SENATOR DORGAN: The amendment we are offering, a bipartisan amendment dealing with the price of prescription drugs, is a very important amendment. We are going to get our vote on that, but then there is also going to be a vote on a poison pill amendment that nullifies it. It says if you pass the second amendment, it means nothing happens and prescription drug prices keep going through the roof.

As you may have heard (See here and here), the Supreme Court has entered a last minute stay to put a hold on the video feed of the seminal Prop 8 trial in the Norther District of California (NDCA) to select other Federal courthouses in the country as well as the delayed release of video clips of the proceedings via YouTube. It is a disappointing decision for many reasons.

All for naught, Liz. In the wake of the Christmas day attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner, most Americans remain confident that the Obama administration can protect the country from terrorism, according to a new national poll. [...] Nearly two-thirds of people questioned in the poll say they have a moderate or great deal [...]

New Jersey, pot sort of yes, gay marriage absolutely not.

Featuring video by Black Gandhi and Sallie Ford and The Sound Outside.

It’s a lot easier to be famous when you’ve got God on your side.

To show how far the debate is from the perfect, let’s outline what the perfect would look like and contrast and compare against the rest of the spectrum from very good to bad.

Today was a busy day in the New York Senate race even if you didn’t talk about Kirsten Gillibrand and Harold Ford. Left-wing Democratic candidate Jonathan Tasini launched a campaign to end the filibuster, and both of the top Republican recruits for the race – Rep. Peter King and former Rep. Susan Molinari – dropped out of consideration for the race.

With Gillibrand and Ford included, the day was, in a word, hectic. It started early, with Harold Ford dropping a bombshell – he now supports same-sex marriage.

Has punk rock changed the world? Well, it changed mine and a lot of other people’s worlds, our world view, our way of thinking and doing and being. It gave us hope that we could be ourselves, that we were not confined. And now the OPs have grown up and have kids and Hot Topic is in the mall selling Clash tee shirts and Target is a sponsor of the Warped tour. But then again, do punks shop at Target? Is being punk conforming? Or is it still dangerous and stepping outside the mainstream.

Economist and NYT columnist Paul Krugman suggests (though he doesn’t say it directly) that Gruber has been exaggerating. Yet Gruber has, in some way, provided the basic assumptions behind the Administration’s plans. Did he use more realistic assumptions when he did his simulations? Or did he exaggerate the benefit of the excise tax in his assumptions? And what is the relationship between the JCT prediction about the excise tax and any simulations Gruber did before them?