Romes' Blog

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This is sad…Keep reading to find out what I mean. We could cure so many kids yet we do nothing.

HANOI, Vietnam – Diarrhea doesn’t make headlines. Nor does pneumonia. AIDS and malaria tend to get most of the attention.

Yet even though cheap tools could prevent and cure both diseases, they kill an estimated 3.5 million kids under 5 each a year globally — more than HIV and malaria combined.

“They have been neglected, because donor or partnership mechanisms shifted their emphasis to HIV and AIDS and other issues,” said Dr. Tesfaye Shiferaw, a UNICEF official in Africa. “These age-old traditional killers remain with us. The ones dying are the children of the poor.”

Global spending on maternal, newborn and child health was about $3.5 billion in 2006, according to a report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That same year, nearly $9 billion was devoted to HIV and AIDS, according to UNAIDS.

Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children under 5, claiming more then 2 million lives annually or about 20 percent of all child deaths. AIDS, in contrast, accounts for about 2 percent.

If identified early, pneumonia can be treated with inexpensive antibiotics. Yet UNICEF and the World Health Organization estimate less than 20 percent of those sickened receive the drugs.

A vaccine has been available since 2000 but has not yet reached many children in developing countries. The GAVI Alliance, a global partnership, hopes to introduce it to 42 countries by 2015.

Diarrheal diseases, such as cholera and rotavirus, kill 1.5 million kids each year, most under 2 years old. The children die from dehydration, weakened immune systems and malnutrition. Often they get sick from drinking dirty water.

The worst cholera outbreak to hit Africa in 15 years killed more than 4,000 people in Zimbabwe last year. The country recently reported new cases of the waterborne disease, and more are expected as the rainy season peaks and sewers overflow.

Rotavirus, a highly contagious disease spread through contaminated hands and surfaces, is the top cause of severe diarrhea, accounting for more than a half million child deaths a year.

A vaccine routinely given to children in the U.S. and Europe is expected to reach 44 poorer countries by 2015 through the GAVI Alliance.

“Every child in the United States gets it, even though they have access to clean water and hygiene,” said John Wecker, of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, a Seattle-based nonprofit that is part of the vaccine alliance. “The only effective way to prevent these deaths is through vaccination.”

Diarrheal diseases received more attention in the 1980s and 1990s, he said, but interest has waned or been diverted elsewhere, allowing them to creep back.

“How did the leading killers end up at the bottom of the global health agenda? I don’t know,” Wecker said at a recent GAVI meeting in Hanoi. “We’ve got the tools. We’re not looking for the next technological breakthrough. It’s here now and it’s not being used.”

Death can often be prevented by giving children fluid replacement, a simple recipe of salt and sugar mixed with clean water to help ward off dehydration. Yet 60 percent of children with diarrhea never receive the concoction, according to a WHO and UNICEF report released last month.

“It is so preventable,” said Dr. Richard Cash, a Harvard University expert who helped develop the oral rehydration therapy 40 years ago. “Preventing the deaths is at the very least what we should be striving for.”

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I can’t believe Cotto lost that fight!  I was watching the entire thing and I thought he could win but after the 5th round or so he started getting the shit knocked out of him!  Pacquiao was giving it to him non stop…Cotto after the 7th round was just running away trying to survive the rounds. I could see it in Pacquiao’s face that he was getting frustrated with Cottos retreats in every round.  Cotto was representing all puerto ricans (including my self) and he let us down with that retreating bullshit.  If there is a rematch between those two Cotto better win…If not, he better retire!

AS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao staked his claim atop boxing’s mythical throne as the pound-for-pound best, using his lightning hand speed to beat and batter Miguel Cotto into submission Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Manny Pacquiao celebrates with trainer Freddie Roach after beating Miguel Cotto in a WBO welterweight title fight on Saturday in Las Vegas.

(Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

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Pacquiao knocked Cotto down once in the third round and again in the fourth, pummeled him repeatedly and easily lifted the World Boxing Organization welterweight belt from the Puerto Rican with a 12th-round stoppage. The time was 55 seconds into the final round, as referee Kenny Bayless leaped between the fighters to save Cotto a more savage beating and ignominious end.

