Extended
 jobless benefits bug some
By Michael A. Fletcher

Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off workers is turning into an expensive entitlement.
About 11.4 million out-of-work people now collect unemployment compensation, at a cost of $10 billion a month. Half of them have been receiving payments for more than six months, the usual insurance limit. But under multiple extensions enacted by the federal government in response to the downturn, workers can collect the payments for as long as 99 weeks in states with the highest unemployment rates — the longest period since the program’s inception.

The unemployed say extensions help to tide them over in unusually difficult times when jobs are hard to come by. Although unemployment held steady at 9.7 percent in February, millions of jobs have been lost in the downturn, particularly in the hardest-hit sectors such as real estate, construction, manufacturing and financial services. Those jobs are unlikely to return even when the economy recovers, many experts say.

But complaints that extending unemployment payments discourages job-seeking have begun to bubble into the political debate. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) recently single-handedly held up the latest extension, a bill to keep unemployment benefits in place for another 30 days, saying Congress should find other cuts to cover its $10 billion price tag.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) did not join Bunning’s effort, but he defended his colleague’s point of view. Kyl told the Senate he questioned why anyone would see unemployment benefits as helpful to the economy, or to the jobs market.
Read the rest here:
http://www.ajc.com/business/extended-jobless-be...

Do this stupid fucktards understand that you CANNOT get u/e benefits without having first been employed!????

And of course "they" complain because the American taxpayers are paying their salaries AND their benefits, every damn one of them from their aides down to the toilet paper used in their office bathrooms.

What's up WordyWord? I see you are back on the board. Did your move go smoothly? How's the new place?

Here's a housewarming gift for you:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?ord...

Smoothly enough. Just a few things to do - clean up, etc. Truly, I was worried about the cats. They're fine though. Otherwise, it is simply delicious.

As for that housewarming gift, it's perfect. I really like it and think I'll get it.

manic depressive my ass....just need a good slap upside the head and jailtime with some dudes who like hitting upside the head too.

Police: Ohio man hit children at store for thrill
March 12, 2010 01:02 PM EST |

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police in Ohio say a man accused of striking children in the head with a key protruding from his fist while roaming a Walmart store did it for the thrill.

Sixty-eight-year-old Ralph Conone (kuh-NOH'-nee) was arrested at a Columbus Walmart on Wednesday and charged with assault.

Police say a mother reported that her 6-year-old said Conone hit him. The boy was treated for a minor cut on his head. Police say his 7-year-old brother also was struck.
Police say they're looking for two other children seen getting struck on store video.

Investigators say Conone told them it was exciting to hit children with their parents nearby.
Conone's public defender says his client is manic depressive. On Friday, a judge set bond at $150,000 and told him to stay out of Walmarts.

What the fuck is up with Lawrence O'Donnell?! He's been guest hosting Countdown all week and has followed the progressive script on health care reform then goes on Morning Joe today and completely trashes it. He not only trashes the bill, but, the process and the politics of it. Saying it won’t be good for Democrats to pass an unpopular bill. He was even using Rasmussen polling to attack the bill, saying never before has a bill opposed by 53% of the public passed before. Who the fuck but Rasmussen, a Republican pollster, has the opposition that high?! Poll of polls has it split 48% against and 44% for. And support has been inching up.

This is the same mofo who said neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama if elected would take on health care. He was WRONG! He also said it would never get out of the Finance Committee. He was WRONG! He also said it would never get the 60 votes in the Senate. He was WRONG! And if not for Scott Brown's win in MA, we would have health care reform signed into law. But none of his incorrect predictions stopped Joe Scarborough from hailing his "accurate" predictions. And it certainly didn't stop that black bobble headed stuttering Eugene Robinson from agreeing with him.

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2010/02/lawrence-...

Lawrence O'Donnell, pundit and contributor to the Huffington Post and former Senate Democratic stuffer is very fond of touting his Senate creds and telling everyone about where Congress is and what the Senate does and what has no chance of. On Friday, O'Donnell guest hosted The Ed Show on MSNBC and in that show, he went on a great diatribe showing his mastery of legislative procedure and accused Congressional Democrats of wanting to kill their own health care bill.

