Today on the Dish, Andrew swore to never resist the aging process again after yesterday's beard-catastrophe. Goldblog tackled Andrew's Israel lobby frustrations, and Eugene Volokh dug deeper on Israel's rape by fraud case. Hamburger health insurance created an interesting dilemma for Obama, and we covered the verdict on the mandate's constitutionality. Andrew still couldn't pull the lever for Harry Reid, this reader nailed the Greenwald spat to the wall, and others piled on. We heard from a child psychiatrist's reservations about opening up the cannabis closet, Hitch's humor was alive and well, and the Tea Party was running a fake candidate.

On the pot front, Brian Doherty followed the No on 19 money, Maia Szalavitz wondered what Prop 19 would do to usage numbers, and this reader put New Jersey's medical marijuana program in its place. Chris Weigant thought pot could save the Democrats, and the Republican proposal to drug test the unemployed was as misdirected as it sounds. For your sex fix, Savage outed this justice as a sexual hypocrite, and the Jewish Standard made a splash and then backtracked with this same sex couple's marriage announcement. And Valerie Jarrett was set to shill for the Human Rights Campaign this weekend.

Felix Salmon gulped over the jobs report, WaPo sunk to a new low and published D'Souza, and the casting call for this political ad could have cut the posturing.Democrats might win the moderates, Kilgore jumped in to the enthusiasm gap debate, and Bernstein budgeted the future under a Republican congress. America's decline was as imminent and as unlikely as ever, and Slate asked who gets to be a feminist? Walter Russell Mead decoded the Castros' Cuba, and Urbanophile assessed the New York model for better living.  America used to need England's help to build houses according to Bill Bryson's new book, and our army recruits turned the corner.

The American people hired a lobbyist, Saletan heralded the rise of heterosexual anal sex, and you, America, were not a witch, but a man who wanted your money to buy pizza. Some Dish readers came out as stag-hags or bro-mos or insert your nickname here, we sated our curiosity as to when "it" drops, and our minds were blown by these Reddit facts. Chart of the day here, MHB here, FOTD here, Friday poem here, VFYW here and in memoriam here, and your moment of extra gay here.

The Japanese Popstars Feat. Green Velvet - Let Go from David Wilson Creative on Vimeo.

Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew pressed the Catholic church to embrace gays and the special cross of suffering they bear. Andrew defended Obama's "Kenyan rage" at Wall Street and healthcare companies against D'Souza, and wished for a Tory-like Tea Party: "socially centrist, fiscally badass."

Readers attacked Andrew's meager defense of Glenn Beck, Douthat dug deeper on defense spending, Rand Paul went back to loving Medicare, and Drum wondered if Republicans were just blowing smoke on repealing health care reform. Chait questioned the National Review's support of Romneycare in 2008 versus what they'd say today, and Silver dissected the enthusiasm gap. Joyner joined Schwarzenegger in predicting Obama's second term, Ben Smith scooped the story on the Palin model of endorsements, and while Palin is no Thatcher, Claire Berlinski just about called her candidacy for president a case of "mass psychosis."

Kinsley echoed Silverstein on intellectual dishonesty in D.C., Howard Kurtz killed Silverstein's will to report, and then got promoted at the Daily Beast. Autotranslate amazed Goldblog, the Tories weren't fiscal frauds, and Rufus F. appreciated the culture wars because culture matters. NOM sought revenge on Iowa's judges, and 4.2 percent of men are gay. Life got better for Tim Gunn, and Phoebe Maltz remained hesitant to complain about the portrayl of Jewish women. John Cole explained how we create terrorists, and prosecutors break laws too. Size does matter and explains why California will legally lead the way with marijuana.

Monty Python took Jesus Christ out, John Scalzi voted for smart yogurt, and not counting emotional attachments, pot wasn't worth more than gold. Headline of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, FOTD here, and map of the day here.

Montreal, Canada, 8 pm

Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew stayed his ground in the aftermath of Greenwald's barrage and seconded Hitch on the power of the pro-Israel lobby. Conservatives had to come to terms with the war on drugs if they wanted to argue limited government in Obamacare, and Niall Harbison only needed Twitter for his news but Andrew disagreed.

