My major question about today’s arrest in the actual bomb placement at the Spokane, Washington, Martin Luther King Day parade is this: how will America’s media cover the arrest of a non-Muslim motivated by white supremacy who actually placed an operational bomb in a clear hate crime?

The vote in the State Senate, entirely composed of Republicans, was 18-1; only moderate Dale Schultz voted no. The budget repair bill was split at the last minute, cleaving the “non-fiscal” anti-union piece from the fiscal components of the bill. The non-fiscal piece did not require a quorum, so the Senate was able to pass it.

So what happens now? There are a host of potential implications…

Over the past several weeks we have seen a decision made, a shift, to switch away from cutting Social Security as a training-wheels version of cutting overall deficits. On the same day that Schumer calls for a broader discussion of the budget overall, he hammers Cantor for scapegoating Social Security. That’s a clear indication that Social Security is not as up for discussion among the party leadership as it may have been just a few months ago.

Some of my darkest predictions about the new health care law are coming true. With businesses again clamoring for corporate tax reduction, the go-to in Pay-Go-obsessed Washington are the affordability subsidies for people who will be using the new health care exchanges.

This is quite a power play by the Wisconsin Republicans. Despite all the public opinion against them, despite weeks of protests, they have apparently decided to end the political careers of most of their colleagues. The Senate leader, Scott Fitzgerald, just called for a conference committee on the budget repair bill. The Senate, of course, hasn’t passed anything. But as I understand it, the plan is this: The Senate and Assembly will try to split the bill in half.

All of this is by way of saying that Firedoglake, that “foul mouthed fem blog” as it has sometimes been known in some not so savory quarters (such as inside the Beltway,) has provided information and entertainment. I’m pretty sure that the Libby Trial helped set the standard for “live blogging” such that now, most all news organizations at least attempt the feat, though few are as capable as the experienced folks at FDL such as Marcy Wheeler and Jane Hamsher. These are just a few of the reasons that I believe the Firedoglake Membership program is worthwhile. Can you add a few more?

In the context of reducing the budget deficit, a new Bloomberg poll (PDF) asked Americans if they would support pulling all troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The poll found an overwhelming 66 percent would favor this action, while only 30 percent oppose it.

The President has been completely disengaged on the budget battle in Congress, preferring to let them battle it out while he jets around the country and says “win the future” a lot. And some members of Congress are sick of it. Now, part of this is Congress wanting to share the blame with the White House for whatever comes out. But the other part is a recognition that the caucus is rootless and without direction, and only a party leader can come in and impose that. The fact that Obama set Joe Biden to the task of working out a compromise, only to have Biden leave for Europe for a week, is testimony to the fact that there’s something wrong with this lack of engagement. When Joe Manchin, who I think got to the Senate three days ago, is calling you out for a failure of leadership, there’s a problem of engagement.

It is downright inappropriate to have an unapologetic terrorist sympathizer head our Committee on Homeland Security. So long as King maintains his terrorist support was justifiable but that of brown people is somehow different, he stands as a symbol of US hypocrisy on terrorism.

David Broder, a longtime writer and columnist for the Washington Post, passed away today due to complications from diabetes.