Ezra Klein, now of the Washington Post, has an interesting and illuminating interview with Senator Kent Conrad, the North Dakota Democrat who chairs the Senate Budget Committee that sheds light on the "compromise" that seems to be emerging in the Senate as the alternative to a public government-run health care option.

To begin with, Senator Conrad provides some background on how the co-op option came about. According Senator Conrad, the G-11 group of Senator that includes both Republicans and Democrats, chairmen and ranking members of the key committees, who are responsible for coordinating health care reform in the Senate approached him and asked to come up with something to bridge the divide between those who are strong adherents to the public plan and those who are strongly opposed. The Senator added:

The co-op structure came to mind because it seems to fulfill at least some of the desires of both sides. In terms of those who want a public option because they hope to have a competitive delivery model able to take on the private insurance companies, a co-op model has attraction.

And for those against a public option because they fear government control, the co-op structure has some appeal because its not government control. It's membership control, and membership ownership.

Also the co-op model has proven very effective across many different models.

It's an interesting idea and worth exploring though it shouldn't mean precluding a public option. Ezra Klein also seems to feel this way and asks Senator Conrad why not do it alongside and let a thousand coverage models bloom?

Well it seems the arcane rules of the Senate and the math are the problem. Senator Conrad believes health care reform requires a 60 vote threshold and that the votes simply aren't there.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former UN Ambassador and unrepentant neoconservative John Bolton finds that while Israel's military option against Iran's nuclear program is "unattractive", but failing to act is even worse. In his piece, Ambassador Bolton argues that time is not on Israel's side and that one "major new element in Israel's calculus is the Obama administration's growing distance." Ambassador Bolton seems to believe that Israel should attack Iran and the sooner the better.

He outlines six possible Iranian responses to Israeli attack and dismisses each scenario as unlikely to occur. Ambassador Bolton's fantasies extend to the realm of the absurd. For example he argues that even if Iran close the Straits of Hormuz, that might be offset by prudent hedging to prevent any spike in oil prices. By process of elimination but also because of strategic logic, Bolton concludes Iran's most likely option is retaliating through Hamas and Hezbollah. But here this too can be minimized by "simultaneous, pre-emptive attacks on Hezbollah and Hamas in conjunction with a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities." Why is it that John Bolton's answer to every question more war?

Right out of the gate, Rasmussen Reports has released a poll taken Wednesday night showing newly-minted Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds leading Republican Bob McDonnell 47-41.  No doubt, these numbers may be a bit inflated in Deeds' favor, it being a one-day poll taken as Deeds enjoyed glowing press following his come-from-behind primary victory.  Nevertheless, given that the last Ras poll matching up Deeds and McDonnell showed McDonnell leading 45-30, these are welcomed numbers.  Deeds also enjoys a slight favorability edge over McDonnell according to the poll, with Deeds at 59-27, compared with McDonnell's 52-28.

Deeds and McDonnell have, of course, tangled before, with McDonnell barely edging Deeds by a hair in the 2005 Attorney General race, the difference being 323 votes out of over 1.94 million votes counted (yes, just 323 - no, that's not a typo with zeroes missing).  So this will be very close.  This first poll, though, refutes the inevitability meme that McDonnell was hoping to spread.

After losing the NY-20 special House election and losing a Senator to a Party switch, the GOP is reeling.  Losing VA-Gov, which they are expecting to win comfortably, would be a major body blow heading into the 2010 calendar year.  So get on the Deeds bus!  Visit his website.  Join the Facebook group.  Follow Deeds on Twitter.  Subscribe to the e-mail list.  Oh, yeah, and please contribute!

If you need to know the type of Republican we're facing in Bob McDonnell, visit TheRealBobMcDonnell.com for all the dirt (and share that URL with anyone you know who lives in Virginia, has friends and family in Virginia, might move to Virginia, etc.).  If you're looking to pigeonhole McDonnell, the best description is that he is a Pat Robertson disciple.  Yeah.  So it would be awfully swell to keep him out of the Governor's office.

Remember: the 2005 Deeds-McDonnell race was decided by 323 votes out of over 1.94 million votes counted.  This race will be exceptionally close.  Every single dollar will make a difference.  Every single minute spent volunteering will make a difference.  Republicans will be favored to win this right up until Election Day.  However, if Democrats in Virginia and across the country are able to contribute time, money, and resources, we can flush the conventional wisdom down the toilet and deliver yet another embarrassment to the Rush-Newt-Cheney Republican Party and another loss to the Michael Steele RNC.

In comments made during a speech at the Washington think-tank Center for a New American Security, General David Petraeus noted the number of attacks in Afghanistan over the last week hit the highest level since the December 2001 fall of the Taliban. Attacks have risen to over 400 insurgent attacks a week compared to under 50 per week back in January 2004. More from the New York Times:

The violence that has surged for two years in Afghanistan reached a new high last week, and more difficulty lies ahead, the commander of U.S. troops in the Middle East said Thursday.

Gen. David Petraeus said the number of attacks in Afghanistan over the last week hit the highest level since the December 2001 fall of the Taliban.