Christine O'Donnell was not a witch unless you are, because she's you, but it was her China conspiracy theories that put Fallows over the edge. Ezra took Friedman to task on third party possibilities,  Silver came to Friedman's defense, but was skeptical of Gallup's likely voter model. Obama's poll numbers eerily reflected Reagan's, while Glenn Beck dropped some Mormon code against Obama. Beinart envisioned failure for the Tea Party on slashing spending, while the U.S. was still number one in defense, with more than half the entire world's defense spending. Volokh disassembled the wall between church and state, the rebirth of books happens every six months, and a word to the wise: do not combine Canada with an i-phone.

Mormon Dish readers bucked Packer's homophobic remarks, The Wire had lessons for New Haven, and Schwarzenegger's progress on pot was overshadowed by the lack of progress on other drug issues. Surowiecki mined the philosophy of procrastination, and gay-bashing also threatened straight men.  Abstinence only education continued to be funded, and Iran interrupted the lives of its young, but most Americans still weren't anywhere close to supporting a war with Iran. Pet Shop Boys' new single likely kept the band "Together," Andrew feared no beard, and Larry Kudlow didn't like the looks of Obama hugging Rahm. Readers defended their vegetable gardens, creepy ad watch here, Malkin award here, VFYW here, MHB/ VFYR here, FOTD here, and VFYW contest #18 here.

By Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Monday on the Dish, Andrew looked to Israel's moment of truth on the settlements, pulled the reins on Glenn Reynolds, and (almost) defended Glenn Beck. Scott Horton held the adminstration to task on al-Awlaki, and Andrew fought back against Larison on the semantics of killing. Andrew had qualms about the premise of Sam Harris' new book, but that wasn't going to prevent him from reading it.

Mary Fallin abused the Palin model to the extreme, while Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes, thought it up first. Jim DeMint kept Christianism alive, attacking gay and female teachers while Dan Savage wanted to see some gay Christian characters on television, but he didn't care for "good" Christian children taunting gay kids. Smear campaigns work, Tom Friedman's third party presidential prospects weren't looking good, and Chait skewered a culture war that is really about economics. We parsed the tax receipt proposal, a reader defended Alan Grayson, and financial reform could be simpler.

Kyle Berlin toured California's first pot factory, we tracked the back and forth over Michigan's medicinal laws, and Rob Kampia started full court press on Prop 19 since it's definitely better than the 1972 initiative. Idaho welcomed a mosque into its community, the housing bust devastated Florida (in photos), and Lee Billings didn't believe in the "Goldilocks" planet. Adam Ozimek championed the societal good of frozen vegetables, and the U.S. needed to hop on the frugal engineering bandwagon. An anonymous freelancer reported from Beijing's casual tyranny, and Ken Silverstein couldn't stand Washington any longer. Jon Hamm liked websites, teenagers used condoms more competently than adults, and American captives gave North Korea the finger. FOTD here, VFYW here, MHB here, and the acronym you need to know here. 

--Z.P.

“After The Day’s Business,” by Richard Hovey first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in August of 1898:

When I sit down with thee at last alone,
Shut out the wrangle of the clashing day,
The scrape of petty jars that fret and fray,
The snarl and yelp of brute beasts for a bone, --
When thou and I sit down at last alone,
And through the dusk of rooms divinely gray
Spirit to spirit finds its voiceless way
As tone melts meeting in accordant tone,
Oh, then our souls far in the vast of sky
Look from a tower too high for sound of strife
Or any violation of the town,
Where the great vacant winds of God go by,
And over the huge misshapen city of life
Love pours his silence and his moonlight down.

PPP's latest poll shows Democrats winning self-described moderates 58-28:

The fact that Republicans are winning this election without showing much appeal to moderates is another reminder that the main reason for the pending GOP onslaught is the disengagement of Democratic voters. Conservatives will make up a much larger portion of the electorate this year than they did in 2008 and that's put Republicans in a position to make big gains without even having to develop a message that's appealing to the center.

A newly born panda bear sleeps in its incubator at the Madrid Zoo on October 7, 2010 in Madrid, Spain. The giant panda cubs, born today a month ago, on September 7, 2010, are the first giant panda twins to be conceived using the artificial insemination method outside of China. The gender of the cubs is still unkown. By Jasper Juinen/Getty Images.

