There are a lot of weird viruses going around in these parts, and I seem to have one or two of them, so it’s going to be a serious LOB (Lay On Butt) Saturday tomorrow.
But first, here are some remains of this day:
* Interesting Jonathan Martin piece for the New York Times about Pat Roberts’ efforts to renew ties with the state he has represented in Congress for a third of a century. Should definitely move Roberts up the list of possible primary casualties.
* Wonkblog‘s soon-to-be-depared Sarah Kliff has an important analysis of the “doc fix” that could gain bipartisan support unless the different version embraced in the House GOP debt-limit bill screws it up.
* NSA says it’s collecting “only” 30% of U.S. phone records. That’s reassuring.
* At Ten Miles Square, Summer Xjiang provides an update on implementation of China’s new and more liberal policy on childbearing.
* At College Guide, Daniel Luzer discusses Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslem’s proposal to use lottery proceeds to abolish tuition and fees at community colleges.
And in non-political news:
* Fabulous Onion video on “Parents’ Annual Ranking of Perfectly Good State Schools.”
That’s it for the day and week. Martin Longman will be back in for Weekend Blogging. On this 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first trip to the U.S., it’s a reminder of what a short, strange trip the whole Beatles phenomenon really was, since the band dissolved just over five years after that initial appearance on Ed Sullivan. So let’s end with a later Beatles tune (though not much later; Revolver was released in 1966): the one that baffled Don Draper, “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
Selah.
