Freudian slip of the day ....

File this one under INOKIYAD* (and that's something to be proud of):

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) will not run for election in 2010--a not surprising decision given that Burris, appointed by ousted Gov. Blagojevich to fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama had never created a political organization, raised virtually no campaign cash, and faced controversy from the start.

Unfortunately for Burris, he wasn't a Republican. Rumor has it they like their candidates to have these kind of problems.

*INOKIYAD = It's not okay if you are a Democrat.

There is only one reason that anyone would vote against a resolution to acknowledge the role slaves played in the construction of the U.S. Capitol:

Whereas recognition of the contributions of enslaved African-Americans brings to all Americans an understanding of the continuing evolution of our representative democracy; and

Whereas a marker dedicated to the enslaved African-Americans who helped to build the Capitol will reflect the charge of the Capitol Visitor Center to teach visitors about Congress and its development

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

SECTION 1. PLACEMENT OF MARKER IN CAPITOL VISITOR CENTER TO ACKNOWLEDGE ROLE OF SLAVE LABOR IN CONSTRUCTION OF CAPITOL.

... but when the resolution was passed yesterday 399-1, the lone dissenter wouldn't admit to it. Instead, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) trotted out an asinine excuse:

Last night I opposed yet another bill to erect another monument to slavery because it was used as a bargaining chip to allow for the actual depiction of 'In God We Trust' in the CVC. The Architect of the Capitol and liberal activists opposed every reference to America's Christian heritage, even to the extent of scrubbing 'In God We Trust' from the depiction of the actual Speaker's chair in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"This is just the latest example of a several year effort by liberals in Congress to scrub references to America's Christian heritage from our nation's Capitol. Liberals want to amend our country's history to eradicate the role of Christianity in America and chisel references to God or faith from our historical buildings.

But since no one was buying that load of garbage, he's come up with a new excuse:

And of the 645,000 Africans that were brought here to be forcibly put into slavery in the United States, there were over 600,000 people that gave their lives in the Civil War to put an end to slavery. And I don’t see the monument to that in the Congressional Visitor Center, and I think it’s important that we have a balanced depiction of history.

Of course, as Think Progress points out:

And there’s also an African American Civil War Memorial that honors the contributions that African-American troops made to the war effort.

If Steve King wants to learn more about how DC has honored the contributions of Union soldiers, he can order this book, titled: "Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments In Washington, D.C." And if King’s truly interested in a "balanced depiction of history," he’d be supporting a simple acknowledgment of slave labor’s role in building the Capitol, a memorial that doesn’t currently exist in DC.

So perhaps it's time for Mr. King to just admit the obvious reason someone would vote against such a resolution.

Newly arrived in my inbox:

HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION LAUNCHES RACIAL DISCRIMINATION INVESTIGATION
NAACP requests investigation following Montgomery County swimming pool incident

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission Chairperson Stephen A. Glassman announced today that the commission would launch an immediate investigation into allegations of racial discrimination against the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County, after a recent incident in which African-American and Hispanic day campers were asked to leave the club's pool.

"The rule of law in Pennsylvania is equal opportunity for all, regardless of race," Glassman said.  "Based on the NAACP's request and public outcry following media reports, we will expedite an investigation to determine whether there has been illegal discrimination."

The commission has legal authority to investigate allegations of illegal discrimination, whether or not a complaint has been filed.

"Allegedly, this group was denied the use of a pool based on their race," Glassman said. "If the allegations prove to be true, this is illegal discrimination in Pennsylvania."

"Protests and public outcry won't do much to help these families," said State NAACP President J. Whyatt Mondesire, who also serves on the commission. "But the Human Relations Commission can determine the facts and hold people accountable for any illegal acts of discrimination.  The law simply does not allow discrimination based on race."

In addition, the Valley Club's website has been updated within the past hour or so:

The Valley Club is deeply troubled by the recent allegations of racism which are completely untrue.

We had originally agreed to invite the camps to use our facility, knowing full well that the children from the camps were from multi-ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that we underestimated the capacity of our facilities and realized that we could not accommodate the number of children from these camps. All funds were returned to the camps and we will re-evaluate the issue at a later date to determine whether it can be feasible in the future.

Our Valley Club deplores discrimination in any form, as is evidenced by our multi-ethnic and diverse membership. Whatever comments may or may not have been made by an individual member is an opinion not shared by The Valley Club Board.

My omnibus news update from this morning, including a not-shocking racist email received from the neighborhood in which I grew up, is here.
::
::
updated:  Want to do more to help?  Sign Color of Change's petition to demand that the United States Department of Justice investigate whether federal civil rights laws have been violated.  

