Spain has pulled a fast one and taken politics to the arena of academic competition, refusing to let Israel's Ariel University Center - a university with both Israeli and Arab students - participate in Solar Decathlon 2010, after the Ariel U team already qualified for the finals.  Spain is the host of the Solar Decathlon 2010 - the goal of which is to build the best solar house.  According to one of this year's Solar Decathlon Europe's (the first year Europe is hosting it) official web site (click on Solar Decathlon Europe menu, then History),

The Solar Decathlon is a competition organized by the U.S. Department of Energy in which universities from across the globe meet to design and build an energetically self-sufficient house that runs only on solar energy, is connected to a power grid, and incorporates technologies that maximize its energy efficiency.

In the final phase of the competition, teams will assemble their prototypes in the so-called ‘Solar Village.’ The prototypes designed by the participating teams will then ‘compete’ in a set of ten contests (Decathlon) in order to demonstrate the self-sufficiency and energy efficiency of each house.

It is an academic competition, and it is wrong to exclude students that have worked hard and already qualified for the finals.   I believe that it is contrary to academic freedom, detrimental to the spirit of open competition and most importantly, counterproductive to the goal of the Solar Decathlon - which is to find the best group of student scientists that can produce a solar house and provide a model for the world's clean energy future.  That is why I am asking everyone reading this to sign the petition to Spain to have this decision to inject politics in academics reversed, and if they won't, ask the US Department of Energy to rescind its sponsorship of the event.

Spain has expelled the Ariel University Center of Israel from this competition on the premise that the university is located in the West Bank and that Europe does not recognize the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  It is rather curious that Spain only noticed the location of the university after the Ariel U team qualified for the finals, with the rather ridiculous excuse that they did not come to know of the university's physical location until recently.  I smell something rotten.  Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiment is on the rise in Spain, and it is being taken out on students.

If Spain won't rescind its decision and let the Ariel University Center team in, then the United States must stand for academic freedom and stand by one of our best allies in the world, Israel.  The Department of Energy, which started the Solar Decathlon and is a main sponsor of it this year, must condemn Spain's behavior and at once, end its sponsorship of this year's event.  I signed the petition, because I agree, wholeheartedly, with this:

Political extremists have launched yet another Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel. They pressured Spain into abruptly expelling Ariel University Center (AUC) from the 2010 Solar Decathlon, an international competition for building a self-sustaining solar house, even though Ariel’s team was chosen as one of 20 finalists. The U.S. Department of Energy created the first Solar Decathlon in 2002, agreed in 2007 to have Spain host the competition in alternating years, and is co-sponsoring the 2010 event.

BDS’s goal of spreading the 60-year-old Arab boycott against Israel violates all standards for international cooperation which call for transcending political grievances in joint research that will advance human knowledge and benefit humanity. BDS activists oppose and threaten those ideals. Spain has capitulated to their demands.

This is an academic event, not a political one.  Aspirations of students and the future of our planet are intertwined.   It's time to stop giving into the hostile campaigns against Israel and uphold the ethics of academic freedom.  Watch the video of Israeli and Arab students speaking out against this unjust campaign:



Please sign the petition.  After you do that, you might want to leave a note to the President at the White House, as well as contact your members of the House and the Senate.

By the way, if you would like to see the incredible work the students at Ariel University Center have already done on this project, check out their project web site.

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President Obama went to the House Republican Policy retreat today to talk to them and answer questions one-on-one.  The President mesmerized with intellect, honesty, mastery of policy and sincerity with no talking points or teleprompter during the Q&A session.  The White House insisted on televising both the President's speech and the Q&A session be televised.  So of course, like the cowards they are Fox Noise ran from the coverage in the middle of the President speaking.  Watch:



Luckily, MSNBC happens to have the whole thing on tape, so you can watch it.  I could tell you that the President delivered a smackdown, disarmed and schooled the Republicans, and give you my analysis.  But that's just not going to do in this instance.  So you are going to need about an hour and a half and watch this yourself.  Watch and marvel at the intellectual prowess and the ability of the President to drive the point home for the American people.

Here's the President's speech:



And here is the question-and-answer session:



This is why I am so proud to call this man my President.

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So homophobia lives on in the world of sports, and in the Superbowl.  News just trickled in that CBS has rejected an ad from a gay dating site.  Yes, the ad had the audacity to show two men kissing.  I wonder, are there going to be ads showing heterosexual kissing during the Superbowl?  Given Online Booty Call's recent tweet about what team their followers want to see at the Superbowl, I'm assuming so.

Football can certainly be homophobic - but does it have to be?  There are plenty of lesbians and gay men who love sports, are football fans and will be watching the Superbowl.  I don't know that this will do any good, but you can contact CBS corporate and demand an explanation for this.

CBS Television
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
Or use this form to wrote them

If you receive a response, and it's that CBS had problems verifying the company's credit status, that's likely bullshit, since the company says it offered to pay cash.

Here is the YouTube video of the ad from ManCrunch.com, the group whose ad was rejected:

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In his State of the Union address to Congress on Wednesday night, President Obama urged Democrats not to run for the hills.  And of course, our darling Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) runs for the hills.  Appearing on MSNBC's The Ed Show yesterday, Kucinich presented the idea that Congress should hit the pause button on health care, seeming to say that Congress can only tackle jobs or health care, but not both simultaneously.

I will let you watch first, and then discuss.



Let's start with what Kucinich starts with.

In my own personal opinion, Ed, the Senate bill is a non starter. 

Well, thank you very much for your concern about the Senate bill, Dennis. If the Congressional record is correct, the bill that the House passed was also a non-starter for you.  You voted against it.

We should pay attention to what happened in Massachusetts, take a deep breath, take a step back, create millions of jobs, regain the confidence of the American people, and then come back with a bill that the President apparently asked for last night, which is Medicare for All.  And I think that we need to take this step back, though.  If we go forward into the breach here, we're risking further loss of confidence of the American people.

So the lesson from Massachusetts is to "take a step back."  Not to redouble our efforts, not to push through our agenda so people can see who is on their side, but to "take a step back."  Never mind that Dennis thinks MA was a referendum on the health care bill (supposedly, the MA voters hated the Senate bill so much, they made sure that the House has to pass that bill to get any reform at all).  Never mind that the small business tax credits immediately available through the Senate health care bill will help those workers get health insurance.  Has Congressman Kucinich forgotten that health care costs are one of the factors that squeeze small business and keep them from creating new jobs?  Never even mind that according to Speaker Pelosi, the health care bill will create 4 million jobs.  A lot of that, I reckon, would be due to the massive expansion of the Community Health Centers ($10 billion worth) thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.  Congressman Kucinich has this bizarre notion that if Congress is to work on jobs, it cannot also pass a health care bill.  And that's not true.  Congress can, and must, walk and chew gum at the same time.

You know what will lose us more confidence of the American people, Congressman?  If we give up when the going gets tough, that will tell the American people that the Democrats don't have the guts to govern.  If we give up on health care after coming so close because MA elected a Republican, that will tell the American people we don't deserve to govern.  Never mind the loss of confidence of the American people.  If we back down or turn our attention elsewhere, indeed, we will have proven that we are too cowardly to stand our ground.

