After last week's outbreak of outbursts by figures in politics, sports, and entertainment, the nation gasped. But deep down, was anyone a little jealous?

If tact and timing were no issue, what would you say and to whom?

Even if you deplore the image of Republican congressman Joe Wilson calling President Obama a liar, do you dream of hurling insults at Pennsylvania legislators?

Tennis queen Serena Williams threatened to stuff a spherical object down a lineswoman's throat. Ever wanted to fire verbal spitballs at the infamously inept Board of Revision of Taxes?

Kanye West ruined country crooner Taylor Swift's MTV moment by insisting that Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" video was one for the ages. He's guilty of extreme cruelty and rudeness, but told an inconvenient truth. Have you seen the dancing in that video? It's sublime.

Speak your mind

If candor at any cost is the latest trend, I'd hate to miss it. My visceral reaction to the Pennsylvania budget debacle is that if legislators were ER doctors, we'd all be dead.

Gov. Rendell is no hero, either, betting the state's future on casinos. He may want to protect preschoolers, but what about parents losing the rent at slots parlors?

Pols on both sides of the aisle now plan to balance the budget with ill-gotten gains from table games. So go ahead, blow the unemployment check on craps or roulette. It's for a good cause. At least your taxes didn't go up.

In the spirit of letting it all hang out, seems to me that South Jersey Democrats are so drunk with power they treat elections as rigged games of musical chairs in which voters always wind up on the floor.

Consider this passage from a story about Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr.'s decision to leave office:

"Donald Norcross, cochair of the Camden County Democratic Party and brother of South Jersey political power George Norcross, is expected to replace Roberts on the Assembly ballot. Roberts said Norcross had his 'full support.' "

"After the election, Norcross is expected to be named to the Senate seat likely to be vacated by Dana Redd, a Democrat running for mayor of Camden this year, according to top Democrats familiar with the plans. A Camden official would likely move into the Assembly."

And suddenly, the Democrats want to end state control of Camden. Why? Because they already spent the $175 million in recovery money and now have a perfect puppet in Redd, the shoo-in mayor.

How's that for a sorry state?

All anger, all the time

Every week for the last eight years, I have received early-morning voice mails from a regular reader known only as the Racist Lady. She's a one-woman cautionary tale against abandoning all restraint.

The Racist Lady loathes me, but I'm fascinated by the depth and breadth of her hatred.

Once, she reacted to a column about a kindness campaign with five minutes of vicious anti-Semitism. Another time, she blamed overweight women for "turning" former Gov. Jim McGreevey gay.

I hardly expected one of her signature screeds after Sunday's piece on headaches. But there she was, promising that I'd be cured of what ails me if I would throw off the shackles of common decency.

"I never get migraines," she said in one of the few printable declarations, "because I tell the truth."

I don't know if the Racist Lady pops Advil, but I do know that only anonymous cowards call at breakfast time or on weekends when they know I'm not there to pick up the phone.

Speaking her mind at all times regardless of who she hurts hasn't made the Racist Lady happy. She may be loud and proud, but she's as miserable as ever.

Contact Monica Yant Kinney at 215-854-4670 or myant@phillynews.com. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/yantkinney.