Palin's biggest campaign regret: Not enough media interviewsThis is the woman who couldn't string two coherent sentences together, refused press conferences, and bashed the media at every turn.
Wasilla resident Sherry L. Johnston, mother of Bristol Palin's boyfriend, faces a Jan. 6 court date for an oxycontin-related arrest at her home by Alaska State Troopers.
Little additional information was available Friday on the case as authorities remained unusually tight-lipped about details. But Palmer court records listed Johnston's scheduled court date and a troopers spokeswoman said in a release late Friday afternoon that the charges "are in relation to the drug oxycontin."
A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. Sherry L. Johnston was charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.Hey Sarah, still up for playing the association game?
Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old who received international attention in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Bristol Palin, 18, is due on Saturday, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath.
Troopers served the warrant at Johnston's home at the "conclusion of an undercover narcotics investigation," said a statement issued Thursday by the troopers as part of the normal daily summary of activity around the state.
Troopers charged Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance -- generally manufacturing or delivering drugs -- as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession.
Troopers released no other information, including the kind or amount of drugs, because details could jeopardize an ongoing investigation, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
Asked how long the investigation had proceeded before Johnston's arrest, Peters would only say "a while."
The roughly 4,000 police officers coming to the District to help with an expected Inauguration Day crowd of more than 1 million are punching out when the official events are over - leaving the Metropolitan Police Department in charge of monitoring visitors partying until the extended 4 a.m. last call.I wish I had more faith in DC police, but I don't. I've heard and read too many stories too.
Burger King is hoping to be known as more than “The Home of the Whopper.”The interactive website is downright creepy.
This weekend, the fast food chain rolled out “Flame,” a new men’s body spray billed as “the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.”
The government can do more than one big thing at a time, says Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now, a coalition of unions and progressive groups. "There's no reason that Congress can only do health care, only do climate change."NYT:
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Obama's allies among interest groups don't seem prepared to wait. In late November, Health Care for America Now ran national television spots featuring Obama during an October campaign speech in Virginia, saying he can't fix the economy without fixing health care. "We agree," flashed the message on the screen. "We're ready."
Some of the people holding health care meetings were volunteers in Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign. Some come from consumer groups like Health Care for America Now or from the Service Employees International Union, a strong, early supporter of Mr. Obama.Both writes are worth reading in full. They're two completely different stories.
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But Richard J. Kirsch, the national campaign manager of Health Care for America Now, the consumer group, said a new public program was essential.
“Public plans like Medicare do a better job of controlling costs,” Mr. Kirsch said. “Private insurers are always looking for ways to avoid paying claims or covering sick people. Their mission is not to provide health care, but to increase shareholders’ profits.”
A not-so-ungruntled note in our tips box:
Joke of the Week: Mandatory "Diversity Workshops" at CNN's DC bureau this week! Jon Klein, David Bohrman there. Just what we need; to be lectured about diversity from people who are firing everyone over 40!
Under a new agreement reached this week with its labor unions, WUSA, Channel 9, will become the first station in Washington to replace its crews with one-person "multimedia journalists" who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly.Multimedia Journalists = One-Man Bands
Seems like everything kicked into high gear on all fronts all at the same time.
CNN's Jamie McIntyre, who's covered the Pentagon since 1992, is leaving the networkI've always been a big Jamie fan. Whatever it was he wanted to do, they should have let him have the spot.
In a memo to staff, McIntyre said that "the time has come for me to leave the beat."
"Although I was never bored, CNN and I both agreed it was time for a change," he wrote. "We were unable to reach an agreement on another assignment, so after a friendly discussion, I decided to pursue other opportunities.
Although McIntyre wrote "CNN and I both agreed it was time for a change," he is the latest in a series of departures at CNN since CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein told the New York Observer, "We can afford more people on our air and off our air. So, goddamn it, we're going to have more people," on November 18.On the upside, there's a small touch of personal vindication in here too (beyond the one I've already expressed). Let's just say someone in that last blurb worked me to the bone, strung me along, and then tried to sell me out after the fact.
Since then, Miles O'Brien has left the network and the entire science, space, environment and technology unit in Atlanta dismantled, correspondent Veronica De La Cruz will be leaving the network and head of on-air hiring Henry Mauldin exited as well, among others.
When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.
Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.
Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.
Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.
Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.
The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'
And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.
