The big news today on the healthcare reform front is the health insurance industry attacking such reform by releasing an industry-written report, one day before Senator Max Baucus' committee is (finally) scheduled to vote on their version of a healthcare reform bill. The report, from America's Health Insurance Plans (an industry group), has already been called a "hatchet job" by Democrats, because the industry is threatening to raise the average premium for health insurance by 110 percent -- more than doubling out-of-pocket costs for American families. A spokesman from the AARP shot back: "I really don't think [the AHIP report is] worth the paper it's written on." A spokesman for Senator Baucus fumed: "It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple."

But Baucus really needs look no further than his own mirror to see who is responsible -- if not for the report itself, then at least for the report's timing. Because Baucus has been almost as obstructionist as the Republicans in getting to the point we are at now. Meaning he is responsible for the dwindling amount of time we have left to get healthcare reform passed this year.

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In a surprising turn of events today, the Nobel committee awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to "Not George W. Bush." The chairman of the committee was quoted saying, "Lordy, Lordy, we were so happy to see the United States run by someone who wasn't George W. Bush -- even for eleven days -- that there simply was no other choice than to award 'Not George W. Bush' the prize unanimously."

OK, seriously, President Obama's new award should be seen as a giant thumb in the eye to Bush -- the third one so far (Gore and Carter being the other two). It's the Nobel committee's money, remember, so it's their right to do whatever they will with it. But talk of Obama refusing the prize (which would doubtlessly make Republicans feel better) is just plain silly. Obama will accept the award, give a nice speech, and donate the money to charity (my tea leaves tell me that ACORN isn't going to see any money out of this one). But until Henry Kissinger (or Woodrow Wilson, for that matter) gives back his award in shame, I don't think Obama's going to turn down his own award.

But while the award is already causing spontaneous rightwing cranial explosions across the land (if you listen close, you can hear them: Foom! Blam!), it's really nothing more than a footnote this week. Because larger things are afoot. I speak, of course, of Playboy putting Marge Simpson on its cover.

No, wait, that can't be it -- let me check my notes. OK, here it is, sorry. Let me start over.

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I should start out by saying that the title I chose for this article (which is meant to be taken literally, more on that in a moment) wasn't the first which suggested itself. Because the image I've got in my mind is a duck screaming: "AfPak! AfPak!" But I felt that was too frivolous a title to use for a very "not-frivolous" subject.

Still, the image remains. The media has apparently discovered that we have troops in Afghanistan. This may come as a shock to some, since the mainstream media (at least on television) have pretty much ignored this fact for around seven years now (so much so that Afghanistan became known as "the forgotten war" for a while). But the reporting on what President Obama is going to do next in Afghanistan has been so over-the-top in the past few weeks, it has astonished me (and I do not astonish easily, especially when it comes to the idiocy of the evening news). More stories have run on Afghanistan, I would be willing to venture, in the past two weeks than have run in the past two years.

Which is why I settled on the much-less-provocative title I did. Because in all this talk of what Obama should do next, the media seems to have a very selective case of amnesia. Or perhaps they are just severely memory-impaired or logically-challenged. With today's media, it's certainly possible. But then, to paraphrase a fired Secretary of Defense, we go to war with the media we have, not with the media we'd like to have.

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There are sins of commission in the way we're taught American history as children -- such as the fable about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree (which never actually happened). Then there are the much more prevalent sins of omission -- which conveniently gloss over the parts of American history which we have to "protect the children" from learning about. The reason I preface this column with such an observation is because a woman -- whose name we all know -- was honored today by the unveiling of her statue in the United States Capitol's Rotunda. Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was on hand for this ceremony, as was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But the astonishing thing (to me) was that Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner were also on hand, as well as the Republican governor of the very red state from whence this woman came. This state has honored the woman before, when it selected her to be their representation on their own state quarter. But the truly astonishing thing is that this woman not only helped found the A.C.L.U., but also was a radical and revolutionary Socialist, a fan of the Soviet Union and Lenin, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (the "I.W.W.", or the "Wobblies"), and an ardent foe and critic of capitalism. Not the type of woman usually honored by Republicans, you might think. But, in a glaring sin of omission committed by history teachers across this great land (and repeated by politicians even now), the only story we all know about her is of the daunting odds she overcame in her childhood. We're all familiar with this shared story, but it abruptly ends when she becomes an adult. All the parts about the raging Socialist she later became are conveniently swept under the rug.

