In a victory last night for President Obama, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed landmark health care legislation to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama has returned to Washington from Camp David.
At 10 AM Pacific, he delivers remarks at the White House on national health care.
The House passed a national health care bill last night on a vote of 220 to 215 after Obama went personally to Capitol Hill to make a closing pitch.
All California Democrats voted for the bill. All California Republicans voted against it.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger will be signing the rest of the big California water deal this coming week, as well as appointing a new lieutenant governor, who I believe will be State Senator Abel Maldonado.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama condemns the despicable attacks at Fort Hood, honoring those who were killed and wounded.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Camp David this weekend.
Obama has received his intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama addresses the House Democratic Caucus at the Cannon House Office Building.
The principal topic? National health care.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama makes a statement to the press in the Rose Garden.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama depart the White House on Marine One en route to Camp David.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives will pass national health care this weekend.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Iran seemed, after a typical stalling tactic, to accept the nuclear deal it negotiated the week before last in Vienna, albeit with big caveats, and then said no to it. Now it says it wants to negotiate “details.”
Talking with Sky News on Friday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US and senior aide to Ariel Sharon, said that Israel is seriously considering air strikes to take out Iran’s nascent nuclear capacity.
This was an unusually frank, on-the-record comment by a top Israeli official with regard to an attack on Iran.
Obama continues deliberations on his latest strategy for Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai is officially re-elected with the weekend election canceled due to his challenger’s complaint of ongoing massive electoral fraud.
Obama is also prepping for his big Asia trip, which begins next week.
Investigators examined Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s computer, his home and garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times by two civilian police officers. Soldiers do not go about an Army base carrying weapons, which is why Hasan was able to wreak havoc in a way that would have been impossible in a combat zone.
We are all trying to make sense of the shootings at Fort Hood. Perhaps they are simply senseless. Perhaps not.
It’s important not to rush to a conclusion in one’s view of this. It does appear that the reported shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, held radical Islamic views.
If this is correct, we have the beginnings of an explanation for this horrific tragedy. But only that.
The Army psychiatrist, and what an irony that is, may be an insane person who grabbed hold of an ideology to rationalize an erratic view of the world. He may be a homegrown jihadist. We don’t know if he acted alone or was prodded by others.
We do know that these acts do not represent mainstream Islam.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger will be signing the rest of the big California water package in various events next week.
He will also appoint a new lieutenant governor.
I expect that appointee to be State Senator Abel Maldonado.
** OBAMA’S OFF TO A VERY GOOD START. One year ago, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Is his presidency delivering on the promise of his candidacy? Yes. I think he’s off to a very good start. But I’m not doing handstands.
I keep Obama’s book containing his campaign program, Change We Can Believe In, on my desk. Is Obama doing what he said he would do? Yes, mostly.
It’s important to be clear about something. Obama is not a left-wing politician; he’s a center/left politician. That’s clear when you examine what he ran on last year. He ran on a center/left platform, not a left-wing platform.
Many on the left and the right, either through misunderstanding or pursuit of their own agendas, get this wrong. Each wing imagines (or pretends to imagine) that Obama is a lefty, and alternately prods and assails him on that false basis.
But let’s not clear space on Mount Rushmore just yet. …
** IT’S NOVEMBER 22, 1963 ON MAD MEN. “Everything’s going to be okay.” — Don Draper
No, Don. It won’t. It really won’t. …
** AFGHANISTAN, AGAIN: THE THICKET OBAMA’S NOT GETTING OUT OF. … From my October 29th column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE GYPSY AND THE HOBO.” … From my October 26th review.
** CHINATOWN’S 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION AND THE POLANSKI SCANDAL. … From my October 23rd essay.
** OBAMA IN THE THICKET OF “AFGHANIRANISTAN.” … From my October 21st column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE COLOR BLUE.” … From my October 19th review.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “WEE SMALL HOURS.” … From my October 12th review.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. … From my October 9th column.
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. … From my October 8th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation. You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $77.43 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $43 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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| Comments (42) |
Good speech by the President on Fort Hood.
Hasan is a strange character.
I fear the worst about him.
Barack always rises to the occasion
Jonas Blane says:
November 7, 2009 at 8:13 am
Good speech by the President on Fort Hood.
This is good insight I haven’t seen anywhere else.
BB:Soldiers do not go about an Army base carrying weapons, which is why Hasan was able to wreak havoc in a way that would have been impossible in a combat zone.
Thanks.
Thanks.
This is a big problem for him.
> Capitol Boy says:
November 7, 2009 at 8:55 am (Edit)
Barack always rises to the occasion
Jonas Blane says:
November 7, 2009 at 8:13 am
Good speech by the President on Fort Hood.
I hope that what seems obvious is not correct.
