GOP plots Senate health roadblock  —  Democrats might like to think that health care reform is all but a done deal if it clears the House, but the Senate is where Republicans have been plotting for months to sentence it to a painful procedural death.  —  Republican aides have been mining …

Rules Panel Dem To Vote Against Bill  —  A key House Dem has begun informing party leaders he plans to vote against health care legislation both on the House floor and in the rules committee, on which he sits.  —  Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY), a sophomore Dem who had a tougher …

The House vote on the Slaughter Solution: Update: Constitution-butchers prevail, 222-203; Roll call vote added; Calling out Dems Altmire, Lynch; Barone's analysis added  —  Photoshop credit: Big Fur Hat at iowntheworld.com and Applecross Media  —  You'll recall that House Republicans unveiled …

Obama blocks delivery of bunker-busters to Israel  —  WASHINGTON — The United States has diverted a shipment of bunker-busters designated for Israel.  —  Officials said the U.S. military was ordered to divert a shipment of smart bunker-buster bombs from Israel to a military base in Diego Garcia.

First Thoughts on the CBO Score  —  As fate would have it, on the day that the CBO report is released, I am in standby hell, and running low on laptop juice.  So my thoughts on the CBO score, and the revised reconciliation bill, are necessarily somewhat preliminary.  But here is what I've noticed so far:

Conrad drops support for North Dakota provision to avoid controversy  —  Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) has asked House negotiators to scrap a provision in the reconciliation package that would have benefited his home state.  —  Conrad had won a carve-out for the Bank …

Obama's Approval Rating Lowest Yet, Congress' Declines  —  Slightly more disapprove than approve of Obama  —  PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama's job approval is the worst of his presidency to date, with 46% of Americans approving and 48% disapproving of the job he is doing as president …

Texts Without Context  —  In his deliberately provocative — and deeply nihilistic — new book, “Reality Hunger,” the onetime novelist David Shields asserts that fiction “has never seemed less central to the culture's sense of itself.”  He says he's “bored by out-and-out fabrication …

FL-Sen: Crist is broken  —  Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 3/15-17.  Likely voters.  MoE 4% (5% for primary samples).  (11/16-18/2009 results)  —  GOP Senate Primary  —  Charlie Crist (R) 30 (47)  —  Marco Rubio (R) 58 (37)  —  Other polling has shown Rubio blowing past Crist, so that's not so much news.

“Libertarians,” Sprawl, and Land Use  —  Randal O'Toole has a baffling and bafflingly long post dedicated to trying to rebut my very simple view of the relationship between “sprawl” and land-use regulations.  So I'll just restate my argument in briefer form and ask O'Toole to say what, if anything, in it he disagrees with:

Ex-general links gay troops to Bosnian genocide  —  A retired Marine general told senators on Thursday that the Dutch Army failed to protect the city of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war partly because of the presence of gay soldiers in its armed forces.  —  John J. Sheehan …

Stupak: Health fight has been ‘living hell’  —  Leading a revolt against President Barack Obama's healthcare legislation over abortion has been a “living hell” for Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.).  —  The telephone lines in his Washington and district offices have been “jammed” …

NRSC subpoenaed in Ensign probe  —  The National Republican Senatorial Committee has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury looking into the aftermath of Sen. John Ensign's extramarital affair with a former staffer, adding a new political problem for GOP leaders in their response …

Choi Arrested at White House Gates  —  In an act of civil disobedience, Lt. Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo have been arrested at the White House gates on Thursday while protesting the military's “don't ask, don't tell” policy.  —  Following a Human Rights Campaign rally for DADT repeal …

The right way to mend immigration  —  Our immigration system is badly broken.  Although our borders have become far more secure in recent years, too many people seeking illegal entry get through.  We have no way to track whether the millions who enter the United States on valid visas each year leave when they are supposed to.

Obama, Clinton fundraiser admits $292 million fraud  —  * Obama campaign “bundler” faces prison time  —  * Nemazee tells court he is ashamed (Adds forfeiture and restitution; affected political donations to go to charity)  —  A wealthy businessman who raised money for leading Democratic Party politicians …