As they note:

Obama is President but that doesn't mean that suddenly all is fine when it comes to race in America. This is a vivid reminder of what we know still lies beneath the surface.

We all know stories like this one -- similar incidents play out quietly every day in different communities across the country. The difference in this case is that folks got caught and there was a contract in place that makes for a potentially illegal act.

Standing up now isn't just about making things right for these kids in Philadelphia or bringing consequences to this swim club (called the Valley Swim Club). It's about creating a climate of accountability everywhere. If we can publicly shame the Valley Swim Club and hold them accountable for this incident, it will make others think twice before engaging in this kind of discrimination.

Please join us in condemning the Valley Swim Club's blatant discrimination and calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether they violated civil rights laws. And please ask your friends and family to do the same.

The stench of desperation and pandering to the base:

Republicans plan to call a white firefighter whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to testify against her.

New Haven, Conn. firefighter Frank Ricci brought a lawsuit challenging his city's decision to scrap the results of a promotion test because too few minorities scored highly enough to qualify. He's one of 14 witnesses Republicans will call during Senate hearings on Sotomayor's confirmation that open Monday.

Sotomayor was part of an appellate court panel that rejected Ricci's claim. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling last week.

I hope the Democrats on the committee hammer him with legal questions.

And something that should be noted (again) about that the reversal by the Supreme Court:

Although "Sotomayor Reversed" was a frequent headline on the posts that spread quickly across the Web, it was actually the Supreme Court itself that shifted course.

Details, details ...

Surprise, suprise. John Ensign's parents paid his mistress's family $100K in what looks an awful lot like hush money:

Sen. John Ensign's attorney acknowledged Thursday that the Nevada Republican's parents paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress after she and her husband left his staff in April 2008.

In a statement from Paul Coggins, Ensign's attorney, said that the senator gave Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton and their two children gifts worth $96,000 and that "each gift was limited to $12,000."

"The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts," Coggins said.

Whether or not the gifts were legal, Ensign stood to benefit by having his parents make them because it kept his tax records clean in the event that he ever had to disclose them (for example, in a presidential campaign).

In the weeks since Senator John Ensign (R-NV) decided to man up go public with his affair before somebody else did, it has become a rarely mentioned footnote, relegated to the annals of Republican sex scandals. That is no longer the case.

And after yesterday's interview with the husband of the woman Ensign had an affair with, we now know that there was more to the intervention that was held in the months after Ensign got sloppy with his text messaging.

Hampton and Ensign were bonded by their conservative evangelical faith. Hampton said he reached out to intermediaries involved in a Christian fellowship home in Washington, D.C., where Ensign and several other powerful Washington figures live.  [...]

During the confrontation, Ensign agreed to write a letter to Cynthia Hampton expressing remorse, Hampton said.

A few excerpts from the letter:

What I did with you is wrong. I was completely self-centered and only thinking of myself. I used you for my own pleasure ... I betrayed everything I believe in. I lied to myself over and over ...

Plain and simple, it was wrong; it was a sin. God never intended for us to do this. I walked away from Him and my relationship with Him has suffered terribly. I know He love me and I know He loves you. He wants to restore Darlene and me and He wants to restore Doug and you.

More than that He wants to restore our relationship to Him.

And after writing that, Ensign continued with the affair for the next six months. This takes the joke about "sternly written letters" to a whole new level.

• Curious about DK4? You'll get a few hints about what's coming in this interview Markos did with Mozilla.
• A spectacular take on Sarah Palin and the traditional media by Anonymous Liberal (via Balloon Juice):

  It is nothing short of astonishing what Palin has been able to get away with while still being taken seriously. During the presidential campaign, she was kept completely away from the media for nearly a month after being selected--something that is completely unprecedented. When she was finally permitted to be interviewed, she flamed out in spectacular fashion, displaying a profound lack of policy knowledge and a near total inability to express her thoughts coherently or logically. Her stump speech was riddled with easily falsifiable claims about her record, claims that she continued to repeat even after they had been repeatedly and exhaustively debunked. She never held a press conference or appeared on any of the Sunday news shows. Toward the end of the campaign, polls were conclusively showing that she was a drag on the ticket and her own staff was trashing her in the media. Rather than send her to contested states, the McCain campaign began shipping her off to reliably red states, a clear acknowledgment that she was doing more harm than good in the states that mattered.

