From HuffPo
President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform. In its place, say multiple Democratic sources, Obama has indicated a preference for an alternative policy, favored by the insurance industry, which would see a public [...]

Can’t we just say “thank you” and move on?

Rick Perlstein with a great piece on crazy in America.
The tree of crazy is an ever-present aspect of America’s flora. Only now, it’s being watered by misguided he-said-she-said reporting and taking over the forest. Latest word is that the enlightened and mild provision in the draft legislation to help elderly people who want living wills [...]

Israel had won agreement from the United States for the continued construction of 2,500 housing units in settlements in the West Bank, despite U.S. calls for a freeze, according to the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv. Read more
The argument put forth by the Israeli gov’t is that, look Obama, contracts have been signed and we can’t violate [...]

Various observers have been busy chattering away for the past week that President Obama may be losing ground in the developing U.S./Israel…um, disagreement(?). Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Obama’s impressive Cairo speech with a rather banal address in which he sort of, kinda, half-way accepted the notion of a Palestinian state, but once again refused [...]