Think I'm overstating that bit about being a "raging Socialist" or a "radical"? Judge for yourself. In her own words, from 1929, on the death of Lenin:

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[Program Note: I'm reproducing a press release today, instead of writing a column, so I hope you'll forgive my laziness. But while it is tempting to take the salient facts and quotes from the press release and make it appear as if I dug this story out on my own, I think it's more honest just to reprint the press release itself. Some might call it mere stenography, but I'd prefer my readers to draw their own conclusions. Having said all that, below is the press release from Populist Caucus Chair Bruce Braley's office, followed by the text of the letter they signed their names to (complete with a list of those who signed it).]

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As October dawns... well, actually... we're more into mid-morning October, as it were (see Program Note, below)... perhaps "as October gets underway" (that's better) -- it's time again to take our monthly look back, to see how President Obama is doing in the opinion polls. This month, the news for Obama fans is not bad. It's not get-up-and-cheer good, either, but it's a lot better than the news has been for the past two months.

I say this because Obama has stopped his slide in the polls. The downward slope of his approval numbers came to a screeching halt, and instead began hovering above (but never dipping below) the 50 percent mark. Since then, they have wavered in the 50-55 point range -- not trending clearly upwards, but at least not trending clearly downwards, either. Better news for Obama fans is the fact that his disapproval numbers did actually reverse course, after hitting a mid-month peak, and have settled downwards from that point on.

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First, let's get rid of the distractions this week. Chicago will not be getting the Olympics in 2016, even after President Obama went over to Copenhagen on a personal charm offensive. While I think Rio is a good choice, personally (come on -- it's not just Rio's first Olympics, or Brazil's first Olympics, it is South America's first Olympics -- this is supposed to be a worldwide event, and yet Africa and South America have never hosted), I also think the cheap shots will be flying from Republicans soon -- and that they're going to shoot themselves in the foot by doing so. Glorifying an Obama defeat is fine for the GOP when we're talking domestic affairs, but Obama was promoting an American city on the world's stage. Republicans will pay a price for gleefully rooting for America to fail in such a fashion. Polls showed overwhelming (84 percent) support of the American public for a Chicago Olympics. And Republicans are looking more and more like they just want Obama to fail -- no matter what he is attempting. This is not exactly the best way to rebuild the party's appeal among suburban moderate voters.

And just think what those same Republicans would be saying if Democrats had cheered for a Republican president to fail in such an effort. My guess is the word "anti-American" would be used (if you'll forgive the irony) liberally.

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This time next year, we will be in the midst of the congressional midterm election circus ("Peanuts! ... Getcher peanuts here!"). That much, at least, is beyond dispute. What will be in dispute are 435 seats in the House, and a third of the Senate. I'm going to go way out on a limb and predict here what the Republican rallying cry will be next year at this time: Lower taxes!

Now that I've actually typed that out, it doesn't seem as much of a revelation as when the thought struck me out of the blue the other day. So allow me to provide some detail to what I think the Republican midterm playbook will contain.

Of course, predicting the actual outcome of the 2010 midterms is virtually impossible at this point, so you shouldn't listen to anyone (me included) who confidently says anything about what's going to happen. There are so many "ifs" and other caveats that it's a fool's game. Having said that, allow me to play the fool for a bit.

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The Washington Post, one of the leading newspapers in the country, has announced on its website a contest to name "America's Next Great Pundit." In an enticing blend of reality television contests and print journalism, they are going to run a contest to see who deserves to be printed on their op-ed pages, on the sheer strength of writing. I heartily applaud this innovative effort -- even though I seem to be ineligible to enter. I also applaud anyone who reads this who might normally be inclined to write me a comment, and who instead decides to write an entry to the contest. Because you could be "America's Next Great Pundit." The winner receives a 13-week run for a weekly column, paid at $200 a pop. That's not the million-dollar prize reality TV routinely awards, but the newspaper industry is hurting, so you've got to make allowances. Kidding aside, it's not really the money anyway -- it's the prestige they're offering. But, since I've been an advocate for newspapers to do exactly this sort of thing for a while now, I have to cheer the Washington Post for their outside-the-box thinking.

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Did the Obama administration just issue a veto threat? I saw a headline suggesting the hint of a veto threat, so I thought I'd check out today's White House press briefing to see what was said. Now, I have to admit in all honesty, I haven't been reading these transcripts on a daily basis, so the Obama team may have previously issued veto threats of which I am unaware, but either way, I have to applaud them for even subtly hinting at the possibility of a veto. It's a weapon they haven't used much, and should consider using a lot more frequently.

The hedging is really par for the course in White House press briefings in our modern age, of course. The "Serious Journalist" crowd always gets up in arms over this fact, but it's been like that for so long and it isn't going to change any time soon, so it's really not even worth decrying here. The White House Press Secretary's job is to spin. And obfuscate. His job is not (as you might think) to answer questions. He is the official spokesperson for the administration, and so you have to expect the spin and the dodging when he speaks. It's his job, as both he sees it and how recent presidents have seen it. So be it.

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