With a large percentage of federal employees, lobbyists and government contracting, the District of Columbia isn’t nearly as susceptible to an economic downturn as the rest of the country. But I still find these numbers from Gallup on economic confidence in DC compared to the rest of the country shocking.

During the health care reform fight the women’s reproductive rights groups and legislators were basically sold out. President Obama decided to cut a deal with Bart Stupak’s Gang. He assumed that the pro-choice and women legislators in the House and pro-choice groups would just fall in line, and they did with very little fighting. Today’s decision to stop the OTC availability of Plan B morning after contraception is another example of what happens when you don’t extract a price.

The government of the District of Colombia has launched a new campaign for statehood. The new campaign will include ads around the city directed at tourists and a new website, StatehoodDC.com. As a DC resident, I support it, because I support the idea of “no taxation without representation.”

Kevin Gostzola has been tirelessly liveblogging the Occupy Wall Street protests each day since they began on September 17, and we want to bring him to DC on October 6 when the Occupy Wall Street protesters make their way to DC to join the October 2011 protest in Freedom Plaza.

Shin Inouye worked as a communications coordinator for Obama on the 2008 presidential campaign, served as a spokesperson for the Presidential Inaugural Committee and was appointed by the President as White House Director of Specialty Media in February of 2009. The chat log assert that he was a “source” for Manning.

But even more interesting than the fact that Manning may have been “getting information” directly from the White House is what follows in the conversation. Lamo was clearly pumping Manning late in their exchanges, probably at the behest of the agencies that were using him as an informant

The Roman Catholic Church’s purity police have been hard at work this week, eliminating the church’s relationship to a hospital in Bend OR and a foster care program in DC. Given what Jesus had to say to a lawyer about those who put purity ahead of providing health care to those in need, and about the need to stand with “the least of these,” I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

Last December, Chuck Todd labeled a big blizzard “not news,” much to the disgust of many folks buried underneath it. Today, he may be rethinking that opinion, as feet of “not news” are piling up around him.

Tomorrow, Susan Pearl is coming to Washington, D.C. She’s coming on behalf of her son, Ian Pearl. Ian survives on a ventilator, a lasting condition stemming from respiratory collapse he suffered in 1991. His premiums from a Guardian Insurance policy Susan bought in 1981 have risen from $100 per month to over $3,000 per month. [...]