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The Public Option: Rumor Check — A rumor is making the rounds that the White House and Senator Reid are pursuing different strategies on the public option. Those rumors are absolutely false. — In his September 9th address to Congress, President Obama made clear that he supports …
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Obama's pointless bipartisanship. — From the magazine issue dated Nov 2, 2009 — “There she is, the Party of One!” cried Sen. Barbara Mikulski when she saw Sen. Olympia Snowe outside the Senate chamber last week. Mikulski, in a wheel-chair because of a broken ankle, rolled closer to the object of her praise.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo


Senate on Verge of Health Bill — Measure With Stiffer Penalties on Employers and Public Plan Could Come This Week — WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties …
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The Politico, The Hill, Washington Post, USA Today, ABCNEWS, Washington Times, NPR Blogs and Ben Smith's Blog

Senate Dems to Obama: Um, a Little Help Here?
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Booman Tribune, Roll Call, Reno and Its Discontents, The Politico, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo and TalkLeft

Hiatt on the public option — Talk cloaks political inaction — The “public option” is dangerous not for what it might do but for what it allows the politicians not to do. — From the start, the Obama administration has said that health-care reform has to make health care both more accessible and less costly .
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Samuelson on the fake debate on the public health plan — In the health-care debate, the “public plan” is all things to all people. For supporters, it would discipline greedy private insurers and make health-care coverage affordable. For detractors, it's a way station on the path …
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Betsy's Page

Newt Gingrich Says He May Run for President in 2012 — Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and perennial big thinker in the Republican party, said this morning that he will likely run for president in 2012 if he and his wife, Callista, assess the field of candidates in 2011 and feel “a requirement as citizens that we run.”

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group — Compared with 2008, more Americans “conservative” in general, and on issues — PRINCETON, NJ — Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June.
Discussion:
USS Neverdock

U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game — Obama and advisers evaluating exercise that used different troop levels — The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon …
Discussion:
Guardian


U.S. Considers Reining In ‘Too Big to Fail’ Institutions — WASHINGTON — Congress and the Obama administration are about to take up one of the most fundamental issues stemming from the near collapse of the financial system last year — how to deal with institutions that are so big …

After Reform Passes — So, how well will health reform work after it passes? — There's a part of me that can't believe I'm asking that question. After all, serious health reform has long seemed like an impossible dream. And it could yet go all wrong.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather


Online auction to raise funds in Scott Roeder case — An Army of God manual. A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons. An autographed bullhorn. — These are among the items that abortion foes plan to auction on eBay and other Web sites …
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Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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Afghan protest over ‘burnt Koran’ — There have been protests in the Afghan capital, Kabul, over allegations that foreign troops in the country burnt a copy of the Koran. — Hundreds of Kabul University students led the latest protest, burning an effigy of US President Barack Obama.
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Is it morning in America, or has hope given way to malaise? — (CNN) — Nearly a year after the presidential election, the excitement of Barack Obama's campaign has faded into the reality of an Obama White House. — As observers try to determine what time it is in American politics, they arrive at opposite conclusions.
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The Hill


EXCLUSIVE: How Sanford unplugged — Second-term focus was not on SC, records show — Gov. Mark Sanford typically packed more than a dozen events into his daily schedule when he took office in 2003 - sometimes jumping from meetings about tort reform, cutting state income taxes …
Discussion:
The Fix

Both Iran and West Fear a Trap on Uranium Deal — WASHINGTON — Just before international inspectors on Sunday were guided for the first time into an Iranian nuclear enrichment plant whose existence was a state secret until recently, the speaker of Iran's Parliament warned his countrymen …


Recession Drives Surge in Youth Runaways — MEDFORD, Ore. — Dressed in soaked green pajamas, Betty Snyder, 14, huddled under a cold drizzle at the city park as several older boys decided what to do with her. — Betty said she had run away from home a week earlier after a violent argument with her mother.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather

Corzine comes back, but far enough? — Recession adds to New Jersey governor's woes in a race drawing national interest — ELIZABETH, N.J. — A year into his first term, which he won touting the financial expertise that had made him a multimillionaire, Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) …