Former Senator Edward Brooke (R-MA) awarded the Congressional Gold Medal (Video)

From left: US President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, former senator Edward William Brooke, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, listen to the national anthem during the Congressional Gold Medal presentation ceremony for Brooke October 28, 2009 in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Brooke was the first African American to be elected to the Senate by popular vote.

At a Capitol ceremony honoring him, the 90-year-old Massachusetts Republican addressed a multitude of issues on Congress' plate in addition to health care: overseas wars, restoring the economy and providing Americans with adequate housing.

"We've got to get together," Brooke said, turning his eyes to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "We have no alternative. There's nothing left. It's time for politics to be put aside on the back burner."

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FLOTUS, Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at first game of World Series tonight

Ah, now it is the ladies turn....

Mrs. Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden -- in their second joint appearance in a week (on Friday they discussed breast cancer awareness at a White House event) are traveling to New York for the game as part of their focus on military families. A public service announcement the two women made earlier this year about veterans will be shown at the game. The network broadcasting the World Series, by the way, is Fox, but the enmity the White House is showing Fox News evidently does not extend to Fox Sports.
Major League Baseball is dedicating the first four games to a series of civic-minded causes that could have come out of Mrs. Obama's playbook.

Game One is dedicated to returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and the first pitch will be thrown by a military vet. The theme for Game Two is community service. Game Three, cancer awareness. Game Four, encouraging sports for inner-city kids. All of these are issues in Mrs. Obama's portfolio.

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Joe Lieberman, Benedict Arnold is too nice a word for you

Joe Lieberman is irrelevant. Period. This from the Democrat, who turned Independent to keep his job in Connecticut, who was Obama's mentor in the senate, now a turn coat again, this time for health insurance reform. Remember he smeared Obama with this...



Oh, he sided with John McCain, actually endorsed him, remember.....



Senate Leader Harry Reid was ready to DEMOTE, Senator Joe Lieberman after his disgraceful speech against Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention:


Part Two

....but Barack Obama intervened and Lieberman was able to keep his chairmanships and status in the Democratic Caucus, remember:



Now, since Joe Lieberman is not on the White House guest list (as he should not be), does not have his mug on any of these Sunday talk shows (for what he is not a power player), is a piranha to the Democratic Party (AMEN), he has now decided to become relevant again by making the decision (or threatening) to filibuster with the Republicans in the Senate against health care reform. Is anyone surprised here?

Folks, the reality are that Lieberman has taken BIG MONEY from the health care insurance industry and he owes them. Connecticut is an insurance haven, now the masters have knocked on Lieberman's door, he must respond and become relevant again.

But take a look at this list of donations to Lieberman since 1989. Three of the top 12 industries have contributed $2.7 million to Lieberman:

Health Professionals $1,041,362
Insurance $1,036,070
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $612,540

Senator Joe Lieberman is the worst of the worst that has graced the Democratic Party. His Benedict Arnold behavior, last year during the campaign opened many eyes about the man, himself. He is all about HIMSELF, no one else. His anger on Democrats turning against him during his tough primary with Ned Lamont stayed with him and clouded his decision by standing with John McCain. Barack Obama saved him; Senator Harry Reid gave our young president a pass, but NO MORE.

There should be no more saving of Senator Joe Lieberman, period. Right now he is threatening because he wants something and it is called prestige and relevance, which was taken away by his own decisions. Senator Reid was right, yesterday in stating he is not worried about Joe Lieberman. Why should he be? If Lieberman decides to filibuster with the Republicans, let him, then watch the knives come out to cut and severe the cord, permanently.

Finally, I am waiting for the power of President Barack Obama. He has yet, to show his whip power and cut throat tactics in dealing with rogue congress members, but if Lieberman does this, expect the knife to come and cut deep and wide. Lieberman will be irrelevant, permanently.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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President Obama Addresses Servicemen and Women in Jacksonville, FL (Video)

The President speaks to servicemen and women and recognizes the military’s continuing dedication to the country and the sacrifices made by service members and their families. October 26, 2009



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Just staggering. The Afghanistan mess just continues.

Ding, Ding, Ding!!! I am now working for the CIA!!! Ain't that grand!!!

Wow, the President of Afghanistan's brother working the refs on both sides!!! CIA and others. Only in America can we just think this is A-OK!!!