I'll say it again, Ed.  In this political climate, I think we have to be aware of what happened in Massachusetts, and it's demonstration that the American people fell that this bill is too complex, and it was not representing their interests.  Let's pull back, pass a big jobs bill, and then come back with a health care bill that really would represent a challenge to established insurance companies here.  I think people would support it.  But first they want to see, can we deliver on jobs?  And we should be able to do that.

Ahem, Dennis, the House has already passed a $174 billion jobs bill.  I'd say that's a pretty big jobs bill.

I don't understand why Massachusetts has got Dennis Kucinich, the supposed fearless leader of the Real Left (TM) so spooked.  Snap out of it, Congressman!  We should put health care on the back burner because of Scott Brown?  Is that it?  I remind you once again that the House has already passed a jobs bill.  Another jobs bill, if need be, can be pushed through with relatively little time in the House.  But health care is proving to be far more difficult, and Congress needs to stay on it until it's done.   And speaking of political realities, Congressman, putting health care on the back burner now is the political equivalent to signing its death warrant.

Let me also say that I find this practice of pitting jobs against health care - presenting them as one at a time choice - abhorrent, anti-liberal, divisive, and most assuredly a right wing talking point.  For the whole of last year, Republicans have accused the President of losing focus on jobs and working on health care instead.  They have disregarded the Administration's efforts on behalf of the American people to save jobs through the Recovery Act, to stabilize the financial markets and salvage American auto industry - all of which kept us from an economic cataclysm.  This frame of arguments - pitting Americans who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their Medical bills against Americans who are losing their home because they lost their jobs - is a divisive conservative right wing tactic, and now Dennis Kucinich has adopted that meme.  Shameful.

But when we understand that this bill that we were looking at coming out of the Senate would have taxed people's health care plans, would have created a monopoly for insurance industries, gave them protection against anti-trust laws, this is wrong.

Oh, so you don't like the Senate bill because it has the Cadillac tax, does not create a government-run option for people to buy into so they don't have to buy insurance from the private market, and because it doesn't repeal the anti-trust exemption of the health insurance companies.  I see.  So remind us again why you voted against the House bill that did not have a Cadillac tax (it had the millionaire's tax), had a public option so the insurance companies wouldn't be the only entities one can buy insurance from, and repealed the anti-trust exemption?  Once again, thanks a lot for your concern.

We cannot give up on, scale back, or delay health care reform.  So once again, a call to action: Call your member of the House.  Tell them politely but firmly that you expect your member to vote for the Senate health care bill as is so that something can be on the President's desk to sign.  Then urge them to follow up with a reconciliation bill to fix it (find your member at House.gov).  Then call your Senators (find your Senators on Senate.gov).  Tell them you expect them to follow through on the House's reconciliation bill.  Call Harry Reid also if you like, as well as Speaker Pelosi.  Here are the toll-free numbers for the Capitol Switchboard (call and ask for your member):

• 1-866-338-1015
• 1-866-220-0044
• 1-866-311-3405

I don't mind us working on other items as well. But we cannot put health care on the backburner. Pass the damn bill!  Don't walk away from reform now:





Before I finish, yes, I am aware that apparent Dennis Kucinich agrees with Rahm Emanual. Two observations about that: first, I have never thought much of Rahm Emanuel. Never liked him, and disagree with him on this. Second, at least the White House isn't yammering about how we have to look at the MA loss as a referendum on health care and thus trade lightly.

And lastly, for all of you that think Kucinich is just such a principled guy, I will just remind you a couple of things:

• This guy used to be anti-choice until he ran for president in the 2003-04 cycle.
• This is the same guy who, in 2004, made a deal to have his Iowa caucus goers join those of John Edwards, at the time the most fervent defender of the Iraq war among the Democratic contenders for President that year.

So much for principle.

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I want to start today with some good news.  The California State Senate just passed SB 810, a single payer health insurance bill, sponsored by the great Mark Leno.  The bill now goes to the Assembly.  Yes, Gov. Schwarzenegger has promised a veto, but he is not going to be governor for too much longer.  If the momentum keeps building, the next governor, in all likelihood a Democrat, will sign it and make California the first state with single payer health care in the nation!

Sen. Mark Leno made a statement on this, saying:

Leno argued the state-run plan would replace the $200 billion Californians already pay for their health care while eliminating insurance companies' share. He previously said the system could use existing state and federal money and a payroll tax, coupled with increased efficiencies from a government-run system.

"We are spending $200 billion currently," Leno said. "It is the same $200 billion used in a more efficient, cost-effective fashion."

So here is my challenge to every liberal and progressive that want us to move towards a single payer model - after all, that is at least one reason we all want the public option, right?  You want real health care reform and not just health insurance reform, right?  Well, you are going to have to invest in this fight a little bit.  You are going to have to hunker down.  First, we need to build momentum.  The best way to destroy our momentum is to let the federal health care bill fail just because you didn't get this or get that.

ACTION ITEM 1: So, first, call the Capitol switchboard and ask for your member of the House.  When you get their office, tell them politely but firmly that you expect your member to vote for the Senate health care bill as is so that something can be on the President's desk to sign.  Then urge them to follow up with a reconciliation bill to fix it (or find your member at House.gov).  Call the Capitol switchboard back and ask to speak to your Senators (you can also find your Senators on Senate.gov).  Tell them you expect them to follow through on the House's reconciliation bill.  Call Harry Reid also if you like, as well as Speaker Pelosi.  Here are the toll-free numbers:

• 1-866-338-1015
• 1-866-220-0044
• 1-866-311-3405

ACTION ITEM 2: Once you have done that, if you are really interested in long term health care reform in this country rather than just short term shouting contests on blogs, you need to look up if there are any single payer or other similar health care reform efforts going on in your state legislature.  As I have noted above, California is already moving towards it with full stream ahead (despite facing the gubernatorial veto pen twice on this before).  So if you are in California, I need you to pick up your phone one more time.  Call your Assemblymember's office.  If you don't know who it is, look them up.  Call their office and tell them you want them to push Leno's single payer bill through.  SB 810.   Don't forget.

ACTION ITEM 2.1: If you are in California, call Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office at 916-445-2841.  Tell him to sign SB 810 when it reaches his desk.  Will he listen?  Maybe not.  But we need to give him hell anyway.  You can also email the governor.  Actually, you should call Schwarzenegger's office even if you are not in California.  He needs to hear from out of state that migration of talent to California will be helped by single payer in California.  He needs to hear that he can give California businesses a competitive advantage by bringing talent into the state.

I don't think anyone would dispute that Sen. Mark Leno, the sponsor of California Universal Health Care Act (SB 810) is a health care hero.  And Mark Leno does not believe we should give up on federal health care reform, as it will work as a catalyst for change in the states.

As California faces another year of skyrocketing health care costs, many of us have followed the developments of federal health care reform with anticipation. Even though I recognize that federal health care reform in 2010 will bring positive and worthwhile changes, it was disappointing to see the insurance industry succeed at scaling back reform. However, we should not be discouraged. Underneath this historic step forward is a true groundswell of support for universal health care. Across the nation, Americans are coming to the conclusion that private insurance companies have failed in their obligation to administer health coverage, and polls show that strong majorities support a Medicare for all model of health care.

