The first accurate poll we've seen

New Poll: Less Than Half Of Republicans Believe Obama Was Born In U.S.

Finally we have a handle on the quantity of Big Stupids this side of the Atlantic.

In case you were wondering,

The answer is:

No, there's absolutely nothing these fuckwads won't stoop to:

Firm Crunching Numbers for GOP Is Owned by Health Insurer

The political battle over health-care reform is waged largely with numbers, and few number-crunchers have shaped the debate as much as the Lewin Group, a consulting firm whose research has been widely cited by opponents of a public insurance option.

To Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican whip, it is "the nonpartisan Lewin Group." To Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, it is an "independent research firm." To Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the second-ranking Republican on the pivotal Finance Committee, it is "well known as one of the most nonpartisan groups in the country."

Generally left unsaid amid all the citations is that the Lewin Group is wholly owned by UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation's largest insurers.

More specifically, the Lewin Group is part of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth subsidiary that was accused by the New York attorney general and the American Medical Association, a physician's group, of helping insurers shift medical expenses to consumers by distributing skewed data. Ingenix supplied its parent company and other insurers with data that allegedly understated the "usual and customary" doctor fees that insurers use to determine how much they will reimburse consumers for out-of-network care. More...

Can we simply stipulate

who's not for debate on healthcare - but with this lot?

