…here’s what I’ve collected over the last five days:

HEALTHCARE -- THE DEBATE THAT’S KILLING US SLOWLY:

• Despite the thorough, public debunking of the ridiculous “death panel” claims, and the fact that even the right-wing press outlets aren’t mentioning the conspiracy theory anymore, some politicians may not have received the memo.  Representative Pete Olson (R-TX) was holding a recent town hall meeting, and he told the crowd about a girl named “Britney.”  The girl’s unborn child was found to have a heart defect…and despite her best efforts she couldn’t find a doctor to treat her baby until she located a remote, out-of-state specialist.  Olson goes on to claim…that in any proposed “government-run” system, the baby would have died for lack of treatment.  The crowd, who apparently HAD received the memo…and who knew that these types of claims are false and intended only to scare them…proceeded to boo Representative Olson, and shouted, “Oh Jesus Christ, that’s terrible,” and, “That’s not true!“  To these people, Olson nonsensically responded, “For those of you who say it’s not true, don’t talk to me, talk to Britney.”  Wait…what?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MvNF2GUE0

• Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee…not only didn’t get the “mentioning-death-panels-now-makes-you-look-like-an-idiot” memo, but he also decided that merely repeating a claim that has been proven false…wasn’t quite tacky enough.  So Huckabee went on his radio show and suggested that the recently departed Senator Kennedy…would have been urged to “go home to take pain pills and die” under Obama’s reform plan.  And we’ll add some more “tackiness points” since Huckabee, just last week, chided Democrats for what he perceived as them using Ted Kennedy’s death to advance the cause of reform.  Oh Mike: it’s just as sick to use his name AGAINST reform…especially when you consider health care reform was his LIFELONG goal.
• Generally, I don’t pass on “moving stories that explain the need for Health Care Reform.“  Except, in this case, the story is a lot more “illuminating” than it is “moving,” and it represents yet another deficiency of our current system that most people are not aware of.  You probably did know, that nearly 68% of all bankruptcies in America result from medical costs.  What you may not know…is that many divorces are also caused by a mixture of financial and medical necessity.  Case in point, read this story…it’s actually quite common: husband develops debilitating disease, doctors shock wife by suggesting she immediately get a divorce or she will lose everything, wife consults lawyers who confirm what the doctors are saying, wife has a terrible choice to make…leave her husband or lose all their savings, retirement, and property.
• Interesting: I’m first to admit that I am no expert on taxes.  But it is interesting to note, as this columnist does, that while Republicans have been heavily utilizing the “health care reform will urge grandma to die sooner” attack…many past tax bills (sponsored by Republicans, and notably one Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)) have done just that:  urged grandma to die sooner.  In addition to initiating tax changes that penalize seniors for living longer, Republicans have supported companies that swindled seniors out of their retirement money (they dismiss it as “that’s the way the free market cookie crumbles!”), and they refuse to let more money go into Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s research.
• And Jesus Shakes His Head, Woefully: At Congressman Frank Pallone’s (D-NJ) town hall, a woman was attempting to describe her situation…from her wheelchair, she told the congressman that she had “two incurable auto-immune diseases.“  As the woman continued, anti-reform members of the crowd…started heckling her.  I’m just guessing that most of these hecklers would call themselves “Christians“…I’m also guessing that Jesus might have a problem with that.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkrW22u7SwU

• Most Lopsided Interview This Week: On MSNBC, Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and CNBC’s anchor Maria Bartiromo were on as guests, to discuss Health Care Reform.  From early in the interview, it is apparent that Weiner appeared more than a bit better versed on the subject…but the best moment occurred when Bartiromo mocks Weiner’s support of Medicare, snapping, “How come you don’t use it [Medicare]? You don’t have it. How come you don’t have it?“  Representative Weiner…points out that he is only 45, to which Bartiromo lamely retorts, “Yeah, c’mon…“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfv_KeKRsBo