If we don't pass the federal legislation for any other reason - we should pass it for this reason.  It is providing impetus for states to act.  It is giving steam to debates across the states, and it's providing encouragement to brave legislators like Mark Leno to advance reform at the state level.  Reform isn't going to be easy, and we have to push everywhere - including the states - to get reform.  We're going to have to be in this for the long haul.

Want to do more on CA? Go to California OneCare's website and find out what more you can do (from Daily Kos comment by Pris from LA on Thu Jan 28, 2010 at 03:24:19 PM PST). They have great resources.

STATE BY STATE ACTION: Here are a few other states that have a single payer or other progressive health care reform legislation under consideration.  If you live in these states, you need to call your legislators.

• Illinois - HB 311.  Illinois has a Democratic governor.  Call the governor's office too, at 217-782-0244.
• Pennsylvania - HB 1660/SB 400.  Another state with a Democratic governor.  Ed Rendell, (717) 787-2500.
• Massachusetts - HB 2127.  Can you guys in the Bay State do a little in-you-face-Scott-Brown?  Gov. Deval Patrick (D), 617.725.4005.
• Maine - LD 1365. Gov. John Baldacci (D), 207-287-3531.

I'm sure I'm missing plenty of states.  Please let me know in the comments section (State, bill number, at the least, and any other information you can provide).  Here is a partial list from 2007, but I need lists that are more updated.

Remember that jeopardizing or holding hostage the federal health insurance reform to any single demand will discourage the people fighting in the trenches in the states to make those states little laboratories in public and public assisted health insurance.

So pass the damn bill and let the states lead!  Don't walk away from reform now:

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Last night, President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address to Congress. With an estimated 90 million Americans watching, the President spoke directly to the American people as well as to Congress.  You can view the full address on the White House web site, but here are some of my favorite moments:

Here is my single most favorite moment from the debate.  The president called out the Supreme Court's recent decision to let corporations spend, without limit, advocating for or against federal candidates in elections - essentially, letting domestic and foreign corporations buy our elections and sell our democracy.  Here is that awesome, awesome moment.  Watch:



Justice Alito (Bush appointee), you will notice, blurts out something in protest.  I'd call that a guilty conscience, but Alito is probably guilty of not having a conscience at all.  Supreme Court justices are not to react to the President in a joint session of Congress.

President Obama had a more substantive message for the Democrats.  Don't let the loss of Ted Kennedy's seat cower you into the corner.  The American people expect us still to solve problems, and not run for the hills:



But he has not forgotten that it's the Republicans in the Senate who have been forcing a 60 vote threshold to get anything done at all. If they insist on it, then the responsibility to govern falls on them, too, the President reminded them. "We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions," Barack Obama told Congress.



He laid out a full agenda before the American people for this year:

• Pass a jobs bill to invest in jobs for Americans
• Pass financial regulatory reform and recoup our money from the banks
  
• Finish health insurance reform
• Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell
• Blunt the force of the Supreme Court's "corporations can buy your elections" ruling with legislation
• Pass comprehensive energy legislation, focus on clean energy

He explained to Americans last night that while no one likes the bank bailouts, but those were needed to stop the economy from falling off a cliff.  But now that banks are giving out big bonuses again, we need to recover all of our money.

The President is fighting.  The President is fighting for jobs, for financial regulatory reform, for health care, for civil rights, for the people's right to elect our leaders (and to prevent giant corporations from taking that right away), for a cleaner planet, a greener energy and more American jobs.  He is not backing down.  Neither am I.  And neither should Democrats in Congress.  This is no time to give up.  This is no time to run for the hills.  This is time to show the American people that they made the right decision when they gave control of Congress to the Democrats and sent President Obama to the White House.

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As usual, there are those who are running around with their hair on fire on the reports that President Obama is going to propose freezing non-security discretionary spending for the next three budget years in his State of the Union address to Congress on Wednesday.  According to news reports, the non-security discretionary spending will be frozen at the current level of $477 Billion.  Of course, any scream-tastic reaction is unwarranted at this point, since we have not seen the President's budget nor heard his State of the Union address.  Yet, people on the reactionary left are running around calling this decision a massive mistake, calling Obama the equal of Hoover, and throwing tantrums.

So let's look at what we know of the proposal so far, whether the freeze closes the door for a robust domestic jobs agenda and additional assistance for the middle class and the poor, and if there are in fact examples of things that can be streamlined in our non-security discretionary spending. 

What we know so far:

First, we will review what little we know of this proposal so far, scrapping things together from several news sources.  We know that:

• Defense, the Veterans Administration, foreign aid, Iraq and Afghan wars, and Homeland Security will be spared from this freeze.
• All non-security departments, such as Education, Agriculture, Transportation, etc. will be subject to it.
• It is not a cut, it's a freeze at current levels.
• Departments retain the flexibility to move funds around to support their most effective programs and away from the least effective ones.
• Congress retains flexibility to move money around among agencies.  They may cut one agency and increase funding for another.
• The freeze is estimated to save the taxpayers $250 billion over 10 years.
  

Is there assistance for ordinary folks despite the freeze in 2010?

Most of Recovery Act spending is scheduled for 2010: According to Recovery.gov, there are $204 billion still left to be spent this year on direct grants and contracts (most of the money spent so far has been spent on grants), and $123 billion left to be spent on entitlements such as education, health care and unemployment benefits.  That's $327 billion in direct federal spending to be done under the Recovery Act this year, plus another $195 billion in middle class tax breaks.

Here is what else we know: the freeze is not working alone.  The freeze does not mean that the President is turning away from helping middle class and poor families and individuals at a time of need.  The Los Angeles Times reports that President Obama and Vice President Biden unveiled the blueprints of some of the help on the way for ordinary Americans struggling in today's economy:

Under the proposals, the child-care tax credit would be nearly doubled for families earning less than $85,000, federal student loan repayments would be capped at a lower level, employers would be required to offer automatic payroll deductions for retirement accounts, and financing would be increased for families caring for elderly relatives.

These are proposals coming out of the Middle Class Task Force, chaired by Vice President Joe Biden, a lifelong public servant, and the equal of whose commitment to middle class priorities is a rarity.  If you are taking care of an elderly parent at home, the President's budget will help you.  If you are a family with children, the President's budget will help you.  If you  are repaying your student loans, the President's budget will help you.  If you are saving for retirement, this President's budget will help you.  Read more about what the middle class task force has been doing here.

Let's also note that this year, several other items including financial reform, an energy bill, a new jobs bill, are all on the President's domestic agenda for this year.

The priorities at home are equally pressing: tackling climate change, overhauling financial regulation, comprehensive immigration reform and restoring jobs in an economy emerging from its worst recession in decades are all priorities for Obama.

These items are not pie in the sky, either.  In an absolute testament to the leadership of Speaker Pelosi, the House also passed a massive $174 billion jobs bill before Congress wrapped up for the holiday recess back in December, as the Senate was still scattering on trying to put the votes together for health care.

The House of Representatives has already passed its climate change and energy overhaul bill - a bill that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 83% by 2050, and will result in unleashing a new innovative industry based on clean energy, creating new jobs and advancing our economy.  It would raise revenue by a cap-and-trade model that will incentivize the use of clean energy and discourage the use of polluting energy sources.

