Pelosi, Slaughter went to court against GOP's self-executing rule in 2005  —  You've been hearing a lot this week about the Slaughter Solution, the rule devised by House Rules Committee Chairman Louise Slaughter of New York whereby the House would pass an Obamacare reconcilliation bill via a rule that …

Slaughter House Rules  —  How Democrats may ‘deem’ ObamaCare into law, without voting.  —  We're not sure American schools teach civics any more, but once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law.

THE IOKIYAR RULE, PROCEDURAL EDITION.... For a while, Republicans were awfully worked up about using the reconciliation process to pass a health-care related budget fix, despite the GOP's repeated use of the same procedure.  Now Republicans are headed for the fainting couch over use of the self-executing rule …

Hinkle: Left and Right Strive to Prove Santayana Right  —  Democrats in Washington seem bent on epitomizing George Santayana's definition of fanaticism: redoubling your effort while losing sight of your goal.  Their chief aim this week seems to be to pass some version of health care reform, no matter how much they detest it.

ObamaCare and the ‘Buzzsaw’ of Opposition  —  The president could have chosen a bipartisan approach.  —  A little over a year ago, when President Obama first took up health-care reform, Republicans reached out to him in the hopes of working together on solutions that would lower health-care costs for families and small businesses.

The Spirit of Sympathy  —  Human beings, the philosophers tell us, are social animals.  We emerge into the world ready to connect with mom and dad.  We go through life jibbering and jabbering with each other, grouping and regrouping.  When you get a crowd of people in a room …