• Word is now coming out of the White House, via correspondence with Health Care Advocacy groups, that the administration may be abandoning its fight for the public option and several other KEY elements of the reform bill.  While some White House insiders seem to support the idea that “some bill, even a bad bill, is better than no bill“…too many people disagree.  House Speaker Pelosi has chosen to side with the caucus of Democratic Progressives who are saying that they WILL NOT support a bill that does not include the public option.  Representative Weiner has made his own claims, that these compromises represent a failure of leadership on the part of the President…and as some point out, if “change we can believe in” becomes “change we can barely stomach,” Obama could face challenges in the next primaries from Democrats claiming that they would show a bit more backbone if given the majority in both houses of Congress.  I think the votes are in: if the majority of the public wants reform and the public option to be a part of that reform, and you control all of Congress, and all the Republican minority promises is dissent…then you really have no excuse for not going to the mat, fighting for the best reform possible.

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• Stand Back, Genius At Work: Robert F. McDonnell is a candidate for Virginia Governor, and in a recent speech, he proudly mentioned his Master’s thesis, which he wrote while attending an evangelical college in Virginia Beach.  Apparently…McDonnell didn’t think anyone would bother to look up the thesis in question…but they did.  The thesis, which outlines the steps McDonnell suggested the Republican Party should take to “protect” families…says that feminists and working women are “detrimental” to families, contraception for unmarried people is “illogical,” and that government should show clear preference for married people and not “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.“  Hear that WHOOSHING sound? Enjoy your trip down the political whirlpool, Mr. McDonnell.
• First Representative Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) made the mistake of referring to Republican’s search for a viable presidential candidate as the quest to find “The Great White Hope.“  Jenkins then responded to the resulting outcry, by stating that she had no idea that this was a racist sentiment referring back to the search for a white boxer who could defeat black boxing champion, Jack Johnson.  THEN…we find out that back in JULY (that’s right, just a few months ago), Jenkins supported a resolution that explicitly STATED the history of the phrase: “Whereas the victory by Jack Johnson over Tommy Burns prompted a search for a White boxer who could beat Jack Johnson, a recruitment effort that was dubbed the search for the ‘great white hope.’“  Jenkins new position?  She says she never read the resolution, choosing to look like an incompetent legislator, rather than a racist.
• Minnesota Republican Representative Michele Bachmann is now well known for making odd and inflammatory statements (most recently she proposed that health care legislation should be defeated with “fasting and prayer”).  But now, she has her own theory why Democrats, and apparently most of her constituents, want her out of office: “Also with women politicians, they want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman, and so they’re doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women, to make sure that we don’t have a prominent national voice.  But the thing is, the people in our country, they don’t care who the voice is, they just want someone, they want to know that someone is speaking out for them against what will certainly bring about the destruction of our great country if we continue to go down the Obama path.“  Yeah…it’s the DEMOCRATS who have such a pronounced diversity problem…

GHOSTS OF OUR PAST:

• Flip-Flop Number One: President Obama has now reversed his initial position, and has said that the White House visitor records will be released to the public, in a clear reversal of Bush policy.  That’s great…one down, eleven to go.  Next we’d like to see an end to renditions, warrantless wiretaps, signing statements, excessive use of the “State Secrets” defense, and refusal of Due Process to detainees…
• Flip-Flop Number Two: Former Secretary of Homeland Defense Tom Ridge stunned many when his book was released and clearly indicated that he had been suspiciously pressured to raise the Terror Alert Level.  He surprised everyone even more when he went on Rachel Maddow’s show, denied that the claim was true, said that any suspicions he had in the past he now knew were false (but not for any particular reason…he just “knows”),  he criticizes the government response to Katrina…then defends it, and he says that even though every reason the government gave us for going into Iraq has been proven false, it’s “ok” because it was really always about bringing democracy to the country.  Rachel…seemed to take issue…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIzsZ3g7dTU

• Flip-Flop Number Three: Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales…raised a few eyebrows when he stated that he approved of Attorney General Holder’s investigation into interrogators who exceeded the bounds of the controversial DOJ memos justifying torture: “...if people go beyond that, I think it is legitimate to question and examine that conduct to ensure people are held accountable for their actions, even if it’s action in prosecuting the war on terror.“  It took about a day for Alberto to change his mind: “I don’t support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that’s a concern that’s shared by career intelligence officials and so for those reasons I respectfully disagree with the decision.“  I don’t know how he keeps from getting whiplash…my neck hurts just reading this.

