Jack & Jill Politics

Took 2nd test in Biochem today. I either got a low A or a high B. Either way, I did really well!!!

Yeah me!!!

Next test is in 1 week, so I got some time to catch up on everything. Gonna go to bed now though.

Go lamh32!

HEEEEEEY lamh32!! ***BIG HUG*** :>)

+ YAAAAAA - - U!!! CONGRATULATIONS!! PROUD OF U!! :>)

That's my area of trainin'! :>) WELCOME!! :>)

yeah lamh!!!

kick that biochem butt

I wonder if the republicans will be stupid enough to try to use Ayers against Obama again in 2012.

Yes, and they will also claim Obama is too inexperienced to be the President in 2012, too.

HEEEEY Town! ***BIG HUG*** LOL!! :>)

"WHYCOME" U SPEAK TA-RUTH!!

WE KNOW!!

Oh, but their opinion has NOTHING to do with RACE!

**WINK WINK!!***

***SHAKIN' MY HEAD***

(((GREEN LADY HERE)))

Bill Ayers admits writing 'Dreams' to conservative blogger...

U are a moron, Bill Ayers played you guys

Once he heard it was a conservative blogger he said

"I wrote dreams... michelle told me to" because he realized how stupid you guys are I hope he continues to say more outrageous things to get you guys more crazy.

By the way do you know Ayers also told michelle to say Whitty in that tape?
Do you know Ayers runs Acorn?
Do you know Ayers was in the white house yesterday?

How did THIS miss the front-page of JJP!?! ESPN's Body Issue certainly didn't miss it - 'My thighs... I think they're too big' ...nope, they're perfect... 'And also my arms. I think they're too muscular' ...muscular looks great on you and they're certainly not "too muscular" ...They're too thick. ...wrong again, they are perfect!

You got the fever for the flavor.

Stop drooling, Karmi!

Drooling is allowed when it's a great pic like that one! The 28-year-old looks a picture of confidence while wearing nothing but a smile, her modesty saved only by some very strategic posing.

Horny ass!

Got the Jungle Fever, eh kid? ;)

LOL!

Baucus Messes Up Wyden’s Amendment - Updated
By: Jon Walker Tuesday October 6, 2009 1:00 pm


A few days ago, I wrote that the CBO screwed up Ron Wyden's amendment by failing to fully score it, after telling Wyden that they had. As a result, Max Baucus wouldn't let it come up for a vote on the Senate Finance Committee. Wyden is now threatening to vote against the entire bill, which could keep the Senate Finance Committee from reporting one.

So what actually happened?

FDL has obtained the two CBO letters that were sent to Wyden, one on September 22 (PDF) and another on September 29 (PDF), which indicate that Baucus was not correct when he told Wyden that the amendment had not been scored. It had. There was a "proposal variant," as the CBO calls it in the September 29 letter, that they indicated they could not score. But that wasn't the amendment Wyden submitted, which was supposed to be voted on that night.

Here's what happened:

Sept 16: Baucus introduces his America's Health Future Act. Wyden submits his “free choice” amendment shortly thereafter, something he had be working on for several months.

Sept 22: The CBO sends Wyden an email, saying they have fully scored amendment. As had been previously reported, they score the amendment as saving $1 billion:

From [deleted] cbo.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 9:03 AM
To: [deleted] (Wyden)
Cc: Sandy Davis
Subject: free choice amendment

[deleted]

Below is our analysis of amendment #C1. As I mentioned, we modeled this as giving all employers access to the exchange starting in 2015 The savings were a little smaller than Ihad anticipated but it is still a net saver.

Wyden # C1

* Relative to the Chairman’s mark, the amendment as modeled would reduce the net impact on federal deficits by about $1 billion over 10 years. There would not be substantial effects on the total number of people with insurance coverage or the sources of that coverage, relative to the Chairman’s mark.

According to sources familiar with the exchanges between Wyden and Baucus, an attempt was then made to create a modified compromise version of the amendment which could have a better chance of passing the committee, and it was submitted to the CBO.

