as Rachel noted, ACORN is not without its problems, it’s the shiniest, easiest, most soundbite-friendly target at the moment, not the best one.

Essentially, the elected leaders who are dogpiling on ACORN are loudly putting on a coat of toenail polish while letting the gangrene slide.

But isn’t it sparkly?

The Public Opts In

Rachel found her (vaguely) optimistic side as she nabbed yet another exclusive interview with the health care reform bill.

Congressmen Mike Ross (D – Arkansas) is perhaps a tad less optimistic.

People have reacted to his explanation that he made a whole bunch of extra money on a property deal with USA Drug because he is just really super good at composing Craigslist ads by raising their eyebrows so high that ceilings have been dented all over town.

Diplobamacy

If you were thinking you could discreetly watch this next clip while at work, don’t. The TRMS folks have thoughtfully included footage of the Pittsburgh police going after G-20 protesters with a sound cannon.

It’s like giant robot mosquitoes are attacking, and they’re all carrying smoke detectors and scraping forks against chalkboards.

Rachel’s description is somewhat less whimsical.

She also walked us through what looks like some pretty slick diplomatic work on Obama’s part in dealing with Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Which may be the only positive sentence you’ll ever read that ends with “Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.”

Cocktail Moment

Since the Empire State Building inexplicably didn’t light up green on Thursday, Rachel decided to lend her support to the Iranian opposition in her own special way, by making daiquiris for a lucky Kent Jones and Sandra Bernhard.