THE MEDIA -- HACKS, PUNDITS, AND OTHER INVETERATE LIARS:

• The Today Show has a new hire:  Jenna Hager, formerly Jenna Bush, daughter of former President George Bush.  Ok…yes, she has knowledge of “living in the White House,” but that does not equal “White House insider knowledge.“  She is a fledgling school teacher…but that does not make her an “expert on education.“  Lastly, besides her apparent expertise in NOTHING, I’m just not certain that hiring the daughter of one of the most partisan presidents in recent history will result in anything resembling unbiased, non-partisan journalism.  Just my prediction…
• How Does This Guy Stay On Television: Pat Buchanan…it’s not bad enough that he was part of Nixon’s cabal…or that when running for president he revealed a deep-seated anger towards immigrants…and later as a columnist and MSNBC commentator, he voiced racist and anti-Semitic sentiments…but now, his recent column “Did Hitler Want War,” Buchanan seems to defend the worst genocidal dictator in world history.  You be the judge.  When a man has an entire page dedicated to him on the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) website, maybe he should not be featured so prominently in the mainstream media…

MISCELLANY:

• Has everybody lost their minds? When I heard that the President was going to address the nation’s schoolchildren, I thought “big deal.“  Presidents do this.  All presidents…both parties.  They say “hey, stay in school…don’t do drugs…you could be presidents someday…wink.“  Well, the conservative media, and the GOP, specifically the Florida Republican Party, have decided that the message is an attempt to…wait for it…INDOCTRINATE OUR CHILDREN.  They say kids, “will be forced to watch the president justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president.“  Of course…this is BEYOND ridiculous, and Politifact.com has chosen to give the myth the much coveted “Pants On Fire” designation.

That brings this week to a much-needed close.  Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, and we’ll see you next week.

So…I’ll skip my usual narrative and get right into a summary of recent developments:

DEATH, DEATH, AND HOW ABOUT A LITTLE MORE DEATH:

• Death Panels: It started out as a simple provision, to require insurance companies to reimburse you for having a conversation with you doctor about living wills, hospice, requesting treatment, and refusing treatment.  Republicans inaccurately labeled this provision as “euthanasia” and said it was the equivalent of “the government pulling the plug on Grandma.”  We discovered…a co-sponsor of the provision…yup, a Republican.  Then we find out…there’s an identical provision in the Medicare bill from recent years, and most of the Republicans…SUPPORTED IT.  And now it is revealed…that even some private insurers have such a policy provision (look where it says “Choose an Advance Directive to designate the kind of care you wish to receive should you become unable to express your wishes.“).  That’s right -- insurance companies have “death panels!“
• Have you heard about the “new” thing to be afraid of?  The “DEATH BOOK.“  Michael Steele and other Republicans have been charging that the Obama administration has published a book for our soldiers and veterans…encouraging them to commit suicide.  Steele has said, “I mean, this is crazy coming from the government, and this is exactly what concerns people and puts them in fear of what the government control of health care will look like.“  There are just a few problems with this claim:  First…the book was actually instituted during the Bush administration.  And secondly, the book, titled “Your Life, Your Choices: Planning for Future Medical Decisions” does absolutely nothing to prompt veterans to end their lives.  The book merely informs vets how to set up living wills and advance directives, should they become incapacitated and therefore unable to communicate their medical wishes.  The White House has responded with a fact sheet and a timeline to refute these claims…apparently still unaware that opponents are not interested in facts OR timelines.

