On This Day: President Barack Obama reads in the Rose Garden of the White House, Nov. 9, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Week Ahead:
Today: President Obama departs Miami (3:25 EDT), arrives at the White House (5:55 EDT)
Sunday: The President has no public events scheduled
Monday: The President and First Lady host a breakfast for veterans from across the country. Later in the morning, the President will travel to Arlington National Cemetery where he will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and deliver remarks there
Tuesday: The President will attend meetings at the White House
Wednesday: The President will address the 2013 Tribal Nations Conference
Thursday: The President will travel to Philadelphia where he will participate in a campaign event for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Friday: The President will attend meetings at the White House
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WH.gov: The Affordable Care Act: Making A Difference In Our Neighborhoods
Community Health Centers enable people to receive health care in the neighborhoods where they live so they can get high-quality care close to home. That’s why the Affordable Care Act builds on this model of care, by making critical investments in new facilities, doctors, nurses, and staff. This week, HHS announced new primary care sites in 236 communities for 1.25 million additional patients, made possible by the Affordable Care Act. These investments will make an enormous difference in people’s lives by increasing access to the care they need, where they need it.
As you can see from the media coverage in states around the country, these types of primary care investments are critical for families who need care. Here’s just a sample of the coverage:
AZ – Arizona Daily Star: New U.S. grant to pay for Sierra Vista community health care A new community health clinic will be operating in Sierra Vista by February, due to an unexpected federal grant of nearly $1 million. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday that $150 million in Affordable Care Act funds will be going to 236 health programs in 43 states. LINK
CA – Recordnet.com: Grants awarded for health center The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday awarded a $691,667 grant to Community Medical Centers Inc. to help it establish a new health center service delivery site. LINK
More here
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“But you said if I like my umbrella I can keep it!” #Obamacare pic.twitter.com/qcQmpvM7jN
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) November 8, 2013
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Steve Benen: Mental Health Parity
That this health care breakthrough is a long time coming doesn’t detract from its significance:
The Obama administration on Friday will complete a generation-long effort to require insurers to cover care for mental health and addiction just like physical illnesses when it issues long-awaited regulations defining parity in benefits and treatment.
The rules, which will apply to almost all forms of insurance, will have far-reaching consequences for many Americans. In the White House, the regulations are also seen as critical to President Obama’s program for curbing gun violence by addressing an issue on which there is bipartisan agreement: Making treatment more available to those with mental illness could reduce killings, including mass murders.
…. It’s easy to grow weary with unprecedented obstructionism blocking legislation on Capitol Hill, but once in a while, we’re reminded that progress is still possible.
Full post here
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RT if you agree: 50M Americans with disabilities and 5.5M disabled vets deserve the same rights abroad as anyone else. #DisabilitiesTreaty
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) November 8, 2013
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NYT: Cut In Food Stamps Forces Hard Choices On Poor
For many, a $10 or $20 cut in the monthly food budget would be absorbed with little notice. But for millions of poor Americans who rely on food stamps, reductions that began this month present awful choices. Mr. Simmons’s allotment from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps, has dropped $9. He has already spent the $33 he received for November.
Food stamps are likely to be cut more in the coming years if Congress can agree on a new farm bill, which House and Senate negotiators began tackling this week. The Republican-controlled House has approved cutting as much as $40 billion from the program over 10 years by making it harder to qualify. The Democratic-controlled Senate is suggesting a $4 billion cut by making administrative changes. “We’ll be on our last $3 at the end of the month,” said Rafaela Rivera, 34, a home health aide who earns $10 an hour.
More here
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Media Matters: Former 60 Minutes Producer Mapes: Benghazi Story Aimed At “Obsessed” Right-Wing Audience
Former 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes, who was fired for her role in a controversial 2004 story about President Bush’s service in the Air National Guard, accused CBS News of pandering to a right-wing audience with her former program’s recent Benghazi report, for which the network has been criticized and forced to retract.
“My concern is that the story was done very pointedly to appeal to a more conservative audience’s beliefs about what happened at Benghazi,” Mapes said by telephone from her Texas home. “They appear to have done that story to appeal specifically to a politically conservative audience that is obsessed with Benghazi and believes that Benghazi was much more than a tragedy.”
