Public Editor Has Problem With Paper's Front-Page Editorializing for Obama-Care

Politics to a child
There's a line from the president's Speech last night that I've not been able to get out of my head. It comes in the section about Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old who was killed last Saturday in Tucson. "She was off to meet her congresswoman," Obama said, "someone she was sure was good and important." "Good and important." Those are oddly simple words for a Speech like this. But they're exactly the words you can imagine a 9-year-old using if her teacher asked her to describe a member of C...

Poll: Health Care Obama's Best -- And Worst -- Accomplishment
In a stark measure of just how divisive the Health Care law is, a Quinnipiac Poll released today finds that that piece of Legislation is both the most popular and unpopular accomplishment of Obama's presidency. In the poll, Health Care reform was by far the top answer to two open ended questions that asked respondents to name the best and the worst thing Obama has done as president. Twenty-six percent of respondents said Health Care was he best thing Obama has done, while 27% said it was the w...

Infidel Bloggers Alliance
Texas Rep. Berman files resolution to ban ‘religious or cultural law’ Berman: 'If that includes Sharia law, then so be it' Mimicking proposed Legislation in several other states, Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) suggested a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting Texas courts from enforcing, considering or applying religious or cultural law. Though the joint resolution itself does not specify ‘Sharia Law’ ­­­- the practices governing Muslim life, including family, work

Surveys show interest in EHR incentives
About four-fifths on the nation’s Hospitals and 41 percent of physicians are aiming for federal stimulus dollars for using electronic health records (EHRs), according to new survey results released by President Obama’s health information technology czar. Starting this year, Hospitals and office-based physicians can receive Medicare and Medicaid incentives for the “meaningful use” of EHR technology in accordance with standards established by the Medicare agency. The stimulus packag

McCarthy: Vote On Health Care Could Come Next Week
As the House of Representatives grapples with when to get back to business in the wake of Saturday's shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in Tucson, Fox News has learned one high-profile piece of Legislation could be brought to the floor next week. House Majority Whip Kevin Mccarthy, R-Calif., says Republicans could bring a vote to Repeal Health Care to the floor when Congress comes back into session. "I would think we would do Health Care next week," McCarthy told FOX News. "Back on th...

Webb: Obama was Terrible at Healthcare Reform
HamptonRoads.com reports: In response to audience questions, the senator was critical of the legislative gridlock in Congress, saying Republicans deliberately tried to block any progress on key bills but conceding Democrats had their own problems. The Obama Administration “did a really terrible job handling Health Care reform,” he said, because the president relied on Congress to draft a plan. “You can’t turn something that complicated loose on the United States Congres...

What Do We Disagree About When We Debate Public Policy?
Noam Scheiber on political polarization: I happen to agree with this sentiment. But, if it’s going to have much content, it’s the beginning of a discussion, not the end of one. After all, the reason the country is so polarized is that we disagree pretty strongly about what would strengthen our Democracy (say, a richer social safety net versus greater reliance on the Free Market and individual responsibility) . In fact, it’s the intensity with which we disagree on these questions ...

A Kindler, Gentler Push for Repeal?
House Republicans have postponed their vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act until next week, because of the Arizona shooting. And even when that debate resumes, Jennifer Haberkorn and Carrie Budoff Brown report in Politico today, the House Republicans will likely adopt a more measured tone. They won’t change their position on the issue itself. They remain committed to total Repeal. But the Republican insiders that Haberkorn and Brown interviewed seem to think Republicans would talk i...

Dora Calott Wang, M.D.: 5 Health Reform Benefits to Act on Today
While Washington fusses and grandstands about Health Care reform, we as individuals can vote with our actions and dollars. In America's free Market Economy, our collective choices will significantly impact the nation's Health Care system. Here are five actions each of us can take today, thanks to new benefits made available by the landmark Affordable Care Act. 1.Pick up the phone and schedule a free annual exam, and routine preventive tests for your age group (such as Mammograms and colonosco...

NYT's Nagourney Suggests Gov. Brewer, Opposition to Obama-Care and Illegals Led to Toxic Atmosphere in AZ
Two days in a row, New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney has suggested that Arizona’s heated conservative Rhetoric may have created a toxic atmosphere for gunman Jared Loughner to function in. Yesterday Nagourney commented on a Speech by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer the day before addressing the shootings in Tucson, in an article with the leading headline “Governor Strives to Restore Arizona’s Reputation.” As if Arizona bore some blame for anything one of its six million resi...

Show or Tell-Title VII in Metro Government Contract Agreements
      The Tennessean this morning has an article on how a Williamson County lawmaker plans to take on the government of Nashville, TN in its attempts to keep Discrimination against anyone with a so-called "alternative" lifestyle.  The gist of this "bill" is to prevent the so-called Discrimination against the former Soccer coach at Belmont University who was asked to resign based on her disclosure to her Students that she was going to have a baby with her Lesbian par...

Webb's Triangulation Begins?
As Jennifer Rubin notes here, Sen. Jim Webb (D., Va.) had some interesting things to say about ObamaCare, which he supported, during a question-and-answer session following a Speech in Norfolk earlier this week. The Virginian-Pilot reports: The Obama Administration “did a really terrible job handling Health Care reform,” he said, because the president relied on Congress to draft a plan. “You can’t turn something that complicated loose on the United States Congress,”...