THE REPUBLICAN PLAN:

• Remember when the Republicans put out their own “Economic Stimulus Plan“…the one that had no actual figures, no specific programs or plans?  Remember how the media, even the conservative media, pounced on them for releasing such an embarrassingly deficient document?  Well, as proof that some people never learn, the GOP has now released it’s own “health care plan” in the form of a “seniors’ health care bill of rights.“  It opposes any cutting of costs to Medicare (despite the fact that it is a huge, socialized, government-run health care program with quite a bit of waste that COULD and SHOULD be cut).  It also says that the government should not “ration” seniors’ care…despite the fact that no one is TRYING to ration seniors’ care.  Lastly, it opposes government getting in between seniors and their doctors…which, AGAIN, nobody is proposing.  Wow.  A plan that protects Medicare against two threats that don’t exist, and prevents making the program more cost efficient…while at the same time the plan offers no suggestions on how to IMPROVE anything?  Nice work…
• When asked, on Fox News, why the Republicans didn’t do anything to improve Health Care in this country over the years that they held a solid congressional majority, Michael Steele offered: “I don’t have an idea… That’s one of the flaws of the past, that we tripped ourselves up . We had a perfect opportunity even when we didn’t have control of the House and Senate during the early days of Bush first term to at least put in place our imprimatur on the health care debate But that’s the past.“  Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) had a similar excuse: “Now, I don’t know why the leadership — I came to the Senate in 2005. I can’t account for the five years before that. But the fact is, is they didn’t take advantage of any of the opportunities they had to make big changes, and they could have done this and they should have, but they didn’t.“  The truth is, of course, it’s not that Republicans somehow just “forgot” to do health reform legislation…it’s that they DON’T WANT health reform legislation (and don’t want us to realize it).  Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) was a bit more forthright on the subject when he just came out and said that the GOP’s plan is to oppose the reforms, slow the process as much as possible, weaken the bill as much as possible, and they will compromise nothing.  Enzi’s constituents have pointed out the other cause for the Republicans’ universal disregard for health care reform…they are protesting the sizeable contributions Enzi has received from insurance companies to make sure that these companies don’t have to compete against a Public Option.
• I Rest My Case: With regard to the claims I made in the previous item…Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, admits that he has not even read the health reform bill, does not know what is in the bill, but will still VOTE AGAINST IT.
• Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), as always, has presented a most realistic and effective means towards achieving the GOP goal of defeating health care reform:  fasting and prayer.  Bachmann urged, “That’s really where this battle will be won -- on our knees in prayer and fasting.  Remember: faith without works is dead. So we’re asking you to do all of it: pray, fast, believe, trust the Lord, but also act.“  She also dredged up the “Death Panel” nonsense, saying, “Thank God that Sarah Palin said that…These are true.” Ohhh-kayyyy.

A MAN NAMED BAUCUS:

• When it came to the Medicare Bill…Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said he gave up one negotiating with Senator Grassley (R-IA) when it was clear that too many concessions were being made in exchange for too little Republican support.  At the time, Baucus said, “I walked away from Senator Grassley. I tend to work with Senator Grassley. But there comes a time when you just gotta say, ‘Sorry.’ These things get watered down too much, it’s just not right, so I just broke with him on that and pushed through a Medicare bill that finally got 60 votes. We had to work hard to get those 60, because Grassley didn’t agree, but that was the right thing to do. So when Ted Kennedy walked on the floor to cast the 60th vote, that’s a moment I’ll always treasure.“  So why now, on the Health Care Reform Bill, does Baucus seem willing to give away the entire candy store to satisfy Grassley…when Grassley is publicly making wildly false claims about the bill, and can promise NO Republican support…not even his own?
• Maybe the fact that Democrats are considering a measure to vote Baucus out of his chairmanship has caused him to change his tune.  Now, Baucus says…he’s in favor of the Public Option (which he had previously given up as a concession to Grassley), that the Public Option is still on the table, and…no, he DOES NOT trust the private insurance companies to police themselves.

THE NEW DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY:

• Let me see if I follow this: there’s a new Democratic strategy afoot.  The House and Senate Bills could go through the reconciliation process, thereby requiring only 51 votes to pass, not the 60 vote “filibuster-proof” majority in the Senate.  However, in the application of what is called the “Byrd Rule,” any portions of the bill that would substantially change funding would have to be separated out into smaller bills (this would include the Medicare items in the bill and the Public Option).  BUT…a totally distinct vote requiring 60 votes could be held to waive the Byrd Rule…allowing the WHOLE Health Care Reform package to pass with only 51 votes.  And why would some Republicans who would not vote for the Health Care Reform Bill, vote in favor of waiving the Byrd Rule?  Well…they say it’s just smart politics, in this article.
• Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has called for the health care reform legislation to be named after the recently-deceased Senator Ted Kennedy…seeing as it had been Kennedy’s passion throughout his career.  Some think doing so…might “stiffen Democrats’ spines” or even “win over some Republicans.“  We will see…I remain skeptical on BOTH ideas.

