The biggest green groups seem approving of the biggest comprehensive bill they can get. In a letter to Senate Committee Chairs, 18 major environmental groups – most of the nation’s environmental establishment, including NRDC and the Sierra Club – advocates called for taking the best of all the possible plans already put forward by Senators. This comes in advance of a big meeting tomorrow of the entire Democratic caucus to hammer out exactly what kind of a bill to push.

Senate Republicans criticized President Obama’s decision to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011, claiming it sends the wrong message to our allies. But is this really accurate?

Following in the bought and paid for footsteps of Louisiana Senators Landrieu and Vitter, a contingent of Gulf state Congressmen are insisting Obama lift the moratorium on new deepwater drilling and instead base energy policies on facts and science. Really?

Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s incumbent-retention program, has pinpointed the nine most vulnerable GOP House members up for re-election and wants supporters to focus only on them. All represent districts that carried President Obama in 2008. Here’s a look at the endangered nine.

The White House and BP are telling the media there is a tentative agreement to have BP contribute “about $20 billion” over time to an escrow account to pay economic damages claims for BP’s oil disaster. I still think that’s a good concept but as always, the details matter.

But the leading lights (aka dim bulbs) of the Republican Party can’t seem to give up entirely on John Boehner’s initial view that taxpayers should bail out BP, one of the world’s largest TBTF corporations. Since the Obama Administration proposed the escrow mechanism, it’s important for Republicans to uncover the evil purposes and consequences of the scheme to maintain their view that civilization as we know it is under siege from White House socialists, or fascists, or government takeover zealots.

With all of the Afghani, Pakistani and Iraqi wedding parties that have been taken out by US Predator drone strikes, how long before they hit one of our precious wedding celebrations right here in the homeland of the good old “real America”? What will the NeoCon wingnuts say when it hits their own chosen ones?

[Today, FDL is lucky to carry simultaneous liveblogging of Perry v. Schwarzenegger by Marcy/bmaz and Teddy--for Teddy's ongoing liveblog click here and for Marcy Part One click here]

In a typical display of ignorance and arrogance, Chris Matthews said of the lack of volunteers in the Gulf recovery effort, “I hope it’s not the unions” preventing volunteers from helping.

House Republicans used a motion to recommit yesterday to remove the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act, but failed by a 230-187 margin. Joseph Cao (R-LA) was the only Republican to vote against the provision, while 21 Democrats voted for it.

The increased estimates of oil/gas flows suggest we’re in a terrifying race against time, in which BP is continually unable to keep up with a gusher expanding faster than they can assemble capture and recovery techniques. Instead of making progress by capturing more, matters could be getting worse.