Cotto came out strong and landed some hard punches, but Cotto couldn’t deal with the speed. Pacquiao was landing three shots for every two Cotto did early. After the knockdown in the fourth, Cotto’s offense was nonexistent as he spent most of the last two thirds of the fight fending off Pacquiao’s onslaught.

Cotto landed in single digits in power shots in every round from the fifth forward.

Pacquiao nearly had the stoppage after the 11th when Cotto trainer Joe Santiago walked onto the ring apron and waved his hand at Bayless.

It appeared he was going to stop the fight, but then Bayless and ringside physician James Game spoke and allowed it to continue. It was only extending the misery as Pacquiao poured it on in the 12th.

When the fight ended, the crowd began to chant, “We want Floyd!” It was a reference to Floyd Mayweather Jr., the other man with a claim to the top of the boxing pound-for-pound list.

Pacquiao, who has won championship belts in five divisions and beat the linear champion in two others, can no longer be knocked as a small man who was beating washed up fighters.

In Cotto, he took on an elite and powerful welterweight whose only loss came under suspicious circumstances to Antonio Margarito last year. There is suspicion that Margarito’s gloves were loaded for that fight, though it has never been proven.

But Pacquiao proved he was able to not only take a welterweight punch, but rock him repeatedly. It was a magnificent performance and will create public demand for a fight with Mayweather.

“I want to see him fight Mayweather,” Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said.

Santiago said Pacquiao hit harder and was stronger than expected. Cotto injured his left shoulder in the eighth.

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That is what I like to see…People not afraid of being a hero.  I see countless stories of people who do the right thing and end up getting punished. I remember story about a women traped in a car after she crashed and fliped the car. The car was on fire and a guy who saw what happened went to help her and in the process got her out but broke her arm on accident.  The lady in turn sues the guy for breaking her arm after he goes and saves her life…People like this disgust me and make people of today want to ignore cries for help as they think they will be punished for helping someone.

IF YOU SEE SOMEONE WHO NEEDS HELP, YOU GO AND HELP THEM!!  If the person you save tries to sue you or punish you in anyway you contact me and I will post the entire story on my blog and have all my friends post the story on their blogs…A person who does a good thing and gets punished for it deserves for US (The people) to stand up and help our him/her out.

By HILARY HYLTON / KILLEEN Hilary Hylton / Killeen – Sun Nov 8, 9:00 am ET

The west side of Killeen, Texas is like countless other places in America’s heartland, freshly carved out of prairie pastures with wide streets in bucolic neighborhoods like “Sunflower Estates” and “Bridgewood.” But on a glorious cloudless fall day, the flags at the home sales center nearby are at half mast in honor of the 13 fallen at Ft. Hood, victims of a gunman whose deadly attack was stopped thanks to a petite, long-haired blonde mom from the neigborhood.

Sgt. Kimberly Munley, 34, a civilian Department of Defense police officer at the base, is credited with stopping the firing rampage of U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan at the Soldier Readiness Center within a few minutes after he launched his attack. The center is a quick five minute drive from Munley’s home, past the new strip centers and the high school football field along wide Cross Creek Boulevard, but a world away from the horrors inflicted in one of the worst incidents of soldier-on-soldier violence in U.S. Army history. (Read TIME’s report: “Stresses at Fort Hood Were Likely Intense for Hasan”)

Munley, described by neighbor Brooke Beato, as “very petite, with long blonde hair and a strong personality,” was credited by base officials with preventing further carnage by aggressively engaging Hasan as he shot at her. She rounded a corner, took aim at Hasan and brought him down, officials said. “It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer,” base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said. It also was a tactic straight out of recent lessons learned from the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, when first responders waited for additional backup before engaging the shooter.

“She walked up and engaged him,” said Lt. Gen. Cone told Associated Press. As a member of the base Special Reaction Team, Munley had learned that “if you act aggressively to take out a shooter, you will have less fatalities,” Cone said.

