Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is one of the Democrats on the Finance Committee that’s now considering the worst of the health care reform bills, the one written by Senator Max Baucus. This is the text of a letter I wrote to her explaining why I think she should vote against the bill in committee.

Hypocrisy and opportunism are nothing new, but when it’s this blatant? Somehow, I don’t think the defense industry will grind to a halt, but the reaction to this news should be fun to watch.

It’s almost time for another election season, so it’s time for another round of ridiculous claims about what can be accomplished next time, if only we give our heroes one more chancecampaign check.

This is an updated version of the Whip It! list, based on the last version I’m aware of (August 21). It adds John Conyers and Yvette Clarke as having taken the pledge to refuse to vote for a health care bill that does not include a public option that is available to anyone, and is available as soon as possible, not some far off date in the future.

The teleconference today between House progressives and President Obama on health care reform today should have been a wakeup call to the former. I’m not terribly optimistic that it will be.

Between the greed that motivates its owners, its preference for hiring dilettante sons and daughters of politicians and its ownership, and its unwillingness to work against the political interests of conservatives, it’s little wonder American news is in the state it’s in.

The re-appointment of Ben Bernanke means more of the same in the way of economic policy. That’s probably not a good thing.

In his column in the New York Times today, Paul Krugman made some astute observations about possibilities for financing health care. Where I think he went wrong was in trying to assess the political motivations of progressives. Sometimes, a public option really is a public option.

Right now, there are 81 representatives in the House Progressive Caucus. These are the people who are unashamed to wear the label “progressive”. In the Senate there might be 25 Senators who truly can live up to that label. These are numbers that are far too small to enact legislation that goes against the status quo. Until the aim of progressive politican organizations becomes to elect progressives, this will not change.

There are two ways to handle making a controversial statement: either admit it was wrong, or stick to it, at least until you’re convinced you’re wrong.

On the subject of the arrest of Prof. Henry Gates, the Obama Administration decided to try a different approach. In the end, they’d have been more effective to have not said anything at all.