But how do you know who to believe? Well, I will give you one advice: don't believe Lawrence O'Donnell. He has gone on TV before, spouted out his great knowledge of the Senate procedures and eaten crow forthwith. Not that he ever admits to being wrong. Unfortunately for him, though, MSNBC makes transcripts of its shows available. Guest hosting for Keith Olberman on MSNBC, O'Donnell freaked out on December 11, 2009, after, of course, the usual chest-thumping about him being an ex-staffer of the Senate.

O‘DONNELL: Thirteen -- 13 shopping days until Christmas. There is no chance that the United States Senate is going to deliver you a bill before Christmas...

Will this teach Lawrence O'Donnell not to make a fool out of himself by taking his Senate staffer experience chest-thumping for a spin ever again? Probably not. But I hope it will teach you not to trust the garbage that comes out of that man's mouth about what is and isn't possible in terms of moving bills in Congress.

He also spouted off that the House didn't have 218 votes for HCR. He constantly make these prognotications only to be proven wrong. And you're right, he never comes back to say he was wrong; leastways I 've never seen him do so.

Someone else asked this same question at another blog. Here was the answer.
Odonnell was chief of staff for some senator during the Clinton years and he saw the whole healthcare fiasco. Obama being able to succeed where everyone else failed might be difficult for ODonnell. I'm sure it's difficult for a lot of folks to see Obama succeed where others have failed.

What really gets on my last fuckin nerves is this meme pushed by him,
Howard Fineman and others at MSNBC that Bill Clinton would have sold
it better. Bitch mutha fuckas, he tried and FAILED! No one in the
last 60 plus years has gotten as far as this President.

That was what I came up with as well - he knows more about it so this can't possibly work!

There is an article in the Washington Post from former Clinton and Carter Pollsters suggesting democrats would be better off abandoning reform and starting over.

There are many who are invested in this failing and it is not just republicans. Obama is in a whole other league if reform passes.

Caribgirl: Dang! Even Carter's people are throwing shade? Why? What do they gain from Obama's failure?

Healthcare reform is the holy grail of the Democratic party. Presidents have been trying to do reform for over 100 years. Every democrat in the WH has tried and failed. There was this assumption especially with the unprecedented opposition and party infighting that the effort would fail because everyone else who had tried had failed.

It is akin to Obama's run to win the Democratic nomination. Even some of the people who encouraged him to run, expected him to lose. Every other black person who had tried for the nomination had failed.

Just as how people threw shade when it started to look like he would be the nominee, just people are throwing shade now that HCR is on the cusp of passing.

There are many who are invested in this failing and it is not just republicans. Obama is in a whole other league if reform passes.

That's the God's honest truth right there. Once HCR becomes law and is put in practice the scales are gonna fall from a lot of Americans eyes, and they're gonna realize they were played by not only the Republicans but a lot of Democrats too. I wouldn't want to be the politician that will end up being on the wrong side of this reform.

Yes caribgirl....

Time to burn his goddmaned barn!!

LMBAO!!!!!! I swear you will never let me live that down.

Only 'cuz it IS a damned good idea!

C.R.E.A.M.

I've only caught bits and pieces of Countdown lately so I never saw him trashing the bill....who was he speaking with? I can find the video clips by the person who was on during those segments.

He trashed it this morning during his appearance on Morning Joe with
Eugene Robinson.

You still watch MSNBC?

</Craig Hickman>

I know. I know.

These Democratic congresscritters who complained about the President's deadline and made snide remarks about his trip to Asia with his family, now have to come up with new excuses. It's a big shame that the very job they were elected to do is now too onerous for them, that they need to be baby sat by the President!

That this President has kept a positive mien about him all these years is just a sight to behold. He has not had it easy. The primaries were so long he did not have time to take a meaningful break before shifting gears to the general election.

he was told he lacked foreign experience so he had to plan that highwire trip to Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Europe. The address in Berlin was a big risk, which he pulled off spectacularly, only for McCain and his thugs to completely sully that event with the Paris Hilton ad. They accused him of not caring about the troops in Germany when it was Condi Rice who pulled the rug from under him making it impossible for him to go see the troops. The Paris Hilton ad made it impossible for the Obama campaign to use any of the footage from that entire trip in the general election campaign. In spite of this, he won.

Then the banking crisis hit and everyone turned to candidate Obama for some guidance after McCain pulled the stoopid "campaign suspension" stunt. On election night, the somber and sober tone his speech told me that he KNEW that the journey was going to be even more turbulent than anything he had experienced thus far. He repeated that serious tone at the inauguration. The pundits complained about how serious the speech was. Now we all understand his prescience about the Gordian Knot that the intractable problems of this country had become.