The Senate-passed health care bill, now pending in the House, has significant investment in small businesses in the form of tax credits to buy health care, available immediately.  This is part of stimulating the economy, too.

The president is also looking at other revenue measures.  We forget too fast that the President has already called for slapping a fee on the biggest banks to recover all of the taxpayer's money to prevent them from collapsing.  The Bush tax cuts on the super rich, including the estate tax cut, expire at the end of this year, and Democrats and this president are not likely to renew them.

All of these and more items on the President's agenda will spend the money required to get our economy back on track.  But this President and this Democratic leadership in Congress will spend money in a targeted fashion, instead of just throwing money at departmental budgets.

Knee-jerk reactions and realities.

There is another issue to address here.  The knee-jerk reactions to this report of freeze reminded me of the attacks that came fast and furious from the right accusing health insurance reform of "cutting Medicare" by $500 billion.  We know that the only people that 'cut' affects are the private insurance companies that charge the government 14% extra to provide Medicare-like coverage while screwing their customers over with higher copays and deductibles under the very Orwellian program of 'Medicare Advantage.'  The rest are found in efficiencies and eliminating waste and fraud in Medicare.  There are in fact no cuts in Medicare services in the health care bill (see the Medicare factsheet from the White House).

So, If the spending for these departments is frozen, and for one department to get increased funding, another has to lose some of its, can the cuts (that will be necessary to increase funding elsewhere) "target "duplicative," "ineffective" and "inefficient" spending withing government?"  Well, let's take a look at just some of the things our federal departments and agencies spend money on and how money can be/is being saved:

• In 2007 alone, the Department of Agriculture spent $16 billion on agribusiness subsidies, with a great majority going to big multinational corporations, not small farmers.  In fact, the President has had these subsidies in his line of fire for a little while.
• Who can forget the extravagant habits of Bush's Interior secretary?  Could we have done without those expenses?
• Last year, the DOJ stopped prosecuting the users of medical marijuana.  How much money could that be saving?

Let's face it.  There are wastes, inefficiencies and corporate giveaways in our government, and those can be safely eliminated without putting the economy in a tailspin.

On another note, consider this: throwing money at a department is not always the best way to deal with a problem we are facing.  Rising costs of college tuition cannot just be met by increasing direct federal assistance to students.  It also has to be addressed by  addressing the causes of the tuition hike.  We need to find a way to stop the tuition from rising, not just put up more money into the system.  A word about education here.  One of the things the stimulus package did was ease the burden on states on funding public education, saving the jobs of teachers who would otherwise be laid off due to their state's budget woes.

Of course, the items and the amount $477 Billion, is only  about one-seventh of the entire $3.5 Trillion federal budget.  There are two meanings to this: first, limiting total spending on a small part is not going to screw up the economy (especially when taken in concert with all the things described above).  Second, there are other parts of the federal budget that ought to be on the chopping block as well, especially bloated defense contracting.  That's true, and the President has already had some success with it, including the halt in building more F-22's.  But just like I agree that Defense spending should not be sacrosanct (especially contracting), others ought not get bent out of shape at the news of a limited freeze in other areas.

Democrats should be proud of our record on fiscal responsibility.  During his campaign for President, Obama promised go through the federal budget line by line, and that is what he is doing.  That is not indicative of Hooverism, or the lack of commitment to investing in the American people.  It is a testament to fiscal responsibility.  Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility, and we should be proud of it.  The last president to balance the federal budget was a Democrat, and the Democrats instituted the pay-as-you-go rule as soon as they regained power in 2007.  This is not something we should apologize for.  As Howard Dean said, "Social justice can only be achieved through a balanced budget."

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We cannot afford to lose health care reform.  This is not just a once in a lifetime opportunity, this is a once in a century opportunity.  Teddy Roosevelt first called for universal health insurance in America.  Harry Truman put it in the Democratic platform.  And today, some want to tell us that all the progress we made on this issue over the last year has to be scuttled because we lost a Senate race in Massachusetts.  I don't think so.

Health Care for America Now is pushing forward on health care reform:

Health Care for America Now is putting its money where its mouth is. Last week, the nation's largest reform campaign put itself on the side of major labor organizations, and leading members of Congress, saying the way out of the Democrats' health care conundrum is for the House to pass the Senate's legislation, and then pair it with a separate package amending key financing and structural aspects of the bill. This week, they're stepping up their efforts to make sure that happens.

I need you to do this.  Call Congress.  Call your member of the House.  Here's the Capitol Switchboard number: (202) 224-3121. Call and ask to speak to your representative's office.  Once you get their office, tell them that you want them to vote for the Senate health care bill unamended, and then start working on a reconciliation package to fix concerns about financing, coverage, etc.  But the Senate bill must pass the House first in order for anything at all to happen.  You can also look up your member of Congress on House.gov.

Once you do that, you can call back the number and ask to speak to your Senators (or look them up on Senate.gov).  Tell your Senators that you want them to work with the House on the reconciliation bill once the House passes the Senate bill.

There are a bunch of people saying we must first pass a bill through reconciliation, and then pass the Senate bill.  They are wrong.  The order is exactly backwards, and it's putting the cart before the horse.  What precisely is this reconciliation bill supposed to "fix" if we don't have a bill to begin with (which we do not unless both houses of Congress passes identical bills)?  Do you go and find the patches for a pair of torn jeans before you actually have the pair of torn up jeans?  Do you do that while you are naked?  Right now, the process, and millions of Americans who need help are left naked under the status quo.  The Senate bill is the only pair of jeans available - even though it's torn up.  You have to get that first if you hope to stop leaving the American people naked and victims of insurance companies.  Then you can patch it up.  The patches are very important, but you can't patch something that doesn't yet exist!

Let me remind you quickly what is at stake just in the Senate bill alone:

• $10 billion in Community Health Center funding, something Sen. Sanders asked for, got, and characterized as a revolution in primary care.  That's not just important for people with scarce access, but also to compete with for-profit facilities and hospitals.  When there are 5 CHC's in each Congressional district and everyone can access it (if you have insurance, it will pay for it, and if you don't and can't afford it, you will still get affordable or free care), the for profit hospitals and facilities will have to compete to stay in business.
  
• Health insurance coverage for 31 million additional Americans, who would not have it otherwise.  45,000 people die every year due to lack of health insurance.  At stake is our opportunity to cut down on that number severely.  The senate bill will add 31 millions of Americans to the coverage rolls and provide substantial subsidies to those who need it the most.
  
• Community Health Centers and additional coverage will cut down on deaths from preventable illness.  Currently, 100,000 more people die every year in America from preventable illness than if our rates of such deaths were comparable to the best performing nations.  100,000 lives are at stake.  Every year.
• Insurance regulatory reform.  
• The bill in question will bar insurance company practices from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, or any health conditions.  In fact, it eliminates the consideration of health conditions from determining your rate, except for age (3x) and tobacco use (1.5x).
• Eliminates yearly and lifetime caps on benefits.
  
• It eliminates copays and deductibles on preventive care.
• Caps your out-of-pocket expenses on a sliding scale (as it does premiums) for people up to 400% of poverty, and above that, to $5,950 for individual plans and $11,900 for family plans.

