Obama Speech to Congress on Health Care Transcript (9-9-09)

Read the complete transcript of President Obama's speech to the full Congress on health care reform. Excerpt below:

I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can't get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can't afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

We are the only advanced democracy on Earth – the only wealthy nation – that allows such hardships for millions of its people. There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone.

But the problem that plagues the health care system is not just a problem of the uninsured. Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today. More and more Americans worry that if you move, lose your job, or change your job, you'll lose your health insurance too. More and more Americans pay their premiums, only to discover that their insurance company has dropped their coverage when they get sick, or won't pay the full cost of care. It happens every day.

One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it. Another woman from Texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size. That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America.

Then there's the problem of rising costs. We spend one-and-a-half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren't any healthier for it. This is one of the reasons that insurance premiums have gone up three times faster than wages. It's why so many employers – especially small businesses – are forcing their employees to pay more for insurance, or are dropping their coverage entirely. It's why so many aspiring entrepreneurs cannot afford to open a business in the first place, and why American businesses that compete internationally – like our automakers – are at a huge disadvantage. And it's why those of us with health insurance are also paying a hidden and growing tax for those without it – about $1000 per year that pays for somebody else's emergency room and charitable care.

- Related Topic:
Obama Talks to Students at Wakefield High School (9-8-09)

Video: China Fuels Illegal Ivory Demand

The Chinese are behind much of the evil in the world. But whose to stop them? Not the U.S. government since they need China's money to pay for their wasteful spending. And then there are all those profits being made by Wall St. and those outsourcing corporations.

British soldier killed during rescue of kidnapped journalist in Afghanistan

Should our military, or that of our allies, be in the business of rescuing journalists that act as free agents in a war zone? The press has it's own agenda. Which is not necessarily the same of that of our military. It is hard enough fighting a tenacious enemy that our soldiers have to worry about babysitting reporters. Many of these reporters often hide behind the military in order to get what they want. It should be made clear to any reporter that if they wish to go to a war zone that they follow the rules set by the military. Otherwise, they are on their own.

A British soldier serving with the special forces support group has been killed during a pre-dawn raid to free a British journalist being held by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, it was confirmed today.

The reporter's interpreter also died in the operation.

Stephen Farrell, a New York Times journalist, and his translator, Sultan Munadi, were captured last Saturday as they reported on the aftermath of a Nato air strike in which at least 70 people were killed.

Early today, Farrell said he had been "extracted" after a helicopter carrying British and Afghan soldiers swooped on a compound near the northern city of Kunduz.

"We were all in a room, the Talibs all ran ... it was obviously a raid," the 46-year-old told his editors in New York.

The Kunduz governor's office confirmed that the raid had been led by British special forces.

Israel Pushes Ahead East Jerusalem Building Plans

You can forget any peace agreements. The Israeli government feels that Obama is too preoccupied with health care that he won't make much of a stink. But if war does break out again you can bet it will get the President's attention then.

Israel is pushing ahead with a long-delayed plan to build hundreds of apartments in east Jerusalem, staking claims to land the Palestinians want for a future state and complicating already tense relations with the U.S. over its demand for a construction moratorium.

The government has chosen developers to build 486 new apartments in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood after a yearlong delay over pricing disputes, the state-run land agency said Tuesday.

The announcement came just days after Israel approved up to 455 apartments in the West Bank. Construction plans are continuing even as Israel negotiates with the U.S. on its demand for a total building freeze in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The new buildings are to go up on the outer edge of Jerusalem's northeastern boundary and would narrow the distance between Pisgat Zeev and nearby Palestinian communities.

Jerusalem, with its sites holy to both Jews and Muslims, lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel captured the eastern sector of the city from Jordan in 1967 and immediately annexed it. The international community does not recognize the annexation or Israel's argument that Jewish neighborhoods there are not settlements.

"While the government of Israel for the sake of the peace process is willing to consider placing severe limitations on construction in the West Bank, that does not apply to Jerusalem," government spokesman Mark Regev said. "The position of the government is that Jerusalem is and will remain the united capital of Israel."

