Labor Holds Emergency Meetings To Discuss Senate Bill, May Formally Oppose  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Two of the country's largest labor groups, the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, are each holding emergency executive meetings today to discuss whether they should support the latest round of health care compromises made by Senate Democrats.

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 …

The importance of the individual mandate  —  Markos Moulitsas explains his opposition to the Senate bill, and says it all comes down to the individual mandate.  “Strip out the mandate,” he says, “and the rest of the bill is palatable.  It's not reform, but it's progress in the right direction.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

No More Safety Nets!  —  The office of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has sent around a document preemptively attacking a new stimulus bill.  This objection is perfectly in line with Republican thinking, but I'm still surprised to see it: … Those are all pretty popular programs …

THE SOURCE OF THE DEFICIT MESS.... Republican lawmakers and far-right activists have suddenly discovered, after eight years of dramatic fiscal irresponsibility, that they care deeply about deficit reduction again.  Worse, they're absolutely convinced that President Obama and those free-spending Democrats …

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.”

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.

Americans Oppose Closing Gitmo, Moving Prisoners to U.S.  —  Support is 8% among Republicans, 28% among independents, and 50% among Democrats  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans remain opposed to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and moving some of the terrorist suspects being held there to U.S. prisons …

Mystery as Lockerbie bomber goes missing from home and hospital  —  Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.  —  Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone.

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 …

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November suggests that economic activity has continued to pick up and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating.  The housing sector has shown some signs of improvement over recent months.