How should progressives react to great art that comes from artists whose politics suck? Can we, should we, separate the two? All of this, writes Bernard Weiner, is occasioned by discussion of the Oscar-winning "The Hurt Locker," the somewhat ambivalent film about U.S. troops in Iraq. How can we interpret this brilliant movie?

Iceland's national referendum was the first opportunity for the people of any nation to vote directly on who pays when the financial elite fail.  As citizens voted, Iceland's Prime Minister was dismissing the importance of the vote and promising to negotiate a payment scheme obligating citizen subsidies for bad debt created by Iceland's beyond-bad bankers.  Michael Collins looks behind the scenes of Saturday's vote in Iceland.

Progressive activist Harmony Wu meets with her congressional representative — and comes away with a mind-boggling look at the politics of health care reform.

9/11 Trial Reversal: Obama Advisers Set to Recommend Military Tribunals in Exchange for Gitmo Closing… but Will Obama Really Give Up on KSM Trial Without a Fight?
RNC adopts Tea Party racist memes as memo mocks donors and fearmongers as RNC Chairman Michael Steele plays dumb… then shifts into damage control mode after press covers 'Evil Empire' presentation
More news below the fold…

There's and old political joke that goes like this:

Barbara Kingsolver's sweeping new novel, "The Lacuna," set in Mexico and the U.S. from 1929 to the 1950s, deals with the fall of empire, political witch-hunting, the logic of social revolution. Naturally, writes Bernard Weiner, it was written during the CheneyBush years.

In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's protagonist, John Galt, leads a strike of the "best and brightest" capitalists, and together they leave the country to set up a "new order."  The scheme offers great advantages -- to the rest of us who are "left behind."

The Doc is for the most part no fan of RT Television (Russia Today, i.e. The Putin Channel) — but every once in a while, they run a short segment as smart and informative as the one below, and you know you'll never see such a moment from the broadcast networks, CNN, or even MSNBC. (Hat tip: Crooks and Liars).