By rebuffing U.S. pressure on settlement construction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has solidified the support of his largely hawkish coalition. But the dispute has caused unprecedented tensions with Washington, and the Palestinians have refused to resume stalled peace talks until construction stops.

And let's not forget Israel's plan to bomb Iran. A politically wounded Obama would strengthen the hand of the neocons and the pro-bombing Iran elements in the Israeli government.

The United States says it has "serious concerns" that Iran is deliberately trying - at a minimum - to preserve a nuclear weapons option.

Washington's chief envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says a recent report by the nuclear watchdog shows that Iran is now either very near or already has enough low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon.

And the Israelis army isn't squeamish about fighting a war. Even if it means killing plenty of civilians. Which only inflames the Arab and Muslim world further.

Well over half of nearly 1,400 Palestinians killed in Israel's Gaza war were civilians, including 252 children younger than 16, a leading Israeli human rights groups said Wednesday, challenging Israel's claim that most of the dead were militants.

4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan Ambush

Nothing good can come from this war at this point. Time to start getting out. This story is reminiscent of Vietnam. It's a quagmire. If we're pulling out from Iraq then we should also do so from Afghanistan. President Obama has a different agenda. He, like Kennedy, don't want to be seen as soft on communism Jihadism.

We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.

"We will do to you what we did to the Russians," the insurgent's leader boasted over the radio, referring to the failure of Soviet troops to capture Ganjgal during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation.

Dashing from boulder to boulder, diving into trenches and ducking behind stone walls as the insurgents maneuvered to outflank us, we waited more than an hour for U.S. helicopters to arrive, despite earlier assurances that air cover would be five minutes away.

U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.

"We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We've lost today," Marine Maj. Kevin Williams , 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter's repeated demands for helicopters.

Four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday, the most U.S. service members assigned as trainers to the Afghan National Army to be lost in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Eight Afghan troops and police and the Marine commander's Afghan interpreter also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle that raged from dawn until 2 p.m. around this remote hamlet in eastern Kunar province, close to the Pakistan border.

Three Americans and 19 Afghans were wounded, and U.S. forces later recovered the bodies of two insurgents, although they believe more were killed.

The Marines were cut down as they sought cover in a trench at the base of the village's first layer cake-style stone house. Much of their ammunition was gone. One Marine was bending over a second, tending his wounds, when both were killed, said Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer , 21, of Greensburg, Ky. , who retrieved their bodies.

Colleges Are Failing in Graduation Rates

More proof of a crumbling society:

"If you were going to come up with a list of organizations whose failures had done the most damage to the American economy in recent years, you’d probably have to start with the Wall Street firms and regulatory agencies that brought us the financial crisis. From there, you might move on to Wall Street’s fellow bailout recipients in Detroit, the once-Big Three.

But I would suggest that the list should also include a less obvious nominee: public universities.

At its top levels, the American system of higher education may be the best in the world. Yet in terms of its core mission — turning teenagers into educated college graduates — much of the system is simply failing."

It should be no surprise that if our schools are crumbling then so is our infrastructure:

Failing infrastructure is not just an L.A. problem. Further north, workers scrambled to reopen the 73-year old Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland after finding a crack in a steel beam. The bridge was severely damaged and refurbished after the 1989 earthquake.

But it's not just earthquake-prone California that's falling apart. And it's not just bridges and water mains, but also airports, dams, roadways, sewers and more.

In their annual report card, the nation's civil engineers give the whole country poor grades for infrastructure.

Laura Bush: "Everyone" Should Respect the President

Laura Bush appeared on Larry King today and seemed to understand what her fellow Republicans (I'm assuming she is) don't. The office of President of the United States should be treated with some respect. Republicans do not seem to have any right now.

Laura: Well, that's they're right, you know that certainly is the right of parents to choose what they want their children to hear in school, but I think really what people were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out with the... before the.. speech went out with the, um, and I think those have been changed and I think its also really important for everyone to respect the President of the United States.

Zain: Do you think that it is fair that Obama is criticized as a socialist?

Laura: I'd have no idea whether it is fair, do you think I thought it was fair when President Bush was criticized? Not really. So I guess not.