September 29: The CBO sent a another letter to Wyden. They indicated they were unable to fully analyze this new modified version of the amendment, which they called the "free -choice proposal variant":

From [deleted]
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 4:22 AM
To: [deleted]
Cc: [deleted]
Subject: Wyden free choice proposal variant

Unfortunately we will not be able to estimate the impact of the full-blown version of this proposal -- involving vouchers -- in the near term. The complexities of working out how the voucher amounts would be determined, who would keep the savings, the tax treatment of those savings, the potential for favorable or adverse selection -- and how individuals and firms would resopnd to the resulting incentives -- would take some time to work out.

As we indicated to Senator Wyden's staff, amendment # C as drafted -- which involved setting up combined reinsurance pools for employer plans and exchange plans -- seemed most similar to us to allowing firms to purchase coverage through the exchange; that is, to let all of their workers choose among the exchange plans. Thus, we modeled the effect as allowing all firms to do so starting in 2015 (which is sooner than under the mark). We assumed that there would be resulting reductions in tax-preferred health care spending that would be translated into taxable wages as a result of market forces -- without involving specific provisions for vouchers -- and that effect was factored into the $1 billion reduction in net federal costs that CBO and JCT estimated for the amendment.

So Wyden never introduced the "variant."

October 2: Shortly after midnight, Wyden introduces his original, fully scored version of the amendment -- not the modified version which the CBO had not analyzed. Baucus let Wyden bring it up as the last amendment on the last day of mark up. Debate started at approx. 1:00 am. Roughly half an hour into it, Baucus surprised Wyden by declaring that he would rule it out of order (there would not be a vote on the amendment):

BAUCUS: Now, the fact is CBO has not scored this amendment. CBO has not analyzed this amendment. I justs checked a few minutes ago with CBO.

A late night text message sent to Kent Conrad by someone at the CBO supposedly backed up Baucus's claim.

According to sources familiar with what transpired, the CBO never withdrew its score for the Wyden amendment before Wyden introduced it. They confirmed this to Wyden the next day.

The big issue is that Baucus blindsided Sen. Wyden at 1:45 in the morning on the very last day of mark up. For reasons of protocol and simple good manners, Chairman Baucus had the duty to inform Wyden that he would be ruling his amendment out of order before doing it publicly at 1:45 am. Given the proper warning, Wyden would have had the chance to confirm with CBO director Elmendorf that his amendment was fully scored and should not be ruled out of order. Wyden did try to argue that he was indeed correct, but to no avail (I guess late night text messages sent to Conrad trumps logic). There was no one from CBO present at the hearing to settle the matter.

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/06/...

I'm confused again. The Wyden bill co-sponsored by Bennet (R-Utah) does not contain a public option, which you folks favor. The Wyden bill is conservative; it relies upon competition among insurance companies to drive down prices. Most liberal economists have said its a pile of shit, a race to the bottom. Now, Wyden is a liberal hero?

Again, it's all drama and no substance from JJP and Firedoglake.

this needs to be filed under

G-T-F-O-H






Texas GOP Lawmakers Who Voted Against Recovery Act Now Beg For Stimulus Funds
First Posted: 10- 6-09 11:30 AM | Updated: 10- 6-09 11:50 AM
Every single Republican in the House voted against the $819 billion Recovery Act in January. Among the Republican senators who voted against the stimulus were Texas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. Both of them complained that they wanted to see more tax cuts rather than government spending.

But now, both Hutchison and Cornyn are pressuring the Obama administration to give Texas $3 billion in stimulus funds. The co-signers on the letter are a bipartisan group of the Texas delegation in the House, including 19 Republicans, all of whom also voted against the funds for which they’re now begging. The letter was drafted and circulated by GOP Rep. Pete Olson. From the letter:

Therefore, to ensure the U.S. maintains its leadership in human space exploration, we respectfully ask that you include in your promised amended budget request for NASA’s Exploration Systems a request to Congress to reallocate the necessary funds for NASA from the funds that we anticipate will remain available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). As of last month, less than 15 percent of ARRA funds had been expended.

