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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Understanding Obamacare … The idea that there is a competitive “private sector” in America is appealing, but generally false.  No one hates competition more than the managers of corporations.  Competition does not enhance shareholder value, and smart managers know they must forsake whatever …

Obama gets an ‘A’ for effort from Schwarzenegger  —  Washington (CNN) - Not every Republican is a critic of President Obama.  At least one thinks the president is doing a fine job - at least when it comes to the effort involved in being the country's chief executive.

The Salahis' night at the White House and a contentious day after  —  Case closed.  —  That's the verdict the White House has emphatically handed down on the embarrassing and troubling security breach a fame-craving Virginia couple performed during the Obama administration's first state dinner, on Nov. 24.