I know, I know. You're wearing thin on the Carlina White saga.

You should be.

But indulge me as I jump into this from an entirely different perspective. In fact, Carlina and all the mama drama that has become her story is simply the springboard for my latest double-reverse dive into the waters of media criticism.

It's rare that a political scandal makes landfall in D.C. that doesn't find Marion Barry at the eye of the storm. Yet the former mayor and current city council member is always defiant in the face of his accusers and critics. The narrative is one that never ends. This week, an independent probe, authorized by D.C.'s city council, alleges that Barry violated conflict-of-interest laws by neglecting to disclose a personal relationship he had with Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, who received a $15,000 city contract from the councilman. This is the same woman who claimed Barry was stalking her last summer. Those charges, however, were subsequently dropped.

Unfortunately, for the former mayor, the ethics probe didn't stop with Watts-Brighthaupt. Independent investigator and D.C attorney Robert S. Bennett asserts that Barry funneled more than $8 million to friends and family through 41 different earmarks last year. Bennett has recommended that the council turn the matter over to the U.S. attorney's office for possible criminal corruption charges. The council has yet to state its intentions on whether it will do so.

"Every time I try to get out, they keep pulling me back in!" I'm sure the classic 'Godfather' line rings true for Army Specialist Marc Hall, even as he sits in jail. He was set to be relieved from active duty in February but then learned late last year that he, like many others, was being sent back to Iraq for another 12 months under the military's Stop-Loss policy. Let's just say he wrote a song about it. Here are a few of the lyrics under his hip-hop alias of Marc Watercus:

This isn't the first time -- nor will it be the last -- that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele humiliates himself. He's willfully good at it. He's a self-drawn caricature designed for, and determined to be, the butt of the joke. Think about it: If the Republican mascot is the elephant, Steele is the elephant's ass. He's the ass wagging the elephant; this is the point I'm trying to make.

Justifiably, I've written about Steele before but not as much as I could have. It's been an act of resistance not to do so, as his entire tenure thus far as the RNC Chairman has been blog bait. Steele's rapid-fire propensity for regrettable moments in blackness has been ferocious and equally funny. But this most recent act might be the coup de grâce of his absurdity. Hitting the Web is a series of tomfoolery "coonfoolery" photos of MC Steele striking various cliché hip-hop poses from 1986 album covers along with an assortment of other embarrassing shots. And he brought along his dancers interns for good measure.