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Obama’s health care prop will not lose home
Fox News, “Clinic: Cancer Patient Who Wrote to Obama Will Not Lose Home, May Get Aid”
Natoma Canfield, the cancer-stricken woman who has become a centerpiece of President Obama’s push for health care reform, will not lose her home over her medical bills and will probably qualify for financial aid, a top official at the Cleveland medical center treating her told FoxNews.com.
Though Canfield’s sister Connie Anderson said her sibling is afraid she’ll lose her house and Obama warned at an Ohio rally Monday that the patient is “racked with worry” about the cost of tests and treatment, she is already being screened for financial help.
Lyman Sornberger, executive director of patient financial services at the Cleveland Clinic, said “all indications” at the outset are that she will be considered for assistance.
Fox News article continues here.
Clyburn: House Democrats still short on health care votes
Fox News, “House Democrats Short on Health Care Votes, Clyburn Says”
House Democratic leaders still do not have enough votes to pass health care reform, the chamber’s top vote counter said Sunday, even though the administration is aiming to have the bill passed this week.
The reality check came from Rep. James Clyburn, the House Democratic whip.
“No, we don’t have them as of this morning, but we’ve been working this thing all weekend,” Clyburn, D-S.C., said.
But despite the challenge of corralling wavering Democrats, Clyburn joined with other Democratic officials in saying he was confident the measure would pass, echoing comments from Speaker Nancy Pelosi Saturday.
Fox News article continues here.
Obama supports mandatory DNA sampling upon arrest
Wired, “Obama Supports DNA Sampling Upon Arrest”
by David Kravets
Josh Gerstein over at Politico sent Threat Level his piece underscoring once again President Barack Obama is not the civil-liberties knight in shining armor many were expecting.
Gerstein posts a televised interview of Obama and John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted. The nation’s chief executive extols the virtues of mandatory DNA testing of Americans upon arrest, even absent charges or a conviction. Obama said, “It’s the right thing to do” to “tighten the grip around folks” who commit crime.
When it comes to civil liberties, the Obama administration has come under fire for often mirroring his predecessor’s practices surrounding state secrets, the Patriot Act and domestic spying. There’s also Gitmo, Jay Bybee and John Yoo.
Wired article continues here.
Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be the ‘law of the land’
The Hill, “Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be the ‘law of the land’”
by Walter Alarkon
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the healthcare bill will pass by next weekend.
“We’ll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week,” Gibbs said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Gibbs added that those on next week’s Sunday talk shows “will be talking about healthcare not as a presidential proposal but I think as the law of the land.”
President Barack Obama will look to campaign on the new healthcare law in midterm elections, Gibbs said.
The Hill article continues here.
Martial law? House Democrats might pass the Senate bill without voting on it
Doug Ross Journal, “RED ALERT: We Are Now Living Under Martial Law — House Democrats Appear Set to Pass Senate Bill Without Voting On It”
by Doug Ross
The Washington Examiner reports that House Democrats appear poised to adopt a rule that would pass the Senate health care bill without actually voting on it.
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) is preparing to pass the health care overhaul through the House of Representatives without a vote, as was originally reported by the National Journal’s Congress Daily. Mark Tapscott observes that such a maneuver would be the penultimate refutation of the people’s will.
In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House “deems” the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself.
Doug Ross Jornal article continues here.
Obama drops objections to sweetheart deals in health bill
Fox News, “Obama Drops Objections to Sweetheart Deals as House Moves to Craft Health Care Fixes”
The White House is backing down from efforts to drop “sweetheart” deals poisoning health care legislation as House Budget Committee Democrats meet Monday to craft a “fix-it” bill that does not yet have a price tag.
In a new take on its policy, White House top strategist David Axelrod said President Obama only objects to state-specific arrangements, such as an increase in Medicaid funding for Nebraska, ridiculed as the “cornhusker kickback.”
But instead of dropping them, the concept behind those deals could be widened so that all states benefit.
Fox News article continues here.
Lightbulbs by dictate in Venezuela
BBC News, “Light bulbs power Venezuela out of electricity crisis”
by Will Grant
On the Fuerte Tiuana military base in Caracas, there is a warehouse full of light bulbs. Hundreds of boxes of Firefly energy-efficient bulbs are sitting in vast stacks, ready to be loaded onto waiting trucks by the troops.
Meanwhile, the other half of the warehouse is a graveyard for used and spent light bulbs.
Huge amounts of filaments and broken glass have been swept into small mountains before being shipped to Venezuela’s second city, Maracaibo, for safe disposal because of the mercury content.
Outside the warehouse, a platoon of soldiers is standing to attention for their colonel before being dispatched to hand out the light bulbs in one of the capital’s poorest neighbourhoods.
“Today’s mission is vital for the health and development of the nation. And it comes directly on orders from the commander-in-chief,” barks the colonel.
BBC News article continues here.
Eric Holder failed to give legal briefs to Senate
Reuters, “Att’y general failed to give legal briefs to Senate”
by Jeremy Pelofsky
Attorney General Eric Holder failed to tell the Senate about seven legal briefs he signed when lawmakers considered his nomination to his current job, according to a letter released on Friday.
Two of the briefs involved appeals to the Supreme Court for Jose Padilla, who sought release from a military prison in South Carolina where he was being held after then-President George W. Bush designated him an “enemy combatant.”
Padilla was held in a military brig for three years before his case was moved to a criminal court in Miami, where he was convicted on charges of offering his services to militants.
Reuters article continues here.
Pelosi: Health care reform will finally allow artists and writers to be comfortably unemployed
MSNBC, “‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ for Thursday, March, 2010”
Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition—is job locking.
Think of a situation where we can internationally competitive because we don‘t have this weight on us that other country—other businesses really don‘t have in other countries because they don‘t have this expense of health care which will all be reined in, those costs under this bill.
We cannot afford the status quo. We will make this difference and it will make a wonderful difference in the lives of our people, but also, in the vitality of our economy. That‘s what we want people to talk about.
MSNBC article continues here.
FCC to release National Broadband Plan
PCWorld Business Center, “FCC’s National Broadband Plan: What’s in It?”
by Grant Gross
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to release a national broadband plan next week that will lay out an ambitious set of goals for broadband deployment and adoption.
The official version of the plan will be released at a commission meeting Tuesday, but FCC followers have seen the agency unveil several major thrusts of the plan in a series of speeches and briefings in recent weeks. In a mid-February speech, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski kicked off the announcements by saying it was the agency’s goal to bring 100M bps (bits per second) broadband service to 100 million U.S. homes by about 2020.
Many members of the U.S. tech community have called for a national broadband policy for years, and Congress, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in early 2009, required the FCC to develop the plan.
PCWorld Business Center article continues here.
Venezuela murder rate has quadrupled under Hugo Chávez
Miami News, “Venezuela Murder Rate Has Quadrupled Under Hugo Chávez”
by Kyle Munzenrieder
One person is murdered every two hours in Venezuela, according to new statistics released by the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence.
The murder rate in the South American country has more than quadrupled since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999. There were 54 homicides per 100,000 people last year, a rate only exceeded on the continent by El Salvador, where there were 70 homicides per 100,000 citizens.
“The problem is not so much the criminals, but rather the government’s inaction and lack of policies,” Roberto Briceño León, director of the VOV, told reporters.
Miami News article continues here.
IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents
The Sacramento Bee, “IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents”
by Bob Shallit
It was every businessperson’s nightmare.
Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff.
The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.
Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35.
The Sacramento Bee article continues here.