So what are you waiting for?  Call your member of Congress right now!  Here, once again, is the Capitol Switchboard number: (202) 224-3121.  Call and tell your Congressperson you want them to pass the Senate bill first and as soon as possible, and then work on a reconciliation package for the fixes.  Don't wait, call now.  Let's not forget the 45,000 who die from lack of health insurance every year, or the 100,000 that die unnecessarily from preventable illness - because, there, but for the grace of God (if you believe in one, or luck) - goes every last one of us.  Once you call, you can also twitter your Representative and Senators.  Here are some tweeting tools to use:

• Tweet your Representative
• Tweet your Senator

But please call first, and ask them to pass the bill.  (202) 224-3121.

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If the Republicans were hoping for a timid, scared Democratic president after their victory in Massachusetts, they can kiss their wish goodbye.  President Obama has gotten the right message from that election.  Voters did not reject Barack Obama, and we did not lose Ted Kennedy's seat because we did not retreat enough.  Republicans exploited the anger and fears, and Barack Obama won't have any of it.  Retreat is not an option.  The President took his fight right to the people yesterday, in Ohio.  I can't do him the injustice of showing just clips, so here is the speech, in its entirety, including the Q&A:




Watch it. It might remind you of why this man is the President.  "I won't stop fighting," roared the president 14 times.  This is why we elected him.  We did not elect him to sit there and look pretty.  We did not elect him so he could pick his battles according to polls.  We did not elect him to avoid tough issues.  We elected him to fight for ordinary Americans to have a fair shot, and that's what he's doing.  The hits he has taken are amazing.  Health care has gotten maligned and made caricature of while people keep dying from the lack of health insurance.  This president will not stop fighting for it until he gets it done.  He is fighting for jobs, a clean energy economy, and Wall Street regulatory reform, so that never again do we have to put taxpayers on the line to save the banking system.

He has taken on the tough issues, and he's suffered political capital for it.  But as he says, it's not about him, it's about us.  And indeed it is.

This president is fighting for us.  And I, for one, have his back.  I have his back because he's got mine.

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We cannot let health care reform die because of an election gone haywire in Massachusetts.  There is a lot of chatter going on in Washington, DC, talking about how health care reform is dead now that Republicans have the 41 votes needed to block the measure from coming to the floor were it to return.  So that leaves one avenue open: pass the Senate bill through the House and have the President sign it.  Then, start the reconciliation process to pass improvement measures by 51 votes in the Senate.

Some Democratic members of Congress seem to be getting the wrong message from Tuesday's election.  People want boldness and leadership, not timidity and 'pause' button.  You can deliver that message personally to your member of Congress.  This is the weekend, and your member will be home for the weekend.  At their local office.  You can find the your member of the House at House.gov.  Once you do, visit the office over the weekend.  Tell their staffers that you want the Senate bill passed in the House and sent to the President.

Your voice is needed right now.  If you can visit your member's office, great.  If not, call the Capital switch board at (202) 224-3121 and tell your member of the House that they must pass the Senate bill as is and start working on fixing it through reconciliation on a parallel track.  See Elise's excellent diary on Daily Kos for more info.  After you call your House member, call the switchboard back and ask to talk to your Senators' offices.  When you get them, tell them to pledge their votes for a reconciliation bill that will fix and improve on the health care bill.  You can also find contact information about your Senator at Senate.gov.

I don't have to tell you what's at stake here.  You know what is at stake.  31 million people who would get health insurance under this bill are stake.  The lives of 45,000 people who die every year due to the lack of health insurance are at stake.  The lives of 100,000 people who die from preventable illness are at stake.  Your health insurance costs are at stake.  The guarantee that your insurance company won't be able to drop you or jack up your rates just because you got sick is at stake.  The very concept of health care as a right instead of a privilege is at stake.  Fight for health care as a right.  Fight for America.  Fight for health care.  Fight for this:




Don't let the dream die.

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Dylan Ratigan is the host of MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show.  In my opinion, Ratigan has built his whole show based on substantive ignorance of policy issues and the exploitation of people's fear and anger at a time when our country is in dire straits.  In his show, he features a segment called 'Busted.'  In this segment, he purports to call out government and other important players in our country for hypocrisy and other public outrages.  On Wednesday's show, his segment was on what a great reception bankers received from Congress as opposed to what a terrible horrible no-good very bad reception was given to the party crashers at President Obama's first state dinner.

"First, we're busting Congress, for pandering to bankers who stole our money while slamming two party crashers who stole the spotlight!" extols Ratigan.  Then he shows footage of the hearings for both the bankers and the party crashers.  Here, it's a small segment.  Watch:



Well, first error. Watch the video. The group hosting the hearing with the Bankers, in actuality, isn't a Congressional panel at all.  It is the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, an independent commission with subpoena power set up to take on the banks and propose new banking regulations.  The person you see holding the hearing is the Chairman of the FCIC, Phil Angelides, former Treasurer of California.  The hearing on the party crashers was, in fact, held by Congress.  Maybe Dylan Ratigan needs to first educate himself about the difference between independent commissions and Congressional panels, for starters.  I might remind everyone interested only in screaming at Congress and the President or those riled up and frustrated that this commission would not even exist were it not for President Obama and a Democratic Congress acting together to pass the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, strengthening criminal and civil laws to prosecute banking abuses and fraud.

So, is he getting anything else wrong, other than not knowing the difference between Congressional Committees and independent commissions?  Of course he is.  Ratigan is dishonest about what Chairman Angelides and other members of the FCIC is doing and the questions they are asking.  Despite the Chairman's politeness (which, evidently, Ratigan considers a weakness), he and others are coming down rather strongly on the banks.

The AP reported on last week's hearings:

[Chairman Angelides] reserved some of his toughest questioning for Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs. Angelides scolded the company for escaping the worst of the subprime mortgage crisis by selling $40 billion in securities backed by risky home loans while betting that the housing market would plummet.

"I'm just going to be blunt with you," he told Blankfein. "It sounds to me a little bit like selling a car with faulty brakes and then buying an insurance policy on the buyer of those cars. It doesn't seem to me that that's a practice that inspires confidence in the market."

 And,

"This year, they're lining up for bonuses," Angelides said. "There has been no serious self-examination on Wall Street of what has occurred and what should be in the future. I liken it to someone who has had a significant heart attack, who was a bad eater, a drinker, no exercise. Three weeks later, they're feeling better, and the fact is that the fundamental problems still remain. And so now is the time, I believe, for self-examination."

Here's the Chairman grilling Goldman-Sachs CEO, and getting him to confess bad practices:



Even the Wall Street Journal (a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch) called Angelides the 'toughest' questioner.

Mr. Angelides also warned CEOs the commission could refer evidence of criminal wrongdoing to law enforcement.

The hearings, which are expected to last the remainder of the year, could raise the profile of its members, in particular Mr. Angelides, a veteran of California's rough-and-tumble politics, who emerged as the toughest questioner.