  Yet despite all of this, many within the media continued to treat Palin as if she was a serious presidential candidate in her own right. They continued to pretend that the Emperor's new suit was, if not spectacular, at least well-tailored.

• Why health care reform is especially important to women.
• A series of bombings in Iraq kill more than 40 people.
• Note to stores that keep your doors open all summer: Yes, I feel the cool air as I pass. Yes, I'm sure it's much more comfortable in there than it is out here. But I knew that already. Is it really worth the energy waste to remind me?
• The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks is "good."
• Jesse at Pandagon exposes a particularly insidious form of financial victimization.
• Pullin' a Palin?

• Howard Dean (who was here at Daily Kos earlier today) will be doing a town-hall session at Netroots Nation.

Tom Coburn clamming up on John Ensign's affair earlier today, claiming doctor/priest privilege:

"I was counseling him as a physician and as an ordained deacon. ... That is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody. Not to the Ethics Committee, not to a court of law, not to anybody," Coburn said.

Meanwhile, here's a statement from Tom Coburn's office, released yesterday:

"Dr. Coburn did everything he could to encourage Senator Ensign to end his affair and to persuade Senator Ensign to repair the damage he had caused to his own marriage and the Hampton’s marriage. Had Senator Ensign followed Dr. Coburn’s advice, this episode would have ended, and been made public, long ago."

They simply cannot walk the talk...on anything. At all.

Update (10:56AM) -- Here's more of Coburn "refusing" to discuss what he told Ensign, also from today:

"I was never present when a letter was written, never made any assessment of paying anybody anything. Those are untruths. Those are absolute untruths."

Hey, Sen. Coburn -- saying what you didn't say still falls under the category of discussing what you said.

On the day that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's extended hike up and down the Appalachia Trail was revealed, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) must have thought that he was the luckiest man alive, knowing that his own affair with a married employee was about to become old news.

But that was before Doug Hampton, the husband of Ensign's paramour, decided to go public with more details of the devout and pure family man's affair with his wife.

And this little nugget really jumps out:

Related: Watch the full interview with Doug Hampton at DTKV.

HAMPTON: The truth is, we were going through a really difficult time at the end of December. We had had a robbery at our home. We live not in the same neighborhood as the Ensigns, but in an adjacent neighborhood, relatively close to each other and we had a robbery. And our home was broken into, some doors were knocked down and we were asked to go over and to stay with the Ensigns. We're close. Really close. Close friends. We've been close friends a long time. Very close while we live here in Nevada. While living in the house, Cindy and John got together. John ...

RALSTON: While you moved into their house at - they invited you to their house to stay, when your house has been robbed and they, they, the affair began then?

HAMPTON: Yes.

A seedy motel would have been one thing, but in the same house where the three Ensign and three Hampton children were living? What does the Promise Keeper handbook say about that, Senator Ensign?

Gov. Howard Dean has a new rallying cry: "You have the choice" when it comes to healthcare reform, or you will, if a healthcare reform plan goes through with a strong public option, and he lays it out in his new book, Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform.

In fact, Governor Dean says:

The bottom line on healthcare reform is that it is not worth doing if it is not done right....

Subsidizing Americans to buy private health insurance without giving them the choice of a more rational and less expensive system is simply pouring money into a system that increases costs at twice the rate of inflation, serves preferentially those who don't need help, and offers not peace of mind to those at risk in difficult economic times.

In short, the healthcare reform bill is not worth passing unless the American people have the choice of signing up for a public option--a real public option.... If healthcare reform is not the desired outcome, this administration or the Democratic Party or the Congress as a whole should pass guaranteed issue and community rating and be done with it.

Dean points out that guaranteed issue (private insurers won't be able to drop subscribers if they become ill or reach a certain age) and community rating (companies won't be able to have excessive rates for people with significant illnesses or for the elderly) are key insurance reforms, but in and of themselves, aren't actual healthcare reform. That real reform only comes with choice.

Choice, Dean explains, is also why he doesn't think a single payer health system is the answer for the United States:

You can't take choice away from Americans. This country was founded on the idea that individuals can make their own choices and are free to make their own mistakes.

Furthermore, there will be inefficiency and bureaucracy in any plan, public or private. There will be, inevitably, Americans who are dissatisfied with their plan, whether they've chosen the public or private option. They should be free to change plans. If you have only one plan, no change is possible.

