Sen. Sanders: 'As of this point, I'm not voting for the bill.'  —  Moments ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced that he is prepared to vote against the Senate health care bill in light of the recent decision to strip the public option and the Medicare buy-in provision from the legislation.

The Left Is Playing With Fire  —  Liberals frustrated with the decision to drop a public option are now attacking a core principle of health care reform: the individual mandate.  Greg Sargent and Ben Smith quote Jim Dean, brother of Howard, in an e-mail that just went out to Democracy for America:

Michael Moore calls for boycott of Connecticut  —  Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on Thursday called for a boycott of the state of Connecticut in reaction to Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-Conn.) opposition to key provisions of healthcare reform legislation.  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Sanders withdraws single-payer healthcare bill amendment  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday withdrew his single-payer healthcare amendment after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) initiated a procedural maneuver to shipwreck the measure.  —  Coburn earlier in the day forced the Senate clerk …

SHENANIGANS: SCHUMER HAS A FLIGHT TO FORGET  —  Schumer has a flight to forget  —  Sen. Chuck Schumer loves the sound of his own voice, but it carried a bit farther than he might have liked on the US Airways shuttle from New York to Washington on Sunday.  —  According to a House Republican aide …

Person of the Year 2009  —  The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker.  Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord  —  Ben Bernanke  —  A bald man with a gray beard and tired eyes is sitting in his oversize Washington office, talking about the economy.

The Price of Depression, the Upside of Optimism  —  Without endorsing the results in detail, since I think it's actually a bit out of date, I thought a glance at Nate Silver's ranking of the top ten “most likely to change hands” Senate seats might help explain some of the divergent point …

Two Black Role Models Done In By Hubris  —  In the past few weeks, the two most famous and arguably most successful black men in America have taken a huge fall.  It has become clear that both pro golfer Tiger Woods, just named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, and the American president …

NBC POLL: PUBLIC SOURS ON HEALTH REFORM  —  From NBC's Mark Murray  —  As the Senate sprints to pass a health-care bill by Christmas, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that those believing President Obama's health-reform plan is a good idea has sunk to its lowest level.

Would cutting the minimum wage raise employment?  —  It seems that more and more Serious People (and Fox News) are rallying around the idea that if Obama really wants to create jobs, he should cut the minimum wage.  —  So let me repeat a point I made a number of times back when the usual suspects …

Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming  —  Climategate just got much, much bigger.  And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world's leaders are gathering …

Poll: Obama approval dips below 50 percent  —  47 percent say his overhaul is a bad idea, 55 percent support Afghan surge  —  WASHINGTON - For much of his first year in office, President Barack Obama has largely defied political gravity in the midst of skyrocketing unemployment …

President Obama: Federal Government ‘Will Go Bankrupt’ if Health Care Costs Are Not Reined In  —  ABC's Karen Travers reports from Washington:  —  President Obama told ABC News' Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.”

CFACT drops the banner on Greenpeace ships in daring land and sea raids  —  Activists tag Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior with “Propaganda Warrior” banner; Arctic Sunrise hit with “Ship of Lies” banner earlier in the day  —  Global warming skeptics from CFACT yesterday pulled off …

U.S. National Debt Tops Debt Limit  —  Posted by Mark Knoller The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has - at least numerically - exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill.

www.jihad.com  —  Let's not fool ourselves.  Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat.  The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims …

Newsrooms Don't Need More Conservatives  —  What's important is the willingness to hold power accountable.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  This is a terrible time for newspapers, but the solutions suggested over the last year by the deep thinkers of the floundering industry give one little hope.

Speaker Pelosi to shield vulnerable members from controversial votes  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has privately told her politically vulnerable Democratic members that they will not vote on controversial bills in 2010 unless the Senate acts first.  —  After a year of bruising legislative …

The Politics of Ressentiment  —  Conor Friedersdorf pokes some holes in Matt Continetti's desperate attempt to paint substantive criticism of Sarah Palin's published arguments as some kind of mob persecution.  He's got a fine case on the specifics, but I think misses the mark when he dubs …