Zain: President Bush was criticized, he was called by many in the left a fascist. What kind of advice would you give to President Obama in how to handle the situation...

Laura: Well I wouldn't give him any advice you know, I don't think I need to give him any advice, but I think I think it's just what happens and people know it in our country is the cause of our very really safe Congressional districts everywhere in our country, we're polarized in the sense that a lot of people are on the right, a lot of people are on the left and we've seen that for the last eight years certainly and we're still seeing it and that's just a fact and I think it is important for everybody who is elected -- Republicans, Democrats and independents to really be bipartisan and to come together and its difficult.

These are really admirable words. Why aren't other Republicans saying the same thing? Why aren't there more voices calling for greater civility? Where is the leadership? Why does everything coming from the GOP have to be a conspiracy theory? Why do Republicans sound like the Southern Democrats during the civil rights movement? And where are voices saying that this continued Obama bashing could lead to his assassination, as it did with Kennedy?

The Republicans are so busy attacking that when they stop and decide to make proposals the GOP is clueless.

A source close to Republican Sen. Charles Grassley tells CNN he intends to offer counter proposals to Sen. Max Baucus tomorrow morning, as the Senate Finance Committee chair requested.

What changes he will offer is still unclear. He and his aides will work on it tonight.

Sounds like something Grassley should be telling his constituents:

Michael Vick, speaking to a group of Philadelphia high school students Tuesday, warned against the dangers of peer pressure and offered himself as a cautionary tale of what can happen when someone is a follower instead of a leader.

Obama Talks to Students at Wakefield High School (9-8-09)

Read the complete transcript of Obama's words to the Virginia High schoolers:

OBAMA: So that’s the main message that I want to send is take advantage of the opportunity. If -- if you are hungry for learning, you will find teachers that want to help you, you will -- you know, your parents will be there for you, the community will be there, you will be able to finance college, you will be able to get a good job, you will be able to have a successful career. But you’ve got to want it. And that’s the main message that we want to send.

So, with that, we’ve got about 20 minutes just to go back and forth. And I know, like I said, it’s a little intimidating having these folks around. But it’s not every day that you get a chance to talk to the president, so.

(LAUGHTER)

I’m not going to call on anybody. Just whoever has a question or a comment, a suggestion, an idea about what you think would make school better, things that you think make it tough for some kids, even if it’s not you, but things that you’ve heard, that you think we should know. Questions about Bo, my dog, that’s OK, too.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, whatever -- whatever comes to mind.

So who wants to start off? I know -- there you go (inaudible). We’ve got a mike so everybody can hear you.

Introduce yourself.

QUESTION: How has your life changed?

OBAMA: What’s your name?

QUESTION: Jimmy.

OBAMA: Jimmy.

How’s my life changed?

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: Well, you know, when you -- when you announce that you’re running for president -- first of all, I was a U.S. senator before I was a president, so people already sort of knew me, but just in Illinois, in my home state, in Chicago. And when you announce that you’re running for president, suddenly a lot more people know you. And then, slowly, you get Secret Service. And then, when you win the nomination, you get more Secret Service.

OBAMA: And then, when you become president, then everything just shuts down.

And so, you know, one of the biggest changes in my life is that I can’t just do things normally like I used to be able to do them. And that’s hard sometimes.

I mean, you know, I can’t just get in my car, go to the store, pick up, you know, some whatever it is that I feel like picking up.

(LAUGHTER)

I can’t go take a walk without shutting down a whole bunch of roads and really inconveniencing a lot of people.

And so, in terms of my own personal life, I think the biggest change is that I’m inside what’s called the bubble, you know. I can’t just do things on the spur of the moment.

And that’s actually the toughest thing about being president. Because, you know, you want to just be able to interact with people normally, right?

And these days, either people are waving and really happy to see me or they’re booing me, saying, you know...

(LAUGHTER)

But -- but nobody just, kind of, interacts with you in a -- in a normal way.

The good thing about being president is I’ve got this really nice home office called the Oval Office.

(LAUGHTER)

Judge Lets Charges Stand In Boy's Gun Show Death

"A judge has denied a former Massachusetts police chief's motion to dismiss some charges he's facing in connection with the death of an 8-year-old boy at a gun show."

