Because we didn’t have enough to worry about, the Federal Aviation Administration could shut down Friday, if Republicans insist on including certain controversial provisions into a short-term extension.

Those who are actually concerned about foreign holdings of U.S. government debt should know that it depends on the trade deficit, not the budget deficit. This is all simple econ 101. It means that the jingoistic budget hawks are yapping about the wrong deficit. The recipe for correcting the trade deficit (more econ 101) is lowering the value of the dollar against other currencies.

Thin-skinned war criminal Allen West got all butt-hurt by Debbie Wasserman Schultz when she pointed out that he likes to kill puppies favors rich people over the poor, so he slipped a note in her locker telling her how much he hate hate hates her…oh, and he copied everyone else in Congress so they wouldn’t think he was a pussy.

I called Hoyer’s office this morning to ask if he considers cutting the COLA a benefit cut, but haven’t received a response.

We can’t sit by and wait for 2012 to roll around and hope that voters remember what happened during the budget negotiations in 2011. We need to act right now and get as many voters as possible onboard with our pledge to never vote for anyone who cuts social safety net benefits.

Can you please chip in $10 to our online ad campaign to tell voters not to support any politician who cuts social safety net benefits – including President Obama?

It does look increasingly likely that the Secessionist is going to jump in the race. Willard no longer looks inevitable with Bachmann surging — and the GOP sugar daddies absolutely don’t want Bachmann to be the nominee. And the way the Faux News crowd is gushing — you can tell they’re just itching for the Secessionist to give it a run.

Widely reported yesterday was the arrest of sixteen individuals alleged to be members of the hacktivist group Anonymous, known engaging in cyber operations for political and social reasons. The Justice Department claimed fourteen of the individuals had been part of the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on PayPal back in December 2010, when PayPal suspended WikiLeaks’ accounts making it impossible for the organization to receive donations via PayPal.

As near as I can tell, the only thing the Gang of Six has made more likely is default. It’s essentially the same deal that Eric Cantor and John Boehner rejected because it included tax increases. Maybe the increases are so vague and the abolition of the alternative minimum tax so attractive that this changes the perception among House Republicans, but I’m not sure why we should believe that. This is the group that passed the Cut, Cap and Balance Act yesterday, for a frame of reference. Indeed, John Boehner’s office said the plan “appears to fall short” of House goals.

A “plan” entails laying out specifically what policies you all agree to change. Saying you told someone else to work out basically every important detail at a later time isn’t a plan. It’s grandstanding. It is just another form of the magic asterisk trick we have used in the past so politicians can pretend they have reached an agreement on really big numbers without actually doing anything.

Jane talked to Congressman Barney Frank, a crusader for cost-of-living increase, who said he will NOT vote for The Gang of Six deal (which includes a calculation that would decrease cost-of-living adjustments). She reported on the 2000 people saying no to cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits… who visited over 40 Congressional offices to let them know if they vote for cuts they won’t get support in the next election. Now, she’ll talk to us about what comes next.