CALIFORNIA: Poll: Boxer Suddenly In Trouble. It’s telling that she’s basically tied with all the GOP competitors. But don’t worry — President Obama will be campaigning for her!

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN: “If you don’t tie our hands, we will keep stealing.”

VIDEO: Frank Luntz: The Unabomber Has A Higher Approval Rating Than Members Of Congress Right Now.

JIM TREACHER: Do Not Interrupt Obama When He Is Filibustering.

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Report: Obama blocks delivery of bunker-busters to Israel. If I were the Israelis, not only would I bomb Iran, but I’d do so in such a way as to create as much trouble for China, Russia, Europe and the United States as possible. Are the Israelis less obnoxious than me? I guess we’ll find out soon enough . . . .

PLEDGING civil disobedience against ObamaCare.

FACT-CHECKING THEIR ASS: President Obama Promotes OFA Astroturf Campaign (with Bonus Plagiarism). At the link, a list of papers duped into publishing astroturf letters from Organizing For America. I hope that Big Journalism will contact each editor and ask them if they’re going to print something indicating the astroturf nature of these letters.

Plus, from the comments: “Are you supposed to sign the letter ‘Ellie Light’?”

DON’T LIKE IT? LINE UP AGAIN:

MONTREAL — In recent years, the few fully veiled Muslim women who had dealings with Quebec’s health-insurance board could choose to be served by a woman to avoid exposing their faces to a man outside their family.

But in the latest example of the province’s growing resistance to the accommodation of minority religious practices, the insurance board on Tuesday announced the end of the policy after the provincial human rights commission said it has no duty to acquiesce.

“From now on, for a woman who is veiled with a niqab or a burka and comes to our office asking to be photographed by a woman, the answer is no,” said Marc Lortie, spokesman for the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. “Line up again, or come back another day.”

The news follows last week’s expulsion from a French-as-a-second-language course of an Egyptian woman who insisted on wearing a niqab during class.

I guess that’s the French influence.

REPORT: JOSEPH CAO will vote “No” on ObamaCare.

UH OH: Latvia government collapses amid economic crisis.

GOODBYE, CORNHUSKER KICKBACK: “How stupid must Ben Nelson feel tonight? He sold his soul in return for a kickback, he’s reviled in his own state and will likely never again be elected, and now his bribe has been removed from the hot mess that is the healthcare bill.”

REMEMBER MICKEY KAUS ON THE WELFARE / TERRORISM CONNECTION? Panamanian murderer caught in D.C., lived off federal subsidies. “A Panamanian murderer who escaped a prison in the Central American country has been captured in the District, where authorities say he used a fake Social Security card to obtain federally subsidized housing and cruised around town in three luxury cars. The FBI was led to 36-year-old Juan Barrera by an anonymous caller who claimed Barrera was planning to fire a rocket launcher at a Metro train, according to an affidavit recently filed in Greenbelt’s federal court.”

FESS PARKER HAS DIED.

Some further thoughts from Rand Simberg. Parker’s big fame was a bit before my time, though I do kind of remember the Daniel Boone show. And here are some thoughts relevant to the health care debate, from the actual Davy Crockett.

TRIFECTA: Strange Brew: Why Is The Coffee Party Movement An Overnight MSM Sensation? But will Stephen Green start the Vodka Party movement?

JON VOIGHT: Join Me In DC Saturday to Stop ObamaCare.

MARKDOWNS ON musical instruments and recording equipment.

MOE LANE IS raining on Bart Gordon’s NASA hopes.

UPDATE: Moe emails: “That ain’t rain, Glenn.” So noted.

GOOD GRIEF: Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely. “More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.”

FIGHTING OBAMACARE at OH Congress! Justin Binik-Thomas writes: “Any letters received through tonight will be hand delivered to congress on Saturday.”

PJTV: Kill The Bill 3: Irate & Tireless, Americans Demand the End of Obamacare.

UPDATE: Sen. Conrad says health care process may never, ever end. “Sen. Kent Conrad, speaking to Roll Call and Fox, says the Senate will likely be unable to pass unchanged the reconciliation bill the House passes, even if the House can pass it.”