Article Link

Prominent Conservative calls for a Pullout from Afghanistan

It's too bad George Will didn't make his arguments during the Bush years. He probably would have been denounced as a traitor. Better late than never, I guess. But some of us like, myself having been calling for a pullout from Iraq and Afghanistan for years.

George F. Will, the elite conservative commentator, will call in his next column for U.S. ground troops to leave Afghanistan, according to publishing sources.

“[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent special forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters,” Will writes in the column, scheduled for publication later this week.

President Obama ordered a total of 21,000 more U.S. troops into Afghanistan in February and March, and casualties have mounted as the forces began confronting the Taliban more aggressively. August saw the highest monthly death toll for the U.S. since the invasion in 2001, the second record month in a row.

Will’s prescription – in which he urges Obama to remember Bismarck’s decision to halt German forces short of Paris in 1870 - seems certain to split Republicans. He is a favorite of fiscal conservatives. The more hawkish right can be expected to attack his conclusion as foolhardy, short-sighted and naïve, potentially making the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

Will's declaration comes at a time when serious questions are being raised about how to sustain a costly war against an intractable enemy.

As public support wanes, the Obama administration feels it needs to deliver speedy progress in Afghanistan so that it can gain time and backing for its long-term military strategy.

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Washington - The Obama administration is racing to demonstrate visible headway in the faltering war in Afghanistan, convinced it has only until next summer to slow a hemorrhage in U.S. support and win more time for the military and diplomatic strategy it hopes can rescue the 8-year-old effort.

But the challenge in Afghanistan is becoming more difficult in the face of gains by the Taliban, rising U.S. casualties, a weak Afghan government widely viewed as corrupt, and a sense among U.S. commanders that they must start the military effort largely from scratch nearly eight years after it began.

A turnaround is crucial because military strategists believe they will not be able to get the additional troops they feel they need in coming months if they fail to show that their new approach is working, U.S. officials and advisors say.

There are even some prominent Democratic Senators calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan:

Scores of national security strategists have implored that the U.S. cannot withdraw from Afghanistan anytime soon (if ever) because if Afghanistan falls into the hands of the Taliban it would lead to the further destabilization of Pakistan; and if Pakistan is destabilized, nukes would fall into the hands of al-Qaeda. However, I agree with Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold that reality on the ground has proven the indirect what-if postulates of foreign policy clairvoyants wrong, and it is time for the United States to begin a phased withdrawal.

How Obama is Failing with Health Care Reform

This from Alternet:

The real economic spillovers and side effects of Wall Street-leverage and rocket-science concoctions brought the curtain down on the romance with the unfettered free market. This was a mess that did not need to happen. It was a calamity that will cost the world economy trillions of dollars.

This is the stage that President Obama walked onto when he made his run and was elected to the White House. Government romance had been pounded out of the hearts of Americans for decades. Yet now free market fantasies were in tatters. For Obama, seeds of opportunity were contained in the crisis.

What was remarkable about Obama was his seemingly magical ability to inspire us all to suspend our cynicism about civic engagement and government and give things a new try. Sure, he had help from the dreadful examples of his predecessor's work on Katrina, Iraq, torture and the TARP bailout. Yet he pulled it off, and the idea of a strong leader steering us through a crisis brought visions of FDR into the minds of many.

We took comfort in the notion that "the best and brightest" would be taking over. The Administration promised bold actions on many fronts, including stimulus, climate change, financial regulation, bailout policy and healthcare.

[...]Instead, we got nothing on inauguration day. We got a plan-to-have-a-plan in early February, followed by the announcement of PPIP and infinite forbearance through an intravenous-drip system of capital injections so that the behemoth banks, their executives, their stockholders -- and most profoundly, their unsecured creditors -- could hold onto their money. We got that, coupled with the announcement of AIG bonuses. As a final insult, we heard Administration officials waxing on about the sanctity of contracts while the autoworkers' benefits and pensions were being restructured. The public was rightly enraged.

Obama's own party is confused by the President's lack of leadership on health care:

President Obama can still secure major health-care legislation this year if he learns from his mistakes in recent months and spends more time reminding Americans why they were once eager for fundamental change.

