When the 112th House of Representatives opened this past January with a reading of the United States Constitution, the intended political message was clear—the Republican Party was back to rescue the Constitution.

Less clear was what Constitution Republicans were vowing to save. The version they ordered read was, in fact, stripped of language the leadership considered “superseded by amendment,” even though those measures are still in the text. Some are embarrassing. The provisions protecting slavery, for example, call into question the infallibility of the Founding Fathers. Since one of the standard conservative talking points is that the “original intent” of the framers is an infallible guide to wisdom, the fallible parts were better left unmentioned.

I want to co-sign Ta-Nehisi Coates' approval of Melissa Harris-Perry properly contextualizing the history of the wealth gap between whites and nonwhites while subbing for Rachel Maddow:

Mike Riggs looks at C.J. Chivers' latest report from the front lines in Libya showing that the rebels have taken to "looting" and "reprisals" against Libyans loyal to dictator Moammar Ghadafi and writes:

As reports come in that CIA operatives are aiding Libyan rebels and Western leaders are considering arming them, the question of who Libya's revolutionary force actually is -- is worth answering. Juan Cole at Informed Comment makes the argument that the fears that the Libyan rebels are either al-Qaeda members, Hezbollah members, or other revolutionary ne'erdowells is likely false. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't establish a sense of who and what the rebels represent.

Unlike Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Michigan's Rick Snyder isn't even trying to hide the radical corporatism of his agenda. Think Progress reports:

Following suit, Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) has proposed ending his state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, cutting a $600 per child tax credit, and reducing credits for seniors, while also cutting funding for school districts by eight to ten percent. At the same time, as the Michigan League for Human Services found, the state’s business taxes would be reduced by nearly $2 billion, or 86 percent, under Snyder’s plan.

U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson has ruled that a provision of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. Unlike the previous ruling, however, Vinson held that the individual mandate could not be "severed" from the rest of the ACA and therefore ruled that the entire act was unconstitutional. This ruling, in other words, raises the stakes.