Update: 9:08 pm MT: The Health Care bill passes. With 6 minutes remaining to vote, there are 218 votes in favor. Final vote: 220 yes, 215 no. 39 Dems voted no, 1 Republican voted yes. House adjourns at 9:33 pm.

Now that it's a done deal, people will want to know what's in it, and what it means for them. A good starting place, with lots of links, factsheets and more:

Question: Did the Stupak Amendment save the health care bill? 64 Dems voted for the Stupak amendment. 39 Dems voted against the health care bill. Does that mean the Stupak amendment resulted in 25 yeas for the HCR bill? The HCR bill passed with only 2 votes to spare. Next question: Was the trade-off "wire coat hanger amendment" worth it?

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While some fool is going on about malicious trial lawyers on the House Floor, we are waiting for the vote on the full health care reform bill, which should take place in the next hour. It's the Affordable Health Care for America Now Act. The Dems need 218 votes. The Dems think they have them. [More...]

Update: Stupak passes, only 1 present vote (Shadegg)because the anti-choicers said they'd score a present vote as a no vote. Final vote: 240 to 194, 1 present. Who are the 64 Dems who voted for the wire coat hanger amendment? The roll call vote is here. Shame on Colorado Rep. John Salazar, brother of former Sen. Ken Salazar.

Update: Reps. Diana DeGette and Louise Slaughter, co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, issue this statement:

“Placing onerous new restrictions on a woman’s right to choose sets a terrible precedent and marks a significant step backwards. This effort will effectively ban abortion coverage in all plans, both private and public – marking a significant scaling back of the options offered under existing laws. Such a terrible, last minute amendment to a critical, historic piece of legislation is a shame. This kind of outrageous interference in health care by the government marks a sad day in this struggle and will result in women across America losing the right to health care.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear two cases challenging laws imposing life sentences without parole on juveniles who are not convicted of murder.

The cases are both from Florida: The Equal Justice Initiative has an excellent synopsis of Florida v. Sullivan and Sullivan v. Graham in layman's terms.

Both cases ask the Court to address whether the differences between children and adults that led the Court to strike down the death penalty for children also make permanent imprisonment a constitutionally impermissible punishment for a child.

[More...]

Update: If the line is busy when you call, Tweet Your Rep.

The Stupak-Ellsworth-Pitts-Kaptur-Dahlkemper-Lipinski-Smith Amendment, to the health care reform bill (H.R. 3962)is being voted on today. Reportedly, it prevents federal funding of abortion and health insurance plans which include abortion coverage(Hyde Amendment). Supposedly, it will not affect coverage of abortion in non-subsidized health plans, and will not bar anyone from purchasing a supplemental abortion policy with their own funds. [More...]

Planned Parenthood breaks it down. At 2pm (ET), the House just began four more hours of debate on the bill.

Fox News Boston reports Rep. Barney Frank was present at the home of James Ready, his long-time companion, when it was raided for marijuana. Rep. Frank did not live at the house:

According to a police report, police charged Ready with marijuana possession, cultivation and use of drug paraphernalia in August of 2007. Ready admitted to civil possession and paid a fine. The remaining charges were dismissed in 2008. Sources tell FOX25 that when Frank was questioned he told police that he did not live in the house and that he only smoked cigars.

Here's Barney, in his own words, explaining. [More...]

It's been over 70 degrees in Denver this week. Anita arrived last night from Owl Farm -- she's been staying here a night a week or so during the months of the LSAT prep course in Denver. She has a practice test today and when it's over, we're heading up to Boulder for the afternoon. She brought me a copy of her latest book, Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson. It's a compilation of Hunter S. Thompson's media interviews (including transcripts of tv and radio interviews) over a period of 40 years. She has spent the past few years sifting through the archives and boxes in the basement to find and edit the material, not a small task. From the reviews, she has done a great job, as always. [More...]

Should lead to final votes tonight. You can watch on C-Span or online.

The biggest game of the day will be played in Tuscaloosa where the Crimson Tide host LSU. Remarkably, LSU has won the last 4 played in Tuscaloosa. Yet Alabama is a 7.5 point favorite. I like the Tigers (+7.5).

Ohio State travels to Happy Valley to face Penn State. Terrelle Pryor, the Ohio State QB is from Pennsylvania. Ohio State still controls its destiny in the Big Ten, facing Iowa next week at the Horseshoe. The thing is . . . Ohio State just is not very good this year. I like Penn State (-5.5). More . . .

I've never thought Martha Coakley would make a good U.S. Senator. I'm even more convinced now that she has signed her name to a brief restricting death penalty appeals, while claiming to be against the death penalty.

