Jack & Jill Politics

I’m not sure if this was posted already but even if it is is worth repeating:

‘The Muppets’ Respond To Fox News’ Accusation That They Are Anti-Oil

Good Morning, Everyone:)

U.S. Midwest Jobs Return as Applesauce Joins Cars to Lift Obama
QBy Jeff Green and Mark Niquette – Jan 29, 2012 11:00 PM CT

From northern Michigan’s iron mines to Pennsylvania’s natural-gas fields, the industrial heartland of America is humming with jobs again as a region once left for dead recovers faster than the rest of the U.S.
The turnaround may shape this year’s race for the White House as President Barack Obama seeks to reverse Republican gains in the Midwest. The title of his State of the Union address, “An America Built to Last,” evoked a theme of manufacturing’s revival meant to resonate on the campaign trail.

The economies of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania — all states Obama won in 2008 — have improved faster than that of the U.S. since the recession’s depth in April 2009, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. Michigan is expected to lead all 50 states during the next six months, the Fed data show.

“We’re going back to a region we abandoned a long time ago to get energy again from rocks that were already drilled a thousand times,” said Clay Williams, chief financial officer for Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), which started in Oil City, Pennsylvania, in 1862. “We’re going back to our roots.”

Economic recovery in so-called Rust Belt states may bolster re-election chances for Obama, who pushed the U.S.-backed bailout of General Motors Co. (GM) and Chrysler Group LLC, both based in Michigan. He visited the state in a three-day campaign swing following his speech, and was greeted by guest editorials in Detroit newspapers from Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus and Michigan GOP Chairman Robert Schostak criticizing his record on the economy.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/u-s-midwest-jobs-return-as-applesauce-joins-cars-to-lift-obama.html

found this comment at The Obama Diary:

carolyn

January 31, 2012 at 9:09 am

 Regarding the envy of the Republicans, there is a line from Othello which describes what is going on. Iago, Othello’s subordinate, has such powerful envy and jealousy he can hardly live. He tries to convince Othello that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with Cassio, one of Othello’s officers. Iago’s feelings and reasons are well summed up in his statement: “He (Cassio) hath a daily beauty in him which doth make me ugly.” That was not just physical beauty, but inner beauty, that Iago could not tolerate. This, I think, is what drives the Republicans, but of course they cannot admit it.

01-31-2012 9:14 AM

 ABC/WaPo: Private Sector Experience of Romney, Gingrich Viewed Unfavorably

New numbers from ABC News and the Washington Post show that the private experience of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is view unfavorably by the general population, but favorably by Republicans. Americans generally viewed “Gingrich’s work, since leaving elective office, as a consultant for companies with an interest in federal policymaking,” unfavorably by 54 percent, against 24 percent who saw it favorably. Republicans saw it slightly positively at 44 – 40.

Romney scored much better, respectively. Americans saw his work “buying and restructuring companies before he went into politics” favorably 35 percent of the time, versus 40 percent who saw it unfavorably. Republicans were very keen on it — 58 percent see if favorably against only 24 percent who were down on it.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/4902

January 30, 2012 8:45 AM 

The Quiet Triumph of Obama Care

By Harold Pollack and Greg Anrig

We understand why President Obama trumpeted the killing of Osama bin Laden while barely mentioning health reform, his most significant domestic accomplishment in his State of the Union address last week. Ten years after 9/11, the killing of Bin Laden was an indisputable triumph for President Obama, welcomed by almost every American. In contrast, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted with only Democratic votes by the scarcest of margins in 2010, remains a complex, highly controversial piece of legislation with outcomes and costs that remain to be seen in the years ahead.

Yet surprising even to many advocates of health care reform, evidence is emerging that the ACA is already improving life for millions of average Americans. It is promoting long-overdue fundamental changes in our dysfunctional medical system. Moreover, because those reforms are starting to directly address heightened economic insecurities of average families – the personal financial conditions that will largely determine this year’s election outcomes – President Obama would be wise to more forcefully and more specifically explain how his health care bill is already helping millions of vulnerable families and the country as a whole. Sure, financially-pressured families will celebrate the derring-do of Seal Team Six. They should directly appreciate the immediate impact of improved insurance coverage and reduced medical costs.

Here are five concrete realms in which the Affordable Care Act, which won’t even take full effect until 2014, has already had an impact:

About 2.5 million more young adults are now insured because of the new law. The Affordable Care Act allowed individuals up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ employer-based insurance plans with substantial protections for individuals with preexisting conditions. These young adults can be married, living on their own or in school, and even holding a job. Figure 1 below was produced by experts in the Department of Health and Human Services, tells the basic story.

These provisions began to take effect on September 23, 2010, and right around that time health coverage for young adults began to sharply improve, even as coverage for slightly older workers showed no similar break.

The importance of these changes goes beyond the gratifying coverage trends—though it’s hard to recall such dramatic favorable change associated with a specific policy coming into effect. Millions of young adults suffering from cancer, cardiac conditions, diabetes, major depression, autism, intellectual disability can obtain decent and affordable coverage through their parents’ employers, thus avoiding the deeply-troubled market for individual and small-group insurance coverage.

These provisions complement other ACA provisions, which right now provide unprecedented protections for children and adolescents. Insurance plans that cover children can no longer exclude, limit, or deny coverage to children under the age of 19 solely based on a preexisting condition.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/01/a_quiet_triumph_of_obama_care035079.php

I knew something like this would happen.
http://gawker.com/5880712/president-asked-to-dance-a-jig-by-random-internet-person

He meant rabiblanco

It is nice to be white and upperclass so you can benefit from this.  You are SOL if you are anything else. So call it what it is it is health insurance reform it is not healthcare reform.