Hi, Barry.  Look: we need to talk.

You remember November 4 of last year, right?  While you were polishing up your Grant Park speech, what was running through your mind?  Was your main thought, “hey, now I get to do everything I dreamed of as a little boy — but only if the Republicans think it’s OK?”

Come on, young man.  The leadership of the GOP, and opponents who were bringing a serious level of crazy, were publicly calling you every name in the book (save one).  They were accusing you of being a terrorist-loving, anti-American Marxist, bent on destroying the United States.  And how did the people respond?  Dude — you won in North Carolina.  Jesse Helms’s old stomping grounds was won by you.  And Indiana.  For Christ’s sake — you won a beet-red state like Indiana.  Gore and Kerry won Wisconsin by a few thousand votes.  You took it by 14 points.  (Trust me — I was there.)  You even nabbed an electoral vote in (excuse me) Nebraska.

And now you’re staking your presidency on a cave-in to Olympia Snowe?  Shoot — I like her, too.  But I don’t like her enough to turn a grand health care plan into a watered down fiasco… which (wait for it) the GOP will still take a dump on.

Enough.  You got an hour on Wednesday.  Prepare to sack up.  Show ’em who’s the boss.  (If memory serves, it’s not Tony Danza.  It would be you.) 

Public option or bust — now, or never.  Those who are in the tank for you will have your back.  Trust.

Surprise! The unemployment rate has risen again, to 9.7%.  Of course. And,

A broader measure of joblessness rose even more sharply than the headline unemployment rate. An expanded unemployment rate that includes people who have given up looking for a job out of frustration and who are working part time but want a full-time job rose to 16.8 percent, from 16.3 percent.

Of course, 83% of us are still gainfully employed, waiting out the Friday before Labor Day weekend, so that we too can be unemployed, for three days of drunkenness or and yard work.

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From Florida this week comes news of what should be an instant urban legend:

An FDA test shows that either a frog or a toad was in a Florida man’s soda can. The Food and Drug Administration test confirmed that the remains of an animal were in Fred Denegri’s can of Diet Pepsi. Denegri popped the can open July 23 as he was grilling dinner outdoors in Ormond Beach.

Imagine: Desperately anticipating cool refreshment after being parched for ages, only to discover that not only does what you selected not quench your thirst, but it makes you feel kind of sick.

House Progressives and the White House on a Collision Course Over Public Option [TPM]

Once again, Japan wins the internets:

UPDATE: MARU STRIKES BACK!

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I have said that, had the Redskins been a better team in the late 70s and early 80s, my father would have lived for a couple more years.  And now I have another reason to hate them.

It would be hard to find a more loyal fan of the Washington Redskins than real estate agent Pat Hill. She’s had season tickets since the early 1960s, when her daughter danced in the halftime shows at the old D.C. Stadium, before it was renamed in memory of Robert F. Kennedy.

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With all those firearms at town halls, we have to admit an indecent pleasure that the latest report of violence is very old school:

A 65-year-old man had his finger bitten off Wednesday evening at a health care rally in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department…

A witness from the scene says a man was walking through the anti-reform group to get to the pro-reform side when he got into an altercation with the 65-year-old, who opposes health care reform.

The 65-year-old was apparently aggressive and hit the other man, who then retaliated by biting off his attacker’s pinky, according to Karoli from DrumsnWhistles, who attended the rally.

But all’s well that ends well: Doctors reattached the pinky.* The anti-reformer had Medicare.

Man’s Finger Bitten Off in Scuffle at Health Care Rally [KTLA, via TPM]

Update: Oops, he lost half a pinky after all. We’re undecided whether that remains good news.

David S. Broder:

Nonetheless, I think it is a matter of regret that Holder asked prosecutor John H. Durham to review the cases of the agents accused of abusive tactics toward some captives.

I realize this is a preliminary investigation, not a decision to prosecute anyone. And if it were to stop at that point, no great harm would have been done. But it is the first step on a legal trail that could lead to trials — and that is what gives me pause.

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