> Jonas Blane says:
November 7, 2009 at 8:21 am (Edit)
Hasan is a strange character.
I don’t know if the loony shrink is a terrorist or not. He’s a loony. That’s what I need to know.
This is sad.
Roasted duck on the farm. How special!
HOLY SHIT!!!!
Stanford beat Oregon, 51-42!
STANFORD!!!
WTF????!!!!
What is with the Cal unis? Is that what Mayor Bates wore 50 years ago?
Junior varsity uniforms.
I hope the young man is okay.
Oh, Christ, Best is GONE after the TD. The best tailback in the nation.
While I hope not, it could be that the young man has carried the ball for the last time. My prayers go out to him.
As someone who’s had four concussions — three playing football, one in Navy training — I think Best will be okay. After a while.
He’s been playing hurt all year, btw. I can tell when a really really really fast guy is only really really fast.
Scary stuff, though, sitting here watching, wearing my old Cal track shirt.
BS call in the SC game, with the SC DB scoring on a 55-yard pick, high-stepping the last four yards.
These refs would probably outlaw every play Deion Sanders ever made …
Glad he’s going to be fine. Watched him go down and caught a glimpse of his face…scary it was.
Not watching the USC game…second rate team.
Go Northwestern!
Don’t forget Navy. The mids beat Notre Dame. I was at a Notre Dame-Navy game at Notre Dame. Fantastic experience.
I like that Stanford won. Another of my various schools …
I guess you have perspective after getting KO’d 4 times but it looked very scary to me.
Bill Bradley says:
November 7, 2009 at 7:01 pm
As someone who’s had four concussions — three playing football, one in Navy training — I think Best will be okay. After a while.
He’s been playing hurt all year, btw. I can tell when a really really really fast guy is only really really fast.
Scary stuff, though, sitting here watching, wearing my old Cal track shirt.
BS call in the SC game, with the SC DB scoring on a 55-yard pick, high-stepping the last four yards.
These refs would probably outlaw every play Deion Sanders ever made …
…How did you get knocked out in Navy training? Hit by a sail?
How could I forget Navy, it was my dad’s branch of the service during WWI. It’s just that I’ve been a Wildcat fan longer than a Trojan fan as we lived next to Evanston in the late 40′s. Suffered with them for many years and am quite pleased that they now have a decent football program and remain strong in the classroom.
Concussion in the Navy? Say the wrong thing to a Wave???
Additional video today?
Bill — thanks for your words on the Hood shooting. It’s time for cooler heads to prevail.
Thanks. It doesn’t look good, however.
I hadn’t guessed Northwestern.
> Mr. Solon says:
November 7, 2009 at 9:13 pm (Edit)
How could I forget Navy, it was my dad’s branch of the service during WWI. It’s just that I’ve been a Wildcat fan longer than a Trojan fan as we lived next to Evanston in the late 40’s. Suffered with them for many years and am quite pleased that they now have a decent football program and remain strong in the classroom.
Concussion in the Navy? Say the wrong thing to a Wave???
Rifle butt.
> Capitol Boy says:
November 7, 2009 at 7:23 pm (Edit)
…How did you get knocked out in Navy training? Hit by a sail?
Pelosid looks happy for a 220-215 win.
Sorry about the typo.
30.Bill Bradley says:
November 8, 2009 at 8:40 am
Rifle butt.
——-
I would have bet a lot of money it was a wave while your were attempting to body surf!
Great news on Congress passing the big health bill! Barack is getting it done. Good for Nancy Pelosi, too. Now it’s the Senate that has to get it done.
Ouch!
Bill Bradley says:
November 8, 2009 at 8:40 am
Rifle butt.
> Capitol Boy says:
November 7, 2009 at 7:23 pm (Edit)
…How did you get knocked out in Navy training? Hit by a sail?
MAD MEN season finale is tonight! I CAN’T wait!
What new video today?
Berlin Wall, and the President on health.
It was great.
Now I have to finish writing the gigantic piece on it …
> Lorena says:
November 8, 2009 at 11:43 am (Edit)
MAD MEN season finale is tonight! I CAN’T wait!
Thank god for the hat …
> Capitol Boy says:
November 8, 2009 at 11:18 am (Edit)
Ouch!
Bill Bradley says:
November 8, 2009 at 8:40 am
Rifle butt.
> Capitol Boy says:
November 7, 2009 at 7:23 pm (Edit)
…How did you get knocked out in Navy training? Hit by a sail?
That wasn’t in the training …
> Mr. Solon says:
November 8, 2009 at 10:41 am (Edit)
30.Bill Bradley says:
November 8, 2009 at 8:40 am
Rifle butt.
——-
I would have bet a lot of money it was a wave while your were attempting to body surf!