Since the stated purpose of the stimulus package was to secure good jobs and stabilize our economy, there is no better investment that could be made than the addition of up to $3 billion to NASA in FY2010, and the projection of at least that level of increase, as recommended by your Committee, at a 2.4% rate of inflation in the out-year projections included in the initial FY2010 Request.

Cornyn said that while the stimulus funding “that has already been spent [is] clearly not working, it is my hope that the Administration will use a portion of the remaining, authorized, unspent stimulus dollars to safeguard our nation’s space program.”

Texas isn’t the only state showing this stimulus hypocrisy. Some other examples:

– Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) is now criticizing Gov. Tim Kaine (D) for being “slow” to spend the stimulus money allocated for Virginia — even though if Wolf and his Republican colleagues would have had their way, there would be no extra money for the state at all. “We could use that money desperately,” Wolf told reporters. “We’re in a critical situation.”

– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) also voted against the Recovery Act and has since called it a failure. The stimulus, Grassley told the National Review last week, “is not working.” In June, he had harsher words, saying the stimulus had no positive impact on the economy, “none whatsoever.” But recently, Grassley announced two grants totaling $399,875 to Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa and Goodwill Industries of the Heartland through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration program. “These funds will give a hand up to our veterans who have fought bravely and selflessly for our country,” Grassley said. The funds were authorized by the Recovery Act.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) continues to put his ideology over his state’s needs, refusing to listen to state officials’ requests for high-speed rail funding.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/06/texas-stimu...

IIRC, states that promised to have "shovel ready" programs are holdouts because stimulus money had requirements. Now the states claim they can’t afford the requirement to put up 20 percent of the costs for stimulus money. States just like the banks want PBO to just GIVE them the money without commitment.

Wal-Mart push begins anew
RETAIL | Alderman ramps up call for South Side location
Comments

October 6, 2009

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Now that Mayor Daley's Olympic dream has gone up in flames, a South Side alderman is turning up the heat for City Council approval of Chicago's second Wal-Mart -- and first supercenter that sells groceries.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) said Monday he intends to "hound" Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) every day until Burke holds a hearing on an amended redevelopment agreement that would pave the way for a Wal-Mart supercenter at a former industrial site at 83rd and Stewart in Chatham.

"The Olympics were a side show to my cause and an excuse for many to say, 'We ought to put this off so that we can have peace with the unions,'" said Brookins, whose ward includes the site.

"Now that those union workers aren't gonna be employed building these fabulous buildings all over the city, at least this is some immediate help for those local tradesmen. . . . And it's a tremendous help to stop the leaking that continues to plague our city with people going to the suburbs looking for a bargain."

Brookins said the argument that Wal-Mart needs to pay a living wage "rings hollow." He vowed to produce copies of union agreements negotiated by the United Food and Commercial Workers representing employees at Jewel and Dominicks.

"Wal-Mart is paying the same wages. It's a red-herring for them to start talking about living wages," Brookins said.

Burke responded to the pressure from Brookins by insisting that Wal-Mart "recognize the long history of involvement in this city by organized labor."

"We would like to have peace with organized labor consistent with what a living wage would be and what community improvements would occur as a result of Wal-Mart coming to Chicago," he said.

As for Brookins' claim that Wal-Mart pays the same as Jewel and Dominicks, Burke said, "If that's the case, then it's incumbent upon the parties to find a vehicle for reducing that to a written agreement. With unions that represent the workers at Jewel and Dominicks, they have a written agreement to that effect. What does Wal-Mart have?"

Pressed on when he would call a hearing, Burke said, "I'm gonna confer with Ald. Brookins. I guess this is his first day of hounding me."

On July 29, Burke and Rules Committee Chairman Richard Mell (33rd) used a parliamentary maneuver to delay the Wal-Mart vote until after the Olympic decision.

