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Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul Bill — WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to reinvent the nation's health care system, passing a bill to guarantee access to health insurance for tens of millions of Americans and to rein in health costs as proposed by President Obama.
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Winning ugly, but winning — On Dec. 24, in an early morning vote, the United States Senate passed health-care reform. It was the first time the body had been in session on Christmas Eve since 1963. That's fitting, as it's arguably the most important piece of legislation the body has passed since 1963.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Health Care Blog, The Impolitic and Taylor Marsh


And the Rest Is Just Noise — Why the health care bill is the greatest social achievement of our time. — American liberals have a habit of withdrawing into cynicism and ennui at the most inopportune moments. The 2000 presidential election, and subsequent recount, was one such moment.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, James Fallows, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post and pandagon.net

Health Care Woo — The health care bill passed! As you know, my view is this: For all its flaws, if signed into law this bill would be the greatest progressive social policy achievement in over forty years. It's fine not to be satisfied with this legislation, but it's perverse not to be happy about it.

A health-care victory that stinks — The health-care reform bill coming out of the Senate presents a real dilemma for spectators: How do you applaud while holding your nose? — There is so much that is wrong with it — and the way it was made — and, at the same time …

Senate approves landmark health-care bill
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, HEALTH REFORM WATCH, TPMDC, CNN, Associated Press, Scared Monkeys and Suburban Guerrilla

Senate passes historic healthcare reform legislation in 60-39 vote
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Another Black Conservative, The Moderate Voice, The Nation and The Reaction

There's Only One Way to Stop Iran — PRESIDENT OBAMA should not lament but sigh in relief that Iran has rejected his nuclear deal, which was ill conceived from the start. Under the deal, which was formally offered through the United Nations, Iran was to surrender some 2,600 pounds …
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Another Bad Argument For Iran Strike: ‘The Worst Might Not Happen!’ — Today, Iran's leading daily newspaper featured an op-ed by a conservative Iranian university professor insisting that there is only one way to deter the American war on Iran that all serious Iranian analysts believe is coming …
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org

Yemen says Fort Hood-linked imam may be dead — SANAA (Reuters) - The leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and a Muslim preacher linked by U.S. intelligence to deaths at a U.S. army base are believed to have died in a Yemen air strike, a security official said on Thursday.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, The Lede, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, ABCNEWS, Political Byline, Outside The Beltway, Michelle Malkin and Jihad Watch
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How Progressives Can Move Obama to the Left — There are many debates among progressives now on the true nature of Barack Obama. Did he mean anything he said on the campaign trail? Is he really a progressive? Did he ever mean to challenge the status quo or was he using the word “change” as a campaign gimmick?
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Banks Bundled Bad Debt, Bet Against It and Won — In late October 2007, as the financial markets were starting to come unglued, a Goldman Sachs trader, Jonathan M. Egol, received very good news. At 37, he was named a managing director at the firm. — Mr. Egol, a Princeton graduate …
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, EconLog, AMERICAblog News, naked capitalism, Prairie Weather, Beat the Press and Economix


Kerry Floats Plan to Visit Tehran — White House Wouldn't Oppose Trip, First by Top U.S. Official in 30 Years, to Chagrin of Iran's Opposition — WASHINGTON — Sen. John Kerry has suggested becoming the first high-level U.S. emissary to make a public visit to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Washington Note, Hot Air, Commentary, Jules Crittenden and RedState
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Census Bureau: Texas Gains the Most in Population — Texas gained more people than any other state between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009 (478,000), followed by California (381,000), North Carolina (134,000), Georgia (131,000) and Florida (114,000), according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates
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Keep the Big Tent big — The announcement by Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith that he is switching to the Republican Party is just the latest warning sign that the Democratic Party — my lifelong political home — has a critical decision to make: Either we plot a more moderate …
Discussion:
Mouth of the Potomac, The Strata-Sphere, Commentary, Big Government, Shot in the Dark, Riehl World View and Lynn Sweet


Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins Split — One of Hollywood's most enduring relationships has ended - Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have broken up after more than two decades together, PEOPLE has learned exclusively. — “Actress Susan Sarandon and her partner of 23 years …