Update: Apolo Ohno sets Winter U.S. Olympic history with his 7th medal. He took bronze in the short-track 1,000-meter final.

Tonight at the Olympics: Watch Lindsay Vonn take bronze in the Super G.

Plus U.S. speedsters (live ET/CT) on tracks both short and long compete, as Apolo Ohno goes for a record-breaking seventh Winter Olympic medal (1000m) and Shani Davis tries for a second gold medal of the weekFeatured coverage includes Lindsey Vonn in the super-G, U.S. speedsters (live ET/CT) on tracks both short (Apolo Ohno, 1000m) and long (Shani Davis, 1500m).

It's cold and snowy here, not a good night to go anywhere. Instead I'm reading mounds of discovery with a fire going and the Olympics on in the background. What's on your agenda this weekend?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Newsweek poll:

Creating a government-administered public health insurance option to compete with private plans
50 APPROVE 42 OPPOSE 8 DK

Imposing a tax on insurers who offer the most expensive health plans, the so-called Cadillac plans, to help pay for health care reform
34 APPROVE 55 DISAPPROVE 11 DK

To be clear, this is the lowest approval for the public option I have seen. Perhaps because it was perceived as dead. No party breakdowns on that finding. But the excise tax has always polled badly and will continue to. There was a good reason Obama pilloried McCain's plan to tax health insurance plans - because it is a terribly unpopular idea.

Speaking for me only

Roman Polanski has been awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival for his new political thriller, The Ghost Writer. It's a political thriller, starring Pierce Brosnan as a prime minister accused of war crimes. It's based on the 2007 Robert Harris book “The Ghost.”

Still under house arrest in Switzerland, Polanski was unable to accept the award in person.

On Thursday, when asked about the Bennett letter pushing Senate Leader Harry Reid to offer the public option through reconciliation, Senate Whip Dick Durbin's office told the Huffington Post that Durbin "has a policy of not signing on to letters sent to leadership since, after all, he's a member of leadership." However, Senator Charles Schumer, who is also in the Senate Leadership, and the Majority leader himself have come out in support of the Bennett letter. Reid released this statement:

"If a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care, Senator Reid will work with the White House, the House, and members of his caucus in an effort to craft a public option that can overcome procedural obstacles and secure enough votes."

What explains Durbin's reluctance to publically support the public option through reconciliation? Cynical minds will note that Durbin is especially close to the White House, and will further note that the White House will not include the public option in its proposal to be unveiled next week. Since I only possess a cynical mind, I do not know what an uncynical mind might think.

Speaking for me only

It's general pablum about the need to "reform" the health insurance system. It would be more meaningful if the President was supporting proposals to actually reform the health insurance system in a meaningful way. The White House is not. It has pushed for the feeble Senate health bill that does nothing meaningful on reform, though it does expand Medicaid and offer, albeit inadequate, subsidies for the purchase of health insurance. To call it a band aid is an insult to band aids. Would it be a first step? Well, the proponents of the bill like to say it will be decades before health insurance reform is addressed again, so by their own logic, it is the last step for some time. Either the crisis is not quite so desperate, which seems wrong, or the notion of doing anything, however feeble, is the logic of the day. Not very inspiring.

Speaking for me only

Senator Specter's folks sent out an e-mail last night that said:

Senator Specter announced today that he will sign Sen. Bennet's letter supporting a public option through the use of reconciliation.

I do not know what that brings the number to, but there must be at least 30 sure votes for this in the Senate. Are there 50 votes? I have no idea. But I think it will get interesting if the number on the record exceeds the 41 GOP votes in the Senate. I'll be curious how the "bipartisanship" argument works when you have an objective that over 70% of Democrats in Congress want ignored in favor of the desire of 41 GOP Senators. Another flash point is what the White House will put in its proposal next week. They'll definitely take some heat when the public option is not included and the excise tax is.

