A survey (I read it on yahoo.com) found that Congress is more popular than telemarketers, the deadly ebola virus, gonorrhea, the Kardashians, Lindsay Lohan, communism, disgraced Democratic former Sen. John Edwards, playground bullies and meth labs.

The bad news--Americans still have a higher opinion of head lice, colonoscopies, cockroaches, Nickelback, the NFL replacement refs, and Donald Trump.

Congress' approval rating is at 9 percent. 85 percent of people in the survey disapprove of the job they're doing.

The poll (from Public Policy Polling) also pitted Congress vs. root canals:  Congress got 32 percent while root canals got 56 percent.

NFL replacement refs?: Congress loses 29 to 56 percent.

Head lice?: Congress loses 19 to 67 percent

Nickelback?: Congress lost 32 to 39 percent

Colonoscopies?: Congress lost, 31 to 58 percent.

Americans rated lawmakers higher than telemarketers (45 to 35 percent); John Edwards (45 to 29 percent); the Kardashians (49 to 36 percent, with 16 percent not sure); lobbyists (48 to 30 percent), North Korea (61 to 26 percent), ebola (53 to 25 percent with 21 percent apparently not sure whether they prefer their elected representatives over death after bleeding from various bodily orifices); Lindsay Lohan (though the 45 to 41 percent ratio falls well within the margin of error); Fidel Castro (54 to 32 percent); communism (57 to 23 percent); and gonorrhea (53 to 28 percent).