Maia Szalavitz asks whether Prop 19's passage would increase cannabis use:

One thing the [International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP)] report makes clear is that current U.S. drug policy has no effect on marijuana prices or use. While spending on federal drug law enforcement has increased 1,200% and marijuana arrests have risen 150% since 1981, the rate of marijuana use nationwide has bounced around, with no relationship to these efforts. ... 

One study did find that rates of marijuana use among Dutch youth increased when "coffee shops" — cafes where selling and smoking of marijuana are permitted — were proliferating and being widely marketed. But, overall, even those elevated rates of use were no higher than U.S. rates under marijuana prohibition. "It wasn't the decriminalization, it was commercialization that could have caused this," says Kilmer.

Yes, we changed it to celebrate the Dish's tenth consecutive year of daily blogging. (It's by the cartoon genius, Terry Colon.) I don't remember to be honest the precise day I started this insane enterprise - but I do remember blogging the 2000 conventions. To be on the safe side, we picked 10/10/10 as our arbitrary birthday, and on Monday, we'll take the holiday for some self-indulgent memories and nostalgia and some toasts and roasts from around the blogosphere.

There have been many times when I thought I would stop. I did once actually promise to in 2005, and then the Pope died and I couldn't help myself. The reason I haven't over all is not because I ever realized the full economic potential of the site - I tried, but failed - and did not have the will to be a businessman; but because of you, the readers, whose constant support and criticism and love and  intimacy moves me every day, and reminds me of the unique joy of this now million-monthly strong community. I'll write a little more on Monday about my feelings after ten years - yes, I was blogging when Clinton was president - and what this daily exposure and intense labor does to the soul and mind and body.

But it is also true that Jessie, my first real aide de blogue, helped me changed the scope of the blog toward a blogazine; Patrick, Chris, Zoe and Conor are not just some of the most decent, smart and kind people I know; but they persuaded me this spring not to give it up, when I had truly decided to do so in the face of some really tough personal and professional pressure. They are why I'm still typing this post this evening.

I also want to remember and thank the man who made this all possible in the first place, my friend who introduced me to Blogger.com all those years ago and maintained this site for six years, Robert Cameron. Without him, the Dish simply wouldn't have existed for the six years we did it together alone. He was a genius and visionary and one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. He and I together knew from the start that this was the beginning of a media revolution, and together, we played our part in making it happen. Now, it's everywhere. Back then, I spent year after year trying to explain to people what a blog was.

But without you, it wouldn't have taken flight. Without you, it would not be what it is. More on Monday.

Now, as that memo on the wall says, back to work ....

Daniel Bell notes that"the theme of 'America’s decline' had in fact been a constant in American culture and politics since at least the late 1950s." Drum expands on that thought:

[W]hat's remarkable, really, is how little America has declined. We are perpetually astounded that our military might doesn't guarantee us instant victory anywhere we go and that other countries are routinely able to make trouble for us, but that says more about our national psyche than about our actual global influence or military power. If anything, our ability to project power may be greater today than it's ever been, and it's certainly greater relative to other countries than it was 50 years ago. Economically, our share of GDP fell surprisingly little in the postwar era, from 28% to about 22%, and has stayed very nearly flat since 1980. And political idiocy aside, our ability to lead the world in a rebound from a world historical financial crash has actually been pretty impressive.

Yglesias pines for relative American decline.

Fred Kaplan asks, in Dorothy Parker fashion: how will they tell?

Slate is asking. Kerry Howley opposes a narrow answer:

I have at times in my life been called "feminist," and not always kindly. There is a look people get, a tightening of the mouth and slight rise in the eyebrows—ah, yes, you people. It's the look of someone who thinks he knows precisely what he is dealing with. Why it would be in feminism's interest to prove him right, I have no idea.

Says Katie Roiphie:

Beinart predicts another four years - on the lines of FDR and Reagan, who also inherited sucky economies but were able to turn them in the right direction (if not better than when they began) by re-election time:

Republicans won’t get very far by harping on the deficit. In 1984, you may remember, a presidential candidate told voters to ignore the nation’s nascent economic recovery and focus instead of the country’s swelling debt. His name was Walter Mondale.