The last thing Daley wanted before the IOC vote was another donnybrook with labor that would have jeopardized the labor peace he carefully crafted to bolster Chicago's Olympic bid.

But now that the IOC has chosen Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Brookins said there are "no more excuses" for putting the brick on Wal-Mart.

The Council's 2004 vote to approve Wal-Mart's first and only store in Austin gave birth to the big-box minimum wage ordinance snuffed out by Daley's first and only veto.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1808219,C...

OOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Minnesota 6 DETROIT 5 - final score.

OOOOH the PAIN.

Yea! Hubby and his buddies were at the Metro Dome for the game. Downtown Minneapolis is going wild!

sorry

This sounds pretty cool!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33200319/ns/technol... Barack Obama will welcome skywatchers to the White House Wednesday for an evening of stargazing with the first family.

A group of professional and amateur astronomers will set up more than 20 telescopes on the White House lawn during the presidential star party to mark the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), a celebration of the 400th anniversary of famed astronomer Galileo Galilee's first use of a telescope to observe the night sky. President Obama, his family and a group of local middle-school students are expected to attend...."

Science? Hell naw! That's against TEH BIBLE! Obama is EVUL! SCIENCE? GAK!!!

geek alert...and I think it's a good thing

yes, too cool, wish I was one of those middle schoolers who will witness such incredible history first hand. I'm so jealous.

oh good lord, get ready for this next attack on the First Family

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/06/taking_...

"A conservative blogger concluded: "Today Mrs. Obama says (Sasha) was four months old but fortunately did not have meningitis. Yet just eight days ago her husband said she was three months old and was diagnosed with meningitis." One blog used the opportunity to reprint the Obama-as-Joker photo, HotAir.com called it "serious incompetence" on the Obamas' part, it appeared on Breitbart.tv, and the crowd over at FreeRepublic.com dubbed the president a "chronic liar."

I think we should haul Sasha Obama down to the Senate for an investigation.

ZOMG! 3 months versus 4 months! They were off by a whole 4th of her life at that time! Impeach him! And then he had the nerve to say the kid had meningitis when she was perfectly healthy! I bet she wasn't even crying more than usual. GTFOOH

These folks are crazy.

ditto

"Step aside, Germany and France. There’s a new brand leader among world powers. Who? The good old US of A – according to new poll – thanks to the global popularity of President Barack Obama.

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI) survey on which countries are most admired and appreciated around the world has been conducted annually since 2005. This year the US topped the list for the first time, climbing six spots."


The downside is we trail northern and western europeans in nearly every quality of life category, from average height, to life expectancy and infant mortality.

I just posted same....love it.

rikyrah: Several CAPTIONS come 2 mind: :>)

+"McAncient" - at the WHITE HOUSE
+Wellllllll, I just thought I would stop by annnnnd see what might have been. . ." SIGH!

+OOOOOPS! I went to the WRONG HOUSE!! I 'on't live here. Sorry!

+I'm puttin' on a "HAPPY FACE" - even though I LOST!!

+"BYE-EEEEEEEE!"

ENJOY!! :>)

He apparently accused the President of making his decision leisurely. McCain believes Obama should just give McCrystal what he wants. It's funny how these guys want to commit more money to the war at the drop of a hat without any talk of fiscal responsibility but on domestic issues, they claim they are concerned about deficits. Where was his concern for winning the war in Afghanistan when they were rushing into Iraq.

I guess McCain would know about doing stuff leisurely, isn't that why he graduated 5th from the bottom of his class?

HEEEEEY caribgirl! ***BIG HUG** :>)

Where was his concern for winning the war in Afghanistan when they were rushing into Iraq.

"WHYCOME" U "axed" a good question? :>)

He didn't have any THEN, soooooo- NOW---any EXCUSE 2 OPPOSE THAT ONE! - - -THE WINNER!! :>)

WE! KNOW!! :>)

SAAAAAAAA-LAP!! :>)

last time I checked, I believe we have civilian control of the military, for better or worse, depending upon The President, it's still his decision.