Jorge-Mario Cabrera: We Are All Arizona -- Now More Than Ever Before
Arizona may or may not be the mecca for vitriol or heated political Rhetoric in the United States, but it is certainly a proud state that does not shy away from standing for what it believes in, even if its policies, especially around Immigration, multicultural education and gun rights, distance it from mainstream America. This weekend, however, rebel Arizona was grieving and in shock. Like the rest of the nation, Arizona grieved and lamented the senseless shooting of nineteen people gathered ...

Loughners high school girlfriend: Hes completely different now (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Health Care reform: Obama's 'best' and 'worst' achievement Democratic congressman: Gabrielle Giffords shooting 'the start of the revolution' Palin death threats rise to unprecedented levels Poll shows Obama leads all Republicans in Iowa NBC Universal, Comcast pander to Civil Rights organizations in seeking FCC Merger approval Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old accused of killing six, wounding many, and shooting Ariz. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the...

Federal debt: Dancing on the ceiling
The letter was part of the dance that takes place whenever the administration asks Congress to raise the ceiling on the National Debt. America is unusual in requiring a vote both to adopt a Budget, and to issue any Debt necessary to finance it. Grandstanding legislators typically demand concessions from the administration before raising the ceiling. There is obvious potential for a stand-off, just as there was in 1995-96, when Bill Clinton rejected the budget cuts proposed by congressional Repub...

Warner says Senate may be open to 'tweak' Wall Street reform
The Senate might look at tweaking its Wall Street Reform Bill from last year, but not repealing it, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Thursday. Warner, a member of the Senate Banking Committee who'd been a key negotiator of last year's financial regulatory reform Legislation ("Dodd-Frank"), rejected the possibility of repealing it, as a bill in the new Republican House has sought. "If there are ways that we can tweak it here or there, but I don't think overall Repeal of Dodd-Frank," Warner said ...

Interior drilling chief urges Congress to stiffen penalties
Michael Bromwich, who directs the Interior Department's Offshore Drilling agency, on Thursday said higher penalties are needed for industry violations of environmental and safety rules.  "We are . . . looking for ways to enhance the civil penalties available for violations of BOEMRE's safety and environmental Regulations, although our view is that Legislation is required to make those more meaningful," said Bromwich, who directs the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforceme...

The Deepwater Horizon report: The case for improvement
The commission lays the blame for the accident on all three of the main companies involved: BP, which was in overall charge of the well; Transocean, the contractor which owned and crewed the rig drilling it; and Halliburton, responsible for the cement that failed to seal the well up as it was meant to. Poor management and communication within and between the companies, as well as a number of outright errors, led to unnecessary and unrecognised risks being taken. On the basis that the contractors...

It's Time For Congress to Get Back to Work
The Mainstream Media, as evidenced by this LA Times article, is trying to force the GOP to cancel their plans to Repeal ObamaCare by asserting that a new emphasis on civility would require such a move. As lawmakers promise a new era of comity after the Arizona shooting attack that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in critical condition, Republican leaders grappled with how and when to return to an issue that brought political discourse to a boiling point. A House vote to repe...

Fight for the Filibuster
Thursday, January 13, 2011 By Ed Feulner “Filibuster” is not a dirty word. This may seem an obvious point. But it’s worth noting, given the campaign now underway on Capitol Hill to severely curtail a practice designed to ensure that Legislation goes through a process of calm, reasoned debate. In the Founders’ vision, the Senate was the “cooling saucer” that would temper Legislation developed in the high-temperature House of Representatives. The filibuster grew out of

The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords: The tears of Tucson
AMERICA, Barack Obama eloquently declared this week, has been shaken from its routine, and forced to look inward. And so it has: in response to the attempted Assassination of Gabrielle Giffords, a congresswoman from Arizona, Congress cancelled all its scheduled business for the week, including a vote to Repeal the president’s health-care reforms, and instead passed a resolution of sympathy for the Victims. Mr Obama, along with several cabinet members and congressmen, flew to the scene of t...

Group files complaint in swearing-in snafu
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- An ethics Watchdog group in Washington filed a formal Complaint against two House Republicans who missed last week's swearing-in ceremony and then voted anyway. In its Complaint filed Wednesday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said Reps. Pete Sessions of Texas and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania violated the Constitution, the law and House rules by "acting as House members despite failing to be sworn in" and that Fitzpatrick "violated federal la...

How Long Will The Political Cease Fire Last?
The détente has to end sometime. Notice the lack of partisan releases from committees and Candidates this week? It's an expected -- and reverent -- pause both Republicans and Democrats are taking in honor of the Victims of the Arizona shooting. The debate this week inside the Beltway was supposed to have centered around the planned Health Care Repeal vote scheduled for Thursday. Instead, the staple of press hits and talking points were shelved. Now, all of Washington's waiting. The partis...

The LA Times is *worried* on our behalf!
(Via Patterico) Why, they’re so terribly, terribly concerned that the Republicans’ oft-stated - and reiterated - intention to have a House vote to Repeal ObamaCare might hurt us that the newspaper is writing articles giving us a friendly head’s-up about how bad an idea such a Repeal vote would be right now.  And to back that up they got quotes from such disinterested, Republican-friendly individuals as Rep. Robert Andrews (D, NJ) (who was calling the 112th Congress the ̵...

Obama to meet with Pakistan's president Friday (AP)
WASHINGTON – The White House says President Barack Obama will meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari when he comes to Washington for the memorial service of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. Friday's meeting comes as the United States faces challenges in the unstable, nuclear-armed Islamic country. The pro-Washington government has teetered on the edge of collapse with its coalition partners threatening to pull out. Vice President Joe Biden met with Zardari in Pakistan on Wednesday a...