I've been pretty hard on Max Baucus for a while, especially as he spent months and months negotiating fruitlessly while Democratic political capital rotted away. But it's worth pointing out that his plan, assuming he had one, worked perfectly. Three months ago, the main storyline in the press on health care centered on whether Democrats would craft a bipartisan bill (yay!) or go it alone (boo!) Through his painstaking, and often pathetic, desire to reach an agreement with the GOP, Baucus proved beyond a doubt that serious GOP support for any remotely comprehensive health care reform was totally impossible. Indeed, the "go it alone" theme was all but disappeared from the press coverage. Meanwhile, the right-wing grassroots anti-reform insanity has largely burned itself out, and the popularity of President Obama and his health care reform has bounced back.[blockquote]

Seems to me the opposite was proved - Olympia Snowe rules the world.  Now they'll do anything to keep her to avoid those "boos."  

And of course as usual Klein and Chait have the same POV as Obama - call it health care reform, and therefore it must be health care reform.  Details be damned.

Also interesting from The Hill:

Even with assistance from the White House -- and the president himself -- the three senators are going to have to mostly work it out themselves, Dodd said.

"Ultimately, we've got to come to the floor and convince our colleagues," he said. "The White House is obviously critical in that but primarily, it's [up to] us to fashion a proposal that will win this 60 votes that we need."

Good news: My kids haven't caught whatever evil virus is going around.  They may have had it last year when we were hosting any or all of these three (as confirmed by the CDC):
Seasonal Influenza A (var. 2008)
Seasonal Influenza B (var. 2008)
Influenza H1N1 (var. 2008)

That was the hit-by-a-bus illness.  Laid the little tykes out - not in a good way either.

With a district peak of 39% absenteeism, no schools were closed but my kids are running around healthy.  Hurrah.

And they both just came back with bad behavior reports.  Oh effing joy.  Talked to the bus driver and hopefully managed to convince her that making kindergarten son the last kid to get off the bus is a punishment.  

But he used the effect of that speech, his appealing personality, and the Bush economic collapse, to win the presidency. I thought, even if he was a lightweight, inertia would force him to deliver what Democrats promised. So far, he's not only failed to use the force of the Obama phenomenon, he's repeatedly acted to brake it, to stall it. He seemed like a man with a mission, so it's confusing to me that he's acting more like Hoover than FDR.

A new Gallup survey shows that Americans now have a more favorable view of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton than President Barack Obama.

The poll, taken in early October (before the President won the Nobel Peace Prize), measures President Obama's favorable rating at 56%, down 22 points from January. Secretary of State Clinton had 62% approval among those surveyed, only down 3% since January.

This marks President Obama's lowest approval rating since 2007, when it came in at 53% (with 13% having no opinion). His 40% disapproval rating is the highest it has ever been. Alternately, Secretary Clinton's numbers are among her best ever, just a shade below her '98 approval rating of 67% which came just after husband was impeached.

For ten's of decades once elected to federal office political persons talked in circles because they knew of the secret money game played with American tax payer dollars through secret deals via treasury and the federal reserve. Currently typified by Bush and Companies fear mongering demanding a trillion dollar cut and run secret Federal Reserve gift to tweak the system so it will not fail just before leaving office. But America now has the slogan a no job recovery. Heck everyone should stay home then we will have a robust economy....

Constantly tapping the middle and lower class for tens of trillions of dollars over the decades, in secret deals or worse resourcing our young Americans in war through the shield of National Security Secrets creating the generational pirate profiteering economy for those in the know. Stashing tax dollars left and rights all the time arguing in Limbaugh or Hannity style why it is socialism to give the money back to its citizenship. What?  Isn't that like reducing taxes to give us back our taxes? Yikes...  

Once a generation is dead who will know, life goes on and the heard of the electorate need not know the truth for its buried. Then the only option Americans get at the lower end is to fight and protect those mysterious secret baby trust Swiss bank accounts loaded with the less government over sight and less regulation that likely proliferates Pirating in Congress and the Senate.  

The kitchen is lit poorly.  You wouldn't think it by the bank of fluorescents in the middle of the kitchen.  Ha!  All the work areas are on the perimeters, so all those lumens illuminate most of the floor and little of the sink, the stove, the counters....   Even the overhead light for the sink has a shelf casting a shadow!  I mounted a small fluorescent bar under the offending shelf that gives me way more light than any other source - for less watts too.

His decisions included Plyler v. Doe (children of illegal immigrants have equal rights to public education), and reforming both the Texas penal system (making it more civilized than it was) and the Texas juvie system (moving it from pure punishment to rehabilitation)

To it I will add the following:  if you were to take the screeds and screeches these Republicans are turning out about Muslims, and substitute in them the word "Jew" for the word "Muslim" and "Judaism" for "Islam", you would find little or no difference between what the Republicans are ranting, and what the Nazis ranted.  You might even find that the Republican rants closely resembled Mein Kampf;  they are surely as illogical and insensible.

So if the Senate Bill has no Public Option then when the House and Senate go to merge It will be MUCH less likely that a strong, inclusive, non triggered Public Option will be included.

If Harry Reid presents a Senate Bill without a Public Option, it is a HUGE obstacle to overcome.

So it might seem that we are, as the Irish say....fooked.

Because NOBODY is betting on Harry doing the right thing, right?

So that leaves us only one real HOPE for CHANGE.

THIS IS OBAMA TIME!

Literally, only Obama can get Reid to include a Public Option in the final Senate Bill.

If Obama doesn't MAKE Reid put it in, the Public Option will not be in the final Senate Bill.

It is ALL on Obama now.

Record foreclosures...

Kittehless Ceiling Wedgar
So dis d00d Pascal wuz liek "if i beleevs in Ceiling Cat, i winz neways, evn if Celing Cat reel or not." An den dees kittehs dat no haz beleefs in Ceiling Cat sed "how u noes wich Ceiling Animule to beleev in? Srsly. An if Celing Cat is reel, he gun noes u jus wants free ried to the Ceiling. An den wut bout all the tiems u wastesz goin to church n stuff if Cileng Cat not reel? An wat if u jus preten to beeleef thatz Ceiling Cat is reel cuz den u wil jus be pertend an u wil go to basment Cat newaiz. Fur reelz liek."