Debate is beginning to heat up in the blogosphere about the need for, and nature of, a progressive movement in this Age of Obama.  See recent posts by John Judis, Glen Greenwald, David Sirota, and Chris Bowers, plus the comments

What a thrill, to watch the Obama inauguration today.  His speech was sober and inclusive, emphasizing our responsibility as citizens to help solve the major problems our country faces.I could see on his face the mixture of emotions--awe at the responsibility and earnest intention to do his best, but with occasional flashes of delight. 

Wade Hudson, co-founder of the Progressive Resource Catalog, and others in the Strategy Workshop are studying ways to help progressive activists become more effective.

I'm struck by how clearly the stimulus projects Mary Ratcliff recommends reflect the modern progressive thinking as identified in Kyle Gillette's report on progressive values.

One area of consensus for economists is the belief that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. As John Mauldin points out in his news letter, a number of economic factors are working together that need to change before we will see any improvement:

We're back to the Wild West here, out on the frontier.  Velvet Revolution has just posted notice of a $100,000 bounty:

"...for information leading to arrest and conviction for election fraud affecting the outcome of California's Proposition 8.

Why Georgia? There's strongly suggestive evidence that the 2002 senatorial election in Georgia was stolen. That was the first election in which Diebold electronic DRE voting machines were used statewide.  Republican Saxby Chambliss beat front runner Democrat Max Cleland, with an astounding 12-point reversal of the vote count compared to pre-election polls.  A last-minute "patch" had been applied covertly by Diebold staff to multiple voting machines throughout the state.

This first novel, The Playbook, portrays a Republican presidential administration headed by an incompetent president, backed up by an unethical, conservative vice president and a scheming political advisor.  Sound familiar?  When a copy of a highly confidential document, the conservatives’ “playbook”, falls into the wrong hands, individual careers, an upcoming election, and ultimately the nation are put in jeopardy.  Interesting twists emerge as the plot evolves around the relationship of this administration to a religious fundamentalist sect, domestic secret torture facilities, an

Patio Man, Deck Guy, Porch Dude and Stoop Buddy are all surprised that they still waste five minutes of their day reading David Brooks.

Brooks' occasional use of big words and obscure references always made it seem like he knew what he was talking about. But now that he’s using their two-dimensional prototypes to lend authority to his illogical positions, they may choose to adjust to life without Brooks pretending to understand them and pretending to know what can help them prosper.

There's a cute .pps circulating, called "Noah today," with spectacular photos of gathering storms. Actually, this presentation represents thinking that originated with the Heritage Foundation, intended to undermine people's support for government regulations.

Leonard Salle (may G-d rest his soul), politely reprimanded me for circulating a previous version that was about all the things we used to do "back in the day" that didn't need regulation or safety protections.