Funny Line of the Day:

Chris Matthews commented on Michelle Bachman being put on the Intelligence Committee:

“I wonder what the rules are for getting on that committee? Pretty lenient, I guess.”

Quote of the Day… a pledge to make DADT work…From John McCain?

The number one opponent to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell“, John McCain, made an interesting pledge in a Fox Business News interview today:

“It is a law and I have to do whatever I can to help the men and women who are serving, particularly in combat, cope with this new situation. I will do everything I can to make it work.”

Is this a flip-flop or just good sense from Senator Cranky?

Related Articles

• In Flip-Flop, John McCain Supports DADT Repeal (lezgetreal.com)
• John McCain Willing To Back DADT Repeal Now That Everyone Showed Him He’s a Giant Prick (queerty.com)
• John McCain Reverses Position on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, Says He Will Do All He Can to Make Repeal Work (towleroad.com)
• McCain says he’ll make DADT repeal work (thehill.com)
• Jon Stewart Introduces Puppet John McCain To Mock The Senator’s Growing Crankiness (mediaite.com)
• John McCain on DADT (pinkbananaworld.com)

So let’s see…the Republicans want to cut the deficit, but they also want t0 repeal Health Care at a deficit cost of $230 Billion…

The Congressional Budget Office, which is not affiliated with either Party, released a report today on the effects that repeal of the Health Care law will be a major deficit pig.

This from HuffPo:

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON — Repealing health care reform will add $230 billion to the deficit over the next decade, leave 32 million fewer people with insurance and lead to higher costs for those who are covered, the Congressional Budget Office said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) Thursday. CBO Director Doug Elmendorf elaborated on the analysis in a blog post: “As a result of changes in direct spending and revenues, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 2 would probably increase federal budget deficits over the 2012-2019 period by a total of roughly $145 billion (on the basis of the original estimate), plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes that CBO and JCT will include in the forthcoming estimate. Adding two more years (through 2021) brings the projected increase in deficits to something in the vicinity of $230 billion, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes.”

Related Articles

• Fresh ammo – CBO: Repeal would pile on deficit (politico.com)
• CBO: GOP Health Care Repeal Adds $230 Billion to Deficit (crooksandliars.com)
• CBO: Health reform repeal would add $230 billion to deficit by 2021 (dailykos.com)
• The CBO tells Republicans what they don’t want to hear (washingtonmonthly.com)
• Health care repeal’s cost: $230 billion to deficit (money.cnn.com)

I had an interesting interview in Charles Town this morning…

As a “99er” who had just about given up on getting a job again (I went on early retirement with Social Security and started calling in my old teacher’s pension from TIAA Cref that I built up teaching in the NY City University system back in the 70s), it was refreshing to get called in for an interview for a position that was in a Craig’s List post a couple of months ago. When I responded to that listing it was certainly no more than a chance event…I have responded to these things before and never heard back from them. This one, however, got in touch with me.

The job is a local writing position at a weekly newspaper in Jefferson County (WV), The Spirit Of Jefferson County, covering town meetings and other events in the small towns of our area. For someone who writes every day (mostly, of course, in this blog) and who gets into local news on the Winners and Losers program on WSHC Friday mornings, this seems ideal.

I met with the Publisher and Managing Editor at their Charles Town office and had the usual kind of back and forth interview you would expect… “Tell us about yourself”, etc…. and I left feeling pretty good about it.

Of course I’m not the only one being interviewed, so this is just as likely to fall through as not, nut it was nice to be back on the trail again…especially at a place where I think I can offer something. I’d also like to get these people as guests on the radio show.

Related Articles

• American Public University System Celebrates Grand Opening of Energy-Efficient Academic Center in Charles Town, WV (eon.businesswire.com)
• TIAA-CREF’s CEO Says a New Generation of Workers Seeks Retirement Security (eon.businesswire.com)

While the House looks at repealing the Health Care Bill…

… perhaps you could use some information comparing America’s annual costs and patient life expectations to some of the world’s other countries (most of whom have Universal Health Care). Go to http://blogs.ngm.com/.a/6a00e0098226918833012876a6070f970c-800wi and get some stats that will make you mad as hell (and I write this on a day that California’s Blue Cross group wants to raise their health insurance rates by 59%… other states are lining up with similar increases.)

And the next time some Republican Congressional Type says we have the “Best Health Care In The World” you can assume that the speaker is rich enough to afford it. When will we get single-payer Universal Health Care like the rest of the 21st Century nations in our world?

Related Articles

• Would Republicans Rush To Repeal Health Law If They Could Make It Stick? (politicsdaily.com)
• What Repealing the Affordable Care Act Will Cost Families, Seniors, Small Businesses, States… (whitehouse.gov)
• Hold Republicans accountable for their health care repeal vote. (ynative77.wordpress.com)
• White House dismisses health care repeal effort (sfgate.com)
• Health-care law’s repeal would hurt millions, advocates say (dispatch.com)