CNBC reported on good information coming out of the testimony of regulators under fire from the Commission, importantly the FDIC chair testifying that her predecessor waited too long to regulate sub-prime mortgages:



So hey, Dylan, you're busted.  And Dylan, you do understand that someone who got that close to the President in the State Dinner could have actually, you know, killed the President, don't you?  The crashers could potentially have been a security threat.  Do you really have a big problem with Congress asking what business they had getting that close to the President without an invitation?

I plan on covering the documents and testimony at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission extensively on The People's View.  Expect updates, coverage, analysis and opinion here.  But I will not be posting "breaking" items for the most part.  My goal is to give my reader a good understanding of what is going on with the commission and the key outcomes.  I do not plan to sensationalize my coverage, but I do believe good work is going on at the Commission and the information coming out of it are great tools in policy making.

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Well, this is sort of an addendum to my previous post, Dear Independent Voter.  So this one is for all of you that voted for Scott Brown for Senate in Massachusetts.  Mostly to the Democrats and independents that voted for him, because I can care less about how the Republicans vote, really.  But you all voted for a guy who implied that the President of the United States is a bastard child, born to a mother out of wedlock.

Just for the record, President Obama's mom, Ann Dunham, had Barack Obama when she was 18 and married.  And you, dear Scott Brown voter in MA, voted for a guy that scoffed at the idea after being told that Ann Dunham was married, saying "I don't know about that."   You voted for this guy:



Proud of yourselves yet?

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With the election of Scott Brown to the US Senate, the Republicans now have the 41 votes they need to block a vote on health insurance reform were it to return to the Senate.  Keep in mind that the House of Representatives have the option of passing the Senate bill as is, however, thus sending it directly to the President for his signature, and thus avoiding the need for another vote in the Senate.  If you are a netizen of the blogosphere, it's possible that you have been picking up the vibe that organized labor is against passing the Senate health care bill as is.  Well, that's not true.

Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union, the country's single largest and fastest growing union, penned a column at the Huffington Post today urging for a swift passage of the Senate bill through the House.  Once that happens, he wants the Congressional to use all of its power to push through ways to fix the bill right afterwords.

For Pat Dejong and the millions of working families like her's across the country, today is no different than yesterday when a Democratic senator held Ted Kennedy's old seat. Pat DeJong will still wake up in Libby, Montana. She'll still mourn the loss of her husband and the family ranch they lost because of his medical bills. And, Pat will still go to the bedside of her patients each day, still lacking coverage of her own.

So what's next for Pat? What's next for a country frustrated by leaders who seem to be governing out of timidity versus conviction?

Step one: The House should pass the Senate's health insurance reform bill - with an agreement that it will be fixed, fixed right, and fixed right away through a parallel process.

Talking Points Memo reports that the AFL-CIO has what they call a 'functionally identical' position:

The AFL-CIO has a functionally similar, but tonally tougher take. "We don't want the House to pass the Senate bill as is," AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale tells me. "It needs to be paired with a Senate [bill]--through reconciliation--that makes fixes."

Such a pairing, according to Vale, should be "simultaneous, or almost side by side."

This is what I have argued for for a while now, if there was an impasse between the House and the Senate given the 60 vote requirement in the Senate for anything that cannot be passed through reconciliation.  I have heard every complaint about it from "the Senate bill sucks balls anyway so screw it and move to reconciliation for just the stuff that can be done through it" to "no one will ever fix it if we let the Senate bill go through" to the rather conservative argument that "one should not use reconciliation for legislation of this proportion even if it can be" and everything in between.  It seems that Scott Brown's election - at much too high a cost - is focusing the attention of the netroots as well as organized labor on this path.  It is in fact, a very sensible path to real reform.  Consider that the Senate bill happens to have a few progressive provisions of its own, and whatever the problems are with it can be fixed through the process of budget reconciliation.  Progressives and labor unions aren't the only ones looking upon it kindly now, Senate Budget Committee Chairman and Conserva-Dem Kent Conrad (D-ND) has now opened the door to reconciliation, signaling the willingness of the Senate to cooperate if the House chooses that track.

If you believe, as I do, that we must pass health insurance reform, there is only one way to do it now.  The House must pass the Senate bill as is, and start working on a simultaneous track to make it better by using the budget reconciliation process.  So you need to call your member of the House.  You can look up the contact information of your member at House.gov (you can also look up there who your member is) or by calling the Capital switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and asking for your representative.  Once you get their office, politely tell whoever is answering the call that you are a constituent, and you want your representative to vote for the Senate health care bill as is, and then to immediately start working on new legislation to fix it through reconciliation.  Please be polite when you are making this call.  The person answering the call is just the person answering the call.  Do NOT vent your frustration on them.  They are ordinary Americans like you and I, and they do not need to be the subject of your wrath.

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Let's be clear about something: voters aren't all of a sudden in love with the Republican party.  And most voters aren't rational.  Especially the so-called 'independents.'  Doing something to solve problems isn't enough.  You have to sell it.  You have to show voters that you are doing right by them, and that your opposition stands in the way of reform.

That is what a new poll reveals.  The poll focuses on voters in Massachusetts who voted for Barack Obama for president in 2008 but stayed home or voted for Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown yesterday.  That is, they polled dispirited Obama voters and the angry Obama voters who turned around and voted for Brown.  The results?  Unsurprisingly, these voters do not want, contrary to conventional wisdom, Democrats to dial reform back.  In fact, they think Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress aren't doing enough reform.  They think that the Democrats aren't taking on Wall Street and big business enough.  They think Democrats are looking out too much for the lobbyists.

Now, it is not surprising that when you try to do something big - like health insurance reform - plenty of interests are going to team up against you, and turn the public sentiment against you.  That is the oldest thing in the playbook.  Tell the people to be afraid of something big, and then when they get scared out of their pants and vote in someone who capitalizes on the anger, claim victory.  That is what is going on in MA and across the country.

But that also means that the Democrats and the President have not stood up enough to the special interests, and/or they did not explain their work to the people.  We didn't see a big public relations war unveil from the White House or the DNC when the teabaggers went after Democratic members of Congress over the summer on the health insurance bill.  We have seen the president on the stump a couple of times trying to sell health care reform, but not enough, and not enough of a follow up by the Democrats.  We need to go out an explain every single day.  We need to go on the offensive against the Republicans every single day.  If that means there is some house-cleaning that's in order, like kicking Joe Lieberman out, then let's do that.  Then start driving the big ticket agendas through.  Launch a legislative offensive and a PR offensive at the same time.  Engage the tools of government and other Democratic powerhouses.  This is war.  Nothing short of complete humiliation of the right will do.

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Howard Dean appeared on the Rachel Maddow show last night.  He acknowledged that now Sen.-elect Scott Brown has run a great campaign.  Asked about the intra-party bickering, Dean told Democrats to get our eyes on the ball, and stop fighting.  "People who blame others are losers," said the former Chairman of the Democratic party under whose leadership Democrats went from a minority to a large majority in both Houses of Congress, and elected a Democratic president.  Here is the segment on Maddow I'm referring to:



I agree with Howard Dean.  I am not happy with the Coakley campaign, and there's enough blame to go around.  Taking votes for granted was a mistake.  Not working for every single vote was a mistake.  Letting Brown get away with his extremist positions was a mistake.  And frankly, the national Democrats did not perform any better.  The DSCC did not catch this earlier.  The DNC has had a chairman who until recently had a full time job as the governor of Virginia - one of the decisions of President Obama I did not understand nor liked.  People can claim that we should have rammed health care down the Republicans' throat earlier.  Some will say Democrats gave up too much on health care reform.  Others will point out that Republican obstructionism may have left us no choice.

