Why the Senate Should Vote Yes on Health Care  —  IF I were still a United States senator, I would not only vote yes on the current health care reform bill, I would do so with the sure knowledge that I was casting one of the most historic votes of my 36 years in the Senate.

Axelrod promises to push for drug re-importation after healthcare reform  —  A senior White House adviser said Sunday that the Obama administration will push forward on safe re-importation of pharmaceutical drugs after the healthcare reform bill is finished.

MARVEL AT THE ‘ARROGANCE’ AND ‘NAIVETE’.... CNN is telling me that Sarah Palin said something on Twitter. … Or, to translate into English, the former half-term governor believes it's “arrogant and naive” to think human activity is responsible for climate change, which she describes as “man overpowering nature.”

The Republican Health Care Blunder  —  The United States is on the doorstep of comprehensive health care reform.  It's a staggering achievement, about which I'll have more to say later. but the under-appreciated thing that strikes me at the moment is that it never would have happened if the Republican Party had played its cards right.

CBO issues correction: Health bill nixes deficit less than thought  —  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) corrected its estimate of the Senate health bill's costs on Sunday, saying it would reduce deficits slightly less than they'd predicted.  —  In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Dreading our future  —  I am a baby boomer, which is to say my life has coincided with turbulent and awesome times.  From the Cold War to Vietnam, from Watergate to Monicagate, through the horrors of 9/11 and the stunning lifestyle advances, my generation's era has been historic and exciting.

Can Stupak Kill Obamacare in the House?  —  Are there enough votes in the House to pass a health care bill very close to the one the Senate is preparing to pass?  Bart Stupak says the Senate bill's abortion language is “unacceptable” and has pledged to lead a group of pro-life Democrats …

Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri  —  The head of the UN's climate change panel - Dr Rajendra Pachauri - is accused of making a fortune from his links with ‘carbon trading’ companies, Christopher Booker and Richard North write.

Sunday showdown: The Senate's Demcare treachery  —  Sellout Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) got his Cash-for-Cloture Christmas present early: Special Medicaid expansion subsidies for his state ($45 million for starters over the next decade).  The budget-strapped governors of every other state in the union ought to be crying foul.

A ‘STARTER HOME’.... There's a sizable chasm between the failed health care status quo and the progressive ideal.  This, at a minimum, contributes to the differences between progressive proponents of reform — the same proposal can be seen by the same ostensible allies as both an important step forward and a bitter disappointment.

Why I Still Believe in This Bill  —  Jacob S. Hacker is the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University.  An expert on the politics of U.S. health and social policy, he is author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books and articles, both scholarly and popular …

House Dems cool to Nelson compromise  —  Anti-abortion Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) doesn't like Sen. Ben Nelson's abortion compromise and promises to fight it.  Now pro-abortion rights Democrats are speaking out, too — they don't like it but stop short of saying they'll try to kill it.

Ayatollah Montazeri, Iranian Cleric, Dies at 87  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the plain-spoken senior Shiite cleric who helped forge Iran's system of religious government and went on to become a fierce critic of its hard-line rulers, died Sunday morning at the age of 87.

Show Us the E-Mail  —  WE end this extraordinary financial year with news that the Treasury is in discussions with American International Group about selling the taxpayers' 80 percent ownership stake in that company.  The government recently permitted several banks to break free …