Easy. Just become a health industry-friendly Blue Dog congressman!

ProPublica, Rachel Maddow, Politico and others, have been reporting that two years ago, "Blue Dog" congressman Mike Ross (D-AR) was paid $420,000 for a property worth $198,000. That's more than twice its real value. The buyer was a big pharmacy chain (USA Health). Makes you wonder why this pharmacy overpaid Ross.

Was the buyer expecting Ross to legislate in a favorable way toward the health care industry, and by extension to themselves?

Ross is a strong opponent of progressive-style health reform.

The ethics watchdog CREW smells a rat and has now called for an investigation on the matter.

The media goes nuts every time Obama shakes hands with or receives praise from a dictator. But they stared into space last month as John McCain gushed about Lybian dictator Moammar Qadhafi:

"Late evening with Col. Qadhafi at his "ranch" in Libya - interesting meeting with an interesting man."

What's with the double standard? I can't even begin to imagine the uproar if this had been Obama and not McCain

Slate (9-23-09): "The White House will announce a new policy today requiring career prosecutors and the attorney general to approve any requests to keep information hidden only if its release would significantly harm "national defense or foreign relations."

Glenn Greenwald (9-23-09): ""Checks and balances" in Washington: approvals from Executive branch officials are required for the Executive Branch to assert power."

The media wants you to buy the conventional wisdom that "the left" wants a public option. That's how support for this feature is typically characterized in news reports. But today's WSJ/NBC poll debunks this myth: 53% wants the public option included, while 40% don't.

As I observed in Democratic Underground, 53% of respondents want it included while 40% don't. Interestingly, FirstRead, MSNBC and the WSJ have made no mention whatsoever of this important fact as I compose this entry.

See the P.O. chart, and the pdf with the complete poll results.

AFP reports today:

NEW YORK (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Monday poked fun at claims that racism was behind fierce opposition to his ambitious political agenda, joking that "I was actually black before the election."

It was the latest attempt by Obama to tone down the debate, after former US president Jimmy Carter commented that much of the conservative fury directed at Obama's health care plans was motivated by racism.

Obama said on the "The Late Show" with David Letterman on CBS that the fact he was elected as America's first African-American president at all was a more accurate indicator of wider race relations in the country.

"I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."

Great point. Where was the animosity before Obama was elected? Most conservatives, including Drudge, David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, etc. (with the exception of Rush Limbaugh who pretended to "support" Hillary only once it was evident that Obama would win the primaries) rooted for Obama to win against white Hillary and white Edwards, both of whom they hated more.This shows that Republicans will simply turn against any Big Democrat who dared win an election.

September has not been a good month to be a race-baiter. First Maureen Dowd invents a scenario where Joe Wilson said, "you lie boy," instead of "you lie," in order to make her point; then Jimmy Carter accuses God-knows who of being racist, in a statement so vague that it takes a pie chart, a racismometer and an intense-o-meter for us to understand.

Then, Colin Powell says ""reducing everything to black versus white is not helpful to restoring civility" and Obama makes fun of the race-baiting wing of the Democratic Party.