Soon after Munley fired at Hasan, taking him down, she herself fell wounded and police radios quickly sent out an “Officer down” call. Wounded three times in the arm and leg, Munley is in stable condition after undergoing surgery Friday to repair damage to an artery. Base officials said she wishes she could have acted even faster and saved more lives, and she spent Thursday evening calling friends and colleagues, expressing those regrets.

While Thursday’s shooting sent a shockwave through the tight-knit Killeen community, Beato, whose husband is an Army captain, said she was not surprised when Munley’s name surfaced as the police officer who ended the shooting. “It was just like her – she carries herself with confidence,” Beato said.

Beato is a 30-year-old mother of four whose children often play with Munley’s daughters, ages 12 and 3, in the quiet cul-de-sac. “I couldn’t believe what happened, but when I heard what she did,” says Beato of her neighbor, “I believed that because of who she is – I know her.”

Munley, who worked as a police officer for five years in North Carolina where her father, Dennis Barbour, once served as mayor of Carolina Beach, is a talented shooter and member of the base’s Special Reaction Team which trains for the possibility of events like Thursday’s shooting rampage. She also is a passionate fan of Twitter and once news of her actions spread, her followers began to blossom in number – among them country singer Dierks Bentley who posed for a photo with the petite police officer at the fort’s annual July Fourth FreedomFest. The photo is posted on her Twitter page along with a brief biographical quote: “I live a good life…a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully at night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone’s life.”

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I don’t have much to say, just wanted to give you all an update on the situation.

By MARK THOMPSON / WASHINGTON Mark Thompson / Washington – Tue Nov 10, 4:50 pm ET

As officials continue to investigate the alleged Fort Hood killer, it is looking increasingly likely that the Army missed several red flags in Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s behavior. Many observers say it wouldn’t be surprising if such signals had been missed, given that Hasan was a psychiatrist whom the Army desperately needed to help tend to the mental wounds of two wars. But at the same time, some members of the military are quietly discussing the more troubling possibility that the Army looked the other way precisely because Hasan was Muslim. (See pictures of the Fort Hood shootings.)

Army officials strongly deny any suggestion that Hasan’s religion resulted in his being given special treatment. But one officer who attended the Pentagon’s medical school with Hasan disagrees. “He was very vocal about being a Muslim first and holding Shari’a law above the Constitution,” this officer recalls. When fellow students asked, “How can you be an officer and hold to the Constitution?,” the officer says, Hasan would “get visibly upset – sweaty and nervous – and had no good answers.” This medical doctor would speak only anonymously because his commanders have ordered him not to talk about Hasan, he says.

This officer says he was so surprised when Hasan gave a talk about “the war on terror being a war on Islam” that he asked the lieutenant colonel running the course what Hasan’s presentation had to do with health care. “I raised my hand and asked, ‘Why are you letting this go on – this has nothing to do with environmental health.’ The course director said, ‘I’m just going to let him go.’ ” The topic of Hasan’s presentation, the officer says, had been approved in advance by the lieutenant colonel.

The officer says he and a colleague complained to staff at the Uniformed University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., but got nowhere: “It was a systemic problem – the same thing was happening at Walter Reed,” the Army medical center several miles away, where Hasan was working as a psychiatrist. (The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Hasan gave a similar presentation at Walter Reed in which he said Muslims should be released as conscientious objectors rather than forced into combat against fellow Muslims.) But “political correctness” inside the military, the officer asserts, insulated Hasan. “People are afraid to come forward and challenge somebody’s ideology,” he says, “because they’re afraid of getting an equal-opportunity complaint that can end careers.”

A retired four-star officer says that, on the basis of the evidence gleaned so far, it was Hasan’s career that should have been cut short. “They could have given him a dishonorable discharge and said what he’s doing works against good order and discipline,” says the general, who also requested anonymity. But rather than it being a matter of giving preferential treatment to Hasan because of his religion, “my guess is he fell through the cracks,” the general says.