A reader writes:

Andrew, have you looked at the draft rules for New Jersey's medical marijuana program? They put an onerous burden on a patient to get approved for a permit in the first place, and then slap them with a $200 permit fee.  If the person is too sick or infirmed to get to a dispensary (and since there are only planned to be four in the state, this could involve hours of travel), they can designate a caregiver to make their purchase for them -- after they too have paid a $200 fee.  A good vaporizer (recommended delivery method) can easily costs another $200 or more.

This means that if a doctor believes his or her patient would benefit from medical cannabis, the patient has to commit to spending hours and hundreds of dollars just to try it out. 

Valerie Jarrett will be the Human Rights Campaign's Guest Speaker at their super-fabulous gala dinner this weekend. She will doubtless explain why after two years with majorities in both Houses, 75 percent public support and a president who claims to be a "fierce advocate" for gay equality, gay servicemembers face an indefinite future of persecution by this commander-in-chief.

"David Wilson’s acid-tinged, hand-drawn music video for “Let Go” by Derry-based electronic trio The Japanese Popstars (feat. Green Velvet on vocals)":

The Japanese Popstars Feat. Green Velvet - Let Go from David Wilson Creative on Vimeo.

Redditors submit their formative favorites. A sampling:

your car's GPS unit has more computing power than the entire Apollo 11 mission.

a blue whales heart is the size of a VW Beetle and that you could swim through some of its arteries.

Each ejaculation has more sperm than there are people in the united states.

Discuss.

One way to spin this story is that the president is showing his pragmatism:

As Obama administration officials put into place the first major wave of changes under the health care legislation, they have tried to defuse stiffening resistance — from companies like McDonald’s and some insurers — by granting dozens of waivers to maintain even minimal coverage far below the new law’s standards.

The waivers have been issued in the last several weeks as part of a broader strategic effort to stave off threats by some health insurers to abandon markets, drop out of the business altogether or refuse to sell certain policies. Among those that administration officials hoped to mollify with waivers were some big insurers, some smaller employers and McDonald’s, which went so far as to warn that the regulations could force it to strip workers of existing coverage.

The problem, as Yuval Levin points out, is that the healthcare system is no longer a set of predictable rules applied equally to everyone - it is now an unpredictable place where politicians hold some companies to a strict set of rules and exempt others:

A cool and simple site that tells you what new releases - movies, music, books - are dropping this week.

A reader writes:

You seem to be setting up a false dichotomy here. Your field of choices seems to be either a) we can capture and try Awlaki as per ex parte Quirin, or else b) we kill him if we can. Why is it not possible to have c) a trial in absentia to determine at least probable cause - I'd push for more, but AT LEAST that much - to find him to be a traitor and terrorist, and have the court or tribunal then set the punishment, up to and including a death sentence? There's already lots of evidence in the public domain, and the court could be closed off for any parts that are of a sensitive national security nature. So how about SOME oversight, at least in form if not substance?

I like that third option and it really is pretty much a consensus here that the government's invocation of "state secrets" has hurt their cause, not helped it, and I would like to see the government make its case in a legal setting. Another writes:

In response to a reader who discussed the evidence that Awlaki is a terrorist, you wrote that to call the evidence against Awlaki "untested hearsay" is absurd. You are entitled to state your opinions, but I am begging you to stop misstating the law. 

A federal judge has ruled that healthcare reform's individual mandate is constitutional. A key part of the ruling:

The health care market is unlike other markets. No one can guarantee his or her health, or ensure that he or she will never participate in the health care market. Indeed, the opposite is nearly always true. The question is how participants in the health care market pay for medical expenses — through insurance, or through an attempt to pay out of pocket with a backstop of uncompensated care funded by third parties.

This phenomenon of cost-shifting is what makes the health care market unique. Far from “inactivity,” by choosing to forgo insurance, plaintiffs are making an economic decision to try to pay for health care services later, out of pocket, rather than now through the purchase of insurance, collectively shifting billions of dollars, $43 billion in 2008, onto other market participants.

