Counting the Costs of Health Care Reform | Online NewsHour | Nov. 10, 2009 | PBS

WHAT'S THE REAL DEAL? One of the things both sides can agree on is that rising health care costs need to be addressed. What, though, can we really expect from what is now being "debated" in Congress? A recent segment about what might be expected on News Hour brought two refreshingly forthright assessments. Obama's point man, Peter Orszag, director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, avoided the usually overly rosy assessment and Gail Wilensky, a former Bush(I) administration administration official who currently chairs Congress' Medicare Payment Advisory Commission was especially candid.

HIM

HER

Dismal special election record hampers GOP's 2010 comeback - TheHill.com

THE "UGLY" PRIMARY
Some people say that the Republicans haven’t learned from their losses in three conservative districts. Even as it rebounds in other ways, the GOP could lose its fifth of five big special elections in two years. The blame goes to something insiders are calling the "ugly primary" where the losers refuse to back the party and fracture the vote. Others fear it just signals the battle between pragmatism and idealism that currently roils the Republicans.
(THE HILL)

FreeRice

REAL RICE
If you must virtual farm why not go to FreeRice, a non-profit website that is fun, has a little something in it for you, and just might do something for those really in need? The gist of the site is that it asks you vocabulary questions. The ones you miss keep sneaking back into the list so that eventually you learn it. For every correct answer the site's advertisers donate a grain of rice to the hungry. Admittedly, a grain of rice isn't much but every journey starts with the first step.
(Suggested by TOMMY BEALLE)

OUTFOXED
Some People Say that Fox has an agenda. The underlying premise of this 2004 film is that the network is really all about yellow journalism, politics and opinion masked as news. I report. You decide. (WARNING: This film is one-hour-plus, but well worth watching.)

YouTube - SAFER CANNABIS USE GUIDELINES

NOT YOUR PARENTS' PSA
REMEMBER: When you share joints, you can also share infections.
(Suggested by ALABAMA COMPASSIONATE CARE)

Meet the Senators in the Creepy Right-Wing Cult Trying to Defeat Health Care Reform | Politics | AlterNet

A FAMILY THAT PREYS TOGETHER
You may remember something called "The Family", some sort of religious shadow group whose name comes up from time to time in things like 60 Minutes. They are behind-the-scenes, but powerful, "players". A Protestant version of the Illuminati, but here. The people of South Carolina, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nevada, Kansas and Wyoming find themselves represented by at least one U.S. senator who belongs to "The Family".
(ALTERNET)

Obama Asked "Why Do People Hate You?" By Fourth Grader (VIDEO)

OUT OF MOUTHS OF BABES
At a town hall meeting in New Orleans Thursday a fourth-grader asked the question that has probably been on many people's minds as they witnessed the rage that has been directed at Obama these last few months: "Why do people hate you?" The young man seemed genuinely concerned, and he went on to tell Obama that "They supposed to love you." Obama responded by giving the young man a hug while saying, "That's what I'm talking about." Then came the hard part of actually answering his question.
(HUFFINGTON POST, suggested by SUSAN BLACK MCMASTERS)

A Nobel for Defeating Cheneyism - Rasmussen Reports™

GETTING DICK
Outraged babble and sanctimonious tut-tutting over Obama's Nobel Peace Prize will pour forth until the very evening he accepts the prize in Oslo, and then for years afterward. If the hotheads understood how Obama actually did earn the prize, in the minds not only of the Norwegians but presumably most of the world's inhabitants, their fury might reach nuclear levels.
(RASMUSSEN)

Video: Janet Napolitano Pt. 1 | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

CNN: LEAVING IT THERE
FOX! This ain't about no stinking Fox. Here Jon Stewart excoriates CNN. Funny stuff.
(DAILY SHOW)

Zack Soto - illustration/comics/design - Blog

GHOST ATTACK
Ghost Attack, my son Zack's new mini comic will make it's debut this weekend at Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. He's at booth 292.

Bedazzler - DIY non-lethal weaponry

BEDAZZLING!
After attending a conference where a $1 million "sea-sick flashlight" named the Dazzler was demonstrated by Homeland Security, these guys decided to create their own version, which they did, for under $250. This site teaches you how to build your own, along with links to the source code, schematics and other useful items. They've even added a "mode" selection so you can put it into some pretty color-swirl modes. Great for raves and parties! Now, where did I put my sucker.
(LADYADA)

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Analysis: Public Option Is Likely Popular in Most Blue Dog Districts

BLUE DOGS TIC
Polls of many "Blue Dog" districts have found that a plurality or majority of its constituents support the public plan.
(FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, suggested by CLINT BROWN)

WHAT HAS OBAMA DONE TO DESERVE THIS?
TO THE HATERS: What has Obama done to deserve your always negative reaction? As you note, he's only been in office ten months. He hasn't had time to dig us out of the hole you put us in. The man wins a prestigious award and all you do is act like it's a slight to you. It was like the celebrations that followed the news that we had lost the Olympic bid from folks who are usually AMERICA RIGHT OR WRONG jingoist "freedom"-thumpers.

I have to admit that the news that Obama won the Peace Prize caught me off guard. I thought it was a little precipitous and grandiose. But what is always surprising is the vitriol that spews from you guys. The chairman of the Republican Party OF OUR COUNTRY (not Iran's) doesn't congratulate the President for winning the Nobel. He criticizes the decision to award him the prize, conveniently forgetting that Obama has been viciously engaged in trying to UNDO what Steele's party has done to this country and the world. Don't get me wrong, it's a fair question. But it really sounds like hollow sour grapes and bullshit declase politics.

Here, two politicos try to answer the question.

If you're up to it listen to the round table with Brooks and Marcus on this same News Hour page. Marcus is the "left" view of things and she has some interesting reflections - as does Brooks - about giving the prize to Obama.
(NEWS HOUR)

LIBERAL VIEW

MARXIST VIEW

"MARXIST" VIEW

WHO IS IN YOUR POCKET?
Health Care for America NOW! has put together some interesting links associated with the three prime health insurance companies:

UNITED HEALTH

CIGNA

WELLPOINT/BLUE CROSS

ACORN? AGAIN?
I must just be in denial but it seems so patently unfair to me to target ACORN as a somehow subversive or criminal organization but categorize what happened across the country in the town hall meetings as merely the spontaneous narodnik expression of the people's will. In my day ACORN was chided for being way too mainstream and basically irrelevant. They were centered on reformist poverty issues as a form of empowerment for the poor and did not deal, we said, with the problems endemic to the system. That's all well and good, but how do you explain the fact that they keep coming back up as a news item? Well, if you believe folks like Rachel Maddow it seems that ACORN hasn't just "appeared" on the radar but has been the focus of a long running purposeful vendetta. Well, wait, though, don't just listen to the pinko commie, let's hear what David Iglesias has to say about it. Iglesias is the former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico who was purportedly fired for refusing to prosecute ACORN for voter fraud.

ANOTHER LINK

AND ANOTHER
(MSNBC)

AND YET ANOTHER, BUT FROM A DIFFERENT SOURCE AND WRITTEN YESTERYEAR

YES, MORE