Here's the link to Wednesday's live blog.

5:26 pm PDT: We couldn't leave for the day without first reporting on this development.

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I'm feeling relieved. For a while it seemed like the historic election of our first African American president would give legitimacy to the idea that we live in a "post-racial" America. The idea that race is no longer a part of people's daily experience is not merely false. It's potentially dangerous when a majority of people are struggling to understand what's happening to them economically.

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A new study released by the research and consulting firm Spectrem Group finds that the number of millionaires in the United States increased by double digits the last year. According to Spectrem Group's data, "families with a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding primary residences, rose to 7.8 million in 2009," an increase of 16 percent:

The millionaires' club in the U.S. grew by 16 percent in 2009, following a 27 percent decline in 2008.

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On Monday afternoon, a controversial Utah bill that charges pregnant women and girls with murder for having miscarriages caused by "intentional or knowing" acts, was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert.

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The crowd at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, gathered to hear their candidate outline his grand strategy for a new way forward and Barack Obama delivered. 

"I will reject a legal framework that does not work," Obama said, his words slightly drowned out by the loud applause that erupted. "There has been only one conviction at Guantanamo. It was for a guilty plea on material support for terrorism. The sentence was nine months. There has not been one conviction of a terrorist act. I have faith in America's courts, and I have faith in our [Judge Advocate Generals]."

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I am angry.

I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing, media gasbags. I'm tired of snarky "inside politics" programming. I am sick of the bigotry and hatred of "birthers" and faux patriotic cranks and their GOP puppet masters. And I'm really pissed at the Democratic Party that confuses having a plate of limp noodles with having a spine.

I'm going to vomit if I hear the word "bipartisanship" one more time.

It was bipartisanship that gave us this activist, conservative Supreme Court, a Supreme Court that says money is free speech and corporations are persons

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Al Gore penned a lengthy New York Times op-ed entitled, "We Can't Wish Away Climate Change," on February 28, 2010. As expected, Gore was wordy, made no effort to discuss the planet's top polluter (US Department of Defense), and, most of all, the former vice president once again opted to ignore the No. 1 cause of climate change: the meat-based diet. In fact, I ran a search on the nearly 2,000 words, but none of the following terms were found: meat, cow, livestock, methane, farm, diet or vegan.

Accepting the (unfortunate) reality that Al Gore is the planet's best-known climate change spokesperson, he has yet again squandered an ideal opportunity to educate, inform and provoke real change.

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Economist Samir Amin deciphers the latest CIA report on the state of the world. He shows that intelligence agency experts still see a single view only: the American model's dominance. In the first part of two, Samir Amin described the experts' capitalist blindness.

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I despise the implicit pro-Iraq War politics of "The Hurt Locker": There is no examination or even mention in the film of why the U.S. might be fighting there, no look at the neo-conservative ideology that sent our troops there, no questioning of the aggressive tactics aimed at Iraqi civilians, no overt politics at all, for that matter. But I cannot deny the movie's aesthetic power. It is a great film, one of the few war movies that really got into my gut. It well deserves its Best Picture Oscar.

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Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly reports: 

"Last week, Liz Cheney's right-wing vehicle, 'Keep America Safe,' launched a pretty disgusting smear against nine Justice Department attorneys. The group includes lawyers working in the Department of Justice who fought the Bush administration's treatment of suspected terrorists as unconstitutional....

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He may soon be called the nuclear industry's Golden Child. No president in the last three decades has put more taxpayer dollars behind atom power than Barack Obama. And there may be good reason why the president is salivating over the prospect of building new nuclear power plants around the country.

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The official death toll from the war is 100,000, but it is widely estimated to be much higher, perhaps even as high as one million. In his latest piece of artwork, Iraqi American artist Wafaa Bilal tries to grapple with the enormity of these numbers. It’s a twenty-four-hour live tattooing performance called “..and Counting” that began at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts gallery in New York Monday night. By tonight Bilal’s back will be tattooed with the names of Iraqi cities, 5,000 red dots representing dead American soldiers and 100,000 dots in invisible ink representing the official death toll for Iraqis. The dots representing the Iraqi death toll will only be visible under ultraviolet light. [includes rush transcript]