The Obama White House are in a tangled weave and need to find its way OUT. Oh, and the President't brother is a bangin' big time drug dealer to boot!!

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home.

The financial ties and close working relationship between the intelligence agency and Mr. Karzai raise significant questions about America’s war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.

The ties to Mr. Karzai have created deep divisions within the Obama administration. The critics say the ties complicate America’s increasingly tense relationship with President Hamid Karzai, who has struggled to build sustained popularity among Afghans and has long been portrayed by the Taliban as an American puppet. The C.I.A.’s practices also suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban. read more here....

Yes, big time drug dealers are who we must deal with in Afghanistan. That desolated place, that is all they got, poppy seeds and the world loves it!!!

Yes, a tangled weave left by the Bush Administration that must be cleaned up by the Obama Administration. I say give Obama all the time he needs to make the right decision, because we don't want our Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to become a mockery, right?

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This is why Joe Lieberman should have been left to DIE in the Democratic Caucus

Per, MSNBC, Senator Joe Lieberman is joining the Republicans to filibuster the public option. This from a turn coat Democrat, who campaigned for John McCain over Barack Obama. It was Obama's tenacity to help Lieberman KEEP his senate chairmanship, but now AGAIN, he sticks a knife in the back of Democrats.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the proposal making its way through the Senate.

"I told Senator Reid that I'm strongly inclined--i haven't totally decided, but I'm strongly inclined--to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don't support the bill that he's bringing together because it's important that we start the debate on health care reform because I want to vote for health care reform this year. But I also told him that if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill."

Lieberman is in the pockets of the health care industry, the squeeze is on to pressure Democratic Senators to vote NAY on the public option. The fight is hardly over.

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Calling a woman a "whore" is unacceptable, Mr. Grayson

Yes, I am talking to you, Congressman Alan Grayson from Florida.

When you first came over here to Daily Kos and I saw what you said on the House floor, MATTERED. I felt that finally, someone was speaking what needed to be said, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Calling a woman a WHORE, any woman is unacceptable. Period.

Do you think this language is endearing to WOMEN? Especially women, voters? Think again.

Republicans and Democrats slammed Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) for calling Linda Robertson, an adviser to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a “K Street whore” in a month-old radio interview that circulated on Capitol Hill Monday night.

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The remarks are the latest to surface in a string of controversial statements by Grayson, who said on the Alex Jones radio show that he believes Robertson, a former Enron lobbyist, is not qualified to pass judgment on intricate financial matters.

It’s clear that his colleagues’ opinion of him has suffered.

“Is this news to you that this guy’s one fry short of a Happy Meal?” asked Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer defended Robertson, whom he said he knows.

"I think it's inappropriate and unfair," the Maryland Democrat said. He decried the "heated rhetoric" that he said interferes with the ability solve problems.

I am not a fan of Fed Chairman Bernanke, either, but whatever issue you had with Bernanke and more importantly his adviser, Robertson, could have been handled with better language.

And Daily Kos, we all like Grayson, but we, as a community must police our own and that mean folks that come over here from congress who gets our ire up, get us all ramped up to donate MONEY, but then don't call them out for saying shyte like this.

Finally, this is from POLITICO, the rag that everyone on here HATE, along with HATING Huffington Post, but I have YET to hear Grayson state he did not say what he said, meaning that more than likely IT WAS SAID.

Enough of this. I expect Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi to reel Grayson in, this type of language and nonsense is NOT WHAT WE ARE ABOUT. And no one on here should protect Mr. Grayson, but should reprimand him for this outrageous behavior.

Lastly, I have waited to hear some type of retraction or explanation or apology from Politico for making a mistake for a radio interview, I have yet to hear that from this organization and again, definitely, nothing from Congressman Grayson.

Nuff said.

P.S. Grayson could have used better language than this. Calling a woman a whore is not acceptable, period. I don't care if it is "K Street" in front of it, bottom line it should not have been framed that way.

