U.S. Senator Kay Hagan has a communications closet problem. While the North Carolina Democrat is a supporter of LGBT rights generally – she voted in favor of the current federal hate crimes law and to repeal DADT, she has a history of trying to fly under the public radar in doing so, as if the right wing isn’t going to notice her voting record.

The White House has signaled with its deficit reduction and job creation plans that it is not interested in continuing negotiations with the GOP aimed at a grand bargain. This looks more like the 2012 campaign plan.

With Greece in a recession driven by austerity imposed by its European creditors, and creditors demanding more, some economic analysts are saying Greece would be better off defaulting and leaving the Euro than taking further punishment.

The Washington State Democratic Central Committee has officially endorsed Initiative 502, which would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in the state for adults 21 years of age and older. Organizers will attempt to get the measure on the 2012 Washington state ballot.

I don’t know why the Secessionist hates government so much. It’s made him a millionaire, helps him take exotic vacations — and subsidizes his presidential campaign.

US officials are scrambling to broker a deal that avoids a Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations.

I was pleasantly surprised that President Obama in his deficit speech today didn’t publicly endorse cuts to Social Security benefits or call for any specific major cuts to Medicare benefits. But are they really off the table?

For two days now, hundreds of protesters have occupied Zuccotti Park, a private park in and around Wall Street, as part of Occupy Wall Street. The protesters intended to legally assemble and demonstrate on the public sidewalks on Wall Street, but the New York Police Department (NYPD) put up blockades before the planned occupation began preventing any protests from happening.

President Obama is scheduled to speak this morning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, to spell out his debt reduction plan. Some details from Obama’s plan to “go big” on the Super Committee are out, and it’s an opening bid that is far less pre-compromised than we’ve come to expect.

The successful auto industry rescue is definitely a feather in the cap for the Administration, protecting up to a million direct and indirect auto industry jobs, and putting GM and Chrysler in a position to succeed. Now there’s a new contract with the United Auto Workers to share the success with labor.

One criticism of the rescue was that the UAW was forced to give up good wages for new employees and accept a two-tier structure for pay and benefits. But unless I have my timeline wrong, that all happened in a contract prior to the decision to forward additional loans to automakers in 2009. That contract expired, and the UAW just inked a new deal with GM that should serve as an industry standard. And they made some significant gains in this contract, a testament to how far back the industry has come.