More here
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Lindsey Graham: “I have been saying for months someone is lying about #Benghazi. Today, I can reveal that it’s me” http://t.co/RKHcCkW067
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 8, 2013
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Ed Kilgore: Supply Meets Demand On Benghazi
…. the reporter, Lara Logan, has long expressed righteous anger that the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens hasn’t been avenged. So Logan had a personal agenda that nicely merged with her personal interest in getting a big “scoop”.
…. Lara Logan brought the supply and Lindsey Graham brought the demand and a bill of goods were sold. Graham and other Republicans, of course, can now simply argue the dubious report “raised questions,” and that’s all they need for more wallowing in the “story.” An apology from their supplier isn’t enough.
Full post here
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Benghazzziiiiii Grifter book disappeared from Amazon? Awww http://t.co/0DYmcU2e8x pic.twitter.com/CpQJVpvwC9
— zizi2 (@zizii2) November 8, 2013
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UPDATE: Simon and Schuster pulling book by the security officer who claimed to be present at Benghazi attack thkpr.gs/1iRFGr8
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ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) November 08, 2013****
Charles Pierce: My Profession Steps On A Rake
It seems that Senator Aqua Buddha has been shitcanned by the ghost of Sun Myung Moon just in time to get hired by the ghost of Andrew Breitbart. This is a remarkably straight career path into the manure bin for the formerly rising young champion of the brogressive Left, especially those who don’t want to be droned before they score with that cute barista. (Guess what? The champion of human freedom voted against ENDA because liberty!)….
And then there’s 60 Minutes.
Oy. Also, vey.
I held off for a while on this because history tells us that jumping ugly early can have very unfortunate results on stories like this but, Jesus H. Christ on tour with Iron Maiden, does it look like the show screwed the pooch on its big scoop regarding Benghazi, Benghazi!, BENGHAZI! ….
More here
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Obama Admin. to pass regulations that requires insurance to cover mental health/addiction like physical illnesses. nytimes.com/2013/11/08/us/…
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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) November 08, 2013****
#ObamaCare Works: $150M will be allotted to 236 health programs in 43 states, for expanded community health clinics. whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/11/0…
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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) November 09, 2013****
Business Insider: Here’s The Real Reason People Hate Their Individual Market Health Insurance
Unlike people on Medicare, Medicaid and employer-based insurance, people who buy coverage in the individual market know exactly how much they’re paying for it. A plan that you would only rate “fair” when you have to pay $5,000 for it might merit an “excellent” if its apparent cost to you were only $1,000. Almost all of us should be dissatisfied with our health plans, because the American health care system involves paying twice as much as people in other rich countries do to achieve similar health outcomes.
People love their employer-provided coverage because they have no idea how much it’s costing them. One of the reasons I like the disruptions created by Obamacare, and wish there were more of them, is that many of them involve exposing the true cost of American health care to consumers.
The law requires employers to start reporting the cost of employer-sponsored insurance on W-2 forms, so people know how much of their compensation is eaten up by health insurance. Successful health reform should bring that transparency to other parts of the market. That will make the public angry — not because they’re being made worse off, but because they’re finally realizing how bad they’ve had it all along.
More here
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Text of remarks here
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The thing Netanyahu isn’t going to like about any peace deal is the “peace” part.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) November 8, 2013
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Igor Volsky: Oversight Chairman Accused Of Leaking Misleading Information About Obamacare Implementation
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are accusing Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) of selectively leaking misinformation about HealthCare.gov in an effort to portray administration officials as misleading the public about the implementation of Obamacare. On Thursday, Issa appeared on Fox News and claimed that he had obtained documents proving that contractors working on Healthcare.gov believed that the site could only handle 1,100 users before launch.
U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney had publicly stated that the administration believed that the site could handle 60,000 concurrent users. But in a letter to Issa, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the ranking member on the Committee, pointed to an interview Issa’s own staff conducted with Henry Chao, the Deputy Information Officer. Chao explained that the 1,000 figure were “the results of a much smaller testing environment” and were not conducted “with final production testing of the system at full capacity.”
