Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Good morning, everybody. Anthony Bourdain is working on an ultra-violent food-themed graphic novel. Now, your morning constitutional:

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has pledged to hold up all legislation that has not already been cleared by both parties before the Senate until the election.

It’s widely expected that White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel will announce Friday that he will run for mayor of Chicago.

General David Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said Monday that high-level Taliban leaders have reached out to President Hamid Karzai in hopes of beginning reconciliation talks that could begin the end of fighting.

New construction began at settlement sites in the West Bank just hours after after a 10-month moratorium on new building ended.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fired Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov after the powerful mayor wrote an article criticizing Medvedev and calling for a return of stronger national leadership.

How China succeeds by behaving more like a multinational company than a superpower.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius brings it to the Wall Street Journal editorial board:

In the last two weeks, my department has been accused of “thuggery” (this editorial page) and “Soviet tyranny” (Newt Gingrich). What prompted these accusations? The fact that we told health-insurance companies that, as required by law, we will review large premium increases and identify those that are unreasonable.

There’s a long history of special interests using similar attacks to oppose change. In the mid-1960s, for example, some claimed Medicare would put our country on the path to socialism.

But what is really objectionable about these comments is not who they’re attacking, but what they’re defending.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that it will stop mailing out paper income tax return forms, for an annual savings of $10M a year.

Living in cities makes one healthier — Paper: Ancient urbanization predicts resistance to tuberculosis.

Jay-Z, Warren Buffett and Steve Forbes on success and giving back.

Finally, trained monkeys are guarding athletes at the Commonwealth Games in Dehli.

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