KICKIN' AND SCREAMIN'...........

Did you know Nancy Pelosi does not want to give anyone time to read the health care bill?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) will not give the public a week to review the final text of a health-care reform bill before it is voted on later this year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) has also declined to commit to giving the public a week to read and consider the final health-care bill.

At her press briefing on Thursday, Pelosi was asked whether the health-care bill would be handled differently than the stimulus bill, which came up in February. The 1,071-page final text of that bill was posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s Web site late on a Thursday night and then voted on the next day.

“When the stimulus bill came out earlier this year, members and citizens had less than two days to review the final version that came out of the conference committee before it was voted on,” CNSNews.com asked Pelosi on Thursday. “Will you commit to giving Americans at least a week to review the full conference version of the health care bill before it is voted on? And also will you commit to submitting the final version to the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] so that they can report the cost to the public?”

Pelosi would not commit to giving the public a week to review the bill, and did not respond to the question of having the CBO report on the cost of the final bill.

“Well, we will abide by the regular order. You heard the question,” she said. “It was about having the health care bill out there a week in advance. We will have the regular order in terms of the appropriate amount of time, 48 hours in advance for amendments before you file the bill, another day before you can take up the bill.

“But this bill is something that has been unfolding before the American people for a long time now. The areas of controversy are well known,” said Pelosi.

I know she (and her buttbuddies in the senate) surely won’t read it but what about those that do want to? And whatever happened to Obama’s promise to give Americans five days to read legislation before it’s passed? So far we did not have it for the “porkulus” bill nor the “cap and tax” bill.

Here’s one where the Democrats plan a strategy to prohibit Republican senators from filibustering the bill.

Mainstream Democrats close to Barack Obama are warning Republicans about insisting on too many changes to the president’s health care overhaul, saying the Democratic-controlled Congress will move ahead without GOP input if they do.

A strong-arm partisan approach may be unpleasant, these prominent Democrats say, but it is better than letting Republicans dictate spending cuts and insurance rules that many Democratic voters oppose.

For weeks, staunchly liberal groups have complained as key Senate Democrats insisted on a bipartisan approach, especially in the Finance Committee. The strategy is giving Republicans more clout than their minority status deserves, these critics said.

Now, similar comments are coming from veteran, pragmatic Democrats who have worked closely with Obama and his top aides. They reject the notion that a controversial Senate tactic _ “reconciliation,” which essentially bars the minority party from using filibusters to block legislation _ is unworkable or politically unacceptable in the health care debate.

“I would not hesitate to use it” if efforts at genuine bipartisanship fail, former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Monday.

The price that Senate Republicans are demanding so far is too high, said John Podesta, a White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and now head of the Center for American Progress. “There is a point at which you have to move on,” Podesta said, and reconciliation can be the vehicle when that time comes.

Unlike most liberal activists, Daschle and Podesta have direct ties to the White House’s innermost circles. Podesta headed Obama’s transition operation. Daschle was Obama’s choice to be “health czar” until income tax problems derailed the plan. Both men have written extensively on health care.

Daschle and Podesta noted they were not speaking for the administration when they met with reporters Monday to discuss their thoughts on Congress’s trillion-dollar effort to insure all Americans, control health care costs and revamp the system of incentives for doctors and hospitals.

But they didn’t pretend to be total outsiders. “We interact with them daily,” Daschle said of Obama’s health care advisers.

Their comments come at a crucial time in the debate. When the House and Senate return from a one-week recess on July 6, they will shift into overdrive to try to complete the outlines of a health care overhaul before the August break. Debate in the Senate could be particularly fierce, with liberals insisting on a robust public option for health insurance, and Republicans fighting it.

Whether true bipartisanship can emerge, or whether Democrats decide to bulldoze their way past Republicans, should become clear in what Daschle says will be a historic month.

He and Podesta rejected claims that the reconciliation process has too many parliamentary loopholes and complexities to be an effective tool for enacting a Democratic plan over near-unanimous Republican opposition. Reconciliation would not be easy, Daschle said, but “it’s certainly a viable fallback option.”

Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, a centrist Democrat who strongly supports a bipartisan approach, differs. “You’d be left with Swiss cheese,” he said in an interview.

And with that asshole, Al Franken, getting the nod from the moonbats in the Minnesota court system, maybe all this wrangling and finagling won’t be necessary.

Lastly, a singularly well-written piece equating one’s travails at the hands of technicians (doctors) and Radio Shack (the health care system.)

I’ll start you off:

As a Catholic I know I am not supposed to hate, but I hate radio shack. Hate it.

Bear with me. My Sirius Radio was on the fritz. I called the support line and the young man on the phone told me I needed to get a new antenna. I informed him that my radio had full bars but would get stuck with the message “acquiring signal.” After a full fifteen seconds of diagnosis the young man insisted it was the antenna. I told him I didn’t think so.

“Sir,” he said condescendingly “you need a new antenna. If you don’t get a new antenna I cannot help you!”

“Fine!”, says I. “Where can I pick one up?”

“Any Radio Shack should have them,” came the reply.

Nuts!

I hate Radio Shack. It seems I cannot go in to a Radio Shack with getting into an argument. I value independence and privacy. Radio Shack is determined to strip these from you. In many ways, Radio Shack is a microcosm of everything wrong with America these days. Let me tell you my tale(s) and then you may understand where I am coming from.

Let’s go back one year to the last time I went to Radio Shack. I was going on a trip and I lost my USB cable that I use to charge my Blackberry and I was leaving that night. I was near a Radio Shack and against my better judgment I went there to get it. I mean it was just a USB cable after all, should be simple enough.

I walked in the door and a pimply faced nineteen year old kid bounded up to me. “Welcome to Radio Shack, how can I help you?”

“Ok, where are your USB cables?”, I asked.

“What is it for sir, is it for a camera, a phone, or a printer?”, asks the kid.

“Its actually for a phone, but that doesn’t really matter. Can you just tell me where the USB cables are?”

“What kind of phone is it sir?”

“Listen son. Can you just tell me where the USB cables are?”

“Well sir, not all phones use the same kind of cable. Not all phones even use USB cables. If you don’t tell me what kind of phone you have I can’t help you!”

My voice rising I said, “You can help me by answering my question. Where are the USB cables?”

Now the manager, hearing my voice growing louder, comes over to smooth the situation. “Hello sir, can I help you?”

“I hope so. I asked your fella here four times but he refuses to answer what I think thinkis a rather simple question. Where are your USB cables?” I said rather tersely (which anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows is an understatement.)

“What is the cable for?”, asked the manager.

At that point I nearly lost my mind. I eventually just walked away from them and found the cables myself. Since this was not my first such encounter at the Shack, I have avoided going back there. Sworn it off actually. However, since the Sirius support guy had told me that I could pick up the antenna at any RS and I had been without my radio for weeks, I figured I would brave those waters again. That was a mistake.
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