Yesterday the 912ers were whipped up into an undifferentiated rage against most everything that is not Michele Bachmann or Fox news. The protest was brought to DC on an astroturf wave of Billionaire Koch dollars.

The Billionaires for Wealthcare thought it would be a great idea to sing their praises for a job well done on protecting the status quo.

The Billionaires singled out particular Representatives at the event for their service:

* Rep. Michele Bachmann (R – MN) – who has taken $200,000 in campaign donations from health care interests
* Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) – who has taken $2.4 million
* Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) – $1.3 million
* Rep. Scott Garret (R-NJ) – $240,000
Source: Center for Responsive Politics

At the 1:00 minute mark you can see some glad-handing with Randall Terry.

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with Diane Archer

How short memories are in Washington. A few weeks ago, when it looked possible that Nancy Pelosi could marshal enough Democratic support to create a “robust” public insurance option with rates tied to Medicare’s, everyone was talking about the big savings and reduced premiums that a series of estimates by the CBO showed this option could create. Then, the concern was that the public insurance plan would put private insurers out of business by using the government’s bargaining power to drive too hard a bargain with providers, creating an “un-level” playing field.

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Today’s unemployment data contain gloomy news. Gloomy, but expected. The interpretation of the data is even worse.

First, the data. Unemployment rose to 10.2 percent last month, breaking the double digit barrier. Most people expected it to happen, though the job loss (190,000) was a bit worse than most economic forecasts (175,000). We can maybe be happy that the October job loss wasn’t as high as September (263,000), but this modest deceleration doesn’t mean much to the 15.7 million people without work, the 9.3 million people working part-time but looking for full-time, or the 3.2 million people who are discouraged or marginally attached to the work force and barely even looking anymore. Nearly 20 percent of the workforce isn’t where it wants to be.

In other words, it’s bad. You don’t need me or the Bureau of Labor Statistics to tell you that.

The interesting part is where it’s bad and what to do about it.

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News of the potential use of U.S. stimulus funds for a wind power project in Texas that will produce 2,000 Chinese manufacturing jobs—but a scant number of American jobs—has generated justifiable outrage, including a letter from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to Energy Secretary Steven Chu urging him to "deny Recovery Act funding to this project" unless the majority of the manufacturing of the wind turbines is done in the United States.

It's therefore not surprising that today the Chinese firm that is a primary investor in the project, A-Power Energy Generation Systems, is doing some PR tap-dancing to quell the fury.

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The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.

BREAKING NEWS: Unemployment Breaks 10%, Though Pace of Job Loss Continues To Slow.

Labor Dept. release: "The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000) ... The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade. In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points."

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The Obama administration is taking steps to begin rebalancing trade with China -- and creating JOBS. In this case it looks like China has been "dumping" steel pipes --selling at prices that are below market -- to capture business away from American companies, causing them to close factories and lay off workers. This is illegal, and the Obama administration just imposed a tariff designed to begin correcting this.

Just on the newswire, NY Times with a Bloomberg report,

The United States imposed duties of as much as 99 percent on steel pipes from China after American producers led by the U.S. Steel Corporation complained they were being dumped at below-market prices.

The duties on $2.6 billion in annual imports of the pipes, used in oil and gas wells, will be 36.5 percent for the 37 largest exporters, the Commerce Department said in a preliminary decision. The tariffs will be on top of separate duties announced in September averaging 21 percent to counter subsidies to Chinese producers.

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The House is expected to vote on comprehensive health care reform Saturday. And conservatives have no excuse for voting against it. Their main concerns have been addressed.

Conservatives have continually complained that committee votes occurred without full cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. They argued we should not blindly approve legislation that is likely to increase the budget deficit.

Now, the final House bill has been scored by the CBO, and it shows that the bill would reduce the budget deficit. It would cut the deficit more than the Republican alternative that CBO found wouldn't even increase the percentage of Americans with health insurance.

So if cutting the deficit is your concern, you would vote for Speaker Pelosi's bill.

Conservatives have also complained that the congressional leadership hasn't been providing the full text of bills online for the public to review 72 hours before a vote.

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Today, Sen. Barbara Boxer rammed through the Environment and Public Works Committee her version of clean energy jobs and climate protection legislation without any amendments, in order to circumvent the Republican boycott of the committee proceedings.

There's no way that bill will become law without further changes, but Boxer did exactly what needed to done to get any bill passed.

Already we are hearing the tut-tutting. CQ speculated that Boxer risked "alienating Republicans and frustrating moderate Democrats." Primary candidate for compromise GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham declared he would have opposed the Boxer bill if he was on the committee.

None of that matters. In fact, the supposed friction is probably helping.

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The Republicans in Congress are at it again, stonewalling everything. Last time we called it “block and blame.” Stop everything, then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done.

Republicans last year in the 110th Congress filibustered more legislation, and required more cloture votes to break those filibusters, than any Congress in history. The tactic was used to stall and halt key legislation, and give Congress the stigma of a “do-nothing Congress.” As former Republican Sen. Trent Lott remarked, “The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail...and so far it's working for us.”

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Today’s “Productivity and Costs” data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics contain what looks like good news. But keep the cork in the bottles.

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The GOP health reform bill does very little to expand health coverage to more Americans, very little to lower overall health care costs, and very little to ensure people will be able to afford the health care they need when they need. So where's the reform?

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House Republicans have presented a health care reform "plan" that doesn't fix our broken health care system (but might make it worse), and (according to the CBO) doesn't do much to fix the deficit conservatives say they're so concerned about. So, is it a surprise that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) doesn't know how many people in his district are uninsured?

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Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners...
—Langston Hughes

Barack Obama is a leader of great capacities and great contradictions. Perhaps the measure of his capacities is the magnitude of his contractions. He is a man of exceptional grace. But the grace misleads; this is a politician of intense ambition, discipline and grit. He understands and wields the power of the word. But his soaring oratory misleads, for his temperament is moderate; his predilection is for compromise. He rouses a new generation to politics, but prefers to cut the deals in the backrooms. He calls us to a new direction, then staffs his administration's team with the acolytes of the old ideas he scorns.

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The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.

Boxer Blows Past Boycott, As Tripartisan Trio Works With WH

BREAKING THIS AM: Sen. Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee passes clean energy jobs and climate protection legislation 10-1, shoving aside GOP boycott of mark-up session by not including any amendments. (Sen. Baucus was lone No vote, though he pledged to continue working towards compromise.)

Tripartisan trio of Sens. Kerry, Graham and Lieberman offer optimism on climate compromise after WH talks. Wonk Room quotes Graham: "The green economy is coming. We can either follow or lead ... Our country doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to build a green economy and never will until we price carbon."

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First, it was Sen. Landerieu's nonsense. Now we get this from Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Enough is enough. When Democrats start parroting Republican talking points, they are showing us who they are. We need to treat accordingly. Especially when their take on health care reform is pretty much the same as the GOP's, in terms of outcome.

For the Republicans have finally come up with some semblance of a plan for health care reform. I'll give them credit, though. I, among others, had derided them for failing to come up with anything.

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