Sens: Snowe's healthcare vote puts her top Commerce perch at risk  —  Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) is risking a shot at becoming the top Republican on an influential Senate committee by backing Democratic healthcare legislation, according to senators on the panel.

Let me ask you  —  The Internet has been around a while, now.  But, I still find it an amazing platform for innovation, not just in technology, but in life.  Beyond admiring the way it powers so many inventions and businesses, it has become a personal thing for me.

PWC statement — Not so helpful for AHIP  —  PricewaterhouseCoopers, the authors of AHIP's report, put out a statement last night that basically said, “Hey, we weren't paid to evaluate the effects of the entire bill, but rather a small slice of it.”  The statement only seems to reinforce critics' view …

Liz Cheney takes on ‘radical’ W.H.  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney's eldest daughter Liz will launch a new group aimed at rallying opposition to the “radical” foreign policy of the Obama administration which it says has succeeded only in undermining the nation's security.

Orly Taitz Sanctioned for $20,000  —  The “Birther queen” has been slapped with a five-figure fine for “wasting the judicial resources” of the Middle District of Georgia, where she'd filed one of her numerous lawsuits demanding that President Obama prove his citizenship before deploying soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Can I Vent?  —  Yesterday was probably the most embarrassing day yet for the progressive blogosphere during the short reign of the Obama administration.  So, now is probably a good time to just let loose and register my disgust with the movement I've been a part of for the last five years.

Number of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Overlooks Thousands of Support Troops  —  Additional Deployments Not Announced and Rarely Noted  —  President Obama announced in March that he would be sending 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.  But in an unannounced move, the White House has also authorized …

The Cable Effect  —  I got to the office a bit before 9AM today and within 20 minutes I felt incredibly agitated.  I was pissed off.  I also had a feeling of despair about the prospects for health reform.  I was mad, and I also felt helpless.  What was wrong?  Was it just a bad case of the Mondays?

Matthews: 'Someone's Going To Jam a CO2 Pellet Into Rush's Head'  —  What some guys won't say to get attention . . .  Analogizing Rush Limbaugh to a James Bond villain, Chris Matthews today fantasized: “at some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp.”

Khamenei Said to be in Coma  —  This story has been floating around the net for the past day or so, but this report comes from a person who is in a position to know such things.  As I know very well (having been gulled into wrongly announcing Khamenei's death a while back), it is easy to be misled …

Second Thoughts in Battle for Virginia  —  WASHINGTON — When State Senator R. Creigh Deeds defeated Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic Party chairman and confidante of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, to be the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, the argument among many Democrats …

Racism Is The New Black  —  Did I miss something?  Some Rubicon crossed, some tipping point?  When did it become okay for mainstream* wingnuts to be straight-up, unapologetic racists?  —  It's not that this sort of thing hasn't been seen before — fr'example this — but for the most part …

OBAMA 15TH HOTTEST HEAD OF STATE  —  President Barack Obama may have been granted a Nobel Peace Prize, but that doesn't mean that every top honor comes to him easily.  The new website “Hottest Heads of State” has ranked the attractiveness of 172 world leaders, and Obama comes in 15th behind …