Barack Obama's decision to allow one hour of coverage of a clearly staged event at the White House is yet another in a series of gimmicky moves (remember his trivial budget cuts--mostly at the expense of the Defense Department, of course) which shows just committed Obama is to the idea of genuine transparency. You have disparate House and Senate bills, as long as 2500 pages or so, with widely varying approaches, e.g., public option, financing (House-"tax-job-creators" vs Senate "cap-health-care-tax-exemption") and abortion funding. Do you honestly believe that the White House
Actually, that brings to mind a new idea for mocking progressive Democrats: At the end of the hour on C-SPAN we see the following promo: "This video has been a free preview. For full access to our exclusive content, including a tour of Democratic back offices, we have multiple options, starting with our popular basic 5-hour package, available for only $25, made payable to the Committee to Reelect Barack Obama, and you also get a free copy of a previously unreleased photo of our Chief Executive giving a speech on health care. The best value is our popular Lobbyist Package for $5000, which gets you unrestricted access to all health care negotiations; select this option, and you are automatically entered into our "Meet the Democratic Power Brokers" sweepstakes. Finally, for the discriminating viewer, we offer the Deluxe Lobbyist Package for a mere $50,000 donation, which comes with the innovative "create-your-own-health-care-exemption" feature and a complimentary ticket to a "meet-and-greet" with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and a cameo appearance by The One."
Feinstein and I Agree on Something?
Perhaps the Artic freeze gripping the nation has also frozen hell over: Feinstein actually said something with which I agree (cf my Thursday comments on the Governator):
It sounds like the Governor is looking for someone else to blame for California's budget. California's budget crisis was created in Sacramento, not Washington. These problems are not going away until there is wholesale reform of the state's budget process. California is facing a $20 billion deficit now, whether or not national healthcare reform is passed.But, methinks the senator is not a born-again conservative:
Senator Boxer and I fought for -- and achieved -- a $165 million a year addition to the bill to save California's public hospitals. We also got three years of full federal funding for the Medicaid expansion...I will continue to work as hard as I can for the best possible bill for California.For those who can't translate progressive spin to plain English, what she is saying here is "I do a very good job on my own sucking from the federal teat; I don't need advice from an actor on how to suck at my job." Do you think someone responsible for helping spend the federal deficit to nearly $2T last year should be lecturing Schwarzenegger over his $20B deficit? Or hypocritically discussing the need for wholesale budgetary reform in California, when the federal government has been spending like a drunken sailor?
Political Cartoon
Cam Cardow notes the ick factor that physically attractive young women may experience due to intrusive scanning technologies at airports. This reminds me of the old joke or cartoon known as the "lost quarter": "Where did you lose the quarter?" "Over there..." "Then why are you looking here?" "Because the light is better over here..." We need to guarantee that intrusive images (especially of young women and children) are never accessible to pornographers...
Musical Interlude: Celine Dion (with Taro Hakase), "To Love You More"
Combine the songwriting genius of David Foster and Junior Miles, the power vocals of French-Canadian diva Celine Dion and the sweet violin of Taro Hakase, and you have one of the greatest pop singles ever. I remember hearing this song from a Japanese bootleg played on an adult contemporary station in the Chicago area and loved it instantly--we had to wait for Celine to officially release the song stateside...
To Love You More
Take me back in the arms I love
Need me like you did before
Touch me once again
And remember when
There was no one that you wanted more
Don't go you know you will break my heart
She won't love you like I will
I'm the one who'll stay
When she walks away
And you know I'll be standing here still
I'll be waiting for you
Here inside my heart
I'm the one who wants to love you more
You will see I can give you
Everything you need
Let me be the one to love you more
See me as if you never knew
Hold me so you can't let go
Just believe in me
I will make you see
All the things that your heart needs to know
I'll be waiting for you
Here inside my heart
I'm the one who wants to love you more
You will see I can give you
Everything you need
Let me be the one to love you more
And some way all the love that we had can be saved
Whatever it takes we'll find a way
I'll be waiting for you
Here inside my heart
I'm the one who wants to love you more
You will see I can give you
Everything you need
Let me be the one to love you more
