Two reactions to a David Brooks column from the progressive side remind me of the deep divide on policy regarding health insurance amongst progressives and Democrats; a divide that Ed Kilgore detailed back during the "public option/exchanges" debate. First Dean Baker:

The fourth [Ryan and Brooks'] belief assumes that there are no areas where the government can possibly do things better than the market. Ryan and Brooks may not understand this point, so I will explain.

If the government can provide a service like health care insurance or retirement pensions more efficiently than the private sector, as a vast body of evidence suggests [. . . then] Ryan['s] Medicare proposal would add more than $30 trillion to the country's health care costs over Medicare's 75-year planning period. This amount, which reflects the pure increase in costs, not the shift from the government to beneficiaries, is almost 6 times the projected shortfall in the Social Security program.

(Emphasis supplied.) Now read Ezra Klein:

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing yesterday on the menace of prescription drug abuse. Who testified? Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske (written testimony here) and DEA chief Michelle Leonhart (testimony here.) What did they say? Aside from providing a bunch of questionable statistics, the Obama Administration, through the DEA, is planning on ratcheting up the war on pain medication. The plan will be unveiled as early as next week, as the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy. (You can get the gist from the proposed 2012 budget for drug control policy which the White House summarized here, here and here.)

Here's the 227 page, $15.5 billion 2011 Federal Drug Control budget, which covered Obama's 2010 National Drug Control Strategy. The DEA's 120 page proposed 2012 budget submission and justification is here. There's 2,044.7 million for domestic enforcement, $322 million for diversion, $433 million for international enforcement. [More...]

A Pennsylvania jury has convicted former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter of engaging in an internet chat with a minor. The minor was a police officer pretending to be a 15 year old. Part of the evidence was a video chat in which Ritter performed a sex act on himself.

Ritter testified in his defense. He said he thought the officer was just pretending to be 15. His wife also testified at the trial.

The jury also heard evidence from a sealed, 2001 case against Ritter in which the charges were dismissed: [More...]

NBA playoffs start Saturday. Here are the current BoDog odds for who is gonna win the Golden Ball:

Los Angeles Lakers 11/4
Miami Heat 13/4
Chicago Bulls 7/2
San Antonio Spurs 7/1
Boston Celtics 15/2
Oklahoma City Thunder 12/1
Dallas Mavericks 18/1
Orlando Magic 18/1
Denver Nuggets 35/1
New York Knicks 45/1
Portland Trailblazers 50/1
Memphis Grizzlies 100/1

I'm rooting for the Bulls - they have Gator Boy Joakim Noah, plus who doesn't love Derrick Rose? I like the price on the Bulls too. In any event, the NBA playoffs are great theatre. And this year more than most, with the Heatles (who look like a strong threat to win.) It looks like it will be fun.

Open Thread.

A judge is Spain has dismissed the lawsuit against Bush administration officials for torture of detainees.

Judge Eloy Velasco said in a four-page ruling issued Wednesday that the United States has told Spain the U.S. government is holding investigations of its own. Velasco said for this reason, Spain cannot apply its doctrine of universal jurisdiction, which holds that, under some circumstances, crimes allegedly committed in other countries can be prosecuted in Spain's National Court.

Here is the letter the Justice Department submitted to Spain outlining its ongoing investigation into the Bush Administration actions. The Center for Constitutional Rights responds here. CCR's webpage on the lawsuit is here.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has lost his bid to delay his retrial on corruption charges. Jury selection will be begin next Wednesday.

The Judge today also denied Blagojevich's motion seeking notes from the FBI interview of President Barack Obama when he was President-elect, saying the notes contained no information that could be used to impeach witnesses.

Also at issue: How much evidence the government can introduce about Blago's spending -- particularly on suits.

The House of Representatives is voting on the Budget legislation, H.R. 1473. You can watch live at C-Span here.

Update: The budget deal passed. 260 to 167. Two resolutions will now be voted on. One will be on repealing the Health Care bill, the other is on blocking funds to Planned Parenthood.

Arizona's brand of crazy:

Arizona's "birther bill" has passed the state Senate. The bill requires a sworn statement confirming the candidates residents and... drum roll... (sorry for the caps):

A CERTIFIED COPY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE THAT INCLUDES AT LEAST THE DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH, THE NAMES OF THE CANDIDATE'S MOTHER AND FATHER, INCLUDING INFORMATION SUFFICIENT TO DETERMINE THE CITIZENSHIP OF BOTH PARENTS, THE NAMES OF THE HOSPITAL AND THE ATTENDING PHYSICIAN, IF APPLICABLE, AND SIGNATURES OF ANY WITNESSES IN ATTENDANCE.

Let's look at the Constitution:

Open thread.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has Bi-Polar Disorder II. What does the II mean?

Bipolar II is less severe than bipolar I. The key difference is that patients with bipolar II do not have full-blown manic episodes. Rather, they cycle between milder, hypomanic episodes and episodes of major depression. Women are slightly more likely to have bipolar II than men.

...many bipolar adults — particularly those with bipolar II — are misdiagnosed with clinical depression. "People tend to seek treatment for depression, but not for mania because it feels good,"

[More...]

Baseball legend Barry Bonds was convicted of one count of obstruction of justice today. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on three counts alleging Bonds made false statements to the grand jury.

What an odd verdict. To convict on the obstruction count, the jury had to consider 7 separate statements, and determine which, if any constituted obstruction. They had to be unanimous on the particular statement.

Of the 7 statements, the jury found Bonds obstructed justice as to one of them, referred to as "Statement C." (The first three statements were the same as those alleged in the three false statement counts. The jury didn't find he obstructed justice with any of those statements. The other four statements were passages from his grand jury testimony, with the underlined portion being the statement the Government alleged amounted to obstruction.)

Here is the instruction the jury was given on obstruction of justice: [More...]

Open Thread.