His White House lost sight of the need to make a strong case that reform would deliver specific benefits to the insured as well as the uninsured. Absent a consistent set of arguments from reformers, advocates of the status quo filled the vacuum -- often with outright lies.

The administration also sent mixed and confusing signals about its position on a public insurance option. This set off a liberal firestorm and increased the role that the public option played in the public debate -- which, paradoxically, is exactly the opposite of what Obama's lieutenants intended.

And his aides did not foresee just how fraught the situation would become in the Senate, where Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the Finance Committee, allowed Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican, to string negotiations along indefinitely without making any commitment to voting for a bill.

Senate leaders signaled Obama as early as June that they wanted him to intervene more actively to push Baucus along. The administration held back, hoping it could postpone its most forceful involvement until after both the Senate and the House had passed bills. But Baucus's failure to produce a proposal before the summer recess added to the sense of legislative chaos and bred uncertainty as to what reformers are seeking.

U.S. Commander: Afghanistan Situation Serious

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CNN's State of the Union Transcript (8-23-09): Health Care Reform, Afghan War

Read the complete transcript of State of the Union for 8-23-09. Excerpt below:

KING: This is the “State of the Union” report for Sunday, August 23rd.

In Afghanistan today, both President Hamid Karzai and his top challenger are claiming victory in last week’s election, raising tensions, even though it could be weeks or more before the official results are certified. It is an uncertain military situation, as well, with fighting between U.S. forces and the Taliban intensifying. And fresh indications President Obama could soon be asked to commit more American troops.

Here to talk about this and other global challenges are the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen , and the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry. He joins us from Kabul.

And Mr. Ambassador, let me start with you. There are complaints, escalating complaints this Sunday about fraud in the elections. On the threshold question of will this balloting be credible, what is your answer?

EIKENBERRY: Well, John, it was an extraordinary two months that we’ve been through, with this being a very historic election. Afghanistan, the first time in the past 30 years that the Afghan people have led an election for their president, for provincial councils, very intense campaign that occurred over the last two months, all new in Afghanistan. Presidential televised debates, campaign rallies. A very civil debate that occurred over this time.

The election itself, everyone knows how challenging it is in the country like Afghanistan to run an election. There’s an insurgency in parts of the country right now. It was an election in which over 6,000 voting stations were set up, crossing deserts and mountains, donkeys carrying ballots to the last polling stations of Afghanistan, and a very well-organized campaign. The Afghan-led independent electoral commission looks like it managed a pretty good process. There’s adjudication systems that have been up, an electoral complaints commission. There was a media complaints commission that was set up.

I got out myself and looked at some of the voting that was going on, and I can tell you, at least one part of the process, the indelible ink, over three days now I haven’t been able to get it off the finger.

Now, against all of that, where are we? Well, right now we’re waiting for the results of this election to come in. The electoral -- the independent electoral commission, they’re waiting for the tallies to be count from across the country. There’s been charges of fraud. The electoral complaints commission is taking those on right now.

We’re really not going to know, John, for several more weeks exactly where we do stand in this process.

We’re not sure exactly what the level of voter turnout was. Millions turned out to vote, but of course, Taliban intimidation, especially in southern Afghanistan, certainly limited those numbers. But for now, we don’t know, and it’s for us to wait and see and allow this process to move forward.

McCain Defends Palin on Obamacare: Transcript (8-23-09)

Senator John McCain, appearing on ABC's This Week, defended Sarah Palin's attacks on Obama's health care proposal. Read the complete transcript:

STEPHANOPOULOS: The president also says that the debate has been infected by falsehoods. And probably the most notorious one is the one made by your former running mate, Sarah Palin, who said that his bill would encourage death panels that would encourage euthanasia. He called that an extraordinary lie and he is right about that, isn't he?

MCCAIN: Well, I think that what we are talking about here is do – are we going to have groups that actually advise people as these decisions are made later in life and …

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's not in the bill.

