Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Good morning, everybody. Jesse\’s hoping for a reconciliation with Sandra, and James \”The Anti-Christ\” Cameron wants to debate Glenn \”f—ing a–hole\” Beck. And here\’s your morning constitutional:

The Senate begins a 20-hour debate over fixes to the the the health care reform bill today as Republicans try one last time to make arguments against the fixes.

One often overlooked, but possibly very important, piece of the health care bill requires chain restaurants nationwide to post calorie counts for all menu items.

Christian Science Monitor has an excellent series detailing the provisions of the health care reform bill.

John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, estimated in a congressional hearing yesterday that the cost of shutting down the federal government for five days during the blizzards was $71M a day, down from the previous estimate of $100M per day.

According to researchers, the food depicted in paintings of the Last Supper has grown over the past thousand years. In a study of 52 paintings of the Last Supper, the researchers compared size of the food servings relative to the size of the diners\’s heads, and found that the entrees on the plates have grown by 70%, while the bread has grown by 23% (plates grew by 65.6%).

U.S. District Court Judge Glen Davidson has ruled that the Itawamba County, Mississippi, school board violated the rights of a Constance McMillen, a student whose prom was canceled when she tried to bring her girlfriend to the dance and wear a tuxedo.

After twelve suspects in the murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai were found to have used sophisticated copies of real British passports, Britain\’s Foreign Office has warned citizens that their credentials could be used for nefarious purposes if they enter Israel. This follows Britain\’s expulsion of an Israeli diplomat.

After an election in which his centre-right UMP party won its worst results in 50 years, French President Nicolas Sarkozy promises to soldier through with reforms.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Mexico yesterday along with Secs. Gates and Napolitano and Adm. Mullen,  endorses a new approach to battling drug traffickers which focuses more on community-building.

Mike Troxel, a Tea Party, er, enthusiast, posts address of Virginia congressman on his blog. Address turns out to be not the congressman\’s, but the congressman\’s brother\’s. Troxel has no intention of removing the address. Troxel, who graduated in 2005 from Liberty University, explains: \”I was a journalism major in college, so I have every reason to believe my research is accurate.\”

A little-known rule in the Senate rulebook requires unanimous consent to hold hearings after 2pm, a rule that is waived daily. However, Republicans, protesting the passage of health care reform, have blocked any hearings after 2pm.

Virginia man can\’t hit the broad side of a barn, or a pickup truck, for that matter.

From Foreign Policy: A profile about the \”1,000-day siege\” of Gaza and the odd economy that has taken hold.

Finally, this is what it looks like when Hemingway declines your not-so-generous offer.