More here
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On the way home from the White House today ran into the vice prez. doing the same. Always dug this guy!!! pic.twitter.com/VLlStsIsGO
— Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) November 8, 2013
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On This Day:
President Obama offers a toast during the state dinner hosted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Istana Negara State Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 9, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
First Lady Michelle Obama winks at another guest at the head table as she participates in a state dinner for her husband President Obama at Istana Merdeka
The Obama Diary 
Hi There!
Worth a repeat… 😀
Fiiiiiiiirst!!! Thank yoooooooooooou UT!!!!
Well, at least, morally! 😉
You’re welcome, Chips.
Great R&S UT!
Smashing Good R&S UT! Thank you and Good Morning! 🙂
You’re welcome.
MY FLOTUS is one beautiful woman — inside & outside! Love her!
You know I agree with you Dudette. about FLOTUS. I think the world of POTUS and FLOTUS.
UT =awesome!!!!
Thanks.
yes…thanks, alice:)
G’morning UT, Chips, TOD, lurkers, everyone, and congrats Dudette on #1 🙂
Thanks UT for another FABULOUS R & S round-up!!! Love the smell of Karma in the morning (CBS/60 mins fiasco), and absolutely adore that pic of our VP Joe with Whoopi on the train 🙂
GM TOD….. Congrats Dudette! Great RS ,UT…… I think FLOTUS is winking at me, day is made 😎
A former “60 Minutes” producer who was fired over a 2004 story about then-President George W. Bush’s service in the Air National Guard said Friday that CBS’ now retracted story detailing the attack in Benghazi, Libya was done to appeal to conservatives.
“My concern is that the story was done very pointedly to appeal to a more conservative audience’s beliefs about what happened at Benghazi,” Mary Mapes told Media Matters. “They appear to have done that story to appeal specifically to a politically conservative audience that is obsessed with Benghazi and believes that Benghazi was much more than a tragedy.”
“I chose this subject because, one, I can’t stand, that there is a major lie being propagated . . .” Logan declared in her native South African accent. The lie is that America’s military might has tamed the Taliban. “There is this narrative coming out of Washington for the last two years,” Logan said. It is driven in part by “Taliban apologists,” who claim “they are just the poor moderate, gentler, kinder Taliban,” she added sarcastically. “It’s such nonsense!”
Logan stepped way out of the “objective,” journalistic role. The audience was riveted as she told of plowing through reams of documents, and interviewing John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban commander trained by al-Qaida. The Taliban and al-Qaida are teaming up and recruiting new terrorists to do us deadly harm, she reports.
She made a passionate case that our government is downplaying the strength of our enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a rationale of getting us out of the longest war. We have been lulled into believing that the perils are in the past: “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script.” Our enemies are writing the story, she suggests, and there’s no happy ending for us.
Thanks LP! Good tweetage, as always!
carolyn, you asked for media contact information. I left some for you on the previous thread. It’s stuck in moderation.
Found it and freed it Meta, thank yooooooou!
Thx, Chipstar.
Thanks…..found them and got them on file to use!!!
Congrats on first. I’m lucky to see the headlines late in the day.
https://twitter.com/TheScottFinley/status/399186410424762368
Not surprisingly – the biggest complainers when it comes to ACA are the insanely wealthy Libertarians like ROTigan.
For pet lovers out there, be careful what you feed them.
Found this on snopes
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/chickenjerky.asp
And this:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-24/china-killed-your-dog-are-you-next-.html
via carolduhart
😀 Like that!
Hiya Amk!
GM Dudette. Aren’t ya supposed to show up only in late night threads?
Dahhh-lin’, I’m a woman of mystery. “Got to keep ’em guessing!” 😀
wimmin/smh
Rand Paul said that, right?
“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” ~ Rand Paul
Oh yeh, the death panel lady… what was her name?
you mean the lady with the big white file who more recently appeared on The Daily Show and The View still peddling the same crap about death panels, “sticker shock”, cancelled plans?
I despise her so much that I refuse to keep her name in my head – that is how I roll
I think that’s why I can’t recall her name. My brain cells reject the evil.
