What Is It About Republicans, and the South?

Fifty-eight percent of Americans either don’t know if Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen by birth, or don’t believe that he is. Even more shocking [snark alert], the percentage of birthers is highest in the South. The poll was done by Research 2000 for Daily Kos.

Ezra Klein on Procedural Reforms

Upgrading the often arcane procedural rules in the House and Senate (like rules limiting terms for committee chairs) could help get large and complicated bills like health care reform through Congress faster, but there’s a catch:

Liberal Dems May Push for Term Limits on Committee Chairs

Alexander Bolton at TheHill.com: In an apparent warning to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), some liberal Democrats have suggested a secret-ballot vote every two years on whether or not to strip committee chairmen of their gavels. Baucus, who is more conservative than most of the Democratic Conference, has frustrated many of his liberal [...]

The Doctor’s Prescription

Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like Barack Obama’s doctor is a single-payer guy.

“Quietly but Forcefully,” John Yoo Defends His War Crimes

First, read Carrie Johnson’s sympathetic portrayal of John Yoo’s new crusade to tell anyone who will listen why it’s “absurd” to suggest that he did anything wrong or unconstitutional by writing those memos authorizing torture, arbitrary detention with no legal rights, and absolute, limitless presidential power:

911 Tape in Gates Arrest Raises New Questions

From the Boston Globe: The 911 recording showed the mundane beginnings of a media frenzy. The caller who alerted police to two men entering Gates’s house on July 16 told a dispatcher that she had seen two suitcases on the porch and said she wasn’t sure if it was a break-in. “I don’t know what’s [...]

The Vanishing Mail Box

If you have been having trouble finding a nearby mailbox, here is why:

This Is Just Mind-Boggling

The latest from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) — she of “Matthew Shepard was not killed for being gay” fame (emphasis in original): Earlier today, several female Republican House members held a press conference today to attack President Obama’s push for health insurance reform. “The Democrat way is not reforming healthcare, it’s destroying it,” announced Rep. [...]

The Complicated Politics of Health Care Reform

It’s more akin to a poker game than to statesmanship:

Light and Heat

One: This is absurd. Two: It’s happening, and you need to separate the light from the heat.