Most of you all thought the public option was dead. Rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated.
House Education and Labor Committee chairman Rep. George Miller (D-California) • Talking about the health care bill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced today. The bill includes a key compromise to make the public option work – instead of dictating rates, the U.S. will work with providers to negotiate rates, just like insurers do. All this sounds good, but it doesn’t stop the fact that the Senate is short of the 60 votes it needs to go through. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have a tough time getting a bill through before Thanksgiving. • source
Through this law, we will strengthen the protections against crimes based on the color of your skin, the faith in your heart, or the place of your birth. We will finally add federal protections against crimes based on gender, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation.
President Barack Obama • On signing a hate-crimes bill that, for the first time, protects people based on their sexual orientation. The bill is something that’s been fought for since the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. (who was black) and beating death of Matthew Shepard (who was gay) shined light on the issue in 1998. Critics of the bill say it just adds further regulations to a highly-regulated process. • source
150 peoplethe number of American Special Forces soldiers and support personnel are helping Pakistan – a number that’s doubled in the last eight months source
Guess who lost their licenses?! The Federal Aviation Administration gave the cynics of the world a reason to cheer today as they took away the licenses from the two losers who were too busy on their laptops to land the plane in Minneapolis like they were supposed to. The Northwest Airlines pilots, who were out of radio contact for 91 schedule-software-training minutes, have ten days to appeal the decision. But considering the hype the case has gotten, it might be tough to fight. source
The First Daughters got the vaccine last week, when it first became available in D.C. It’s a hard vaccine to get in these parts, by the way. The whole First Family got flu shots, BTW. source
Obama and the First Lady are waiting based on the order of priority – they’re after the “young people under the age of 24, pregnant women, and people with underlying conditions.” source
The Conference Board research group says its consumer confidence index is currently sitting at a 26-year low. We guess we can see it, but want to know how you’re feeling, personally. And since we can’t come to every one of your homes to ask you, a poll is the best way. So vote.source
