New Rx for Health Plan: Split Bill  —  The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.

Unreal: MSNBC edits clip of man with gun at Obama rally to support racism narrative  —  I missed this yesterday at Newsbusters but Treacher, rightly aghast, tipped me to it this afternoon.  Never will you see a starker example of MSNBC getting away with the sort of deception for which Fox News …

The LaRouche Cult and the Health Care Protests  —  After noting that the disturbed woman who accused Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) of supporting a “Nazi policy” was a LaRouche cultist, I checked out the trove of videos that LaRouche's Virginia-based organization has made available since …

Chuck Todd thinks we support the public option just because conservatives don't  —  On Andrea Mitchell's show this morning, Chuck Todd was on to opine about health care reform.  He said one outrageous thing and one right thing.  The Toddster said that progressives might be attached …

Poll Shows Most Americans Oppose War in Afghanistan  —  A majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting, and just a quarter say more U.S. troops should be sent to the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.  —  Most have confidence in the ability …

NY dealers pull out of clunkers program  —  NEW YORK (AP) - Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

Is there really a boycott of Glenn Beck?  Update: Law of unintended consequences?  —  We've heard about the boycott of the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News Channel, one where as many as 20 advertisers have dropped their spots, thanks to pressure from left-wing groups angry at ... well, their latest anger du jour.

Dem investigators target insurers  —  House Democrats are probing the nation's largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences.  —  Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents …

A deeper look at the birthers  —  After we conducted polls over the last couple of weeks finding significant numbers of ‘birthers’ in North Carolina and Virginia, we decided to take the question national but also drum down more specifically on where exactly the people who think Barack Obama …

C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists  —  WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.

Harriet Miers Takes Another Crack at the U.S. Supreme Court  —  Former White House counsel Harriet Miers once aspired to serve on the Supreme Court, a bid that failed in 2005.  Now, back in private practice, she's angling to argue a case before the high court.

Mom of Bristol Palin's Ex Cops Plea  —  Mother of Bristol Palin's Former Fiance Pleads Guilty to Possession with Intent to Deliver Painkiller  —  (AP) The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case.

Whole Foods Devotees Lash Out at CEO  —  Customers, Angry Over His Health-Care Views, Share Feelings of Betrayal on Web  —  Whole Foods aficionados who assumed the company's management was as crunchy as the brand are feeling betrayed.  —  They have stormed Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere …

The Greenback Effect  —  IN nature, every action has consequences, a phenomenon called the butterfly effect.  These consequences, moreover, are not necessarily proportional.  For example, doubling the carbon dioxide we belch into the atmosphere may far more than double the subsequent problems for society.

Anti-Reform Group's Internal Memo: “Rumors Of The Death Of The Public Option Have Been Greatly Exaggerated”  —  In a clear sign that conservatives are worried that the public option could still survive, an internal memo from a top anti-health care reform group claims that “rumors of its death” …

New poll finds that 39 percent of Americans want government to ‘stay out of Medicare.’  —  As ThinkProgress has noted before, conservatives have frequently obscured the fact that Medicare is a government-run single-payer program.  Constituents appearing at health care town halls have even demanded …

Etheridge considering Senate bid  —  Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said today that he is giving some thought to running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year.  —  Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, said he has been courted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a potential candidate, reports Rob Christensen.

TV News Giant Don Hewitt Dies At 86  —  CBS News Legend And “60 Minutes” Creator's Career Spanned 60 Years  —  (CBS) Don Hewitt, recognized as a father of modern television news and the creator of the medium's most successful broadcast, “60 Minutes,” died Wednesday after battling pancreatic cancer.

Legislature to vote on sweeping prison reforms  —  SACRAMENTO — Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are poised as soon as today to enact a package of far-reaching prison reforms that would allow some prisoners to serve the last 12 months of their sentences under house arrest …

A call with the rabbinate  —  From the Washington Jewish Week, and confirmed just now by Gibbs:  —  President Barack Obama needs some outside help pushing health care reform, and he's turning to rabbis to get it.  —  In a morning conference call with about 1000 rabbis from across the nation …

Senate bid dogged by Fiorina's failure to vote  —  (08-18) 19:51 PDT — Republican Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, took her first formal step Tuesday to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer - but does she pass the Citizenship 1o1 test?

San Diego school chief, berated and beloved, likely HISD pick  —  The San Diego, Calif., schools chief — whose rapid-fire reforms have inflamed the teachers' union and impressed others — is the frontrunner to lead the Houston Independent School District.  —  The Houston school board …

Bachmann: Health Care Reform Is Unconstitutional  —  Speaking on Fox News last night, right-wing Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) claimed that health care reform is unconstitutional: … Watch it:  —  Bachmann, however, is wrong about both the contents of the health care plan and the requirements of the Constitution.

The Death Book for Veterans  —  Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Major Health Insurance Company Urges Employees To Attend Tea Parties  —  At least one major insurer is urging its employees to participate in tea parties.  —  Last week, UnitedHealth Group—the second largest health insurance company in the country—sent out a letter to its employees urging …

Ink-redible: 150-million-year-old squid discovered  —  Palaeontologists have drawn with ink extracted from a preserved fossilised squid uncovered during a dig in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.  —  The fossil, thought to be 150 million years old, was found when a rock was cracked open, revealing the one-inch-long black ink sac.