They do not like the idea of a public option by any stretch of the imagination and, to all appearances, had a good-sized hand in creating and coordinating the tea-baggers (and particularly their messaging) who went nuts during the town halls in August.

The baggers were big on having senior citizens come out screeching about socialized medicine being the end of the world as we know it, all the while they were the beneficiaries of ... socialized medicine called Medicare.

AHIP also was one of the participants in the backroom dealings between the WH and the health insurance industry stakeholders (except, of course, the consumers) which went on this spring and coughed up the hairball that is the Baucus bill.

For a look at the results of what happens when rationing happens, see what FL is proposing.

Then the O'Reilly rerun came on, and there was more raging and rending of garments, this time with that well-known "objective journalist" Brit Hume.  I had the sound off by then, but looked over to see film of Hitler being run.  I did not, for the record, see anything that would indicate Mr. Objective Hume was in the least perturbed by the apparent comparison of the Obama White House's criticism of Fox News to Hitler.

Shell Alaska general manager Pete Slaiby hailed the decision as "another positive step towards the ultimate goal of drilling in 2010."

Associated Press

Ads promoting atheism will be going up in New York City subway stations.

The month long ad campaign begins next Monday in a dozen Manhattan stations.

It features the slogan, "A Million New Yorkers Are Good Without God. Are You?"

"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that prolonged challenges to the political legitimacy of the government in Afghanistan should not halt the administration's efforts to decide on a new strategy nor would it slow allied military operations there.

"We are not going to just sit on our hands waiting for the outcome of this election and for the emergence of a government in Kabul," Mr. Gates said.

In a dramatic shift, the Chamber of Commerce announced Monday that it is throwing its support behind climate change legislation making its way through the U.S. Senate.

Only it didn't.

An email press release announcing the change is a hoax, say Chamber officials.

Several media organizations fell for it.

snip

The Yes Men, a left-leaning activist group that often impersonates officials from organizations they oppose, took responsibility for the hoax.

What an embarrasment for Tennessee though, -7 passing yards.

"Something that we believe in very firmly and basically what we should be saying is that there are rules that you need to get into the country, go [through] the right door, fill out the right form, have some apple pie, hum a few bars of the Star Spangled Banner and get to work," Steele said. "God bless you, and I think that that begins to set us on the right road to dealing with this issue."

The Republican Marriage might not be the most gruesome death on this list, but it is certainly one of the most interesting. Originating in France, this form of execution was common in Revolutionary France. It involved tying together two naked people, a male and female usually of a similar age, and drowning them. In some cases, usually where water wasn't available, the couple would be run through with a sword.