Okay, comment of yesterday I'm a bit behind, by i on the ball patriot at Naked Capitalism in response to tan Edward Harrison post (internal block quote markers are mine):

Edward Harrison said:

Barack Obama has now come clean about his thinking on why his administration has decided to focus first on reducing the deficit and next on jobs. He fears a double-dip recession will occur if foreigners lose confidence in the U.S. dollar, causing interest rates to spike.

I saw this entry posted over at Docudharma and thought I'd share the link to it. I'll post as much as I can, but really, it's worth checking out the entire entry. It's by the user known as FreeSociety.

The total vacuum of any principled leadership from President Obama, has inevitably produced the most directionless, anti-consumer, Insurance Monopoly boondoggle fraud imaginable -- which is now masquerading before Congress as "reform".

Guys, we're not removing your right to protest. We're just removing your right to protest when it matters.

Via CBC:

A proposed B.C. law would allow municipal officials to enter homes to seize unauthorized and possibly anti-Olympic signs on short notice, civil libertarians say.

Violators could be fined up to $10,000 a day and jailed up to six months, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Friday.

The proposed law was introduced Thursday as a bill to amend the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act.

Fuckers. They won't let me embed. Oh well, it's not about the video. Portishead. Only the Blood can appreciate their depths. No, I'm not a "Twilight" fan. Heh.

It's probably just me. But still, of course it makes me wonder. Just now, here at Chez Dyke, a lot of blogs aren't working for me. That is, I can load them, but the comment functions don't seem to be enabled. I'm no intertube expert, I have no idea how this sort of thing happens (or if it is just my old, funky Mac and my unwillingness to "upgrade" to the latest browsing platforms) but I'm always reminded at times like these:

Know the people you "meet" online, and be sure to make contact with them outside of the phone, computer, or other electronic device you usually rely upon. As in, know exactly where your friends live, what they do, where they work, about their lives. Once upon a time, it was normal for Americans to know their neighbors, "in person." Today? I do wonder if that is at all still true.

I'm not trying to be all CT or anything, so much as reminding people that our Revolutionary Technologies of the Future with Flying Cars...well, "we" don't really control all that. And that's on purpose. Any Revolution that relies on the Internets? Doomed, from the start. Just sayin.

This guy just keeps gettin' better and better, dudn't he? He's gonna change us right back to the good ole coat hanger days. Hallelujah.

Link to McClathy article.

Dr. Tiller would be so proud of this moment. Way to go, "Democrats" !

[or was that "entitlement reform is health care reform"?]

Public option! Look! Over there! Sarah Palin! Now with Death Panels! Public option! And a Congresscritter with the audacity to call the President a liar! On national TV no less! Public option!

unless you were compromising with yourself. I'm sick of hearing the "public option was the compromise". No, it wasn't. You can't compromise on something when it's the only policy for which you have advocated. The public option, not single payer, is the demand. A compromised public option is likely to be the compromise. Improved and Enhanced Medicare for All, or single payer, was never on the table. It was never part of the negotiations, thus it was never a policy up for compromise.

Brian Beutler has more over at TPM/DC but here's the money quote:
"Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition and bring down costs. If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry."
Nancy Pelosi gets it. Does the White House?

Go on over to Digby's for details. There's also a link to the devastating story and video   Read more…

and AFIIG providing the introduction.

Let me set the scene for you. The meeting had been called "Coffee with the Congressman" and set up for the basement of the city's Chamber of Commerce offices. Then they found out more than 1,000 people wanted to come.

Enter the one-block-down First UMC of Lubbock, which offered its Great Hall / gym for the meeting, with a hallway out front to host the coffee, drinking water, cookies and napkins -- and the tables of handouts. The video below is from the local Fox News outlet, Channel 34:

and from the local ABC News website you can see exactly how the stage looked during the town hall, during which the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce representative who introduced the representative from Americans for Integrity in Government to introduce the congressman:

Come over the jump for more:   Read more…

Greg Sargent's reporting on the release of CIA documents, apparently requested by Dick Cheney. From his RSS feed today:

I’ve also confirmed that the CIA will release a declassified version of the chapter in the CIA Inspector General’s 2004 report that’s widely expected to conclude that there’s no proof torture foiled any attacks.

