Weekend Update - October 3rd

• Congressional Republicans are furious indeed that uppity Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) claimed, right there on the House floor and using a big piece of paper with large, clear letters they could actually read and everything, that the GOP's health care plan basically consists of hoping that sick people will just "die quickly." Of course, the GOP is outraged. Mark Morford reports on this and 9 more important stories you may have overlooked recently.


• Ever wonder why Right-Wing Demagogues Are Trying to Peddle Ludicrous Conspiracy Theories? Even before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the internet was seething with lurid conspiracy theories exposing his alleged subversion and treachery. As far as some of these nutbags (and you know who you are) are concerned, it's the end of the world as we know it.


• ...late in the afternoon, Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the top Republican on the committee, requested consideration of the "Grassley F-1 Modified Amendment." Its goal: eliminate $7 billion a year in fees that the government would charge private health insurance companies, and make up the shortfall by reducing benefits to poor people and legal immigrants... It's like Robin Hood, the amended version.


• Glen Beck has revealed that he uses Vick's Vaporub under the eyes to get his "sincere" tears rolling for the camera. What a guy. We suggest he try pepper spray next time.


• And speaking of our beloved Beckster, let us take a trip back into history. Not ancient history. Recent history. It is the winter of 2007. The presidential primaries are approaching. The talk jocks like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the rest are over the moon about Fred Thompson. They’re weak at the knees at the thought of Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, they are hurling torrents of abuse at the unreliable deviationists: John McCain and Mike Huckabee. David Brooks actually writes a column worth reading: "The Wizard of Beck."


• For many years now, the Religious Right in this country has battled the evils of sex. But apparently they've tired of all that, and are returning to their racially bigoted origins. What a difference an election makes. Even if you believed that compassionate conservatism was always a bit of a con, it's amazing to see how quickly it has vanished, and how fast an older style of reaction, one more explicitly rooted in racial grievance, has reasserted itself.


• Idiot of the Month: Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. There's something in the Health Care bill that just has her goat. Sex clinics! "... someone's 13-year old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser. They don't know any different." How did this moron ever get elected in the first place?


• David Letterman shows us how adults handle extortion attempts with intelligence and dignity.


• Yesterday, Newsmax columnist John L. Perry brought up the possibility of a military coup against President Obama. Most chilling, perhaps, was the fact that Perry seemed to offer tepid support for the idea. "A coup is not an ideal option," he acknowledged, "but Obama's radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible." (Just want you to know that "John L. Perry" is NOT affiliated with Bad Hat in any way.)