Let’s take a quick look at the recent activities within each camp:

Democrats: Working under the assumption that the bill will survive the committee, Democrats are already heavily engaged in internal negotiations.  It is important to remember that the so-called “Baucus Bill” will have to be merged/reconciled with the Health Care Reform bills coming out of the other Senate and House committees.  While most of these bills carry a large number of common elements, Democrats are working to resolve within their own ranks the support for things such as the “public option,” and whether the bill will be “paid for” with income-based taxes (preferred in the House) or taxes on the so-called “cadillac policies” (favored in the Senate).

Republicans: The GOP is having internal disputes as well…but of a very different nature.  The current leadership has drawn a hard line in pushing a “kill the bill, and defeat Obama” policy.  This policy was dealt its first blow, as Republican strategists pointed out that “Yay, We Killed Health Care Reform” is not a slogan they’ll want to use in the 2010 and 2012 elections…defeating Obama might look good on paper, but if it means publicly destroying the reform of a dismal health care system, then it will likely cost them more votes than it gains.  Then, another shock to the system: respected, GOP, elder statesmen started coming forward in support of Health Care Reform…some of them experts on Health Care.  These figures included former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, former Senate Majority Leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (a surgeon),  former administrator of Medicare and Medicaid Mark McClellan.  These men would soon be joined by some very high profile members of the current leadership, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, the latter of which is considered a health care policy expert.

While these announcements of support of Health Care Reform may have swayed some critical, moderate members of the GOP…their party leadership was unfazed, and they promptly let it be known that there would be consequences for GOP members who supported reform.  Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who holds a key vote on the Senate Finance Committee, would likely not be given the chairmanship of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, a post for which she is next in line. Snowe’s answer?  She’s voting for the bill: “Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it.  Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.”

Health Insurance Industry: Up until yesterday, the industry was thought to be “on board” with the Baucus Bill.  Why WOULDN’T they be?  It has everything they could hope for:  No public option….check.  Everyone forced to buy their policies…check.  Fines for people who refuse to buy their policies…check.  Huge government subsidies so they’ll cover poorer people…check.  Few reforms forcing them to offer better policies and service…check.  No significant price controls…check.  So why, on the eve of the vote, would the industry’s top lobbying group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), suddenly declare war on the bill?  Two reasons…

1 - While it requires people to buy their lousy and overpriced policies, and fines people if they don’t…the industry doesn’t THINK THE FINES ARE HIGH ENOUGH.  So…they worry that they’ll only get 20 million new customers, not all 40 million uninsured.

2 - The new requirement that they have to cover sick people and people with pre-existing conditions…will just plain eat into their profits too much.

So, AHIP and it’s president Karen Ignagni, have released a study, a day before the vote, that constitutes a simple THREAT:  “If you pass this bill…we’ll just have to raise everybody’s premiums by 111%.“  Then, just for good measure…they started running ads trying to scare seniors that their Medicare Benefits would be cut.

The reaction of the White House and Congress…NOT WHAT AHIP EXPECTED.  The White House pointed out that the timing of the report is clearly political in nature (thank you, Captain Obvious)…members of Congress, including members of the Senate Finance Committee, condemned the report as “untrue, disingenuous“…health care experts and critics point out that the assumptions of the study are quite extreme, and that the company responsible for the study, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is the same company that produced a study on behalf of “Big Tobacco” years ago, and that study showed that taxes on cigarettes would lead to economic armageddon.

But the best reaction came from some rather astute legislators like Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY):  This outlandish study…shows EXACTLY WHY we need the public option.  This study, ironically produced by the Health Insurance lobby, serves to illustrate clearly:

- The only thing to keep the insurance companies from passing on increased taxes on their business straight onto the premiums of their policyholders…is the public option.

-  The only thing to keep the insurance companies from passing on the cost of covering sick people and people with pre-existing conditions onto their other customers…is the public option.

-  The only thing to keep the insurance companies from punitively punishing the American citizenry for supporting health reform…is the public option.