Major environmental groups are coming under criticism from within their own ranks for taking positions that some say are antithetical to their stated missions of saving the planet. In the latest issue of The Nation magazine, the British journalist Johann Hari writes, “As we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world’s worst polluters—and burying science-based environmentalism in return…In the middle of a swirl of bogus climate scandals trumped up by deniers, here is the real Climategate.” [includes rush transcript]

• Obama Campaigns for Healthcare Reform
• Former Rep. Massa Claims He Was Forced Out over Healthcare Bill
• Protests Planned Outside Health Insurance Company Meeting
• Gates: “More Dark Days” Ahead in Afghanistan
• Claim: Pentagon Peddled Misinformation about Attack on Marjah
• Nigerians Bury Dead After Massacre
• Greek PM Calls for Crackdown on Financial Speculators
• Biden: US Ties to Israel Are “Unshakable”
• Burmese Refugees in Bangladesh Face Starvation
• UN Official Warns Against Full Body Airport Scanners
• Midwestern Towns Sue Manufacturer of Atrazine Weedkiller
• Interior Dept. Puts Off Listing Sage Grouse as Endangered Species
• Obama Criticized for Adding Just Two Species to Endangered List
• Conservationist Edgar Wayburn, 103, Dies

On Sunday, March 7th, 1965, Alabama state troopers and local police attacked a peaceful march by 600 civil rights demonstrators from Selma to Montgomery. The day would be remembered as Bloody Sunday. The marchers were just a few blocks into their planned route when they were tear-gassed and beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River. Bloody Sunday was the first of three attempted marches from Selma to Montgomery, which was finally completed under federal protection and led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is widely credited with helping pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act. [includes rush transcript]

Sunday was an historic day in Hollywood. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in history to win the best director award at the Oscars. Bigelow’s film The Hurt Locker won a total of six Oscars, including best picture and best screenplay. And Geoffrey Fletcher became the first African American to win an Oscar for best writing. He won best adapted screenplay for the film Precious. Meanwhile, Mo’Nique won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Mary Jones in Precious. Mo’Nique is only the fifth black woman to win an acting Oscar. In her acceptance speech, she cited Hattie McDaniel, who won the same honor for Gone with the Wind seventy years ago. Hattie McDaniel was the first Academy Award ever given to a black performer. [includes rush transcript]

The Obama administration is working to gather international backing for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. While the United States has circulated proposals on further sanctions, it has yet to present a draft resolution, and a vote at the Security Council is thought to be months away. This comes amidst a new report by the New York Times that reveals the US government has given more than $107 billion to companies which are also doing business with Iran despite a ban on US companies trading with Iran. Leading Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi argues the UN should focus on pressing the Iranian government to restore democracy and human rights, rather than imposing economic sanctions. [includes rush transcript]

Thousands of events are being held around the world to celebrate International Women’s Day, an idea that was launched 100 years ago when a group of women from seventeen countries gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark to champion the rights of women. Activists across the globe are drawing attention to a variety of concerns, including discriminatory laws, the high rate of pregnancy-related deaths in many parts of the world, the skewed sex ratio in China and India, the disproportionately high number of women who are killed and victimized by wars, the comparatively heavier burden of poverty on women, and the continuing disparity between men and women in terms of the quality of available employment and wages received. [includes rush transcript]

• Vote Counting Begins in Iraq; 38 Killed on Election Day
• British War Resister Sentenced to Nine Months in Jail
• US-Backed Somali Troops Prepare Major Offensive
• Hundreds Killed in Nigerian City of Jos
• Biden Heads to Israel as Palestinians Agree to Indirect Talks
• Protests Set to Mark US Visit by Israeli Military Official
• Report: US Gives $107B in Contracts to Firms Busting Iran Sanctions
• Voters in Iceland Reject Payment of $5.3 Billion Foreign Debt
• Unemployment Rate Remains at 9.7%; 36,000 Jobs Lost in February
• Rep. Massa to Resign; Rep. Delahunt Not to Seek Reelection
• Pentagon Shooter Railed About Property Rights and the Monetary System
• Texas Judge: Death Penalty Unconstitutional
• Seven Muslims Detained in Nevada for Praying Outside
• Video Shows Police Beating Student Protesters in California
• Historic Night at Academy Awards

Jerusalem - Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem Monday, topping off a string of high-profile visitors who appear to have succeeded in pushing reluctant Israeli and Palestinian leaders back to the negotiating table — or at least to separate tables.

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