For the first time, President Obama has backed moving the new health care law’s waiver for state innovation from 2017 to 2014, when most parts of the affordable care act go into effect. From the New York Times: Senior administration officials said Mr. Obama would reveal to the National Governors Association in a speech on [...]

Yesterday, Ezra Klein was talking about the relative profitability of different parts of the health care sector. Looking at the data, what stuck out to me wasn’t just how unbelievably profitable the major drug manufacturers were (with 23 percent net profit margins), but how dramatically more profitable they were than the rest of the health [...]

It sounds like Robert Gates thinks American foreign policy strategists need to watch the classic movie The Princess Bride. From the New York Times: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise for the United States to ever fight another war like Iraq [...]

This kind of harassment by the federal government is probably an extremely effective way to intimidate journalists and news organizations while really scare future potential whistleblowers. From Politico: Federal investigators trying to find out who leaked information about a CIA attempt to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program obtained a New York Times reporter’s three private credit [...]

Just hours after it was revealed that PayPal had frozen the account of the Bradley Manning Support Network, a group raising funds for alleged Wikileaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, the payment processing giant backed down after public pressure to restore access to the account.

In just 8 hours, more than 15,000 Firedoglake activists signed a letter to PayPal demanding the company “drop its unreasonable demands of the Bradley Manning Support Network and restore access to the group’s PayPal account.”

Thanks to Michael Hastings at Rolling Stone, we learn that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell repeatedly pressured the psy-ops (i.e. professional US Army trained propagandists) to use their skills to convince members of Congress to approve more money for operations in Afghanistan. From Rolling Stone: At a minimum, the use of the IO team against U.S. [...]

Tell PayPal: Stop Blocking Funds of Bradley Manning Supporters PayPal should drop its unreasonable demands of the Bradley Manning Support Network and restore access to the group’s PayPal account. » Read the whole letter and add your name. The organization Courage to Resist has had a PayPal account since 2006 to allow supporters to make [...]

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s (R) immediate and lengthy private conversation with Ian Murphy of Buffalo Beast pretending to be a Koch brother is a great reminder of the incredibly easy two-step process for how to get a powerful politician to listen to your thoughts and concerns. Step 1: Donate millions of dollars directly and indirectly [...]

So where was all this “fiscally responsible” fighting spirit when it came to paying out $32.6 billion in taxpayer funded banker bonuses?

Well, as Larry Summers said, “we are a country of law.”

A new report by the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Defense doesn’t even project or inform Congress about the potential full costs of different decisions, like theater posture plans for Europe. From GAO (PDF): DOD posture planning guidance does not require EUCOM to include comprehensive cost data in its theater posture plan [...]