We seem to be making more progress in the states. We need to insist that any federal plan NOT prohibit states from doing the right thing.

Workday Minnesota: Health care bills advance at Legislature

ST. PAUL - Passage of the Minnesota Health Security Act by a key House panel is an important first step in the effort to provide health coverage for hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans, leaders of the "Make Health Happen" Coalition said.

CJR's David Cay Johnston discovers that it takes a week of callling to get through to a human at the White House Press Office, and when he finally does, the person on the other end of the line won't spell his name or give his job title. And the second call goes even better:

A return call is answered by Priya Singh, who spells her name when asked, but does not know (or will not say) what her job title is and several times describes requests for information about how the Obama administration press office is operating as a “complaint” which she would pass on. She says she is not authorized to comment, though she at one point tells me she is a spokesperson.

Jeebus, who's minding the store, here? Dilbert's pointy-haired manager? Johnston has the temerity to point out that, gee, it might help Obama get his message out if the White House press office is actually able to, ya know, work, and of course that brings the OFB charging out of the box. There are many deserving candidates, but I think Countervail's is the best:

Classic headline from The Hill: GOP losing patience with Obama, Dem leaders. Which is hilarious, because as Stirling points out, Obama's giving them a war, trillions for bankers, "entitlement [cough, spew] reform," keeping the insurance companies in the business of denying us care and sucking our blood -- and he's getting the left to buy into it.

Yes, the Republicans have had enough.

Wall Street: "Hands off our entitlements!":

Meanwhile, around the corner, Larry Meyers and Gerard Novello, who work for an Italian securities firm, ducked into a Mexican cantina for a drink. It was Mr. Meyers’s 43rd birthday, and he ordered the tequila.

“On Main Street, ‘bonus’ sounds like a gift,” he said. “But it’s part of the compensation structure of Wall Street. Say I’m a banker and I created $30 million. I should get a part of that.”

Er, no. Clue stick, Larry: