Looks like the Dems are going to have to fight the largest physician’s organization in the world. Yikes. From NY Times: [...] in comments submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, the American Medical Association said: “The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the [...]

I have to say, I’m intrigued by the framework of this plan because it creates community specific ownership that has worked time and time again for other needed public services. Also, it’s nonprofit, which I think is essential to any public health care option. From AP: WASHINGTON (AP) — A potential compromise emerged Wednesday on [...]

I keep telling people online and off that Republicans need to reform their party or risk becoming merely a regional power. And contrary to some accusations made here and elsewhere, I’m not trying to trick anybody…I’m just looking at the numbers. So is Republican strategist Mike Murphy… Despairing Republican friends have been asking me what [...]

Even after reading this article I think it’s an open question, but I wasn’t aware that we were paid dividends on the preferred shares. From McClatchy: In addition to returning the $68 billion, the 10 banks paid the government $1.8 billion in dividends on the preferred shares of stock the government owned. That translates to [...]

Not exactly Letterman’s finest moment… Yeah, I know it’s just a joke, but it turns out it was a fairly tasteless one when you consider the daughter Palin brought to the game was 14 year old Willow. I doubt if he’ll apologize, but he should.

And McAuliffe lost…big time. Even with all that money spent and Bill Clinton campaigning for him…he only got 26% of the vote. The Clinton era is officially over. From Wash Post: Running with the least money and fewest ties to vote-rich Northern Virginia, State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds has won the three-way Democratic primary for [...]

Found this on Political Wire and it’s typical of the nonsense we heard from her during the campaign… Palin: We are the only state with a negative tax rate where we don’t have any income, sales or property tax statewide, and yes we have a share of our oil resource revenue that goes back to [...]

Would we really be talking so much about the Democratic primary if not for McAuliffe? And does anybody really think McAuliffe cares about being Governor of Virginia? MSNBC doesn’t think so… Here’s one way to look at today’s three-way Democratic gubernatorial in Virginia: It’s all about Terry McAuliffe, and he probably wouldn’t have it any [...]

I thought it was a joke when I first heard about it, but “Seasteading” is a serious idea, it’s being backed by Milton Friedman’s grandson and they’ve apparently already raised more than a half a million dollars to realize their dream of building communities…on the sea! Here’s more from Reason: Patri Friedman was doing all [...]

Link to a NY Times article…

That’s out of the nearly $230B given out over the past 9 months. In other words, nearly 30% of the money that we would NEVER see again is being paid back. And the government could actually make a profit if they choose to exercise stock options, but there’s word they won’t do that. Here’s more [...]

Last night, at a major Republican fundraiser, GOP leaders had some of their harshest words yet for President Obama and his agenda. Newt Gingrich said the president’s stimulus plan has already failed. And: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Obama has a “radical agenda.” Republicans have “watched them take over banks, insurance companies, [...]

On 6 out of 10 issues. But the most important one right now: the economy… The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more. This is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held [...]

So let’s get this straight… $87 billion of the $787 billion has already been spent in the past 3.5 months, and the monthly unemployment claims were cut in half last month (when compared to the previous 6 months) and the stimulus isn’t working? This is in response to Republican lawmakers, specifically Sarah Palin, continuing to [...]

I wrote an editorial about the Publius situation yesterday and the conversation since has been great. Lots of opposing opinions, and here are a few. First, Tully argues that anonymity doesn’t hurt the credibility of blogging… Can you possibly set the bar any LOWER, Justin? Journalists have spent much of the last couple of decades [...]

The Obama administration has undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief after the pro-western coalition won yesterday’s parliamentary vote in Lebanon. After the president’s big speech about improving relationships between America and the Mid-East, a Hezbollah win in Lebanon would have been seen by many as a strong rebuke to Obama. Of course, calling the election [...]

During this weekend’s D-Day remembrance ceremony, President Obama urged us not to forget those who fought for our freedom and what they managed to achieve. Many estimate we are losing as many as 1,200 WW II veterans every day in America alone. But there’s no reason we have to lose their stories. For those of [...]

This is kind of weird. I mean, the resemblance is pretty uncanny as a caricature. Looks as if a political cartoonist drew it. And yes, I realize that I just opened myself up to a torrent of “messiah” comments, but I’m ready for it.

This is awful… The man charged with killing abortion provider Dr. George Tiller claimed Sunday that more violence is possible while the medical procedure is allowed to continue, giving his warning in calls that also focused on complaints about his treatment in jail. Scott Roeder, being held on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault [...]

If you haven’t heard yet, a liberal blogger was outed over the weekend by a conservative blogger. Fallout? By and large, most of the folks I’ve read have come down on the side of the blogger who was formerly known as Publius. And hey, fair enough. I understand and respect the reasons why somebody would [...]