After the health care law passed, we were promised a massive, $125 million PR campaign staffed with top quality talent that would really sell the new law to the American people. In a fascinating article, Politico found that this promised campaign essentially crashed and burned.

The idea that NATO command means that the US is relieved of duty in Libya is kind of silly. NATO members contribute to that command. The commander is likely to be an American general. We will still have a role to play.

While the lack of evidence makes it difficult to swallow what sounds like character assassination, we do at least have the list of panel members by which to examine the neutral disinterest the forensic psychiatric examination should demand of those who are investigating the background of Dr. Ivins. Instead, what a brief review of the panel’s bona fides reveals is an overwhelming stacking of this “expert” panel by doctors and others who are deeply beholden to government interests, and in particular to security agencies, including those involved in bioterrorism security. For such individuals, it is difficult to see that they would buck the position of the FBI and DOJ that Ivins was guilty.

In Syria, officials seem to be unnerved by protests in Deraa, which reportedly led to massacres by government police. There is now video available of the rather large protests in Deraa, undeterred by the violence over the past few days. I’ve heard numbers as high as 20,000, and this video seems to back that up. You can hear the shots from police in this video, as the crowd yells “Peaceful! Peaceful!” Reuters reports at least 37 dead.

Buried in the law to reform welfare programs, House Republicans have added a provision to make it more difficult for union members to strike.

Any bill passed into law in Ohio can be subject to a referendum, a “citizen’s veto,” which would be placed on the next statewide ballot. Union leaders and the Democratic Party have vowed to gather signatures for a referendum on SB 5 if it passes; they’d need about 300,000 names. The bill would have to be signed into law before April 6 for a referendum to be placed on the November 2011 ballot, which would include a bunch of citywide elections in Ohio. If the bill lingers past April 6, the referendum would go on the November 2012 ballot, which would include the Presidential election.

I keep waiting for the Village reporters to stop breathlessly covering every random utterance belched up by Newt Gingrich, but I suppose it’s never gonna happen.

On Tuesday, US forces in Afghanistan released a propaganda push highlighting “progress” in the city of Herat as the beacon of how Afghanistan is moving toward peace and being able to defend itself. Look, in the photo you can see that you can actually buy popcorn on the streets of Herat! The next day, on Wednesday, a US helicopter killed two more civilians, including at least one child. The initial press release by ISAF on this attack was produced only in propaganda mode, bleating the death of a Haqqani network leader and making false claims about “protecting” civilians who unexpectedly appeared in the area while helicopters were attacking their target.

Boehner says that he respects the authority of the President as commander in chief. However, he writes, “I and many other members of the House of Representatives are troubled that US military resources were committed to war without clearly defining for the American people, the Congress and our troops what the mission in Libya is and what America’s role is in achieving that mission.”

The Obama Administration has sought to improperly alter Constitutional Miranda rights by administrative decree.