Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley are among the top 10 safest cities in the United States with populations of at least 100,000, according to 2009 FBI crime data analyzed by the two Ventura County cities.

Although the FBI advises against using the data for making such rankings because there are many variables that should be factored in before making valid comparisons of crime among different cities, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley each conducted their own analysis based on crimes per 1,000 residents.

They both came to the same conclusion: Thousand Oaks is the fifth safest city in the country with a rate of 15.8 crimes per 1,000 residents, while Simi Valley is the eighth safest city with a rate of 17.7 crimes per 1,000 residents.
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Good to hear!

Blue States = 242 EV
Red States = 253 EV
Swing Purple States = 43 EV

She's back … 'Sarah Palin's Alaska' is such a huge hit for TLC that the network is busy trying to get the former governor to sign up for season two.

"3.066 million people turned in last week to see her episode with Kate Gosselin," a TLC insider tells me. "That is more people than are watching Bravo's 'Housewives' series or most other cable shows. For sure the network is doing everything it possibly can to convince Sarah to do another season, but at the end of the day it looks like it will all come down to money."

Sarah, who is reportedly making more than $250,000 per episode for the eight-week series, is no fool — when the show debuted to over 4.96 million viewers, insiders tell me she started talking about a new deal right away.
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I would say very likely, especially if Obama's poll numbers improve by April.

So that leaves us with a top tier of five front-runners: Romney, Palin, Gingrich, Pawlenty and Daniels. Romney is the organizational front-runner; Daniels is the first pick of wonks and D.C. eggheads; Palin probably has the most devoted following among actual voters. Gingrich will dominate the debates, and Pawlenty (vying with Daniels) is the least disliked.
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A fair assessment and it is Sarah Palin's to decline.

Otherwise it looks like Mitt Romney Vs. Mitch Daniels or Newt Gingrich

Census 2010: Gains and Losses in Congress

The Census Bureau rearranged the country’s political map on Tuesday, giving more Congressional seats to the South and the West, and taking away from the Northeast and the Midwest. The state population counts are the first results released from the 2010 Census, and are used to reapportion seats in Congress, and, in turn, the Electoral College.

The United State population grew to 308,745,538 over the last decade, an increase of 9.7 percent, the slowest rate of growth since 1940.
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Nice graphs of censis data

Apportionment after each decennial Census is required by the United States Constitution. Article 1 Section 2 says “the actual Enumeration shall be made…within every subsequent Term of ten years.” Over time, America’s population shifts, and Congress adjusts by apportioning its members according to each new set of Census results. For each House seat shifted, one Electoral College vote shifts.

The 2010 apportionment of Congressional districts among the 50 states is brings Western states’ gains to 26 Congressional seats since the 1970s, with the South picking up 27. The Northeast has now lost 26 seats and the Midwest 27 over the same period. The disparity in population growth will significantly alter the makeup of the House of Representatives. In the 1970s, the Midwest and Northeast together made up 52% of Congress. After 2010, they will hold only 40% of the seats. The Northeast alone held 104 seats in the 1970s, but that number is now down to 78.
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Read it all

And yet Republican opposition to the deal has essentially crumbled. I think the Republicans are foolish to have gone ahead rather than hold out for full consideration in the new Congress. But I understand that it is hard to resist the entreaties of the entire foreign policy establishment and to set up the president to fail.

We should also keep this all in perspective. The treaty, as I and others have argued, is not an earth-shaking matter, especially compared to the real nuclear threats we face from North Korea and Iran. But through the hard bargaining of Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) the administration ponied up for weapon modernization and showed some commitment to missile defense programs. In sum, Kyl got more from Obama than the U.S. is getting from Russia.

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Read it all.

Would have been better to rethink this treaty in the next Congress

Most of the media coverage of the 2010 Census will likely focus on the country's changing racial composition and the redistribution of seats in Congress. But neither of these is the most important finding. Rather, it is the dramatic increase in the size of the U.S. population itself that has profound implications for our nation's quality of life and environment. Most of the increase has been, and will continue to be, a result of one federal policy: immigration. Projections into the future from the Census Bureau show we are on track to add 130 million more people to the U.S. population in the just the next 40 years, primarily due to future immigration.
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Read it all.