"Me in the White House? That's not Change You Can Believe In. Heh heh heh"

HEEEEY Muzikal203!! ***BIG HUG*** :> LOL!!! :>)

STILL PRAYIN' 4 U & the job situation!!

U JUST KEEP THE FAITH!! U WILL PREVAIL!! :>)

God Bless.

this would be pretty neat to attend

http://www.theatermania.com/washington-dc/news/...

"Gloria Estefan, George Lopez, Jimmy Smits, et al. Set for White House Concert Hosted by President Obama
By: Dan Bacalzo · Oct 6, 2009 · DC Metro

Jimmy Smits
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
President Barack Obama will host a concert honoring Hispanic musical heritage, to take place at The White House on Tuesday, October 13, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Participants will include Marc Anthony, Aventura, Pete Escovedo, Gloria Estefan, Jose Felciano, George Lopez, Los Lobos, Jimmy Smits, Thalia, and Tito "El Bambino," with Sheila E. leading the house band.

The concert will be taped for future broadcast, and be shown on PBS on October 15, Telemundo on October 18, and V-me on December 25."

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/06/politic...

I'd much rather Obama ends Plans Colombia and Mexico....and shelve the U.S's plans for seven (7) new military bases in Colombia. All these symbolic gestures are just that.....symbolic.

So how will the Obama/Republican haters spin this one.

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/1...

"Step aside, Germany and France. There’s a new brand leader among world powers. Who? The good old US of A – according to new poll – thanks to the global popularity of President Barack Obama.

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI) survey on which countries are most admired and appreciated around the world has been conducted annually since 2005. This year the US topped the list for the first time, climbing six spots.

According to survey designer Simon Anholt President Obama, whatever his trials at home, has been well-received internationally since his election and changed the image of the US from one that dictates to one that consults. “What’s really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States in 2009,” Mr. Anholt said in a press release on the survey. “The results suggest that the new US administration has been well received abroad and the American electorate’s decision to vote in President Obama has given the United States the status of the world’s most admired country.”

America is gaining popularity in the world because real Americans are rejecting the socialism, facism, communism and racism of Obama. That's why America's standing in the world is improving.

More on the Obama artwork in the White House...love these people


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/06/us/p...

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- You can't see it, but there's a quiet cultural revolution under way at the White House.

The Obamas are decorating their private spaces with more modern and abstract artwork than has ever hung on the White House walls. New pieces by contemporary African-American and Native American artists are on display. Bold colors, odd shapes, squiggly lines have arrived. So, too, have some obscure artifacts, such as patent models for a gear cutter and a steamboat paddlewheel, that now sit in the Oval Office.

Works by big names from the modern art world -- Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko -- are rubbing shoulders with lesser-known artists such as Alma Thomas, an African-American abstract painter of the 1960s and 1970s.

Thomas' ''Watusi (Hard Edge)'' now hangs in the East Wing, where Michelle Obama has her offices. The acrylic on canvas, on loan from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, shows a jumble of geometric shapes in bright reds, blues and greens.

Glenn Ligon's ''Black Like Me No. 2,'' a Hirshhorn loan now hanging in the first family's living quarters, is a ''text painting'' that reproduces words from the 1961 book ''Black Like Me,'' a nonfiction account by a white man who disguised himself as a black man and traveled through the South.

Ligon, a black artist from Brooklyn in New York, said in an interview that the painting's theme fits with President Barack Obama's efforts to create a dialogue between the races."

Why are the Obamas being racist? Why are they putting affirmative action art on the walls? They are kicking white people out of the White House and I think it's racist!!!

But...they call it the WHITE House!

Town: Just WAIT 'til THIS ARTISTIC EXPRESSION HAPPENS :>)

Just sayin'. . . . . :>)

Hey Green Lady!
I'm no expert but I think that's what Banneker and crew had in mind in the first place.

