Hard To Get By Just Upon A Smile

• The Monologue:
• The senate approved the bill that will restore unemployment benefits. Just in time for some of them to cash in on those after the elections.
• An independent candidate for the Wisconsin state assembly was not allowed to describe herself on the ballot as "NOT the 'whiteman's bitch'." It's going to be very difficult for her to differentiate herself from her opponent, Ted Thewhitemansbitch.
• Nick Saban is angry at the NFL. It's mutual, Nick.
• Random Pop Culture:
• Jimmy Johnson, the former Dallas Cowboys coach and current Fox NFL co-host, is going to be a contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua, airing this fall. Not a joke. How could he possibly ever win?
• I'll probably gush more about Mad Men, returning this Sunday, later this week, but I have to go back to another AMC show, Breaking Bad. The first season was really good. The second is absurd. There's an episode called "Peekaboo" that has to go up on the short list of greatest single episodes of the last ten years or so. Other candidates: "College" from The Sopranos, "The Constant" from Lost, "Shut the Door. Have a Seat." from Mad Men, "Hamsterdam" from The Wire, "Final Grades" from The Wire, "Broken" from House.
• And, madre de dios, Breaking Bad is freaking bloody.
• Random Music Video:
• The Tea Party may hate him solely because of his adopted name, but Cat Stevens turns 62 today.