The case, which comes as Coakley is battling for votes in the Democratic Senate primary, involves a convicted murderer from Alabama who has appealed his case to the Supreme Court, on the grounds that his state-assigned lawyer failed to introduce crucial evidence that he is mentally retarded.

“There’s no way this kid should be killed,’’ said Stephen B. Bright, president and senior counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights, an organization that opposes the death penalty. “It’s old-fashioned Southern states’ rights. I was shocked to see that she and the state of Massachusetts had joined that brief.’’

Coakley-speak:

“This, from our point of view, is unrelated to a death penalty or any of the issues around that,’’ Coakley said. “A real concern was that we get a clear determination from the Supreme Court on what is the standard of review of a federal court looking at a state court decision.’’

How is limiting the appeal rights of a mentally retarded person sentenced to die not about the death penalty? AEDPA, which the brief addresses, is the infamously unfair "Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act."[More...]

In Southern Somalia, Abas Hussein Abdirahman, 33, was stoned to death for adultery as a crowd of 300 watched. He had confessed to an Islamist court. His pregnant girlfriend will meet the same fate, death by stoning, after she gives birth.

"He was screaming and blood was pouring from his head during the stoning. After seven minutes he stopped moving," an eyewitness told the BBC.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says that if the woman is also killed, her baby would be given to relatives to look after.

Somalia has not had a "functioning government" in 18 years. Last year, a 13 year old girl was stoned to death for adultery -- she had been raped.

Washington prosecutors drop pot charges against Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum:

Prosecutors in Clark County, Wash., and Tim Lincecum have reached an agreement in which the pitcher will pay a $250 fine relating to his possession of a marijuana pipe with the drug possession charge being dropped. Lincecum also must pay a $122 fine for speeding.

[. . .] "Any Joe Blow would get (this deal)," [Clark county prosecutor Grant] Hansen said. "The way we see it, we can do something to him or we can do something for him. If we can give him a little leniency the first time, in my opinion, it goes further for being law-compliant in the future than if we kick him in the teeth."

Lincecum was cited by the Washington State Patrol for possessing 3.3 grams of marijuana and the pipe, both misdemeanors, during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 one week ago.

TPM:

Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY) announc[ed] his support in a press release [--]"This legislation will reform the insurance industry and provide increased access to affordable healthcare without taxing healthcare benefits, cutting Medicare benefits or raising taxes on the middle class, and that is exactly the direction we need to go," said Owens. "There are still changes I would like to make, including raising the payroll exemption for small businesses, but like I said last week, there is a fundamental need for reform and we must act with a sense of urgency."

As regular readers know, the sports teams I live and die with, the ones where I suffer (as do the people around me) when they lose, are the Florida Gators and the New York Yankees. I love all sports, from NFL football to track to soccer to cycling, but those are the teams I am emotionally invested in.

Throughout their history, the Yankees have been TEH EVIL. The newfangled Yankee Haters think they are originals, but Yankee Hating is a longstanding tradition. There was even a Tony Award winning musical about it.

What is new is that Florida has become TEH EVIL nationally (the Ole Ball Coach (aka Evil Genius) inspired plenty of hatred in the SEC and FSU but not so much nationally.) For the time being, Florida has supplanted Notre Dame as the most hated college football team in the country. I dunno, but, like Woody Allen in Annie Hall, the Evil Queen in Snow White is starting to look appealing to me.

This is an Open Thread.

This is typically hilarious from John Hinderaker:

Byron York has been following MoveOn.org's effort to enforce left-wing conformity on the Democratic Party. The latest news is that MoveOn has raised nearly $3.6 million to defeat any Senate Democrat who has the temerity to vote against government takeover of health care.

Heh. Tell that to Dede Scozzafava, Charlie Crist and Carly Fiorina. To be fair, too many progressive bloggers engage in the same hypocrisy. I like to be consistent and I think I am - everybody should be fighting for what they believe in and every public official should face primary challengers. Of course, I will favor those candidates who promote my views. As everyone else should. Pols are pols my friends.

Speaking for me only

With defenders like Jon Chait, President Obama needs no enemies:

Krugman's column employs a pretty good World War II analogy. Let me use another: imagine a scathing column about the 1938 Munich accord that devotes most of its energy to castigating Czechoslovakian President Edvard Benes for his ineffectual efforts to gain the support of Britain and France, rather than putting Britain and France at the center of the story.

Obama as 1938 Czechoslovakia? That's the defense? Wow. I know that the Village wonks (Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Jon Cohn, etc.) have been arguing that Obama is powerless on health care reform, but Chait is the winner, of sorts, in the "defending Obama as impotent" competition. I'll give them this though - they do not use the annoying "Don't Worry, He's Got It" photo of Obama that was rampant in the Obama fan blogs before.

Speaking for me only