What's going on? I'm heading down to DC on Saturday. Anyone else going to be there?

From CNN:

In an overlooked YouTube video posted on Friday, a spokesman for Barack Obama said the president-elect is committed to ending the policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

In a response to a question on the Web site Change.gov asking whether Obama would get rid of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it's 'Yes.'"

Gibbs on Wednesday expanded on his answer, saying, "There are many challenges facing our nation now and the president-elect is focused first and foremost on jump-starting this economy.

"So not everything will get done in the beginning but he's committed to following through" with ending the policy against being openly gay in the military.

The DADT policy, which dates from the Clinton era, bans military recruiters or authorities from asking someone about his or her sexual preference, but also prohibits a US service member from revealing if he or she is gay.

That the "war on terror" has been riddled with errors is self-evident but the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, is saying something far different. The Foreign Secretary is saying that the use of the "war on terror" as a western rallying cry since the September 11 attacks has been a mistake that may have caused "more harm than good". From the UK Guardian:

In an article in today's Guardian, five days before the Bush administration leaves the White House, Miliband delivers a comprehensive critique of its defining mission, saying the war on terror was misconceived and that the west cannot "kill its way" out of the threats it faces.

British officials quietly stopped using the phrase "war on terror" in 2006, but this is the first time it has been comprehensively discarded in the most outspoken remarks on US counterterrorism strategy to date by a British minister.

In remarks that will also be made in a speech today in Mumbai, in one of the hotels that was a target of terrorist attacks in November, the foreign secretary says the concept of a war on terror is "misleading and mistaken".

"Historians will judge whether it has done more harm than good," Miliband says, adding that, in his opinion, the whole strategy has been dangerously counterproductive, helping otherwise disparate groups find common cause against the west.

Chalk up another in a string of neo-liberal economic failures. Caught in the global financial crisis to a degree perhaps only surpassed by Iceland, the normally tranquil small Baltic republic of Latvia erupted in violence overnight. Thousands of people massed in the Latvian capital, Riga, demanding snap elections and the resignation of the government in the face of a deepening economic crisis. The resentments quickly turned into a riot. Twenty-five people were injured and 106 were arrested.

Latvia's fall is, indeed, a hard one. Credit growth had reached an astounding 78% in 2007. Riga property prices more than doubled since early 2005, driving prices in the old city above levels found in Berlin. Over 85% of all household and corporate debt in Latvia was contracted in foreign currencies, a proportion similar to Argentine dollar debt before the collapse of the peso peg in 2001. The current account deficit was 26% of GDP in the fourth quarter, the world's highest. All thanks to lax regulations on the free flow of capital, one of the cornerstones of neo-liberal economic thought.

"The situation in Latvia bears a striking similarity to that in Iceland last year, only we would argue that Latvia is more exposed," said Tim Ash, an economist at Bear Stearns warned in a report published in February 2008. Consider the moment now one of full exposure. Ah, the joys of the free flow of the capital. Riga 2009 is Buenos Aires 2001.

In an e-mail to supporters today, Howard Dean looked back at what we've accomplished since he became chairman of the DNC just 4 short years ago:

Four years ago, I became chairman with a mandate for bottom-up reform -- grow the Democratic Party in your neighborhood and every other community in America.

We promised to compete in every state, for every level of office. And we demanded a party that would stand up for itself and fight for an agenda that reflects our values. [...]

Four years later, we have more Democratic state legislators and governors. We expanded the electoral map, regained a majority in both houses of Congress, and put a Democratic president in the White House.

We did it by rebuilding the party infrastructure from the ground up, creating a truly national voter database, and developing 21st century campaign tools that merged traditional organizing with new technology.

But as you know, Dean's tenure is about to come to an end with the ushering in of Obama's pick to head the DNC, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Dean uses the e-mail not only to talk about the past but also the future as he passes the torch to Kaine and assures us that Kaine's tenure truly will be a continuation of the Dean legacy:

I know a lot of people are wondering what to expect as we move forward. I can assure you that Governor Kaine will continue the grassroots approach that has made our party and Barack Obama's campaign so successful.

Governor Kaine knows first-hand what a commitment to fighting everywhere means -- Virginia is a prime example of what can happen when we refuse to concede any part of this country and build our organization everywhere. [...]

Governor Kaine knows that the strength of our party comes from the bottom up, and he will need your support as we take the next steps to grow our party and elect Democrats everywhere.