The impacts are pretty dramatic.

Immigration policy needs a redo.

The Sun Belt will gain new seats in Congress as the U.S. population continued to shift south and west, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and its director, Dr. Robert Groves.

The new data show the country grew at a slower pace than it has in earlier decades. But states in the south grew at a faster rate than states in the Rust Belt. Those states will give up some representation in Congress, while southern states will grow in influence.

Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Washington State will all gain members of Congress. Texas's delegation will grow the most, adding four seats. Florida gained two seats, while Arizona gained one seat.

Meanwhile, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey and Louisiana will each lose House seats. New York and Ohio, two states hard hit by generations of migration and more recent industrial stagnation, will lose two seats each.

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GOP Gains

In sum, when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted. Some complain about a double standard (Harry Reid said dumb things, too!), but the fact remains that the vast majority of modern conservatives don't tolerate this sort of thing, and it can be fatal to one's political aspirations.

And finally, this is a reminder that candidates who look promising in 2010 may not be around for long, and those who stay out of the fray for as long as possible may be the savviest contenders.

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This is why Sarah Palin will keep her powder dry and assess her ability to beat Obama as late in the Spring 2011 as she can.

Mitt Romney's been looking weaker and weaker in our 2012 Presidential polling over the last couple months and it's pretty easy to identify the reason why: he has a major problem with conservatives and there's no evidence it's getting any better.

We've polled eight states, not including Massachusetts, since the 2010 election ended. Romney has the lowest favorability rating of the Republican top 4 with conservatives in every single one of those states except Michigan, where he probably benefits from his dad having been the Governor.
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Read it all

Senate Democrats appear to have the nine Republican votes they need to ratify the New START nuclear treaty this week and give President Obama his third major victory of the lame-duck session.

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told reporters Monday afternoon that he would vote to ratify the treaty and also support a motion to end debate, which the Senate will consider Tuesday.

“I believe it’s something that’s important for our country and I believe it’s a good move forward,” Brown said after emerging from a classified briefing in the Old Senate Chamber.
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Good luck to those GOP Senators supporting this treaty in their next primary election.

The Tea Party will primary those non-lame duck GOP Senators who vote for START

A lot has happened in the 32 years since Proposition 13 that will have to be taken into account. The landmark Serrano vs Priest decision, for example, will require that school districts aren’t wildly underfinanced in one community and lavishly funded in another. Proposition 98 will have to be handled. All kinds of state mandates that don’t include funding will have to be altered. See Hillel: on commentary.

California state government has plenty to do to fund and repair higher education, highways, state parks, state law enforcement, prisons, state courts, environmental protection, natural resources and the like, just as state government did before Proposition 13.
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And, who run local counties and city governments?

The public employee unions.

This plan would crash Cali Real Estate market

But three decades after the great transfer of power to Sacramento, it’s time to fight for power to local communities, for sanity in government finance and even, we dare say, for democracy.

Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government's reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.

How did the FCC get here?

For years, proponents of so-called "net neutrality" have been calling for strong regulation of broadband "on-ramps" to the Internet, like those provided by your local cable or phone companies. Rules are needed, the argument goes, to ensure that the Internet remains open and free, and to discourage broadband providers from thwarting consumer demand. That sounds good if you say it fast.
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Read it all

It's official: the path has been cleared for Tuesday's historic vote at the Federal Communications Commission approving sweeping new "network neutrality" rules designed to ensure that the Internet remains an open platform that doesn't favor dominant telecommunications and cable companies.

Democratic FCC regulators Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn plan to "concur" on the proposal, meaning they support adoption but don't agree with every detail. Their backing gives FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski the three votes he needs on the five-member commission for passage.

Copps and Clyburn have been fighting for stronger provisions to better protect consumers and smaller competitors. Critics of the regulatory initiative, including the agency's two GOP members, dismiss it as unnecessary government intervention that seeks to correct marketplace problems that do not exist.
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Read it all. And, what will the GOP do to the regulations in January?

