ALEX KOPPELMAN EMPLOYS the “no true Scotsman” fallacy to duck claims that Birtherism originated on the left. Well, if you prefer, you can refer to the “Democratic Party roots of birtherism” instead. I don’t think it helps Koppelman’s cause much, though.

CRAM-DOWN? Pelosi Aide: Democrats Have Settled on Reconciliation. I’m not sure how much I believe this report, but if this happens, opponents will be justified in regarding the law as illegitimate.

DAN RIEHL: Why would Obama not mind Dimon and Blankfein getting huge bonuses? “Well, Dimon has given over $100k just to the DSCC. Plus individual candidate donations, most of which go to Democrats. And Blankfein gives almost all of his donations to Democrats – $136k to $4k.”

WHEN DID LIBERALS START hating Arianna Huffington? “She’s up 12 in the ranking of ‘Human Garbage’? What’s up with that? I thought she was some kind of liberal queen. Now, she’s on a list with me.”

JOHN HINDERAKER: “With hindsight, it is remarkable how restrained the Bush administration’s response to the terrorist attacks was.”

JEFFREY GOLDBERG ON SULLIVAN AND WIESELTIER:

I don’t believe that Andrew is an anti-Semite. I have no doubt that if Andrew happened to come upon a Jewish person being harassed or otherwise tormented, he would ride his ridiculous bicycle into the fray and beat back the anti-Semites with a stick. And he certainly passes the Anne Frank Attic Test.

But: His evolution from wild-eyed Zionist to vitriolic Israel-basher is one of the more painful things I’ve witnessed recently, and not only because we are friends, or were friends. . . . The question of whether Andrew is or is not personally anti-Semitic isn’t entirely relevant. What is relevant is that he sometimes uses his blog to disseminate calumnies that can cause hatred of Jews, and of Israel. I know this from personal experience, because the anti-Semites who e-mail him copy me. Andrew’s posts on Israel and on Jewish political power in America have lately given comfort to some very repulsive people. This doesn’t mean, of course, that the role of AIPAC shouldn’t be debated openly, but it should be done without prejudice; without the axiomatic assumption that American Jews who love Israel are disloyal to America; and without the Judeocentrism of the neo-Lindbergh set.

Read the whole thing. Plus James Joyner on how the currency of “anti-semitism” and “racism” charges has been debased. “Views held by pluralities of Americans are now routinely dubbed Fascist, Communist, treason, unpatriotic, or un-American. It’s an effective tool, at first, just as Saul Alinsky predicted: ‘Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.’ But, as he also warned, ‘A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.'”

Related item here.

SOREN DAYTON: PA-13: How scared are Dem incumbents? “Allyson Schwartz (D-PA-13) represents a district that John Kerry won 54-43. In 2008, she won 63-34. But she’s scared this year. How scared? Scared enough to put the screws into the leaders of the national and state firefighters union to get a firefighter and bar owner named Brian Haughton to not run.”

UPDATE: More on Haughton.

TIM CAVANAUGH: “You know what aid package would require Greece to get its fiscal house in order at a much lower price? No aid package! . . . Greeks retire four years earlier than Germans (and Americans) and are furious at suggestions that the retirement age be raised by two years. Every piece of evidence screams against pouring any more money down this hole.”

TOM CAMPBELL: How to Slash the Federal Deficit.

IN WEST TEXAS, the Winkler County nurse trial. It’s getting bad reviews.

C-SPAN IN THE BLIZZARD: Doing the dishes.

UPDATE: “Your snowmen lead tragic lives.”

THE CLODHOPPER’S ON THE OTHER FOOT: Obama adviser says “nucular.”

MARKDOWNS ON Kitchen Accessories.

UTAH PASSES Montana-style gun bill. This stuff is symbolic — but, it is symbolic.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Another Showdown at the Mullahs’ Corral.

HEH: Move Over “Articulate,” The New Racist Code Word is “Professor.” So don’t you be calling me that.

SHOCKER: Obama Budget Rigs Healthcare Numbers.

COOLING HOUSES with phase change materials.

MARKDOWNS on fitness gear.

COVERING A SHOOTING via Twitter.

SCOTT PACE: Why NASA Needs A Better Plan.

LONDON TIMES: Amnesty International Is ‘Damaged’ By Taliban Link. Gee, do you think?

BRITISH SPACE REPORT fails to inspire.

PJTV: Roger Simon interviews Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. Among the subjects, Oren’s disgraceful treatment at U.C. Irvine.

GOODBYE: Newspaper starts to exit the Web.