P.S.S. It is this type of behavior and language used freely by Republican operatives that have people running away from the Republican Party. We have seen it over and over again, in polling, do we want to go down that road by continuing to throw word bombs and tank us? I think not.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Ari Melber puts the smackdown on Obama and the Democrats about the public option "opt out" (Video)

While, we are happy for now, the work is not done. President Obama will, in the end, have to push this legislation over the hump and that will include twisting the arms of Democrats. Listen to the process that MUST partake, Melber is spot on. And those in red states have every right to be leary about the opt out portion of this bill. Damn, when will I get to have a final exhale on this SHYTE.

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Harry Reid has finally gotten rid of his "Spine Flu" (Video)

Senate Leader, Harry Reid lays out the senate bill and categorically states that the public option will be in the final bill. And NO TRIGGER OPTION.

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Senator Harry Reid, so far, "CAME THROUGH"

The health care debate has been rough.

I mean, this issue was too easy to make so hard. Barack Obama campaigned on reform, we saw a lack of organization on the White House part during the summer; we had to deal with the lies and misconceptions of the insurance industry and the GOP over the summer; we had to endure a possible "trigger option" for the sake of a "lovey-dovey" bipartisan bill, which would not be a bipartisan bill; only to have Harry Reid finally deliver. White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs statement on the merger of the bills:

The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we're closer than we've ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He's also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition.

There will be a public option in the final senate bill, the trigger option is deader than a box of rocks, this means the White House lovey-dovey possible "trigger" with Senator Olympia Snowe is no more, and people can exhale.

A train of thought here. I am worried about our red state folks. Why? Because we don't know how the decision will be made for a state to "opt out", meaning saying no to the public option and allowing the status quo to remain the same. But one good thing is this, how can a governor of a state explain to his constituents that opting out is good for the state? That no competition for rates in their state is good for the constituents of the state? That continuing to allow ONE INSURANCE COMPANY to dominate a state is a good thing? That is a hard sell and I don't care what side of the aisle you sit on, everyone wants good coverage at cheaper, affordable rates.

Majority Leader Harry Reid says health care legislation headed to the Senate floor will include an option for government-run insurance.

Reid says states will have the prerogative of opting out of the program if they choose.

Reid noted that polls show widespread public support for giving the government a role in the overhauled health care system envisioned by President Barack Obama and his allies in Congress.

Meantime, the head of the AFL-CIO said Monday he's willing to consider a tax on high-end health insurance plans to help pay for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, as long as middle-class workers aren't hurt.

The comments by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka indicated new flexibility on the issue from a powerful Democratic constituency as House and Senate leaders scramble to finalize sweeping health care legislation. Trumka last month dismissed the proposed insurance plan tax as "outrageous."

The tax is the Senate's preferred method to pay for covering the uninsured, but labor leaders have worried their workers would be affected even though lawmakers were aiming the proposed tax at insurance plans offering the richest benefits — what Obama has called "Cadillac" plans.

"If you show me a definition of a Cadillac plan that hits the Cadillac plans and not the middle class, then we'd take a look at that, of course," Trumka told reporters on a conference call. "If you wanted to tax the Goldman Sachs plans, I think that's fine," he said.

Trumka declined to say at what level he could support the tax. read more here....

Additional information is here and more information on "opt out" is here.

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I am just sick of it.

The rumors, innuendos, uncited sources, cited sources, blanket statements, vague statements, speeches, the word "public option", Olympia Snowe, scurred Democratic Senators, fierce House Progressives, The White House and Barack Obama.

Yes, I am sick of all of the above.

Why?

Because in the end, as of today, we still don't know what the hell will happen.

I have been laid back the past few weeks, getting myself back in the work mode, but have not stopped following the biggest spectacle that does not have its own television show, "The Public Option Drama Hour".

Yes, the public option show.

There is a diary on the recommended list that states everything that I feel, by AdamGreen, my utter confusion, still.

At this point, everyone who frequents Daily Kos and has followed the congress knows which Democrats side with the public option being included in the final bill and which Democrats do not. We know that.

My frustration is at the White House and why we need to have Senator Olympia Snowe to sign off on any final health care legislation? I have YET, to hear the White House explain this in reality terms, when the fight is amongst ourselves, the Democrats.

Is the word bipartisan that important to President Obama and the Obama White House? If it is, I have news for you, "One vote from a Republican does not make it bipartisan. It makes it a joke if you try to tout it as such." Is the Obama White House getting this message? Are the light bulbs on at that joint? I don't think so.