Earlier today it was reported that far left Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) proposed a $48 billion earmark to redistribute taxpayer money to the inner city.
It was the Mother of All Earmarks…
Liberal Rep. Emanuel Cleaver proposed a whopping $48 BILLION EARMARK that would redistribute wealth to the inner cities and gift money to the poor and thereby produce a much larger consumer class to buy the goods and services produced in this country.

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Criminal if this Omnibus Spending bill passes.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's recent interview on "60 Minutes" with Lesley Stahl, where he once again cried publicly, has created a minor controversy among pundits, with observers trying to figure out the cause of his unusual behavior.

Is it depression? Or is Boehner simply in touch with his emotions? Does he wear his heart on his sleeve, or does he cry on a dime because he has a tender spot for all things American?
While it's impossible to know, some are beginning to speculate that Boehner's penchant for turning on the waterworks might have some connection to his consumption of wine. Liberal MSNBC host Ed Shultz, half-jokingly, called Boehner a "cheap drunk" the other day, Capitol Hill aides of both parties are wondering, and there's even a web page devoted to it.
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Well, if he has a problem then the GOP Caucus should find another Speaker

Republicans will paralyze the Senate floor for 50 hours by forcing clerks to read every single paragraph of the 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.

Senate clerks are expected to read the massive bill in rotating shifts around the clock — taking breaks to drink water and pop throat lozenges  — to keep legislative business on track, according to a Democratic leadership aide.

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The GOP should do nothing but a short continuing resolution to keep the government open and then go home

Democrats will try one more time to bring up a controversial immigration bill in the lame-duck session of Congress, a key Senate chairman said Wednesday evening.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that Democrats would make one last stab at passing the DREAM Act in the Senate.

"We are going to try to bring the DREAM Act up one more time. And again, that may be filibustered by the Republicans," Harkin said last night on MSNBC. "If it is, well then, we'll have to be in here after Christmas."

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As expected – so melt the phones to squishy GOP Senators to filibuster

California air quality regulators are poised to adopt the nation's most sweeping regulations to give power plants, refineries and other major polluters a financial incentive to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The Air Resources Board was expected to pass this key piece of the California's 2006 climate law, called AB32, at its meetings Thursday or Friday, with the hope that other states and nations will follow the lead of the world's eighth largest economy.
"AB32 was passed primarily to fill the vacuum created by the failure of Congress to pass any kind of climate or energy legislation for many years now," said Mary Nichols, the air board's chairwoman. "The goal was to lead by example, and being a leader you have to bring others along with you."
California's cap-and-trade rules would set up the largest U.S. carbon trading market as the way to enforce the state's gradually tightening cap on emissions.

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More business will leave and more unemployment. Budget deficits increase

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is setting a deadline for when he must decide whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
Daniels, a favorite among Republican insiders who respect his fiscally conservative record, said Wednesday that he must figure out his plans by the end of April, when Indiana's legislative session is slated to wrap up.

"I think the decision has to come at the end of this General Assembly session, if not before. No later than that," Daniels told Fort Wayne television station WANE. "In fairness to people from all over the place – many of whom I've only read about before – who like this idea [of Daniels running for president], I owe them some kind of an answer."
Daniels has remained mostly cagey about his intentions. Though the governor has resisted invitations to visit key primary states, he's also welcomed national reporters to Indiana to discuss the possibility.

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Well, DUH! He will need to ramp up fundraising.

It's been a whirlwind of excitement since the first rumors that Sen. Harry Reid would be passing online poker legislation during the lame-duck session of Congress, but that excitement halted immediately Wednesday night. According to multiple sources, the bill will not be voted on or attached to another bill during the last few days of this session.

"We are disappointed that Congress failed to act and provide the necessary consumer protections and sensible oversight over this multi-billion dollar industry," John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, wrote in an e-mail to ESPN.com. "Sadly, some politicians remain with their heads firmly in the sand. The leadership of the Poker Players Alliance got the debate this far and we are determined to see this through."

++++++++

This is not a surprise since the bill is a blatant payback to Harrah's and MGM who contributed so heavily for Reid.

Online poker looks almost dead especially if the feds enforce UIGEA

The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.

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Read it all and wonder what happened to the Golden State

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the need to pass a sensible CR rather than a 2,000-page omnibus spending bill:

“Yesterday Democrat leaders unveiled an Omnibus spending bill that some have described as one last spending binge for a Congress that will be long be remembered for them.

