Oh, Wal-Mart. You really never fail to impress me. Not only do you boast an impressive inventory of useless stuff (as well as wine kiosks -- but that's not useless), you are just too darn big to sue -- even if you are allegedly discriminating against women by paying them less and giving them fewer promotion opportunities. Well done, my friends, well done.

See, the Wal-Mart discrimination suit took an interesting turn in the ol' Supreme Court yesterday. The justices, smart, reasonable people that they are, think that suing Wal-Mart might just be too crazy because of its size (for which I believe the technical term is "ginormous"). They're all, "How can you sue a company when there are so many individual stores? Each manager is responsible for their own place." And I'm all, "What are the odds of thousands of Wal-Marts all paying their female employees less?" What up with that, Scalia?

Imagine this: Clarence Thomas, your husband of three plus years, is nominated to the Supreme Court. Of the United States of America. Pretty cool.

Until those pesky confirmation hearings come along. And that woman, Anita Hill, with her accusations.

The confirmation goes through just fine except for the fact that now your husband has been publicly accused of being unprofessional. Really unprofessional.

But, hey, he's a Supreme Court Justice. And time heals all wounds.

Or does it?

Twenty years later, you're still holding a grudge against Anita. Yes, you Virginia Thomas. Why, oh why can't you let bygones be bygones? Is your loyalty to your husband that strong? Is his power that much of an aphrodisiac that you can't see straight?

When a 20-year-old incident prompts you to pick up the phone to rehash a piece of history that wasn't even your own, there's something serious going on. At least that was my reaction when I heard that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, called Anita Hill to demand an apology from her for what Hill had "done" to her husband!

We all have things we stay angry about. I was plenty peeved when my law school boyfriend thought it was a good idea a couple of decades ago to give me kitchen knives for my birthday (only romantic in a Fatal Attraction sort of way), but it's not something I think about anymore other than as occasional comic fodder. I've moved on.

Apparently Ginni Thomas hasn't.

The reason?

Heather Murphy-RainesAt first Brandeis law professor Anita Hill thought it was a prank, or so she says. She received a voicemail on her work phone from someone claiming to be her old foe, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Virginia Thomas.

The message?

Good morning, Anita Hill, it's Ginny Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.

It brought back memories. The Anita-Clarence event happened in my formative years. I remember watching intently on the television about pubic hairs on Coke cans, said with trembling chin. 

Honestly? At the time, I laughed. As did my teenage friends. How silly both of them were. My thoughts then? Grow up!

Tea Party Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has had enough Sarah Palin moments in the past few weeks to make the comparison inevitable.

Then in last night's debate with Democratic opponent Chris Coons, the Tea Party candidate for senator in Delaware proved the comparison may be exactly right.

O'Donnell -- the "I'm not a witch"; anti-masturbation candidate -- flubbed and gaffed, but also appeared sure of herself and her positions even as she seemed uninformed and green. Both women are attractive and have little of substance to say, which serves to make them only more popular with the masses.

Maybe she is the new Palin, after all.

5 Signs She's the New Sarah Palin:

"Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

"God Hates Fags."

"Thank God for 9/11."

Those are just a few of the signs that Fred Phelps and the members of his Kansas Westboro Baptist Church held up high during their protest at the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder in 2006. Snyder gave his life for our country in Iraq.

He was only 20 years old when he died.

Offensive speech about Snyder was also posted on the church's website (which has the url not of the church's name, but of "god hates fags") proclaiming that it was the fault of Snyder's parents that he died in Iraq because they'd divorced and their son was a target for God's punishment because of that.

So the question for the Supreme Court is whether those protests and web content are protected free speech or whether it's action aimed toward private citizens that doesn't deserve Constitutional protection.

Big sigh of relief -- I can finally be proud of my home state of California again!

Today, Judge Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court in San Francisco overturned the ban on same-sex marriages in California.

A 12 foot great white shark.The blood-thirsty sharks are out today, and I'm not talking about the reporters who have descended on Chelsea Clinton's wedding. Five miles of beach in Cape Cod is closed today after five great white sharks (the same kind  featured in the 1975 film Jaws) were spotted swimming close to a remote but popular beach along the eastern shore, in some cases just 20 feet from land.

The first one -- the 12 foot great white shark pictured here -- was spotted earlier this week about 50 yards off South Beach in Chatham, Massachusetts. South Beach faces the Atlantic Ocean and runs along the peninsula that connects the mainland to Monomoy Island, a nature preserve populated with thousands of seals.