Okay, it's time for some good news for a change.

Last year, the Maryland State legislature passed a bill requiring all employers in the state with more than 10,000 employees to put at least 8% of their payroll costs into healthcare benefits, or contribute to the state's insurance program for the poor. Wal*Mart protested this bill was specifically aimed at them -- as it happens, they're the only large employer in the state that doesn't already meet those requirements as a matter of course.

Our Republican governor vetoed the bill. Yesteday, the state legislature overturned the veto.

Arthur Silber is back (well, actually, he's been back for about two weeks now); his new blog can be found here: Once Upon A Time.

His latest entry, Three Strikes and We're Out: Destroying America is blistering, and worth a read, because he's hitting points which I think we can't afford to forget. And this is one topic where liberals, progressives and civil libertarians (and hell, maybe even some honest conservatives) can find solid common ground.

I began writing this at about 3 AM this morning. I thought that, after several hours' sleep, I might decide the tone was too harsh. Reviewing the first part of this mid-morning, I've decided to leave the beginning essentially the way I initially wrote it. It may be very harsh, but the facts justify at least this degree of condemnation, and much more. I expect that some liberals, genuine civil libertarians and assorted others who take the protection of civil liberties seriously will agree with the major points. On the other hand, mere Democratic partisans will not. Too bad. (The Republicans are entirely hopeless and not worth mentioning in this context.) With only one or two exceptions, all members of Congress -- Democrat, Republican or otherwise -- have abdicated all responsibility with regard to these attacks on fundamental constitutional principles. So, too, have the "libertarian interventionists." As far as I'm concerned, and to be very blunt about it and setting aside a very few exceptions, every single one of the politicians in Washington can go straight to hell.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before here or over at DKos, etc. -- but for those of you who had heard that Khalid Jarrar, the brother of Raed, had been arrested by the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi version of the secret police, you'll be happy to hear he is now home and safe.  Many, many people were praying for him, spreading the news on their blogs, signing the online petition for his release, and flooding the Iraqi Embassy with emails, and in general offering whatever support they could.    

He wrote an account of his ordeal on his blog.

Sleeping in a grave-size space, defined by two walls touching both my head my and feet, and surrounded with human bodies touching me from both sides, in a way that hardly leaves any chance to move at all during the long... long night, in a 12 square meters room stuffed with 35 people trying to sleep, and to hold themselves together in order not to fight...

More on the flip...