HOW NOT TO HANDLE A TOWN HALL MEETING:

• How NOT To Handle A Town Hall Meeting: Representative Wally Herger, (R-CA) was holding a town hall, when one of the attendees proudly proclaimed that he was a, “proud right-wing terrorist.“  Instead of responding appropriately and responsibly, Herger replied: “Amen, God bless you.  There is a great American.“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yw060QwkUE

• How To Handle A Town Hall Meeting: Senator John McCain (R-AZ) held his town hall, and when one participant would not stop yelling and disrupting, the senator warned her, “You’re going to have to stop or you’re going to have to leave.“  When the woman failed to comply and security guards began escorting her from the meeting, the Senator McCain quipped, “Goodbye, see ya.“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BIlVGzziQk

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Representative Pete Stark, (D-CA) seemed to hit the nail on the head when he referred to the newly-introduced and poorly-defined health care co-op suggestions as a “medical unicorn.“  He elaborated: “There aren’t many of you listening who remember the co-ops in the ’30s, which was kind of a Roosevelt outfit, rural electric co-ops, phone co-ops.  But, as I say, there is no real example of either the regulation, or how you would establish them, or where they would get enough people to have a purchasing base. So you might as well talk about unicorns. You know, what is a medical unicorn? My kids all know what a unicorn is. But you don’t. You have never seen one. So I think this co-op is just a way of ducking the issue of having the public plan.“
• Meet Wendell Potter: Former head of corporate communications for Humana and then for Cigna…now ashamed when he hears the lies and scare tactics that he once helped to set in motion.  The man has a lot to say that is well worth hearing.
• Interesting: I have certainly made “Post Office -- Health Care” analogies before…but this writer goes the extra mile.  In short: The Postal Service is an inexpensive, valuable, reliable, socialized program…and when anyone even talks about closing someone’s local post office, everyone in the community goes absolutely ape.  Why can’t more people see the comparison between what the Postal System “IS” and what the Health Care System “COULD BE.“

Stay tuned tomorrow for our weekly “Chaos Theory” edition, where I round up all the news that’s fit to print.

Hope you’re sitting down:

• Last week, we reported that a man attended the Obama Town Hall in New Hampshire with a loaded gun strapped to his thigh, and a sign referencing Thomas Jefferson’s quote that the “Tree of Liberty” must occasionally be refreshed with “the blood of patriots and tyrants.“  Chris Matthews would later interview the man on Hardball…revealing this protester to be an unbalanced man with no reasonable justification for his actions, nor a working knowledge of the Constitution.  This time in Arizona, another man had a gun strapped to his thigh…and was carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle.  As with the previous incident, this man claimed to be simply exercising his “freedoms” proving ONCE AGAIN that many Americans don’t realize that just because you have the “right to do something” does not make it the “right thing to do.“
• Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is the Republican senator who is leading the bipartisan effort to draft the health care reform bill…which is a little frightening since he has been making public, partisan attacks which contain lies about what is in the bill: “you have every right to fear. You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you’re going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don’t have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you’re going to pull the plug on grandma.” After catching quite a bit of criticism over these remarks, Grassley has decided to employ a novel defense:  blame the negative reactions on the Democrats.  When asked in an interview why he was perpetuating the false notion of “death panels,” Grassley responded, “Well, listen. I see that as nothing more than a distortion from the far left bringing up these end-of-life concerns, which are not the issues we ought to be talking about. We ought to be talking about government takeover of the health care system.“  Yeah, Chuck…it’s obviously the DEMOCRATS who don’t want to have a substantive, reality-based discussion about health care.
• Oh, but Chuck Grassley’s not finished yet.  As said previously, Grassley’s SUPPOSED to be working with Democrats to forge a bill…and according to Grassley, the most important thing about the bill, even more important than what’s actually in it:  Republican support.  And he goes on to imply that even if some Republicans support the bill (again, that’s what’s REALLY important to Chuck)…he won’t vote for it, unless the “overwhelming” majority of them do.  Here on planet Earth, we fully realize that in all likelihood none of them will, which begs the question:  why is their support important, again?
• Fun new poll: a new poll shows that the majority of Republicans either believe that “death panels” are in the reform bill, or aren’t sure.  Combined with the “birther” poll which showed nearly the same percentage of Republicans don’t think President Obama is an American citizen, or aren’t sure, I think we have clearly established that Republicans will believe just about anything, no matter how outrageous the claim…and they will hold onto those believes no matter how available the hard facts are that disprove those beliefs.  It’s a lovely quality, folks…don’t go changin’!
• Last weekend’s Meet the Press panel included both MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).  Armey, is now with a group called FreedomWorks, which is essentially a fake-grassroots, lobbying and conservative PR/Rabble-rousing firm.  On the show, Armey was cornered and forced to condemn the use of swastikas and other Nazi references by protesters…but when he said that Freedomworks didn’t support violence and disruption, Rachel was quick to point out that FreedomWorks and its associated entities, have used violence and disruption as a “rallying cry” for the mobs they have engineered.  Here’s the clip…watch also for when Armey falsely claims that MoveOn.org compared George Bush to Hitler in an ad, and Rachel points out that it NEVER HAPPENED (it was a false claim initiated by none other than Rush Limbaugh):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5RqupDB9s