Speaking for me only

Dana Milbank's Apologia for Rahm Emanuel demonstrates precisely why he was a terrible choice for Chief of Staff. Leaving aside the questions of his political and policy judgment (which Milbank lauds, I think they are horrid), it is the fact that Rahmbo is interested in his own personal agenda first, that of the President's second. Indeed, the most telling part of Milbank''s piece is this:

No wonder Emanuel has set up his own small press operation and outreach function to circumvent the dysfunctional ones that Jarrett and Gibbs run.

(Emphasis supplied.) Think about it. The President's CoS has set up his own press operation to circumvent the one the serves his President. Its main goal is of course to flack for Rahmbo. What more need be said? Of course Emanuel is a force of the Village, so the Beltway Media will defend him. Sally Quinn famously wrote in her infamous 1998 piece about the Village:

Journalist Andrew Krieg writes at HuffPo that the feds bullied Bernie Kerik into his plea and the four year sentence imposed by the judge.

My view is that the judge failed to protect Kerik's ability to mount a defense. We're all losers for this lack of fairness because all freedoms depend on justice in the courts. And for those (who often pop up in the comment sections of left-leaning blogs) who express satisfaction at Kerik's sufferings because he's a now-disgraced Republican, let's remember that Big Brother-style government is the issue here. It's not a good idea to applaud air bombing of neighbors.

He likens it to Don Siegelman's case and announces he's helping form "the Justice Integrity Project". The goal: [More...]

More Olympics tonight? It starts with ski-jumping.

Snowboarder Scotty Lago, winner of the Bronze medal in the Snowboard half-pipe, has voluntarily left the Olympics after photos of him inappropriately using his medal last night surfaced online.

What are you looking forward to watching tonight?

In other news:

• Insanity defense likely for the Alabama professor. The state says it's ready for it.
• FBI is undertaking a criminal investigation into a Pennsylvania school that gave students laptops with webcams and then watched them while they were at home.
• Some analysis of the OPR Torture report. The ACLU calls for an expanded criminal investigation.

[More...]

Ezra Klein thinks the revival of the public option could kill the chances for a health bill this year. His analysis is impenetrable in my opinion. But I am actually struck by something different -- Ezra Klein never seems concerned that the excise tax is going to kill the health bills period. And not once has Ezra raised any concern about the fallout of the excise tax. Indeed, he has been a big proponent of it despite the political poison that it is.

I think this is fairly easy to explain -- Ezra does not mind the public option, but he really loves the excise tax. Of course, I am just the opposite. But the reality is the reality. There are lots and lots and lots of people on the record opposing the excise tax. Not so many opposing the public option.

The available on the record evidence is that the excise tax is the much heavier lift than the public option. Indeed, I would posit that the only way to save the excise tax is with the addition of a public option. When will the Villagers start worrying about the political problem the excise tax causes? My prediction is never - because they really love that excise tax.

Speaking for me only

The Department of Justice OPR (Office of Professional Responsibility) Report on the torture (interrogation) memos from the Bush Administration has been released. You can access all here. It finds the memos did not violate professional ethics.

The report focuses on three men who worked at Justice under President Bush: John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury. All three worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, crafting the standards for interrogating high-value terrorism detainees.

....the report says the men "exercised poor judgment." That means the men will not face disbarment or criminal punishment.

The report includes e-mails between DOJ, the White House and the CIA. Shorter version: Move along, no misconduct here.

Terry Nichols, serving a life sentence for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, has filed a notice with the U.S. District Court in Denver (where he has a civil suit pending against the Bureau of Prisons) advising that he has begun a hunger strike due to the inadequate fiber and excessive refined foods in his diet.

Nichols is representing himself in a pending lawsuit about his diet. He says the lack of whole grains and fresh food in his diet harms his health and violates his religious beliefs, causing him to "sin against God."

Nichols' handwritten six page filing, available on PACER, says he knows that he will be thrown "in the hole" for his hunger strike after missing 9 meals (3 days) and force-fed through a tube inserted in his throat. He says since he began throwing his food down the toilet on Feb. 5 to flush his system in preparation for the strike, he is already weak and has lost several pounds. [More...]