Former President Bill Clinton was hospitalized today for heart issues. According to his spokesman, he's okay and had two stents implanted:

Today President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest. Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries. President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts. In 2004, President Clinton underwent a successful quadruple bypass operation to free four blocked arteries.

Send good thoughts his way.

Update: ABC News reports Hillary Clinton is en route to New York. Follow the Clinton Foundations' twitter feed for updates. He's already a trending topic. CNN reports Chelsea is at the hospital too.

The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is rewriting a jobs bill after Democrats complained of too many concessions to Republicans. Reid announced Thursday that he would cut back on the jobs bill Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) introduced only hours earlier, essentially overruling the powerful chairman.

[. . . ] The bill now include four components: tax credits for employers who hire new workers; a provision allowing businesses to write off the cost of capital investments; Build America Bonds, which allow state and local governments to lower their borrowing costs; and a one-year extension of funding for transportation programs in the Surface Transportation Act. Reid said he made the decision to rewrite the bill before meeting with skeptical Democratic colleagues on Thursday afternoon. Democrats complained the bill did not focus enough on job creation.

Thank Gawd someone still has some sense in DC.

Speaking for me only

President Obama is pleased with Max Baucus' "trickle down" jobs initiative, according to the White House, who released this statement:

The President is gratified to see the Senate moving forward in a bipartisan manner on steps to help put Americans back to work. The draft bill released today by Senators Baucus and Grassley includes several of the President’s top priorities for job creation, including a tax incentive to encourage businesses to hire, a tax cut to make it easier for small businesses to invest and expand, further measures to keep people at work repairing our nation’s roads and bridges, and extended unemployment insurance and health care assistance for Americans who are out of work.

[More...]

I'm off to court for the afternoon.

Shahid Azmi, the defense attorney for Fahim Ansari, one of the three men accused in the Mumbai attacks was shot dead in his Mumbai office today.

The Judge in Haiti today ordered the release of the American missionaries.

Has anyone besides me turned off Buzz in Gmail? If you want to, log into your gmail account and scroll all the way to the bottom where there is a link for "basic html" The "Turn off Buzz" link is right next to it. And check your privacy settings, your pictures and a lot more may be being shared on Buzz until you deactivate them. Buzz also allows people to follow you.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

From the TimesOnline: The Iran security forces won out over the protesters:

Opposition websites said Revolutionary Guards and basiji militiamen were stationed everywhere and that they moved swiftly and violently to break up opposition demonstrations.

They claimed the security forces used live ammunition, knives, teargas and paintballs that would enable them to identify protesters later and that they were beating and arresting women as well as men. They were backed up by water canon, new Chinese anti-riot vehicles and helicopters. Some, wearing plain clothes, infiltrated the protesters. The mobile telephone, internet and text messaging systems were seriously disrupted.

[More...]

Ezra Klein going DFH on the Senate shenanigans on the jobs issue:

The Senate Finance Committee has released a draft (PDF) of its jobs bill[. . .]:

[. . . T]here are two process agreements that are essential to completing action on [the jobs bill.] Fulfilling these agreements has been a condition precedent to the bipartisan discussions that have occurred. [. . .] [W]e are committed to timely consideration of permanent bipartisan estate and gift tax reform.

[. . .] This is the compromise that appears to have led to this package: not a better or bigger or more tax-focused jobs bill, but massive tax cuts for the rich. Tell me again why Democrats are bothering with a bipartisan jobs bill rather than running the legislation through reconciliation?

(Emphasis supplied.) Uh oh, Ezra. you are risking being a Not Serious Person with this kind of stuff. Careful.

Speaking for me only

E.J. Dionne asks why there is such a heated Tea Party movement against Obama. In the process, he indvertently explains why there is no progressive movement fighting for Obama:

Most of the left simply doesn't see him as especially liberal [. . .] Obama, after all, is the man who saved the banks and the capital markets. Now the bankers are secure and most of them are still rich.

His health-care proposals stopped far short of the single-payer system that so many liberals have long sought [. . .] Obama put absolutely no political muscle behind the progressives' backup idea: a public option that could have served as a beachhead for a single-payer system.

