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   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
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March 21, 2010
CONTINUING TO COUNT HEADS.... In the last half-hour, three undecided Dems made official declarations. One offered good news, two did not. First, the good news. As we talked about in the last post, Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) will switch from "no" to "yes." Then, the bad news. Reps. John Tanner and Lincoln Davis, both Democrats from Tennessee, announced they will oppose health care reform. Both also voted "no" in November, but Tanner is retiring at the end of this term and was considered a possible pick-up opportunity. Apparently, it wasn't enough. At this point, the number of undecided Dems who have not yet said how they'll vote is getting pretty small. Here's a list of members to keep an eye on: * Marion Berry of Arkansas, who voted for reform in November and is retiring this year * Rick Boucher of Virginia * Jerry Costello of Illinois, a Stupak ally * Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania, a Stupak ally * Joe Donnelly of Indiana, a Stupak ally * Steve Driehaus of Ohio, a Stupak ally * Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania * Dan Lipinski of Illinois, a Stupak ally * Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, a Stupak ally * Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, a Stupak ally * Nick Rahall of West Virginia * And Bart Stupak of Michigan Of these, everyone except Boucher voted for the bill in November. If you're noticing the possible significance of Stupak and his bloc, we're on the same page. Update: As of 2:19, CNN says Pomeroy will vote "yes." —Steve Benen 2:05 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (26)
Comments
It's comforting to know that the fate of historic legislation will be decided by towering statesmen like Bart Stupak. Posted by: jrw on March 21, 2010 at 2:11 PM | PERMALINKespecially if, as I suspect, Boehner has illicit pictures of Stupak with goats. Posted by: zeitgeist on March 21, 2010 at 2:14 PM | PERMALINKGive Stupid what he wants and then screw him later. Posted by: rrrk1 on March 21, 2010 at 2:17 PM | PERMALINKCNN says Pomeroy is now a confirmed YES http://twitter.com/stevebruskCNN Posted by: Jack on March 21, 2010 at 2:21 PM | PERMALINKKeep calling these folsk. Below are their D.C., district, and fax #s. I have left off some district numbers that we know the mailboxes are full on. If you cannot get through on the phone, use this free internet fax service - http://faxzero.com/
John Tanner - Tennessee (Union City, Jackson, Millington) - 202-225-4714 Kathy Dahlkemper - Pennsylvania (Erie) - (202) 225-5406 Lincoln Davis - Tennessee (Columbia, Jamestown, Rockwood) - 202.225.6831 Mike Michaud - Maine (Bangor, Lewiston, Presque Isle, Waterville) - 202-225-6306 Steve Driehaus - Ohio (Cincinnati) - (202) 225-2216 Stephen Lynch - Massachusetts (Brockton, Boston) - 202-225-8273 Rick Boucher - Virginia (Abingdon, Pulaski, Big Stone Gap) - 202-225-3861 Loretta Sanchez - California (Garden Grove) - (202) 225-2965 Dan Lipinski - Illinois (LaGrange, Oak Lawn, Chicago’s southwest side) - (202) 225 - 5701 Joe Donnelly - Indiana (South Bend, LaPorte, Michigan City, Kokomo) - (202) 225-3915 Marion Berry - Arkansas (Jonesboro, Cabot, Mountain Home) - (202) 225-4076 Jerry Costello - Illinois (Carbondale, Belleville, E. St. Louis, Granite City, Chester) - (202) 225-5661 Nick Rahall - West Virginia (Beckley, Bluefield, Huntington, Logan) - (202) 225-3452 Alan Mollohan - West Virginia (Morgantown, Wheeling, Clarksburg, Parkersburg) - (202) 225-4172 Part of me hopes that bastard Lipinski votes no. We might finally get rid of him that way. Posted by: shortstop on March 21, 2010 at 2:40 PM | PERMALINKThose who vote no are voting for the deaths of 30 million Americans. Posted by: Bonnie on March 21, 2010 at 2:45 PM | PERMALINK> 30 million Compare that to the money they claim to be saving and you'll know what they think Americans are worth. Ain't much. Posted by: Hank Roberts on March 21, 2010 at 2:48 PM | PERMALINK"Protester disrupts House, yells 'Kill the Bill' to the cheers of Republicans" And they continue cheering the thugs on. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-health-care-protest,0,7310569.story Posted by: Dave on March 21, 2010 at 2:51 PM | PERMALINKI think the abortion issue is just an excuse for these guys to vote no, to appear they are doing it for a principled reason. But that might be an obvious point. Posted by: flubber on March 21, 2010 at 3:03 PM | PERMALINKI don't see any Stupid allies on that list in Orange County although there are to be certain! Posted by: Trollop on March 21, 2010 at 3:05 PM | PERMALINKWhen is the actual vote? Anyone catch Rove v Ploufe on ABC This Week? Why is Rove still on tv? Hasn't he been discredited time and again? Posted by: RolloTomasi on March 21, 2010 at 3:06 PM | PERMALINKhave they voted on the rule yet? I thought that was supposed to happen 2 hours ago? I have seen no coverage of it. if they are running that far behind, it gets the attention of the hugely pessimistic side of me. . . Posted by: zeitgeist on March 21, 2010 at 3:19 PM | PERMALINK"Those who vote no are voting for the deaths of 30 million Americans." Good to see bill supporters are right there with the right wing nuts in terms of hyperbole. This bill doesn't do a damn thing to save any of those 30 million americans, you're just either an idiot whose emotional buttons have been pushed or a douche trying to push the buttons of others. Posted by: Tlaloc on March 21, 2010 at 3:28 PM | PERMALINKif they are running that far behind, it gets the attention