SHOCKER: L.A. Times: Gallup Finds Americans Souring On Obama. And not just Obama. “Speaking of Congress, the new Gallup Poll also finds that barely 16% of Americans approve of its job while 80% (as in eight out of every ten Americans) now disapprove of the work being done by both bodies and their Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.”

REP. DARRELL ISSA: The Lackluster Record of Government Health Care:

Already Medicare, which accounts for 14% of all federal spending, is rife with waste, fraud and abuse. Even Attorney General Eric Holder has said, “By all accounts, every year we lose tens of billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid funds to fraud.”

A recent analysis by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that federal subsidy programs cost taxpayers about $100 billion every year in improper payments, with Medicare and Medicaid accounting for more than half of that. Harvard Professor Malcolm Sparrow, a specialist in health care fraud teaching at the Kennedy School of Government, has estimated that as much as 20% of the federal health program budgets – or approximately $150 billion – is eaten up by improper payments every year.

No budget gimmick can hide that kind of wasteful spending from the American people, and no expansion of the government’s role in health care can mitigate the systemic problems that already exist. . . . Each year, the government spends an average of $927 in administrative costs per person for Medicaid and $509 for Medicare. Private insurance, on the other hand, costs only $453 per person in administrative costs. Until the government can demonstrate an ability to get administrative costs under control for programs that it already runs, Americans should vehemently oppose any effort to give bureaucrats in Washington any more power to control the one-sixth of the U.S. economy that affects health care.

Read the whole thing.

DEMS STILL DON’T HAVE THE VOTES? Well, good. Don’t be a stranger to your congresscritters. . . .

FATTY ACIDS CAN BE GOOD: 2 grams per day of omega 3 fatty acid EPA cut precancerous bowel polyps in those at especially high genetic risk of bowel cancer.

MEGAN MCARDLE:

Nick Kristof argues that once we pass health care, we’re going to see a big spike in life expectancy. Why? Because, well, it worked in the 1940s! . . . But it’s a nice testable prediction. I assume health care reform will pass. And if Kristof is right, and I am wrong about the limited mortality benefits of expanded health insurance access, then we should see a dramatic increase in life expectancy. Maybe seven years is too much, so let’s make it easy–say three or four years by 2020. That would make American among the the longest-lived people in the world. And if this happens, then absent some miracle invention like a broad-spectrum cure for cancer, I will happily admit that I was wrong.

Of course, if this doesn’t happen–if American life expectancy improvements continue to grind along at roughly the same slow pace–then it seems to me that Nick Kristof et. al. should unhappily admit that they were wrong, and that they seem to have convinced us to spend a whole bunch of money without saving many lives. Will this happen? Or will we be told that the problem is that we just didn’t spend quite enough money, and must spend even more to actually realize the full glory of reform?

The problem with socialism is always not enough socialism. More control by elites will fix everything!

UPDATE: Reader Ryan Taylor writes: “For socialists that is not a bug, it is a feature. Any success can be attributed to legislation/control; any failure is because not enough money was spent. They always win…” Only if you play their game.

And speaking of playing their game, reader Dan Michalewicz cautions Megan on her bet: “One thing Megan doesn’t consider is who is keeping the statistics. While I know intellectually Megan is correct, I also know that if health care passes the government and MSM will never report a drop in quality of health care.” Yeah, like they’ve been cheerleading Cuban healthcare for decades . . . .

MUDVILLE GAZETTE: The Lost City Of Marjah.

SPRING BREAK DESTINATION: Los Alamos!

TAXPROF: House Health Care Bill Includes 3.8% Medicare Tax on Investment Income.

CATCHING UP WITH RASMUSSEN: Obama’s approval goes negative in RealClearPolitics average.

NOT MY IDEA OF FUN: Katie Spotz On Endurance, Waves and Rowing 2817 Miles—Alone. “When she landed in the South American port of Georgetown, Guyana on Sunday, March 14, Spotz became the youngest person and the first American ever to row an ocean solo from mainland to mainland.”