The president is also decidedly moderate on budget questions. His stimulus plan was, if anything, too small. And Obama [. . .] endorsed a bipartisan commission to reach a deal on deficit reduction. The idea originated with centrist Democrats and moderately conservative Republicans -- and most liberals opposed it.

Sort of explains the progressive reaction to Obama don't you think?

Speaking for me only

Despite my counsel to the Villagers that there is no political return in selling the regulations contained in the Senate health bill, Jon Cohn tries here, using the Anthem Blue Cross 39% rate health insurance rate hike story. Cohn writes:

[T]he best way to avoid adverse selection, as I've argued many times, is to create one giant insurance pool--in which everybody, healthy and sick, gets coverage at the same rates. And, roughly speaking, that's what the Democratic health care bills would do, by creating insurance exchanges through which all individuals in a given state would buy coverage.

This paragraph does not even make internal sense. In what way is the creation of 50 state based exchanges "creat[ing] one giant insurance pool[?]" (Unlike the Senate bill, the House bill creates a national exchange.) But even that is deceptive. The exchanges will involve only a small part of the national health insurance pool. Most are covered through employer based plans. Cohn's argument is filled with holes. More . . .

Three of the most senior Court of Appeal judges in England and Wales on Wednesday authorized the public release of documents concerning the secret rendition and alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed. The ACLU has the details.

While in detention, Mohamed was subjected to physical and psychological abuse by his captors. Upon his release, Mohamed sought documents from the British government that would confirm that U.K. officials were aware of and complicit in his abuse by U.S. forces. Today's ruling orders the disclosure of seven previously suppressed paragraphs from an earlier court ruling that summarize British government documents related to Mohamed's detention and torture while under the control of U.S. authorities.

The CIA had provided the documents to MI5. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Barack Obama, criticized the ruling, saying:

"We're deeply disappointed with the court's judgment because we shared this information in confidence and with certain expectations.

[More...]

Politico:

Labor groups are furious with the Democrats they helped put in office — and are threatening to stay home this fall when Democratic incumbents will need their help fending off Republican challengers. [. . .] John Gage, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 600,000 workers[, said] "It's really frustrating for labor, and a lot of union people are thinking: We put out big time in money and volunteers and support. And it seems like the little things that could have been aren't being done."

[. . .] Union leaders warn that the Democrats' lackluster performance in power is sapping the morale of activists going into the midterm elections. "Right now if we don’t get positive changes to the agenda, we’re going to have a hard time getting members out to work," said United Steelworkers International President Leo W. Gerard, in an interview. “There’s no use pretending any longer.”

Rahmbo's approach has failed and House Dems will not cross the unions. It's every person for himself now. The excise tax in the Senate bill must be fixed or there will be no health bill. Period.

Speaking for me only

The best way to follow the Iran protests today, at least for now, is on twitter. Try #iranelection. While many are posting in Farsi, others are retweeting in English. Crowds are growing, and security forces opened fire.

Security forces attacked the crowd of protesters in Arya-Shahr, opening fire on them. Several people have reportedly been injured during the shooting. However, the crowd has not dispersed and keeps chanting slogans. Security forces are firing directly on the masses of protesters. There is a heavy presence of military and intelligence forces in Tehran streets.

Other tweets: "Clashes in Vesal St & Vanak sq right now." "Confirmed: Mobile service disconnected in certain parts of Tehran."

Some video is getting out, the tweeters are posting the links. "Death to Dictators" seems to be the most prevalent protest chant being quoted. [More...]

John Edwards can't catch a break. The National Enquirer reports he has proposed to Rielle Hunter and is buying a $3.5 million home for them to live in together. Edwards spokesman denies it.

Meanwhile, a court in North Carolina continues to deal with Andrew Young and the "personal video." Apparently, the court wasn't satisfied with Young's accounting for originals and copies of tapes and photographs and the other day entered this supplemental contempt order. The parties return to court next week.

I also can't figure out what business the FBI had taking a copy of the tape from Young's lawyer for presentation to the grand jury, as Young claims in his latest affidavit. How is it relevant to the investigation into whether Edwards knew campaign contributions were funneled to Hunter? According to Young, there's no sound on the tape and you can't make out the woman's face. [More....]