The big problem with these two getting the boot is that JK, in all of his intellectual glory, always confused the two. He treated Eccleston like a living doll with no brain when she was actually an astute and intelligent journalist with a wealth of knowledge and a store of experiences that allowed her to take complex situations and provide context so that even us dumb Americans could get it. She was fearless and compassionate and she had a great sense of humor. Eccleston just happened to also be hot as hell. But only an idiot who had never really paid attention to who she really was (or who had never bothered watching a single liveshot she did from the mountains of Northern Afghanistan with the sound actually ON) would say that was her first, second, or even third quality. Her face may have opened doors, but 2 minutes spent with the woman proved she had every right to walk on through.
DeLaCruz, on the other hand, had a marginally-attractive face (someone described her as “toothy”) that opened doors, but as soon as she entered the room, proceeded to blink confusedly as if the shiny lights were too much for her. She was arrogant and demanding without having the goods to back that attitude up. Unlike Eccleston, who would travel to the Taliban-controlled ends of the earth to get her story, DeLaCruz would pull up some websites at 4am, skim the headlines, and head up to makeup. And JK acted like she might give Einstein a run for his money.
The fact that these 2 are in the same article is an outrage. Especially when you read that article a little closer and realize that Eccleston actually ended her relationship with CNN back in August.
When it comes to science, elevating science once again, and having lectures in the White House where people are talking about traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth to get a sense of what discovery is all about.Good thing CNN just fired its space expert and its entire technology and science unit.
Virgin Mary in Fort Pierce woman's brain scan; next stop: eBay
FORT PIERCE — A 42-year-old woman without insurance and mounting medical bills plans to sell an MRI scan of her brain in which the image of the Virgin Mary seems to appear.
Pamela Latrimore has been sick for years with cancer, arthritis and a series of serious ailments she blames on a childhood in Jacksonville, Ark., a place that has been investigated by the U.S. government for possible dioxin exposure. Dioxin is a toxic chemical linked to a variety illnesses including cancer and liver problems.
In 2002, Latrimore had an MRI of her brain done and the results were stashed in her thick pile of medical records. Her sister-in-law looked at the sheet recently and pointed out what appeared to be the image of the Virgin Mary.
Having seen where other supposed images of Mary or other religious icons were sold for thousands of dollars, Latrimore plans to post the MRI scan on eBay, the online auction site. She hopes to earn enough money to pay off some of the medical bills she and her contractor husband cannot afford.
Man allegedly assaults girlfriend with burgerSince I don't eat red meat, this crime seems particularly egregious.
VERO BEACH, Fla. – A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.
The report said the man would not let the woman out of the vehicle, so she threw his drink out of the car. In response, the man allegedly grabbed her arm and smashed the cheeseburger into her face. The pair got out of the car, and authorities say the man again took the McDonald's sandwich and put it on her face.
The man was released on $1,000 bond Wednesday.
Health Care for America Now, a coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations, including the liberal group MoveOn, immediately issued a statement criticizing the insurers, saying their plan would still allow insurance companies to charge older and sicker people huge premiums and would do nothing to cap CEO salaries.Bloomberg (no link):
"We call on Congress to join with President-elect Obama to enact health care reform in 2009 which puts the health of our families before the profits of the insurance industry," the coalition's director, Richard Kirsch, said in a statement.
Industry opponents attacked the initiative as a self-serving “bailout” to protect company profits and autonomy. The proposal doesn’t involve fundamental changes in the way insurers operate and asks the government to pick up more costs, said Richard Kirsch, the national campaign manager for Health Care Now, a coalition of labor unions and activist groups.Politico:
“This plan lets them continue to profit on people when they’re healthy and, when people get sick and have high health costs, to push as much of those costs as possible onto the taxpayer,” Kirsch said in a phone interview today.
But Health Care for America Now said the insurance industry’s proposal doesn’t make insurance more affordable. For instance, it doesn’t prevent companies from charging sick and elderly beneficiaries more.LA Times:
“What they’re trying to do politically is to get ahead of health care reform and shape health care reform in such a way to protect their bottom line as opposed to actually fixing the problems in the health care system,” said the group’s national campaign manager, Richard Kirsch.
He criticized the industry’s plan to prevent medical bankruptcy by providing tax credits to low-income families that would cap total health care expenses instead of offering more affordable plans – a move that Kirsch put this way: “We’ll continue to let you go bankrupt, and we’ll have the government bail you out.”
Several consumer groups sharply attacked the insurance group's plan on Wednesday.
