As Politico’s Anne Schroeder Mullins points out , when Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) took the House floor yesterday to make her statement on Health Care Reform, she also made a sartorial statement with her Strawberry Shortcake ensemble: a t-shirt and long skirt — and neck-to-toe pink. We know it’s hot out and nearing vacation time, but was Bachmann’s casual clothing appropriate for The Hill? WATCH: What do you think?

From Politico : With so much news this summer, there’s one story that had been largely squeezed out: the case of the two American journalists detained in North Korea. News of Laura Ling and Euna Lee’s fate slowed to a trickle seven weeks after they were sentenced on June 8 to hard labor for allegedly crossing into the country in pursuit of a story. The lack of public attention seemed to aid the State Department’s efforts to handle the situation privately.

July 29th, 2009 Fred Barbash: “But the fact remains that numerous signs are now pointing to economic recovery. And the GOP needs to craft a smart political response to this. Obama and Biden will surely take credit for the better economic news, just as any White House would. It’s the way the political game is played. But Republicans have to play the game, too.” Larry Kudlow Bradley A. Blakeman: What economic recovery? Seriously, unemployment is over 9% nationally and in some urban areas it is as high as 14%.

From Hamilton County Residents Against Annexation : There will be a community meeting regarding Annexation at Westview Elementary School on East Brainerd Road, Monday, August 3 at 6:30 p.m. Everyone on both sides of the issue, both city and county residents, are cordially invited to attend. The focus of this meeting will be on residents in the East Brainerd area, but anyone in Chattanooga and/or Hamilton County are encouraged to attend.

An interesting pattern has emerged in the last few weeks, as President Obama’s ratings have started to come down to Earth : You can really see a type of Obama-hatred out there that really does cross over into a purely racial territory. This has gotten especially worse in the aftermath of Obama’s comments and subsequent mea culpa on the Henry Louis Gates arrest, but the pattern has been there all the same.

Last night I was honored to speak with a class at the College of Mount St. Vincent on an alternative vision of media and left asking the students to make at least one piece of independent media part of their daily intake, since on a constant level they (and all of us) are fed messages from the corporate media. Pero sometimes the message being sent is just so out there, such a sad attempt to maintain legitimacy in a changing world, that you have to ask. Why are you still here? That’s the question for CNN’s Lou Dobbs .

From Rush Limbaugh: Those who studied mythology recall Hercules’ war with the nine-headed hydra. When Hercules smashed one head, two more popped out. One head was immortal; it had to be severed and buried under a boulder before the battle was won. The modern hydra is being battled in Congress. Yet another health care “reform” plan is popping out, this one from the Senate Finance Committee. Led by Montana Democrat Max Baucus, three Democrats and three Republicans have been holding secret meetings to come up with a bipartisan plan.

Clever : “House GOP leaders are ramping up the pressure on centrist Democrats Tuesday by busing to the Hill and meeting with business owners from several Blue Dog districts who are opposed to the president’s health-care reform bill. The meeting with small-business owners is part of the ongoing effort by Republicans to attack what they consider to be a ‘government takeover’ of the country’s health-care system.” And it all seemed to work : “Democratic leaders have apparently thrown in the towel