Within those parameters, Dean makes an excellent and extremely readable case for why substantive, structural reform isn't just necessary, it's imperative for the nation's economic recovery in the short term, and for establishing an economic base to build a sustainable future. He talks about something that has rarely come up in this debate so focused on the 47 million Americans without insurance--the 25 million who have insurance but don't get regular medical care because they can only afford catastrophic care coverage. He talks about the cost to American businesses--small and large--in trying to keep up with the the cost of insuring themselves and their employees--costs that have risen 119 percent in the past decade.

He, along with co-authors Faiz Shakir from Center for American Progress and Igor Volsky from Think Progress's Wonk Room, provides the reader with all the information she needs to argue for a) the necessity for real reform, and b) the key elements for that reform. That includes a chapter on the myths (aka, the Frank Luntz talking points) the right-wing is using in the debate, and the facts that rebut every one of those myths. Here's the three authors talking about just that.

All of these facts, figures, and talking points are provided in the book for one reason, and it's a familiar one coming from Gov. Dean: to provide you with all the ammunition you need to help get real reform enacted. Anyone who reads this book will be able to talk intelligently and convincingly about a broad range of healthcare related topics, from how various industrialized European countries provide this public good to why his most controversial idea for funding reform, a carbon tax, actually makes sense.

All this is to get you out there talking to your friends, family, and neighbors about healthcare reform; calling your representatives, writing letters to the editor; calling into talk shows and cable shows. As he says in the book, "Successful political campaigns never stop."

The purpose of electing a Democratic president was not simply to elect a Democratic president. The purpose of electing a Democratic president was to have a president in office who cared about ordinary people, and who is willing to fight hard for principles against the well-heeled forces in our nation's capital that resist change at every turn.

This is your fight.

You do have the power, after all. With that, I'll turn it over to Governor (and Dr.) Dean. But first, check out a special announcement I found in my inbox this morning from him, below the fold.

A new joint study by NASA and the University of Washington in Seattle spanning several years paints a grim picture that a phenomenon known to climatologist as polar amplification is well underway at the top of the world:

In 2003, 62 percent of the ocean’s ice cover was older, thicker ice, with 38 percent in seasonal layers, the researchers found. Five years later, 68 percent of the ice cap was made up of seasonal ice. The amount of ice replaced in the winter hasn’t been enough in recent years to compensate for the loss in the summer, which leads to more open water, which in turn absorbs heat, warming the ocean and further melting the ice, the researchers said.

The physics are uncomfortably familiar in the middle of July to anyone whose car has a dark interior. Dark material soaks up sunlight and heats up. In the Arctic, warmer global temperatures melts more ice which uncovers darker, underlying land and sea. The darker surface heats up and raises the surrounding temperature, melting more ice. The process feeds back, ruthlessly, amplifying global temperature increases in the region by a factor of two or more. The precise consequences are as unpredictable as the immediate fate of the North Pole.

"The fine details of crack formation and how sea water interacts dynamically with the sea ice, are complicated. Even the most elaborate models may not capture it completely," said Dr. Michael Mann, coauthor of Dire Predictions. "In some of the more aggressive models, the Arctic becomes essentially ice free at the height of summer within fifty years, and that's plausible, but not certain."

But even with the Arctic transforming before our eyes, right wing pundits and bloggers are more preoccupied with altering a story to claim that Al Gore compared climate change skeptics to Hitler. Energy lobbyists and their puppy dog deniers in the Senate will take up and no doubt water down a historic climate change bill. Talented, industry funded shills like Marc Morano will challenge viewers to believe him and not their lying eyes. That's the modern Republican Party for you, boldly riding to the rescue of the rich and powerful with the conservative double standard waving proudly over their heads.

Yet another poll shows that Sarah Palin is simultaneously the best and worst that the GOP has to offer. Data from a new Rasmussen Poll (July 6, 750 likely GOP voters, +/- 4%):

So Sarah Palin is that she's virtually tied with Mitt Romney on top the GOP's 2012 field...but the bad news is that while Mitt Romney is the least favorite among just 9% of Republicans, Palin is the least favorite among a whopping 21%.

Palin's "least favorite" numbers are six points worse than Newt Gingrich's, and unlike Haley Barbour (with whom she is tied), Republicans actually know who she is and consider her a likely contender for the nomination.

The good news for Republicans is that Palin's negatives will make it very difficult for her to win their nomination. The consolation prize for Democrats is that her numbers are strong enough that she just might give it a try.

