What a wonderful summer it has been, for fans of the dragged-out meltdowns of prominent Republican politicians! We should perhaps pause to recognize the contributions John Ensign, Mark Sanford, and Sarah Palin have made to our American language.

As has been bemoaned by dozens of bloggers eager to write dirty words, many obituaries for the late former Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz politely elided the reason he was forced to quit. Butz said, in public: "I'll tell you what the coloreds want. It's three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit." (A portion of that quote is also the name of a quite decent late-period Alex Chilton album, whose title was, of course, altered in its American release. Prudes!) Of course, most obits leave out the nastier sides of their subjects, but when a person is famous only for that nasty side, or one specific incident of nastiness, it's shitty, cunty, cocksucking journalism to not mention it.

Oh hey, Conan made fun of Jane Fonda's little cursing episode on yesterday's Today too! In his once-again professionally written monologue, O'Brien discussed the incident, then presented two little-seen clips of Ms. Fonda enjoying the word "cunt" in earlier performances.

Emasculating insults! Swears on television! Schoolyard name-calling! Everyone's doing it these days! But why? What does it mean? Who do we blame? Was it the queers who killed civility? Or is everyone just being a pussy? LET'S INVESTIGATE!