HEEEEEY TyrenM: ***BIG HUG*** :>)

LOL!!! ***U BETCHA!!*** :>) :>)

I'm GLAD and PROUD that it's BLACK INSIDE!! :>)

Go PRESIDENT OBAMA!! :>)

Glenn Ligon's Kick Ass!
Not surprising that they like his work, it is visceral!

the slideshow at WaPo was very interesting.

INTERESTING SERIES AT SLATE on dentistry and dental health

1. The American Way of Dentistry
The story of my teeth.
By June Thomas
Updated Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, at 7:36 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229630

2. The American Way of Dentistry
The disappearing dentist.
By June Thomas
Updated Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, at 7:37 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229631

3. The American Way of Dentistry
The oral cost spiral.
By June Thomas
Updated Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, at 7:24 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229632

4. The American Way of Dentistry
How dentists think.
By June Thomas
Updated Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009, at 9:38 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229633

5. The American Way of Dentistry
Why poor folks are short on teeth.
By June Thomas
Posted Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, at 7:07 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229634

6. The American Way of Dentistry
Inside the dental safety net.
By June Thomas
Updated Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, at 7:09 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229636

7. The American Way of Dentistry
Healthy teeth for all.
By June Thomas
Posted Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, at 11:09 PM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2229637

I haven't read it all, but, I know that after all the money spent on keeping my teeth I just know I paid for at least one college education.

Makes me wonder what that Clarence Thomas is all about....he has a lifetime appointment so doesn't have to worry about the boss, but goes three years without asking one question during oral arguments? What the hell?

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/06/sotomayor-t...

"In just one hour, Sotomayor asked more questions than Thomas has in years.
Yesterday was the Supreme Court’s opening day, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor took an active role in oral arguments. Sotomayor “displayed no reticence on the first day of her first term on the court; in the two cases on the docket, she asked as many questions and made as many comments as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.,” reported the Washington Post. “The only sign of her newness was that she at times forgot to turn on her microphone before posing a question.” McClatchy also observed that in just an hour, she actually asked “more questions than Justice Clarence Thomas has asked over the course of several years.” Thomas has gone three years straight without posing a question during oral arguments."

In just one hour, Sotomayor asked more questions than Thomas has in years.

BWAHA HA HA HA HA HAHA

Please don't let me start on him...pathetic bag of numbnuts.

Doesn't mean anything unless you have details on the questions.

Bullshit. He's one of the dimmest of bulbs. He doesn't ASK questions and HAS NOT in the last three years. Jesus.H.Christ. I'm not an attorney, but I'm willing to bet REAL $$$, I could sure as fuck come up with some questions?

gotta love her

HEEEEY rikyrah: I just HAD 2 BRANG some PICS of Mr. President & FIRST LADY! :>)

+01 October 2009 - VARIOUS SETTINGS: - Showing THEIR LOVE For EACH OTHER--annnnnnd their COMPASSION/EMPATHY for OTHERS :>)

Thank you to the "LIVE JOURNAL!" :>)

ENJOY!! :>)

THANKS GLH

I'm confused. You don't trust or support this President. You've made that very clear. Given that lack of trust and support, why do you welcome photos of the President and the First Lady? Why do you feature those photos on the front page of this site?

When I don't support or trust a black person, say, Clarence Thomas, I reject those images. They mean nothing to me.

Why are these images of a President you do not trust or support meaningful?

I am skeptical with the President on healthcare. But, I know the audience for this blog, and no matter my personal feelings about the President and his policies, I know that him, as a husband a father, are a positive for this country. Some believe that I dislike the President, which is furthest from the truth, because I definitely want to believe in him. The only calendars I have in my home - all 4 of them - are Obama-themed. My fridge has pictures of The President, The First Couple and the First Family, and the coffee table books sitting in my living room are Obama Porn. I can disagree with The President on policy and still search for pictures to post. I don't see any conflict there.

Totally agree with you.