THINGS THAT DON’T SUCK: So I bought this Brother wireless laser printer for a cheap price — $129.99 — and set it up last weekend. My HP wireless inkjet still works, but I hate to print long documents through it and since I increasingly print from laptops I wanted another wireless printer. Setup was fairly easy — because there’s no screen or keyboard on the HP, that involves hooking it up to the router to run the setup routine — and it’s worked perfectly ever since. I doubt I’ll ever have a printer as good as my HP LaserJet 4L, which still works after 15 years, but this seems quite satisfactory and was cheap.

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Nolan writes:

I have this one and like you have had a very good experience, which surprised me because it was pretty inexpensive for the features included and the cost per sheet is really competitive as well. Like in the camera market (lovin my canon 5D MkII) competition is a good thing… if only government… whatever.

Yeah, if only.

KEITH HENNESSEY: Understanding the new Health Reconciliation Bill.

REASON TV: Saving Cleveland With Drew Carey, Part 5: Encourage Bottom-Up Redevelopment.

BART GORDON PROMISED A JOB AS NASA ADMINISTRATOR FOR A HEALTHCARE VOTE? Rand Simberg is not a Bart Gordon fan.

If true, this has at least two implications. First, the administration is willing to throw Charlie Bolden under the bus. Second, they’re also willing to throw the new plans for NASA under the bus for health care, because Gordon (who just happens to be the relevant committee chairman) has expressed skepticism about them.

There’s also a rumor that another retiring Tennessee Rep., John Tanner, has been promised a job as Ambassador to NATO. I wonder if Republicans in the Senate will interfere with appointments like this? I’d say so.

UPDATE: In an update, Simberg notes: “Gordon has announced that he is now a yes vote on the bill. FWIW. For some reason, no quid pro quos are discussed.” I think he’d be an iffy candidate for NASA Admin anyway, but this won’t help him. In fact, I suspect that anyone who changes position to favor this bill will face a lot more scrutiny in the Senate.

THEODORE DALRYMPLE: Our Contemporary Sanctimony Puts the Victorians to Shame. “Is it only in sexual matters that a man can be a hypocrite?”

HMM: Tennessee Bill Would Ban Faculty Authors From Earning Royalties (‘Kickbacks’) on Books Assigned to Their Students. I assign my space law casebook in my space law seminar, but that’s not a conflict of interest because . . . there really isn’t another book. I think it earns me about ten bucks for the class. I rebate my royalties by buying the students beer, but it would be more than ten bucks worth of trouble to figure out how not to get the money in the first place. Perhaps for people with really big classes, there’s a greater potential for conflicts, but I’m not seeing it. . . .

“I’VE HAD IT WITH THEM . . . I’LL NEVER VOTE FOR ANOTHER DEMOCRAT:” Howard Stern says he’s over the Democrats. (Via Rand Simberg).

UPDATE: Related: Union Teacher Hangs Obama in Effigy. If it had been a tea-partier, this would be racism.

COOL PICTURE OF THE DAY: Planck Satellite Illuminates Filaments of Cold Interstellar Dust.

TAR, FEATHERS: Court: State Can Dump Non-Sex Offenders Into Registry. “Georgia’s Supreme Court is upholding the government’s right to put non-sex offenders on the state’s sex-offender registry, highlighting a little-noticed (but growing) nationwide practice.”

Well, hell, if you can pass a bill without a vote, I guess you can be a “sex offender” without sex. I wonder if this will be used against shopping malls who falsely imprison teens charged with shoplifting . . . .

WHY DID WE HAVE A FINANCIAL CRISIS? Because regulators didn’t believe in efficient markets. “If regulators had been true believers in efficiency, they would have been considerably more skeptical about some of the consistently high returns being reported by various financial institutions. If the capital market is fiercely competitive, there is a good chance that high returns are attributable to high leverage, high risk, inside information, or dishonest accounting. True believers in efficiency would have looked more closely at the leverage and risk-taking positions of Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, AIG, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and banks and investment banks generally. They might have questioned the source of the trading profits of hedge funds like Galleon, and discovered some using inside information. And they would have been exceptionally skeptical of the surreally high and stable returns reported over an extended period by Bernie Madoff.”