The public wants a government run public option. The public wants competition with insurance companies. The part of AdamGreen's diary which has President Obama stating the following, "..the bill that you least like in Congress right now. The one you least like, of the five that are out there, would provide 29 million Americans health care....", bothers me tremendously. The Baucus Bill gives cover, a hand slap, more business to one industry, the health insurance industry. No one should be jumping out of their seats for THAT.

I have yet, to hear anything from the Obama White House on triggers. I mean, where do they stand, EXACTLY, when triggers are in play? I ask this because as they continue to want Senator Olympia Snowe, a.k.a., President Snowe around here, to be the lone Republican vote then they must have a trigger. I have yet to hear any denouncement of this option. That should be a concern for everyone around here. Remember, Medicare D, the disastrous prescription drug plan has a trigger and has YET to be used and the costs for prescription drugs have continued to skyrocket. The insurance industry knows how to get around this, so why would anyone expect them to not get around any legislation with a trigger for a public option?

Many were upset at Huffington Post calling the Democrats "Leaderless" over the weekend in their headline. I was kind of stumped on that one, but obviously there is a fight going on here. Why? Because it is Washington, DC and everyone is not on the same page in the White House over this public option. This is how leaks, unnamed sources, etc., comes to fruition. Bullshit leaks are easily denounced, but the ones that continue on the same line, theme are the ones to watch out for and it all is about Olympia Snowe, trigger, and opt-out. That is what you need to follow. And we all know this because it happened on the Bush Administration watch when the leaks became a flood and the real truth was exposed.

Lastly, President Obama will sign a bill with a public option, he has always supported it, but the problem is that he never thought the public would embrace it. The public has embraced it and expects it and that is his problem while he continues to want a bipartisan bill. Newsflash, President Obama, as long as you are at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, don't expect the Republicans to support JACK, so the sooner you realize this the better. The public gets it and don't blame you for your efforts, we applaud it, but at this point we don't give a mickey-fick about a bipartisan bill, we just want the final bill with a PUBLIC OPTION. Not a co-opt, not state only driven, not watered down, but a government run public option exchange.

Please Democrats, Obama White House please understand that, embrace it, get the bill done, over with so we can MOVE ON.

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More killed in Afghanistan

Now, we will see how this will unfold. For me, will President Obama really be the peace man or continue a war that has brought us NOTHING but death, grief, trillions spent and nothing to be shown for it. Not even Osama bin Laden.

A helicopter crash and separate collision involving two other choppers killed 14 Americans on Monday in one of the deadliest days for U.S. troops in the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said.

The deaths come as the Obama administration debates whether to send tens of thousands more troops to the country and the Afghan government scrambles to organize a runoff presidential election after a first-round vote was sullied by massive ballot-rigging.
In the first crash, a helicopter went down in the west of the country after leaving the scene of a firefight with insurgents, killing 10 Americans – seven troops and three civilians working for the government. Eleven American troops, one U.S. civilian and 14 Afghans were also injured.

In a separate incident in the south, two other U.S. choppers collided while in flight, killing four American troops and wounding two more, the military said.
It was the heaviest single-day loss of life since June 28, 2005, when 16 U.S. troops on a special forces helicopter died when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by insurgents.

U.S. authorities have ruled out hostile fire in the collision but have not given a cause for the other fatal crash in the west. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmedi claimed Taliban fighters shot down a helicopter in northwest Badghis province's Darabam district. It was impossible to verify the claim and unclear if he was referring to the same incident.

U.S. forces also reported the death of two other American troops a day earlier: one in a bomb attack in the east, and another who died of wounds sustained in an insurgent attack in the same region. The deaths bring to at least 46 the number of U.S. troops who have been killed in October.

This has been the deadliest year for international and U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban. Fighting spiked around the presidential vote in August, and 51 U.S. soldiers died that month – the deadliest for American forces in the eight-year war. read more here....

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Meet the Press, October 25, 2009 (Video and Transcript)

MTP Guests: John Cornyn, Charles Schumer, Erin Burnett, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jane Mayer, Joe Scarborough, Dan Senor, Tavis Smiley

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The Michelle Obama Look

From the Wendy Williams Show, h/t Mrs. O



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Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI): No public option, no reason to support reform

From CBS' Face the Nation:



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President Obama's favorite movies (Video)

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