Both the New York Times and McClatchy report that Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) has written a letter to the FBI, blasting them for requesting a delay in the release of the final report from the National Academy of Sciences panel that has been reviewing the scientific analyses used in the FBI’s Amerithrax Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax mailings. It appears that in requesting the National Academies to delay release of its final report, the FBI has released an additional 500 pages of documents to the panel, but only after having seen the draft final report from the panel.

The bill wasn’t negotiable, until… it was. On the main points, the tax bill introduced by Harry Reid last night contains the main points outlined by President Obama – a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, a two-year extension of the estate tax at drastically low rates, a 13-month unemployment insurance extension, several refundable tax credits from the stimulus, and a payroll tax cut of 2%. But a whole host of tax extenders also made their way into the bill, particularly on the renewable energy side.

Ron Paul (R-TX) and Walter Jones (R-NC) wrote a letter to their colleagues urging opposition to KORUS, President Obama’s NAFTA-Style Korea Free Trade deal.

Krugman weighs in: “This political reality makes the tax deal a bad bargain for Democrats.”

Once again our mighty media overlords have redefined the term fascinating into something that is actually mind-numbingly stupid.

Must be a day ending in “y”.

Maxine — Crabby Christmas Blues.

When I was a kid I was picked on and bullied nearly every day. I was smaller than most of my classmates, in part because I was put ahead a year and therefore younger, and in part because my folks are shorter than average. While all the rest of my female classmates wore shiny patent [...]

There was some concern that the DREAM Act, which had its vote tabled today in the Senate, was basically dead for this legislative session. But the Senate tabled the vote for a decent enough reason – they wanted to take up the House’s version of the bill, which was passed last night.

Once again, Paul Krugman, who along with many others correctly told them their first stimulus was inadequate and misdirected, is telling them again: this won’t work.

The status quo is hopelessly broken, and it threatens economic recovery. The Treasury Department should demand that banks stop the rush to foreclose, and having effective representation for borrowers goes a long way toward that. But when given the option to allow TARP funds to be used for legal aid for foreclosure victims, the Treasury blocked it.