Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes  —  WASHINGTON — After a long day of acid, partisan debate, Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health care system.

CBO pegs Nelson's Nebraska Medicaid deal cost at $100 million  —  Nebraska will receive $100 million in assistance for its state Medicaid program under provisions negotiated by Sen. Ben Nelson (D) in the Senate's healthcare reform bill.  —  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) …

A Dangerous Dysfunction  —  Unless some legislator pulls off a last-minute double-cross, health care reform will pass the Senate this week.  Count me among those who consider this an awesome achievement.  It's a seriously flawed bill, we'll spend years if not decades fixing it, but it's nonetheless a huge step forward.

Fed's approach to regulation left banks exposed to crisis  —  Foreclosures already pocked Chicago's poorer neighborhoods but the downtown still was booming as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened its annual conference in May 2007.  —  The keynote speaker, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke …

The WYSIWYG president  —  There's a lot of dismay/rage on the left over Obama, a number of cries that he isn't the man progressives thought they were voting for.  —  But that says more about the complainers than it does about Obama himself.  If you actually paid attention to the substance …

Auschwitz theft suspects detained  —  Hundreds of thousands of people passed under the sign to their deaths  —  The “Arbeit macht frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz in southern Poland has been found in the north and five men are being questioned by police.  —  The five suspects …

Sen. Whitehouse: foes of health care bill are birthers, right-wing militias, aryan groups  —  ****Updated with video link and more transcript  —  Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation.

A Whodunit: The $100 million mystery hospital  —  ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports:  —  The health reform Christmas gifts for Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska are well known .  But somewhere out there is another good little legislator who got funding for a hospital in their state.

Ahmadinejad dismisses secret doc  —  In an interview to be aired Monday, Iran's president dismisses a newly revealed secret document that purportedly shows his nation has been trying to develop a crucial component of a nuclear bomb.  —  In an interview with ABC News's Diane Sawyer …

Intentions be damned, Avatar is racist (as is praying for and/or to “JaMarcus Manning").  —  Annalee Newitz writes that “[w]hether Avatar is racist is a matter of debate,” but it isn't: the film is racist.  Its fundamental narrative logic is racist: it transposes the cultural politics of Westerns …

Hamas using English law to demand arrest of Israeli leaders for war crimes  —  The Islamist group Hamas is masterminding efforts to have senior Israeli leaders arrested for alleged war crimes when they visit European countries including Britain, a top Hamas official involved in the effort has told The Times.