Midday open thread

• Rove's new book is (obviously) full of lies.
• By fighting hard, progressives were able to significantly strengthen the health care bill. We obviously didn't get everything we wanted, but we pass this, and we have a good foundation to tinker, improve, and expand.

  And losing Rush to Costa Rica is just the cherry on top.  (Although not for Costa Rica, which would suddenly have justifiable grounds to declare war on the United States.)

• Iraqi pullout still on track.

  Iraq's elections went well enough to allow the U.S. military to stick to its plan to withdraw nearly half of the troops this year, the U.S. commander in Iraq said Monday.
  "Unless there's a catastrophic event, we don't see that changing," Gen. Ray Odierno said. "We believe we're right on track."

  Odierno said Sunday's vote was another milestone that will let him meet President Obama's intent to have all but 50,000 non-combat servicemembers out of Iraq by the end of August.

  Odierno said the current level of about 96,000 servicemembers will remain relatively flat until May. He will then gradually pull out troops through August.

• US troops also pulling out of Haiti.
• Dennis Kucinich has always been a little prick, and that hasn't changed.

  He's someone who deserves a real primary.

• World Nut Daily is single-handedly destroying the CPAC conference. And it's ready to kick it up to the next level with a September conference that will be ALL about the birthers. Can't wait!

  That's why today I pronounce CPAC dead.

  It's one of the reasons I am organizing a conference this September called "Taking America Back." This one is about the ultimate issues of God, the Constitution, the tea-party uprising, freedom and justice.

  There will be no two-headed monkeys.

  There will be no same-sex marriage sponsors.

  But there will be free and open discussion of issues like the constitutional eligibility of the man occupying the White House.

  I want to send Hunter.

• Glenn Beck is now telling you which churches to attend.
• Chatting with Hunter yesterday, he came up with a new idea in response to Survival Seeds: Rapture kit in a box.  

  For just 5000 bucks I'll sell you a big wooden box with everything you need to survive the Rapture. But if you open it at any point before the Rapture, you'll break the delicate mechanisms and void your warranty. Then the contents of the box will just turn to sand, a few rocks, and whatever was in my compost bin the day I packed your box.

  All he has to do is advertise on Glenn Beck's show, and he'll be a multi-millionaire by lunchtime.

• I'm actually looking forward to the Tron and Clash of the Titans remakes. They were two of my favorite movies as a kid. Titans looks like it'll be as cheesy as the original, which is a good thing.