Health Care Reform Can Pass Despite Brown Victory, Says House Majority Leader

By Laurel Brishel Prichard-University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that it is possible for Senate Democrats to pass health care reform legislation even if Republican senatorial candidate Scott Brown wins the seat once held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.).

When presented with the notion during his weekly press briefing, the Majority Leader simply responded "yes" and declined to elaborate.

The election of Brown would deny Democrats the 60-vote majority needed for cloture, which if denied could effectively stall the bill indefinitely.

The Massachusetts state legislature could stall swearing in the new senator for up to 15 days, which would provide Democrats with a brief window to pass health care reform with interim Senator Paul Kirk (D-Mass.) still in office.

The polls close in Massachusetts at 8 pm Tuesday evening.

Hoyer also used his briefing to touch upon the crisis in Haiti.

“We are all struck by the extraordinary tragedy,”said Hoyer, who added that there will be legislation to provide additional assistance and resources to the Haitian people in the coming week.

First Hand Report on Ground Efforts From Haiti Census Creates Clarity

“When we landed there was a eerie sort of, sense of calm,” said Dr. Daniel Carucci, the vice president for Global Health for the U.N. Foundation, today during a briefing on ground efforts in Haiti.

Dr. Carucci, one of the first responders, gave a first hand account on the devastation throughout Port Au Prince. “People were sleeping where they could, on the ground, under tarps, under the stars,” he said.

When Carucci arrived, two native, displaced citizens approached him with a census they conducted. This included the number of people in a family, how many killed and how many alive. The census will help ensure supplies be efficiently distributed to those most in need.

Three satellite phones and Wi-Fi have been established to better enable communication between locals and those helping in relief efforts.

In order to contribute to the relief effort, Central Emergency Relief Fund has set up a text service that allows for immediate $5 donations. In order to donate text "CERF" to 90999.

International Search And Rescue Efforts In Haiti Turn Up 62 Survivors

62 survivors have been found since the international community began its search and rescue efforts in Haiti, U.S. officials on ground in the Caribbean nation told reporters Sunday. Approximately 30 of the live rescues were conducted by American teams.

While the majority of those found were Haitians, an official reported that 6 or 7 were American citizens. The government of Haiti will ultimately have final say in when the rescue effort ends and when the focus will shift to recovery.

The distribution of necessary resources continues to move along steadily, marked by the arrival of an additional 57,500 pounds of food from the U.S. Sunday afternoon. This intake adds to the 600,000 humanitarian rations secured by the U.N. World Food Program. The distribution of both food and the 250,000 liters of water received thus far will chiefly be determined by the Haitian government.

The Haitian airport has undergone heavy use as supplies roll in. While the airport was typically only used several times a day prior to the quake, it is now handling 600 landings and takeoffs each day. Coordination of the air arrivals for food and personnel has proven to be a taxing undertaking since the airport can only handle one wide bodied aircraft, five narrow bodied planes, and three additional smaller crafts. Time slots have been allocated for each available opening to ensure the efficient delivery of supplies.

Let Them Eat Cake

You can be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history. Or you can, when a disaster of the magnitude of the Haitian earthquake occurs, shut up, and text "Haiti" to 90999 on your cell phone.

Rush Limbaugh pretends to be a populist, a man of the people. Pat Robertson pretends to be a man of God. Both are nouveau aristocrats.

Limbaugh claims President Obama is using the relief effort to gain points ("burnish their, shall we say, credibility") with the African American community. "It's made to order for him." With the exception of Michael Steele and Armstrong Williams, didn't the African American community vote for Obama?

He suggests that because Obama has directed people to the White House's web site, maybe your money might not be going to Haiti, and your name might end up on a mailing list. So on the one hand, Obama is sending masses of military might to actually help Haiti, but on the other hand, he is secretly squirreling away donations from kind and distressed Americans (somehow - not clear how, as the money goes to the Red Cross) for - ?

Limbaugh's most obscene, astonishing comment is "Besides, we've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax." Limbaugh talks disparagingly about the liberal elite, but this is where he betrays himself as the true nouveau aristocrat - rich elitist, jingoistic, cruel. Give him powder and a wig. Tumbrils, anyone?

As for Pat Robertson, he claims the Haitians made a deal with the Devil, (who said OK) to get out from "under the heel of the French", "uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever". He goes on to say "the Haitians revolted and got themselves free." Hello. If the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, then ipso facto - and I'm going by what Robertson says - then they did not need the Devil. Apart from the idiocy of this, it is ignorant (see Juan Cole's piece in Informed Comment), but all of a piece with his disgusting perversion of religion.

Robertson blamed September 11 on the United States: "because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us", and among other things, because the Supreme Court had insulted God. As for Katrina, it was a good thing for John Roberts who was coming up for confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. It might intimidate Democratic senators into not asking questions about abortion and other conservative issues.

A nouveau aristocrat, Robertson has had no problem in the past aligning himself with human rights violators Charles Taylor of Liberia or Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. Gold and diamonds shimmered in the shadows.

Stay tuned for Limbaugh's next inevitable aristocratic swill. Because there is only one airstrip at Haiti's airport, because the roads in many places are almost impassable, and because civil authority has virtually collapsed, Limbaugh will attack the Obama administration's
aggressive, and so far well coordinated response as incompetent, ineffective and a rip off of your good will.

God only knows what Robertson will say.

Gates Defends Pace Of Haitian Relief Effort

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Friday defended the pace at which U.S. resources are reaching Haiti.

"I don't know how this government could have acted faster," Gates said during a press briefing with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen. "There are just some certain facts of life."

Although the U.S. began mobilizing its relief efforts shortly after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake ravaged Haiti, a large portion of supplies slated to be delivered via-boat will not arrive until this weekend.

The defense secretary outlined a number of limitations, including the speed of the vessels, the small size of Haiti's airport and the collapse of the country's infrastructure.

According to both Gates and Mullen, using airdrops to provide necessary resources was rejected early-on in the planning stages. Gates noted that there were concerns that dropping supplies onto the distressed Caribbean nation could lead to riots. Thus far, according to Gates, there has been some level of scavenging for food and water, coupled with minor looting.

By Monday, Haiti is expected to have access to 9,000-10,000 U.S. troops, both on and off-shore. According to Mullen, there is still a possibility that more can be sent as details of the country's status develop.

"We are poised to do that," said Mullen. "[The U.S.] always has a ready brigade."