Getting Ready To Rumble: As if things on Capitol Hill weren't complicated enough, David Souter's soon-to-be vacant Supreme Court seat will just make things bananas in Powertown. Chris Cilliza points out that the President is going to have to stump to win national approval for whatever Godless liberal he's going to want to nominate. [washingtonpost.com]

Tinfoil Hat Tantrums: Conspiracy theories are the favored refuge of the politically shellshocked. Which is why the Right Wing can't stop spinning nonsense about President Obama. Reihan Salam responds to their most popular, paranoid trope: that our President is a secret Muslim. Possibly, a double top secret Muslim. [thedailybeast.com]

Debunking The Obama Effect: David Weigel takes a rhetorical Ginsu knife to the rhetorical conservative trope that President Obama won office surfing a tidal wave of support from African-Americans. That, in fact, he won because he was a racial novelty. In fact, blacks have consistently voted Democrat for decades. Much the way Jesus has personally voted Republican since, oh, dinosaurs roamed the Earth 10,000 years ago. [washingtonindependent.com]

Assassination Attempt By Car: A driver tries to ram the Dutch Queen during her annual parade, and ends up killing five. Nick Squires unravels the facts surrounding this truly bizarre attack on a European royal family. [telegraph.co.uk]