It’s turning out to be a long, hot summer in the Northern Hemisphere.  No, not the dreadful sort of heatwave that Europe remembers from six years ago , when thousands of the elderly died from withering heat in their homes or at shelters or even hospitals that seemed incapable of providing necessary relief.  This year the summer heat is of the political kind, generated by a high pressure system hanging over Washington and covering the North American continent with hot air.  As voters confront politicians, there are reports of stormy encounters over the Democrats’ health care plans.  So far, no clearing of the air.

The Rude Pundit in a post about the town hall screamers: Now, follow the bouncing ball: Another miscalculation by the Obama administration was in not seeing the political value of investigating and prosecuting Bush administration officials, including Dick Cheney. See, having the Justice Department under Eric Holder threatening to arrest and drag off the ex-VP and others would have been the perfect shiny object for the right wing.

In my ongoing quest to annoy Zack Space, I’ve managed to do something that exactly zero of his office staffers were able to do: find out when he’s having a town hall. It turns out that he’s been taking the easy way out, and phoning it in with those blasted “tele-town halls.” But it gets better. Take it for what you will, but a poster over at the Liberty News Forum has a self-prepared transcript of a caller on the Rush Limbaugh show who reports being lied to by Space’s office. CALLER: Hi, Rush.

Paul Krugman this morning: “Bernie Madoff and the birthers” – michaelandgretchen.com 08/13/2009 August 12, 2009, 5:09 pmBernie Madoff and the birthersObama is a Kenyan-born Nazi Muslim planning to euthanize seniors while putting them in concentration camps. The Clintons were drug-runners who murdered Vince Foster. Why do people believe this stuff?Yes, there’s a lavishly funded industry pushing these stories. But Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and all the others wouldn’t succeed without a receptive audience.

A top 10 list of things that drive me crazy about my fellow Americans.1.) Why are so many people up in arms about spending $1T over the next ten years, with the worst estimate showing that $239B will end up directly affecting the deficit, yet there has been no outcry about the $1T the war in Iraq is costing us, all of it going directly to the deficit?