Did former first assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown resign in an attempt to hide information about the loan her former boss Chris Christie gave her? Or because of the bonuses she is rumored to have received from him?

So much attention has been placed on the Senate today that we have neglected the movement on health care in the House. For the moment there hasn’t really been any. Last Friday the Speaker held a caucus where members had to publicly discuss their positions on health care and what bills they would support. Nancy [...]

  Last night, on “Left Jab” on Sirius Left talk radio, the hosts interviewed activist lawyer Kevin Zeese. Zeese was at an action against the Chamber of Commerce sponsored by stopthechamber.com, but he has also been very active in the health care reform battle. He was one of the Baucus 8, the first 8 people [...]

I love the kittehs! I have always had at least one cat, sometimes as many three, ever since I was a toddler and uh one of the main reasons I fell in love with my ex-husband was that he had always had cats. Finally a man not “allergic” to cats, who loved them! But though for me there is a limit to the number of cats I can love and care for in a responsible manner, I have a great deal of sympathy and empathy for “crazy cat ladies,” women to horde cats.

Moving detainees to American facilities might open the American justice system to them; will a civilian trial expose torture as unnecessary?

In his presser, Harry Reid said very little about what kind of an “opt-out” he’ll put in the final bill. The good news: Pressure on Reid from progressives when his poll numbers are flagging made him defy the White House. More importantly, he ratted them out to the press. Rahm thought he could continue to [...]

While the headline news from Harry Reid was about the public option, which is firm and in stone, on several other fronts, the deal has not completely been made. A Senate leadership aide close to the negotiations emailed me that on issues of affordability and coverage subsidies, among others, Reid is sending 2-3 versions to [...]

  That’s it. Harry Reid just announced that he would include a public option in the health care bill, with an opt-out provision for the states. Reid is sending several different versions of the total legislation to the CBO for scoring. But crucially, he’s ONLY sending the opt-out version of the public option to CBO, [...]

Reid’s prepared remarks: The last two weeks have been a great opportunity to work with the White House, Senators Baucus and Dodd, and members of our Caucus on this critical issue of reforming our health insurance system. We have had productive, meaningful discussions about how to craft the strongest bill that can gain the 60 [...]

  Although the White House has tried to characterize “triggers” as a “compromise” that could bring everyone on board, the fact is that Rahm Emanuel has been pushing them since January. It’s isn’t a compromise — it’s what the White House has wanted all along. Can’t get enough votes in the Senate? The answer is [...]