He honored McCain the night before the inauguration, and asked that Palin's family not be attacked, but all he got was a slap in the face in return. The vilification continues from all corners including within his own party.

I can only say, Godbless President Obama. I cannot countenance an iota of what you put up with.

P.S.: My biggest pet peeve: Why have The internet dictionaries not as yet automatically included the name "Obama" such that it still shows up as a spelling error? McCain is in there, Schwarzenegger is in there but not Obama

not just your pet peeve...it's one of mine too.

zizi2, on point once again.

The New York Times is taking it to a whole new level. I wonder who these unidentified associates are --- Sally Quinn is that you?

Obama Social Secretary Ran Into Sharp Elbows
By PETER BAKER
Published: March 11, 2010

WASHINGTON — Long before the State Dinner party crashers and the tension with her White House colleagues and the strain in her relationship with the first lady, Desirée Rogers began to understand she was in trouble when David Axelrod summoned her to his office last spring to scold her.

Ms. Rogers had appeared in another glossy magazine, posing in a White House garden in a borrowed $3,495 silk pleated dress and $110,000 diamond earrings. But if the image was jarring in a time of recession, Mr. Axelrod was as bothered by the words and her discussion of “the Obama brand” and her role in promoting it, according to people informed about the conversation.

“The president is a person, not a product,” he was said to tell her. “We shouldn’t be referring to him as a brand.”

The confrontation that day between Ms. Rogers, the White House social secretary, and Mr. Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, put at odds two longtime Chicago friends of the first family. And it foreshadowed a deeper, wrenching conflict that would eventually cost Ms. Rogers her job and tear at the fabric of the close-knit inner circle around Mr. Obama.

The rise and fall of Desirée Rogers, the glamorous Harvard-educated corporate executive who brought sizzle to the State Dining Room but became a victim of a publicity stunt by a pair of aspiring reality show stars, is a tale familiar to almost any White House. A new president comes to town and installs friends he trusts, but inevitably some of them wind up burned by the klieg lights and corrosive politics of Washington.

While it has happened to past presidents, though, this was the first time it has happened to Mr. Obama, who prided himself on running a campaign free of the typical petty rivalries and personal subplots that distract other politicians. And it happened with a friend who at first was celebrated for personifying the fresh, new-generation approach that the Obamas promised to bring to Washington.

For Ms. Rogers, associates said the episode proved a searing experience that has soured her on Washington. She believes she was left largely undefended by the White House, by her colleagues, including Mr. Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and even her close friend, Valerie Jarrett. And while she is unwilling to discuss her story publicly, several associates shared her account in the belief that her side has been lost in the swirl of hearings, backbiting and paparazzilike coverage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/politics/1...

They're still writing about this??

yeah...nothing to see here.

Thank you! They got what they wanted -- Rogers out of the WH -- but they can't stop talking about the woman. Just goes to show you that it was THEM drawing Desiree into the spotlight.

This article is filled with anon sources, exaggeration - there was no spread in Vogue magazine - and lies. I'm not falling for the divide and conquer okie doke.

This some straight up banana-in-the-tailpipe frackle-nackle bullshit.

I'm sad to see Desiree go, but if Mrs. Obama had to tell her not to do an MTV event after she'd been warned about all the public appearances, it makes me feel less sorry for her. She's a public person who likes the limelight. The job was not the right fit for her personality.

I can't believe they actually planned for her to pose in an Oscar dela renta ball gown in the First Lady's Garden. WTF?!

especially all the bullshit oscar said about the FLOTUS!

As I said below, if Axelrod & 'em had been warning ol' girl to slow her roll and she put them on ignore, she can't expect any of them to lift a finger for her. If you see your coworker doing something questionable and you tell them to stop it and they keep on and get in trouble, you're not going to lift your finger for them.

And while she is unwilling to discuss her story publicly, several associates shared her account in the belief that her side has been lost in the swirl of hearings, backbiting and paparazzilike coverage.

She/her friends sound like one of those celebrities that court the paparazzi when times are good but complain about the paparazzi when times are bad. Take your Louboutins back to Chicago and move on. It's over.

I was too quick to the trigger. I see caribgirl posted this article, below. Sorry about that WSY community.

No problem! :-)

PBO is delaying his trip to Asia by three days to work on healthcare. He is also going by himself instead of talking the family along because the original trip was planned around his daughter's spring break.

