healthcare

Good summary and examples of the changes the new law will bring...

"Republicans were for President Barack Obama's requirement that Americans get health insurance before they were against it.

"The obligation in the new health care law is a Republican idea that's been around at least two decades. It was once trumpeted as an alternative to Bill and Hillary Clinton's failed health care overhaul in the 1990s. These days, Republicans call it government overreach.

"Republicans on Capitol Hill are acting like spoiled brats after Democrats snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by passing health care reform.

On the day President Obama signed the bill into law, Sen. John McCain, who often touts his ability to work across the aisle, said Republicans will no longer cooperate with Democrats because of the passage of health care.

In an interview with an Arizona radio station, McCain said: "There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it."

"I take pride in who I am. Always have, always will. I've worked hard my whole life and have never taken anyone's charity, and I'm not about to start now, no matter what. I'm telling you, there's no way I'm going to sit back and let some black president of the United States try to devise a structure to help me pay for the dialysis treatment I so desperately need to survive."

http://www.theonion.com/articles/like-hell-im-going-to-let-some-black-pr...

Eric Cantor's political office was apparently shot at last night... in response, he blames democrats for complaining about republican threats of violence against them?  How's that work?  Also, he won't release the messages he's received... he implies this was done by democrats, but my guess is that they're from tea partiers mad that the GOP didn't stop the healthcare bill.  I don't understand why he blasts democrats, but not tea partiers for their hateful speach, and not Glen Beck and Limbaugh?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/25/congress.threats/index.html?hpt=T1

"We can only handle so much newness at once. So it’s been comforting to return to the U.S. Senate and find that it’s exactly as insane as it was last month and the month before that.

If I didn't hate McCain before (which I did), these kinds of tirades make me hate him more.  He talks about $500 billion increase in taxes... for some reason, a couple percent increase for people earning $200,000+ doesn't seem that excessive to me...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/24/health.care.main/index.html?hpt=T1

The GOP didn't get their way, so they're shutting down washington and halting progress on issues like national security, firefighting, veteran homelessness, and police training in afghanistan.  Nice strategy.

Good article by David Frum (bush speech writer):

"This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

Yet another reason I'm glad this passed (and another reason I'm sure the GOP wishes it didn't):

"Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor.