[Guest post by DRJ]

Does Speaker Pelosi have the votes to pass health care legislation in the House? Yes and No:

I’d feel a lot better if the Democrats were counting on Reid for votes instead of Pelosi.

— DRJ

UPDATE — On the other hand, Pelosi lost another “Yes” vote today:

“Today, Rep. Neil Abercrombie’s retirement takes effect as the veteran Democrat devotes his full time to running for governor of Hawaii. Abercrombie voted for the House bill, so that’s one more “yes” vote that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t have if she hopes to pass health care using reconciliation.

Pelosi has lost three “yes” votes since Nov. 7. The others: Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who died Feb. 8, and Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., who resigned Jan. 3 to become the head of the non-profit Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.

The House vote last time was 220-215, so Pelosi will need to persuade some of the 39 Democrats who voted against the House bill to vote for the Senate bill — which is the first step of a two-step reconciliation process. That won’t be easy.”

[Guest post by DRJ]

Everything looks bad on this map but flyover country doesn’t look quite as bad.

— DRJ

“While we can’t know if the text transcripts O’Keefe released were accurate, since he refuses to release the audio tape . . .” — Brad Friedman, in his letter to Clark Hoyt.

The full unedited audio of every visit for which there is a transcript is available at Big Government. As Friedman knows, since I told him this repeatedly when we appeared on the radio together.

UPDATE: Apparently Eric Boehlert is part of this hoax as well. Eric Boehlert has linked Friedman’s post but did not lift a finger to correct Friedman.

Remember: Boehlert has repeatedly claimed that O’Keefe “lied” or committed a “hoax” merely because O’Keefe did not correct Steve Doocy’s claim about his manner of dress at ACORN. By Boehlert’s logic, Boehlert has himself engaged in a hoax, by endorsing Friedman’s post but failing to correct Friedman’s falsehood.

UPDATE x2: Robot Theater does actual Twitter messages between Boehlert and Breitbart:

H/t: PoliGrrl.

UPDATE x3: Thanks to Instapundit for the link. I want to make it clear again that Boehlert is being hoist on his own petard — as he has set up a standard for James O’Keefe that, if applied to Boehlert himself, makes Boehlert a liar.

I should also note that Boehlert’s relentless focus on O’Keefe’s clothing is a nonsensical issue. It has nothing to do with the actions of ACORN employees who believed they were helping someone set up a house for 13 year-old girls to turn tricks and give O’Keefe the money.

The unedited audio proves there was no nefarious editing. Don’t let the liars try to tell you different. Click the link and examine the evidence for yourself.

UPDATE x4: Friedman admits that he and Boehlert lied and tried to hoax people. Details here.

[Guest post by DRJ]

President Obama had a physical today. He’s in excellent health with only one medical issue:

“President Barack Obama is using nicotine replacement therapy to help himself quit smoking, according to the results of his physical exam released Sunday.

Navy Capt. Dr. Jeff Kuhlman examined Obama at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland Sunday morning and recommended that the president “continue smoking cessation efforts.”

The American Cancer Society explains why it’s so hard to quit smoking.

— DRJ

UPDATE: The U.S. stop-smoking website Smokefree.gov indicates the maximum duration for an NRT patch is 6 weeks and in President Obama’s home state of Illinois, government services only approve nicotine replacement therapy for 6-12 weeks:

The Department will first implement this edit with nicotine replacement patches. According to guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Association, the recommended duration of therapy for nicotine replacement is six to twelve weeks. Longer durations of nicotine replacement therapy have not been found to be more effective. Therefore, the duration of therapy for nicotine replacement patches will be limited to 90 days within a 365-day period.

Reports suggest Obama may have been on NRT gum or a patch since at least 2007, and he used the gum 6 months longer than recommendations allowed. Maybe the health care time limits don’t apply to him the way they would to others, especially those receiving government health care … or maybe he keeps falling off the wagon.

UPDATE 2: Here is the physician’s report.

[Guest post by DRJ]

JammieWearingFool links a Boston Herald article on the investigation into the shooting of Amy Bishop’s brother:

“Accused Alabama campus killer Amy Bishop insists the 1986 shooting of her brother was an accident, even as authorities probe whether she may have been inspired by a celebrity murder case in a National Enquirer article found on her bedroom floor.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating said Bishop’s actions after the shooting of her 18-year-old brother were “parallel” to the escape plan of the killers depicted in the news article, which the Herald has learned was an Enquirer piece about the 1986 shooting of “Dallas” star Patrick Duffy’s parents in Montana.”

