Today's Top Stories: Roots, Health Care, Tools and Tarp

• Bob's best blog in a long time, arguing for more coordination between Patrick's peeps and the roots. My suggestion: Don't just think net when talking roots. The regular old grassroots is still where change comes from. What does Massachusetts need? Thousands of Patrick supporters at regular Hill Days, marching to their local legislators office. Couple that with more work by the administration to reach out to those offices and suddenly administration plans will become government plans (every single admin task force should include members of the House and Senate, or their staffers). Heck, get the House and Senate on board with the Hill Days, get them to invite their own constituents, to avoid the pesky claim that Deval's trying to strong arm government (and focus the change on the DINOs).
• People get fired for being gay. We need ENDA at the national level this year.
  
• Joe Scarborough is a tool and should be fired. People say MSNBC is the "liberal" network, yet Scarborough's morning program is an hour longer than Countdown and the Rachel Maddow show combined. MSNBC is not a liberal network, it just lucked into having a tiny shred of liberal hosts. (And Rachel Maddow is a sweetheart; any conservative would be a fool to avoid her show because she's 'liberal.')
• How to do TARP right, a case study.
• Do it, do it, do it.
• Why wait?

  Governor Deval Patrick yesterday asked the state's most prominent hospital and health insurance leaders to take quick action to hold down rapidly rising healthcare costs, suggesting that if they did not take steps on their own, they might face new government regulation.

  Create those new government regulations now. The insurance industry has repeated failed, epically. They're bankrupting government and families left and right. Compared to other countries around the world, our system is not providing good health care coverage when looking at the population as a whole (an indisputable fact). The HMOs don't deserve more second chances; it's time for this state - and this country - to start making decisions for itself based on what makes sense, what saves money and what provides the best quality of care. It's clear that the insurance industry fails on all three of those levels.