Google's Nexus One is out. It looks awesome, even better than The Droid. And has some features the iPhone doesn't, like letting you speak instead of tap your text messages. Check it out for yourselves, here.

The drawback: Unless you want to pay $529.00, it's only available on T-Mobile. What's that about? I guess I'll wait until the spring when Verizon is also going to offer it.. unless I decide to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS and stay with AT&T instead. These phone company wars are really tiresome. If you need help deciding if the Nexus is right for you, here's an article with some of the pros and cons. (Hint, if you are a crackberry addict who needs keys to type instead of glass to tap, it might not be for you. Or if you live out in the sticks.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Taking the California Court of Appeals suggestion, Director Roman Polanski has filed a formal request with the court in Los Angeles to be sentenced in absentia on his 1977 guilty plea to to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The Court of Appeals decision (distilled here) said:

Without returning to the United States or dropping his battle against extradition, Polanski may, through counsel, request that the trial court
conduct the never-yet-held sentencing hearing in absentia pursuant to section 1193. If the trial court approves this request, then Polanski, through his counsel, will be able to obtain the evidentiary hearing that is so urgently required to establish the facts of what occurred in 1977 and 1978. The trial judge now presiding over the matter, Judge Espinoza, has already indicated
that at a sentencing hearing Polanski would be able to fully litigate the allegations of misconduct and a prior pledge by Judge Rittenband as to Polanski’s punishment.

Smart move, in my view. [More...]

Many people have argued the fanciful notion that the excise tax on health care plans (the so called "Cadillac" tax) will lead to increased wages. Indeed, the CBO and the JCT have adopted these assumptions in their scoring of the Senate health bill. The Economic Policy Institute, where Biden economic advisor Jared Bernstein worked prior to joining the Obama Administration, does a thorough debunking (PDF) (here is the press release (PDf) (which includes comments from Robert Reich, Rep. Joe Courtney, and EPI economists Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens):

One claim for the Senate excise tax has recently surfaced: that health care cost increases have been a major driving force in constraining wage growth and that wages will grow more strongly by curtailing employer health costs via the excise tax. This claim boldly asserts that health care costs are large enough (and the tradeoff with wages is large enough) to drive major changes in overall wages.

[More...]

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23 year old Nigerian failed "underpants bomber," has been indicted in Michigan.

The six count Indictment, returned today, is here.

The charges include attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder, attempt to destroy an aircraft, willfully placing a destructive device on an airplane, possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, and carryng/using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The first count carries a possible penalty of life in prison.

Update: The press conference. Loud cheers for him. His wife is with him and smiling. Sen. Mark Udall is behind him. He talks about his vision and that it is becoming a reality. Colorado is on the road to recovery. It is a privilege for him to serve as Governor. He praises Lt. Governor, Barbara O'Brien.

Over the last year, he's tried to balance many roles in his life. His family has sacrificed the most. He hasn't made them the priority they should be. So he is going to do that now.

He's 53 years old and been in public service for more than 30 years. He has two children that still live at home, one in college, and they need him and his wife needs him.

This decision allows him to focus on the budget and Colorado's economy. By not running for re-election he can make the tough budget cuts that need to be made, free of political bickering. He looks forward to spending the next year keeping the budget balanced and economy growing. He thanks everyone. Time for questions: [More...]

Percy Harvin was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Mediation continues over the Pacquiao-Mayweather megafight.

The Iowa Hawkeyes capped off a tremendous season by beating Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl 24-14. Kirk Ferentz may be the best coach in America (along with Coach Pete of Boise). The Big Ten had its best bowl season in memory.

Gilbert Arenas is facing suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room and pulling one on a teammate.

This is an Open Thread.

Via d-day, the President is on board with improving "affordability" in the health bill:

Obama agreed at Tuesday evening's meeting to help strengthen affordability measures beyond what's in the Senate bill, the aide said.

How to do that without public competition? Increase the subsidies. How to increase the subsidies?

[S]weetening the deal for low- and middle-income households could require more taxes to pay for additional subsidies.

So how does the President propose to pay for his affordability, given his endorsement of the Senate financing approach (including the awful excise tax) over the House approach (which taxes the wealthy (income over 500k/year)? We'll see.

Speaking for me only

Harold Meyerson:

The reasons for the stillbirth of the new progressive era are many and much discussed. [. . .] But if there's a common feature to the political landscapes in which Carter, Clinton and now Obama were compelled to work, it's the absence of a vibrant left movement.

[. . .] In America, major liberal reforms require not just liberal governments, but autonomous, vibrant mass movements, usually led by activists who stand at or beyond liberalism's left fringe. No such movements were around during Carter and Clinton's presidencies. For his part, Obama won election with something new under the political sun: a list of 13 million people who had supported his campaign. But he has consistently declined to activate his activists to help him win legislative battles by pressuring, for instance, those Democratic members of Congress who have weakened or blocked his major bills. [. . .] [I]n the absence of both a free-standing movement and a legion of loyalists, Congress isn't feeling much pressure from the left to move Obama's agenda.

(Emphasis supplied.) Harold Meyerson is, like Katrina Van den Heuvel, a sort of Beltway Leftie. Consider my highlighted excerpts. Meyerson talks of "Obama's activists" to move "Obama's agenda." This is absurd. Obama's agenda is not particularly progressive. It is centrist, if not center-right. As a Centrist myself (Afghan War supporter, free trader, opponent of the reenactment of Glass-Steagall, defender of a Constitutional preventive detention regime), this is not so very troubling. But for Meyerson and Van den Heuvel, people well to the left of me, they should realize that Obama is not their champion. More . . .

Glenn Greenwald:

As President Obama said yesterday, the Government -- just as was true for 9/11 -- had gathered more than enough information to have detected this plot, or at least to have kept Abdulmutallab off airplanes and out of the country. Yet our intelligence agencies -- just as was true for 9/11 -- failed to understand what they had in their possession. Why is that? Because they had too much to process, including too much data wholly unrelated to Terrorism. In other words, our panic-driven need to vest the Government with more and more surveillance power every time we get scared again by Terrorists -- in the name of keeping us safe -- has exactly the opposite effect. Numerous pieces of evidence prove that.

(Emphasis supplied.) Instead of wasting time with silly defenses of intelligence agency bureaucrats (see Ackerman, Spencer), centrist Obama bloggers should heed the President's words and understand the system and the people in the system failed. Just as with torture, which does not work, we have created a system less likely to make us safer, not more. This is systemic failure as well as human failure.

Speaking for me only

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd is retiring. So is Sen. Byron Dorgan. And Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

I think CT's seat is safe with Attorney General Richard Blumenthal the likely Democratic candidate. Colorado will be safe, with numerous candidates that can beat Scott McInnis. Dorgan's seat I haven't followed, so I don't know.

I'd call it more a re-arranging of the deck chairs that ends up keeping the ship afloat than a sign the Dems are capitulating on 2010.

In other words, I'm not worried. What am I missing?

Update: My speculation as to reason: He liked being DA better than being Governor. Maybe Obama will announce he's going to be Colorado's U.S. Attorney. Until we hear tomorrow, I think it's as possible as any other reason being floated.

This is a shocker. Flashing across my tv screen, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter won't seek re-election. He hasn't given a reason. He will make the announcement in the morning at an 11 a.m. press conference. From Political Wire:

A fundraiser scheduled for tonight was canceled and all campaign staff was sent home in the middle of the day. The decision does not appear to be fundraising related which has reportedly gone better than expected.

I'm blogged out. And the season premiere of The Biggest Loser is on. One of the contestants is 526 pounds.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.