Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cut Nevada a sweet deal on Medicaid. Some Blue Dog Dems want theirs too:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved swiftly to ensure that his home state of Nevada wouldn’t be hurt by Medicaid changes included in the health care reform bill moving through the Senate Finance Committee. Now some of his Democratic colleagues are demanding the same treatment for their states.

“We have to make sure Colorado is treated fairly,” Democratic Colorado Sen. Mark Udall said Wednesday. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh [. . .] said: “If they want our votes ultimately, I suspect that they should take our concerns into account.” “We’re watching it,” added Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor.

Of course Reid could and should say, if you want your concerns taken into account, you better vote for the bill, with a public option. Cases in point:

Does anyone have more to say? If so, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

As expected by many lawyers, including me, President Obama has nominated Stephanie Villafuerte, a former AUSA, former Denver Chief Deputy D.A. and current Deputy Chief of Staff to Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, to be the U.S. Attorney for Colorado.

I expect her to be confirmed easily and a popular choice. (Her focus as a state prosecutor was on domestic violence and child abuse.) Some background details are here. The other two lawyers up for consideration were:

John Walsh, a white-collar criminal and civil attorney from Hill & Robbins in Denver who previously worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California; and William “Bill” Thiebaut Jr., a district attorney for Pueblo, Colo. who previously served as the Colorado Senate majority leader.

Once again it shows how the U.S. Attorneys' job is a political plum. Villafuerte took a leave of absence from the DA's office to work on Ritter's gubernatorial campaign. She permanently left the DA's office to become his Deputy Chief of Staff. Ritter has been one of Obama's strongest supporters. And so it goes. At least she's up to the task. [More...]

This news should surprise no one who regularly reads this blog:

"In the Mission´s view, it was Georgia which triggered off the war when it attacked Tskhinvali with heavy artillery on the night of 7 to 8 August 2008. None of the explanations given by the Georgian authorities in order to provide some form of legal justification for the attack lend it a valid explanation. In particular, there was no massive Russian military invasion under way[.]"

Yet, while everyone is remembering how crazy McCain and the neocons were, no one wants to remember that Joe Biden was insane too.

Speaking for me only

A good news post from Ezra, reporting by Politico:

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) is quietly talking with the Senate Democratic leadership and Finance Committee members about an alternative to both the government insurance option and the nonprofit insurance cooperative. In a one-page document he began circulating last week, Carper suggests giving states the option of creating a competitor to private insurers, which could include a government plan, a network of co-ops, or a large purchasing pool modeled after the revered Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan.

So long as states can band together, this could work. In fact, we can make this "Federalist Option" robust (Medicare +5) and open to everyone in the participating states. Imagine California, New York, Illinois, etc. banding together in a robust public option open to everyone. This works for me. Let Blanche Lincoln explain to Arkansans why they do not have that option. No interloping please.

Speaking for me only

Mark "Theory of Change" Schmitt gets back to his roots, the marketing of Democratic capitulation:

One way or another, we'll have to compromise. We'll either compromise with the most conservative Democrats and one or two Republicans, or we'll compromise with the limits of a process that was designed for a totally different purpose. The political question is simply going to be which compromise is worse.

Big Media Ezra is quick to second. I got bad news for the Village apologists - you can't sell this sh*t now. Most Democrats and progressives now rightly believe that health care reform which includes mandates but not a public option is a giveaway to the health insurance companies. No matter of Villager Wonk BS is going to change that. That is the political reality now.

Speaking for me only

I finished watching "Wanted and Desired" last night, with my good friend Anita Thompson, who is down from Owl Farm and staying with me a few nights a week for the next month or so as she takes the LSAT prep course in Denver. She was a toddler in 1977 when Polanski was arrested and hadn't followed the case.

