Well, we have a healthcare bill passed in the House. While I have very mixed feelings on the bill, it is at least a step in the right direction, albeit a baby step. However, as while I wanted the bill to be stronger and fear it's fate in the "House of Lords" known as the U.S. Senate, I will not sit idly by as Conservative idiot "pundits" lie about the process which gave birth to this historical vote.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the speaker will not allow the final language of the health care to be posted online for 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote on the House floor, despite her September 24 statement that she was "absolutely" committed to doing so.

That's just sick. Then again, it's just as sick as telling vulnerable people that the government is part of a worldwide conspiracy to undermine our economy, or telling them they should slit their wrists and break the law, or calling selfless American volunteers socialist brownshirts, or suggesting that the media should conduct a McCarthy-esque investigation into the American-ness of elected representatives, or basically just about anything else Michele Bachmann has done in the past year or three. Plus, practically making out W. I mean, that was sick. But not quite as sick as our crazy healthcare system. And that's the point, I suppose.

"After years of criticism that congressional lawmakers were reluctant to investigate their colleagues, the disclosure in recent days of a sensitive document from the House ethics committee offers the contradictory portrait of a panel actively pursuing a range of probes even as Democrats under scrutiny remain in positions of power. ... Two and a half years into Pelosi's reign, more than 25 Democrats have been targeted for ethics reviews by the two ethics bodies, while just seven Republicans appeared to be under scrutiny, according to the document. Republicans have criticized Pelosi for declining to take away power from close allies such as Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and John P. Murtha (D-Pa.)."

House Democrats joined the Senate in unveiling their version of healthcare today. Although nothing will provide the real solution like single-payer most hopes were that the House version would be more Progressive. Those hopes were partially dashed as the House version had some good and some not so good. In the end, it appeared as if at least in the House this bill has a good chance to garner the needed votes.

"...Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats will unveil the health care bill they plan to bring to the floor this morning. The long awaited legislation will come in at under $900 billion. Like the Senate bill, its public option will reimburse providers at negotiated rates--though unlike in the Senate bill, states will not be allowed to opt out. ... The employer and individual mandates will be more robust than in the Senate bill, and, as a result, the bill is expected to cover millions more Americans. The $900 billion will be covered by a mix of taxes on high-income earners, industry contributions and savings wrung from existing government health care programs."

Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry. In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up." Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to move ahead with a 'robust' public option--one that reimburses hospitals and providers at Medicare rates, plus five percent--in the House's health care bill. She is briefing her caucus about the plan's savings tonight, and, pending the approval of a sufficient majority of members, will adopt the measure as part of the complete reform package. The analysis finds the reconstituted House proposal to be deficit neutral, and require about $870 billion in new spending, over ten years. The bill remains nominally more expensive than the Senate Finance Committee proposal, but would cover 96 percent of all Americans, providing greater bang for each federal dollar spent."

It is no secret that many Progressives are getting fed up with the direction, or lack thereof in Afghanistan. We inherited a failed war in which the previous administration dropped the ball. We may not be able to pick it up no matter how hard we try and the harder we try we may dig ourselves as deep a hole as Bush dug himself in Iraq.

Nancy Pelosi has the unenviable task of trying to reconcile Blue Dogs with Progressives in the House. This is made harder by the fact that these Blue Dogs seemed to be opposed to any bill that asks the wealthy or businesses, all of whom have walked all over working America the last several decades to sacrifice anything. Meanwhile, Progressives realize it will take sacrifices from these folks to achieve any real reform to healthcare.

On the top of the Republican hate list either just over or just under Barack Obama is Nancy Pelosi. Being from the vilified city of San Francisco, it seems every self-righteous wingnut in the world loves to hate Nancy. While I do not always agree with her, this unending attack and vilification from the right has actually whipped up a little sympathy for our Speaker of the House, I just wish she would quit playing footsies with these folks and fight them with all the resources at our disposal.

Okay, some late breaking stuff involving Joe “you lie” Wilson. It appears House Dem leaders are now considering censure for Wilson for yelling at the president last night, despite Nancy Pelosi’s earlier suggestion it might not happen. Here’s how it went down today. Dem Rep Jim Clyburn, who strongly rebuked Wilson in public, privately approached him on the House floor today to demand that he apologize to the full House, a leadership aide says. But Wilson refused, the aide adds, saying he’d already privately apologized to Rahm Emanuel.

Supporters are holding steadfast to a public health insurance option, even as the political winds threaten to blow it away. Meanwhile, a labor union is drawing a line in the sand by saying it won't support any healthcare legislation that comes without a public option. Further, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) says it won't support members of Congress "who do not fight for it."

“President Obama has said that a public option will keep the insurance companies honest. If someone has a better idea for promoting competition and reducing health care costs, they should put it on the table,” Pelosi said. “But for the past month, opponents of health insurance reform have demonstrated that they are afraid of the facts. They have only offered distortions, distractions and misrepresentations to try to kill this historic legislation.”

A freshman House Democrat from Alabama said Tuesday he would not vote for Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as Speaker again because of her “divisive and polarizing” image. “I would not vote for her,” Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.) told a constituent at a town hall meeting when asked if he'd support Pelosi. “Someone that divisive and that polarizing cannot bring us together.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, insisting at the start of a long and politically heated summer congressional recess that healthcare reform can be achieved this fall, today are calling the disruption of "town-hall'' meetings by vocal protesters "simply un-American.''

So, Speaker Pelosi, I just wanted to -- you gonna drink your wine? Are you blind? Do those eyes not work? There you -- I want you to drink it now. Drink it. Drink it. Drink it. I really just wanted to thank you for having me over here to wine country. You know, to be invited, I thought I had to be a major Democratic donor or a longtime friend of yours, which I'm not. By the way, I put poison in your -- no, I -- I look forward to all the policy discussions that we're supposed to have -- you know, on health care, energy reform, and the economy.

After angering the liberal wing of her party over compromises made to conservative Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has decided to allow a floor vote later this year on a plan creating a single-payer government-financed health care program. The decision surprised Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who was pushing such a plan to be a part of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s version of a healthcare reform bill. Now, Weiner will be able to present his alternative reform measure as its own legislation for the entire House to vote on.

With Healthcare Reform not getting done before the August recess Nancy Pelosi is setting the tone for the battle to win hearts and minds in the coming month-long debate. In the process of laying out the battle plan she is displaying a fighting spirit that helped sink George W. Bush's attempt at privitization of Social Security. An idea that has since proven if enacted millions of Seniors would have lost their livelihoods in the economic collapse.

"They are the villains in this. They have been part of the problem in a major way," Pelosi said of the insurance industry after her weekly press conference. "It's almost immoral, what they are doing," she said, referring to industry lobbying against a public insurance plan option. "Of course, they've been immoral all along. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening, and the public has to know about it." The current system works so well for insurers that they don't even want subsidies, Pelosi claimed. "They've had a good thing going for a long time at the expense of the American people and the health of our country," she said, adding that it will be tough to keep them from getting their way. "This is the fight of our lives."