ANN ALTHOUSE: Michael McConnell states the constitutional problem with the “deem and pass” more clearly and concisely than anyone can explain what the “deem and pass” is. Is that a clue that something really devious is going on?

BYRON YORK: Rules Committee Meeting Descends Into Chaos. “Obviously, Democrats are performing such strange contortions because many of their members are scared of voting for a bill that will likely mean defeat for them in November. But their attempts to avoid responsibility have created some very basic problems.”

PROTESTING OBAMACARE IN WASHINGTON: Reader Barrett Cunningham sends this photo and reports: “It’s an incredible turnout Glenn, and people just keep coming.”

And reader Alan Poston sends this pic and reports a crowd estimate of 30,000 was given at the scene. Not sure of the source.

UPDATE: Here’s another pic from Randy Barnett.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another pic from Randy Barnett:

Blackberries, iPhones, etc. sure make blogging these things easier.

On crowd size, Randy emails: “They announced 25K about 15 minutes ago. I cannot see side to side but it goes solidly from steps to pond and then around to the other side of the water. Before things got started it was full between the 2 walk ways leading up to Capital. Is now wider than that but I cannot see the edges from where I am.”

Photos from high vantage points, or descriptions of exactly how far the crowd spreads in various directions, would be much appreciated.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another from Barnett, this time facing south.

And Randy emails: “Been reading your posts. Speaker just said, ‘The President is like a used car salesman. We tell him we don’t want to buy what he’s selling but he won’t let us off the lot.'”

IN THE MAIL: From Judith Shulevitz, The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time.

RASMUSSEN: 44% “Strongly Disapprove” of Obama; only 43% approve of Obama at all.

23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President (see trends). . . . Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. That also matches the lowest level yet recorded for this President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove.

Will the press start talking about “the increasingly unpopular President Obama” any time soon?

FROM JOHN HINDERAKER, a series of controversial propositions. Including this one: “The smartest person whom most Americans see on a regular basis is Simon Cowell.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: Arizona Kills SCHIP, Puts Medicaid on a Diet. “On the eve of the possible passage of a health care bill, Arizona has provided a glimpse of our possible future by shutting down its SCHIP program and booting a bunch of people out of Medicaid. . . . The reason this is so troubling, of course, is that the new proposed health care plan gets about half of its coverage expansion through adding people to Medicaid. The state side of this expense doesn’t show up on the books as a government expenditure (neatly enabling the bill to get a lower CBO score), but someone in America has to be taxed to pay for it, and there is a big problem when tax revenues fall short of the required expenditure.”

GUY SORMAN: The Euro In Crisis: In Greece and elsewhere, statism proves riskier than free markets.

FASTER, PLEASE: A Cheap, Portable Wound-Healing Device.

RATINGS: With a little luck, MSNBC might catch up to the Hallmark Channel.

GREG MANKIW: A Warning About The CBO Scoring.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the CBO scoring of the health bill. Here is one thing people should understand about their numbers: When they estimate the budget impact of a bill like this, they assume the path of GDP is unchanged.

Recall that the bill raises taxes substantially. Some of these tax hikes are the explicit tax increases on capital income to pay for the insurance subsidies. Some of these tax hikes are the implicit marginal rate increases from the phase-out of the insurance subsidies as a person’s income rises. Both of these would be expected to reduce GDP growth.

Indeed, to be very wonkish about it, these tax changes could have especially large GDP effects.

Not positive ones, either.

KEITH HENNESSEY: A New $29 Billion Gimmick In The Reconciliation Bill.

STRATEGYPAGE: “In a new effort to increase overall capabilities, the U.S. Army is now screening reservists to weed out underperformers.” Plus, increased money going to State Defense Forces.

VIDEO from an “impromptu” Tea Party protest outside Jan Schakowsky’s office.

IS TEA the new coffee?

MEMO TO DAVID FRUM: It’s The Spending, Stupid.

HMM: India Raises Interest Rate to Fight Inflation.

Also, Australia Raises Benchmark Rate to 4%.

UPDATE: Business Week: India’s Interest Rate Rise ‘Sign of Things to Come’.

U.S. rates, on the other hand, are supposed to stay low.

ANN ALTHOUSE: With the entire C-SPAN archive up on-line, what was the first thing I wanted to re-live?

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg.

NEW YORK TIMES: Doubts About Diversity Training.

UPDATE: From TigerHawk, the rest of the story.

GRANDPA MUNSTER comes out in favor of ObamaCare. Funniest billboard yet, though I think it’s a Photoshop.

CHANGE: More multigenerational families living together. “Driven partly by job losses, more multigenerational families are choosing to live together as ‘boomerang kids’ flock home and people help care for grandchildren or aging parents.”

OBAMAVILLES SPREAD: Number of People Living on New York Streets Soars.

NEW YORK TIMES: Fundraiser for Obama and Clinton Admits Fraud:

A wealthy businessman who raised money for leading Democratic Party politicians, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, pleaded guilty on Thursday to defrauding three major banks out of $292.2 million in loan transactions, Reuters reported.

Hassan Nemazee, 60, who once ran a private equity firm, admitted in Manhattan federal court to defrauding Bank of America of more than $142 million, Citigroup of $74.9 million and HSBC Holdings of $74.9 million to pay his debt to Citigroup.

Then there’s all the money he got people to donate based on “hope, change, and a new kind of politics . . . .”

DON SURBER: “Hey, what George Bush could not accomplish in 8 years, Obama has accomplished in 14 months.”