No shocker here, but a New York Post op-ed contributor is peddling the same misleading bullshit about minimum wage increases that opponents always peddle.

Enter Nicole Gelinas.

Raising minimum wage -- as per the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act -- is "left-wing social engineering." (Classic Post prose, really.)

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This happened.

Did you know that complaining about racism makes you unpatriotic and means that you have a (bad) attitude toward America?

Well, it doesn't, but that's what the New York Post's Abby Schachter suggests.

"Bill Maher pretty much summed up the left's attitude toward the United States when he declared that Barack Obama came up from poverty to become 'the first black president of the racist states of America,' she writes.

For Schachter, of course, this is evidence that, "according to liberals like Maher, nothing has changed in all that time. This country is racist, many liberals believe, so it ever was and so it shall ever be. The election of a black president has done nothing to change our nation's true nature, says the left, because at its heart this is a racist country."

Somehow, Maher's one comment corroborates something about all liberals and suggests that white people get the short end of the stick. Oh, and apparently, the Trayvon Martin case is an example of "the liberal racist narrative."

She really said all this!

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Jezebel's Lindy West has just weighed in on hipster racism, joining the ranks of many who have recently felt compelled by Girls to comment on cool kids' ostensible obsession with all things white.

Now, most of the author's "complete guide" is pretty solid. Basically, West makes the argument that ironic racism -- people pretending to say or subtly implying racist things instead of actually saying them -- has replaced the more overt bigotry of the past.

Some examples cited by West include Navajo panties, white people getting upset that they can't use the n-word for "literary" reasons, and white people thinking that American racism in the U.S. is over because Barack Obama is president.

We totally buy these examples, and and fully agree that this kind of thinking is as smarmy as overt bias.

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Frida Ghitis, a columnist for the Miami Herald and World Politics Review, has recently weighed in on the John Edwards trial for CNN.

Because John Edwards is not the first powerful man to get caught with his pants down, Ghitis wonders whether dudes are just dumb, writing: "Are men stupid? How else can we explain the endless parade of otherwise successful individuals, who by all appearances seem intelligent and competent, and yet risk destroying their careers and their personal lives over the chance to have a sexual escapade?"

Ugh.

Before we hit our head against the keyboard out of frustration -- apparently, we are still not beyond genital-based generalizations in America -- let's clear up a few things.

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The Post is a bit beside itself this morning, unable to process the position of fracking opponents.

It's not simply that the editorial board disagrees with them and published an opinion piece explaining why -- the board can't wrap its head around the fact that dissenting opinion should have weight in the first place.

For the Post, the real dangers of hydraulic fracturing don't have much to do with health or environmental concerns. No. For that paper's opinion staff, it seems like the main problem with fracking is that people complain about it -- and that the democratic process might delay development.

Seriously.

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www.pomadeshop.jpg

We get it: Vaseline is slippery, and people who evade capture are sometimes considered "slick." Enough already.

[Insert lame pun about Vaseline being slippery and a guy who used the substance to break into apartments here].

That's what multiple media outlets in New York City did today when police announced that the "Vaseline Bandit," a.k.a. 40-year-old Luis Gonzalez, has been arrested and booked on charges that he burglarized at least 14 Manhattan homes over the past six months. During each burglary, Gonzalez allegedly put Vaseline over the peephole on the doors of the homes he was breaking into.

We've offered our own (pun free) coverage of the bandit, which you can see here.

The New York Daily News apparently was so impressed with its petroleum-based plays on words that it went with not one but two ghastly descriptions of the story.

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Today brings us "Ladies: You're Not as Good as You Think," an essay by Esquire writer Chris Jones.

Jones' not-so-scintillating thesis is basically this: "There is a spectrum of female lovers just as there is of men. The trouble is, most women act as though they're sexual Olympians, as though they're doing the men in their lives the greatest of favors merely by presenting themselves like a downed deer strapped to the hood of a car." Others pearls of wisdom include "Sex is not like pizza. Only blowjobs are" and "Like, maybe grab a mirror and spend some time learning how your own body works. It's nice, too, when you don't treat our semen like it's battery acid." Oh, and us womenfolk shouldn't feel any self-consciousness about cunnilingus.

Now, it's very easy to make fun of Jones -- and he deserves to get as much shit as he dished. And while Jones is clearly no libidinal luminary, we should still ask: is he right?

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Writing on the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy in his column, Frank Bruni makes the point that there are a whole lot more words in the English language for sexually "transgressive" females than there are males -- who also typically wind up being lauded for their promiscuous proclivities.

"What's a male slut?" he muses. "A role model, in some cases. In others, a presidential candidate."

Bruni, articulating the injustices of this double-standard, then details some of the backlash Limbaugh faces, including calls from some prominent feminists that the FCC remove him from the airwaves.

Of course, asking the FCC to step into the fray is nothing short of open advocacy of censorship, and it's disheartening and unconscionable to see this promoted by respected feminists.

(This point was made yesterday in the Atlantic, which also voiced concern over Limbaugh's possible prosecution.)

But it's worth emphasizing that censorship isn't just wrong -- it stands to hurt the feminist cause more than help it.

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When Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show Feb. 29, it sure seemed like the end of an era might be upon us.

Public outcry prompted sponsors to pull support from the show, leaving many to wonder whether the conservative stalwart would have much longer to lash out against liberals and ladies.

To be fair, Rush did damage control issue an apology, but many saw the mea culpa as meaningless -- worthy of all-out mocking.

But as bad as Rush's gaffe might be -- and to be clear, it is bad -- you have to wonder: could this bolster Limbaugh's languishing career?

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The Daily News wants to know: Are there neo-Nazis in Greenpoint?

The question comes about after a series of pics taken by Brooklyn photog Adam Krause apparently hit the web Monday evening, in which he chronicled five self-professed Polish neo-Nazis. Gawker seems to have broken the story, and did disclose that Klause is "a friend." The news site treated the scoop as true.

The Daily Mail quickly picked up Krause's saga, prompting him and his subjects to become the object of international attention.

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