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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
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.
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New York Times:
Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes — WASHINGTON — After a long day of acid, partisan debate, Senate 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.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
An ugly finale for health-care reform — Going into Monday morning's crucial Senate vote on health-care legislation, Republican chances for defeating the bill had come down to a last, macabre hope. They needed one Democratic senator to die — or at least become incapacitated.
Discussion:
The Field on the Narcosphere, The Moderate Voice, protein wisdom, NewsBusters.org, Raw Story, Prairie Weather and Swampland
Robert Pear / New York Times:
Deep in Health Bill, Very Specific Beneficiaries — WASHINGTON — Buried in the deal-clinching health care package that Senate Democrats unveiled over the weekend is an inconspicuous proposal expanding Medicare to cover certain victims of “environmental health hazards.”
Washington Post:
Health-care bill clears crucial vote in Senate, 60 to 40 — Senate Democrats won a milestone victory early Monday in the health-care debate, approving a procedural motion to move the reform legislation to final passage later this week, and without a single vote to spare.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, Wall Street Journal, NY Daily News, Shopfloor and New York Times
Martina Stewart / CNN:CNN Exclusive: Nelson answers his critics on health care reform
Discussion:
Raw Story
Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:Cloture vote foreshadows conference tussle over final healthcare bill
Discussion:
The Politico, Commentary, Liberal Values, The Confluence and And So it Goes in Shreveport
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
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) …
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Wall Street Journal:
Change Nobody Believes In — A bill so reckless that it has to be rammed through on a partisan vote on Christmas eve. — Printer — Friendly — And tidings of comfort and joy from Harry Reid too. The Senate Majority Leader has decided that the last few days before Christmas …
Michelle Malkin:Cash for Cloture: Demcare bribe list, Pt. II
Discussion:
Pundit & Pundette, Associated Press, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Gateway Pundit, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Politico and The Confluence
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Heaven and Nature — It's fitting that James Cameron's “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It's at once the blockbuster to end …
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Kpicket / The washington times Blogs:
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.
Martina Stewart / CNN:
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.
Con Coughlin / Telegraph:
Hamas helping British lawyers target Israel — Activists from Hamas, the Palestinian group, have been helping British lawyers bring war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials in London. — The group, considered a terrorist organisation in Britain, is believed to have provided information …
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
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Washington Post:
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 …
Paul Krugman:
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 …
BBC:
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 …
People-Press.org:
Current Decade Rates as Worst in 50 Years — Internet, Cell Phones Are Changes for the Better — As the current decade draws to a close, relatively few Americans have positive things to say about it. By roughly two-to-one, more say they have a generally negative (50%) …
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