(Link) [div class="excerpt"[ (Image) The punch line -- hardee har! -- is that news of the baby girl's birth had to be telegrammed to her mother, who had missed the plane on which the surprise birth occurred. What's the connection to the birthers? If Barack Obama had actually been born in Kenya, then his mother would have to have been in Kenya too! I don't think anyone is suggesting that his mother was other than the one he has always claimed, Stanley Ann Dunham. Presumably somewhere in the pass...

I was already mad at John Stewart yesterday when we reached this interview (the previous segment was about Afghanistan and he found funny to repeat the MSM memes about Kerry there, but at least this was just mimicking the Village eldern), but when this segment reminds us that Stewart is not necessarily well informed on the issues. (Link)/ (See video at link) Jon Stewart Praises ‘SuperFreak’ Author: ‘I’m Sorry You’ve Taken So Much S**t’ from Think Progress by Brad On last night’s Daily Show,...

(Link)/ Atheist-based business offers fundies adoption service for dogs left behind by The Rapture (Image) What a hilarious, brilliant idea. Christians who believe they’ll vanish from Earth in the rapture can now hire an atheist to care for their pets. For $110, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets offers a 10-year contract guaranteeing that an atheist will adopt the pet that’s left behind by its raptured owner. Additional pets can be covered for $15. has guaranteed atheist reps in 22 state...

(Link) Trigger Unhappy by digby So the rumor is that President Obama is pressuring Harry Reid to put Rahm's trigger into the Senate health care bill but that Reid is resisting. True story or kabuki dance? Who knows? The White House denies the specifics, but there's reason, based on past behavior, that they are so enamored of having Olympia Snowe on board so they have accepted triggers and expect Reid to back their "deal." But triggers are unacceptable, for reasons that have been spelled out...

Now, this article goes so much against all was written yesterday and even this morning among "informed" people. When you read the article, facts are the same, but the spinning is very different. Make what you want of that. However, it seems the strategy is to get the same bill concerning the PO in House and Senate, so that the conference report could focus on other things. This would pretty much mean that opt-out is chosen, I imagine. Now, I agree with Rockefeller and Wiener that, with reasonab...

healthcare. :nuke: (Link) Rachel said that both the therapist and her pediatrician wrote letters in support of the family’s quest to appeal the insurance company's decision. Both stated that Aislin is healthy and continues to grow. "We would definitely like to see insurance reform," Rob Bates said. "We are not proponents of universal health care by any means, but what we want to see is that insurance companies have legitimate reasons for denying coverage." With morons like that, no surpri...

So, 13 Dems voted against it. (Link) Senate Shoots Down Permanent Doc-Fix Bill Digg Tweet By Mike Lillis 10/21/09 3:00 PM Citing budget concerns, the Senate on Wednesday killed a $245 billion proposal to scrap the controversial formula that dictates doctor payments under Medicare. The vote count was 47 to 53 — 13 votes shy of the 60 needed to defeat a GOP filibuster. Though many opponents support the underlying policy, the new spending wasn’t offset, leaving lawmakers on both sides of the ...

Great Video - (Link) The Daily Show on Snowe's Health Care Vote: The Blazer Said Staunch Republican, But the Skirt Hinted She Might Be Bipartisan Curious

Note: He is not saying he will not have a bill with PO. But this does not look good. (Link) Reid Dismisses Schumer's Insistence That Public Option Is In His Hands Speaking to reporters just outside the Senate chamber this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scoffed at the suggestion--articulated last night by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)--that the public option is simply in his hands. "He would rather say anything so it wasn't up to him," Reid said, before departing for a meeting ...

(Link) Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) suggested today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ought to act his conscience on the public option, and include it in the health care bill that comes to the floor. Speaking to reporters outside the Senate chamber, Rockefeller sounded confident that the public option would be in the final reform package. Asked whether Reid should heed the will of the Democratic caucus (which overwhelmingly supports the public option) or do what he deems is most politically exp...

Digby makes an interesting remark concerning Harwood's remarks. First, she acknowledged that the comment itself is irritating (Link) Anonymous Sources by digby There is a lot of justifiably angry talk today about John Harwoods's report on last night's NBC Nightly News about the march for gay rights, in which he was asked if the White House was worried about "the left as a whole" and concerns they have that the White House isn't doing the things the left expected them to do. He replied: B...

If Sherrod Brown's count is accurate at 44, we need at least 7 more to get 51 (6 if we include Biden) and 10 additional one who do not filibuster. (Link)/ 30 senators sign letter backing public option In the past, it's been House Democrats who've been most vocal in supporting the public option. Now, Senate Democrats are getting on the bandwagon. 30 Democratic senators (really, 29 Democrats and one independent who caucuses with them, Vermont's Bernie Sanders) joined together on Thursday to sen...

(Link) We Need A Public Health Insurance Plan to Keep Us S.A.F.E. By Monica Sanchez ... The Washington Post recently gave us a look at how insurance companies will likely continue to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions even if laws are passed laws to prevent such practices. The article, “Discrimination by Insurers Likely Even With Reform, Experts Say”, predicts “new biases against prior conditions” will rise up in response to a new regulatory framework: “Any hea...

Via Digby, through a story by Gitlin and Drier in the Columbia Journalism Review, our liberal media at work, reporting the healthcare debate. (Link) "I Cant Stand Those People!" by digby Peter Drier and Todd Gitlin have written an important story in Columbia Journalism Review that will set any media critic's teeth on edge. It's so infuriating to find out what utter creeps the people who decide what you need to know are. No one packed heat, no one screamed at a member of Congress,...