CAN’T GET YOUR CONGRESSFOLKS ON THE PHONE? Pete Hoekstra says to call state legislatures. Hey, reapportionment is coming up . . . .

PRICEY: Report: Nissan Leaf priced at U.S. $38,500+ in Japan.

JOHN HINDERAKER: We’re Gonna Win, Twins! “Baseball fans here are giddy with excitement.”

CBO SCORE PRELIMINARY, final numbers not available until Saturday or Sunday — perhaps after the vote? Plus this: “If it kicked in right away, the decade-long estimate would obviously be well into the trillions. So they simply stalled it for four years, incurring just $17 billion in costs — or 1.8 percent of the total 10-year estimate — through 2013 so that wavering Democrats could go back to their districts and tell baldfaced lies to their constituents about the pricetag. A perfect ending to this travesty.”

IN THE MAIL: From Jack Cashill, Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit and Debt, from Aristotle to AIG.

IF YOU MISSED IT LAST NIGHT, check out part 2 of my interview with Scott Rasmussen: Citizen Surge: Rasmussen On Tea Party Politics & The Return Of Self-Governance.

CHARLIE GASPARINO: America’s Debt Gets Scary.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE ON OBAMACARE:

In other words, my premiums will go down because healthy young people who currently get by without insurance will be forced to buy policies they may not even want. (When I was young and healthy, I got by quite happily with a bare bones Blue Cross policy that only covered catastrophic expenses). It’s a wealth transfer from the young and uninsured to the old and insured.

But, as an insured old fart, who am I to complain?

And the younger voters supported Obama, so you don’t even have to feel guilty.

OBAMA TO DEMS: Save my presidency, vote for ObamaCare. Plus this: “White House officials said Obama’s recent remarks aren’t intended to personalize the debate or rally undecided Democratic members with an egocentric, ‘win one for Barry’ message.” Well, that’s good to know.

A REVIEW OF She’s Out Of My League.

JENNIFER RUBIN NOTES THAT David Brooks is figuring out who the rubes were. There’s a lot of that going on. . . .

VALUES UNDER PRESSURE: Brandi Milloy talks to Andrew Klavan.

LEE SMITH: A Middle East Without American Influence? That’s the logical outcome of the Obama administration’s current policies.

CUBA’S unknown dissidents.

ADVICE TO LITIGATORS: Calm down.

ROGER SIMON: Obama On Fox: It’s Desperation Time. “There’s no way Barack Obama would have appeared on Fox Wednesday night in a sit-down interview with Bret Baer had not the President’s health care bill been in serious trouble.”

UH OH: Moody’s Fears Social Unrest As AAA States Implement Austerity Plans. “The US rating agency said the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Spain are walking a tightrope as they try to bring public finances under control without nipping recovery in the bud. It warned of ’substantial execution risk’ in withdrawal of stimulus.” Bah. With the team of geniuses we’ve got running things, what could go wrong?

CORRESPONDENCE WITH Steven Vincent’s widow.

SPAGHETTI WITH CANTELOUPE: Yes, you read that correctly.

JONATHAN ADLER: Would “Deem & Pass” Survive Judicial Review?

WHO NEEDS ADT OR BROADVIEW? Homeowner Kills Attempted Robber In Driveway Shootout.

BARACK OBAMA TO ANN ALTHOUSE: “Ann — I wanted to take a moment to thank you directly for the outstanding work you’ve been doing for health reform.”

RATINGS: Cartoon Network beats CNN, MSNBC. It has more believable characters.

OBVIOUSLY, THIS PROSECUTOR’S BUDGET IS TOO BIG: Third Circuit Upholds Injunction of Threatened “Sexting” Prosecution.

So the prosecutor (1) threatened to prosecute plaintiff’s daughter (2) even though it turns out he didn’t have probable cause for a prosecution (3) unless the daughter went through the “education program.” All three elements, it turns out, seem to be crucial to the decision.

Perhaps the injunction can be amended to require District Attorney George Skumanick to undergo mandatory constitutional rights sensitivity training. Or tar and feathering, whatever.

