The impending Kochtopus gathering seems quite robust; and the cast of characters involved certainly makes one take notice.

It’s a nice trick, WellPoint: send your VP to write a law mandating that the middle class buy shitty products like yours, then watch that VP move into the executive branch to “oversee” the implementation of the law. What could go wrong?!?!

I got a call yesterday from a telecommunications lobbyist who had an interesting and very plausible theory regarding the handling of the decision on net neutrality: What if Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, is simply running out the clock?

I’m beginning to think that I may have really been onto something with my theory about Michael Steele and the DNC switching places with their alternate universe doppelgangers – it seems like I’ve been reading an awful lot of stuff that only makes sense in a world where all of conservatism’s principles are true.

Last year, a bunch of you donated money to support the work I do. That money has supported–and continues to support–my work on accountability and rule of law. At a time when some folks in DC wanted me to work for them on completely different issues, for example, your support allowed me to instead spend over six weeks wading through OPR documents to expose key details about our torture regime. Your support allowed me to get research materials and travel to do research. Your support allowed me to continue to focus on topics–like torture and wiretapping–that I wouldn’t have had the time to research otherwise.

Now, I’m asking for your donation of $20, $50–or whatever you can afford–to support our larger FDL effort: our fight for real financial reform, for improvements to the health care bill, to save social security, for a real climate change bill, for some sanity in our Afghan policy. Your support will go to keep the servers running, the editors preparing content, the moderators ensuring the vitality of our ongoing conversation. Your support will go to ensure that our many talented posters will have a place to contribute their work. Your support will help Jane keep this special place running.

Democrats have rediscovered the joys of “Who’s on your side?” rhetoric. As far as actually being on our side, well…

I’ve seen people variously describe the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe as “Obama’s Katrina” or “Obama’s 9/11,” but neither of those entirely works for me as a parallel. True, the government was woefully unprepared and ineffectual in 2001 and 2005 too, but that was because Bush was the worst president ever, not because industry lobbyists crusaded to cripple FEMA and airport security. Bush’s incompetence left the door to tragedy wide open, and Katrina and al Qaeda breezed right through it.

America is being strangled by unchecked corporate power, and it’s leaving a trail of dying cultures, communities and peoples. Seeing that, explaining that, fighting that, and yes, fixing that, is your job, Mr. President.

Ben Nelson wants college kids and their families to pay through the nose to keep a tiny number of jobs in Nebraska. Is there any limit to his willingness to extort money from Americans to benefit a few people in Omaha?

Wall Street is useless at capital allocation. Their dependence on trading income comes at the expense of investments in the future.