That's a damn shame. All because these damn Dems can't get their effin' job done. Bitches.

Thanks, caribgirl. I was just about to post this.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/o...

Darn! I wanted to see him show his family a part of his childhood.

Democrats on the hill were making this an issue saying he is going on a vacation with his family. Gibbs caught some grief on it at the WH briefing yesterday. So I am not surprised just disappointed.

I know, right? When I heard this on the news I thought, "happy now, you whiny brats?"

Senate Votes To Extend Unemployment Benefit Eligibility, No Tier 5 Extension For 2M Americans
By Susie Madrak Friday Mar 12, 2010 6:00am

Well, the Senate Dems passed this yesterday. But the bill only applies to the eligibility period. It extends the deadlines for the unemployed to receive extensions, but it doesn't add any additional weeks for the two million Americans whose benefits are running out. Call your senators and tell them we need Tier 5 extensions:

Yesterday the Senate approved HR 4213, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, by a 62-35 vote. As you can see from the roll call, every Democrat present except Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted for the bill. All but six Republicans (Kit Bond of Missouri, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, David Vitter of Louisiana and George Voinovich of Ohio) voted against it. Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts voted for the cloture motion to let the bill proceed but against the bill.

Senator Tom Harkin's office summarized some of the $140 billion bill's key provisions:

o Extend the current federal unemployment benefits program through Dec 31, 2010.
o Extend the federal funding of the state share of Extended Benefits through Dec 31, 2010.
o Extend eligibility for the temporary increase of $25 per week in individual weekly unemployment compensation through Dec 31, 2010.
o Extend the 65 percent subsidy for COBRA coverage through Dec 31, 2010.
o Extend the Medicare payment fix for doctors.
o Extend FMAP, the federal share of Medicaid payments, to give state budgets some relief.

Last week, Congress passed a 30-day extension of the federal unemployment benefits program (through April 5th) and the extension prior to that continued unemployment benefits for 2 months (from Dec 2009 to Feb 2010).

But Rick Ellis reports that actual extensions are may still in the works as the House and Senate bills are reconciled, although he's doubtful it can be passed and signed before April:

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) included in the stimulus package created three tiers of additional coverage. Tier one typically lasts up to 20 weeks, Tier two typically lasts up to 14 weeks, Tier three typically lasts up to 13 weeks. For those who have exhausted a regular unemployment account and federal EUC, there is are also Federal-State Extended Benefits (EB) which can run up to an additional 13 weeks. These numbers vary a bit from state-to-state, but the bottom line is that no one is able to get unemployment benefits longer than a total of 99 weeks.

The current jobs bill doesn't extend any of those tiers or add any additional coverage, such as a fourth or fifth tier.

What it does do is extend the deadlines for people to move from one tier to the next. Prior to the “phase out” period, if an applicant exhausts a tier of EUC benefits, he/she moves to the next tier. If he or she exhausts the third tier of EUC, he or she moves to Federal-State Extended Benefits. Under federal law, when the “phase out” period begins, applicants will no longer be able to move from regular UI to the first tier of EUC or from one tier of EUC to the next.

Instead, if an applicant exhausts regular UI, or the first or second tier of EUC, he or she will move directly to Federal-State Extended benefits. The new legislation moves the beginning of the phase out period from April 5, 2010 to September 5, 2010. But by the end of 2010, everyone's extended benefits will have been exhausted, whether they have moved through all the tiers of coverage or not.

Bottom line: It's important to call your senators and tell them to support an additional Tier 5 extension.


http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/senate-v...

WASHINGTON — Long before the State Dinner party crashers and the tension with her White House colleagues and the strain in her relationship with the first lady, Desirée Rogers began to understand she was in trouble when David Axelrod summoned her to his office last spring to scold her.

Ms. Rogers had appeared in another glossy magazine, posing in a White House garden in a borrowed $3,495 silk pleated dress and $110,000 diamond earrings. But if the image was jarring in a time of recession, Mr. Axelrod was as bothered by the words and her discussion of “the Obama brand” and her role in promoting it, according to people informed about the conversation.

“The president is a person, not a product,” he was said to tell her. “We shouldn’t be referring to him as a brand.”
...

Mr. Axelrod called her in for a long conversation about her interviews and photo shoots, warning her explicitly that she was flying into dangerous territory and that Washington loves to watch people become too big and ultimately crash and burn, according to people familiar with the conversation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/politics/1...

