Senate Democrats have a plan for the payroll tax cut legislation that House Republicans basically gave up on yesterday. They can add the Unemployment Insurance extension and “doc fix” to the payroll bill, along with offsets for the UI and “fix” that the GOP might buy, and force the whole package on the House as the deadline nears.

Dayen’s news roundup from February 13, 2011 with links to stories on the bank settlement, Obama’s budget, Rick/Mitt/Newt, Syria, Israel, Iran, Apple in China, the safety net, and much more.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current topics that may be of interest.

Maybe there’s a reason America’s Catholic Bishops are desperate to be up in arms about something, anything, they can get there hands on domestically. It distracts from this.

Bon Iver – Holocene

For what it’s worth, I have zero problem with people buying each other gifts or going out for a nice meal, if that’s what turns your crank. I have a major, major problem with yet another potentially sweet holiday being turned into a festival of misogyny and meanness.

Where does a 65-year-old geezer get the harebrained idea that he can walk a thousand miles with bunch of 20-to-30-somethings after training for ten days after four months sitting in front of the computer copying Tweets and recording livestream incidents in the comments of an FDL liveblog?

As I mentioned on Sunday, the Greek Parliament agreed to a bailout deal that exchanges funds from Europe for new austerity measures that will sink the economy even further. The measures effectively destroy labor law and decimate wages.

Tonight we have a special double feature. Co-directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman will discuss their Academy Award nominated film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front for the first two-thirds of Movie Night before Sam leaves us, and in the final half hour we’ll delve into Racing Dreams, a look at three ‘tween NASCAR hopefuls during a season of the World Karting Association races, which Marshall directed.

I decided to join FDL’s Occupy Supply project after defending the OWS movement to some friends on Facebook. I figured if I felt so strongly about it, I’d better walk the talk. I also realized that my fair city was the site of the Republican National Convention this year, and I wanted to see Occupy Tampa survive to welcome them.