House passes health care bill, 220-215

39 Dems voted no. Republican House member Cao of Louisiana voted "yes." In Rahm-land, that makes the bill overwhelmingly bipartisan. Read the rest of this post...

THIS JUST IN: Dems have over 218 votes for health care reform in House

A well-placed congressional source tells me the Democrats now have over 218 votes to pass health care reform. Three more votes to go. Will be over well before midnight. Read the rest of this post...

Brand USA takes the top spot

Bush leaving and Obama arriving certainly makes a difference. Reuters:

The United States was seen as the ideal place for business, one of the top places for families, shopping and quality products, as well as one of the countries people wanted to visit whether for the first time or again.

The FutureBrand survey echoes a similar poll which showed that the United States was the most admired country globally, largely thanks to Obama's global popularity.

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And even more bank closings

Silly bankers. They should have sold out to one of the big players on Wall Street. They would still be in action and flush with cash.

Regulators on Friday shut banks in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and California, bringing the number of bank failures this year to 120 amid the struggling economy and a cascade of defaults on loans.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over United Commercial Bank in San Francisco, with $11.2 billion in assets and $7.5 billion in deposits. East West Bancorp Inc., parent company of East West Bank based in Pasadena, Calif., is buying all of the deposits and most of the failed bank's assets.

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Unemployed and underemployed hits 17.5%

It's probably the worst jobs market since the Great Depression. The Obama administration continues to buy into the Geithner/Summers/Wall Street view of the world which puts Wall Street above everyone else at the expense of everyone else. Americans are generous people who grudgingly accepted the bailout to prevent an even worse economic failure but enough is enough. The greed and the acceptance of that greed - regardless of words - by the White House is wearing thin as Americans wait for the upside to the bailout. All pain and no gain can only be tolerated for so long. Meanwhile the 17.5% and their friends and family look at the outrageous bonuses that are being lined up and wonder how it can be possible.

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.

This includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.

The official jobless rate — 10.2 percent in October, up from 9.8 percent in September — remains lower than the early 1980s peak of 10.8 percent.

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House health care vote probably at 9pm, final vote

A friend in the House tells us that the final vote is expected around 9pm Eastern tonight. You can follow more updates on the health care twitter feed at http://twitter.com/healthreformnow. And if anyone in the comments want to tell folks what Twitter is, that might be a nice thing :-) Thanks. Read the rest of this post...

Are the teabaggers getting ready to disrupt the House health care debate?

From a friend, watching the Teabaggers on a live stream:

I'm watching Steve King's "house call" tea party rally streaming online. King & Hoekstra are giving them directions on how to get visitors passes & sit in the gallery during the vote... this could get interesting.

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Krugman: Obama faces his own Anzio

Another great read by Paul Krugman. Obama's cautious approach to the economic crisis may lead the way for Democratic losses in 2010. Clearly the situation is better than it was a year ago though as we saw on Friday, employment is still lagging with limited chances of recovery before the mid term elections.

Administration officials would presumably argue that they were constrained by political realities, that a bolder policy couldn’t have passed Congress. But they never tested that assumption, and they also never gave any public indication that they were doing less than they wanted. The official line was that policy was just right, making it hard to explain now why more is needed.

And more is needed. Yes, the economy grew fairly fast in the third quarter — but not fast enough to make significant progress on jobs. And there’s little reason to expect things to look better going forward. The stimulus has already had its maximum effect on growth. Even Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary, admits that banks remain reluctant to lend. Many economists predict that the economy’s growth, such as it is, will fade out over the course of next year.

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Male GOP House members try to block women from speaking

A group of male GOP House members, just tried to repeatedly block a group of female Democratic House members from speaking on the House floor. The Democrats wanted to speak about how Health Care Reform was important for women. The men would have nothing of it. Typical. Oh, did I just hear the "socialist" word? Read the rest of this post...

Even as Dioceses file bankruptcy over sex abuse cases, Catholic Bishops threaten to undermine health insurance reform

Not happy with just ruining the lives of same-sex couples in Maine this week, the Catholic Bishops are trying to bring down health insurance reform in the House over the abortion issue. What really sucks is that members of the House are willing to let the Catholic Bishops, who enabled rampant sex abuse of children, to impose their theocratic view on this issue:

Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

The deal clears the way for the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who oppose abortion to lend their support to the health care package, the most dramatic expansion of health coverage in more than 40 years. It also satisfies the demands of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had threatened to oppose the House bill.

