Health Care Reform in the Other Washington

Like Washington, D.C., in Washington State the executive branch (Governor) and both houses of the legislature are firmly in Democrat hands. The similarity does not end there. Take health care reform as an example. House Republicans have proposed "10 Solutions for a Healthier Washington" and introduced eight implementing bills in the 2009 regular session of the Washington State House of Representatives but no action was taken other than refer them to committee. The same bills were carried forward to the 2010 special session and remain in the Health and Wellness Committee, chaired by Representative Eileen Cody (D-34th District), where they still have not received a public hearing. A minority party may have good ideas but the public will never be able to consider them if they are buried in committee.

The history and status of the below listed House Bills may be tracked on the Washington State House of Representatives web site.

HB 1865 - Exempts health plans offered to small employers from certain statutory requirements.

HB 1866 - Establishes parameters for carriers to design health plans for adults between the ages of nineteen and thirty-four.

HB 1867 - Abolishes the certificate of need process established in chapter 70.38 RCW.Directs the code reviser, by November 15, 2009, to recommend to the legislature appropriate legislation that effectuates the purposes of the act by removing references to the certificate of need process in sections of the Revised Code of Washington not repealed by the act.

HB 1868 - Modifies provisions regarding access to health insurance for small employers and their employees.

HB 1870 - Authorizes employees, as defined in RCW 41.05.011, to receive the monthly value of their health care benefit in a pretax account for the purchase of a core benefit plan from a private vendor.

HB 1871 - Regulates health insurance coverage provided by out-of-state health carriers.

HB 1872 - Provides tax incentives for the purchase of health care plans by a person conducting business as a sole proprietorship and small employers.

HB 2169 - Authorizes the Washington basic health plan administrator to provide an enrollee a stipend sufficient to provide the same level of subsidy as would have otherwise been available through the basic health plan for enrollees who wish to purchase coverage through the individual health insurance market, including a high deductible health plan in conjunction with a health savings account

Source:soundpolitics.com/

Smithsonian Exhibits Celebrate Elvis in DC, LA

On the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth, the Smithsonian Institution is showcasing the King of Rock 'n' Roll's ubiquitous image through exhibits opening Friday in Washington and Los Angeles.

"One Life: Echoes of Elvis" will be on view at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington through August. The one-room exhibit is devoted to the evolution and influence of Presley's image after his death.

"Think of all the entertainers you know, and how many of them do you know the names of their homes?" said curator Warren Perry. "Everybody needs to have a moment with Elvis."

The exhibit features portraits, images from Graceland, Elvis merchandise and a reminder that Elvis' manager put his face on just about anything that could be marketed. The commercial images include an Elvis-imprinted lunch box, nutcracker, action figure and snow globe.

Original artwork from a 1992 Elvis stamp design competition is on view, along with the 1993 stamp with Presley's likeness that became the most popular U.S. postal stamp of all time, with a printing of 500 million.

A gold bust of Elvis as Julius Caesar by sculptor Robert Arneson anchors another wall. A museum docent recently discovered a surprise in the sculpture that had been in storage at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum: A small heart was carved in the back.

"The people who call themselves Elvis fans, I'm sure there are fanatics, but these people have a loving affection for Elvis," said Perry, who is from Memphis, Tenn., where Elvis lived after his family moved from Mississippi. "It's conversational. It's intimate."

One of Perry's favorite pieces is a scrapbook found in an abandoned Chicago warehouse with newspaper headlines and pictures carefully cut out and pasted in a thick book shortly after Presley's death at age 42 in 1977.

"You can tell it was put together by a fan," Perry said.

Presley sat for only one portrait painter. A painting by Ralph Wolfe Cowan, usually on display in the gallery's entertainment section, is the exhibit's central image. It was completed from sketches Cowan made in 1969 while creating another portrait that hangs at Graceland.

