Bill O’Reilly asked folks to grade Obama on his first year in office. The results might surprise you.

We have been at war in Afghanistan longer than we were in WWII. It remains one of the major issues facing this country.

Today, representatives from 70 countries are meeting in London about Afghanistan, trying to find a way to unbury it from its mess.

Current top headlines from various news sites:

• BBC: “‘Tide must turn’ for Afghanistan”
• CNN: “Impact of Obama speech: Did it deliver?” No mention of the conference at all on the front page, not even in the “World” section.
• MSNBC: “Budget woes likely to crimp Obama jobs plan”. Conference is headline #3 below the fold in the “More News” section.
• Fox “News” (sp): “Renewing ‘Change’ Promise, Obama Tries to Reset Agenda”. Conference is tenth link down in the top section.
• NY Times: “A Dose of Reality, a Bid to Restore Magic”. Conference is first link below the fold.

Not all that SFW:

(thanks to Dolsen for the link)

If you’ve been wondering how much of the discontent with the health care bill is the bill itself and how much is the Dems’ (lack of) messaging about it, I submit this for your consideration:

Constituents appearing at health care town halls have even demanded that their members of Congress keep their “government hands off of Medicare.” Now, a new Public Policy Polling poll finds that millions of Americans do not realize that the federal government runs Medicare:

One poll question indicative of how difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents thought the government should ‘stay out of Medicare,’ something inherently impossible. 39% said yes.

Thanks to Jasper for the link.

It would be nice if this passes.

Requesting the Senate to adjust its rules to reflect the intent of the framers of the Constitution by amending the Senate’s filibuster rule, Rule 22, to facilitate the consideration of bills and amendments.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Constitution requires a super majority in certain circumstances only and, in all other votes, a simple majority was intended to be sufficient…

Resolved, That the House of Representatives requests the Senate to adjust its rules to reflect the intent of the framers of the Constitution by amending the Senate’s filibuster rule, Rule 22, to facilitate the consideration of bills and amendments.

Sadly, this is not a parody:

The Supreme Court today overturned a century-old restriction on corporations using their money to sway federal elections and ruled that companies have a free-speech right to spend as much as they wish to persuade voters to elect or defeat candidates for Congress and the White House.

In a 5-4 decision, the court’s conservative bloc said corporations have the same 1st Amendment rights as individuals and, for that reason, the government may not stop corporations from spending freely to influence the outcome of federal elections.

Sigh.

At least now maybe George Will will shut the hell up.

Yesterday, Massachusetts elected a Senator who doesn’t believe in marriage equality. Yeah, sucks. So here, enjoy some good news:

On Wednesday, the NOH8 campaign protesting California’s Proposition 8 announced a new high-profile Republican supporter: John McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain.

Read on.

One of the many reasons I read foreign news about America is the different vantage point. This summary from the BBC, about Obama’s first year, is a great example. In the press here, the focus is on what Obama hasn’t managed to accomplish, but the Beeb presents a generally positive view of his Presidency.

State Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate special election on Tuesday, voted on October 17, 2001 to deny financial aid to Red Cross rescue workers who had volunteered with 9/11 recovery efforts. As a state representative at the time, Brown was one out of only three legislators who had opposed the overwhelmingly bipartisan measure.

…During the same month Brown was voting down efforts to support 9/11 rescue workers, he was pushing a bill to appropriate a tax-subsidized bond to build a golf course in Norfolk, a city in his district.

Read on.

You and Justin agree that Obama might steal money intended for the Red Cross to help the wretched of Haiti.

This conversation came 48 hours after many of us had seen pitiful sights from Port au Prince. Tens of thousands are believed still alive beneath the rubble. You twisted their suffering into an opportunity to demean the character of the President of the United States.

You have a sizable listening audience. You apparently know how to please them. Anybody given a $400 million contract must know what he is doing.

That’s what offends me. You know exactly what you’re doing.

From Roger Ebert’s letter to Rush Limbaugh.

Via Newsweek:

Together with my good friend and occasional courtroom adversary David Boies, I am attempting to persuade a federal court to invalidate California’s Proposition 8—the voter-approved measure that overturned California’s constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex.

My involvement in this case has generated a certain degree of consternation among conservatives. How could a politically active, lifelong Republican, a veteran of the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, challenge the “traditional” definition of marriage and press for an “activist” interpretation of the Constitution to create another “new” constitutional right?

The Conservative Case For Gay Marriage

Just check out this chart.