Like the teenage killers in the Duffy case, Bishop fled to a car dealership to commandeer an escape vehicle after the shooting.

JWF also recaps recent news about Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt, the former DA who may have been instrumental in the decision not to charge Bishop in her brother’s death.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Ed Driscoll has compiled a master list of the demographics of American newspapers. Here are the first two:

“1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.”

Driscoll’s list is fun and spot on, but I have one correction: He forgot to mention the Los Angeles Times makes a good dog trainer.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Can you be arrested for kidnapping a woman if you didn’t know she was there and she never knew she had been kidnapped?

“Police found a car that was stolen early this morning while a woman slept in the backseat, and she never awoke through what otherwise might have been an ordeal.

She was still snoozing there when police found the abandoned car about six hours later, they said, and she remembers nothing.

As for the thief, he apparently got more than intended at 3:30 a.m. when he took a car that came with a slumbering woman.”

This sounds like a law school hypothetical but it’s real.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

CFV 426 – Avatar/Pocahontas Mashup FINAL VERSION from Randy Szuch on Vimeo.

H/T Hot Air and Huffington Post.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

How does a major newspaper decide whether to report wartime news whose release may jeopardize American interests or lives? New York Times‘ Editor Bill Keller says it depends on many factors, apparently including whether the newspaper has a friendly or acrimonious relationship with the President:

KELLER: No, we get asked to withhold information, not often but from time to time. Sometimes it’s a no-brainer, you know we have reporters embedded in military operations – obviously they don’t file information that would put troops at risk. We’ve had other stories that were much more controversial where we decided that we would publish. This one was not, honestly, a very hard call. Obviously we were eager to break the story, it represented a lot of resourceful reporting by Mark and Dexter, but there was no obvious public interest reason to rush the story into print and you know we are responsible people; we didn’t want to compromise what sounded like a possible intelligence coup.

HEADLEE: And certainly, the story retains just as much power more than a week later as it would have had you broken it right at the time, is that kind of your thought process?

KELLER: Yeah, I think that’s kind of the thought process. What actually happened, was yesterday our stringers in Pakistan and Afghanistan started calling our bureaus there and saying, we’re hearing reports that Mullah Baladar is in Pakistani custody, we took that to the White House and they said, yeah we understand it’s not holdable anymore.

HEADLEE: Right, so you published it. Now you visited the White House in 2006 while President Bush was in office and you were getting ready to publish a story about domestic wire tapping and very famously you were told if you published that story you’d have blood on your hands. Is that the kind of dire warning you got from the Obama White House?

KELLER: No, first of all this didn’t even get to my level, they dealt with Dean Baquet, the Washington bureau chief, I mean obviously if they felt they needed to call me, I’m always willing to take a call, but it didn’t even rise to that level. Back in 2006 the conversations were professional and civil, but in the end when we didn’t agree to hold the story as they wanted us to, it was a kind of firestorm of criticism from the White House aimed at the Times. So far anyway we haven’t had that acrimony with this administration, nor as far as I know have other news organisations.”

It sounds like the New York Times‘ editors didn’t [like and/or] trust Bush and that contributed to why they refused his requests, but they [like and/or] trust Obama so they are more willing to accommodate his requests. I don’t know if that’s consistent with journalistic standards but it’s understandable. We are more likely to believe people we trust.

It’s also useful because it explains why subscriptions are dropping at newspapers like the New York Times but not at sources like the Wall Street Journal. It’s about trust.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Senator Jim Bunning has single-handedly halted extensions of unemployment insurance and Cobra health benefits for some unemployed Americans. He says the government should first say how it plans to pay for the extensions:

“Bunning is furious about increased spending in the Senate – but he’s waging a lonely battle to stop it. The senior senator from his state, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, with whom he has a frosty relationship, is not backing him up. If he refuses to relent, Democrats will have to file cloture to shut down debate, pushing back final action until next week.

But Democrats are eager to have this fight; even though they know that Bunning remains largely by himself, they know that hammering away at the Kentucky Republican will drill home their argument that the GOP is out to obstruct progress.”

Bunning did share some colorful language with his irritated colleagues:

“In a colloquy with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Jeff Merkley, a freshman Democrat from Oregon, was pleading for Bunning to drop his objection, when the Kentucky Republican got fed up.

“Tough s—t,” Bunning said as he was seated in the back row, overheard by the floor staff and others in attendance.”

It’s not quite the equal of General McAuliffe’s “Nuts” in response to a German surrender demand, but it’s the same sentiment.

— DRJ