Among other things, this short piece of legislation would allow (or really, require) the President to lock up unprivileged combatants – including US citizens – in military custody, prevents DOJ from bringing any prosecution against such persons, and allow such persons to be detained and interrogated "for the duration" (without defining whose discretion would determine that limit). That this monstrosity doesn't have a prayer in hell of surviving a SCOTUS challenge is about the only comfort here.

Amid all the complaints of common procedures like "deem-and-pass" and reconciliation (now demonized as a process of "ramming legislation through Congress" with a majority vote, it might be helpful to step into the Wayback Machine and see how a prior Congress handled Health Care Reform.

The year is 2003. Congress, firmly in Republican control, is working on passing a trillion dollar prescription drug benefit for Medicare, the largest expansion of health entitlements in four decades.

The self-executing rule has been self-executed before, but...

In other words, her fellow Democrats have the political courage of...

How did an allegedly solvent firm suddenly spring a $130+ billion hole in its $660 billion balance sheet? An examiner's report was recently released:

Pope refuses to condemn Ugandan bill proposing execution of gays.

Could it be that Glenn Beck has a point?

Then Beck played a clip of Obama:

"Success has many fathers while failure is an orphan."

Or something like that. It looks like there is a growing number of parentless Obama White House aides, both current and former. Rahm Emanuel is looking more and more beleaguered, despite Dana Milbank's best efforts to rehabilitate him. The NYT:

John Hawkins has five ugly truths, and they are:

(1) Entitlements must be cut.
(2) Our military is going to weaken.
(3) Taxes are going up.
(4) Economic growth is going to stagnate.
(5) We will have a world where the United States isn't a super power.

I take issue on #5, because I think we'll have a world where the US isn't the only super power. The first four sound about right.

Not that it matters at this point.

He's sort of like an Obama. But with experience. And he might throw his hat in for a 2012 presidential run.