I know: it sounds like something you’d read in a bad GOP version of “The Onion” — but it’s not:

Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports to screen out job applicants might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws as the government steps up scrutiny of hiring policies that can hurt blacks and Hispanics.

A blanket refusal to hire workers based on criminal records or credit problems can be illegal if it has a disparate impact on racial minorities, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency enforces the nation’s employment discrimination laws.

“Our sense is that the problem is snowballing because of the technology allowing these checks to be done with a fair amount of ease,” said Carol Miaskoff, assistant legal counsel at the EEOC.

Listen: if it’s really true that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be criminals and deadbeats — and note well, racists: I didn’t say it, the EEOC did — then maybe they should consider breaking fewer laws and paying their debts on time. That, I would think, would be the solution to any racial disparity — not forcing employers to hire criminals and deadbeats.

How far are we going to take this insanity? And how far can you push the American people before we say “enough”?

I know this much: if I were an employer, this would be yet another reason not to hire any more employees.

Well done, Barry. Well done indeed.

A.W. passes along word that Congress has passed a law called “The ______Act of____.”

That’s right: they can’t even be bothered to read the titles any more.

That’s OK. It should be easy to fill in the blanks. Just look to the intent of the people who passed it. That should be easy to figure out.

Not.

Politico:

President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, who have been starved for good news through much of 2010, finally received a generous helping Tuesday night.

Republicans, meanwhile, were left with several new reasons to wonder whether all the favorable national trends showing up in polls are enough to overcome local candidates who are inspiring little confidence about their readiness for the general election 12 weeks from now.

In each of the four states that held primaries Tuesday, the GOP either nominated or gave an overnight lead to candidates tarnished by scandal, gaffes or some other significant vulnerability.

If we let them make this election be about the personalities, we lose. If we make it about the issues, we win.

Simple as that.

Like Ace, I’m not buying it. I think it’s fake, but it’s still cute.

UPDATE: It’s a hoax. More pictures at the link.

William Shatner says that his new series “$#*! My Dad Says,” which derives from the “Shit My Dad Says” Twitter feed, should not delete the expletive:

He tells the Associated Press, “Do you know what I wish? I wish they would call it shit. I’ve got grandchildren. I brought up three girls. They’ve all got kids. OK? And you say, ‘Boopy-doo-doo, you’ve got to make poo-poo. Come on. Make poo-poo in the toilet.'”

“Eventually, poo-poo becomes shit. ‘Go take a shit, you’ll feel better.’ You say that to your kids. The word shit is around us. It isn’t a terrible term. It’s a natural function. Why are we pussyfooting?”

(In deference to Shatner, I have deleted the deleted expletives from the quote and replaced them with the real thing.)

You gotta love Kirk. You never know what he’s going to do or say next.