FROM READER ROB KISER, his book, Killing Strangers.

WHO NEEDS A CONTRACT WITH AMERICA? Congressional Candidate Gives Supporters Permission To Hang Him. “‘If I don’t do what I say, I’ll give you my address, and you can bring a rope and you can hang me,’ Fincher told the crowd.” I like that.

THE NETROOTS: So who are the rubes, again?

Rahm Emanuel insulted Nutroots types by calling them “retards,” also claiming they could be taken for granted on Obama Care and mostly ignored. Of course, the Netroot bloggers were furious.

So, what did they do about it? Precisely what he said they would, nothing.

No surprise there.

PJTV: Beyond Immigration: With Hispanics, A Land Of Opportunity For GOP.

BYRON YORK: The GOP health care count: 209 no, 204 yes, 18 undecided.

GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE: Walgreens will stop taking new Medicaid patients in Washington state as of April 16, saying it loses money filling their prescriptions.

OBAMA ON FOX NEWS: Comments from Tunku Varadarajan and Jammie Wearing Fool. Here’s some video.

THE GENDER DEGREE GAP and the Great Mancession.

JOSE GUARDIA: What’s up with the White House Twitter avatar?

POWER LINE: These Are The Good Old Days. “If Obamacare passes, President Obama and the Democrats will become part of, and perhaps dominate, most of these conversations. Every excessive wait, every missed phone call, every postponed appointment will become Obama’s fault. . . . These complaints won’t be confined to the elderly. Old people complain more about their dealings with doctors primarily because they spend so much more time with them. But I’ve never met a person who likes being blown off by a doctor or sitting for 40 minutes in the waiting room, plus an extra 15 in the examining room before the doctor arrives. Nor have I ever met a person who enjoys hearing his or her aging parents complain about their medical service, especially when the complaint is justified.”

PJTV: TWO SPEECHES:

Kill the Bill 1: Rep Mike Pence (R-IN) Welcomes Freedom Fighters back to Washington, DC.

Kill The Bill 2: Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) Tells DC Protesters to Keep Setting Brush Fires of Freedom.

IN A WORD, YES: Does Hayek belong in High School Economics Classes? To hold up the inclusion of Hayek as evidence of excessive conservative bias is self-refuting. I mean, if that’s all you’ve got . . . .

Of course, Hayek is rapidly becoming so extremely cool that high-school students will be reading him on their own.

UPDATE: From the comments:

My fourth grader has been assigned four essays so far this year. They were on MLK, Michael Jordan, Dr. Charles Drew and his mother. He knows who Eleanor Roosevelt was, but not FDR. He identifies Albert Einstein as “a famous immigrant”. He knows who Rosa Parks was, but not Abe Lincoln.

Hurray for somebody teaching Hayek. At this point, even teaching who Salma Hayek is would be an improvement.

Heh.

MARKDOWNS ON cellphones and accessories. So should I get a Droid, a Nexus One, or a Palm Pre Plus? I like the mobile-hotspot feature in the Palm.

CITIZEN SURGE: On a special Tea Party TV edition of InstaVision, I talk with Scott Rasmussen about Tea Party Politics & The Return Of Self-Governance. Plus, how the American political class is like Detroit auto executives in the 1970s, and what Tea Partiers can learn from Luke Skywalker.

And, once again, I recommend his new book, In Search of Self Governance.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: I just got an email from Democrat Roy Herron, who’s running for John Tanner’s seat in Tennessee. Here’s the key bit:

My top three priorities in Washington will be fiscal responsibility, fiscal responsibility, and fiscal responsibility.

Washington is mortgaging the future of my sons and your children and our grandchildren. And Washington is risking the future of this country with trillions in debt.

I drive a 12-year-old truck with 375,000 miles on it. My sons call me cheap, but Washington needs more of us with 375,000-mile pickups who’ll spend your money like our own.

Sounding more like Scott Brown than Barack Obama . . . . And who’s this “Washington” he’s running against, exactly? . . .

OBAMA WILL BE IN FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA FRIDAY, and Tea Partiers are planning to meet him.