Source:abcnews.go.com/

Commissioners to visit D.C., Harrisburg

The Clearfield County Commissioners are planning a trip to Washington, D.C. and Harrisburg to meet with local representatives in Congress and the state legislature.
Commissioner John Sobel made the suggestion at yesterday's workshop meeting. He said he hopes the trip would be similar to a trade mission in which the commissioners can meet with all of the local representatives to discuss the economy and other issues Clearfield County is facing.
He said this is especially true now that Clearfield County is emerging as a major energy producer in ethanol, natural gas and coal.
Commissioner Joan Robinson McMillen said it was a good idea and said it would be a good opportunity for the commissioners to explain the impact state and federal mandates and budget cuts can have on local government.
Sobel suggested they take the trip during a slow period in the summer.
The commissioners also held a special meeting to reorganize, and Sobel was elected chairman
Sobel and his fellow Republican Commissioner, McMillen, being the majority party, alternate the chairmanship from year to year. Mark McCracken is the third commissioner.
Kim Kesner was reappointed as solicitor, and Kevin Hudock was hired as deputy controller at a salary of $32,000 per year.
The commissioners also approved the 2010 salaries list for county employees. Non-unionized employees received a 2-percent increase in wages, and unionized employees such as employees at the Clearfield County Jail and Children, Youth and Family Services received a 3-percent increase.
The salary list was approved as follows:
Elected officials: Anthony Scotto, controller, $41,491; Carol Fox, treasurer $41,491, Ellen Harry and Linda Hatcher, jury commissioners, $7,324; Chester Hawkins, sheriff, $41,491; R. Joel Heath, coroner $41,491; Maureen Inlow, register and recorder, $45,843; Mark McCracken, Joan McMillen and John Sobel, commissioners, $46,372; William Shaw, prothonotary, $45,843; and William Shaw Jr., district attorney, $160,850.
Non-elected officials: Debra Archer, quality assurance, $35,846; Jeffrey Aveni, juvenile probation officer, $35,514; Christopher Beck, assistant MIS director, $27,070; Daniel C. Bell, guard ad litem, $20,504; Daniel C. Bell, public defender, $42,807; F. Cortez Bell III, chief assistant district attorney, $43,932; Allen Bietz, juvenile probation officer, $29,982; Charles Brace, first assistant public defender, $39,292; Jodi Brennan, county planner and solid waste director, $53,000; Donna Bumbarger, voter registration director, $25,548; Scott Cline, adult probation officer, $33,241; Gregory Collins, assistant deputy warden, $35,840.
John Crance, fiscal operations director, $27,540; Adam Curry, assistant MIS director, hardware, $27,070; Christine Davis, juvenile probation supervisor, $41,320; Stephanie Donaldson, adult probation officer, $31,032; Aaron Dugan, adult probation officer, $34,480; James Dunsmore, DuBois office supervisor, $33,093; Susan Duttry, caseworker supervisor, $35,104; Andrew Edinger, juvenile probation officer, $24,995; Doris Folmar, judicial secretary, $25,009; Donald Gibboney, court attorney, $35,000; Steven Gillespie, adult probation officer, $31,032.
Noell Gilson, adult probation officer, DUI victim impact, $24,995; Dawn Graham, elections director, $21,000; Deanna Graham, caseworker supervisor, $33,073; Jeffrey Graham, tax claims assistant, $36,988; Beau Grove, law clerk, $38,533; Jason Hamilton, CYS director, $55,590; Jennifer Hutton, juvenile probation officer, $31,032; John Kaskan, GIS director, $36,970; Jacqueline Kendrick, deputy prothonotary/clerk of courts, $28,135; Lisa Kovalick, community development specialist, $42,024; Bonnie Kuklinskie, deputy treasurer, $27,445; Domenick Kurtz, veterans director, $31,512; Betty Lansberry, deputy register and recorder, $26,265; Earle Lees, assistant district attorney, $37,740; Samuel Lombardo, warden, $44,813.
David McClure, deputy director operations and training, $33,671; Donald McClusick, probation director, $48,388; Lisa McFadden, chief clerk, $34,335; Joseph McGovern, lieutenant, $28,795; Lisa McLaughlin, clerical supervisor, $25,506; Shawn McMahon, part-time assistant public defender, $19,350; Robert McQillen, juvenile probation officer, $38,402; Scott Mignot, deputy warden, $30,090; Warren Mikesell II, part-time assistant district attorney, $22,850; Joseph Mitchell, deputy director logistics and tech, $32,640; Leanne Nedza, assistant district attorney, $41,618.
Beverly Oswalt, domestic relations assistant director, $39,362; Gerald Pollock, EMA deputy director planning, $34,669; Jason Pudleiner, assistant public defender, $35,000; Joshua Quigley, EMA director, $41,209; Lisa Redden, adult probation supervisor, $41,752; Rick Redden, DRO director, $46,213; Laurie Reed, adult probation supervisor of collections, $36,771; Nikki Rohrback, juvenile probation officer, $27,988; Dawn Rowles, judicial secretary, $25,009; Timothy Ryen, adult probation officer, $25,870.
Marianne Sankey, human relations coordinator, $33,405; Christine Semelsberger, caseworker supervisor, $30,990; Judy Shirey, victim/witness director, $30,636; Robert Snyder, chief deputy sheriff, $36,651; Dennis Socash, conference officer supervisor, $33,962; James Strickland, MIS director, $39,932; Robert Thomas, planning specialist, $33,201; Thad Wallstrom, adult probation officer, $25,870; Tonya Weitoish, caseworker supervisor, $30,990; Julee Welker, enforcement officer supervisor, $33,962; Kurtis Wisor, adult probation community service, $27,304; Jennifer Wooster, tax assessor director, $44,100.