• WHOOPS! Speaking of Dick Armey…guess who just had to resign from his law firm of DLA Piper, because the actions of FreedomWorks are drawing so much negative attention?  Yup.  Armey released a statement saying: “It is painful and frustrating to see a good, decent, able and effective partnership of honorable men and women and their clients attacked for things in which they are not involved simply because of their association with me. One would expect a higher degree of competence and professionalism from members of the media than spurious attacks on innocent bystanders.“  Let me see if I’m following this:  Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks organizes protests that are filled with shouting, threatening, disruptive people…these people are told by a FreedomWorks-sponsored organization, in writing, how to be disruptive and threatening…and the media, by covering this insanity and his relationship to it, is somehow attacking his honorable and upstanding coworkers at the law firm.  Uh huh. Well, look at it this way, Dick…now you can devote ALL your time to lying to the American people in order to generate civil unrest.  It doesn’t look as good on a resume, but you gotta do what you love…
• Conservatives for Patients Rights, the group led by controversial and disgraced former HCA CEO Rick Scott, filmed a new “anti-health care reform ad” featuring several British citizens making complaints about their national health care system.  Only a few problems…first…NOBODY is even talking about nationalizing our health care system, so to be blunt, who cares if some British people have complaints.  Second…the Brits were told by Conservatives for Patients Rights organization that the ads were part of a British ad campaign to reform the British system, so they just wanted to give some suggestions…the truth is, all of the citizens they interviewed LOVE the British system.  The women WERE NOT TOLD that their comments were really going to be used to defeat health care reform in America.  Third…conservative legislators in Great Britain…EVEN THEY love the British system, and by a sizable margin.  Here’s the ad:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHer9bKn438

• House GOP leader Roy Blunt (R-MO) was busted spreading falsehoods by a local paper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They blasted Blunt in an editorial for making the following claim in an interview with the newspaper’s reporters: “I’m 59.  In either Canada or Great Britain, if I broke my hip, I couldn’t get it replaced.” As the Post-Dispatch pointed out…this is COMPLETELY false, and Blunt responded by apologizing and promising to stop making that assertion.  This is even more embarrassing because Roy Blunt…is the head of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, so there is NO EXCUSE for him getting the facts wrong.
• Hey, at least somebody is loving all this:  On increasing doubts that the public option will not be included in the reform package…Insurance companies stocks are on the rise.  Our loss -- is OFFICIALLY their gain.
• Sometimes you just have to laugh about it: visit here for some of the funnier signs seen at town hall protests.  This one is my favorite:

That’s all for now…more tomorrow.