In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:

FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009

House Meets At... 10:00 a.m.: Legislative Business
Ten "One Minutes" Per Side
Last Vote Predicted... Evening

***Members are advised that procedural votes are possible throughout the day and could occur as early as 10:00 a.m.

Complete Consideration of H.R. 2997 - Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (Rep. DeLauro – Appropriations)

Postponed Amendment Votes (11)

• DeLauro Manager’s Amendment
• Brady (TX) Amendment
• Capito Amendment
• Broun Amendment
• Blackburn Amendment
• Hensarling Amendment #6
• Campbell Amendment #2
• Flake Amendment #9
• Flake Amendment #4
• Flake Amendment #12
• Kingston Amendment

H.R. 3081 – Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2010 (Rep. Lowey – Appropriations) (Subject to a Rule)

Possible Consideration of H.R. 2701 - Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Rep. Reyes – Intelligence) (Subject to a Rule)

Postponed Suspension Votes (2 Bills)

1. H.Con.Res. 127- Recognizing the significance of National Caribbean-American Heritage Month (Rep. Lee (CA) - Oversight and Government Reform)
2. H.Con.Res. 131 - Directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and the National Motto of "In God We Trust" in the Capitol Visitor Center (Rep. Lungren - House Administration)

In the Senate, courtesy of the Secretary of the Senate:

Convenes: 9:30am

Morning Business for 95 minutes. Senator Durbin will control the first 5 mintues, the Republicans will control the next 60 minutes, and the Majority will control the final 30 minutes.

Following Morning Business, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R.2892, the Homeland Security Appropriations Act. There will be 10 minutes for deabte prior to a vote in relation to the Kyl amendment #1432 (Whitefish--Montana).

1:00pm filing deadline for first degree amendments to the bill.

Committee events of note:

• Thu., 7/9, 10am. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade: The Export Administration Act: A Review of Outstanding Policy Considerations. Former MI Gov. John Engler, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Manufacturers.
• Thu., 7/9, 10am. Senate HELP Committee. Business meeting to continue consideration of Affordable Health Choices Act
• Thu., 7/9, 1pm. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law: Home Foreclosures: Will Voluntary Mortgage Modification Help Families Save Their Homes?

More appropriations-palooza today, with the possible curve-ball of intelligence authorization, right in the middle of the blow-up over CIA Director Leon Panetta's acknowledgment that the CIA did in fact mislead Members of Congress in their briefings spanning the past eight years.

Yeah. So there's that.

Back when the story was "Pelosi knew!" and therefore defending torture was fine and dandy, the ghoulish Darth Cheney was all over everyone's TV, putting the official A-OK on using Spanish Inquisition techniques to try to extract "confessions" of non-existent Al Qaeda-Iraq ties, so that Cheney and Bush wouldn't look like such liars.

Think we'll see as much attention paid to straightening that out?

Doubt it. Anyway, now back to the show. The full schedule of committee hearings -- at which nobody will be talking today about how Dick Cheney tortured people for political gain -- appears below.

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Fearless Predictions

Gloria Borger dropped a bombshell Sunday morning during the "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" segment on The Chris Matthews Show:

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"A leader of the Republican party will finally emerge in the next year. I'm not gonna tell ya who it is 'cause I have no idea."
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It's like she's reading my tea leaves. I, too, was thinking that generic Republican X was going to break from the pack sometime in the next 365 days and I wasn't going to tell ya, either. So I guess it'll just be our little secret, Gloria's and mine. So Nyah.

Here are a few more "scoops and predictions right out of the notebook" of Daily Kos's most inebriated reporter, moi:

Sarah Palin won’t officially run in 2012, but she'll win the nomination anyway because the star-struck GOP base will choose her as a write-in candidate. Her running mate will be scrappy newcomer Todd Palin.
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Charlie Crist will, in fact, switch to the Democratic party and win a U.S. Senate seat after rescuing a puppy from a house fire.
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The Rapture will be cancelled due to budget cuts.
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South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford will stun the nation by actually hiking the Appalachian Trail.
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The next general to receive a fourth star will be openly gay and she'll kick butt.
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One of the tomatoes in the White house vegetable garden will grow to a freakish 45 pounds and taste "uncommonly succulent."
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The one tangible contribution from Republicans in the health care reform bill (which will pass with a public option) will be a voucher for a free aromatherapy atomizer.
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Senator Arlen Specter will surrender to Congressman and former Vice Admiral Joe Sestak during the Pennsylvania primary campaign when he finds his campaign headquarters surrounded by Aegis Destroyers.
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And a thing will happen when someone does something they would not ordinarily do. But probably not until after the mid-terms.

What are your predictions?   (I predicted I was gonna ask that!)