Whether he fell through the cracks or was cut slack because of concerns about appearing to impinge on his religious freedom will be a focus of the investigations under way. “The Army was just under such pressure that they planned to send him to Afghanistan,” says Lawrence Korb, Pentagon personnel chief during the Reagan Administration. But Korb says he’s perplexed by reports that Hasan received poor evaluations and still got promoted. “That tells me the Army didn’t do its job,” he says – though he attributes that to the unrelenting demand to keep mental-health professionals on duty rather than to Hasan’s religion.

But Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who now writes military books and a newspaper column, contends that Hasan’s religion protected him from punitive action by the Army, a view shared privately by many in uniform. While stressing “there shouldn’t be witch hunts” against Muslims in uniform, Peters insists “this guy got a pass because he was a Muslim, despite the Army’s claim that everybody’s green and we’re all the same.”

Congress is already beginning to look into why an Army psychiatrist who reportedly had to be counseled against sharing his antiwar views with soldiers back from combat could have possibly been promoted in May. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Monday that he will hold a hearing next week to see “whether the government missed warning signs that should have led to [Hasan's] expulsion” before he killed 13 people on the Texas post last Thursday. Hasan’s former classmate, for one, says he wasn’t surprised to see Hasan’s face flash across his television screen. “After the shock,” he says, “the first thing that went through my mind was, Hey, I remember everything this guy said.”

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This is so unbelievable! I wish I had those five words trademarked…I would be 400 million dollars richer…  *cries*

When Hollywood producers cast a ring announcer in a boxing scene, they know there’s only one man who can properly play the role: Michael Buffer.

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Michael Buffer’s “Let’s get ready to rumble” can rouse crowds of thousands.

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Cast in more than 20 movies and television shows, from “Rocky” to “South Park” to the new movie “2012,” Buffer, 65, gives the scene an authenticity viewers demand.

His booming voice, dashing good looks and natural charisma demand attention, while his catchphrase ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble,’ makes him unforgettable.

Those five words — ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’ — have made Buffer the undisputed king of boxing ring announcers and a hugely successful entrepreneur.

By trademarking his catchphrase, Buffer has generated over $400 million in revenue, selling the rights to music, video games, merchandise and while making personal appearances. His business venture is so successful, Buffer doesn’t even have to say his catchphrase to make money. He makes more from the trademark then he does announcing in the ring.

His catchphrase has brought Buffer more than just fame and fortune. It’s also brought him family.

Raised by foster parents in Philadelphia, Buffer was re-united with his biological father and half-brothers in 1989 after his father saw him announcing on television. Buffer’s half-brother Bruce is now his business partner and the announcer for the Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts series.

But last year it nearly all came crashing down.

Buffer was diagnosed with throat cancer, the worst kind of disease imaginable for an announcer. His initial diagnosis required aggressive surgery and chemotherapy, which would almost certainly end his announcing career.

Buffer, however, got a reprieve. A second diagnosis called for a less invasive surgery that could potentially save his throat.

The surgery was a success, and today, Buffer is traveling the world again with his great voice and gangbuster trademark.

ABC’s John Berman recently sat down with the iconic announcer at his home near Los Angeles to discuss Buffer’s legendary career.

Berman: When someone says, ‘Michael Buffer, what do you do for a living?,’ how do you respond to that?

Buffer: I usually say sports announcer. Not broadcaster, but sports announcer.

Berman: And what does that mean exactly?

Buffer: Well, primarily, of course, boxing ring announcer. But, you know, I’ve been blessed with — that being parleyed into doing the introductions for World Series and NBA playoffs and Stanley Cup games and home openers of major sports and colleges. So, you know, I got to introduce a lot of guys.

Berman: When you were growing up in, in Philadelphia, you said, ‘I want to be the world’s best-known introducer?’