Cohn cheers and analyzes. Suderman is critical. So is Ilya Somin:

A reader writes:

Regarding your post on "fag hags," is there a straight man's equivalent? In my case, I am about as straight as they get, but I find heterosexual men extremely boring to converse with. On the other hand, I absolutely love spending time with gay guys.

This is a new low:

Internal numbers-crunching showed the difference between [Rep. John] Adler and his Republican opponent -- then undetermined -- would hover around 5 percent. To give Adler an edge, Ayscue had recruited a then-unidentified man to run as a third-party candidate.

That candidate would act as a conservative spoiler to confuse voters and pull votes from Adler's eventual Republican challenger. ... That candidate was Peter DeStefano, a picture framer from Mount Laurel. On Nov. 2, he will appear on the "NJ Tea Party" line on the ballot.

(Hat tip: Smith)

Eugene Volokh did a tremendous amount of research into the case (previously covered by the Dish here, here, and especially here) and the precedent it was based upon. He presents a more thorough picture of relevant Israeli law.

A reader writes the most challenging and effective email I've read so far on this subject:

I thought one sentence in your reply was especially revealing, and it neatly crystallizes the true point of dissension over the best way to confront Islamic terrorism:

“But I do not believe, as Glenn does, that we are not at war with a vile, theocratic, murderous organization that would destroy this country and any of its enemies if it got the chance.”

What this tells me is that we still need to nail down our understanding of precisely what groups like al-Qaeda are really trying to achieve through the tactic of terrorism. Is it our destruction, or is it something else? The answer to that question is crucial for coming up with the appropriate response. If you truly believe that al-Qaeda’s goal is the destruction of Western countries, then wouldn’t logic dictate that Dick Cheney’s approach is the correct one?

A reader writes:

Chait is right, for the most part, but when I read his comment about a media filter, I couldn't help but think of how Keith Olbermann always has on guests that agree with him. Maddow and Schultz invite conservatives on to debate the issues. Bill O'Reilly is unbelievably arrogant, but he has on liberals. Olbermann never has on conservatives.

Olbermann's rationale for not have on people who disagree with him is this:

A reader writes:

I know I'm a bit late on this, but I wanted to reach out to you regarding the View From Your Window contest from Islamabad, with the Margalla Hills in the background.  I've been a loyal Dish reader for some time now but didn't see this one when it was first posted. I haven't been able to read the blog as regularly these days.

I only saw the picture when you announced the winner and I recognized the location immediately, almost to the point of tears.  My father was aboard the plane that crashed in the Margalla Hills on July 28 this year. 

The O'Donnell ad gets a lovely parody (NSFW).

So many readers have written in about this post about my latest beard disaster that I thought I'd post another link. Bonus: this one doesn't have three separate errors confusing Billy Mays and Willie Mays.

How a Jewish 23-year-old and his future husband kept their cool and poise amid a total meltdown and backtrack in the local Jewish press. The NYT story here. There are many reasons I think the next gay generation is leading the way right now, and Avi and Justin are two of them.

Howard Gleckman reads through Bill Galston and Maya MacGuineas's plan.

There are hypocrites, and then there's this guy:

[I]n 2006, [Washington State Supreme Court justice Richard B. Sanders] signed an opinion denying marriage equality to gay couples—because they have “more sexual partners” and because other courts have found that monogamy is “the bedrock upon which our culture is built.” Meanwhile, he’s been divorced twice, and this election season it became clear he has multiple simultaneous girlfriends. He doesn’t see anything inconsistent in any of that.

I'm sure David Vitter, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich don't either.

“We are going for a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look. These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks... Clothing Suggestions” included jeans, work boots, flannel shirt, denim shirt, “Dickie’s type jacket with t-shirt underneath,” down-filled vest, “John Deer [sic] hats (not brand new, preferably beat up),” “trucker hats (not brand new, preferably beat up),” - the casting call for the now infamous GOP ad that aired briefly in West Virginia.

Why not the more economical: someone who looks like he's clinging to his guns and religion?

Buttman was right. Saletan heralds it:

Here's the big story. In 1992, 16 percent of women aged 18-24 said they'd tried anal sex. Now 20 percent of women aged 18-19 say they've done it, and by ages 20-24, the number is 40 percent. In 1992, the highest percentage of women in any age group who admitted to anal sex was 33. In 2002, it was 35. Now it's 46.

