The Bunga Bunga Era is over. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned as expected this afternoon, bringing to a close 17 years of his wacky, corrupt, and deeply embarrassing domination of Italian politics. Arrivederci, asshole!

Canadian political leaders are feeling rather cranky about the U.S. government's plan to charge their citizens $5.50 just to cross the border and drink beer with us. The new fee also applies to Mexican travelers, but they don't seem to be complaining as much—maybe because they're used to getting screwed by the American government.

President Obama waged class warfare on Monday when he announced a plan to narrow the budget deficit by increasing the minimum tax rate for those making more than $1 million a year. Republicans shot back, demanding instead that people without any money start paying taxes on that non-money. It's a classic rich vs. poor stalemate—one that Stephen Colbert attempted to solve on tonight's Report when he looked to the ground—six or so feet below it, actually—before suggesting a third party solution.

Two months after its repeal was certified by President Obama, today marked the official end of the nearly 18-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy precluding gays from serving openly in the military. On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart celebrated the end of DADT by shaming it for existing in the first place: "That's how ridiculous this policy was... the apology for the affront is, 'All right, sorry, you can go to Afghanistan and fight for your country!'"

"Government regulations are not 'choking' our business"; "Absolutely, positively not"; "I think the rich have to be taxed." —McClatchy asks small-business owners if they're being (per Chamber of Commerce claims) "choked by regulation" and finds that no, not really.

After retiring from evil, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went about writing his memoir, Known and Unknown. As part of that effort, he asked the Obama Administration to declassify a bunch of secret documents from his tenure so he could write about them and publish them on his voluminous online library. Obama said no.

As if today weren't sufficiently SADurday enough: Retired U.S. Army general and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman died today in Washington state. He was 75.

Although racism north of the Mason-Dixon line was thought to have been eradicated in 1964, government researchers claim to have spotted it in the wild just recently, lurking in "the remote meadows and forests of upstate New York."

The US Postal Service: who cares about it? Nobody, which is why you better get ready for three-days-a-week mail delivery. "Says who?!" you scoff, just as you scoff at our nation's hardworking postal carriers. Says the boss, that's who:

Do people always tell you that you look "just like" someone else they know? Do you live and drive in Massachusetts? If yes and yes, then you might be in danger of losing your driving privileges, just like John H. Gass did.

The White House released its annual salary report last week, and as usual, it's nice to work for Barack Obama: Most staffers who were there for more than a year got a salary bump. A bigger one than you did.

Presiding over a legislative session is hard, as Vice speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Adam Martynyuk can tell you. What do you do if some keeps bugging you and asking to speak, the way his deputy Oleg Lyashko was doing last week? As Martynyuk shows, sometimes a nice smooth death grip is the only thing that really communicates the procedural rules. [via Boing Boing]

If you think America's criminal justice system for humans is bad, the system set up for sea lions is even worse. For sea lions, just eating too much can earn you the death penalty.

In a bid to show its transparency bona fides, the CIA has released six previously secret documents from World War I, thirty years before the Agency was created. They concern invisible ink. Which, until today, was a national secret.

Like many of us, President Obama woke up on Saturday morning not completely sure of what had happened the night before—had he averted a government shutdown? "There's only one way to make sure," Ax told him over the phone. "You have to go to the Lincoln Memorial and see if it's open."

Remember the government's color-coded terror alert system? Sure you do. It was fun, festive, and went with everything. Well, it's history. Back in January, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to phase out the system. So what will replace it? As of April 27, terror alerts will come in just two forms —"elevated" and "imminent"— and will be broadcast over the two most popular social networks.

As John Boehner cries for America in these trying times on the Hill, it looks like a government shutdown will mean that US troops serving overseas will only get half their pay (or maybe even less) until a later date. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is in Iraq today, and had to break the news to servicemembers. The Times breaks down what a shutdown would mean for their pay:

Here's a video of Montana Congressman Alan Hale speaking out on the House floor this week against DUI laws. Hale believes they destroy "small businesses" (read: bars, like the one he owns). Is he actually supporting drunk driving?!

On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart—during an "Indecision 2012" segment—opened with discussion of potential Republican presidential candidates for 2012 and the need for them to desperately appeal to what amounts to a pretty ridiculous base of voters.

On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart opened with a segment about President Obama's address to the nation (given last night) about America's mission in Libya. Apparently, Stewart isn't too keen on Obama's explanations—or the timing of them.