If the amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) passes, said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops conference, "we become enthusiastic advocates for moving forward with health care reform."

Who cares if the Bishops support health insurance reform? It's dangerous that the House is letting the Bishops dictate any kind of policy.

Does anyone on the Hill know the history of the Catholic Bishops Conference and the horrors they allowed to be inflicted on children? How can those Bishops speak with any moral authority? The Catholic Bishops protected and enabled pedophiles and child abusers. And, it's costing them. Last month, the Diocese of Wilmington became the seventh Diocese to file bankruptcy:

It joins a list of six other dioceses in the United States that have filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws in what lawyers said is an attempt to manage an avalanche of clergy sexual-abuse litigation.

But, in the warped world of DC, a group that is going bankrupt because it protected pedophiles and sexual abusers speaks with moral authority.

If I was on the Hill, I'd make this a debate about the Catholic Bishops and what they've done to children. Those hypocrites can't talk about the "sanctity of life" when they've destroyed so many. Check out the website of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and ask if you want the Catholic Bishops setting policy for America.

If you don't want the Bishops dictating policy, call the House and urge your member to oppose the Stupak Amendment. The main number is 202-224-3121. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning. It's been a rough week. I prefer winning elections -- particularly when my rights are on the ballot. And, I really, really resent the fact that people get to vote on people's rights in the first place. But, I do have to give a shout-out to my family for their help on the campaign in Maine. My parents, Rita and Chuck, did everything they could to help, as did my sisters. They were all beyond amazing and I am extremely grateful.

Watching Tom Tancredo storm off the set during a debate with Markos was a great way to end the week. Those right-wing, immigrant-bashing, homophobic tough guys, like Tancredo, are so thin-skinned.

And, I can always find comfort and laughs in the haikus for the Obama administration from KarenMrsLloydRichards. Here are a couple, which appeared in the comments, this week:

Sarah-approved pols
Crash and burn in her havoc--
She'll kill, baby, kill!

And:

ObamaCare kills!
Worse'n "homicide bombers"!
We'd ruther die sick!!

The House votes today on its health insurance reform bill. Obama is heading to Capitol Hill today to speak to the House Democratic Caucus. I believe he's actually going to ask them to vote for the reform bill. We'll be monitoring events on Capitol Hill as they unfold. It should be a wild day.

Start threading the news.... Read the rest of this post...

Moldy Peaches

So much great music from the Juno soundtrack and I love Kimya Dawson. It's the perfect tune for getting started on a lazy Saturday morning. The sun is out though so it's time to get on the bike before the rain comes back. Again. Read the rest of this post...

Iranian student criticizes Ayatollah Khamenei in person

The exchange was recorded and was first published on Khamenei's website. Lots of talk about this story but for now, it's more a mystery that will be answered later. The Guardian:

He may be the bravest student in Iran or an unwitting stooge of the Islamic regime – or both. Either way, Mahmoud Vahidnia has gained instant fame after breaking a taboo by criticising the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to his face.

The 25-year-old maths student has been lauded by opposition websites after reportedly telling Khamenei that he had been turned into a "grand idol" who was above criticism. But in a twist demonstrating the inscrutable nature of Iranian politics, the incident has been used by Khamenei's supporters to show how he embraces criticism. Vahidnia has remained unmolested since his 10-minute critique, which condemned the recent brutal post-election crackdown and denounced the state broadcaster, IRIB, for biased coverage. But his most remarkable comments were reserved for Khamenei himself.

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Underwater kites for energy

Another very interesting new possibility for generating energy. What's also interesting is the brief mention inside the article about UK energy consumption being a third of US households. That is quite a difference and it's going to have to change in the future. Also inside is a link to a computer generated video of what it would look like underwater.

A completely new concept of underwater wave energy using a simple 7 ton kite turbine design has been developed by Minesto; which is a spinoff from the Swedish military and aircraft design firm Saab. The Deep Green underwater turbine captures the power of the ocean just like a kite in wind.

The system could generate 18 terawatthours of energy annually, enough to provide nearly 4 million British households with reliably green electricity every year. UK households now use about a third of what average US households use in energy.

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