	Alabama		Richard Shelby	Republican	Methodist	Alabama Senate; U.S. House (AL-7)	Alabama (BA, JD)	1987	1934
2		Alabama		Jeff Sessions	Republican	Methodist	State Attorney General	Huntingdon College, University of Alabama	1997	1946
3		Alaska		Lisa Murkowski	Republican	Roman Catholic	Alaska House of Representatives	Georgetown, Willamette	2002	1957
3		Arizona		John McCain	Republican	Baptist[1]	Military, U.S. House	U.S. Naval Academy[2]	1987	1936
1		Arizona		Jon Kyl	Republican	Presbyterian	Attorney, U.S. House	Arizona (BA, JD)	1995	1942
3		Florida		Mel Martinez	Republican	Roman Catholic	U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Florida State (BA, JD)	2005	1946
2		Georgia		Saxby Chambliss	Republican	Episcopalian	U.S. House	Georgia, Tennessee	2003	1943
3		Georgia		Johnny Isakson	Republican	Methodist	U.S. House (GA-6)	Georgia	2005	1944
3		Idaho		Mike Crapo	Republican	LDS	Idaho State Senate, U.S. House (ID-2)	Brigham Young, Harvard Law	1999	1951
2		Idaho		Jim Risch	Republican	Roman Catholic	State Senate Majority Leader, Governor of Idaho,Lieutenant Governor of Idaho	Idaho	2009	1943
1		Indiana		Richard Lugar	Republican	Methodist	Mayor of Indianapolis	Denison, Oxford	1977	1932
3		Iowa		Chuck Grassley	Republican	Baptist	Iowa House of Representatives, U.S. House (IA-3)	Northern Iowa (BA, MA)	1981	1933
3		Kansas		Sam Brownback	Republican	Roman Catholic	U.S. House (KS-2)	Kansas State, Kansas	1996	1956
2		Kansas		Pat Roberts	Republican	Methodist	U.S. House (KS-1)	Kansas State	1997	1936
2		Kentucky		Mitch McConnell	Republican	Baptist	Jefferson County Executive	Louisville, Kentucky	1985	1942
3		Kentucky		Jim Bunning	Republican	Roman Catholic	MLB Baseball player, Fort Thomas City Council, Kentucky State Senate, U.S. House (KY-4)	Xavier	1999	1931
3		Louisiana		David Vitter	Republican	Roman Catholic	U.S. House (LA-1)	Harvard, Oxford, Tulane	2005	1961
1		Maine		Olympia Snowe	Republican	Eastern Orthodox	Maine House of Representatives;Maine Senate; U.S. House (ME-2), First Lady of Maine	Maine	1995	1947
2		Maine		Susan Collins	Republican	Roman Catholic	Deputy State Treasurer	St. Lawrence	1997	1952
2		Mississippi		Thad Cochran	Republican	Baptist	U.S. House (MS-4)	Mississippi (BA, JD)	1979	1937
1		Mississippi		Roger Wicker	Republican	Southern Baptist	U.S. House (MS-1)	Mississippi (BA, JD)	2007	1951
3		Missouri		Kit Bond	Republican	Presbyterian	State Auditor, Governor	Princeton, Virginia	1987	1939
2		Nebraska		Mike Johanns	Republican	Roman Catholic	Mayor of Lincoln, Governor of Nebraska, US Secretary of Agriculture	St. Mary's University, Creighton University	2009	1950
1		Nevada		John Ensign	Republican	International Church of the Foursquare Gospel	U.S. House (NV-1)	UNLV, Oregon State, Colorado	2001	1958
3		New Hampshire		Judd Gregg	Republican	Congregationalist	Governor, U.S. House (NH-2)	Columbia, Boston University	1993	1947
3		North Carolina		Richard Burr	Republican	Methodist	U.S. House (NC-5)	Wake Forest	2005	1955
3		Ohio		George Voinovich	Republican	Roman Catholic	Mayor of Cleveland; Governor	Ohio, Ohio State	1999	1936
2		Oklahoma		Jim Inhofe	Republican	Presbyterian	Oklahoma House of Rep; Oklahoma Senate; Mayor ofTulsa; U.S. House (OK-1)	Tulsa	1995	1934
3		Oklahoma		Tom Coburn	Republican	Baptist	Physician, U.S. House (OK-2)	Oklahoma State, Oklahoma	2005	1948
2		South Carolina		Lindsey Graham	Republican	Southern Baptist	U.S. House (SC-3)	South Carolina (BA, JD)	2003	1955
3		South Carolina		Jim DeMint	Republican	Presbyterian	U.S. House (SC-4)	Tennessee, Clemson University	2005	1951
3		South Dakota		John Thune	Republican	Evangelical Christian	U.S. House (SD-At Large)	Biola, South Dakota	2005	1961
2		Tennessee		Lamar Alexander	Republican	Presbyterian	Governor; U.S. Secretary of Education	Vanderbilt, New York University	2003	1940
1		Tennessee		Bob Corker	Republican	Presbyterian	Mayor of Chattanooga	Tennessee	2007	1952
1		Texas		Kay Bailey Hutchison	Republican	Episcopalian	State Treasurer	Texas (BA, JD)	1993	1943
2		Texas		John Cornyn	Republican	Church of Christ	State Attorney General	Trinity University, St. Mary's University,Virginia	2003	1952
1		Utah		Orrin Hatch	Republican	LDS	attorney	Brigham Young, Pittsburgh	1977	1934
3		Utah		Robert Foster Bennett	Republican	LDS	businessman	Utah	1993	1933
2		Wyoming		Mike Enzi	Republican	Presbyterian	Mayor of Gillette; Wyoming House of Representatives; State Senate	George Washington, Denver	1997	1944
1		Wyoming		John Barrasso	Republican	Presbyterian	State Senate	Georgetown (BS, MD)	2007	1952

[edit]References

Those subtle Venetians

Several elected officials in Venice cost their city a lot of money recently by getting caught communicating through private e-mail accounts in violation of public records laws.

As a result, I would expect them to respect a lawsuit settlement agreement and make sure the public can read all e-mails that involve city business.

That's why it was a forehead-slapper when the city attorney said this week that the mayor accidentally blew it by sending an e-message via personal, private, non-city e-mail account to two candidates for council seats.

In that message, Mayor Ed Martin provided helpful hints for getting elected. For instance, he proffered, choose some stand the business community will like, but find another that helps when speaking to an environmental group. And he specified one city issue as a haymaker: regulation of short-term rentals in neighborhoods where that is a hot topic. Link.

Beware 2012

via here.