“The Senate should reject it.

“It appeared to some of us that we were making good progress on the economy when lawmakers in both parties agreed Monday to let taxpayers keep more of their own money.

“But yesterday, Democrats unveiled a 2,000 page spending bill that repeats all the mistakes voters demanded that we put an end to on Election Day.

“Americans told Democrats last month to stop what they’ve been doing: bigger government, 2,000-page bills jammed through on Christmas Eve, wasteful spending.

“This bill is a monument to all three.
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Agree

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will force readings of both a nuclear arms treaty and $1.1 trillion spending bill that could eat up hours of the remaining lame-duck Congress.

DeMint will invoke a senatorial privilege to ask that texts of both the New START Treaty and the 2011 omnibus spending bill be read aloud on the Senate floor.

The readings could take seven to 12 hours to verbalize the START Treaty, while the omnibus could take 40 to 60 hours, according to a spokesman for DeMint.
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Poker game between GOP and Harry Reid

The final tally of today's tax vote in the Senate was 83 ayes to 15 nays. The only Republicans to vote nay: Coburn (Okla.), DeMint (S.C.), Ensign (Nev.), Voinovich (Ohio), and Sessions (Ala.). 

The ball is now in Pelosi's court, and McConnell is warning House Democrats that if they make changes to the bill, "they will ensure that every American taxpayer will see a job-killing tax hike on January 1st."

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If many House Dems abandon Obama, there will be Republicans following suit and the deal will die.

We can only hope.

Death and taxes, it is said, are life's only two certainties. But in the wake of President Obama's tax compromise with congressional Republicans, only death retains the status of certainty: The future for taxes has been left up in the air. And uncertainty is not a friend of investment, growth and job creation.
The deal has several key features. It reduces payroll taxes, extends unemployment benefits and keeps current tax rates intact. So far, so good. But intermixed with the benefits are considerable costs of consequence. Given the unambiguous message that the American people sent to Washington in November, it is difficult to understand how our political leaders could have reached such a disappointing agreement. The new, more conservative Congress should reach a better solution.

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Agree.

But, Mitt, Sarah Palin led on this and in any case it looks like a done deal.

President Obama's tax package easily cleared its first hurdle Monday, with the Senate voting overwhelmingly to move forward with the bill. But the real battle awaits in the House.

The final Senate vote will not be known until at least Monday evening, because the vote is being kept open for several hours to accommodate senators whose travel was delayed by a Midwestern snowstorm. But with about two-thirds of the chamber voting, the measure had already passed the 60-vote threshold late Monday afternoon.

The procedural vote clears the way for a final vote Tuesday on the package, which Obama negotiated with Republicans and which would prevent tax rate increases from hitting most American workers starting Jan. 1.

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And, unless the House messes around with the package, it will pass. Then ,on to the Omnibus Reconciliation bill which will end the lameduc session – probably.

Controversial Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who last month presided over the GOP's biggest electoral gains since 1938, will announce tonight that he is running for re-election, Fox News has learned from two RNC members.
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Now, this is surprising.

Steele will have to make a good argument about the RNC debt though and his lack of funraising.

Ending weeks of rumors that he would not seek a second term, Steele plans to throw his hat into the ring during a conference call with RNC members at 7:30 p.m. ET, the sources said. Steele is said to be amused by false reports of his retirement and intentionally kept his plans secret for the last month in order to flush out competitors for the post, Fox has learned.

During Steele's tenure, Republicans picked up 63 House seats in last month's elections, the biggest gain in more than seven decades. But Steele has been dogged by criticism from some Republicans who see him as prone to missteps.

Former Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle is angling to lead the tea party movement heading into 2012.

Angle over the weekend unveiled the Patriot Caucus, a PAC that she says has the support of tea party organizers in 15 states and which will "organize a ground game across most battleground states for the 2012 election cycle." The group plans to open offices in Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada – states with early presidential primaries and caucuses – in early 2011.

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Yes and since she will probably not run for Senate in 2012, she can be ready to run for Harry Reid's seat in 6 years or for Congress.