"The health insurance industry's vision of healthcare reform lets them keep charging whatever they want and increase their profits while sticking families and taxpayers with high costs," said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The insurance industry embraced many of President-elect Barack Obama's ideas for better health care coverage Wednesday, though it opposes a key piece of his plan to require employers to help pay for that coverage.Here's the full statement we put out today:
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The trade group's recommendations for health care reform were unveiled at the National Press Club.
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But not everyone was impressed.
"Of course, there's nothing in the industry's plan that would limit their multimillion dollar CEO salaries or require companies to spend the lion's share of health insurance premiums on providing health care instead of on administrative costs, fat cat salaries, and skyrocketing profits," said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care For America Now, an advocacy group.
“The health insurance industry’s vision of health care reform lets them keep charging whatever they want and increase their profits while sticking families and taxpayers with high costs. Remarkably, the health insurance industry’s solution to medical bankruptcy isn’t to give people good health coverage but to have the government bail-out families who go bankrupt because they have lousy health coverage. How can the health insurance industry propose reform which still lets families go bankrupt and expect to be taken seriously?
AHIP’s plan still lets insurers charge higher premiums for older and sicker people and for women. Their proposal pushes high-deductible plans and still lets insurance companies decide whether or not to approve the care your doctor says you need.
Of course, there’s nothing in the industry’s plan that would limit their multi-million dollar CEO salaries or require companies to spend the lion’s share of health insurance premiums on providing health care instead of on administrative costs, fat cat salaries, and skyrocketing profits.
We call on Congress to join with President-elect Obama to enact health care reform in 2009 which puts the health of our families before the profits of the insurance industry. We don’t need another industry bailout like that proposed by AHIP. We need a guarantee of quality, affordable health care that serves our needs, not lines their pockets.”
Doubtful that the healthcare industry will sacrifice profits for a more efficient and inclusive system, Health Care for America Now, a coalition of mostly left-leaning groups - including MoveOn.org, the massive liberal grassroots organization - is preparing for a multimillion dollar public relations campaign to push through health reform.From the list of the 10 questions we'd like to see the media ask today, here are 7-9:
"We bring a lot of skepticism to some of the posture that the insurance industry and the small-business community and the drug companies have taken in terms of their professed support for reform," said Richard Kirsch, the national director of the group, which issued a statement challenging AHIP's new proposal yesterday, even before today's announcement.
But Ron Pollack, president of Families USA, a left-leaning healthcare consumer advocacy group, said he believes real progress is quietly being made. He helped organize a 'strange bedfellows' group of 18 organizations - including the Federation of American Hospitals, AHIP and the US Chamber of Commerce - that are meeting regularly with a professional mediator in hopes of reaching common ground on substantive issues.
"If the 'strange bedfellows' participants reach agreement and find common ground, this clearly would be a game-changer," Pollack said. "It would make sure that the contentious atmosphere that pervaded every health reform debate in the past would become a much more cooperative exercise."
7. Does your plan limit the amount that insurers may spend on administration, marketing, and profit?Still think AHIP's got your best interests at heart?
8. Insurance premiums have been rising four times faster than wages while health insurance profits rose more than 1000% from 2001 to 2006. Given this, why should we trust you to control health care costs?
9. The average health insurance company CEO earns $8 million. In recent years, the Aetna CEO earned $57 million, the CIGNA CEO earned $42 million, and executives at WellPoint made more than $150 million in gains. Will you agree to limit CEO compensation as part of your health insurance reform proposal?
Nearly fifteen years after the Clintons tackled America's health care crisis, a new group called Health Care for America Now may just tip the tide, scaring the bejeezus out of Conservatives.Read the whole thing here, including this:
"They're obviously going to fight tooth and nail," says Jacki Schechner, the spokeswoman for HCAN. "Even as they say they're coming to the table now, they have a real clear vision of what they want to see that reform look like, and that protects their bottom line."Chris has got another piece in Politico today talking about us versus single-payer, and my boss sums it up perfectly:
Kirsch added that the attacks by single-payer advocates are aimed in the wrong direction and “are more of a distraction than anything else.”And finally, just for fun, I found this in a circular on Sunday:
“It’s great for them to go out and advocate for single-payer, but we think they’re misplacing their energies by attacking us,” Kirsch said. “They should be focusing their energies on those that don’t want to see any public health insurance plan and don’t want to see stringent regulations of the private insurance industry.”
"We're part of a lot of coalitions, but HCAN is edgy in a unique way," says Linda Tran, an SEIU spokesperson. "It has a 'street heat' that we're known for as well. The combination of grassroots and new media and online organizing gives it a special force and energy."
