The more I look at the merged Senate bill, the more I’m afraid that Harry Reid might have been laying the ground work to betray progressives on the issue of the public option, and gain the support of Olympia Snowe. Many of Snowe’s top demands managed to make their way into the bill.

According to the Huffington Post, “Key to winning Democratic support was a letter posted early Thursday from labor leaders and progressive economists” which was “organized by the liberal blog Firedoglake…Grayson was able to show Democratic colleagues that the liberal base was behind them.” During the committee debate, Grayson quoted from the letter.

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 11/18/09 – Legal proceedings, such as they are, rumbled to life again today at Guantanamo Bay. Pre-trial issues in the case of Mohammed Kamin, an Afghan man who was captured by the U.S. in Afghanistan in 2003, were heard in a military commission courtroom on a small hill a few miles away [...]

Texas Republicans are truly an entirely separate category of stupid. “For somebody like me who has put together the logistics of a court trial, you’ve got weak links all along the way from the jailers, the bailiffs, the clerks, the jurors, the judge, everybody in the courtroom, their families…You’ve got subways, tunnels, bridges all subject [...]

The GOP is more than the Party of No, they’re the party of can’t even bother to try.

This is how FireDogLake commenter Kelly Canfield makes Apple Pie. Don’t know what the background music is in the video but it has a great beat and I can dance to it. Time for pie!

What’s on your mind tonight?

Why has Fred Thompson lost faith in our troops in the field? Former Sen. Fred Thompson today intensified his party’s criticism of President Obama’s long deliberation over policy in Afghanistan, announcing that Obama’s delay signals that “the war has been lost” and that nothing the president now does will “make any difference.” I wonder if [...]

Based on 11/19/09 New York Times article on fraud in a program for Disabled Veterans. . . I. Am. Pissed.

Ed. Note: There has been a wealth of great analysis of the Senate’s new merged health care bill around the FDL sites today. In addition to Jon’s post here, please see Dave’s comprehensive rundown, his report on the biologics language, and his analysis of the long-term excise tax. And, see Jon’s posts going more in-depth on the move to gut state insurance regulations, the superior efficiency of the House bill, a comparison of abortion provisions, and the trigger beast that just won’t die. Also, always check out Jason’s daily health care news digest.

I think it’s so sad that even as Arkansas has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country (17%), Blanche Lincoln is refusing to say whether she’ll even allow debate on desperately needed health care legislation. Instead, she’s focused on leveraging her vote for personal political advantage. She wants to be “wooed.”

Good for Lieutenant Governor Halter for putting the needs of Arkansas ahead of political self-interest.