Fixing California's budget mess would be a three-stage, multiyear process. The first would be cutting spending to close the current gap and doing so in a way that convinces voters that Brown and legislators are serious about the new reality.

Stage two would be a 2011-12 budget that continues the spending cuts and asks voters for more revenues, possibly a limited extension of the $8 billion-plus in last year's temporary tax hikes that will soon expire.

Were those two steps to avert fiscal disaster and improve voter confidence, stage three would be a massive restructuring of public finances, including a much-discussed "realignment" of state-local responsibilities to, bring governmental activities … closer to the people."

We should, for instance, find out why, with 12 percent of the nation's population, we have 32 percent of its welfare cases, and why we're spending three times as much on prisons as Texas, which has almost as many inmates.
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Good luck with that, Jerry

With the uncertainty surrounding Virginia Sen. Jim Webb’s intentions and former Republican Sen. George Allen firing his first direct shot last week, Roll Call Politics has moved the Democratic seat into the more competitive Tossup category.
When the politics team first ranked the race, it was in the Leans Democratic category. See all of our rankings here.
Democrats could have a difficult time holding this seat even if Webb decides to run. In the past year, Republicans ended a streak of disappointing election cycles. The GOP swept the statewide offices in 2009 and won back three House seats in 2010.

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Another possible GOP gain in 2012

Norm Coleman — former U.S. senator from Minnesota, and now chairman of American Action Network and Forum, a key outside GOP group – is likely to enter the race for Republican National Committee chairman now that Michael Steele is expected to announce he will not seek reelection.

“Norm is leaning towards running, based on his ability to raise money and act as a national surrogate,” a close source said.
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Certainly, the highest profile candidate so far.

Based on that record alone, one might think that Steele would be a shoo-in for another term. After all, few chairmen in history have seen their party's fortunes reverse in such a staggeringly short amount of time. But the fight against Steele, which began the minute he took office over other establishment favorites, has never been about results, or even necessarily what is best for the GOP. Instead it is another skirmish in a Republican civil war that still rages just underneath the party's cheerful veneer.
Steele has done much to contribute to his bumpy, error-filled, sometimes embarrassing tenure. Fundraising problems and allegations of financial mismanagement have plagued him. Then came the various gaffes, about Rush Limbaugh, abortion, whether the GOP welcomed minorities.

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Michael Steele was successful but his time has come to move on.

Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh has decided against a run for governor in 2012, robbing Democrats of their top recruit in the Hoosier State.

"After careful consideration, I have concluded that the appropriate decision is not to be a candidate for governor of Indiana in 2012," Bayh said in a statement released to the Fix. ""The principle reason for my decision is the welfare of my twin sons."

Bayh's decision leaves the Democratic field wide open. Reps. Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill, both of whom lost races this fall, are likely to consider the Bayh-less contest. Others mentioned include Rep. Joe Donnelly, Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel and former state House Speaker John Gregg.

The Republican field remains uncertain. Some believe that Rep. Mike Pence will be the GOP candidate although the House member seems to be far more interested in a run for president in 2012. If Pence doesn't run, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman is a likely candidate.

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Pence should run

Over the past 24 hours, we’ve spoken with a number of in-the-know individuals who have all but confirmed that the Reid BillTM is all but dead.

Chances of online poker regulation getting pushed through the lame duck is basically a two-outer on the river now. Even the most optimistic estimate we’ve heard was only “around 20%.”

Not good. Although to paraphrase Lloyd Christmas, “So you’re saying there IS a chance?!”

Some believe next Tuesday is truly the line-in-the-sand day, and that it can still be attached to the tax bill in some form. Others believe that recent public messaging from Senator Reid and the AGA (welcome to the party!) shows there’s movement in the right direction and that it’s still a top agenda item during the last week of the lame duck.

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I think the greed of Harrah's and MGM drove the argument and any chance of passage as an attachment.

About one out on the river chance of passage.