DAN RIEHL: What is FreedomWorks’ Problem?

HEH. THAT’S FUNNY. Helen and I looked at Toyotas today, too.

WILL WE SEE PROTESTS LIKE THIS HERE IF OBAMACARE PASSES? Thai Red Shirts hurl own blood at PM’s house.

RETRACTO’S VACATION appears to be going well. Come back rested, Retracto — your work isn’t finished!

HOME TAPING: Killing music? And home sleeping is killing hotels!

BOINGBOING: DID PEREZ HILTON violate federal obscenity law? From the comments: “So wait, Perez Hilton’s very existence isn’t offensive, but dwarf porn is? I’d rather see the dwarf porn than anything Perez has to say about it.”

THE DRAFT COMPLAINT IS ALREADY ONLINE: Landmark Legal Foundation to File Suit to Stop President’s Health Plan if ‘Slaughter Rule’ is Used.

QUIZ: What’s your DIY IQ?

GOING GREEN: Some recipes for St. Patrick’s Day cocktails.

FROM PAULA SCHAEFER, Harming Business Clients with Zealous Advocacy: Rethinking the Attorney Advisor’s Touchstone.

POLITICAL WIRE: OBAMA UPSIDE DOWN: “For the first time, the Gallup daily tracking poll shows more people disapproving of President Obama’s job performance than approving, 47% to 46%.”

Related: Record-breaker: Obama runs up $2 trillion in debt in 421 days.

UPDATE: Rasmussen: GOP opens a ten-point lead on generic Congressional ballot.

MEGAN MCARDLE RESPONDS TO talking points on polls and Medicare: “Now, Medicare popularity did improve after it passed. On the other hand, it wasn’t passed despite terrible polling, with a controversial process, by a political party that was tanking in popularity thanks to a grinding recession.”

WANT AN ELECTRIC CAR? Home electrical upgrades for fast recharging can cost thousands. And it’s not just at home: “Many people will want to recharge their car while at work due to longer commutes that use up most of a battery’s capacity in just one direction from home to work. So affordable pluggable hybrid electric vehicles PHEVs and plain EVs will generate workplace demand for parking lot electric chargers too.”

Plus this: “Families with teens will need 4 car recharging capacity. Imagine the future real estate ads.”

ADVERTISING FROM THE SPACE AGE: Madison Avenue’s Moon Shot.

ANN ALTHOUSE ON ERIC HOLDER’S POSTURING: “If bin Laden openly surrendered or he was trapped and utterly defenseless, we couldn’t gun him down. And then what would Holder do? Read Miranda rights to bin Laden’s not-yet-a-corpse? Try him like a Manson? Ah, but Holder doesn’t want you to think about that. He suddenly wants to strike the Dick Cheney bring-me-his-head-on-a-platter pose… until we stop calling him weak, his blood cools down, and he can get back to lecturing us about America’s abstract ideals.”

RADLEY BALKO ON Pre-Crime Policing.

C-SPAN LAUNCHES ITS online video library.

SHOCKER: New Poll Finds Americans Really, Really Do Not Want ObamaCare.

UPDATE: Bryan Preston emails from Texas:

Hey Glenn, here’s my take on how things look on ObamaCare this afternoon. First, the Kucinich gambit this morning shows where Pelosi thinks she can make up votes – on the left. The Dem leadership is undoubtely hoping to pick up some more centrist votes if they can, but with even liberalish Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett being noncommittal as he answers constituent queries today, they probably suspect that they’re losing the center faster by the minute.

Another data point: For the first time ever, liberal trolls are showing up on our state GOP facebook page to argue in favor of Slaughter and even promote the astroturf Coffee Party. Up to now, liberals never bothered with that page. But suddenly they’re active on the page and teaming up against our usual commenters. It’s a safe bet that OfA is involved in this somehow.

Indeed.

UNEARTHING “a vigorous forest of phallic symbols.”

A CHINA SUPERBUBBLE GOING TO BURST? “China’s defiance of the global recession is not a miracle – it’s a superbubble. When it deflates, it will spell big trouble for all of us.”