Source:theprogressnews.com/

Sweet harmony: Blind Boys of Alabama come to D.C.

Singing group Blind Boys of Alabama arrives at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last February. (AFP/Getty Images)


If you go
Blind Boys of Alabama and Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Where: Warner Theatre

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Info: $28 to $58; 202-785-9727; wpas.org; livenation.com
Washington Performing Arts Society invites you to head "Down By the Riverside" and experience the musical partnership of the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Together, they represent 115 years of incomparable music making in a program blending traditional gospel and New Orleans jazz.



Since their founding in 1939 at Alabama's Talladega Institute for the Blind, the Blind Boys of Alabama have earned five Grammy Awards and five Lifetime Achievement Awards. They were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Since their debut concerts before small, segregated audiences, they have spread their beautiful voices around the world many times and rejoin the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at the Warner Theatre direct from a tour of China.

Lead singer Jimmy Carter has been with the ensemble since the beginning. Speaking from Minneapolis near the close of their annual Christmas tour, he cited the group's fondness for New Orleans as ample reason for joining PHJB and other distinguished local musicians to record their 2009 Grammy Award winner "Down in New Orleans."

"All our members grew up singing and harmonizing in the church. We're a family and, as gospel singers, our goal is to win people over. We've performed often in New Orleans, and although we can't help build houses for the people who still need them, we can bring everyone hope and encouragement. We enjoy touring with the PHJB because they are very nice gentlemen."

Carter is grateful for the opportunity to share his music with the world and the many thrills he and the ensemble have had over the years, performing at the White House among them. The group has been featured on many TV shows and in the Obie Award-winning musical, "The Gospel at Colonus." He especially enjoyed performing on the David Letterman and Conan O'Brien shows and looks forward to another scheduled appearance on the Letterman's show Jan. 31 singing excerpts from their latest recording, "Duets."

Ben Jaffe, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band creative director and tuba player, carries on the tradition established in 1961 by his father and mother, Allan and Sandra Jaffe, to preserve the music of New Orleans. Live music is still performed every night in Preservation Hall where portraits of present and past musicians line the walls.

"I grew up in the French Quarter and lived with its music all my life," he said. "Hurricane Katrina was the turning point in a lot of our lives. Everything in the French Quarter was physically damaged. The storm had a great impact on the community and our family and we've spent the last four years fixing up Preservation Hall so it could become a healing place. The city got through its darkest period because of the music."

When the Blind Boys of Alabama visited New Orleans to make the record, "Down By the Riverside" as a means of earning money for restoration of the city, Jaffe saw the remarkable effect they had on the citizens and how well their two groups meshed.

"The BBA and the PHJB are cultural institutions," he said. "We got the idea to take them both on the road throughout America so audiences who can't get to New Orleans can enjoy these great groups performing together."

Source:washingtonexaminer.com/

Oregon rallies for 98-92 win after losing big lead

Micaela Cocks led six Oregon players in double figures with 22 points and the Ducks held on to beat Washington State 98-92 Sunday in the highest scoring game ever played between the schools.

Nia Jackson added 20 points, seven assists and five steals for Oregon (11-3, 2-0 Pac-10), which blew a 17-point lead and overcame a five-point deficit late in the game.

April Cook and Kiki Moore led the Cougars (5-8, 0-2) with 24 points each. Jazmine Perkins added 15 points.

Trailing 80-75, Jackson fueled the Ducks' comeback with two layups followed by a 3-pointer and short jumper to make it 84-80 Oregon with 4:37 to play.

