Health Care Reforms To Kick In; GOP Screams ‘Look At Us’

By William K. Wolfrum

On Thursday, six months after the bill left President Barack Obama’s desk, several more benefits of health care reform will start to take effect (some took effect upon signing the bill). To have some of the bill’s benefits kick in before the midterm elections was a key issue for many Democrats who were wobbly on the prospect of passing such sweeping legislation. Some of the the changes that will begin in two days include:

This means …

Palin Calls Tea Party “The Future Of Politics”; Poll Shows Tea Party Hurting GOP

Sarah Palin has a video out that affords her more characters than she’s allowed on The Twitter. As Greg Sargent notes, this is a transparent attempt to position herself as the goddess of the tea party movement.

However, Sargent also shows how at least one of Palin’s supportees, Christine O’Donnell, is “toxic and hurting the GOP,” based on a new Fox poll in Delaware.

Regardless of how you plan to vote, do you think Christine O’Donnell is qualified to be a U.S. Senator?

33% Yes

60% No

And many Delaware voters are actively voting to oppose O’Donnell and the …

Imam Behind New York Islamic Center Fears For His Safety

The Imam associated with the proposed Manhattan Islamic Center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, has protection provided by the New York Police Department because of concerns for his safety in the wake of the controversy surrounding the center’s establishment.

“There’s just a lot of crazies and that’s why he has police protection from the NYPD,” the Rev. James Parks Morton said Monday of his friend Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

“I know that he’s being guarded, that he’s not been staying in the usual places, that he’s not working from his office and that he’s concerned for his safety,” said another friend of …

It’s Newt’s Senate And We’re All Just Suffering There

by Stuart Shapiro

A new paper by political scientists Sean Theriault and David Rohde puts forth an interesting hypothesis for the increase in partisanship in the United States Senate (h/t Monkey Cage):

It finds that the growing divide between the voting scores of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate can be accounted for almost entirely by the election of a particular breed of senator: Republicans who were previously elected to the House after 1978. It is the replacement of retiring or defeated senators (both Democrat and Republican) by these newly elected former House Republicans that single-handedly can account for …

Christine O’Donnell’s History Of Activism To “Pray Away The Gay”

The American Psychological Association and The American Psychiatric Association have debunked the idea that you can turn from gay to straight by embracing Jesus, but the scam has been around for years, and one of its advocates has been Christine O’Donnell. Wayne Besen of “Truth Wins Out” appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show to discuss this fraudulent scheme and O’Donnell’s involvement in it (via AmericaBlog).

Wade Richards (pictured), seen in the video above, was an ex-gay, now an ex-ex-gay, who became O’Donnell’s spokesman as he was struggling to overcome his gayness – until he decided that the whole thing was a …

Harry Reid Thinks Kirsten Gillibrand Is the “Hottest Memeber” Of The Senate

Senate Majority Leader and pulchritude appreciator Harry Reid believes that New York Senator Kirsten Gillebrand is his “hottest” colleague.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had an unusual form of praise for New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, this morning at the fundraiser Mayor Bloomberg hosted for him at his townhouse – referring to her as “the hottest member” as she sat just a few feet away, according to three sources.

The comment prompted Gillibrand to turn red, according to the sources, and created a bit of stir among the small crowd there.

…

[Reid said] something about how “many …

Your Reason To Go On Living: Bristol Palin On DWTS

Bristol Palin debuted her Cha-Cha on “Dancing with the Stars.”.  The verdict: She was acceptable. Oddly she danced to “Mama Told Me Not To Come.”  Odder still, “Mama,” who was supposed to come, didn’t show up.

…

WI Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Walker’s 68-Page Jobs Plan Would Be Four Pages Using A Normal Font

Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker has a 68-page jobs plan, which sounds very impressive until you open it and discover the font is so big that there are only 10 words per page. At 200 words per page, that would take up no more than four pages if normal typeface were used (h/t Wonkette).

Lest you think this is just some idiotic “temp worker” accidentally setting the font size to GINORMOUS and then letting an evil “local politics blogger” get hold of it, the actual PDF on the actual candidate’s website is named “SCOTT WALKER’S 68-PAGE JOBS …

Watchdog Group: Christine O’Donnell Is A Criminal

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) says Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell’s use of campaign funds for personal expenses makes her a criminal.

“Christine O’Donnell is clearly a criminal, and like any crook she should be prosecuted,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a release. “Ms. O’Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses. Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on much these days, but both sides should agree on one point: thieves belong in jail not the United States Senate.”

CREW is asking the Delaware attorney general’s office to open …

On Monday’s Radio Show…

• The dean of talk radio, Barry Farber, sits down with Alan to share fascinating stories from his 50 years in broadcasting.

• Wiccan high priestess Selena Fox tells Alan why she fears that Christine O’Donnell’s admission of having “dabbled into witchcraft” has “defamed” paganism.

• Alan explains why he thinks that Alaska Republican Joe Miller – who says unemployment benefits are unconstitutional – should not be employed in the U.S. Senate.…

Millionaire Backs Off Plan to Target Rep. Raul Grijalva

by Sandi Behrns

Last week, I broke the story, here on Liberaland,  of real estate speculator and GOP fund-raiser Don Diamond’s plans to pour millions of his own dollars into ads targeting one congressman, chair of the House Progressive Caucus, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7). The story was picked up by other outlets, and a flood of support came in for Rep. Grijalva. One other consequence:  the whiff of bad publicity got back to Mr. Diamond.

Diamond faced great scrutiny during the 2008 Presidential race, when the details of a shady land deal involving his good friend, Sen. John …