Pun Salad

… "Where?" "Downtown." "When?" "Last night":

• In University Near Here news:
  The University of New Hampshire is pleased to welcome Vice President Biden to campus Monday, April 4, 2011, at 11:30 a.m. in the Memorial Union Building's Granite State Room. This is a small ticketed event for university students and other guests; it is not open to the public and invitations will go out via e-mail Thursday, March 31, 2011.

  My invitation was sent at 1pm, and invited an RSVP at a website. By the time I clicked over at 1:07, the event was full. A waiting list was offered and (why not) I entered my name thereupon.

  Vice President Biden will be appearing with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, speaking on the topic of violence against women on campus. Fearless predictions: (a) they'll both be against it, and (b) they'll assert that Your Federal Government has some sort of shiny new role to play in decreasing it.

  While I'm at it, the announcement page has some amusement:

  UNH also has a nationally and internationally recognized Bringing in the Bystander™ program, which has two components: A Prevention Workshop for Establishing a Community of Responsibility™ in-person program and the Know-Your-Power™ social marketing campaign.

  Yes, that's three trademark symbols in a single sentence. Woe betide the foolish feminist tempted to filch these phrases for her own use!

• NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen has been keeping a pretty low profile, but occasionally sticks her head up a bit so that Drew Cline can play Whac-A-Mole:
  Gasoline and crude oil prices are up, which means Jeanne Shaheen is back to bashing speculators again.

  Blaming speculators for high prices is much like blaming wet streets for rain. As always, it's difficult to pick which is worse: whether Senator Shaheen actually believes the nonsense she's spouting, or whether she doesn't.

• 'Twas brilliant when it was mere text. But if you're one of those tl;dr folks, Bill Whittle put Iowahawk to video:

  We're headed for fiscal disaster, but that's no reason not to grab chuckles where and when you can.