Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken is a senator now, for whatever reason, and while it won't ever not be weird to see him being all serious in those big fancy buildings, he makes a better senator than Kevin Nealon would've. Like today, when, during a Senate hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, he (in the words of Think Progress) "destroy[ed]" a representative of conservative activist group "Focus on the Family"! He didn't literally "destroy" the guy, of course; he just patiently and condescendingly explained to him that he did a stupid thing. Which is the next best thing to actual destruction. [Think Progress]

Vermont's half-blind old warhorse senator Patrick Leahy, known hero, is holding hearings today about the Defense of Marriage Act, and during testimony he got conservative group Focus on the Family's Vice President of Public Policy Tom Minnery to admit that the 1996 law cheats children.

Inevitably, Justin Bieber has inflamed both the left and the right with his controversial Rolling Stone interview. Will Bieber become the latest casualty of our never-ending culture wars?

Ultra-conservative Christian mega business ministry Focus on the Family wants all these gay people to stop talking about child bullying, because they're pushing a secret agenda to turn America's kids into homosexuals, and that is not what Jesus intended.

One time at the end of every work day (well, not the end for you nighttime suckerz — eat it, Ravi, Adrian, and Maureen!) we honor a coupla comments that made us chuckle or weep or chuckleweep. Today they are:

We have now seen every member of Senator-elect Scott Brown's family in some state of undress. Here's wife Gail Huff in a bikini, coaxing a tube of sunscreen to metaphoric orgasm, in a music video from 1982.

Animal's Cajun Boy posted this Facebook picture of sexy Scott Brown's sexy daughters (who are apparently available!) and Wonkette's Jim Newell gave it the headline of the day. ("FOUND: A Picture Of Scott Brown Wearing Clothes!") So kudos, you two.

Focus on the Family, the official religious arm of all that is wrong and bad in America, is laying off 149 hateful scumbags. That's 21% of their workforce! They'll all be forced to roam the streets of Colorado Springs, hopefully resorting to cannibalism or possibly having the gay sex they've always secretly longed for in exchange for the drugs they're all addicted to. Also four of the group's eight magazines will now appear only on-line. Eight magazines! Jesus! Apparently donations to Dr. James Dobson's International House of Cartoonish Intolerance are way down, on account of the Christian right being demoralized by our Muslim Terrorist President-elect. So, hey, let's all celebrate! A round of abortions on us! [UPI]