Holy S**T, this script would be tossed out of any Hollywood studio. Can’t make this up!!!
Vice Adm. Ted “Twig” Branch, the service’s top intelligence officer, and Rear Adm. Bruce F. Loveless, the Navy’s director of intelligence operations, were placed on leave Friday, and their access to classified material was suspended, the Navy said in a statement.
Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego have charged the two Navy commanders with passing classified information about ship and submarine movements to Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian national and the chief executive of Glenn Defense Marine. Navy contracting officials raised suspicions about Francis — who is known as “Fat Leonard” in Navy circles because of his imposing girth — as far back as 2005. But prosecutors allege he was able to dodge scrutiny by bribing Navy officers and the NCIS agent for inside information about law enforcement probes and contract audits.
To recruit the moles, Francis plied the officers with female escorts, cash, paid travel and other perks, including tickets to a Lady Gaga concert in Thailand and a performance of “The Lion King” in Japan, according to court records.
Lady Gaga, please, now if you were to say you can get me a couple of tickets to see Gladys Knight, I’m your man!
😀
That tweet from dailyedge about lindsey effing graham was great. Wish I had thought of that.
Hmmm, I wonder where that came from?
You know what? I wondered if the antiObamacare opposition could be actively sabotaging the sign-up site when the problem first occurred, but dismissed the idea thinking I was beginning to sound like my conspiracy theory Ron Paul fan brother. Also I have experienced lots of computer glitches in my lifetime so it did not seem unfeasible that the problems were not because of sabotage.
This is a BFD. One of Sen. Sanders favorite ways to effectively deliver healthcare to underserved communities. ACA is improving and spreading goodness everyday.
What Tally ALWAYS said was the real goodness of the ACA:)
Steven Witkoff, chairman of The Witkoff Group, a real estate developer that owns landmark New York buildings like the Woolworth tower, believes the plan is one New York’s business leaders could be persuaded to embrace.
“If you listen to the way he asks for it, it’s completely responsible. He says I’d like people who have done really well out there to help and pay their fair share for those who need more help,” said Witkoff, citing his Bronx upbringing and New York public school education. “If I had a surcharge and it cost me $1,500 to $2,000 a year in tax for there to be this program for an early start, I think that’s a home run,” he said. “If you live in this town, how do you not want to pay more tax for early education prospects for New York City kids?”
Perfect! 😀
UT, Chips……can you free me from WP Jail? TY….
Herring only down 92 votes now!!! I will keep updating…..
Done.
TY, Much Obliged….
If I where Gov Bob McDonnell I would be spending all of my time interviewing criminal defense lawyers, just saying’
Love the island/boat perspective cartoon.
War on Women indeed
Morning Chips!
Morning UT!
Morning other “blog tyrants”!
Morning everybody!
Hope some of you get to link to this letter to the Times of Trenton in NJ from a lady who is upset about the re-lection of obnoxious pompous bully right-wing christie and the role NJ Dems played.
Someone tweeted the story out and I lost the original tweet as I tried to follow and read what the letter said.
Please everyone who can distribute this in some form of social media, could you help out? Maybe, just maybe someone in your network, who lives in NJ and voted for the political bully christie will read it and ponder what they have done – never to late for people to make a change.
I do not know if it worth highlighting on the front of the blog – but hope some may help in the distribution.
http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2013/11/times_of_trenton_letters_to_th_859.html
I don’t understand, how is this pretense possible?
I think I will send our little Lindsey a email.
Right Now !!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://twitter.com/Jovie121Jor/status/399195671309590528
Great Rise and Shine UT!
Great R & S….
I am on the prowl today. Hitting CBS! No. letting them get away with this s**t!
Chucktodd ran to the RW media suggesting he dad to force an apology out of President Obama during his interview. I hope President Obama administration, never give the RW shill the time of day.
So if am to get this correctly, CTodd is under some delusion that it was his mighty egotistical self that prompted what POTUS said on Thursday?
Full disclosure, I was not in support of the whole interview, let alone one with a discredited Chuck Todd. But for Todd to pad himself on the back, he is smoking what Rob Ford from Toronto was smoking. The WH picked Todd and had full idea of what POTUS wanted to say and convey. Having said, for Todd to be gleeful, well, Karma has a way of delivering deserving justice.