In short, we know that these companies will not allow ANYTHING to cut into their enormous profit margins…not taxes, not sick people, not expectations of quality…not unless they are PRESSURED through competition in the marketplace to do so.  As Representative Weiner points out, the only way to subject these companies to the pressures of competition, would be through the implementation of a low cost, government-run alternative.

Otherwise…for the industry it will just be business as usual.  And we are all very familiar with what that looks like.

Parting note: Interesting article on “Five Things You Don’t Know About The Senate Health Care Bill.“  Check it out.

Well…if you are one of those people who is just not quite disgusted enough by the current state of affairs, here are some very recent news items to help you along:

1 -- ENOUGH HYPOCRISY TO GO AROUND: Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee discussed Senator Rockefeller’s amendment to add a public option to the bill.  While it was nearly a foregone conclusion that the amendment would not pass (in fact, four Democrats voted against it)…the discussion leading up to the vote was shameful.  Senator Grassley (R-IA) showed his usual disdain for factual information, citing studies from the conservatively biased Heritage Foundation, as well as a study by the Lewin Group…which is WHOLLY owned by a large health insurance company (it is worth note that he disregards all of the credible studies, including the one done by the Congressional Budget Office).  He joined the chorus of GOP lawmakers who openly admitted that their argument, that the public option would lead to a government takeover of health insurance…was a “slippery slope.”  Of course, this shows (once again) that these politicians don’t know that a “slippery slope” is a type of LOGICAL FALLACY…an indefensible argument, not supported by reason.  And they are openly admitting this.  The second part of their argument is that “government run programs are bad“….but then when confronted with their hypocrisy regarding the government-run Medicare program, they don’t want any of its costs cut, and they say that Medicare is different because Medicare is POPULAR.  Then, they have the nerve to boisterously object to Representative Alan Grayson’s statement on  Tuesday that the GOP health care plan suggests “don’t get sick“…and if you do, “die quickly.“  This, while just last week, Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) suggested to a constituent that her sick family member (who had no insurance and needed surgery) sell everything she own, so she will be poor enough to get on a government program…and then seek charity.  So why are the GOP making such empty and ridiculous arguments?  Why are the Democrats even too spineless to conform to their own principles?  Simple…they are all bought and paid for:

2 -- THE “OBAMA YOUTH” FAUX CONSPIRACY: The latest fake outrage?  A group of school children are on tape singing a song about helping their country and President Obama…for African-American History Month…and the lyrics were sent home to parents ahead of time and nobody objected.  So how does FOX News and the rest of the right-wing media respond?  Of course…they decry it as the worst kind of indoctrination, and go as far as to vehemently claim that this never happened (and never would have happened) under the Bush administration.  Except…it did.  There is a clip circulating of Bush with children…praising him for his handling of the Katrina disaster.  That’s right: it’s kids praising Bush…and over one of his biggest, most thorough SCREW-UPS of his presidency.  Here’s the coverage from Countdown with Keith Olbermann (contains all the clips):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LkE8AuIPkY

3 -- DEMONIZING YOUR ENEMY 101: Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) speaking to a right-wing conference at the inanely titled “How To Take Back America” conference, told the assembled crowd: “Obama’s first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers’ money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries.  Now, I got to tell you, if a president will do that, there’s almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn’t be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can’t do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity.“  Frank says that OBAMA does insane things?  What about a sitting congressman referring to the President and Commander in Chief of his country as “an enemy of humanity?“  How is THAT reasonable or sane?  At the same conference, considerable time was also given to the threat of the “gay agenda,” the “fascist agenda,” and the “communist agenda,” making it a veritable cornucopia of issues best categorized as “things to scare uneducated rubes, entrenched bigots, and homophobes.”

4 -- SCAREMONGERING FOR DUMMIES: Meanwhile, the sick comedy team of Liz and Dick Cheney, would still like to tell you that Obama is making you less safe, that he is going to put terrorists in your neighborhood, and that he is going to let the terrorists kill you.  Even the generals are calling this “nonsense” and “scaremongering.”  Retired General David Maddox, former Army commander-in-chief for Europe, said:  “Some of the fear issues that are being raised in this are really unfortunate. It gets people excited about things they shouldn’t be excited about and impedes doing what is critical to this country. Get that damn symbol off the table.  We take a setback every time somebody, whether it’s the vice president or his daughter comes out and says the things that they say…We have to get out there again and just keep pounding.”

