I hope, for Dzhokhar's sake, that this isn't a case of him feeling he has to defend his brother by ascribing to himself motives and feelings and intentions he didn't have.

We know he was there.  There is video of him with the backpack moments before it apparently exploded.  He was involved, but I think it's foolish to think we know more than we do.

Obama's plan closely mirrors three proposals that have attracted the support of Republicans who reside within their party's mainstream:

The first is the 1993 Senate Republican health plan, which is compared with Obama's plan here, with the similarity endorsed by former Republican Senator Dave Durenberger here.

The second is the Bipartisan Policy Center plan, endorsed by Bob Dole, Howard baker, George Mitchell and Tom Daschle, which is compared to Obama's plan here.

And the third, of course, is Mitt Romney's Massachusetts plan, which was crafted by the same economist who helped create Obama's plan, and which is rhetorically indistinguishable from Obama's. (The main difference are that Obama's plan cuts Medicare and imposes numerous other cost-saving measures -- which is to say, attempting to craft a national version of Romney's plan would result in something substantially more liberal than Obama's proposal.)

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In reality, the legislation is designed to restructure and (partially) deregulate Massachusetts's small-group and non-group health insurance markets and to convert subsidies now paid to hospitals for treating the uninsured into subsidies for the low-income uninsured to buy health insurance. The objectives are expanded coverage, greater consumer choice and satisfaction, value-focused competition among insurers and providers, and ultimately a reduced burden on the state's taxpayers. The key to the Massachusetts plan is a new way of organizing the marketplace to enable consumers to compare and purchase health insurance plans.

Wow replacing subsidies to hospitals with subsidies for low income people to buy insurance. Funny how Obamacare reduces DHS (subsidies to hospitals) with subsidies for low income people to buy insurance.

Personal Responsibility

Finally, the element of the Massachusetts bill that has attracted the most attention and dispute is the "personal responsibility" provision, also known as the "individual mandate."

Romney also pointed out that to allow people to go without health insurance when they can expect someone else to pay the tab for their treatment is a de facto mandate on providers and taxpayers. Romney's plan was to take that option off the table, leaving only two choices: either buy insurance or pay for your own care. He proposed that those who want to go without coverage could place $10,000 in an interest-bearing escrow account, which providers could claim against if the individual did not pay medical bills

Unfortunately, the state legislature changed that idea into a mandate: either buy coverage or pay a fine. This provision is more onerous and philosophically objectionable, but it is unlikely to prove onerous in practice. That is because the legislation includes three avenues through which Massachusetts residents can meet the individual coverage requirement by purchasing an inexpensive health plan. First, the bill allows more carriers to offer HSA products with high-deductibles. Second, it also circumvents Massachusetts' overly regulated non-group market by allowing any resident to buy coverage as an individual through the Connector, where a wide choice of plans and premiums will be available. And third, it allows insurers to offer inexpensive "mandate-light" policies to young adults between the ages of 19 and 26, those most likely to go without coverage.
.....
But that should not overshadow the significance of Massachusetts' achievement in enacting a bipartisan health care reform bill that fundamentally shifts the state's health care system in the direction of greater patient and consumer empowerment and control. The Governor and legislature have provided their citizens with the tools to achieve what the public really wants: a health system with all the familiar comforts of existing employer group coverage but with the added benefits of portability, choice, and control.

Other governors and legislators would be well advised to consider this basic model as a framework for health care reform in their own states.

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If Obama proposed the exact same things Ronald Reagan did the GOP would not vote for it. I don't think they voted against it because they didn't like it but because Obama was going to sign it. And the GOP worries a lot more about being primaried than anything else and that is why they have become very far right.

I know he's a volunteer devoting a lot of time, and a nice enough guy so I'd never say anything, but he's playing kick and chase while other teams are already playing the beautiful game.  They got smoked 7-0 on Saturday and not because of a lack of talent.  And he subs way too much, the girls never get to develop any continuity.  

One minute tongue in cheek or sarcastic the next minute pretending all such humor is beneath you. And doing so whenever it suits you.

In fact my post is precisely like some here have acted in regards to me and others who - to put it bluntly - aren't supportive of their various cures for their purported 'problems'. And you've been one of the worst offenders.