Todd was used by the WH as they saw fit. POTUS went to LA the next day. His interview would be covered nationally and he wanted focus on the South for Medicaid expansion. POTUS got exactly what he wanted.
Horrible sadness in the Philippines.
Neanderthals.
Maybe it’s time to stop investigating because 60 Minutes and Lara Logan sure took a hit with this latest lying piece they aired concerning Benghazi.
Very very good coverage of the recount: Michael McDonald did excellent live tweeting of the returns and noted problems in Fairfax and reporting election night. He’s also covering the recount. Best I’ve seen. It did remind me of Wisconsin and the bag of missing votes.
Michael McDonald @ElectProject
and this
https://twitter.com/ColMorrisDavis/status/397698403888414720?refsrc=email
https://twitter.com/Jovie121Jor/status/399204363027349504
Don’t tell me that young people are a lost generation!!
In a San Francisco office shared with other tech start-ups, three 20-year-olds saw HealthCare.gov as a challenge. With a few late nights, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser built “thehealthsherpa.com,” a two-week-old website that solves one of the biggest problems with the government’s site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Find Your Health Plan Now
Instantly compare premiums for health exchange plans in the 34 states without marketplace websites
http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/
Relief for the Phillipines
Current Obenshain (R) Lead, via SBE: 1262
Projected Obenshain (R) Lead, after corrections (before provisionals): 82 Votes
God blesses fools, children, and teams named Chelsea. We avoided losing to WBA at home. Now I need a Greyhound.
West Brom and Chelsea are trending on Twitter. In the US. Who says Americans hate soccer?
Attention BT’s: I have a post ready when this one gets busy…. Chips or UT if you’re not busy would you mind posting it? If not I will check back in a bit and post. TY
Federer wins 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 over delpo in ATP Championship tour and goes into semis.
Go Fedex
Never liked Dylan ROTigan…and glad that others are beginning to see him for who he is:
HEADLINE:Wanker of the Day: Dylan Ratigan
by BooMan
// Dylan Ratigan in an idiot. He claims that after he left his well-paying job at MSNBC he bought a catastrophic health insurance plan that cost him $170 a month. According to him, he cannot find a health care plan on the California exchange for less than $600 a month. So, I checked. I used their shop and compare tool and entered in Dylan’s data: 41 years old, living in San Diego County, and making too much money to qualify for any subsidies. Here are the cheapest plans available to Dylan Ratigan. //
Read more here…
http://networkedblogs.com/QWCxR
He was always against ACA. He had health issues. A Millionaire and he is a smoker. He injected himself into the debate for attention. His malarkey on ACA is easily disproven.
At his income level, he can keep whatever he wants.
PBO’s Presidency has exposed to many WHO exactly certain people (both public figures and private citizens) are at their very core.
Dirty souls have been flushed out and so have the generous ones
“Dirty souls have been flushed out and so have the generous ones.” Powerful comment in this context, globalcitizenlinda. TY for saying it.HZ
chelsea – 4th. man u – 8th. Does that mean man u is twice as good?
/ducks and runs to bed.
POTUS is having a fun morning.
Wow, How is Alanzo doing, healthwise? I liked him very much.
Are you telling me that Mark Knoller didn’t report that POTUS is playing golf today at a private golf course where Caddyshack were film?
Great R&S UT. Loads of information. Thanks.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/11/09/2920101/hawaii-legislature-passes-marriage-equality/ 🙂
Another thing that I remembered about Lara Logan. In 2010, she was all bent out of shake that McCHrystal lost his job. He chided the Obama Team and she went bat poop over the late Hastings, the Rolling Stone guy who exposed what was going on in Afghanistan then.
Yes, I have a beef with Lara Logan. I always have. Petty? Perhaps. I never trusted her reporting for over a decade.
How fatuous of me this AM.
Oops. Hello TODers.
New post from LP.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/11/09/week-in-toons-2/
TY, UT. I Have been pacing back and forth watching the Auburn game…… I have to many superstitions. We have the lead now so I can relax…… albeit temporarily 🙂