No, being skeptical doesn't necessarily mean one doesn't support him, does it? I don't know, I have a problem taking those kinds of accusations seriously from people who have argued that Obama is solidly for the public option, then have turned right around and talked down the public option, on the off(?) chance that Obama turns out not to truly be for it, and...cite one article from one paper which describes the Obama Administration "twisting arms" to get support for the PO with an "I told you so" sneer...when they have previously argured against the wisdom of him him doing exactly that. Those contradictions have been blatantly obvious. It just shows that you all care much less about policy or people than you do about Obama.

chicagotribune.com
Health care reform: Privately, Barack Obama strongly backs public option
White House discreetly labors to weave coalition on health care
By Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook

Tribune Newspapers

October 4, 2009

WASHINGTON

-- Despite months of seeming ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched an intensifying behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea in the weeks just ahead.

President Barack Obama has long advocated a so-called public option, while at the same time repeatedly expressing openness to other ways to offer consumers a potentially more affordable alternative to health plans sold by private insurers.

But now, senior administration officials are holding private meetings almost daily at the Capitol with senior Democratic staff to discuss ways to include a version of the public plan in the health care bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring to the Senate floor later this month, according to senior Democratic congressional aides.

Among those regularly in the meetings are Obama's top health care adviser, Nancy-Ann DeParle, aides to Reid, and Senate finance and health committee staff, both of which developed health care bills.

At the same time, Obama has been reaching out personally to rank-and-file Senate Democrats, telephoning more than a dozen lawmakers in the last week to press the case for action.

Administration officials are also distributing talking points and employing other campaign-style devices to rally support for passing a bill this fall.

The White House initiative, unfolding largely out of public view, follows months in which the president appeared to defer to senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill as they labored to put together gargantuan health care bills.

It also marks a critical test of Obama's command of the inside game in Washington in which deals are struck behind closed doors and wavering lawmakers are cajoled and pressured into supporting major legislation.

"The challenge is to go to the (Senate) floor, hold the deal," said Steve Elmendorf, a lobbyist who was chief of staff to former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. But "they are more involved than people think. They have a plan and a strategy, and they know what they want to get and they work with people to get it."

With the Senate Finance Committee wrapping up work on its legislation and moving toward a formal committee vote this week, senior Democrats in the House and Senate are furiously working on detailed compromises to ensure enough Democratic votes to pass health care bills out of the two chambers later this month.

While Democrats hold majorities in both houses on paper, nailing down those majorities has not been easy -- particularly in the Senate, where Democrats need a 60-vote supermajority to head off a Republican filibuster. The party commands a 60-40 majority, including two independents, but several centrist Democrats have expressed reservations about parts of Obama's health care agenda.

No issue has proved more divisive than the proposal to create a new national insurance plan operated by the federal government and offered to some consumers as an alternative to private insurance.

Though favored by liberals as the best protection for consumers from high premiums charged by commercial insurers, a government plan is still viewed warily by many conservative Democrats and nearly all Republicans.

Just recently, two proposals to create a national government plan were defeated in the Finance Committee when Republicans and conservative Democrats voted against them.

While those votes were viewed by some as the death knell of the public option, the White House and its congressional allies are under heavy pressure from the Democratic Party's liberal base to breathe life back into it.

That has Democratic leaders looking for ways to insert some form of the concept into a Senate bill without jeopardizing centrist support.

To that end, Obama is lavishing attention on moderate lawmakers while he continues to talk up the public option.

He has met repeatedly in private with Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who has floated a proposal to allow states to set up government plans as a fallback if commercial insurers do not control premiums.

The president has also discussed health care at least three times recently with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., one of the most outspoken Democratic critics of the public option.

When Obama spoke by phone recently with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., he made a point of the breadth of support for the public option, the senator said in an interview. Cantwell authored a proposal to let states set up public plans that Democrats added to the Senate Finance Committee bill on Wednesday.

And when Pennsylvania Democrats came to the White House recently to celebrate the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup win, Obama pulled some of them aside and reiterated his commitment to the public option even as Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was preparing a bill without one.

