From a Politico email alert: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a health reform bill Thursday that would cost $894 billion over 10 years and includes a public option. It meets President Obama’s goal of not adding to the federal deficit, cutting the deficit by about $30 billion in the first 10 years. And now it gets interesting. Full story here.

Tom Friedman says don’t send more troops to Afghanistan, because there are no positive trends to build on, like the Anbar Awakening before the surge in Iraq. Yet back in 2007, Friedman condemned the surge precisely because there was no progress to build on: January 3, 2007 Now President Bush wants a “surge” of more U.S. troops to Baghdad, in one last attempt to bring order. Whenever I hear this surge...

Speaking as one who has been critical of most of President Obama’s domestic initiatives this year, I find myself in the curious position of having to praise him three times in one week. First, he moved to finally provide long overdue improvements to the nation’s power grid. Then he worked with Congressional leadership to shut down foreign tax dodge schemes. (Sadly, with Charlie Rangel’s name...

David Adams commanded a US advisory team in the Afghan province of Khost. Ann Marlowe reported from Afghanistan. They write, From the beginning of 2007 to March 2008, the 82nd Airborne Division’s strategy in Khost proved that 250 paratroopers could secure a province of a million people in the Pashtun belt. The key to success in Khost—which shares a 184 kilometer-long border with Pakistan’s lawless...

There’s plenty of material out there, but Steve Biddle’s article in TNR [subscription only] stands head and shouders above the rest. Even if you’re against more troops, you should test your logic against Biddle. For example, NYT columnist Nick Kristof wrote: The United States was born of our ancestors’ nationalistic resentment of a foreign power whose troops we saw as occupiers, not protectors....

When I read this item at Politico over coffee this morning, I had to double check and see if I hadn’t inadvertently followed a link to The Onion. A new bill is being introduced which would make it far more difficult for people to hide their assets in foreign banks to avoid paying taxes on the money. Good idea! But it’s being introduced, in part, by Charlie Rangel. (I’ll give you a moment to...

It sure sounds that way. More HERE.

WASHINGTON — Memo to Democrats: You will be defined by President Obama whether you like it or not, so you might as well embrace him for the benefits he can bring you. Memo to Republicans: Talk a right-wing game in your ideological magazines and at your tea parties if that makes you happy. But to win elections, your candidates had better look like middle-of-the-road problem-solvers. Those are...

Poking the Cobra Raging Moderate, by Will Durst Now is the time for all good men to put their hands together, pull them apart and rapidly put them back together again, and repeat, to give props to the president for not curling up into a fetal position with a “Kick Me” sign taped to his butt. You know. Like a Democrat. He’s taking it straight to his perceived enemy, calling both Fox News and Rush Limbaugh...

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

I like Steve Benen and used to read his blog, The Carpetbagger Report, regularly. I still occasionally read his posts at his current home, The Washington Monthly’s Political Animal — but I have to seriously question this post from earlier today, bemoaning Democrats’ perceived inability (unwillingness?) to enforce “party loyalty.” An excerpt: Political parties that expect loyalty...

This quip is one for the archives, best appreciated if you read the entire (brief) story at NYT. “Kudo to the governor for his creative use of coincidence with his veto message,” the spokesman, Quintin Mecke said in an e-mail message. He added, “We will call it even and start with a clean slate with the governor from here on out.”

“I won’t risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary,” the President said this week at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. “And if it’s necessary, we will back you up to the hilt.” He was talking to men and women in uniform but answering an American who never wore one, Dick Cheney, who has accused him of “dithering” about sending more troops to Afghanistan during...

Exactly how important is it to Americans that their elected officials receive a mathematical majority of votes in any given election in order to carry the vaunted mantle of having a “mandate from the people?” And if we see a continuing trend of voter dissatisfaction with the normal two menu choices and 3rd party candidates carry more and more influence, will this help or hurt our great American...

Conservative talk show mega-maven Rush Limbaugh ranted and thundered about what was supposedly a old thesis done by President Barack Obama. But in the end, it turned out to be a hoax. Details HERE. Meanwhile, some of Limbaugh’s new statements will likely make NFL owners breathe a sigh of relief that he was booted from buying into an NFL team. Read these. His fans and defenders will say it’s taken...

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés and I have been posting on a Texas criminal justice case that has now become an issue of national interest. It is the now infamous case of Todd Willingham who was executed almost six years ago for the 1991 arson related death of his three children at his home in Corsicana, Texas. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was reviewing the case and hired the noted fire scientist Craig...

A leaked memo from the Democratic Whip’s office shows that they may have under 200 votes for the public option, so the issue of 60 Senate votes may be moot. See details at the Plumline.

Two polls have suggested that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is in the lead in the race for the 23rd Congressional District in the State of New York. The first poll released yesterday, comes out this way: Hoffman with 31.3%, Democrat Bill Owens with 27.0%, and Republican Dede Scozzafava with 19.7%. Twenty-two percent are undecided. The second poll released today has Hoffman again in the lead with...

Amid the torrent of news, one might have missed one of the largest drug busts in history just days ago – against La Familia – Mexico’s most deadly narco-trafficking mafia group. Confiscated by over 3,000 agents from emergency and security services in 19 states were 1,100 pounds of marijuana, 770 pounds of methamphetamine, 138 pounds of cocaine, $3.4 million, 144 weapons of various calibers,...

Matthew Yglesias has some interesting thoughts on conflicting values for progressives in the Israel-Palestinian conflict:

Michael Goldfarb is not interested in constructive criticism of J Street. What Mike wants is to expose J Street as a fringe, left-wing activist group that only pretends to be pro-Israel to advance it’s relativist agenda. So call Mike partisan, but don’t forget that partisan critics often make substantive points, regardless of their intentions. And Mike is both very sharp and very entertaining,...

This is what Democrats in Congress get for allowing Lieberman to keep his prestigi0us committee chair assignment.

Per a breaking news email from Politico: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) says he will join a Republican filibuster against the Senate Democrats’ health care reform bill unless the public option is removed. More here. From CNN: Also Tuesday, conservative Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska warned that his vote remains uncertain for a bill with a public option. From the same story: [GOP Sen.] Snowe has...

Aislin, The Montreal Gazette This cartoon is copyrighted and authorized to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

As Congress stumbles toward a final deal, the process is a reminder of the disheartening political climate in which we live today. No one will really be happy with the final result. How could they be? In a world where human considerations are swamped by partisan posturing, the bottom line, if anyone can figure out what it is, will not be how much better or worse it makes our society but who wins and who loses....