of the hugely pessimistic side of me. . . Will you stop it, Eeyore!? They're behind on the floor more often than not. Go take a walk or something. This is going to be a long night and you need to pace your stress, m'dear. Posted by: shortstop on March 21, 2010 at 3:28 PM | PERMALINKnevermind. i see the revised schedule is a little slower than the less detailed one CBS gave this morning. Posted by: zeitgeist on March 21, 2010 at 3:29 PM | PERMALINKI'm not surprised that Lincoln Davis is at war with himself and that John Tanner is a man not a superman. Posted by: Robert Waldmann on March 21, 2010 at 3:29 PM | PERMALINKWill you stop it, Eeyore!? My choices today are stress about this or about work. Its a close call, but this is actually less painful to stress about. Go take a walk or something. I'm thinking a nap might be in order. someone wake me when this is over. Posted by: zeitgeist on March 21, 2010 at 3:33 PM | PERMALINKTlaloc is starting to sound as desperate, shrill and insulting as the teabaggers. Must mean he fears passage is near. Posted by: jrw on March 21, 2010 at 3:33 PM | PERMALINK@tlaloc: This bill doesn't do a damn thing to save any of those 30 million americans, you're just either an idiot whose emotional buttons have been pushed or a douche trying to push the buttons of others. This may be the most blindingly stupid thing you've written here. I know many uninsured workers. My wife sees many uninured people through her hospital job. Every one of these people will benefit from this bill and so will many, many more. I can only assume that you are not well aquainted with the hardships of this country's working class. Posted by: AK Liberal on March 21, 2010 at 3:41 PM | PERMALINK"Why is Rove still on tv?" ~~~ CSPAN just reported that Politico says that Obama and Stupak have reached an agreement to secure his and his buddies' votes for HCR. Posted by: Hannah on March 21, 2010 at 3:56 PM | PERMALINKIt's coming down to Tlaloc, Stupak, and a pathetic handful of Teabagger-Republicans against 50,000 nuns. It should be the fight of the century. Get your tickets here. :) Along with the adage about laws and sausages, it is helpful to bear in mind Churchill's conclusion that Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. Posted by: N.Wells on March 21, 2010 at 4:00 PM | PERMALINK"Must mean he fears passage is near." your damn right I fear it's about to be passed. Having read the bill I know for a fact it doesn't do what the supporters pretend it does. Oh and it has been particularly nauseating watching people like Benen tout the pro-life bonafides of the bill as if that were something to celebrate instead of a huge red flag.
No they won't. Really, I'm not making this up, go read the bill you fight so hard for. It compells people to buy insurance, yes. It does nothing to stop the insurance companies from setting deductibles high enough that they can't use it. Best of all words for the insurance company. They get all their tasty premiums without having to do a god damn thing to earn them. And for the record I'm one of those people that would have benefited from real reform.
As with your assumptions about this bill you're completely fucking wrong. I'm at the end of my COBRA. I've been employed part time (no benefits) for the last year. Was out of work for about 6 months before that. And I have a preexisting condition thats a chronic incurable degenerative condition (MS). I'm exactly the kind of person who needs real reform, not this bullshit bill that stabs me in the back to help the insurance companies get yet higher profit margins. The dems sold all of us out, only you guys are too god damn deep in the kool-aid to notice. Posted by: Tlaloc on March 21, 2010 at 4:18 PM | PERMALINK@Tlaloc, sorry to hear about your MS. My brother-in-law has MS and I would not wish it on anyone. I'm for single-payer myself, but it was never in the cards. We got what we could get this time around and I consider it a start. The fact that you cannot be denied insurance coverage is worthwhile in and of itself. I'm sorry that you consider that a "stab in the back." Posted by: AK Liberal on March 21, 2010 at 5:40 PM | PERMALINK"I'm for single-payer myself, but it was never in the cards." The only reason it wasn't in the cards is because Obama took it out of the deck before shuffling. There's simply no reason we could not have gotten at the very MINIMUM a decent public option. Hell even with obama sandbagging the entire fucking thing the house still managed to put a weak public option in. "We got what we could get this time around and I consider it a start." It's not a start. Its a surrender. We've surrendered all the power and a shitload of money to the insurance companies. Next time somebody tries to enact healthcare reform (because the current piece of shit bill will only make things worse faster) they'll have not a chance in hell against the much larger much richer and much more entrenched insurance companies. This bill not only fucks me and everyone who needed real reform it basically makes it impossible to ever repair the damage barring a total system collapse.
Why would that matter? Now I have to pay them and they don't have to help me. That's better for them and worse for me than being denied insurance.
I consider it that because that's exactly what it is. Posted by: Tlaloc on March 21, 2010 at 10:04 PM | PERMALINKThe only reason it wasn't in the cards is because Obama took it out of the deck before shuffling. I think the real issue is that you confuse the number fifty-nine with the number sixty. Posted by: AK Liberal on March 21, 2010 at 11:50 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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