Mark Levin said tonight on his show that when Sarah Palin was asked by Barbara Walters what she reads, among the others she mentioned was that she reads Liberty and Tyranny, Mark Levin’s book. According to Mark, they edited that out:

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Lamestream media

The Senate poker legislation was written with help from major gambling and casino interests, who played a significant role in funding Reid's expensive reelection campaign, according to lobbyists and legislative aides. Reid has collected more than $1.6 million in contributions from gaming companies and their employees over the past two decades, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Two major Las Vegas casino companies, Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, also gave a combined $375,000 to an outside Democratic group, Patriot Majority, that ran election ads in favor of Reid this fall, records show.

Reid and his supporters say the bill is a common-sense and limited solution to the problem of unregulated online poker, which is played by an estimated 10 million Americans.

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I doubt this legislation will be able to be attached to ANY existing bill without a GOP demand for it to be removed or a filibuster.

Hence, like the DREAM Act = dead

A judge ruled Friday against Joe Miller's (R) challenge of the vote-counting process in the Alaska Senate race, delivering Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) to the brink of victory in her bid to become the first successful write-in candidate for the Senate since Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) in 1954.

In the ruling, Alaska Superior Court Judge William Carey said that Miller had failed to prove his claim of widespread fraud in the November election.

"Nowhere does Miller provide facts showing a genuine issue of fraud or election official misfeasance," Carey wrote. "Instead, the majority of the problematic statements included in the affidavits are inadmissible hearsay, speculation, and occasional complaints of sarcasm expressed by [Division of Elections] workers. Nothing rises to the level showing genuine material facts of fraud."

Miller has until Tuesday to appeal the decision to the state supreme court.

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Looks like the end of the road for Joe Miller

Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 – and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did. In the deal struck this week, the president negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than his $814 billion 2009 stimulus package. It will pump a trillion borrowed Chinese dollars into the U.S. economy over the next two years – which just happen to be the two years of the run-up to the next presidential election. This is a defeat?
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I see no advantage to the American people with this deal – just more debt.

Let the Bush tax rates expire and come back in January with massive cuts in spending and tax rate reform – like Reagan.

Senate Democrats plan to move ahead with a bipartisan tax package, despite strong objections from House Democrats.
 
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) unveiled a bill Thursday evening that keeps the deal between President Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) largely unchanged, but includes environmental provisions that may soothe angry liberals.

Reid has scheduled the first vote on the package for Monday. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) have vowed to filibuster it.

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Now, conservative/Tea Party Senators have more of a reason to KILL THE BILL

Senate leaders have released a summary of the Obama-GOP tax deal that is now pending on the Senate floor.  A first test vote has been scheduled on it for Monday afternoon. The following details were provided by the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 

The actual legislative text of the amendment is 74 pages

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In order to get the LEFT on board, I am positive that Harry Reid will be adding sweeteners over the weekend before Monday's vote.

The Senate GOP will have to decide whether to just swallow the changes or KILL THE BILL and go home for Christmas.

My colleague Dan Mitchell has already written about the tax deal reached between President Obama and congressional Republicans.  But there might be something in the package for people wishing to play poker freely online.

Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.) is apparently circulating draft legislation to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which blocked financial institutions from processing transactions with online gambling companies.  I would characterize that as a good move overall, apart from three quibbles. First, the draft legislation would — you guessed it –place a tax on the wagers (you didn’t think you’d get your freedom back without conditions, did you?). Second, the bill applies only to poker, and continues to prohibit “Internet gambling” more broadly. And third, the fine-print sounds problematic from a trade policy (and trade law) point of view:

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Read it all

For agreeing to a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, President Obama is now facing a full-fledged revolt within his party. The responses from congressional Democrats have ranged from chilly to angry to threatening.

One asked, "Could we have a little fight before we cave? Why go right to surrender?" Another accused Mr. Obama of saying, "let 'em eat cake." Another called the compromise "an absolute disaster" and "an insult." Another complained, "we got screwed."

Liberals outside Congress are even more bitter. MoveOn.org demanded Democrats not "capitulate to the GOP on this terrible deal." Some have talked of primary challenges to Mr. Obama.

It won't be easy for Mr. Obama to push the compromise through Congress. Nancy Pelosi doesn't see where the votes will come in the House. Harry Reid's spokesman says simply that the majority leader "plans on discussing it with his caucus."

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It will come down to the wire and at this time it is unknown whether Obama has the votes.

