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.
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:
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 colleagues by negotiating for weeks with Republicans over healthcare reform without producing a bill or even much detail about the policies he is considering.
“Every two years the caucus could have a secret ballot on whether a chairman should continue, yes or no,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “If the ‘no’s win, [the chairman’s] out.
The idea is that Baucus might rethink his dictatorial ways if he knew his chairmanship might be affected.
Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like Barack Obama’s doctor is a single-payer guy.
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:
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 happening. … I don’t know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key, but I did notice they had to use their shoulders to try to barge in,” the caller said.
The recording appeared to reflect a relatively routine call, with officers and even the 911 caller mostly calm.
The recordings were released after a noon news conference held by City Manager Robert Healy, Mayor E. Denise Simmons, and Police Commissioner Robert Haas.
Asked what the tapes showed, Haas said, “I think the tapes speak for themselves and I would ask you to form your own opinion.”
One thing the tapes didn’t show: any clear background sound that indicated Gates was shouting during the incident. Another voice can be heard in the background of at least three transmissions, but what the person is saying is difficult to discern.
If you have been having trouble finding a nearby mailbox, here is why:
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. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).Perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment occurred when Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced that “there are no Americans who don’t have healthcare“:
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) disputes President Obama’s claim that 47 million Americans lack healthcare. “There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare,” she says. “We do have about 7.5 million Americans who want to purchase health insurance who can not afford it,” she says, urging Congress to adopt a new plan for healthcare reform that wouldn’t “destroy what is good about healthcare in this country” and “give the government control of our lives.”
It’s more akin to a poker game than to statesmanship:
Kathy
Liberty Street 
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