5 -- POLITICS MINUS ETHICS: Remember hearing about the census worker found dead in Kentucky?  Hanging from a tree, bound and gagged, with the word “FED” written on his chest?  No doubt murdered as the result of the litany of “Census Conspiracy Theories” being peddled by Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and others of the right-wing fringe?  Well the local authorities…still haven’t ruled out suicide or accidental death.  Now, Kentucky officials may not be the brightest on the planet…but I’m certain that even they don’t think this happened “accidentally,” or that the substitute teacher/cancer survivor/census worker did it to HIMSELF.  No…they are mere petty politicians…who don’t want to admit that the chickens are coming home to roost…that the violent, inflammatory hate speech emitting out of the GOP and the right-wing media has finally claimed its first, and most obvious victim.  The man’s son calls it “shameful“…but it is even worse than that.

6 -- MORE CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST: What is all the outrage and incendiary language producing?  Besides dead census workers?  Incidents like this:  Facebook, the social networking site, has had to disable the “polling” function because someone posted a poll asking if the president “should be killed.“  It’s a simple-to-understand social phenomenon, that has occurred at other times in history (for those willing to learn from history):  violent language, talk of killing political enemies, proclaiming the end of America, labeling opponents as the enemies of humanity, calling for armed insurrection…it invariably leads to public, violent ideation, threats, and eventually…actions.  The Secret Service is investigating because, once again, threats against the president (even if made in jest) are ILLEGAL.

7 -- YES, SADLY, MORE CHICKENS: Need other examples of where this is headed?  Newsmax’s columnist John Perry wrote a piece this week…OPENLY CALLING for an armed uprising against the government.  Perry wrote: “Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars.“  Newsmax would later pull the article…and at the same time attempted to lamely justify the piece saying that the author was only “describing” the scenario…not “advocating” it.  This semantic word-play should only serve as further cause for our disgust…and I would, as I did in the previous item, remind readers that “free speech” is not without constraints, and inciting armed insurrection against the government is CLEARLY illegal.

8 -- PRIORITIES, SHMIORITIES: What does Michael Steele, chairmen of the Republican National Committee, think of the rhetoric, and the threats and violence it’s spawning?  Steele says in response to calls to tone down the level of discourse: “Where do these nut jobs come from? Come on, stop this…To make those equations, examples and put that out there that way, to me is just crazy and yeah, I’m sorry, but if you’re going to approach this discussion, approach it from a rational position.  [They're] saying, because you disagree with the president on policy, that all of the sudden we’re going to make this leap into, you know, assassinations and all this other stuff. I mean, at the height of all this stuff on Bush and people complaining and protesting, and jumping up and down, you didn’t have this kind of conversation.“  See what he did there?  It’s how the conservatives are responding to ALL criticism.  When it was suggested that SOME of the people adamantly protesting the president MIGHT be harboring racist sentiments, the right-wing responded, “They’re saying that ALL people who criticize the president are racists!“  And now, that many are saying that the current level of unreasonable, inciting language by SOME could POSSIBLY lead to violence, the right-wing responds, “They’re saying all people who criticize the president are going to cause an assassination!“  It’s a childish, pat response to an argument…that they are going to lose.  It’s worth noting that the cause that Steele DOES think is worth fighting…is denouncing Obama for taking ONE DAY to travel to Copenhagen to try to get the Olympics to be held in Chicago.  That’s right…Steele, thinks it’s important to attack the president for trying to bring the Olympics (with all the business and prestige that accompanies the event) to an American city.  Not health care…not the increasingly violent tone of American political discourse…not Afghanistan…the OLYMPICS.

