FDL Book Salon Welcomes Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive T
[Welcome Barbara Ehrenreich, and Host Thomas Frank - bev]

Help Us Help Alan Grayson Save Federal Reserve Audit Bill
This shocked everyone. In an unprecedented move, the House Financial Services Committee voted to approve an amendment by Ron Paul and Alan Grayson to audit the Federal Reserve — the first time anything like this has happened in the Fed’s history. A push is already under way to remove the amendment on the House floor. Scott Lanman of Bloomberg: Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has opposed the Paul legis

Really Bad Trade Off Ideas for the Public Option
Nate Silver believes progressives should trade the public option away, but what he wants in return is far more useless and an even tougher political battle. And the public option, as currently constructed, would only enroll 3-4 million people, according to the C

Liz Cheney Warns Against “Walking Away” from Afghanistan, Apparently Forgetting that Dick Cheney
Listening to a Cheney give advice about how to “win” in Afghanistan is rather like asking an arsonist what to do about your house as it burns to the ground. I mean, there was something completely surreal about listening to Liz Cheney criticize Obama on “This Week” for trying to grapple with the disaster her father left the new president. The fact is, the United States is still fighting in Afghanistan only because the Bush/Cheney administration failed to achieve victory in that war. The Bushies’ failure, after 8 years of pissing away American lives and treasure, to competently execute and win that war is so massive, so scandal

China’s Industrial Policy vs. US Random Behavior
via openDemocracy (flickr) The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission has issued its annual report {giant .pdf}. Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future hosted a conference call for the