It's evening on the east coast and we just took off from Atlanta. The plane has wi-fi -- free one time until December 31. The company is called GoGo. They need to put some more work into this... pages are slow to load, you tube videos start and stop and Jeffrey Toobin's new article in the New Yorker on Roman Polanski, The Celebrity Defense: Sex, Fame and the Case of Roman Polanski, which arrived in my e-mail box but will be online tomorrow, has been downloading for more than one minute. The right column of TalkLeft also isn't loading.

The TL kid and I had a great time in Key West, no surprise there. Aside from spending time with great friends I only get to see once a year or less, the abundance of fresh fish (and fun raw bars), there were terrific speakers and once I finished my talk on the latest in electronic surveillance techniques being used in drug cases, I was free to relax.

I have not seen the news since we left last Thursday, so I have nothing to write about on that front.

Here's an open thread, all topics. welcome.

Politico:

There appeared to be serious consideration of a new proposal on the table: a national health plan similar to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, which provides insurance to members of Congress and federal workers. It would be administered by the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal plan, and all of the insurance options would be not-for-profit.

Devil in the detail as always, but this seems a viable way to run an Exchange. The Federal Employee Health Benefits Plans negotiate very well. Should also solve the Stupak Amendment problem. This is not a Public Option of course, but since the federal government could, in theory, negotiate the rates and benefits on par with what federal employees get, the expansion of health insurance to 30 million Americans can be done in a positive way. Of course this is not health care reform, but it could be acceptable health insurance assistance.

It's perfectly obvious that health care reform will not happen with this bill. But this could be an acceptable health insurance assistance bill. Let's see the details.

Speaking for me only

Leave me alone.

This is an Open Thread.

If you are not getting the joke, there is a Game of The Decade/Year/Century about 3 times a year. That said, the Alabama/Florida game has been the most anticipated game of the year since at least early October. It is of a higher magnitude for a lot of reasons. Florida is seeking to defend its national championship. It is going for its first undefeated season. It is the next to last game of the Tim Tebow Era, an era that goes beyond Florida football. Tebow has been the most recognizable figure in college football I can remember. He is the most polarizng PLAYER I can remember.

Despite having won it all last year, the pressure remains squarely on the Gators. Losing is misery - failure, for the Gators. It should not be this way, but it is. It reminds me somewhat of the Gators basketball team' second run for a national title in 2007. It was not joyous - until the end. When they had done it. But these Gators have been a tough minded team. They have responded well to pressure. It may even help them now at this point of the season. More . .

No, it's not the evening yet, but I've spilled my bile for the day. Jeralyn is doing the Key West NORML thing and being the brilliant woman she is, I suspect she won't be blogging much this weekend.

For myself, my focus now goes to the Game of the Decade! Tomorrow I 'll do a comprehensive preview of the the game (and some other minor games being played this weekend) as I do the rabid fan thing (face paint, etc..) From 3 - 7 tomorrow, you'll know where I'll be.

This is an Open Thread.

Will the Village Wonk bloggers try and explain why a progressive should not accept the removal of the Exchange from the health care "reform" bill in order to avoid the consequences of Ben Nelson and Bart Stupak's insistence on the Stupak Amendment? So quick to jettison the public option, will they be as eager to say good bye to the Exchange? Ben Nelson makes the question a pressing one:

The defeat of his amendment would be politically significant because Nelson has pledged to vote with Republicans to filibuster the health bill if it did not include the Stupak language. [. . .] Stupak’s measure would restrict women who receive federal subsidies from buying abortion coverage on insurance exchanges set up by the government.

Remove the Exchange and the Stupak Amendment has no reason to exist. Who will stand in the way of this "practical" and "pragmatic" solution? After all, the Exchange is so limited as to be "meaningless," even if you believe in its magic "reform" powers. I call on the Village Wonk bloggers to be grownups about this - let go of the Exchange.

Speaking for me only

(Update - by way of contrast, let me tip a non-disingenuous "policy guy" who disagrees with a lot of us on the value of the "reform" provisions but does not pretend to be the font of the "revealed" policy truth) -- Once more I must call Ezra Klein on his disingenuous arguments about the health care bill. In his latest bit of disingenuous sophistry, Ezra writes:

I'm a policy guy, arguably to the point of myopia. The public option compromises that are on the table at this point aren't really compromises worth having. It's my job to say that, I think. Pointing this out has led a lot of longtime readers to give up on me as some sort of establishment dupe, and I see where they're coming from. Here's where I'm coming from.

[. . .] The achievement of this bill is $900 billion to help people purchase health-care coverage, a new market that begins to equalize the conditions of the unemployed and the employed, and a regulatory structure in which this country can build, for the first time, a universal health-care system. Thousands and thousands of lives will be saved by this bill.

This is disingenuous clap trap. Ezra Klein KNOWS that the 900 billion dollars to help people purchase health insurance is entirely unrelated to the the "reform" provisions of the bill he is championing. It is less than honest to pretend that the health assistance portions of the bill are inextricably intertwined to the pet projects that Ezra holds dear. They are not. Reconciliation does NOT threaten the health assistance portions of the bill. Ezra knows this and is less than honest about it day after day after day. More . . .

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

Strange headline of the day from Jane Hamsher:

Ha Ha. F**k You, Harry Reid. Kicking Your A** is Going To Be Fun.

Jane then highlights a Mason Dixon poll showing 2 Republicans beating Reid in a head to head matchup. Unless Jane became a Republican last night, how precisely is she proposing to to "kick Reid's A**?" Is she now a Sue Lowndes or Danny Tarkanian supporter? Or does she have a secret primary challenger we do not know about?

It's fun to write "Right now, Harry Reid is doing what he always intended to do — take the public option out of the bill. You’re just the last to know." But what does that mean for a** kicking?

I'm all for preemptive activism, but the structure of Hamsher's post does not make sense to me. Promise him hell if he betrays you - but do not predict he will betray so you can give him hell. I like my activists to be uncompromising. But I also like them to make sense. This post from Hamsher does not have logic on its side imo.

Speaking for me only

Like Chris Bowers, Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) is still fighting for the public option.

Would love to see some fight from Joe Sestak on the issue. The rationales for supporting Sestak are becoming less apparent by the day.

Speaking for me only

Some good news:

In the strongest employment report since the recession began nearly two years ago, the government said Friday that the nation’s employers had all but stopped shedding jobs in November, taking some of the pressure off of President Obama to come up with a wide-ranging jobs creation program. The Labor Department reported that the United States economy lost 11,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October.

I have not had time to dig into the details, but at first blush, this seems like unconditional good news. Let's hope it continues.

Speaking for me only

Busy morning.

Congrats to the Ducks.

This is an Open Thread.