If one wondered whether Conde Nast and Graydon Carter had any limits to what they might turn into "buzz", wonder no longer:

A reader writes:

I think pot should be legalized. I am for Prop 19. I just think that the push to make this happen draws people into minimizing the risks associated with smoking marijuana - particularly for adolescents.

The downside to Prop 19 is that it is going to create and increase some public health problems, particularly among teenagers and among the broader mentally ill population. I get that the measure would keep weed illegal for those under 21 and impose heavy penalties on anyone who facilitated kids getting weed. But let's not kid ourselves; more kids will have more access to weed, and this is a problem for which we need to prepare. You will forgive me, I hope, for being a bit skeptical about seeing a concomitant increase in funding for substance use treatment programs or mental health in general.

As someone who is finishing my training as a child and adolescent psychiatrist and as someone who used to smoke a fair bit in college and medical school, I really do see both sides of this.

Georgetown, Guyana, 5 pm

The Onion reports:

Citing a desire to gain influence in Washington, the American people confirmed Friday that they have hired high-powered D.C. lobbyist Jack Weldon of the firm Patton Boggs to help advance their agenda in Congress. Known among Beltway insiders for his ability to sway public policy on behalf of massive corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, and AT&T, Weldon, 53, is expected to use his vast network of political connections to give his new client a voice in the legislative process.

Weldon is reportedly charging the American people $795 an hour.

Cheap at the price

Brian Doherty explains where the No On 19 money is coming from. There's not much of it so far - even from the beer industry.

Hiatt publishes D'Souza's "Kenyan anti-colonialist" poison. One of the few times a rhetorical rat has jumped onto a journalistic sinking ship.

Felix Salmon swallows hard:

The U.S. does not have the luxury of waiting indefinitely for job growth to resume. Already we’re at the absolute limit: any longer, and most of the unemployed will be long-term unemployed and, to a first approximation, unemployable. This country simply can’t afford an unemployable underclass of the long-term unemployed — not morally, not economically, and not fiscally, either.

Nate Silver gives his latest:

Republican odds of taking over the Senate on Nov. 2 have now improved to 24 percent — up from 22 percent last week and 15 percent three weeks ago, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast model.

I was arguing last night with someone about Harry Reid. Sharron Angle is a nutcase, obviously. But if I were a Nevadan and had the vote (nearly there), I really don't think I could vote for Harry Reid.

So yesterday, after a week of traveling, blogging and thinking rather intensely about the laws of war, and before I had to write a column on Iraq, I decided to take a break and go to, well I won't name the establishment, but it's a place which caters to the grooming needs of men. I needed a haircut (we baldies do need to mantain order and Aaron isn't around with the buzzer) and a beard trim. But I also saw that they had on their list of possible treatments what they called a "grey-blending."

Now I was quite proud of myself for having finally gotten over the "I'm turning into Santa - where's the Just For Men? phase" of the mid-ok-late 40s bear, but "grey-blending" sounded, well, pretty mellow and not drastic and, like a sober alcoholic, I thought a little snifter couldn't do any harm. And, after all, these people are pros. They're not going to put the JFM on, get a phone-call, forget and turn around and realize they've just turned me into Moqtada al-Sadr.

So I lay back and had this lady put on the "grey-blender". I said, "It's 40 percent grey, could you make it 20 percent grey?" I'd rather look like Santa than Billy Mays (may God rest his soul). I thought the white goopy stuff she was brushing on might be a little de trop, but figured she knew what she was doing. I also thought a twenty-minute wait, with the seat lying down with the shit on was a little long, but figured she knew what she was doing. And then, when she finally finished washing out the stuff (you can't just rinse out the beard while pivoted with your head below your feet for fear of being waterboarded), the seat rose up and I looked in the mirror. The face looking back to me looked like a less subtle version of this:

Here's his latest post, tackling my Israel lobby frustrations, after a somewhat intemperate previous one, a little de trop because he had not read past the "Read on..." button (which makes a difference).  I'll respond to it later today.

You can't wait, can you?

Your morning moment of really, really gay.