As proof of Kaine's grassroots approach, Dean links to a page over at Democrats.org where you can ask Kaine a question, which he's promised to answer via video. Obviously not all of our questions will get answered but this is a great opportunity to demand that Kaine walk Dean's 50-state strategy walk, not just talk the talk. Just because Dean says Kaine will follow in his footsteps doesn't mean he will. It's up to us to hold him to it and Dean's e-mail really is a call to all of us to do just that. As Dean writes:

We will only create lasting change if that sense of obligation to one another and responsibility for the common good becomes a permanent part of our lives.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

We cannot be silent. We cannot leave it to others to see this through.

TPM's Elana Schor has the scoop:

To Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), health care reform is the great "unrequited love" of progressives. "It goes back to Harry Truman," he told me during a sit-down interview today. "Every 15 years or so, there's an effort to fix health care. Every time, progressives have said, 'This is the moment, my dream of universal health care will be achieved!' ... Something goes wrong, and it goes by the boards."

His realistic assessment of health care's progress during the past half-century made his prediction for 2009 all the more remarkable: Wyden believes there is "a real path to 65 to 70 votes" in the Senate for a health bill that gives all Americans access to "good-quality, affordable coverage".

In fact, he added, major health reform could receive a vote in Congress by the summer. So is it really time for progressives to start believing in love again? Or should we heed Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), another influential lawmaker on health care, when he says health care should wait until next year?

There is a great deal of legwork to be done before the Democrats can come anywhere close to rounding up the 60 votes to invoke cloture on legislation ensuring that every American has healthcare coverage, let alone garnering a 65- to 70-vote supermajority mentioned by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who has already done a great deal of legwork on healthcare reform. In the Senate alone, as Schor notes elsewhere in her article, an agreement between Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Ted Kennedy and Senate Finance Committee Chairman must be forged, which is not a foregone conclusion.

That said, with 59 Democrats in the Senate -- not all of whom will assuredly vote for healthcare reform, but the vast majority of whom would -- the Democrats are already tantalizingly close to being able to break a Republican filibuster against universal healthcare. So who knows? Barack Obama just might be able to do in one term, or even one year, what Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton weren't able to in their collective time in the White House -- insuring all Americans.

The Associated Press has the details:

The House voted Wednesday to expand government-sponsored health care to 4 million more children of working families, making a down payment on President-elect Obama's promise to provide universal health care to all Americans who want it.

The bill, passed by an overwhelming 289 to 139 vote, would increase federal taxes on cigarettes by 61 cents to a dollar a pack to pay the $32.3 billion cost of expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program for the next 4 1/2 years. Departing President George W. Bush vetoed similar legislation twice in 2007.

Next on to the Senate, where I wouldn't be surprised to see the Republicans rolled in a similar fashion. As I said yesterday, this is a very good start.

Update [2009-1-14 15:38:34 by Jonathan Singer]: Here's the roll call.

Things are back in full swing here in the diaries, and thanks again to those diligent few who make sure I miss not a thing.  So many choices, so little front page space...

• Bruh3 carefully dissects the The GOP on the Stimulus Plan.
• Obama Pollster: Expand 50 State Strategy with Youth/Minority Outreach. (Mike Connery)
• Monday, snolan wrote of Special Election in Fairfax County and Alexandria, VA.  On Tuesday, Kent stopped by to remind us that what we do here can make a big difference in That Virginia Race was Tight.
• Zach Carter and The Media Consortium consider lasting progressive policy in their Weekly Audit: Filling FDR's Shoes.
• Jared Polis, borrowing from Abigail Adams, says Remember the Ladies when it comes to economic recovery.
• TomP digs into the specifics with We need a Real Recovery: Obama's Plan is "Too Weak."
• On the topic of incentive and accountability, the national gadfly asks: is the Constitution broken?
• The Brasch's spot Unnecessary Concerns: Democratic Leadership Should Have Little Fear of an Obama Administration.
• Tell your Congresscritter, writes atdleft, Don't Be Stingy on Our Stimulus.
• Gitmo, the recruiting tool in Raj Purohit's Media, Bush and Torture.

I'm off to cover the Sundance Film Festival this weekend and the next, so no Saturday rescues.  I'll be sure to make up for it with the midweek double features.  As always, your recommends are welcome.