Midday Open Thread

• How's all that bipartisanship working out these days?

  While they await their health care overhauls, Congressional Democrats will this week try to make progress on other initiatives that have been moving at a glacial pace due to the inability of Senate Republicans and Democrats to come to agreement on how to deal with them.

  Democrats complain that an extension of unemployment benefits, a major Pentagon policy measure, the remaining spending bills and a series of nominations are being slowed by Republicans who are interested in keeping Congress tied up in knots and denying Democrats victories.

  “On too many issues here in Washington — in fact, almost every issue — we get the Republican shuffle,” Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, complained last week. “We can’t get things done, all right? We can’t get nominations done. We can’t get simple votes on pieces of legislation that are so elementary, so simple. It’s just a big stall.”

  Maybe you can ask President Snowe what to do, Harry.

• Comedy at the Western CPAC.
• And speaking of rightwing nutjobs:

  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will preside over a hearing on presidential “czars” in his Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

• And let's throw one more nutjob into the mix -- David Vitter (R-LA) is the only high-level elected Louisiana official who hasn't denounced the Justice of the Peace who refuses to marry interracial couples.
• Well, this could be a national security risk embarrassing:

  A British High Court on Friday ordered that previously redacted text concerning the alleged torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed must be made public.

• Wow, really? Who knew?

  On Fox and Friends this morning, host Brian Kilmeade tried to paint a contrast between the Obama administration and the Bush administration, telling former Bush press secretary Dana Perino, “not only did you not go after” networks critical of Bush, “you gave them interviews, as did the president.” Perino corrected him, however, saying that “towards the end,” the Bush administration largely froze out MSNBC:

  KILMEADE: And not only did you not go after them, you gave them interviews, as did the president.

  DOOCY: Sure.

  KILMEADE: Gave them all interviews. Read Ronald Reagan’s diaries…

  PERINO: Towards the end we didn’t do a lot with MSNBC. That’s, that is the case.

• File this one under good call:

  The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

  Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

  The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

• Remember to neuter your pets -- but more importantly, neuter The Chamber of Commerce.
• Rudy Giuliani (NV911-NY) is still fear-mongering, these days for Michael Bloomberg:

  Raising the specter of a return to higher crime and greater anxiety, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani warned on Sunday that New York could become a more dangerous city if Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is not re-elected in November.

• European astronomers have discovered 32 new planets outside our solar system, which means they'll be needing names -- I understand that "Pluto" is available.
• If only it were true:

  Amid fears that publicity-starved parents may try to convince unwitting viewers that they have launched giant balloons with their children inside, Apple today introduced a new iPhone app that detects balloon hoaxes.

  The app, called iBalloon, enables the user to point the iPhone at a balloon overhead to determine whether or not there is a child inside.

  In other news, Merriam-Webster, the dictionary company, said that the word "balloon" is now an acceptable verb, meaning "fuck with."