Sam Stein:

According to five separate sources with knowledge of negotiations -- including both Republicans and Democrats -- the president offered an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare, from 65 to 67, in exchange for Republican movement on increasing tax revenues.

The GOP won't do it, thank Gawd. But Obama is reallllly eager to please Pete Peterson isn't he?

According to the NYTimes:

The president ... called on Congressional Democrats to be open to a deal that would makes changes to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, which some parts of the caucus have strictly opposed. .... He added that .... "I’m prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done.”

.... Democrats, meanwhile, have expressed opposition to any deal negotiated by Mr. Obama that would cut benefits to Medicare or Social Security recipients.

I'm pretty sure the President is not referring to raising the FICA cap here.

President Obama is talking about the debt ceiling negotiations. I'm not watching it so I can't tell you what he is saying.

Open Thread.

In the Beltway, they have the luxury of playing stupid Debt Ceiling Kabuki. But, via Atrios, in the real world, things are bleak, and they will get bleaker:

In Arizona, where there are 10 job seekers for every opening, 45,000 people could lose benefits by the end of the year, according to estimates from the state Department of Economic Security. Yet employers in the state have added just 4,000 jobs over the last 12 months.

Some other states will also feel a disproportionate loss of income unless hiring revives. In Florida, where nearly 476,000 people are collecting unemployment benefits, employers have added only 11,200 jobs in the last year. In Michigan, employers have added about 40,000 jobs since May 2010, but about 267,000 people are claiming jobless benefits.

[More. . .]

Big Brother is good this season. How will CBS explain Evel Dick's sudden departure after only one day? They'll tell you Wednesday. Get the real scoop after the show airs tonight from the man himself.

There's a new Food Network Challenge. Can Penny just please leave already? Vinnie has returned to the Jersey Shore house and hopefully will avoid a million dollar lawsuit for walking out. This cast is imploding and Italy did not go well for hem. They are back filming in Seaside Heights -- surely this will be the last season for them.

Only one more week till Breaking Bad resumes. The New York Times has this in-depth article. Sounds like Walter will implode too, but not for good until next season.

How do we watch the new season of Damages without Direct TV? Will it be available on iTunes? And has there ever been a worse season of The Bachelorette? Ashley turned out to be a huge mistake, completely unprepared for the journey and lacking in chemistry with the guys. Did they overplay and overhype bad boy Bentley just to obscure the lack of a love story? I wouldn't be surprised.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Schapelle Corby turned 34 today at the Kerokoban Jail in Bali, Indonesia, where's she serving a 20 year sentence for importing 4 kilos of marijuana to Bali, a charge she has always denied. There's new evidence it may have been planted by an airport baggage handler. More here.

Schapelle has served 6 1/2 years. She is under consideration for clemency, as are two of the defendants in the Bali 9 case whose death sentences have been upheld, one just last week. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was in Indonesia this week and urged clemency for all of them. [More...]

Denver gets 300 days of sunshine a year. When it rains, it doesn't last long. Not this week -- it's like Monsoon Country here. Check out these photos from our local CBS news.

This street pictured above is about a mile from me. My street didn't flood but all the backyard shrubs got felled. Residents are still cleaning up from Thursday. Here's a photo of the building across from the federal courthouse, one a few blocks away by the federal appeals court and a cool photo of the lightening. (All were submitted by viewers to our local CBS news.)

The rain just stopped while I was typing this. The sun is peeking through, and unlike Thursday, the shrubs in my backyard are still standing.

Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano and Obama Drug Czar R. Gil Kerlikowske this week released the Administration's 2011 Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy. (Full report here.)

The increased use of privacy-invasive technology predominates throughout. As does the sharing of information with Mexico (hardly a wise idea given the corruption that continues to exist in their police and military).No wonder they call it the war on drugs, it reads like a military/CIA manifesto: [More...]

For some reason, in December no one wanted to point this out. Today, Yglesias writes:

A movement that actually believed that reducing federal spending was extremely important would, it seems to me, be quite willing to make concessions in order to obtain large quantities of spending cuts. Viewed in that light, it’s not obvious to me that backing away from a $4 trillion deal primarily composed of spending cuts constitutes a “more conservative” option than saying yes. [. . . T]he GOP agenda consisted of aggressive tax cutting made palatable by refusing to pair the cuts with spending reductions. [. . . T]he [GOP] bargaining strategy is entirely built around a tax-focused goal rather than a spending-focused one.

No sh*t Sherlock. That is why giving away the store on the Bush tax cuts in The Deal in December was a terrible mistake. The GOP has what it wants. Does it want to cut spending? Sure. But NEVER EVER at the cost of raising taxes. If you give them what they want on taxes, you will never ever get a concession from them. So now Obama will reach a 2 trillion dollar spending cut deal to raise the debt ceiling, an unprecedented capitulation. No President has ever bargained with regard to the debt ceiling. And some will call this a triumph for Obama. An anti-stimulus plan a triumph for a President seeking reelection. There is only one word to describe this analysis- idiotic.

Speaking for me only

Deciding to pocket the 2 trillion in cuts President Obama has pre-conceded, House Speaker John Boehner says no to the "Grand Bargain":

Citing differences over tax revenues, House Speaker John A. Boehner on Saturday night said he would drop his push with President Obama for a far-reaching, $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan tied to a proposal to increase the federal debt limit.

Mr. Boehner issued a statement saying he would now urge negotiators to instead focus on trying to craft a smaller package more in line with the $2 trillion in cuts negotiated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! So Obama gets to be labelled as the guy who was willing to cut Social Security and Medicare while at the same time agreeing to slashing government spending that will hurt the economy. Well done. Political bargaining you can believe in. Not.

Speaking for me only

Derek Jeter!! 3000th hit! On an HR!

Open Thread.

There are lots of newspapers reporting that today the DEA denied a petition to reclassify Marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance (like Heroin)to a lesser schedule. I wish they had taken the time (or figured out how) to access the actual ruling. Nor did the DEA or DOJ put out a news release that I could find.

Here it is, published in today's Federal Register. (Text version here, a faster loading pdf version here.) On the finding that marijuana has no accepted medical use: [More...]