MCCAIN: But – it's been taken out, but the way that it was written made it a little bit ambiguous. And another thing …

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don't think that's correct, Senator. The bill, all it said was that, if a patient wanted to have a Medicare consultation about end-of-life issues, they could have it at their request and the doctor would get reimbursed for it, no panel …

MCCAIN: There was a provision in the bill that talks about a board that would decide the most effective measures to provide health care for people, OK? Now, we had amendments, we republican have said that in no way would that affect the decisions that the patients would make and their families. That was rejected by the Democrats and the health committee.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that's not a death panel.

MCCAIN: So what does – what does that lead to? Doesn't that lead to a possibility, at least opens the door to a possibility of rationing and decisions made such are made in other countries?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, every single independent group that looked at it said it just wasn't true.

MCCAIN: Well, then why did the Democrats turn down our amendments that clarified that none of the decisions that would be made by this board would in any way affect depriving of needed treatments for patients? I don't know why they did that then.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you think Sarah Palin was right?

MCCAIN: Look, I don't think they were called death panels, don't get me wrong. I don't think – but on the best treatment procedures part of the bill, it does open it up to decisions being made as far – that should be left – those choices left to the patient and the individual. That's what I think is pretty clear, which was a different section of the bill.

The Big Lie

The Republicans have won the health care reform debate. But they didn't win because of their superior argument. It was the big lie that did it. The Republicans, following the NAZI playbook, repeated a lie often enough so that people began to believe it. The administration could not stand up to the lies just like the Weimar Republic would or could not refute Adolf Hitler.

It was the last administration that ushered in the era of neo-fascism. They put a stranglehold on the constition. And we just stood by allowed them to turn us into the third world country we've now become.

The lies about Obama have not been effectively responded to. Now many millions of Americans believe Obama should
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Brazilian Legislator and TV Host Commits Murders for Ratings

Anything for ratings. Not unlike stateside:

In one murder after another, the "Canal Livre" crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim.

Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show's host, state legislator Wallace Souza, on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil's Amazon region is awash in violent crime. Police also have accused Souza of drug trafficking.

David Brooks Calls Rush Limbaugh Comments Insane

David Brooks is an example of a rational conservative. He made these remarks while appearing on Meet The Press. Read the complete transcript or excerpt below:

MR. DAVID BROOKS: I hadn't seen the Rush Limbaugh thing. That is insane. What he's saying is insane. But I guess I would say the, the first thing is it has been a conventional wisdom among the smartest people in Washington that this is such a tough issue you got to do it on a bipartisan basis. And the Obama administration, for better or worse, decided not to do that. There was a thing called the Wyden-Bennett bill that really could have launched a bipartisan, so leaders of both parties could have gone out to these town meetings. They didn't do it, they chose more or less a Democratic plan and now all hell is breaking loose. And we are now--and it's not just the crazies, among whom we just saw some. But if you take overall poll ratings for health care, they are--people are--the American public is now as skeptical as they were when Clinton care collapsed. So there--it's not just the crazies, there's a real public concern about real issues, aside from the stuff that Rush Limbaugh says.

He also calls Sarah Palin's comments crazy:

MR. GREGORY: David, Sarah, Sarah Palin on Facebook, to the point of the opposition, this is what she writes: "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's `death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide...whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." There is the rhetoric; there's also the question of what's true and what's false in what people are arguing about this notion of a death panel.

MR. BROOKS: Yeah. Again, that's crazy. If--the, the, the crazies are attacking the plan because it'll cut off granny, and that--that's simply not true. That simply is not going to happen. The real reason for public skepticism is that Obama very eloquently and very truthfully said, "We've got to bring down healthcare costs." Everybody's healthcare costs are rising. It's eaten into your wages, it's eaten into the budget, it's eaten into everything. And the problem with the House plan is that instead of bending the cost curve down, it would increase the cost curve so inflation would be 8 percent a year when it's all implemented, and that's just disaster. So what the Obama administration has got to do, and I agree with Jon about this, is make this Obama-like; which is to say, "We're going to produce a plan." And from I hear, by the end of this month they will have a plan. And they are going to say, "This is what we stand for." And you can't sell anything without a plan. But it's got to be a plan that actually cuts costs so you can have a rational discussion instead of the scare stories about cutting off grandma.