What this means: The debate over whether torture worked is going to flare up in a big way today — and there may be a strong blast of evidence knocking down Cheney’s claims.

From Naked Capitalism, William Black discusses the widespread criminality that is our current economic system:

Black is introduced around 5:34 (even though the first few minutes are good as well) and it lasts about 15 minutes before the Q & A

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Note: video uses iframes and may be slow to load. Try reloading the page if you can't see the embed. Or try this direct link

[via zero hedge, of course!]

The Congressional Oversight Panel reported recently that toxic assets continue to be a potential threat to the smaller banks, and more cleanup may be needed. Reuters:

"No one has a good handle how much is out there," Warren said. "Here we are 10 months into this crisis...and we can't tell you what the dollar value is."

Estimates are that "somewhere between $600 billion and $1.5 trillion in toxic assets (is) spread across the balance sheets of the small and the large banks," Warren said, adding: "That's a lot."

In a guest post at Naked Capitalism:

The Obama Administration cannot energize their health care reform because the public demands reform in the financial sector, and quite frankly Obama has lost the 'high ground' of the reformer by his inability to free his administration from the growing taint of scandal and conflicts of interest.

And what of the FKDP?

I'm gonna interrupt your morning Obama-sux fest to ask a question. How do you feel about disposability as opposed to utility? How does that affect your priorities? And what impact does our collective opinion on this have on our culture?

The Health Insurers Have Already Won! Thanks Obama! Thanks Congress! Thanks Progressives!

Victory party at Stephen Hemsley's pad!

Via Business Week:

You just think you do. But, of course, those Baseline Scenario guys are totally DFHs!

The New York Times is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to recommend confirmation for President Obama's first nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. All 12 Democrats voted aye.

While some things have changed since the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, some things probably never will: Texas' senator John Boxturtle, as expected,

A moment's remembrance, please: it's been a week now since Walter Cronkite passed away. Next month will mark the 100th anniversary of Lyndon Baines Johnson's birth.

Date: 12/01/1971
Serial #: D4442-33a
Event: President Johnson interviewed by Walter Cronkite
Location: Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas
Description: L-R: Walter Cronkite, President Lyndon B. Johnson
Credit: LBJ Library Photo by Frank Wolfe

As if a statewide roundup of politicians on corruption charges possibly including a human organ trafficking ring weren't sufficiently gruesome, the only hospital in a working-class New Jersey city has filed suit to stop Horizon Blue Cross / Blue Shield from sending couriers to force patients to leave its ER or choose "in-network" hospitals more distant. Hey, there, Mr. President. D'ya think we could have SINGLE PAYER NON PROFIT CARE NOW??????????

Of course this is NOT the news you'll get on this subject from US Senator John McCain, who is still twittering about the US healthcare system's crown jewel provider opposing Obama's plan, and nor is it the take you'll get from the Chamber of Commerce in towns like mine, who find the idea of people making more than $280K a year having to pay a tax for healthcare appalling. Nor is it as depressing as this..

According to the Detroit News, Toyota's considering closing a California plant since GM dropped out of the joint venture. California needs more job losses, yeah.

Among the issues the company is considering in its re-evaluation process is whether to keep open the 25-year-old New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. assembly plant in Fremont, Calif. The plant, which employs 4,700 people, is a joint venture formed with General Motors, but the Detroit automaker recently withdrew from the pact during its stay in bankruptcy court.

This is an emergency. In addition to contacting your own representatives, Sen.
Max Baucus and Sen. Olympia Snowe are the ones we need to back off on their plans to eviscerate the public healthcare plan. Please take the time today to call or fax. (Real letters are the best possible thing.)

Also, it's time to squeeze Obama. We want him to veto any plan that arrives without a real public option. You might want to tell him what you think of this: