Unfortunately, this is far too a common refrain by now.

After months of high-profile protest, procedural maneuvering and legal wrangling, the anti-union measure in Wisconsin goes into effect today.

Getting Republicans to sign onto a deal could enhance Obama’s personal brand. It would show him to be a serious “deficit hawk,” able to rise above partisan politics and cut a deal. But he would be helping himself at the expense of everyone else in the party. By giving the Republicans the political “out” they want on Medicare privatization, he could be dealing a devastating blow to everyone else in his own party who hoped to use the Ryan vote against their GOP opponents in 2012.

In addition to the austerity measures, Greece is “selling the family silver,” putting airports, ports, railways, motorways, sewage works, national energy companies, banks, and the national lottery up for sale in a privatization push they hope will net 50 billion euros. However, private equity firms turned up their noses at the first offer of sale. Perhaps they’re looking for discounts, or they want to change the rules of hiring and firing even further in an effort to break the unions.

Daily Kos did some polling of three of the recall elections in Wisconsin, and the numbers look fairly good for Democrats.

It is one thing to think that a company like Massey Energy is cheating safety regulations. It is quite another to find out that they kept two different sets of safety books. That is a crime in and of itself. Here is hoping it leads to a RICO case and charges of Felony Murder for Don Blankenship and everyone who helped kill 29 miners just for a little extra profit.

• Not good.
• Head pats, all around.
• Fines and settlements won’t stop the banksters.
• Fact-checkers are going to be really busy this year.
• Be nice if the legacy media would point this out.

I wonder if Sarah Palin made it through the second reel of her documentary or if she resigned from the theater?

Carolyn Wonderland — Bad Girl.

Obama likes to posit his conception of the world of the possible as the only world available. He has almost never taken a lead on a piece of legislation that he thought would fail, choosing his battles. He has seen the world as it is, and then called that the best world on which we can live.