This article is an interesting read on Desiree. I liked the work she did as Social Secretary but I wish she had heeded Axelrod's advice.

She believes she was left largely undefended by the White House, by her colleagues, including Mr. Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and even her close friend, Valerie Jarrett. And while she is unwilling to discuss her story publicly, several associates shared her account in the belief that her side has been lost in the swirl of hearings, backbiting and paparazzilike coverage.

“As she put it, ‘They never lifted a finger to help me set the record straight,’ ” said one of the associates, who insisted on not being identified to avoid alienating the White House. “She didn’t get any help from Gibbs, no help from Axelrod, no help from Valerie Jarrett. Nobody came to her defense.”

It's like this: if you see co-worker "Amy" standing 'round the water cooler all the time, making personal phone calls and stealing office supplies, and you tell her "hey, they're watching you, slow your roll," and Amy keeps on doing it, you're NOT going to come to Amy's defense once they tell her to box her shit and leave.

2, if Axelrod pulled her to the side to tell her to slow her roll, he was doing it with the full knowledge of the White House, Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Rahm, etc.

3. I guess she figured what happened to Jeremiah Wright and Van Jones couldn't happen to her. She should have seen what happened to them and laid low.

4. If this article is true, Michelle Obama herself had been telling Ms. Desiree to slow her roll.

5. Why the hell was she doing interviews with NewsCorp's Wall Street Journal? I don't think they even have their fashion writer Teri Agins there anymore.

“She was put in a position where the spotlight was put on her in a different way,” Ms. Caputo added, “coming in as someone who was not a Washingtonian, coming into a high-profile senior role and being the first African-American in that role. The combination of all three makes it not easy. I would venture to say she’s had a larger mountain to climb.”

Unfortunately, when you're the first black anything (or first woman, or first latino, or first asian) you will be scrutinized heavily. Why would she even agree to do a photo shoot in a ball gown in the first lady's garden? Michelle Obama didn't even do that and she's the actual First Lady.

The moral of the story is the tallest blade of grass gets cut first. If this story is true, Desiree Rogers ignored repeated warnings from the WH to slow her roll, and she got burnt up in the process. Don't be bitter, sending your friends out in the press to cry. Just move your ass on. And write a book about entertaining, because I'd be the first one to buy it.

okay if the article is true
she should have slowed it down a bit
and i better not see Mrs Smoot in a designer gown at anytime
or doing any kind of photo shoots
or going to any fashion shows either

Smoot is not cute and I doubt any one is trying to get her to do a photo shoot. LOL.

alright now LOL
now you know they don't have to be cute to be all up in the Magazines

London calling

Fashion shows:
Louis Vuitton

Oscar Dresses

Paris; Lagerfield

Paris; Roland Mouert

Paris, Balmain

Seven ways to Trench Coat

A pound is worth $1.38

Thanks

Too Many Women Dying in U.S. While Having Babies
By Jennifer Block

Amnesty International may be best known to American audiences for bringing to light horror stories overseas such as the disappearance of political activists in Argentina or the abysmal conditions inside South African prisons under apartheid. But in a new report on pregnancy and childbirth care in the U.S., Amnesty details the maternal health care crisis in this country as part of a systemic violation of women's rights.
The report, titled "Deadly Delivery," notes that the likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth in the U.S. is five times greater than in Greece, four times greater than in Germany, and three times greater than in Spain. Every day in the U.S., more than two women die of pregnancy-related causes, with the maternal mortality ratio doubling from 6.6 deaths per 100,000 births in 1987 to 13.3 deaths per 100,000 births in 2006. (And as shocking as these figures are, Amnesty notes that the actual number of maternal deaths in the U.S. may be a lot higher since there are no federal requirements to report these outcomes and since data collection at the state and local levels needs to be improved.) "In the U.S., we spend more than any country on health care, yet American women are at greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes than in 40 other countries," says Nan Strauss, the report's co-author, who spent two years investigating the issue of maternal mortality worldwide. "We thought that was scandalous."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,...

AA film buffs Mike D of reelblack.com will be speaking on the Oscars today at noon on WURD, 900 on your am dial in philly. You can stream it at www.900amwurd.com

In a state where the so-called "Christian" taliban leaders want to gut the public schools so much that bake sales are needed, the Coo-Coo AG wants colleges to discriminate against Gays, Rethug state reps call disabled children "punishment" for abortion, it was only a matter of time before the Republican-led VA legislature, with help from many Democrats, would pass legislation to block federal health care legislation that has not even passed yet...smh.

