Daily Grind: Oct 3 edition - Herman Cain, Arrested Development, the Koch Brothers, and Keystone XL

Today's Foo alert level is 2, or Times Like These (acoustic version), set for the following reasons:

HERMAN CAIN!!!!!  Surging in the polls, Cain made himself Rick Perry's gadfly over the weekend. Cain criticized Perry's familial hunting ground, which used to have the name "Niggerhead" (Don't worry- Darth Pundit can use that word without bleeping it because he's black).  We can't help but wonder on alternate earth if Obama had criticized Perry, the right wing noise machine would be accusing Obama of "playing the race card."  As for another "Alternate Earth" take, try this from balloon-juice, about a "my daddy's hunting camp" which featured a rock that resembled Jesus...  just go read it.

Cain also stood up for tolerance, saying the candidates at last Thursday's debate should have spoken up after a gay soldier was booed. Too bad he wasn't, like, on that stage, at the time, with a microphone in front of him, where he could have easily, ummmm, what's the word? Oh, DEBATED, his fellow candidates. I guess the 9,9,9 plan also includes "9 Days before you think to stand up for the civil rights of others."

And the Koch Brothers are at it again, this time it's been uncovered that they've been doing business with Iran. You know, like you do. I mean, it's basically a GOP right of passage these days, starting with when Halliburton did it.

Speaking of families who commit "light treason", we're going to see more of the Bluths! Series creator Mitch Hurwitz ended longtime speculation and demands from fans by announcing they will be doing 10 new online episodes of Arrested Development (aka the greatest sitcom of all time) as well as a full-length feature film.

Add to this a whole mess of news about the proposed Keystone XL tarsands pipeline. In case you haven't heard, the pipeline would bring the world's dirtiest oil from Canada to Texas. We may do a larger feature on this in the future, but today's news exposed how Transcanada, the pipeline owner, is playing political footsie with the Obama administration. And another story here.  Exposed emails show. . .  well, just go read them yourself.   It also looks like the State Dept had originally considered turning down the pipeline, but their high-priced lobbyist (a former Clinton staffer hired because he was close to Clinton) helped scuttle the idea.  Obama needs to shoot this turkey dead-- before Thanksgiving-- because if you thought Solyndra was bad, Keystone XL is the motherlode of political crony capitalism.

And why should we care? Climate scientist Jim Hansen has previously called mining the tar sands "Game Over" for the climate.  And... Climate Change is Killing Chocolate.