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

Secretaries Sebelius (HHS) and Napolitano (DHS) along with Arne Duncan (Education) and other experts from CDC and elsewhere will be conducting an all day flu summit at NIH today. The agenda is here (and below the fold). The purpose of the summit is to help states prepare for an expected worsening of the pandemic in the fall, and that includes preparing for occasional school closures.

Plenary sessions will air live from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM EDT and from 2:45 PM – 4:00 PM EDT. Watch live here.  Follow on twitter here. Ten minute situtational update by CDC Director Thomas Frieden at 8:40 EDT

Modeling shows that even the same virulence in more people this fall will result in higher fatality (by a factor of 3-5) compared to seasonal flu. The population becoming ill is different than seasonal flu (it's younger) and this is leading to a change of plans regarding vaccine strategy.

Evidence to date suggests that population immunity to this virus is low, particularly among the young.  In one small serologic study of samples collected during 2006-08, cross-reacting antibody were found among some older persons but not in any younger adults or children.  Widespread susceptibility to this virus among young persons creates the potential for large numbers of cases with more hospitalizations and deaths among younger age groups than would be expected for a typical routine seasonal influenza virus. Importantly, severe disease and death caused by novel H1N1 thus far have affected younger adults, children, and pregnant women, in addition to persons of all ages with certain underlying medical conditions more than the elderly.  The virus has also caused numerous outbreaks in schools and summer camps.

Vaccine won't be available right away, and when it is, the high risk groups that will be targeted will change form the norm:

Planning Scenarios
The following are best-case planning scenarios that would be recommended in a setting of limited initial vaccine availability.

From AP:

"I want to be clear: This summit is not about raising alarms or stoking fears. It is about being prepared," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. "We must avoid complacency."

We'll have more coverage of the summit when it's done, but this appears to be a gearing up of the public messaging on the part of the Feds, including an invitation to make a video public service announcement. Readers here will be familiar with the issues. Today, we get some of the details. And keep an ear open for the vaccine strategies before the fall. If the decision is made to vaccinate, it will be a separate shot (or two, still to be determined) from the regular seasonal flu jab, and will need to be offered in a variety of venues (schools, doctor offices, special flu clinics, etc.) Whatever the final plan, it won't be business as usual.

Added: from HHS:

The Obama Administration sent a strong message to the nation today that it is time to start planning and preparing for the fall flu season and the ongoing H1N1 flu outbreak and that the federal government is prepared to commit resources, training, and new tools to help state and local governments and America's families get ready.

White House Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan  joined with delegations from 54 states, tribes and territories today at the H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to kick-off the government's nation-wide fall flu preparedness efforts.

Your one stop pundit shop.

Gail Collins on the proposed House resolution to name the late Michael Jackson a "global humanitarian":  

America is a sea of woe these days, and we want to believe our elected representatives are spending every waking minute trying to help. Deep in our hearts, we know that many of them wouldn’t know what to do with a problem if they had it captured in a glass jar with no air holes. But we prefer not to be reminded of their uselessness by hearing that they spent their time arguing about whether the King of Pop deserves a posthumous ceremonial commendation.

If you can’t do anything serious, guys, it’s really better not to do anything at all. Spend your free time in prayer and contemplation.

David Broder says that Sarah Palin and Robert McNamara "teach a couple of important lessons about the way to handle exits from high office."

E.J. Dionne on President Obama's meeting with the Pope today:

The disjunction between Vatican attitudes toward Obama and those of the most conservative forces inside the American Catholic Church has been obvious from the moment Obama won election.

The conservative minority among the bishops as well as political activists on the Catholic right have insisted on judging the president only on the basis of his support for legal abortion and stem cell research.  [...]

But the pope and many of his advisers also see Obama as a potential ally on such questions as development in the Third World, their shared approach to a quest for peace in the Middle East and the opening of a dialogue with Islam.

Karl Rove continues to get paid for spouting Republican talking points, today hitting the stimulus and health care. Best line of the column:

 The administration consistently pledges unrealistic results that it later distances itself from.

Do you really want to go there, Karl? "Mission Accomplished," Niger, WMD, victory, victory, victory ...

Daniel Henninger just can't get over President Obama's refusal to follow in George Bush's footsteps of nation-building.

Suzanne Fields waxes poetic about Sarah Palin and she gives Rich Lowry a run for his money while doing so:

By resigning as governor of Alaska she forfeited the image of the dark mare racing to the White House, but that was our fantasy, not hers.

Roger Cohen on the epic battle between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer in last Sunday's Wimbledon men's final.