"Some of this will go up because we are going to go after their sanctuaries and safe havens as we must," Petraeus, in charge of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as leader of U.S. Central Command, said during a speech at the Washington think-tank Center for a New American Security.

"But there is no question the situation has deteriorated over the course of the past two years in particular and there are difficult times ahead," he said.

There were more than 400 insurgent attacks last week, including ambushes, small arms volleys, assaults on Afghan infrastructure and government offices, and roadside bomb and mine explosions. In comparison, attacks in January 2004 were less than 50 per week.

Extremist attacks in the rural nation tend to increase in the summer months, and in part are spurred by military efforts to crack down on insurgents, Petraeus said.

Petraeus, who led beefed-up U.S. military efforts that helped turnabout violence in Iraq in 2007, noted several challenges in Afghanistan he did not face while in Baghdad -- including the inability of U.S. troops to live among the local residents.

It is probable that the violence will continue to escalate as Afghanistan approaches its presidential elections in August and as more US and NATO troops arrive in the country before waning as the harsh Afghan winter sets in.

From the Health Economy Now factsheet:

The US will spend over 2.5 trillion dollars on health care in 2009, totaling 17.6 percent of GDP.  France, Canada , Germany, Japan and the UK are all at or below 11 percent.

U.S. manufacturers spend more per hour on health care than their competitors in Canada, Japan and the UK combined.

When the uninsured can't pay for doctor and hospital visits and have no where else to turn, the cost is shifted to those who have insurance coverage.

As many as 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs.

Wasteful and inefficient spending in the U.S. health care system adds up to roughly $700 billion a year--costing nearly as much as the recent recovery package.

A study published in the Journal of Labor Economics found that a 20 percent increase in health care costs for U.S. employers results in 3.5 million jobs lost.

Healthy Economy Now represents a coalition of workers, businesses and organizations who understand that better health care is one key to revitalizing the American economy. Among the supporters of the organization are Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the American Medical Association, the SEIU, the Business Roundtable, American Cancer Society, the AARP and PhRMA.

This video is getting a lot of well-deserved buzz this morning. Like good writing, good video CAN crystallize a moment, and make a compelling argument. Then again, the argument that the modern conservative movement has come completely unhinged is a fairly easy one to make. Never mind. Just watch the video:

And if you're in Washington, DC today, please consider joining The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington, the InterFairth Conference of Metropolitan Washington, various faith groups, friends, and me for a vigil for peace and solidarity in front of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024 (just off 14th and Independence SW - closest Metro stop: Smithsonian on the Orange and Blue lines)

2:00pm today (Thursday, June 11, 2009)

We'll be there to express our support, unity, love, respect and to reflect in the aftermath of yesterday's tragic shooting of Stephen T. Johns, who gave his life defending our commitment to fight injustice and hatred.

I'd also like to put in a quick pitch for The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and The Southern Poverty Law Center. Two organizations that do indispensable work and need our support.

Donate to The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: http://tinyurl.com/l9vp48

Donate to The Southern Poverty Law Center: http://tinyurl.com/krseva

The video is over at Real Clear Politics for those interested, but here's what Florida's Republican Senator Mel Martinez had to say about Sonia Sotomayor:

CNN reported that Judge Sotomayor recently received a "big boost from the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate." Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) said that, "For someone who is of Latin background, personally, I understand what she is trying to say. Which is, the richness of her experience forms who she is. It forms who I am, that does not mean that that she has allowed that to filter her opinions, at least not that I've seen so far."

Per the Associated Press, Martinez also believes that Sotomayor will be confirmed "with pretty good numbers."

Doing all the math, then, with Martinez seemingly backing Sotomayor, Maine's two Senators not particularly likely to support a filibuster of her nomination (it's hard to see how they come out in strong opposition to the nomination), and at least a handful of other Republicans likely to back the President's pick (seven of the current 40 Republican Senators have already voted to confirm Sotomayor), it's awfully difficult to count up to 41 votes to sustain a filibuster. Am I missing something?

A car bomb ripped through a market in the town of Bathaa in southern Iraq's Shi'ite heartland. At least 29 people were killed with scores injured. It was the deadliest bombing to hit the Nasiriyah area since November 12, 2003, when a suicide truck bomber attacked the headquarters of Italian forces stationed there, killing more than 30 people. It was the first such bombing directed at civilians in the area around Nasiriya in the past two years. Iraqi officials blamed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia for the blast.

The blast is the latest in a series of high-profile explosions that have raised concerns about a resurgence of violence as the US military faces a June 30 deadline to withdraw from urban areas in Iraq under the terms of an agreement negotiated between Iraq and the United States late last year. Under the security agreement, American combat troops must withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of this month and all American troops must be out of Iraq by December 31, 2011.

With Iraqi government moving ahead with plans to hold a national referendum on the agreement, US officials are quietly lobbying the government not to hold the referendum because if it is held, it may not pass. Only the Kurds support the pact, other groups are largely opposed for varying reasons. If the Iraqi people vote down the security pact, the American military would have to withdraw all troops within a year from the date of the vote.