The darling from the Democrats seems intent to make sure that the bill coming out of the Finance Committee has no restrictions for insurance companies. After having voted against 2 public option bills, and a host of other bills that could have helped customers, she now wants to make sure that the exchange will be useless when it comes to helping consumers. I had not seen this one, so I assume it happened Thursday night. I just hope that the Democrats in the Senate and the White House now unders...

(Link) The Public Imperative By ROGER COHEN Published: October 4, 2009 NEW YORK — Back from another trip to Europe, this time Germany, where the same dismay as in France prevails over the U.S. health care debate. Europeans don’t get why Americans don’t agree that universal health coverage is a fundamental contract to which the citizens of any developed society have a right. I don’t get it either. Or rather I do, but I don’t think the debate is about health. There can be no doubt that U.S...

Colbert gets it a lot better than Stewart and takes the Dems who voted against the public option to task. (Link)

(Link) SEIU: LET THE SENATE VOTE.... The SEIU is starting to communicate its expectations to Senate Democrats. I like the message. One of the nation's most powerful union leaders warned conservative Democratic senators on Thursday that there would be a "price to pay" if they voted to sustain a Republican filibuster on health care legislation. Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, said he could "honor all the Nelsons" in the Senate "whether Ben or Bill " if ...

Conasan tells it better than I can. They think we are fools, and most of us do not give them any reason to think otherwise. (Link) Listening closely to the politicians with the most clout in the debate over health care, it is startling to discover how little they actually seem to know about the subject. Ignorance rules, even among the bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Six," who supposedly have immersed themselves in the details of this life-and-death issue for many months. ...

Somebody else who is more concerned about some vague issues than about every single American having access to healthcare. (Link) FEINSTEIN'S CONCERNS OVER 'ANGST'.... Even now, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California is not only skeptical about the specifics of health care reform, she's concerned about the very idea of improving the system. (thanks to reader M.R.) "I just find that if you're going to remake a sixth of the American economy, it's very difficult at this time of great econom...

Mary Landrieu (D- Louisiana) reiterated her opposition for a public option. She stated the reason why: she does not want to hurt private insurance companies. She said it at least 3 times, just in case we missed the first one. If only she could care as much about those in LA who do not have access to healthcare. Add to that she seemed more in agreement with Palewnty than Rockefeller on this.

Next in line is Harkin, which would be a great news as he is a pretty solid democrat (I am sure some people disagree with some of his votes, but in general, it would be a great choice, IMHO) (Link) Dodd's decision leaves the chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who follows Dodd in seniority. Multiple sources in the Harkin orbit, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said that he is certain to take over the HELP commi...

(Link) The Snowe Job, and Why a "Trigger" for a Public Option is Nonsense I was just on the phone talking with a reporter for a national media outlet who referred to Senator Olympia Snowe's idea for a public option "trigger" as the "centrist position." Whoa. When the mainstream media start naming something as "centrist" the game is almost over because just about everyone with any authority in our nation's capital wants to be at the "center." ... The White House is looking for a way to be in...

I think Steve Benen asks a really good question. Rather than wondering whether Kennedy would have cut a deal, should not the question be "What deal" On ABC's "This Week," it appears the question of the day is WWKD -- what would Kennedy do? Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told ABC's This Week that the late-Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) -- who long supported the public option -- would compromise on health care before altogether abandoning the possibility for reform this...

ABC Stephanopoulos was busy this morning trying to get Kerry to say Kennedy would have dropped the public option right now. Kerry did not fall for it and told him he would have fought first, then if it was going nowhere, try to find something so that a bill making progress can emerge. AP released that, followed by Forbes. In about 1/2 minutes, two different titles on AP, both referring to the same interview, but I guess the first one was not carrying the message that you need to stop talking ...

From Newsweek's article, (Link) To accomplish all of this, we have to cut the costs of health care. For families who've seen health-insurance premiums more than double—from an average of less than $6,000 a year to nearly $13,000 since 1999—one of the most controversial features of reform is one of the most vital. It's been called the "public plan." I am posting that because some will start saying that Senator Ted Kennedy would have moved on and got a vote, whatever vote. They may be right ...

What Kennedy was proposing in his latest letter was for the governor to appoint a interim senator that would not be able to run for the seat, until the election planned in the law is done. My guess is that, if it is changed, it will be changed the way Kennedy was asking it to be changed.

We have known for some time that this day was coming, but nothing makes it easier. We have lost a great light in our lives and our politics, and it will never be the same again. Ted Kennedy was such an extraordinary force, yes for the issues he cared about, but more importantly for the humanity and caring in our politics that is at the center of faith and true public service. No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger than life presence who was simply the best -- the best Sena...

It seems to be the latest meme among Republicans. If they cannot accept reasonable solutions about healthcare, it is because Senator Kennedy is not in DC leading the debate. His fault, I guess. I guess this is supposed to show respect for him, but basically, it is insane. It put the weight of the debate on an old sick man and they try to release themselves of their responsibility. Sorry, but as much as I like my senior senator, he cannot be an excuse for the GOP for doing nothing. And this is ...

Americans care less about climate change than Palestinians and Iraqis, not to speak of any countries with an economy similar to ours. (Link) Ezra Klein and Jesse Zwick at The Vine both discuss this University of Maryland survey which asks people to rate climate change as a priority from one (low) to ten (high) and then reports an average: (Image) It’s perhaps not so surprising that Palestinians and Iraqis feel they have bigger fish to fry, but even they care more about the issue than America...