With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pressing for quick ratification of the New START treaty, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) reiterated again on Wednesday there wasn’t enough time left in this lame-duck session of Congress to consider it.

Kyl — who’s been holding out for more money to modernize the nation’s nuclear research labs, among other things — met with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but there was no public signal of progress afterward.

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Obama and GOP will be lucky to get the tax cut deal done and the federal government continuing resolution

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pushed off a vote to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military Wednesday night, after it became clear he did not have the votes to support it.
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So, it may come up or not tomorrow morning at 8 AM EST depending upon whether Reid has the votes to pass it

The website and personal credit card information of former Gov. Sarah Palin were cyber-attacked today by Wikileaks supporters, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate tells ABC News in an email.

Hackers in London apparently affiliated with “Operation Payback” – a group of supporters of Julian Assange and Wikileaks – have tried to shut down SarahPac and have disrupted Sarah and Todd Palin’s personal credit card accounts.

“No wonder others are keeping silent about Assange's antics,” Palin emailed. “This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts.”

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Wow!

Their personal credti cards too?

Better go with cash…..

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hoped to start Senate debate by Friday on a bill to extend tax cuts across the board for two years.

Mr. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, spoke to reporters after a closed-door meeting with lawmakers from his party to discuss a proposed tax-cut extension bill. He said the package could come to the House floor "in the next day or two." Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) said earlier he hoped the drafting of the bill could be completed by late Wednesday.

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Doesn't look like START will be approved then or is there still time?

After two unsuccessful statewide campaigns in four years, Ned Lamont says he is strongly disinclined to make another run at Joe Lieberman in the 2012 race for U.S. Senate.

Lamont, 56, who ran for Senate in 2006 and governor in 2010, said other potential Democratic candidates have called to gauge his interest in a rematch with Lieberman.

"I say, 'Well, go for it,' " Lamont said Tuesday. "I've been through the meat grinder with my family."

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If Lieberman wishes to retain the seat, he will need to make a deal with the GOP or change parties

Fox has learned that Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) are crafting a letter to share with the House Democratic Caucus that would try to prevent the Speaker from bringing the tax bill to the floor.

They hope to get 60 signatures on their letter (which is still being drafted) and then force a vote in the caucus. DeFazio says he thinks that if a majority of House Democrats are against this compromise, they shouldn't bring it to the floor.

In other words, they are seeking a majority of the majority to move this and a senior House democratic source indicates they don't know if they have a majority of democrats, saying they haven't whipped this yet..
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It might fail but unlikely.

Hoekstra is the only one of the outgoing Members who seems like a logical choice to take on Stabenow, and he did best in the poll against her. Stabenow led the western Michigan Republican, 45 percent to 44 percent. Fellow Rep. Candice Miller, first elected in eastern Michigan in 2002, would trail within the margin of error as well, the poll discovered. She got 41 percent to Stabenow’s 43 percent. Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and two other potential candidates performed less well but could still be competitive as the campaign progresses. Land trailed Stabenow by four points, while former Gov. John Engler trailed by seven points and businessman Tim Leuliette trailed by 17 points.

Nonetheless, PPP found that Michigan voters aren’t enthusiastic about Stabenow’s performance in the Senate. Only 41 percent approved of her work, and 40 percent disapproved.
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If Obama does not have 2012 coattails or loses, Stabenow goes as well

 In the beginning, there was Planet Poker.

Although really, the savvy ones were making money from online poker even before that. Russ "Dutch" Boyd–who would later take inspiration from Steve Miller's classic joint in his poker industry career–was one of the earliest adopters. He and others discovered in the latter half of 1997 that an online company called 2AM Games offered a platform for legally parting fools from their money. 2AM Games hosted online Texas Holdem Poker.

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A very interesting read

Stu Hoegner, our resident international gaming attorney here at Pokerati – a.k.a. @GamingCounsel as he is well followed on Twitter, has located a copy of document that has been widely requested by our readers in the past 24 hrs.

Check it out -> Las Vegas Review Journal has placed the following draft copy of the Reid Internet Poker Bill on the web.

Hold on to your legal hats…  here’s Stu’s detailed analysis of this draft copy of Reid’s bill.

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Read it all.

Chances of passage = probably continues remote