The 21 day min. is 21 too many...the only contempt in that court is on the part of the dishonorable one in the robe.

And in day-to-day tyranny lite news...the cop who broke up a funeral procession to give out a seat belt ticket, causing a couple to miss their sisters funeral.

How did Obama do today?

Let's start a post-town hall thread on Obama's New Hampshire appearance for those who watched or listened. Some quick reactions:

The president got some subtle and not-so-subtle digs in against those who are making all the fuss at these town halls, referring at one point to "all the chatting, shouting, yelling and noise" and also appealing for us to "start talking with each other and not over each other" and warning about "bogeymen"-style tactics of opponents.

Obama also struck a more populist tone in the early moments of his speech. He trotted out stories about insurers dropping or denying coverage. He appealed to the underinsured and uninsured. Some big applause lines include:

"I don't think government bureaucrats should be meddling [in your health care], but I don't think health insurance company bureaucrats should be meddling either."

Then, a bit later: "Your health insurance should be there when you need it, not just when you're paying premiums."

And, most effectively, "Insurance companies are rationing care.

He also made a good point about short- and long-term costs in defense of ramping up preventive care to catch "diseases on the front end."

But besides citing some trade associations that are "in broad agreement" with most members of Congress about reform, he never set down very explicitly the four or five key changes that his plan will bring. He was short on specifics and substance.

He spoke mostly in political terms. He dropped in a reference to Ezra Klein's recent scoop, during an interview with Sen. Johnny Isakson, in which Isakson refutes Sarah Palin's "death panel" charge. He paused at one point, in response to a young woman's mention of the protest signs outside, and chuckled a bit under his breath about the resistance.

Finally, contrary to the story reported earlier, there didn't seem to be any direct appeal in his prepared remarks to insured Americans and why they should rally behind his plan.

The bold is mine.

His "tease" was Hillary's "tantrum" and then in the same breath "What made the usually soft spoken Tiger Woods get angry?"

1) "..we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care...That makes sense, it saves lives; it also saves money"

CBO disagrees

2) "I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer system."

Really?  Ever hear of YouTube or the internet?  From 2007 townhall in NH no less...

3) His belief that we can add people to the system, not increase doctors or hospitals and control costs.

This is fantasy.  Economics render this belief  impossible.   The sheer numbers will drive up costs and then that doesn't even count the eventual rise in usage of the system by those who are currently not covered or only receive partial care.

He is promising something not possible.  That's where the outrage comes from.   We hear the rhetoric but don't believe that the way he would solve the issue would result in the promises he's made.   We do believe it will add to the staggering amount of unfulfillable promises the governments already made and can't pay for.  This will result in severe rationing and changes to the system for the majority.  We the angry mob believe we will only add more government that can't be undone and get little in return.

[Raymond] Azar alleges that on arriving at Bagram he was shackled to a chair in an office for seven hours and not allowed to move. Then in the midst of a cold rainstorm he was taken to an unheated metal shipping container converted to use as a cell. The cell was brightly lit and although the outside temperature approached freezing, he was given only a thin blanket. He also claims that he was not permitted to sleep during his confinement at Bagram, which lasted over a day. Then he was told he was going to take a plane trip. His handlers would not tell him where he was going. He feared he was being dragged to Guantanamo, there to be "disappeared" and tortured. How else, he thought, could he explain the absence of Afghan authorities, the hooding and other techniques?

Also interesting

The [Justice] department acknowledges the accuracy of many of Azar's specific claims, but it denies that Azar was ever threatened with a photograph of his family or that he was malnourished. It heatedly argues that the characterization of these techniques as "torture" is "hyperbolic."

I know it's from Fortune - not exactly a progressive magazine - but let's face it, the Great Health Care Debacle of 2009 is being run by corporations, so Fortune should report on it.

5 Freedoms You'd Lose Under Obamacare

(I'll give you the list - you can read the article for the details)

1. Freedom to choose what's in your plan.
   
2. Freedom to be rewarded for healthy living, or pay your real costs.
   
3. Freedom to choose high-deducctible coverage.
   
4. Freedom to keep your existing plan.
   
5. Freedom to choose your doctors.

Come on the expertise these media people have is within their ability to deliver honest discourse but they are not, all leading me to believe they want to put breaks on this thing just as much as the insurance companies. They these media people are bring America to misery in this display of very definite consequences.

They could talk about what is important and the kicker of the plan which places huge huge responsibilities on the States. From my point of view this is it people and it's all politics take a look at, and as most don't specifically identify the section this part is a giant political nut cracker those red stater politicals want to stay away from.

16 SEC. 225. PROVIDER PARTICIPATION

17 (a) IN GENERAL.--The Secretary shall establish con18
ditions of participation for health care providers under the
19 public health insurance option.

20 (b) LICENSURE OR CERTIFICATION.--The Secretary
21 shall not allow a health care provider to participate in the
22 public health insurance option unless such provider is ap23
propriately licensed or certified under State law.

Wow yoweee

Hey folks there looks like no room for Joe plumber here. And the state laws better be up to snuff....

No quack allowed, the way I look at it this will definitely improve the quality.    

I just laugh about it all, now we see poster waving Obama evil signs and swastikas and blame Pelosi and the Democrats for them because she pointed it out. I have to give credit to MSNBC for spending some time about freaky meetings and their connection to special interests, but if they with the rest of the media spent even a little time to take apart the so called thousand page health care proposal we the people would be served rightly. It would look pretty good. America remember this is a proposal it can be revise. Cool your jets people.

cant quite decide if its illegal or not.  it seems legal but they are streaming movies like GI Joe that are still in theaters.

Government programs such as the $787 billion stimulus and last fall's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program have so far been successful, the Obama administration says.

Except, the Congressional Oversight Panel warns in its August report, TARP never actually bought any troubled assets.

"It is likely that an overwhelming portion of the troubled assets from last October remain on bank balance sheets today," the panel's report says.

Those bad assets are still there, rotting away on banks' books, making banks reluctant to ratchet up lending, and maybe, the watchdog warns, paving the way for another financial meltdown.

"We are now 10 months into TARP," the panel's report notes, "and troubled assets remain a substantial danger to the financial system."

Even hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars later, they say, the country could still be susceptible to the same problems that existed in the first place -- especially if the economic situation deteriorates again.

"If the economy worsens, especially if unemployment remains elevated or if the commercial real estate market collapses, then defaults will rise and the troubled assets will continue to deteriorate in value," the report says. "Banks will incur further losses on their troubled assets. The financial system will remain vulnerable to the crisis conditions that TARP was meant to fix."