"We don't need no water let the m***erf**ker burn . ."

(the post's title comes from the chorus of the song "Fire Water Burn" by Bloodhound Gang)

The latest photo from my little corner of SoCal of the Station Fire. The website for our local "The CW" station is reporting the Station Fire is over 70% contained (basically, 70% of the fire cannot burn any further in any direction without dying out). Part of the containment efforts today was setting backfires to the east of Mt. Wilson (the large hill on the left in the background) and you can see the smoke still rising from the backfires on the far right of the photo.

While we're talking about backfires, I'm with Rep. Frank on the "You lie!" cat-call from the right side of the Chamber. Here's what he had to say on the Rachel Maddow show last night about Rep. Wilson's little outburst:

I don‘t think it‘s a big deal. Look, I think free speech—you know, heckling is a tradition, obviously, in the British parliament. They even have mikes that come down to hear the heckles.

I think what we should take it as—it is unusual—it‘s a sign of how effective the president was. These guys just couldn‘t handle it. I looked at John Boehner and he looked about as glum and as dour as—as possibly he could be.

So what Joe Wilson did was just scream out in frustration because the president was nailing it. So we‘ve got to be very clear, Wilson lied when he said the president lied. And he talked about illegal immigrants. It‘s clearly excluded from the bill.

My guess is that those who are participating in fanning the flames of nastiness in last month's Town Hall meetings across the country realized the truth was being spoken at the front center of the room last night and the "You lie!" was a feeble last gasp at trying to draw attention away from the President and the message of the evening.

If you believe the polls taken after the President's speech, it makes it even more clear that the demonstrations being put on by the far-right conservatives and health insurance industry lobby are much like the Station Fire has become around here in SoCal.

Something easier to defeat with every passing day by starving the fire of its fuel. Let the fires from the far-right. No water necessary -- let the (metaphorical) fire burn so everyone sees what the "argument" from the far-right is fast becoming:

Lots of wispy, white smoke - the last gasp of fire soon extinguished on its own.