Now, having watched the film, and listened to ex-prosecutor David Wells tell in his own words how he manipulated and advised the Judge behind closed doors how to get around a plea bargain in a manner that would prevent Polanski from appealing, heard the Judge state in his own words how he intended to impose an illegal condition on Polanski, watched as both the DA on the case and Polanski's lawyer separately tell, in their own words, the same story about the judge's misconduct, from making express promises he later renegged on to forcing them to participate in a sham hearing while demanding they not tell the media, listened to the victim and her lawyer describe, in their own words, how events transpired and how the Judge disregarded what was in her best interests, Anita too is appalled at how Roman Polanski was treated. [More...]

Via TPM, Blanche Lincoln says:

We can [. . .] expand coverage to the uninsured and underinsured without creating a purely public, new government program.

Of course we can. We can also eliminate Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare and get rid of all government run health insurance. Does Lincoln support that? After all, we can take from the American People and give not hundreds of billions of dollars to the insurance companies, but trillions of dollars instead and get rid of these horrible government run insurance entities. The Max Tax that Lincoln supports chooses to tax the less well off and let the rich insurance companies, corporations and the wealthy off scot free. It is a terrible policy. Moreover Lincoln is wrong when she says "We can [. . .] stabilize the cost of coverage [. . .] without creating a purely public, new government program." That is a lie. Blanche Lincoln, a Bizarro Robin Hood, wants to take from the less well off and give to the insurance companies. It is as simple as that. I doubt that is a winning political formula. But I am no interloper. Blanche Lincoln will find out if the formula works for her next year.

Speaking for me only

Why don't I discuss the Polanski case? Mostly because I do not know enough about it. Second, because even if I did, I doubt I would have much worth saying. Third, it does not strike me as an important public issue. It's not like however Polanski is treated here is going to affect public policy. He is sui generis. Fourth, I love Polanski's films and I would rather not think about how I feel about how his art may affect my views on this issue. Lastly, celebrity justice stories have never interested me.

Now if you want to discuss an actual important issue, like whether Tim Tebow should play against LSU on October 10 (he suffered a serious concussion last Saturday), I am game. Let me surprise you all and say I think he should probably sit out that game at least, if not more games. Better safe than sorry.

This is an Open Thread, and of course, the views expressed above are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the NFL, the NCAA or TalkLeft.

The Bystander President can no longer stand on the sidelines on HCR, according to Chris Bowers:

[A] source on the Hill confirms to me the Senate HELP and Senate Finance committees will be merged by an informal, behind the scenes process involving the four major players in the Senate: Tom Harkin (Chair of HELP), Max Baucus (Chair of Finance), Harry Reid (Majority Leader), and the White House. Together, these four will meet and decide what sort of bill to send to the Senate floor for debate and amendments.

. . . [T]he only way a public option ends up in the bill that is sent to the Senate floor will be if the fourth major player, the White House, demands it. It is all up to the White House now. If it pushes for a public option to be included in the health care bill sent to the Senate floor, then a public option will pass as part of health care reform (at that point, all we would need are 60 votes for cloture, and from what I hear we have 57 already). However, if it allows a health care bill to go to the floor without a public option, it is pretty unlikely that a public option will pass as part of health care reform.

I disagree with Bowers in this sense - of course HCR would have a public option of course if Obama wanted it. He does not care. The only way the public option gets in is if the House CPC stands firm. The chances would also improve if 2 or 3 Progressive Senators say they will not vote for cloture for any bill that does not have a public option. Hell, if Ben Nelson can do it, why not Bernie Sanders? but the real block will be, as always, the Progressive Block. The conference report may be where it gets done.

Speaking for me only

A new report by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), “America’s Problem-Solving Courts; Criminal Cost of Treatment,” available here, finds drug courts need serious re-working . Among the recommendations:

• A defendant should not be required to
  plead guilty before accessing treatment.

• Admission criteria must be objective and fair, and prosecutors must relinquish their role as gatekeeper

• the drug court framework must accommodate long-standing ethical rules.

[More...]

We didn't have any of these today. In case you folks are wondering, I am 3-0 in my fantasy football league (my "look over there" moment after the thrashing (1-4) I took on the NFL games Sunday. My usual 3-2 with the colleges (now 12-8 for the season.)

Oh, and ROMAN POLANSKI!

Hold it there kitty cat! This is an Open Thread.