A year ago today at the Wisconsin protests: a camel was tormented by "The Daily Show" and Gov. Walker was pranked with a phone call.

Here's my post about the "Daily Show"'s nauseating exploitation of a camel here in Wisconsin. (But look here to see some good "Daily Show" coverage of the protests from 2/22/11.)

Here's what I had to say about the phone call, in which someone pretended to be David Koch:

Walker opponents would love to make something of this phone call, but all they have are a few over-the-line things the Koch impersonator said like "You gotta crush that union." Walker just ignores that stuff and goes on with his standard points, which is probably the standard strategy that most politicians use when people interact with them....

Doesn't this prank call prove that Scott Walker is not close to Koch? He doesn't recognize his voice! He doesn't drift into a more personal style of speech. He treats him like a generic political supporter.

There was a big "teach-in" at the UW Law School.

Chip unlocks a dirty visual secret.

"That painting is subversively pornographic. It's shocking my eyeballs."

Later:

See what I mean.

I was going to make her head bob and then I thought, no, you must consider the children. And then I thought, if I would make the head bob then I might learn where it is that Photobucket is drawing the line about taking down my stuff. Since they never tell me.

Wow! I haven't seen such a convincing animation since Ra^thergate.

IN THE COMMENTS: t-man corrects:

That's a dude, Chip, not a woman.

"When should knowing lies be restrictable on the ground that they cause emotional distress?"

Eugene Volokh paraphrases the question the Supreme Court Justices were asking yesterday, as they considered whether the Stolen Valor Act violates the First Amendment. Volokh opines:

[T]he potential chilling effect on true speech of punishing the lies about oneself (a matter on which one should rarely fear an honest mistake that could be misinterpreted as a deliberate lie) is less than the potential chilling effect on true speech of punishing lies about others. So this is one of the things that leads me to think that the Stolen Valor Act should be upheld....

Self-medicating with alcohol...

... by fruit flies.

"Irish call for apology following 'Drunk Vomiting Shamrocks' clothing line."

"Urban Outfitters' St. Patrick's Day products, including a trucker’s cap illustrated with a drunk vomiting shamrocks and a 'Leprechaun P***' beer jug have, angered the Irish community in the United States and Ireland."

Thinking about Mr. Kruger.

My son John was live-blogging the GOP debate last night:

8:08 - Mitt Romney cuts short his own introduction: "As George Costanza would say, when they're applauding, stop." [UPDATE: Jason (the commenter) points out that Romney was referring to this episode of Seinfeld:

At the coffee shop, George laments to Jerry about losing respect at a project meeting led by Mr. Kruger after following a good suggestion with a bad joke. . . . At the next Kruger meeting, George takes Jerry's suggestion and actually leaves the room after a well-received joke.]

Here's something that happened on Monday, but appeared in the news late last night:

[Daniel von Bargen, "best known for his role as Mr. Kruger on 'Seinfeld,'"] was in critical condition Wednesday after shooting himself in the head in an apparent failed suicide attempt.

Paramedics went to the 61-year-old actor’s Cincinnati, Ohio, apartment Monday after he called 911, saying, “I’ve shot myself in the head ... and I need help,”...

"The boiling of millions of penguins on a remote Antarctic island triggered one of the first international wildlife campaigns."

"A century on, DNA analysis proves it has been a success. Now, Macquarie Island's king penguins must face rampaging rabbits."

Boiled penguins. Rampaging rabbits. I'm deep into the science news this morning.