The Cougars pulled to within a basket, 88-86, but Taylor Lilley answered with a 3-pointer for the Ducks, who then made 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:28 to secure the victory.

Lilley finished with 15 points, Amanda Johnson had 12 points and 15 rebounds and Victoria Kenyon and Nicole Canepa added 11 points each for the Ducks, who are 2-0 in the Pac-10 for the first time since 2004-05 - the last season they made the NCAA Tournament.

Oregon was down 19-18 midway through the first half before going on a 24-6 run to go up by 17, 42-25.

The Ducks hit four of their five first-half 3-pointers during that stretch - two by Kenyon and one each from Johnson and Lilley.

But Washington State went on a 10-0 run in the final 1:48 of the first half to make it 51-46 Oregon at the break. The Cougars got two 3-pointers from Moore and the other four points from Carly Noyes.

Cook scored 10 points during a 16-2 run in the second half that put the Cougars up 80-75 with 6:46 to play.

Source:seattletimes.nwsource.com/

Fight Club

While the political parties duke it out over divisive social issues, the majority of Americans remain steadfastly in the middle.

Presidents have been trying, without success, to get Congress to pass sweeping national health-care reform since the administration of Harry Truman. So one might have expected some celebration, at least a moment of recognition for a difficult achievement, when the U.S. Senate voted on Christmas Eve to approve a bill that will extend health-care insurance to 30 million Americans. Instead, the public reaction was ho-hum. Most polls registered a divided or disinterested electorate, and some surveys have suggested considerable confusion over what was actually in the bill. A Washington Post–ABC poll the week before Christmas showed that less than half—44 percent—approved of President Obama's handling of health care, while even fewer—39 percent—thought the Republicans would do a better job. In effect, the American people seemed to be throwing up their hands and scorning the ability of the politicians to govern on such an important matter.

It's not hard to see why. Compromise is often painful, but the push to get a bill out of the Senate verged on the squalid. Senators joked bitterly about the "Cornhusker kickback," the generous concessions made to Sen. Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, to win his 60th and deciding vote. The atmosphere on the Senate floor was at times poisonous as the parties postured and squabbled. "This body prides itself on being the world's greatest deliberative body," said Sen. Arlen Specter, Democrat (formerly Republican) of Pennsylvania. "That designation has been destroyed with what has occurred here the past few days." The low point may have come when Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, declared, "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote." At the time, there was some question whether the ailing Sen. Robert Byrd, 92, would live long enough to give the Democrats their filibuster-proof majority. "This statement goes too far," responded Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat. "We are becoming more coarse and divided here."



More divided, that's for sure. Congress has always had its cruder elements—during the late 1950s and early 1960s, senators from both parties patronized prostitutes at the Quorum Club at the Carroll Arms Hotel, just across the street from the Capitol. The bar was run by Bobby Baker, the Democratic secretary of the Senate. But lawmakers in that era more often reached across the aisle to vote together as well as to play together. The congressional culture of the 1950s and early 1960s—"where Democrats and Republicans generally treated each other with civility during working hours and many drank, played poker, and golfed together after hours—is long gone," writes Morris Fiorina, a scholar of political science at Stanford University. In his new book, Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics, Fiorina argues that while the political class—the pols and their partisans in interest groups and in the media—has grown increasingly contentious over social issues like abortion and immigration, the vast majority of voters are more moderate. They are turned off by the rigid, angry battles between the politicians of the right and the left, and their cheering sections and hangers-on in Washington.

Fierce partisanship is hardly new, unexpected, or, for that matter, unwelcome on Capitol Hill, and at earlier times in our history elected representatives have, in the heat of debate, attacked each other with their fists. But as the rancorous and seemingly endless health-care debate dragged on, Congress appeared ever-more polarized. Lawmakers fought bitterly over whether to fund abortions—a question that inspired passion, but was only marginally relevant to overall health-care reform—and they drew lines in the sand that seemed baffling to many Americans, at least those who aren't glued to the perpetual shouting matches on Fox or MSNBC. Left-wing supporters of the much-contested "public option" deemed it essential to reform, while those on the right cried "Socialism!" Actually, the Congressional Budget Office found that the public option would make little difference to the number of people covered or to the cost of premiums. Its importance was far more symbolic than real.

Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine is one of the last two moderate Republicans in the Northeast, once a thriving tribe (the other is the state's junior senator, Susan Collins). Snowe was the one Republican who might have voted for the health-reform bill, though in the end even she did not. But in a speech on the Senate floor in early December, Snowe pointed out a disturbing historical fact: health-care reform is the only piece of major social-welfare legislation ever to pass the Senate on a straight party-line vote. When Social Security was enacted during the New Deal, significant majorities of Republicans in both the House and Senate voted for the measure, even though Democrats controlled Congress. Likewise for the passage of civil-rights legislation in the 1960s. Significant numbers of Republicans (41 percent in the Senate, 50 percent in the House) voted for Medicare in 1965. "Policies that will affect more than 300 million people simply should not be decided by partisan, one-vote-margin strategies," said Snowe.

Professor Fiorina notes that the political parties are becoming more extreme. The percentage of Republican delegates to nominating conventions who identify themselves as "very conservative" has risen from about 12 percent to more than 30 percent since 1972, and the percentage of "very liberal" Democratic delegates has grown from about 8 percent to nearly 20 percent. By contrast, surveys of the general public show little change in "very conservative" and "very liberal" percentages. Voters tend to be quirkier in their opinions—they don't go down a checklist on "wedge issues," but rather show inconsistency and ambivalence. A self-described conservative who hates big government may nonetheless want government to cut the bonuses of Wall Street financiers.

Fiorina's somewhat sweeping conclusions in Disconnect are questioned by other political experts like Pietro Nivola of the Brookings Institution, who argues that the voters are almost as partisan as their representatives—that the red state–blue state divide is real and growing deeper. But differences between the scholars seem to be questions of degree, and all seem to share the view that Capitol Hill has become disturbingly uncivil and polarized. The politicians are egged on by ever-more powerful interest groups and the attack-mode spirit of radio talk shows and cable TV. President Obama has tried, fitfully and without not-able effect, to inspire lawmakers to rise above petty factionalism. If he wants to get anything more accomplished over the course of his presidency, he will have to try harder. There is no other obvious cure to the problem of political polarization. Fiorina offers none. He suggests only that in time, we will become so weary of our punitive politics that the system will, out of necessity, "outgrow" or "outlive" its current fractiousness. Which is a polite way of saying that things are probably going to get worse before they get better.

Source:newsweek.com/

Washington, D.C., votes to allow same-sex marriage

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Washington City Council voted on Tuesday to approve same-sex marriage, putting the U.S. capital on course to become the sixth state or region in the United States to allow gay marriage.


The legislation, which passed by an 11-2 vote, will go to the desk of Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has promised to sign the bill.


All local legislation in the capital, home to 590,000 people and formally known as the District of Columbia, must undergo a mandatory 30-day review period by the U.S. Congress before it can become law.


Same-sex marriages can be held only after the congressional review, which gay rights activists and local media reports said was not expected to alter the bill.


The D.C. Council earlier this year passed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states, and Tuesday's passage of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 was widely anticipated.


The states of Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont and Connecticut already allow same-sex marriage. New Hampshire will join that list on January 1.

Source:montrealgazette.com/

Temple Football Fans Head to DC for Bowl Game

by KYW's Al Novack

A charter bus loaded with about 60 Temple University alumni left the Liacouras Center Tuesday morning bound for Washington, DC to cheer on the Owls as they take on UCLA in the Eagle Bank Bowl.

The spirits were high, many noting this will be only the 3rd bowl game in Temple’s history and the first one since 1979.

Vince Boccollo of Newtown, graduated in 1978 so he missed that 1979 bowl game but, he said, he wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world and he predicted a big win.:

“I feel good. I feel that, you know hopefully Pierce will have a good game. Golden has done a great job, the guys he’s recruited, he’s turned the program around, getting some notoriety. It’s only going to happen again and again and again. I think he’s going to have a good drafts coming up because of this.

The fans on the bus were all predicting victory.

Source:kyw1060.com/

D.C. may get free health clinic

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - A nonprofit group that offers free health clinics for the needy around the world said it is seeking to come to the District of Columbia early next year.


Get listed here Remote Area Medical had been planning to stage a dental, vision and medical clinic next month at the D.C. Armory in southeast Washington. But organizers said they were surprised by a five-figure fee they were quoted to rent the armory.

The nonprofit group has organized more than 500 clinics worldwide, and for a time, a D.C. visit was left up in the air. But organizers now tell the newspaper a three-day event is likely to be held in March on the grounds of the former D.C. General Hospital, home to a city-funded health center.

Source:hometownannapolis.com/