Buffer: I had no clue that this would ever happen. I would watch the fights with my kids back in the early ’80s, and a ring announcer in a fight announced the split decision. And he did it without the proper sequence, to give you the dramatic effect of — ‘and the winner by split decision,’ pause, everybody waits and he gave away this — the winner after two judges. And my oldest son said, ‘Dad, you could do that.’ And, and I thought, ‘Well, yeah, OK. I’m a big fan. I can’t afford a ticket, so maybe I could just get my way in to the ring that way.’ And I came up with a sort of enhanced resume that said I had experience, and got my foot in the door and was quite terrible the first time. But I got another shot and it just took off, the power of television.

Rest of Story of source page.

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As title says, just an update to the post below this one…Enjoy!

KILLEEN, Texas – A lawyer for the Army psychiatrist accused in a deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood said Monday he asked investigators not to question his client and expressed doubt that the suspect would be able to get a fair trial, given the widespread attention to the case.

Retired Col. John P. Galligan said he was contacted Monday by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s family and was headed to an Army hospital in San Antonio to meet Hasan.

“Until I meet with him, it’s best to say we’re just going to protect all of his rights,” Galligan said.

Hasan, 39, is accused of opening fire on the Army post on Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding 29 before civilian police shot him in the torso. He was taken into custody and eventually moved to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he was in stable condition Monday and able to talk, hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell said.

Galligan said he didn’t know if Hasan had been medically cleared to talk.

“There’s a lot of facts that still need to be developed, and the time for that will come in due course,” he said.

Authorities won’t say when charges would be filed or if Hasan would face military justice.

Galligan questioned whether Hasan could get a fair trial in either criminal or military court, given President Barack Obama’s planned visit to the base on Tuesday and public comments by the post commander, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone.

“You’ve got his commander in chief showing up tomorrow,” Galligan said. “That same kind of publicity naturally creates an issue as to whether you find a fair and impartial forum, whether that’s in the military or even if it were in a federal forum.”

Authorities say Hasan fired off more than 100 rounds at a soldier processing center. Fifteen victims remained hospitalized with gunshot wounds, and eight were in intensive care.

Authorities continue to refer to Hasan as the only suspect in the rampage, but they have said they have not determined a motive. A spokesman for Army investigators did not immediately respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment Monday.

A radical American imam living in Yemen who had contact with two 9/11 hijackers praised Hasan as a hero as a hero on his personal Web site Monday.

The posting on the Web site for Anwar al Awlaki, who was a spiritual leader at two mosques where three 9/11 hijackers worshipped, said American Muslims who condemned the Fort Hood attack are hypocrites who have committed treason against their religion.

Awlaki said the only way a Muslim can justify serving in the U.S. military is if he intends to “follow in the footsteps of men like Nidal.”

“Nidal Hassan (sic) is a hero,” Awlaki said. “He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”

Two U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press the Web site was Awlaki’s. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence collection. Awlaki did not immediately respond to an attempt to contact him through the Web site.

Hasan’s family attended the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., where Awlaki was preaching in 2001. Hasan’s mother’s funeral was held at the mosque on May 31, 2001, according to her obituary in the Roanoke Times newspaper, around the same time two 9/11 hijackers worshipped at the mosque and while Awlaki was preaching.

The Falls Church mosque is one of the largest on the East Coast, and thousands of worshippers attend prayers and services there every week.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director at Dar al Hijrah, said he did not know whether Hasan ever attended the mosque but confirmed that the Hasan family participated in services there. Abdul-Malik said the Hasans were not leaders at the mosque and their attendance was normal.

Fort Hood officials said the country’s largest military installation was moving forward with the business of soldiering. The building where Hasan allegedly opened fire remains a crime scene, but a processing center is scheduled to reopen Thursday in a new, temporary location.

Command Sgt. Maj. Arthur L. Coleman Jr. said Monday that reopening the center is an important step in returning the Army post to normal. Cone said the post stepped up security, including suspending visits by the public, largely to reassure the population that the sprawling base is safe and won’t “become a battlefield.”