Bernstein runs though their options. One possibility:

[One] strategy would be to go on offense: to try to get their agenda passed by streamrolling Barack Obama and the Democrats.  In other words, to imitate 1995.  The problem with this one is that it would be spectacularly unsuccessful, and those who remember 1995 know it.  Surely that includes John Boehner, who is almost certainly no fan of Newt Gingrich.  Depending on the size of their majority, it's not even clear that Republicans could agree on a budget on the floor of the House.  Even worse for them, if they can pass a Tea Party budget, it will almost certainly be stopped in Senate (best-case scenario 51 Republicans including Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins aren't going to try to shut down the Department of Education).  And in the highly unlikely chance that they do get agreement on a budget that could make the conservative base happy, they'll never get enacting legislation through WH vetoes.  The whole exercise would leave few if any substantive accomplishments, and plenty of ugly votes for the Democrats to sift through for the 2012 campaign.  Even worse, a veto fight produced by this strategy would yield a government shutdown, which might thrill Tea Partiers but would likely help Obama and produce Boehner-destroying chaos inside the Republican conference.

Walter Russell Mead decodes the Castro brothers' recent actions:

Catherine Rampell shows how much holiday sales matter:

As you can see, holiday sales make up a decent chunk of annual sales across the retail industry. In the jewelry subsector alone, 29.51 percent of annual sales come during the holiday season. In other words, a disappointing holiday season can affect 2011, too.

Ackerman flags a study on the demographics of new Army recuits:

The National Priorities Project, a lefty research organization in Massachusetts, crunched the numbers for enlistment in fiscal 2009. Its findings show an Army that’s smarter and more upwardly mobile than it often gets credit for being. Yes, in order to meet the strain of recruiting during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the military as a whole lowered standards in the mid-2000s. But the National Priorities Project indicates that the Army, at least, may have turned a corner — and this is a group of people that knows it’s going to war.

Ed Kilgore's spin:

There are two big takeaways that Democrats must understand from the enthusiasm gap data. The first is that it's a mistake to primarily assign turnout disparities to an insufficiently progressive agenda from the Obama administration. Maybe a different agenda would have been a good idea on policy grounds, or might have had a different impact on the congressional dynamics. But there's really little evidence that the discouragement we see among progressive elites is that widely shared among rank-and-file Democratic voters, whose relative likelihood to vote or not to vote is more easily explainable by structural factors.

Second, Republicans may be benefitting today from the hyper-excitement of its radicalized conservative base. But they will pay a price in the long run for the sort of agenda and rhetoric they are being driven to. That will become immediately evident in the 2012 cycle, when GOPers are forced to disclose their extremist hopes and dreams for the country, in the context of an electorate that is automatically less favorable.

Chris Weigant thinks that the Democrats will come around if Prop 19 boosts liberal turnout:

California's youth may surprise everyone and buck the general trend for any midterm election (where young voters mostly skip voting), and vote in droves precisely because a pet issue of theirs is on the ballot. This means it may behoove Democrats to put marijuana legalization initiatives on state ballots in order to drive up turnout in 2012, and beyond.

A bit from Bill Bryson's new book,  At Home:

[T]he history of early America is really a history of coping with shortages of building materials. ... During the first century of colonization, it was a rare house that lasted more than ten years...A hurricane in 1634 blew away – literally just lifted up and carried off – half the houses of Massachusetts.  Barely had people rebuilt when a second storm of similar intensity blew in...Even decent building stone was not available in many areas.  When George Washington wanted to pave his loggia at Mount Vernon with simple flagstones, he had to send to England for them.

A reader writes:

I'm not too sure where this reader's numbers came from.  I can only guess that the legalish market in California has really driven down the prices of quality product.  In less progressive areas of the country, an ounce can be had for about $40 for very low-grade product.  For something higher-grade like indoor cultivated quality strains (like the warehouse in question would likely be producing), the price can be from $15 to $40 a gram.  Twenty-eight grams to an ounce roughly adds up to $420-$1120.

This may not be the case in Oaksterdam, but anyone looking to rob that warehouse would likely be selling in a black market away from the scene of the robbery, where profit margins would be much higher. It just goes to show that facilitating a black market for this plant product only creates incentives for criminal activities.  How many more markets can we afford to surrender to mobsters?

Another writes: