Top Items:
Igor / Think Progress:
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.
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Howard Dean / Washington Post:
Health-care bill wouldn't bring real reform — If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. Any measure that expands private insurers' monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform.
The Huffington Post:
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.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Hot Air, Ben Smith's Blog, Firedoglake, The Politico, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Don Surber, TPMDC, The Greenroom, Taylor Marsh and The Plum Line
The Huffington Post:
Gibbs Lashes Back At Dean, Suggests He's Irrational — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs strongly hit back at former DNC Chairman Howard Dean for criticizing the Senate health care bill, suggesting, at one point, that Dean was being irrational …
blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
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 …
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere, Atlas Shrugs, The Lonely Conservative, YID With LID and TigerHawk
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RIA Novosti:
What the Russian papers say — MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti) Russia trading in diplomatic recognition / U.S. uses NATO as a tool to integrate Russia into its project for a new world order - expert / New round of struggle to end Cold War / Russia affected by Climategate /
Christopher C. Horner / Big Government:
ClimateGate Just Got Much, Much Bigger — Over at ICECAP.us Meteorologist Joe D'Aleo has posted an item on a “Russian Bombshell” highly relevant to the ClimateGate scandal. The Russian media first posted the story and now some Brits are loving it. — The long and the short …
Steve McIntyre / Climate Audit:
Russia: Hadley Center “probably tampered with Russian climate data”
Russia: Hadley Center “probably tampered with Russian climate data”
Discussion:
Watts Up With That?
Jon Walker / Firedoglake:
Answering Nate Silver's 20 Questions on Killing the Senate Bill — Nate Silver has 20 questions for the “bill killers"-and I have 20 answers. … Killing the current deal does not preclude passing the good parts of health reform through reconciliation. When they are forced to face passage …
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight
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Ezra Klein:
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.
Discussion:
The Politico, Daily Kos, Open Left, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, TalkLeft and Swampland
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
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:
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Crooks and Liars, Paul Krugman, Liberal Values, Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland and The Mahablog
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
20 Questions for Bill Killers — 1. Over the medium term, how many other opportunities will exist to provide in excess of $100 billion per year in public subsidies to poor and sick people? — 2. Would a bill that contained $50 billion in additional subsidies for people making less than 250% of poverty be acceptable?
Peter Wallsten / Wall Street Journal:
Democrat Blues Grow Deeper in New Poll — For First Time, Voters Split Over Who They Want in Control After 2010 Elections, and Obama's Approval Rating Falls Below 50% — President Obama makes a statement on health care after meeting with Senators on Tuesday.
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Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:
In Delaying Health Care GOP Wants To Force August Repeat Over Holiday Break
In Delaying Health Care GOP Wants To Force August Repeat Over Holiday Break
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
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 …
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
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 …
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Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
GOP: Dems Violated Senate Rules By Cutting off Reading of Sanders Amendment
GOP: Dems Violated Senate Rules By Cutting off Reading of Sanders Amendment
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Corner on National …, RedState, National Review, Instapundit, USA Today and Power Line
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Sanders says ‘as of this point’ he won't vote for healthcare bill
Sanders says ‘as of this point’ he won't vote for healthcare bill
Discussion:
RedState
CFACT:
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 …
Discussion:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Riehl World View, Watts Up With That? and The Corner on National …
The World Newser:
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.”
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Big Government, Scared Monkeys, The Swamp, Raw Story, Don Surber, The Lonely Conservative, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media and Pundit & Pundette
Lisa Solod Warren / The Huffington Post:
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 …
Paul Krugman:
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 …
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution, Mises Economics Blog, EconLog, Economist's View, J. Bradford DeLong's … and The Monkey Cage
Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
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.
New York Times:
Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. Citizens — WASHINGTON — In February, a Department of Homeland Security intelligence official wrote a “threat assessment” for the police in Wisconsin about a demonstration involving local pro- and anti-abortion rights groups.
Guardian:
Miliband warns of Copenhagen ‘farce’ — Climate talks at least 18 hours behind schedule as world leaders set to arrive in Copenhagen — The climate change summit in Copenhagen was in jeopardy tonight with the complex negotiations falling far behind schedule as the climate secretary, Ed Miliband, warned of a “farce”.
Discussion:
Redhot
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Florida Senate — 2010 Florida Senate: Rubio, Crist Both Lead Meek — The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Florida finds former state House Speaker Marco Rubio leading Democrat Kendrick Meek 49% to 35%. Governor Charlie Crist leads Meek 42% to 36%.
Lenore Taylor / TheAustralian:
Penny Wong jeered, Hugo Chavez cheered — THE Copenhagen climate summit was pretty much summed up in the high-level segment yesterday when Penny Wong's speech was interrupted by whistles and chanting and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez got a standing ovation.
Ian Welsh / Crooks and Liars:
Notes on the Moral and Political Degradation of America — The news in the last few days has continued the drumbeat of demoralizing events which started in the Bush administration, and with only a few hiccups has continued through the Obama administration. It is clear that Obama is, fundamentally, Bush's 3rd term.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Palin supports McCain ‘100 percent’ — Declaring that she “was honored and proud to run with him,” former Alaska governor Sarah Palin pushed back hard Wednesday against a report that she had disrespected Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by blacking out his name on a sun visor she wore on vacation.