A robust and accessible public option is the compromise position: it puts us in a position to move to single payer eventually and helps with the transition away from the rent-collector class. But does not solve the core problem.
I would even go for an expansion of income limits and age limits for Medicaid  and SCHIP and Medicare so it slowly makes sure the poor and harder to insure people are covered. Or allow paid opt-ins at some point and start expanding from there.

What is being proposed is not the "half a loaf" that the we-support-Obama-no-matter-what crowd would argue it is.  How can it be when it is being crafted to prevent ANY possibility of eventually moving toward a single-payer plan?  And it isn't "a start" toward more substantive reform, either, unless you consider the eventual gutting of Medicare and Medicaid the eventual reform that is likely to happen.

When the process of reform starts with an emphasis on insurance, and not on improving access to and affordability of health CARE, the end result can only be a boon for the insurance industry; if you leave them in charge, we will not be getting better care, more affordable care, we will not be reducing the cost of care or spending by the government.  We will be sicker and poorer and the a$$hats that put this plan together will be completely baffled (no one could have anticipated...) that the only change they managed to bring about was change for the worse.

And there will be no appetite or interest in starting over; if anything, I think we could expect more hare-brained ideas about taking more money out of programs for the oldest and poorest, and then going after Social Security.  What it will really be is a perfect set-up for Republicans who would like nothing better than to dismantle any program that provides a benefit to people who are too old and too poor to deserve a place in this world.

"It's very rare to see something like this and a reflection of the fact that Wyden's plan cannot easily be characterized as either liberal or conservative ... it's just different."

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing." ~~Napoleon

I have to hand it to Obama, Sotomayor was a good pick from a likelihood of easy confirmation POV.  It's hard to imagine how any campaign to oppose her could be launched.  She's over qualified compared at least some of the current Justices, she has no skeletons, she has no radical judicial philosophy.  

I deliberately chose not to further explain about the sexual allure of vampires, that they represent an extension of Walter A. Davis' "eroticization of thanatos", theory, where through cultural psychological operations, "Eros must be turned into evil, sin, pollution. So that all of one's desire can go into thanatos." Voilà, vampires embody eroticism.

I did not get into Der Spiegel's recent report on the massive cultural trend of pubic shaving that cuts across age and gender. A trip to a nude beach or nudist resort will reveal that men, women and children are shaving, about half of people, according to the report. The articles state that children, "who are just entering into puberty, are already waging battles against their pubic hair", "because they feel that pubic hair is disgusting" and "that they now see their genitals as inherently dirty".

None-the-less, I watched for the two tale-tell propaganda blitzes that automatcally come in response to posts about young people and their empowerment and desires.

The response was swift, CNN's Headline News blitzed about pedophiles and that they had to be castrated, that there was no other way to deal with the "psychopathy".

The other usual response, was on Fox, and dealt with "America is a nation of Czars". We know these stories are coming from the administration. Our president, is one-third the power of a king. A king vests the executive, legislative and judicial power all in himself. A czar is the same as an emperor, and is more powerful than a king, with empire often containing a number of kingdoms.

As for India and technology, a family member who teaches the latest techie twists here went there this year to teach it, too, and returned to report that the speed at which India is embracing it all is stunning.  So he saw quite a land of contrasts, with laptops becoming as common as the camels and elephants all competing with the cars in the streets, the goatherds and gurus still looking and working as they did 1000 years ago while walking alongside other Indians in the latest business styles.  He found the students stunning, too -- also encompassing centuries with their thirst for the latest knowledge to add to excellent educations, while also retaining the courtesies to professors that are long gone here.  I try to imagine a student, coming late to class, who stops at the door to bow deep apologies to the class and to request the prof's permission to be allowed to humbly enter and sit in back. . . .

India served notice on Sunday that it remains opposed to legally binding targets to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, digging in its heels against the United States as the Obama administration begins marshaling support for a new global agreement on climate change.

[snip]

India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, said, "There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions."
"If this pressure is not enough," he continued, "we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours."

[snip]

Indian newspapers questioned whether their government was setting the stage for further concessions on emissions. Even Mr. Stern's presence here has raised eyebrows: On Saturday, the Times of India published an article with the headline, "Climate man's visit shocks India." American officials insist Mrs. Clinton had long planned to bring Mr. Stern with her.

Mr. Stern, a soft-spoken Washington lawyer, portrayed climate change as an economic boon for India, giving it the chance to invest in windmills and solar panels. "India, with its knowledge base and entrepreneurial talent and élan, is well positioned to be a winner," he said.

Mr. Ramesh leavened his tough words with a promise of cooperation between India and the United States in "green technology." He proposed teaming up in solar energy and biomass, and setting up joint Indian-American institutions to study the long-term effects of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Despite India's opposition to binding reductions, he said the Indian government was committed to reaching an agreement in Copenhagen. "It is possible for us to narrow our positions," he said.

Seems to me that Indian business people, such as Mukesh Ambani, who have the means to influence policy and the capitol to invest in green technology are serious allies in the fight to reduce global warming.

Ambani's riches are from oil and his company has been a major polluter. He backed a conference on environmental awareness in 2006 which was apparently successful.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he had been "surprised" by a recent U.S. demand that Israel halt a construction project in a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

"I was surprised by the U.S. move," the premier told his advisors. "In my conversation with [U.S. President Barack] Obama in Washington, I told him that I could not accept any limitations on our sovereignty in Jerusalem. I told him Jerusalem is not a settlement, and it has nothing to do with discussions on a freeze."

Haaretz

"A great disappointment. Playoff was one bad shot after another."  

Perhaps it was fatigue..."legs didn't work at 17"

"My hat is off to Tiger as much as he goes through every week..."

And although some here don't share my admiration for him, hats off to Lance Armstrong's 37-year old legs that hung in for second in the GC after today's stage.  Lance has a Texas-sized ego, but he was gracious today and recognized Alberto Contador as the best man in the Tour.  I think the team reigned Contador in in the Pyranees because they didn't want to defend yellow for the rest of the race.  That was a good strategy, allowed Contador to rest, and he will almost undoubtedly win; no one can match his climbing skills.  (Unless Armstrong can pull closer before the individual time trial, in which case he may still have a shot.  But I don't see how he can pull closer, given the ease of Contador's performance today.)