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are also laboring to reverse the impression that the public option is a politically risky vote for conservative Democrats.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has been canvassing centrist Democrats to explore ways they might support a new government plan. "I have talked to every one of our conservative members, and they are open to some kind of public option," he told reporters recently.

And at a closed-door meeting of Senate Democrats last Tuesday, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., marshaled polling data that in dozens of districts represented by conservative Democrats, a majority said they would back a requirement that Americans get health insurance as long as there was a public option.

"To argue that this is some fringe position is to ignore the obvious," Durbin said.

The nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation's September health care survey showed 57 percent of Americans support the creation of a "public health insurance option similar to Medicare," down just 2 percentage points from the August and July surveys.

Those polls have also been followed closely at the White House.

By including a plan in the bill that the full Senate will debate later this month, the White House and Democratic leaders could force Republicans to try to remove it.



But Obama and Reid are treading carefully, wary of including a provision that would scare off moderates such as Snowe, Nelson and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who have all indicated they would not support a national public plan.

Tribune Newspapers' Peter Nicholas contributed to this report. nlevey@tribune.com



Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune

Ok...one article in two papers owned by the same company. That makes all the difference in the world:).

Does that undermine the credibility of the reporting more than the rumors and speculation from firedoglake?

Well, I don't see a whole lot of named sources in that article, so what's the difference? Besides, that's beside the point. The point is the hypocrisy of attacking Rikyrah when her political positions haven't changed....the hypocrisy of trumpeting this article after having argued against Obama doing what the article describes him doing...after all the "The President can't do anything, it's all on Congress" and "The Blue Dogs shouldn't be pushed, they'll lose their elections if they vote for the public option" rejoinders to people urging that he do what he's said to be doing now.

I think you are mistaking me with someone else. I don't remember making an argument that the president can't fight for a public option. The President is fighting and receiving no credit for fighting.

You lost me with the unnamed sources argument. Every article from the AP, to the Washington Post, to the New York Times has relied upon unnamed sources to make the point that that the President does not support a public option.

I think that on the left we can agree that we want a public option. My fundamental point is that I'm puzzled by why the left blogoshere, including JJP, is silent about published reports that the president is actively working to obtain a public option?

No, your "fundamental point" was trying to badger Rikyrah over still posting pictures of the President and his family, seeing as how she (in your "with us completely or agin' us" mindset) obviously hates Obama.

I do see a conflict. It's not just healthcare. RobM posted a comment last night ranting about the President's failure on almost every issue. You gave him a high five. You have failed to acknowlege that the president is working behind the scenes to push conservative democrats to support a public option, as reported in your hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune. Also today in the Los Angeles Times.

The public option is your issue, why isn't that on the front page?

Don't piss on my leg and tell me that it is rain.

rikyrah: My PLEASURE! :>)

In this cross-section of the DNA Transistor, a single strand of DNA moves amidst (invisible) water molecules through the nanopore

In this cross-section of the DNA Transistor, a single strand of DNA moves amidst (invisible) water molecules through the nanopore

Imagine a world where medicine is guaranteed not to cause adverse reactions because it's designed for an individual's DNA.

Imagine a diet tailored to the precise speed of a person's metabolism. Using a little microelectronics, a little physics, and no small dose of biology, IBM has brought that futuristic world a little bit closer.

The DNA Transistor is a project from IBM Research that aims to advance personalized medicine, by making it simpler (and much cheaper) to read an individual's unique DNA sequence — the special combination of proteins that makes you unlike anyone else.

The technology isn't finished yet, but its potential is tantalizin enough that IBM wanted to share it with the world. And the company claims researchers are making progress.

Essentially a bar code reader for genes, the DNA Transistor is part technique and part device. It consists of a 3-nanometer wide hole, known as a nanopore, in a silicon microchip. A sensor in the pore can read DNA and determine its unique makeup.

IBM Builds 'Bar Code Reader' for DNA

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Gheez, just put the numbers on my forehead and be done with it.