Quote of the Day (Political Wire)
"Obama's team are the best linguists I've ever seen. Republicans aren't in his league right now." -- Frank Luntz, author of Words that Work, in an interview with Politico.
Frank Luntz is the man who espouses the juxtaposition of phrases that don’t belong together, to make people believe that they belong together, without telling outright lies. He’s responsible, for example, for Republicans saying “Saddam Hussein” and “9/11” in the same sentence, to make Americans think Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, when he clearly was not.—Caro

The Radical Fringe

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Sounds great, so why not before?

President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan won't include money for politicians' pet projects and will include provisions aimed at ensuring his administration is open and accountable to taxpayers and Congress, a transition official said Tuesday.

As part of the package likely to cost as much as $775 billion, Obama plans to establish an oversight body to meet publicly and issue reports to Congress on how the money is being spent. The president-elect also plans to create a user-friendly Internet site to allow people to track the flow of dollars.

The official who disclosed the details spoke on the condition of anonymity because Obama planned to make the official announcement during a meeting later with his economic advisers.

So, when Obama was working the phones for the Bush + Reid + Pelosi + Obama + Paulson bailout, why wasn't he pushing for accountability then? It's not lilke he, and the Democrats, didn't have leverage, since the bill had to be passed NOW NOW NOW NOW, right? Read more…

Linda Bergthold: Happy Health Care Reform New Year

Will the single payer advocates support a more gradual roll-out of the elements of health reform if the result is not Medicare for All?

Single payer advocates will accept any compromise that preserves the right of the states to enact their own single payer plans..

KevinMD Read more…

Below, I quote the principles for which the United States government is supposed to stand.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I

Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Read more…

Lovely.

NOTE Via The Confluence.

Stoller. Read more…

The Obama presidency may, indeed, be 2% less evil. Hooray! Read more…

CopyBlog:

Mass media is a historical aberration. For a short 70-odd years of human history, a relatively small group of people told us what to think and what to buy, and we were expected to passively accept it.

That’s not how things worked for thousands of years before, and that’s not how it’s going to work in the future. Clinging to the precepts of a brief period of weirdness may not be the best model to guide us, you think?

Before mass media, people marketed their wares directly to one another in a social context. Some people were considered honest and trustworthy, and some people were considered shills and charlatans. Others were revealed to be criminals and con men.  Read more…

Can you believe this? From the Times:

Quality of Cancer Care
Should doctors be obliged to inform their patients if better care is available elsewhere?

Why are we even asking the question?!?!?!?! Read more…

If the embed isn't working for you, try this link.

I've got so much to do today, so I hope you can forgive me for my laziness; blogging with pics is a boatload of work. Anyway, here's a new set of photos at my other place, to go along with this one of the gates of Buckinham Palace. Which, as far as palaces go, isn't very impressive.  Read more…

"Senate officials closed Norm Coleman's office Monday morning, two days after the Minnesota Republican's term expired."

And then, as always, there's the meta: Read more…

Health care woes cannot continue

The system is, if not completely broken, severely damaged. If you pay for your own health insurance, you know exactly what I am talking about. The average single American pays around $500 to 600 a month for coverage and usually with a high deductible. Insurance and healthcare costs have sky-rocketed in the past few years. If we, the American public, want change, we must be the change.

I urge everyone to contact their representatives of both the House and Senate and voice their support for H.R. 676.

Have you written a letter to the editor?

So, in addition to being an untrustworthy but highly attractive fox, I'm also a bitchy princess who is a tease. So, you only get 10 for tonight. Heh, I could write a whole blog on what I experienced in London. I won't bore you with that, but rather show you what post Empire is really about. That is: bragging rights! If you can kill it, steal it, imitate it, coerce it, and be snobby about all that...you could be a Citizen of the Empire! Just kidding, blokes. Seriously:I loved your nation (what I saw of it) and I want to live there. Any Brit Dykes in need of a footrubbing, politically active, art-loving gardener and cook? I'm available for an EU contract. Standard warning, plenty of pics to follow.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...The Rosetta Stone:

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So, up here in 5b land, it's dark, bleak, and cold. A lot. The moon is shining and making pretty play on the snow just now here in MI, but of course that never lasts. Like many, I fill my winter 'downtime' with indoor hobbying and crafting. Last year, as you may remember, it was tiling. I plan on doing more this season, but I like to try to learn new things every season. This year, I have to confess: I'd scheduled learning to sew "for real," but coming back from London and all the museums, I'm more inclined to...paint. I just love "modern" art! It's probably pathetic, but I don't care.

Given that I've rebuilt my house over the last few years, room by room, floor by floor, etc., I've got a lot, and I do mean a lot, of 'spare' paint lying around. And some brushes, and not a few flat, white-ish papery surfaces to mar. So I think I will! What about you? I know we're officially the knitting-home construction-tiling-gardening political blog these days, what are you adding to that list? I promise I won't torture you with pics unless I'm really high. Read more…

Linda Mulka wites for the Rocky Mountain News Read more…

The NewsHour interviews couple who pay $800/month for insurances, yet even after co-pays have hundreds of dollars a month in expenses. Doctor explains how patients can't afford medicine.

Here. Of course, "we do not torture," and the Village doesn't want any Villager held accountable for anything, ever, but still, encouraging signs. I mean, imagine if Hayden were kept on as a holdover in the spirit of bi-partisanship. Read more…

College of St. Scholastica (yes, I’m aware of the irony)

Economists behaving badly (by Paul Krugman)
Ouch. The WSJ’s Real Time Economics blog has a post linking to Raguram Rajan’s prophetic 2005 paper on the risks posed by securitization — basically, Rajan said that what did happen, could happen — and to the discussion at the Jackson Hole conference by Fed vice-chairman Kohn and others. The economics profession does not come off very well. Read more…

Via Glenn Greenwald, who remarks, of Obama's new appointment to OLC: Read more…

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has an article about Kennedy's effort to form a "concensus" on health care, filled with fluffy quotes from special interest lobbyists.

Special attention is given to the role of John McDonough, who is described as a former law maker and head of Health Care For All. Sounds like a nice guy huh?

Let's review who McDonough really is: Read more…

Comments on improving health care collected in Portsmouth

Day was among many at the forum who said the insurance system seems fueled by "greed" rather than the desire to keep people healthy.

"It's a disaster in this country ... we need a complete overhaul," Day said.

Many attending the forum said they support a more centralized "single payer" system that would have the government offering guaranteed coverage, like in Canada or many European nations.

Gene Fenderson writes for the Great Falls Tribune

We don't really have a "system." What we have is a confused maze of coverage types and providers — Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, SCHIP, military, veterans administration, Indian Health Service, federal employee coverage, health savings accounts, community health centers, private insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, medical coverage in auto insurance and more. Read more…