9 -- JUST ASK BRISTOL: Teens know that “abstinence programs” are a joke.  Studies show that the government, under the Bush administration, spent MOUNTAINS of our money funding these programs…to NO EFFECT.  Even Texas…the number one recipient of “abstinence program” funds, is now changing their program to a more comprehensive sex education program…because under “abstinence” their teen birth rate stayed the third highest in the nation and they have the highest percentage of teen mothers giving birth more than once. So…it makes ZERO sense that the Senate just approved restoring the $50 million a year of federal funding to “abstinence-only programs.“  That is…it makes zero sense until I tell you it was the Senate Finance Committee led by Max Baucus, the same committee to produce the only health care reform bill out of five currently in Congress that has neither a public option, nor true reform…and that would net billions more in profits for the health care industry.  Suddenly, it all becomes clear how this happened…

10 - AY, DIOS MIO! The Republican Party has failed miserably despite its attempts since the election to attract minority voters.  Its latest efforts related to Hispanic Heritage Month, won’t help very much.  It’s bad enough that the party’s leaders regularly spout anti-immigrant, xenophobic, anti-Hispanic propaganda…but when their press release (in Spanish) to the Hispanic community is literally FILLED with spelling, grammatical, and translation errors, well, it certainly doesn’t make them look very “in touch” with the Hispanic people.  I mean seriously…if they had even had ONE Spanish-speaking person JUST LOOK AT the release…they could have avoided this.  The ad they put out…was in some ways even more insulting, since they failed to deem any prominent non-conservative Hispanics worthy of mention.  You would think they would at least have give some time to Sonia Sotomayor…yeesh.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQzTuJdJNlQ

I read pieces like these and my first thought is, “I wonder if they are ashamed…I wonder if they are embarrassed,” and then I realize that since the behavior of our elected officials, our media, and our fellow citizens reflects on me…that I am embarrassed.  We all should be, because it is only by our permission that people such as these are given power, are given a voice.  And until we revoke the power and the pulpit from those who we do not wish to represent us…it is we who are equally at fault.

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

• During the Bush administration, both the press and public frequently complained about the lack of transparency in the White House, the lack of availability of the president to meet with the press, and refusal of the president or the press secretary to provide answers to questions.  Now that we have a president who is willing to FULLY answer questions, and who has made the actions of our government more transparent…these same people gripe that he is “over-exposed.“  This hypocrisy was not lost on Jon Stewart of The Daily Show:

• It is nice to see that even conservative pundits and politicians are starting to denounce false and inflammatory rhetoric, such as is regular seen on Glenn Beck’s show on any given day.  Morning Joe host and former Republican Congressman, Joe Scarborough not only publicly reprimanded Beck for his “hateful” and “racist” words…but also says he is creating an “honor roll” of like-minded conservatives who want to call an end to violent and incendiary tactics.  THAT…would indeed be very honorable.  Here’s a clip from Morning Joe on the subject:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5woLGnwN2I4

• Speaking of Beck…in an except from his book, where he is attempting to explain to the rest of us what the founding fathers intended, he refers to a little-known passage in the Constitution:  “Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.” Beck responds, “That’s right, the Founders actually put a price tag on coming to this country: $10 per person. Apparently they felt like there was a value to being able to live here. Not anymore. These days we can’t ask anything of immigrants.“  Of course, what Beck fails to realize is the the “$10” wasn’t some fee that immigrants paid to enter the country because they saw the “value to being able to live here“…this passage refers to the $10 tax that could be levied on EACH SLAVE forcibly brought into this country, who weren’t so freaking thrilled to be here at all.  This section was designed…to prevent slavery from being outlawed, and to simultaneously allow the government to collect a tax on slaves.  So much for Glenn “Constitutional Expert” Beck…
• Using his own, unique brand of satire…Stephen Colbert presented his suggestion for conservative firebrands who want to make racially-insinuative attacks against Obama, but don’t want to be identified as racists:

