Did Palin write the answers on her palm at Teabagger conference?

Check out about 47 seconds in, right after she does her best Tina Fey impression, rambling incoherent answer and all - she kind of stops, look at her palm, then changes subjects. The woman seriously needs English lessons. She thinks it's cute and spunky to sound flighty and uneducated. It's not elitist to expect our leaders to have a modicum of intelligence. In any case, check her out checking her hand. Hat tip to ThinkProgress for catching this.

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Soltz and Powers talk DADT on Hardball

Iraq vets Jon Soltz and Jon Powers were on Hardball the other day to talk about the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Someone needs to pay these two a lot of money and hire them as our spokesmen until the ban is repealed. Two straight guys, not working with any of the gay groups, are two of our best advocates, if not the two best we've seen.

One thing that Chris Matthews got wrong is asking a question about whether we need to change any of the rules once we have gay people in the same barracks as straight service members. Chris, they're already there. That's the joke of this entire discussion we've been having for 17 years. The most effective thing Sam Nunn did to jam the discriminatory policy down our throats was to take the Senate and the media on a tour of the bunks in a submarine. Again, the suggestion was "gosh, we can'y have gay people sleeping next to you in such tight quarters." But they already are right now. Under DADT, it's not against the policy to be gay, it's against the policy for anyone to find out. Weird distinction, but true.

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FOX News' Chris Wallace wants to interview Sarah Palin on his lap

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Insane snowball fight in DC - I couldn't even begin to count how many showed up

(click the photo to see much larger versions)

Someone posted the invite for the snowball fight on Facebook yesterday, and by the afternoon there were almost 3,000 people who RSVP'd yes. The entire of Dupont Circle was full of people, wall to wall. It was insane.



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Goldman CEO received $9 million bonus for 2009

The hot topic that the media (and Wall Street) is spinning is that this shows how much restraint Goldman is showing. They're showing America true leadership because they've heard the disgust and are paying their CEO much less than JPMorgan or Wells Fargo. Has a nice ring to it and yes, $9 million is less than the rumors of up to $100 million.

However, remember that Goldman's big numbers last year were primarily generated by the investments they made from TARP money. The rest of their business? Not so much. So this $9 million is better than his previous gaudy numbers or the obnoxious numbers from others on Wall Street, it's still $9 million made from taxpayers money. The only question now is who whether Goldman's PR spin will win the day or if others will realize what a sham this $9 million is. The Times sounds like they're buying the spin.

After weeks of intense speculation, Goldman Sachs disclosed late Friday that its chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, would receive an annual bonus valued at $9 million, a figure that, to the surprise of many, put him in the middle of the pay scale for the nation’s banking chiefs.

While most people can only dream of such a reward, the news was widely seen on Wall Street as a show of restraint and a nod to the uproar in Washington and elsewhere over resurgent pay and profits at banks like Goldman. Indeed, the award represents a fraction of the record $68 million bonus that Mr. Blankfein received in 2007, when Goldman made less money than it did last year. In 2008, in the midst of the financial collapse, he collected no bonus.

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WH reportedly pressuring Pelosi to just pass the Senate HCR bill, no fix in reconciliation

Which would be consistent with the administration's position on health care reform from the beginning (lowest common denominator), and with their approach to legislating (pressure your friends to accept bad deals, rather than your enemies to accept good). From Greg Sargent:

The White House keeps insisting it hasn’t pushed Dem Congressional leaders to adopt a particular legislative route forward on health care. But check out this nugget in today’s Times about Obama’s meeting Thursday with the Dem leadership:

Hours before the fund-raiser, Mr. Obama met at the White House with senior Democratic Congressional leaders to discuss their strategy on health care. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, rejected continued pressure from the administration simply to pass the Senate bill and send it to Mr. Obama for his signature.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's still snowing, although the latest alert from the National Weather Service, a "Blizzard Warning," indicates we'll be getting a total of 18 - 24 20 - 30 inches. Petey and I will be venturing out shortly to check out the situation first hand.

KarenMrsLloydRichards captured the major events of week, seventeen syllables at a time. Here are a few of the highlights:

On The Prayer Breakfast hosted by "The Family":

And now let us pray:
Hypocrisy with bacon,
Hate over easy

On Scott Brown's arrival in DC:

Their Unhappy Trail:
A "Supermajority"
Ends with Cosmo Guy.

And, one for Michael O'Hanlon from the Brookings Institute for his homophobic rant on CNN:

One think tank star's doubts:
Studs like "The Situation"
Shun foxhole "homos"

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Do you speak English?

While DC is getting hit with the snow, we're looking at dark skies and rain. Ahhh, winter in Paris. The last two days were spectacular with temperatures in the mid fifties. Read More......

Personal bankruptcies hit record high in UK

Some experts believed the fourth quarter would be less due to delaying the process over the holidays, but it didn't quite work out that way. The credit crisis pain is hardly over.

The number of people entering into insolvency in England and Wales rose to a record total of 134,142 last year, official figures from the Insolvency Service showed today, and experts say the figure is likely to rise further in 2010.

Rising unemployment and the ongoing impact of the credit squeeze drove the figure beyond the previous record of 107,288 personal insolvencies set in 2006, and meant that over the course of the year one in every 320 adults entered into formal arrangements with their creditors.

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GOP and lobbyists killing student loan reform

How low does one have to be to support stuffing the pockets of the lenders over students? That the Democrats even have to consider the possibility of a filibuster is revolting, but that's the current GOP for you. Always there to support Big Finance and screw everyone else.

President Obama called the idea a “no-brainer” last fall, predicting it would take billions of dollars from the profits of private lenders and give it directly to students, and many colleges were already moving to get loans directly from the federal government in anticipation of the next move by Congress.

But an aggressive lobbying campaign by the nation’s biggest student lenders has now put one of the White House’s signature plans in peril, with lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall-style meetings and petition drives to plead their case and stay in business.

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