But let's face it.  We are not going to get anywhere simply by pointing the finger at the other guy.  We no longer have 60 votes in the Senate.  That is the truth.  And we lost the seat because of a combination of a bad campaign, letting Republicans get away with a constant barrage of attacks, and by letting them tapping into popular anger.  Republicans are not serious about solving our problems - they are interested in dividing us over it.  But we are not done.  Democrats came to power and gave this thing a good-faith shot.  The Republicans did not play ball.  Well, it seems that not playing ball has worked out for them.  So we now need to fight.  We need to get tough and show the American people who stands in the way of reform.  I do not believe we lost because voters see Republicans as the party of reform all of a sudden.  The problem is that Republicans have been throwing roadblocks, and frankly, with 60 nominal votes in the Senate, it was not a simple case to make to the public that the Republicans were, in fact, obstructing.  "So what, you have the 60 votes you need!" came the retort.  As of last night, that retort is gone.


Now, with regard to health care, there is a possibility that the House will pass the Senate bill as is and send it to the President to be signed.  I hope that happens, because we cannot let the health care regulations go down.  We just can't.

But once that happens, it's time for war.  Here is what I mean:

• No more letting people get away with attacking the President's or the Democrats' patriotism.  Hammer them.  Every Democrat needs to become Eric Massa in that respect.
• use reconciliation to put through health care measures such a public option and a Medicare expansion, once the regulatory reforms pass.
  
• The president is due to submit his budget to Congress on February 1.  The budget cannot be filibustered.  Find a way to put every damn legislative priority into the budget in some way so that it can be rammed through reconciliation.
• An aggressive jobs program.  Spend the money needed.  Massive public infrastructure investment, direct investments into community banks, whatever it takes.  Yes, be blatant about it.  Make the Republicans try to stop a jobs program.
  
• Show that we are the party of reform.  Do NOT back off from real financial reform.  Do NOT back off from energy legislation.  Go after campaign finance reform win or lose.
• Use the process.  Make Republicans read the goddamn phone book.  Go out to the people and explain what they are trying to stop.  Fight, damnit.
• Use the nuclear option.  The Vice President has already spoken out against the abuse of the filibuster, saying the Republicans' use of it is making the Constitution stand on its head.  So, Mr. Vice President, President of the Senate, declare the filibuster unconstitutional.  Then have your ruling help up by 51 Democratic votes.

To be fair, the White House has already signaled its willingness to have the president roll up his sleeves and go to war against the Republicans.  The President might finally have had enough. The President still has a megaphone, and he needs to use it.  He needs to become - and I am going to use a word not everyone is going to like - partisan.  If the Republicans will work with his agenda, great.  If not, they can go explain to the American people why they stood in the way of reform.  The people of this country still like Barack Obama.  The problem is that they have been hearing his opposition getting loud and agitate, and him not saying much (even though what he has done is quite a big list of accomplishments - but you don't win elections by doing things alone; you have to beat your opposition over the head and get your message out to voters).  Well, the president has a remedy to that problem.  Become that campaigner in chief we saw in 2008.  Cut through the right wing bullshit.  Show the voters why they elected you, Mr. President.  Show them why Republicans cannot be trusted.  For that, Mr. President, one thing needs to change your part.  I have a hard time saying this, because I am an admirer of your sense of basis decency and honesty.  But sir, you need to stop assuming that Republicans come to anything as an honest bargainer.  Their goal, Mr. President, is your Waterloo.  You cannot let that happen, Mr. President.  Not for your sake, but for ours.

As a party, we need to listen to Howard Dean.  I don't agree with him as a policy matter that the Senate health care bill contains very little in the way of insurance reform, but the man is a genius when it comes to electoral strategy, and he understands the establishment-insurgent dynamic better than probably anyone alive on our side of the isle.  He knows what works for voters.  He knows how to stand up and deliver the Democratic message in bold, concise terms and how to take on the Republicans.  We need him back.  Frankly, Tim Kaine should resign as the Chair of the DNC, and President Obama should beg for Dean to return, if necessary.  Perhaps we can use MA's results as a reminder about what Republicans are capable of doing and hit back hard.  Let's do it in January of 2010 rather than in November.

This is no time to back down.  This is no time to scale back.  This is the time for a smackdown and to scale up.

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Dear Independent Voter,

As you keep swinging with the wind, and 'revolting' against Washington, you are costing our country a great deal.  You flocked away from the Republican party in a rage against George Bush's policies of torture, tax breaks for the wealthy and Wall Street deregulation and corruption and elected Barack Obama president in a landslide in 2008.  Then, you figured, hey, why isn't he waving his magic wand and changing everything in one fell swoop?  Damnit!  So you turned right back to W's party in 2009 and 2010.

You know what, dearest Independent Voter?  You are acting like a five-year-old throwing tantrums.  A five year old who voted for a piece of candy, and now is turning around and voting for a piece of turd because the candyman didn't give him the candy fast enough.  A five-year-old with the fate of our nation in your hands.  You are having your buttons effectively pushed by the right wing thugs who want to destroy this country and what it stands for.  You are being had by the nutjobs that have no interest in being serious about solving whatever it is your particular problem happens to be.  You are walking right into the trap laid out by those who would represent anyone but you in Washington.  And why?  'Cause the guy's got a truck.  And the other gal didn't get on her proverbial political knees and beg for my vote.  You have "Look-at-me-I'm-important" syndrome.  And the dude talked about how b-a-d Washington is.  And did you hear?  The gal went to Washington for a fundraiser!  Oh, and who can forget, the lady called the bastion of public service and democracy, Curt Schilling a - gasp - Yankee fan!  Oh noes!

You just elected, in Massachusetts, the guy who supports waterboarding and torture, scares the bit-jesus out of you about terrorists being tried in American courts - despite having elected a Constitutional scholar who explained to you barely a year ago that our courts and prisons are perfectly capable and effective in handling terrorists, and boasts about going to Washington to kill health care reform.  The same health insurance reform that might have put your costs under control.  The same reform that would insure anywhere between 31 and 36 million Americans who have no insurance now.  You voted to send a guy to Washington who would just as soon let 45,000 people die a year for the lack of health insurance.  Well, Congratulations.  Now when you have to file bankruptcy because your insurance company dropped you when you got sick, please, call your Senator and see if he gives a shit.  You just voted in a guy that - if he has anything to say about it - will stop us from recovering our money from the bank bailouts.  And a guy that will put the interest of polluters over the right of your children to breathe clean air and drink clean water.  A man that wants you to pay all the taxes so the ultra rich can get a break.  But hey, don't you let any of that take away from the feel-good of punishing "Washington" or anything.  That's the important thing.