VA is likely going far down from here


Va. votes to block health care mandate

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia's General Assembly became the first in the nation Wednesday to approve legislation that bucks any attempt by President Barack Obama and Congress to implement a national health care overhaul in individual states.

The Republican-ruled House of Delegates, with wide Democratic support, voted 80-17 without debate for the largely symbolic step aimed at the Democratic-backed reforms pushed by Obama and stalled in Congress. The vote sends the measure to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell who intends to sign it.

Thirty-four other state legislatures have either filed or proposed similar measures -- statutes or constitutional amendments -- rejecting health insurance mandates, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Obama carried Virginia in his historic ride to the presidency in 2008, the first Democrat to do so in a presidential race in 44 years. But since then, the tide has turned. Virginia's Republicans routed Democrats in last year's gubernatorial and legislative elections, partly because of public distrust of Democrats' proposed health care reforms.

GOP lawmakers expedited the bill and three others like it as a legislative statement reflecting broad voter discontent over the proposed reforms. Virginia's legislative session is, on average, the nation's briefest, and the bill passed four days ahead of Saturday's scheduled adjournment.

The legality of bills like Virginia's is questionable because courts generally rule that federal laws supersede those of the states.

The bill's sponsor, Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, and other supporters advocated the measure as a defiant statement to an overreaching federal government. They say it falls under the Constitution's 10th Amendment that deals with state sovereignty. Marshall said he expects the law to be challenged and ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"There are limited powers the federal government has. Simply because of the supremacy clause, it doesn't mean anything that the Congress does, in fact, must be enforced at all levels of government in the United States," Marshall said in an interview after his bill won passage.

"It gives the state of Virginia the right to intervene on behalf of individuals should they decide not to pay for insurance and they refuse to pay the fine or they refuse to pay the fee or the tax or whatever you call it," he said.

Separate bills passed by the U.S. House and Senate would impose a penalty on people who don't have health insurance except in cases of financial hardship. The intent of the mandate is to expand the pool of people who are insured and paying premiums and thus offset the increased costs of insuring those with preexisting conditions or other risks.

More distressing for Virginia Democrats was that 21 of their 39 delegates in the 100-member House sided with the GOP in defying the initiative that is their party's national priority.

There was no immediate response to a telephone message seeking comment from former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

DNC spokesman Alec Gerlach said Virginia's legislation only burdens middle-income families struggling to pay insurance premiums and medical bills, adding "they'll have to answer to those folks on election day."

One opponent of the bill likened its passage to Virginia's failed efforts to defy federal orders to desegregate public schools in the 1950s.

"It's a rejection of the federal role in the provision of health care and an extension of the old idea of interposition," said Del. James M. Scott, D-Fairfax. He was referring to a discredited legal theory that the state had a right to interpose itself to shield residents from some federal directives.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/virginia/va-votes-...

21 of their 39 delegates = all of the white delegates, save 1 or 2 representing mostly black areas.

They say it falls under the Constitution's 10th Amendment that deals with state sovereignty. Marshall said he expects the law to be challenged and ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

So shall we bring back segregation and Jim Crow, Del. Marshall?

I wouldn't get too riled up Town. They can pass all the bills they want in the state houses.

"The legality of bills like Virginia's is questionable because courts generally rule that federal laws supersede those of the states."

End of discussion. If this going to be a fight it eventually has to go the US Supreme Court(which could an eternity) but until then (assuming HC Reform passes) federal law must be followed.

That's the million dollar question Town.

These mofos are straight triflin. And interestingly enough, most of these outrageous and "vocal" Rethugs come from districts in voter-rich and largely diverse NOVA, outside DC.

**And on top of that, these losers, both Rethuigs and Dems passed it WITHOUT ANY DEBATE, just like the federal Patriot Act, back in 2001. They need their fuckin taxpayer-funded salaries stripped and health insurance forfeited. Sorry azzes!

A list needs to be circulated of all the Dems. who voted for this and they need to be voted out. If a Republican gets their seat, so be it. If the Democrat is going to act like a Republican, why are they there? Just put a real Republican in their seat and call it a day.

We will soon be invading another state that harbors terrorists.