Jeff Merkley is a new Senator for me, although I was proud to be a supporter-from-afar when he ran for the Senate from Oregon in 2008. I like his taking-questions-from-constituents YouTubes and was happy to see Atrios featured one of them on today’s Eschaton front page.

There is now a list going around in conservative websites purporting to be “The List” of media participants in Journolist. It’s fake. How do I know? I’m on The List. And I was never on Journolist.

With the Wall Street reform bill finally cleared through Congress, activists and intellectuals are pushing hard to make sure that this bill isn’t the last word Congress utters about Big Finance. We need deeper and more robust reforms, but it’s also critical to ensure that the new bill is implemented as effectively as possible. Part of that means appointing officials with a proven record as robust reformers—people like Elizabeth Warren.

Laurie Anderson’s terrific performance of “Only an expert (can deal with the problem)” on The Late Show Wednesday night provokes thought on our current reliance on precisely the wrong experts to deal with the problems we face.

The final financial reform package has been dramatically watered down and is riddled with loopholes. But its supporters (and some critics) say that we shouldn’t worry because it at least allows regulators to get tough on the financial industry later — if they think it’s necessary. That is actually true. It does have such provisions.

Timothy Geithner doesn’t like Elizabeth Warren, she is mean to him. Who, then, can we get to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

Elizabeth Warren

In an exclusive interview, New Deal 2.0 editor Lynn Parramore discusses financial reform with TARP watchdog and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren.

I had been waiting and hoping that some ambitious team of investigative reporters would wake up to this story an go put it on the front page of a major daily paper and b doing so, get the general public educated and Capital Hill all fired up about DOING something to keep people in their homes. By some miracle, Capital Hill has cut out the dead tree middleman and appears to be awakening to this issue without help from the traditional media.

When I get to D.C. I want to show Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown why this country needs financial reform and why we need their vote on the The Restoring American Financial Stability Act. Your letters and stories will serve as irrefutable evidence that Congress needs to reform the way Wall Street has been doing business.