The House is holding court leading up to the likely vote on healthcare this weekend - perhaps even today. Will healthcare reform pass into law in the foreseeable future? Will it look like something that most people can be happy with?
Consider this an open thread for following and discussing the pertinent happenings.
WTF! Do these idiots realize what they'll get if their wish is granted? For Obama to fail means the economy must stay bad, or the wars go badly in Afghanistan or Iraq, or Iran gets the bomb, or another terrorist attack takes place in the U.S., or...
Why do they hate America?
Sorry. Had to rant. Teh crazy gets harder and harder to take every day.
The dog days of August have long been known as "the silly season" in the media. Most people are busy enjoying the summer and the media has to stretch to find stories of interest. This is the time for "man bites dog" stories. It has been this way in this country for a long time.
Tonight, the silly season officially came to an end.
Anyone who is not blinded by hatred or ideology will admit that Barack Obama is one of the most skilled political orators to ever hold the office of President of the United States. He reaffirmed that status in a speech tonight to the joint houses of Congress.
The timing of the speech couldn't have been better. During August, the health care debate seemed to be reaching an impasse. Opponents were twisting reasonable proposals into "death panels" and "government takeovers". Supporters were complaining about lack of leadership, focus, and messaging. It was time to get the reform effort back on track.
President Obama addressed both sides tonight, as well as the huge number of people who were on neither side so far.
Once again, American politics continues to dominate UK politics, especially over the misrepresentations of our National Health Service. Today's news is dominated by far right wing Tory, Daniel Hannan, who keeps appearing on Fox decrying the NHS, much to the chagrin of most the population of the UK, and his Party leader.
Meanwhile, I thought Obama's defence of his plan was urgent, angry and completely on the money. I hope that lots of Americans saw this:
It's 3:30 in the morning and I should be asleep. Instead, I'm reading about health insurance reform on the web. My late night reading may have been worth it. These are some of the best words I've read about health insurance reform. The whole speech is worth reading or watching, but I found the ending to be especially good.
From Barack Obama's Weekly Radio Address:
...That's why, under these reforms, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of a previous illness or injury. And insurance companies will no longer be allowed to drop or water down coverage for someone who has become seriously ill. Your health insurance ought to be there for you when it counts - and reform will make sure it is.
With reform, insurance companies will also have to limit how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. And we will stop insurance companies from placing arbitrary caps on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime because no one in America should go broke because of illness.
In the end, the debate about health insurance reform boils down to a choice between two approaches. The first is almost guaranteed to double health costs over the next decade, make millions more Americans uninsured, leave those with insurance vulnerable to arbitrary denials of coverage, and bankrupt state and federal governments. That's the status quo. That's the health care system we have right now.
So, we can either continue this approach, or we can choose another one - one that will protect people against unfair insurance practices; provide quality, affordable insurance to every American; and bring down rising costs that are swamping families, businesses, and our budgets. That's the health care system we can bring about with reform.
When you wake up in the morning and rub the sleep out of your eyes are you surprised to find a great shadowy figure in the room? We are past the Fourth and the "let's celebrate America" holiday feeling only to find that the lobbyists continued to move forward while we were distracted by fireworks and speeches.
The Wapo points out this morning that a large number of former inner-office employees of Max Baucus and Charles Grassley and other active Congressional committee members are being snatched up by lobbying organizations:
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) "isn't sure which side (President Obama) is on" with his "un-American" speech in Cairo.
Listen, jackass, this is our overwhelmingly-elected President you are talking about being "un-American". This is our Commander in Chief who you are openly wondering "which side he is on". Protecting your precious political career is no excuse for personal and moral cowardice, when you accuse the President of treason you should put your damn money where you fat mouth is.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
Other than that, President Obama and Dick Cheney were in complete agreement in their speeches yesterday on torture and Guantanamo Bay.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's debilitating trickle down of the credit crunch, or just the sudden retraction of Spring here in the UK, but tonight I'm depressed. Or maybe it's just this...
"I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the images we remember from Abu Ghraib," the president said on the South Lawn of the White House. "But they do represent conduct that didn't conform with the Army manual."
The Cato Institute notes that President Obama seems to be slipping in one of the key promises he made on the campaign trail- full disclosure of the Federal government's actions in regards to legislation, so we never have a fiasco like the 1,100-page PATRIOT Act being passed in a manner of hours.
On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to post bills online for five days before signing them.
Last week, President Obama signed three new bills into law. None of them received the promised "Sunlight Before Signing" treatment - at least, not as far as our research reveals. (The White House has yet to establish a uniform place on its Web site where the public can look for bills that the President has received from Congress.)
WTF! Do these idiots realize what they'll get if their wish is granted? For Obama to fail means the economy must stay bad, or the wars go badly in Afghanistan or Iraq, or Iran gets the bomb, or another terrorist attack takes place in the U.S., or...
