Michael Furlong, the guy running this show, was ostensibly engaged in strategic information, collecting information on Afghanistan’s social structure. But in fact, he was using that money to employ freelancers who, at a minimum, were targeting Afghans for assassination.

Noting that two years ago today, Bear Stearns collapsed, Chris Dodd released his financial regulatory reform bill at a press conference where he said confidently that the bill will pass this year.

There was a hint in Dodd’s speech of the effort to force Republicans to defend Wall Street banks. He stressed the urgency for new rules to cut off potential crises, and basically challenged Republicans to stand in the way. The labor movement is gearing up for a fight on that front as well, though their aims are a bit broader, seeking the “financial responsibility fee” outlined by the President a couple months ago.

Today, Dennis Kucinich appeared at a rally with President Obama in Cleveland, despite the fact that the White House sent MoveOn to picket and threaten him if he honors his pledge and votes against the health care bill with no public option.

But that’s more than you can say for freshman Congressman John Boccieri, a military veteran who is on the GOP’s target list for the fall. He suddenly had to go to a dog-and-pony show in his district and watch a check being presented for a runway extension at a local airport and couldn’t appear with the President.

One thing that has been eating away at me throughout this whole health care debate is the incredible hypocrisy and role reversal of both political parties compared to the Medicare Part D debate. The basic, highly corrupt design of the Senate health care bill is the same as the highly corrupt design as the Medicare Part D program.

Since we’re getting down to the wire on the health care bill, I’m going to start pushing leaners more forcefully. Democrats now need 26 of a combination of the 14 potential No-Yes flip votes and the 22 potential Yes-No flip votes. So they need 26 out of the remaining uncommitted 36. If you’re counting leaners, Democrats need 14 of the last 22 uncommitted.

Ross Douthat doesn’t care for the “Bush lied, people died reductionism” of the new Matt Damon movie, “The Green Zone,” and instead, would prefer something more along the lines of The Comedy of Errors.

I still don’t know if they can pass this monstrosity of a bill. But if progressives stand down and do nothing while corporate America runs roughshod our institutions and our representatives, no member of Congress will ever have the political courage to stand up against corporate power again.

Now we see one of the reasons the Senate is including student loans in reconciliation — they don’t want to tax rich people (as the House does), so they’re stealing the money from community colleges.

The most economically vulnerable are having their futures hacked away to pay AHIP a 20% fee for doing nothing in the health care process. And Ben Nelson hasn’t even begun shaking the bill down for Nelnet, JP Morgan and Citigroup.

Sign the petition — tell the Senate to take care of students, not banks.

President Obama is offering Representatives supposrt above and beyond the current elections cycle, while playing bad cop to this good cop is MoveOn.org, promising to raise money for primary challengers for Democrats who vote against the bill.

Since there are so many incidences of destroyed or disappearing torture evidence, I thought it time to start cataloging them, to keep them all straight.