This week's Mailbag brings manipulation of the yuan, much to our surprise, along with some holiday levity. Happy Holidays!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is suing the Bush administration because, due to the new energy law, California can't reduce emissions as much as it would like. Forgive me for saying so, but this is a Raw Deal for the Last Action Hero.

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Barb Walters, president of the Texas Democratic Women of Collin County.

Following a flurry of bills in the last few days of this year's House session, Democrats closed off the session by passing a $555 billion omnibus appropriations bill yesterday.

The biggest news for Texas Democrats and progressives this morning is Dan Barrett's win over Mark Shelton in the District 97 special election.

Chalk up another Democrat in the Texas House.

Because the crushing pseudo-monopoly of media conglomeration has gone so well and had absolutely no effect on the objectivity of news reporting at all, the FCC has decided to further relax ownership restrictions on media companies. I'm sure this will work out great.

President Bush has been pushing pretty hard lately for telecom immunity in the warrantless wiretapping ordeal, and it looked like he might get what he wanted in new FISA legislation until Senator Chris Dodd threatened a filibuster.

There's no headline that reads "John Edwards for President" but getting the cover of Newsweek is a substantial chunk of earned media. The story about Edwards within implies a strategic possibility for him to win Iowa as well as a background report on how he got to where he is now.

Ron Paul picks up $6 million in one day and John McCain picks up Joe Lieberman. It is all strange but true.