Dear Independent Voter, grow up.  You live in a Constitutional democracy, and your votes have consequences.  If you are willing to vote for change, then please stick with it.  If you are willing to trust a president into office, hold his feet to the fire, but stop whining that he isn't parting the seas.  And for goodness' sakes, stop voting to undermine what you voted for just a year ago. Change isn't easy.  Your wild swings from side to side won't make it any easier, either.  It will make it harder.  Stop being so easily punked.  Grow up and see what's going on around you.  See that your vote isn't a candy bar.  Grow up and realize that the system cannot be changed in a day, and your wild swings aren't helping things change.  They are helping us return to gridlock.

Grow up.  Just goddamn grow up.

Sincerely,

A Proud Democratic Voter.

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AP has called it for Brown.  Coakley has called Brown to concede, according to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.

Roller Coaster!  Chuck Todd at 5:39 pm Pacific time:

17% in: Brown (R) 52%, Coakley (D) 47%. Just four precincts have reported so far.

Gap widening again.  Chuck Todd at 5:32 Pacific time:

11% reporting: Brown (R) 143,950 votes, 53%; Coakley (D) 126,037 votes, 46%

Coakley moving up slowly.  Countdown on MSNBC reporting

Brown 51.1%, Coakley 48.1%

Chuck Todd at 5:29 Pacific

7% reporting: Brown (R) 69,627 votes, 51%; Coakley (D) 65,533 votes, 48%

According to Chuck Todd's tweet at 5:22 pm Pacific:

4% reporting: Brown (R) 30,579 votes, 52%; Coakley (D) 27.551 votes, 47%

I will continue updating as often as possible.

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If you at all can, you need to help Martha Coakley win today in Massachusetts.  First of all, if you are a voter in MA and need a ride to the polls, please call (800) 485-0444.  If you cannot reach that line, try the following also: 617-681-0543 or 617-681-0526.  If you are not sure where to vote, you can find your polling place here.

Now, for GOTV.  If you are in the Bay state:

• Go knock on doors and get the voters out.  Here is the list (taken from the Daily Kos article linked).  I have now added links to maps of the locations.  Just show up.  Show up!  NOW!
  
  Canvass Staging Location
  
  
  
  Boston Staging Location:
  IBEW Local 103
  256 Freeport Street, Dorchester, MA 02122 (Map)
  Robert Dible 609-891-7533
  
  Worcester Staging Location:
  EAW
  397 Grove Street , Worcester, MA 01605 (Map)
  Ruby Reid 209-505-0575
  
  Springfield Staging Location:
  640 Page Boulevard , Springfield, MA 01104 (Map)
  Jesse Bragg 978-621-2619
  
  Lawrence Staging Location:
  Everett Mill (inside Lawrence Teachers Union)
  15 Union Street, Lawrence, MA 01840 (Map)
  Kelly Byrne 609-575-2416
  
  New Bedford Staging Location:
  Painters' Local
  554 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA 02740 (Map)
  Brandyn Keating (508) 982-2247
  
  
  
  
• Help drive voters to the polls for Coakley
• HQ: 
  529 Main Street, Charlestown, MA 02129 (Map)
  In Boston, they have vehicles.  The need drivers.  Please go help if you can
  
  
• Go to Coakley HQ or regional phone banks:
• HQ:  529 Main Street, Charlestown, MA 02129 (Map)
  
• Regional phone banks - see here under Jan 19 (today).  There's tons of regional phone banks going on to get out the vote.
  
  
• Phone bank from home to get the vote out - go to Organizing for America's website and take the time to make calls - even if it's just 5 calls.

If you are outside of Massachusetts, just phone bank from home, as mentioned above.

Trouble voting?  Report by text or email:

If you have problems at the polls let us know. Text your story to 736283 or email report@marthacoakley.com #MASen

Call, walk, volunteer.  Do something!  Stop paying attention to the talking heads or the babbling typists on the media.  Ignore the pundits.  Just get the vote out.  Do it now!

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There sits a diary on the recommended list on Daily Kos that tries to spread the idea that FDL supports Coakley, by citing this article on their front page. And to be fair, it does start off that way.

Just so there’s absolutely no ambiguity, let me get something out of the way: Democrats and progressives and anyone who doesn’t want crazy people running the country should get off their asses tomorrow and vote early and often for Coakley.

But the title of the article makes it clear that their goal is not to push for Martha Coakley, but take the opportunity to state nominal support for Coakley in order to bash President Obama.  The article goes on to slam the President for supposedly going in bed with Wall Street, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies (the latter two in the health care bill).  The article goes after the president for the individual mandate.  To me, that article is about bashing the President, and not about electing Coakley.  The Coakley portion of it was entirely C.Y.A.

The FDL article right above it on the FDL front page?  Titled "If Coakley Loses, Revive Reconciliation," it extols the virtues of reconciliation if Coakley loses.  If FDL, as they claim, supports Coakley, why clutter your front page with what the Democrats should do IF she loses instead of directing your efforts to electing her?  What's the point?  Couldn't that article go up tomorrow, after the election results?

Consider this: FDL has been a big supporter of reconciliation from the get-go.  The hardest pusher of reconciliation has been none other than Jane Hamsher herself.  Here are but a few examples of FDL and Co. pushing reconciliation:

• Reid's choice: Reconciliation = Majority rule
• Jon Walker goads about the possibility of reconciliation being revived because of the tight MA race.
• Hell, Jane even defended Joe Lieberman, calling him an "easy scapegoat" and arguing for reconciliation, talking about how Obama and Reid supposedly have been "setting the table" for Lieberman.
• FDL is even making money on the back of reconciliation
  

A Coakley win dims the possibility of reconciliation, as the House and the Senate will continue to be able to negotiate.  And now all of a sudden, we're supposed to believe that FDL is talking about reconciliation only if Coakley loses.  All of a sudden, now we're supposed to believe, because they pay lip service to Coakley, that they really badly want Coakley to win.  All of a sudden, we're supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt that they refuse to give the President.

Suddenly, we're supposed to believe FDL's lip service to Coakley (without putting any resources to the campaign or any direction to resources, except a link to her campaign web site), because Jane Hamsher and FDL always do what they say:

Jane Hamsher:  Fox is not a news outlet, it’s an openly partisan opinion factory and the Democrats should not be legitimizing them (and allowing them to recruit Democratic viewers to propagandize to) by doing this.

So, of course, this is the natural next step:



So you all will forgive me if I'm not buyin' what FDL is sellin.'

Before I end,  if you are doing anything today, you need to help Coakley win!

• If you are in MA, go walk, get out the vote door-to-door.  Go to her website 
• Make calls from home through Organizing for America
• Call your family and friends in Mass and get them to vote.
• Donate money if you can, and donate time like you must, because you must.

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As you know, Google has finally gotten fed up with the Chinese censorship and more importantly to it, Chinese snooping operations on its servers, and threatened to leave China.  Good for Google, I say.  Google should leave China.  Yes, the Chinese online population is growing fast, and it's an emerging market.  But China has quite a bit to lose if Google leaves.  The tax revenue, the jobs, the investments Google makes.  Not to mention, the access to the world's most popular - and best search engine.  Besides, Google should not be party to censorship, or more ominously, an unwitting party to China finding and persecuting political dissidents.

This is a courageous step by Google, and it should be rewarded by investors.  If you are an investor, buy Google stock!  Do some investing based on your values, do some good.

Read more ...