I’ve been doing this all wrong. I have been dutifully showing up roughly every Friday night and delivering this post for months now, and I have asked for nothing in return. Oh, sure, a compliment in the comments, or a link, or maybe even a bit of well-reasoned pushback—those are all good, but I don’t require that in advance to write this post. Hell, I don’t even expect, no less demand, that you read all the way to the end.

Well, I had a bit of a revelation today, and I am telling you, that all ends right here. I am holding out. No more Mr. Easy Post. I have some things I, um, need in advance.

No one could have anticipated that members of a movement based on paranoia and rage would have trouble working together.

Sen. Ron Wyden has reached agreement with the leadership to get an amendment into the bill which would allow as many as 1 million additional individuals who get health care from their employers to participate on the insurance exchanges, including selecting the public option — just one day before voting on the motion to proceed in the Senate.

Evangelicals like Chuck Colson, Roman Catholics like Archbishop Donald Wuerl, and the other religious leaders who signed the “Manhattan Declaration” don’t seem to understand that justifying discrimination in the name of religious freedom is not a good idea.

Everyone’s talking about the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and their imposition into the legislative debate over health care, particularly abortion. The bishops sent a letter to Senators denouncing their compromise language on reproductive choice, saying they would oppose the legislation if that language became the final compromise. They would rather retain the Stupak amendment, which goes much further than the status quo and could be expected to effectively ban insurance coverage of reproductive choice services entirely.

What has been discussed less is the Catholic bishops’ opposition to a restrictive provision in the Senate bill that would ban undocumented immigrants from purchasing health insurance on the exchange with their own money.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told Reuters today that it will be at least another week — in other words, after Thanksgiving — before President Obama announces his new strategy for Afghanistan (not to be confused, of course, with his previous new strategy from earlier this year).

Meanwhile, though, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wasn’t waiting to reiterate her assessment of the situation.

Bill Clinton told FDL’s Eve Gittelson that it would be problematic for him to attend a free medical clinic being held in Little Rock, Arkansas tomorrow because MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had “politicized” the event.” He indicated that some were turning the event into a primary kickoff against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

Days after a controversial recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force on breast cancer screening, a separate organization has recommended less screenings for cervical cancer. Anyone seeing eerie parallels or ready to scream about “rationing” needs to read the recommendation much more closely.

Vote here for the winner of the POP art contest. Voting ends tonight at midnight.

If the ‘Cuda can’t effectively manage a small-market bus tour, just think of what she’ll do for the country.