Lightning Round: In Obama's America, We Throw the Christians to the Lions.

• Do centrist/moderate/conservative Democrats worry that blocking the public option in health-care reform could cost them re-election next year? Blanche Lincoln's constituents, for example, are in favor of the public option, and seem willing to punish her for voting against it. Moreover, the notion that the public option is more important than bipartisanship has started creeping into the conventional wisdom, neutering one of the favored refuges of the centrist scoundrel.
• There isn't much to add to the good news that President Obama has formally lifted the ban on HIV-positive travelers, other than it's about time. The ban was as if the United States had been telling the world for the past 22 years that you could get AIDS from a drinking fountain, so it's a pleasure to see some rationality on display for a change.
  
• It's strange, but not surprising, that Pat Robertson would define hate-crimes legislation as an attempt to muzzle Christians. Since the bill deals with the punitive measures taken after a crime has taken place, I don't see the source of his belief that the bill will censor Christians for "speaking out on certain moral issues." His objection only makes sense if he's ascribing the right to punish homosexuals as a "Christian" virtue.
  
• One can find innumerable examples of Fox News not behaving like a real news organization. But one area where news organizations should be expected to conduct themselves with professional rigor is the business of polling. The principles of scientific polling are well known, and the introduction of statistical bias is detrimental to the poll's accuracy. That being said, Fox's approach to opinion polling is probably the best evidence that they are not a serious news organization.
• Remainders: Obviously this means we need to immediately start bombing Iran back to the stone age; 3.5 percent GDP growth = half a percentage point off unemployment per year; the former governor of Alaska polls like Dan Quayle; and Liz Cheney is reprehensible.

--Mori Dinauer