• Rush Limbaugh must be feeling a little unloved, what with Glenn Beck surpassing him in the ratings game.  So, in a recent interview with Jay Leno, Rush reminded all of us why he should still be the preferred choice among people without functioning brainstems.  First…he said that because everybody who listens to his show agrees with him…he is “not controversial at all,” and that, THEREFORE, it is Obama who is “polarizing” and “dividing this country right now.“  Then showing the power of faulty logic when used WITH a disregard for real-world data, Limbaugh said regarding the economy and the gigantic profits Wall Street CEOs make by defrauding investors, “The market will fix itself.  It’s none of my business what they make, Jay, it’s certainly none of yours, and it’s certainly not Barack Obama’s what anybody makes…If you believe in the capitalist system, you have to erase from your whole worldview what somebody needs.”  Thus, simply stated, we are presented with the far right’s philosophy:  the free market will always take care of itself, and this is good as long as we don’t care about what anybody needs.
• Bill O’Reilly recently claimed on his show the standard right-wing position regarding racism:  it’s only a few of the protesters…the left has racists, too…only 10% of Americans are racists.  To no one’s surprise, Dr. Jeremy Levitt, law professor at Florida A&M and an African-American…had a small problem with this.  Ok, conservatives here’s the simplest I can say it:  you don’t have to run around calling everyone the “n-word” to be a racist.  If you lock the car door when you see a black person walking by…if you wouldn’t want a member of another race dating your son or daughter…if you would resent having to answer to a superior at work who is the member of another race…if instead of attacking the president’s policies, you resort to calling him a “Nazi,” a “Kenyan,” or make a monkey joke…then you TOO suffer from very common, racial prejudice.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6sOkGZtc6Y

PRESIDENT OBAMA -- GHOSTS OF OUR PAST:

• The Obama administration has decided not to pursue a new law to change our policies regarding detainees.  No…they will keep using the 2001 congressional resolution allowing for the indefinite detention of prisoners.  If you start by acknowledging that, by law, American military bases, prisons, and ships are considered “American soil,” then the equation is very simple:  American soil PLUS prisoners MINUS habeas corpus MINUS due process EQUALS unconstitutional.  President Obama…that, sir, is neither change nor progress.
• Obama has a “new” educational policy complete with a fancy new name: “Race To The Top.”  It’s too bad that it is nearly identical to the dismal “No Child Left Behind” policy of his predecessor…so close, in fact, that both Democrats and Teachers’ Unions are calling it “BUSH III.”  More standardized tests…yadda yadda yadda…teacher accountability…yadda yadda…performance pay….blah blah blah…charter schools.  I’ve said this before:  standardized tests do little to improve or accurately gauge learning, teachers are plenty accountable, performance pay is the impractical, impossible to implement equivalent of an “educational unicorn,” and charter schools only serve to placate “free market” zealots.  The problems…in all schools…are centered squarely in one place: the administration.  Principals with no business experience, no leadership skills, no interest in promoting learning, and no backbones…THAT’S the heart of the problem.
• I have stated before that conservatives should be less concerned with what Obama is “changing“…and more concerned with the Bush policies and practices that he is “retaining.”  Garry Willis’ piece, Entangled Giant, describes aptly the history of accumulation of power within the Executive Branch…and just how hard it is to reverse the trend.

AMERICAN CONSPIRACIES -- OUTRAGE WITHOUT PURPOSE:

• Just for fun:  here is a collection of some of the funniest protest signs spotted recently…misspelled words , flagrant ignorance, wild theories…it’s all there.
• Thomas Quigley Jr. is suing the Democratic National Committee…for throwing him out of a town hall.  During the meeting held by Representative Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), Quigley repeatedly interrupted the panel of speakers, and when approached by the security guards about his disruptions…he told them he was “a black belt in kung-fu and would respond if attacked.“  Apparently, his kung-fu training was no match for the guards, and he was bodily removed from the meeting.  Oh, and Quigley…is a licensed insurance agent.
• I wrote earlier in the week of how the “Values Voters Summit” appeared to be devoid of both actual values and reason.  But once again, Jon Stewart said it better:

