×
- The Waxman-Markey climate change bill is being debated in the House as we speak, with a vote likely to come around 6 PM EST. Prospect alum Kate Sheppard is following the intense floor debate on her Twitter feed here. In other cap-and-trade legislation news: Henry Waxman has added some more progressive amendments to the bill; Barack Obama's Twitter feed (and its 1.5 million subscribers) has come back to life; the GOP "Manhattan Project" alternative energy bill still uses magic budgeting; John Boehner couldn't make an informative chart to save his life; and Nate Silver takes a first crack at looking at the impact of Waxman-Markey on a state-by-state basis.
- Turning to the health care reform debate, Ezra Klein games out the White House strategy for getting a decent bill passed. Time will tell. Meanwhile, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) has come out against including a public option, and Arlen Specter is in favor. Amazing what a potential primary challenge can do for you.
- The president hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House today, greeting her with a respectful "Willkommen." Spencer Ackerman snarks, "Barack Obama has now converted to German. Just like Andy McCarthy promised, his totalitarian-liberal instincts preordained this moment. Obama’s both a Nazi and a Muslim, an unstoppable Islamofascist Voltron."
- There's definitely something to this Daphne Eviatar post that sees the rise of outside experts on the subject of "preemptive detention" as being enabled by the GOP's continued stonewalling of OLC nominee Dawn Johnsen. Furthermore, as Hilzoy observes, this is just one more piece of evidence that our upper legislative house is essentially broken. Matt Yglesias recommends that progressives get back to their institutional reform roots, which is excellent advice.
- Dan Froomkin's final column for The Washington Post not only encapsulates his unique value as a reporter but near-perfectly reflects how I feel about the Bush years and the transition to Barack Obama. Appropriately, Froomkin urges vigilance in the Obama years, particularly in the areas of government transparency and secrecy, lest it consume any progressive agenda coming from the White House.
- Remainders: Connecticut's governor does away with appointments for Senate vacancies; somehow I don't think the GOP tent is big enough to accommodate pro-choice Republicans; CRS concludes -- gasp -- that Sonia Sotomayor is no liberal judicial activist; and at long last, God, nationalism, and guns can be worshiped simultaneously.
--Mori Dinauer
