Wisconsin. You've heard of it. Maybe it was a fat joke. More likely it was a cheese joke. A drunk joke? Even more likely it was about drunk fat people eating cheese. Yes, Wisconsin Dells. You've certainly flown over it.

Laugh all you want, Wisconsinites are now a leading force in right wing politics and, maybe more so than any other state's residents, are responsible for our messed-up national state of affairs. Here are nine Cheeseheads who are working hard at this very moment to mess up your life.

The great news about being gay is that no one really hates you in D.C. It's just politics: "When I speak to a gay Capitol Hill staffer whose own boss has a terrible record on gay rights, he explains that part of what enables him to maintain a clear conscience is the idea that the man for whom he works is merely playing to the base. As he says, 'I've been out to my boss for years and he's never cared. He said, I'm glad you told me, it's never going to be an issue, let's get back to work and do good things for my district.'" Oh [...]

Yesterday, President Obama held a live chat session on Twitter. Billed as a "townhall," the President spent an hour fielding questions from Twitter users about the state of the nation. It was a magnificent stunt in which the greatest beneficiaries were Twitter itself and amateur comedians.

That doesn't mean nobody took it seriously. A day before the event, The Heritage Foundation, a tax exempt, 501c(3) nonpartisan "educational institution" whose goal is "to formulate and promote conservative public policies," published five Twitter questions to "put President Obama on the spot."

These five questions, gift-wrapped by Ericka Anderson, Heritage Foundation's senior digital communications associate and former communications director [...]

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

We are writing to express our concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy. Providing opt-in mechanisms for information sharing instead of expecting users to go through long and complicated opt-out processes is a critical step towards maintaining clarity and transparency.

Charles Schumer, April 27, 2010.

In a decision that would otherwise merit little attention, a California court recently ruled in favor of a gay rights organization's challenge to canvass outside a big-box retailer. Because the retailer that sued the gay rights group was Target, the story was a scandal as the gay community continues to hold Target accountable for its history of political donations to groups such as MN Forward that support anti-gay candidates (an activity the chain continued even after a public apology). The decision came just weeks after Lady Gaga caved to pressure and backed out of an exclusive deal with the retailer.

Earlier in the year, a couple [...]