Earlier this week, I offered the first part of my list of all the things from 2009 that I want to forget. Now, as we prepare to cross the threshold into 2010, here is the second part of my compilation of 2009's political and cultural detritus.

We'd all...

Too-big-to-fail banks are profiting from bailout dollars and government guarantees, and growing bigger. Tell us which community bank you use, and why.

Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman...

2009: The Things I Want to Forget -- Part Two

For some, the end of the year is a time to think back on all the memorable moments from the previous 12 months. I prefer to continue my contrarian tradition of performing a mental cleanse, removing from my...

Christmas came a day early this year for health insurance and drug companies when the Senate passed a health care bill crammed with more industry-friendly gifts than Santa's sleigh. "I'll be rolling up my sleeves," said President Obama, pledging to take a hands-on role in merging the House and Senate...

Earlier this week, I asked for your ideas on what gifts we should give to some of our favorite -- and not so favorite -- public figures. You dusted off your Santa suits and squeezed down the virtual chimney, loaded with gift ideas.

Now it's time to unwrap...

A recent CNN poll found that during this economically troubled holiday season 68 percent of Americans are buying gifts that their friends and family need, compared to 27 percent who are buying gifts they think they would enjoy.

As for me, as part of my annual tradition of...

With Monday morning's 1 a.m. 60-40 vote, the Senate's health care bill took another step towards passage, prompting a fresh round of public celebrations. "I think it's very exciting," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told HuffPost. "It's a big day."

Even many of those with serious reservations about the...

This week, Time named Fed chair Ben Bernanke its Person of the Year. The magazine says its choice is "not an award," but rather a recognition of the person who "most influenced the news during the past year -- for good or for ill." Based on that criterion, Time should,...

With the holiday season in full swing, I want to call your attention to two worthwhile initiatives being spearheaded by the HuffPost Impact team and our partners at Causecast.

First up is a holiday gift store we are rolling out today to help those of you looking for...

On Sunday, President Obama gave himself "a solid B+" for his first year in office. But the report card that matters, the midterm one issued by voters, is still 11 months away. At the moment, things are not looking great (consider the note sent home from teacher in the...

This week, in accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama strenuously argued that "as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation" he "cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people." I couldn't agree more. But what exactly are the threats to...

If the fight over health care reform has proven anything, it's just how broken our system has become -- from the crippling influence of money on our politics to the way the modern misuse of the filibuster has taken away the power of the duly elected majority and handed it...

To take some of the sting out of his decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, President Obama laid out an exit strategy by setting a date -- July 2011 -- on which troops will begin withdrawing. The president, through Robert Gibbs, described the date as "locked...

As the health care battle intensifies, insurance giant Aetna says it plans to raise its rates in 2010 and, as a result, expects to lose over 600,000 customers... while boosting profits. It's addition by subtraction, health care style. Aetna President Mark Bertolini justified the move as "ensuring that each...

Today marks the rollout of our latest local section, HuffPost Los Angeles. In many ways, it's a homecoming. The initial idea for HuffPost was hatched in LA, five years ago this month. And LA has been my home base since 1997 (our founding editor, Roy Sekoff, has lived there...

I was asked to give a speech this morning at a journalism conference in Washington, DC sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. The topic, as it so often seems to be these days, is what can be done to save journalism? Since Rupert Murdoch was scheduled to address the conference...

With the Senate ready to begin debating its health care bill next week, it's time for President Obama to make an unambiguous case for its passage. Finally. He needs to deliver on health care reform, including a public option, and then quickly move on to jobs, jobs, jobs -- the...

Thanksgiving always evokes memories of the days when, as mothers of young children, we would bundle them up to deliver turkey baskets -- family to family -- to those in Washington, DC who couldn't afford a holiday dinner of their own.

That simple act connected our children to the original...

There's a Category 5 storm about to make landfall, and the president and the officials in charge of preparing for the approaching disaster don't seem to be particularly worried. Sound familiar?

Just as Katrina exposed critical weaknesses in the priorities and competence of the Bush administration, the unfolding unemployment disaster...

Misrepresenting what I said during an appearance on Countdown this week, NewsBusters claims that I'm trying to deny Glenn Beck his "constitutionally protected free speech." Wrong. What I said is that words have tremendous power -- they can inspire and they can incite. There's a reason you can't...