• Former teen heartthrob, later drug addict, later born-again Christian Kirk Cameron would like to share with you (in an interview with People Magazine) some fairly interesting views on evolution: “Atheism has been on the rise for years now, and the Bible of the atheists is The Origin of Species.  We have a situation in our country where young people are entering college with a belief in God and exiting with that faith being stripped and shredded. What we want to do is have student make an informed, educated decision before they chuck their faith.“  He and his group are currently disseminating edited versions of Darwin’s theory…complete with their own criticisms in which they compare it Hitler’s eugenics program, and declare the theory misogynistic because of sexist statements attributed to Darwin.  For the record…in science the word “theory” does not mean the same thing as it does in common parlance.  When we say “theory,” we are referring to an idea that has not been proven.  When scientists refer to a “theory” they are referring to a scientific position supported by a wealth of studies and research that holds up to the very strongest scientific scrutiny.  Now, it is true that evolution is not a scientific “law” (meaning that in it’s entirety it is deemed impossible to disprove)…but it is far closer to a “law” than it is to a simple “hypothesis” which is a premise lacking substantiation.  It is a continued embarrassment, that fewer Americans accept evolution than the people of ANY OTHER civilized country…and that the new movie on Darwin’s life can’t even find an American distributer because most distribution companies worry that “Americans just aren’t ready for it.“
• Recently, Bill O’Reilly, in a conversation with Barney Frank on the subject of the undercover investigation of ACORN offices, said that nobody cares if the documentarians broke the Maryland laws regarding illegal wiretapping.  Barney Frank…disagreed: “I’m sorry, what an outrageous statement. What an outrageous statement for you to make: nobody cares about the Maryland wiretap law. I do care about the law. I’m an elected official.“  In response…O’Reilly called Frank, “eccentric.”  Really, Bill?  Is it now eccentric to believe that the law of land should be obeyed?  This represents the all-too-common position among conservatives that the end justifies the means, that violating the law is acceptable as long as it was done for a good reason.  It’s a concept MOST un-American.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUHCtnpTVpg

• Above, we talked some of Glenn Beck’s conspiracy-based ranting…it takes a group like the SNL cast to really do it justice:

• By now you’ve heard of the census taker…senselessly murdered, found hanged with the word “Fed” written on his chest.  It seems to validate House Speaker Pelosi’s fears that the violent anti-government rhetoric might lead to actual violence…as history has shown that it often does.  Now…experts seem to be agreeing with her.  If you want to understand how this situation is created…visit this list of the top census conspiracy theories.  Internment camps…taking your property…brainwashing children.  Now imagine a right wing extremist…hearing a member of Congress, or a “news” personality, or some other figure they respect and trust…telling them these things…telling them they have to “act now” and “preserve their country” and “be a patriot.”  And THAT’S how it happens…

HEALTH CARE -- CARNIVAL OF DELAY AND DESPAIR:

• Two words are being most commonly associated with the current state of the Senate Finance Committee’s Health Care Reform legislation:  “delay” and “fight.”  Sometimes…the words are appearing in the same sentence, as is the case with the recent confrontation between Senator Kyl of Arizona, and committee chairman Senator Baucus of Montana.  The short version: Kyl insisted on repeating himself, restating examples he’d previously given, and remaking arguments he’d already made…Baucus, grew tired of the obvious stalling tactic:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y80G63ARBM

• Another fight: whip counts.  Liberal Democrats in the House are busy trying to wrangle every possible vote, while Blue Dog Democrats do the same exact thing.  Current trend…Blue Dogs beginning to sway in favor of voting “yea” on the House bill.  Perhaps they’ve been actually paying attention to the polls…the latest shows that 65% of Americans still support the inclusion of the public option…even more support it when it has been explained to them.  Again, conservatives: this is a democracy…you may not support it….the people in your conservative-leaning community may not support it…the people in your conservative-leaning workplace may also not support it…and all of these people may scream their objections loud as hell.  BUT…the majority of Americans DO support it…and in a democracy…majority rules.
• The Humana Fracas:  Medicare laws say that providers of Medicare Advantage plans (like Humana) MAY NOT use taxpayer-subsidized mailings to push their political agendas.  Humana…did just that.  The board that oversees Medicare/Medicaid is investigating.  Republicans…you guessed it: are calling this “stifling the free speech” of their good friends, the insurance industry.  And now, the GOP is threatening to block Obama’s nominations to key Health and Human Services posts…unless Obama and Sibelius allow Humana and other insurance companies TO BREAK THE LAW.

That brings this week to a close…enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday for more of the latest developments.