House Democrats Want to Fund Health Care With an Ill-Advised Surtax on the Rich.  —  THERE IS a serious case to be made that the U.S. income tax system should become more progressive.  The average rate paid by the top 1 percent of households shrank from 33 percent in 1986 to about 23 percent in 2006.

Bombshell: Orders revoked for soldier challenging prez  —  Major victory for Army warrior questioning Obama's birthplace  —  A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required …

Sotomayor retreats more under queries  —  Republicans pressed Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor into further retreat Wednesday morning on some of her past public statements, but the low-key exchanges generally lacked the sparks of Tuesday's session.  —  Sotomayor gave ground on comments …

Buchanan: GOP Needs More Race-Baiting, Not Less  —  A provocative article by Pat Buchanan argues that contrary to conventional wisdom, Republicans shouldn't worry about alienating Hispanic voters, they should just focus on getting white people to like them more: … And he sees race-baiting attacks as the way to do it:

White Man's Last Stand  —  You can't judge a judge by her cover.  —  Despite the best efforts of Republicans to root out any sign that Sonia Sotomayor has emotions that color her views on the law, the Bronx Bomber kept a robotic mask in place.  —  A wise Latina woman with the richness …

Sotomayor Again Misstates Fundamental Rights Doctrine:  —  As she did yesterday, Sotomayor asserted that a right is “fundamental” if it is “incorporated” against the states via the 14th Amendment rather than that a right is incorporated against the states if it is fundamental.

Rube Goldberg Already Lives Here  —  House Republicans today released a chart depicting what health care in America would look like if the House Democrats get their way.  It's confusing, if colorful—full of boxes, lines, and all sorts of hard-to-say acronyms.  Which, of course, is the point.

As Republicans gain control, face of Oklahoma Democrats changes  —  Democratic Congressman Dan Boren sits behind a desk with two bucks mounted on wooden plaques peering over each of his shoulders.  The sleeves of his button-down shirt are rolled almost to his elbows, and like everyone milling about outside, he is sweaty.

Palin: All Tail, No Head  —  Sarah Palin's political action committee — SarahPAC — raised $733,000 in the first half of the year and is set to push past $1 million in the wake of the recent attention she's gotten herself.  On the one hand, this isn't that impressive.  Mitt Romney, for instance, has raised twice as much.

Obama's science czar suggested compulsory abortion, sterilization  —  Internet reports are now circulating that Obama's Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, penned a 1977 book that approved of and recommended compulsory sterilization and even abortion in some cases …

Senate panel passes health reform bill  —  A Senate committee became the first congressional panel to advance healthcare reform legislation this year, marking a significant step toward the achievement of President Obama's foremost domestic initiative.  —  On a party-line, 13-10 tally …

Calorie Labeling and the Dunch Problem  —  I wrote earlier today about the problem of large portion sizes in which many of us who might have one kind of desire to consume fewer calories nonetheless find ourselves drawn toward high-calorie orders in the moment.

‘COMINSKEY FIELD’?  PRESIDENT OBAMA BOTCHES NAME OF HOME OF HIS BELOVED WHITE SOX  —  “I do think that there's a different quality to what used to be Cominskey Field vs. Wrigley,” President Obama told Bob Costas during an interview that aired during Tuesday night's MLB All-Star Game.

Fundraising Corruption at Human Rights Watch  —  An on-line Wall Street Journal op-ed posted two days ago alleged that Human Rights Watch officials went trolling for dollars in Saudi Arabia, and that the organization's senior Middle East official, Sarah Leah Whitson, attempted to extract money …

Poor, Persecuted Sarah Palin  —  The GOP embraces the culture of victimhood.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation two weeks ago it was after a series of strange, petty bouts with her detractors.  Many “frivolous ethics violations” had been alleged against her, she noted.

Person Shot Near U.S. Capitol  —  WASHINGTON - A U.S. Capitol Police officer shot a 35-year-old man at New Jersey Avenue NW and C Street NW, blocks from the Capitol, according to law enforcement sources.  —  It happened just after 5:15 p.m.  —  Robert Drum, a tourist from Edmond, Oklahoma …

Universal Health Care Isn't Worth Our Freedom  —  What would Thoreau have made of the current debate?  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  People who seek the services of auto mechanics want car repair, not “auto care.”  Similarly, most people who seek the services of medical doctors want body repair, not “health care.”

Deficits saved the world  —  Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs has a new note (no link) responding to claims that government support for the economy is postponing the necessary adjustment.  He doesn't think much of that argument; neither do I. But one passage in particular caught my eye:

Calpers: Rating Agencies to Blame for Huge Losses  —  Way back when, I mentioned there was a surprise coming S&P's way.  Since it is now out there officially, I can discuss it publicly.  —  After the brouhaha with McGraw Hill began, I was contacted by numerous people — mostly readers emailing words of support.

This Recession is Over  —  Daniel Gross, writing for Newsweek, finds that two of his favorite economic forecasters have predicted an end to the recession, starting ... now.  We're growing, everybody!  We're a real economy!  Let's look at the evidence:  —  The Macroeconomic Advisers …

Organizing for America, Obama's Sleeping Beast, Starts to Awaken  —  It looks like Organizing for America, President Obama's de facto field organization based at the DNC, is ramping up its efforts to demonstrate support for health care reform.  Last week I took a look at OFA's online directory …

Chuck Todd's arguments against investigations  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III)  —  NBC's Chuck Todd — who, remember, is billed as a reporter covering the White House, not a pundit expressing opinions — was on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday discussing reports that Eric Holder …

Levin bails on F-22 cuts  —  The effort to strip $1.75 billion from the defense authorization bill to fund F-22 Raptors has stalled.  —  Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has pulled the amendment he and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) co-sponsored that would have yanked funding for the controversial jet fighter, Levin's office confirmed.