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I’m glad the guy is awake so now we can find out what happened.  I just feel bad that so many people had to die…I hope people don’t think of Islamic people now after what Hasan did. Well, the story is below.

w00t!  I can’t believe, it finally passed.  Read below to see the good news…

WASHINGTON – In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.

A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later — and Obama issued a statement saying, “I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year.”

“It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it,” said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.

In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to many individuals and small groups. They prevailed on a roll call of 240-194.

Ironically, that only solidified support for the legislation, clearing the way for conservative Democrats to vote for it.

The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it. Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government’s mandates.

Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history. In a further slap, the industry would lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.

At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill’s most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private firms.

A cheer went up from the Democratic side of the House when the bill gained 218 votes, a majority. Moments later, Democrats counted down the final seconds of the voting period in unison, and let loose an even louder roar when Pelosi grabbed the gavel and declared, “the bill is passed.”

The bill drew the votes of 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

From the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, “We realize the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energized that we stand closer than ever to reforming our broken health insurance system.”

In his written statement, Obama praised the House’s action and said, “now the United State Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will.”

Nearly unanimous in their opposition, minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation.

United in opposition, minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation.

“We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, `this is making me sick,’” jabbed Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., adding that Democrats were intent on passing “a jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding” bill.

But with little doubt about the outcome, the rhetoric lacked the fire of last summer’s town hall meetings, when some critics accused Democrats of plotting “death panels” to hasten the demise of senior citizens.

The bill is projected to expand coverage to 36 million uninsured, resulting in 96 percent of the nation’s eligible population having insurance.

To pay for the expansion of coverage, the bill cuts Medicare’s projected spending by more than $400 billion over a decade. It also imposes a tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on income over $500,000 in the case of individuals and $1 million for families.

The bill was estimated to reduce federal deficits by about $104 billion over a decade, although it lacked two of the key cost-cutting provisions under consideration in the Senate, and its longer-term impact on government red ink was far from clear.

Democrats lined up a range of outside groups behind their legislation, none more important than the AARP, whose support promises political cover against the cuts to Medicare in next year’s congressional elections.

The nation’s drug companies generally support health care overhaul. And while the powerful insurance industry opposed the legislation, it did so quietly, and the result was that Republicans could not count on the type of advertising campaign that might have peeled away skittish Democrats in swing districts.

Over all, the bill envisioned the most sweeping set of changes to the health care system in more than a generation, and Democrats said it marked the culmination of a campaign that Harry Truman began when he sat in the White House 60 years ago.

Debate on the House floor had already begun when Obama strode into a closed-door meeting of the Democratic rank and file across the street from the Capitol to make a final personal appeal to them to pass his top domestic priority.

Later, in an appearance at the White House, he said he had told lawmakers, “to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history, and vote yes for health insurance reform for America.”

It appeared that a compromise brokered Friday night on the volatile issue of abortion had finally secured the votes needed to pass the legislation.

As drafted, the measure denied the use of federal subsidies to purchase abortion coverage in policies sold by private insurers in the new insurance exchange, except in cases of incest, rape or when the life of the mother was in danger.

But abortion foes won far stronger restrictions that would rule out abortion coverage except in those three categories in any government-sold plan. It would also ban abortion coverage in any private plan purchased by consumers receiving federal subsidies.

Disappointed Democratic abortion rights supporters grumbled about the turn of events, but pulled back quickly from any thought of opposing the health care bill in protest.

One, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., detailed numerous other benefits for women in the bill, including free medical preventive services and better prescription drug coverage under Medicare. “Women need health care reform,” she concluded in remarks on the House floor.

A Republican alternative was rejected on a near party line vote of 258-176.

It relied heavily on loosening regulations on private insurers to reduce costs for those who currently have insurance, in some cases by as much as 10 percent. But congressional budget analysts said the plan would make no dent in the ranks of the uninsured, an assessment that highlighted the difference in priorities between the two political parties.

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I read this and found it to be very useful.  Anyone and everyone who has a bank account should read this.  It contains some useful information that will let you know if your bank is going down the crapper.  Banks are still closing so find out if yours will be next!