December 24, 2009
Making an Old Fashioned Cocktail
This is in honor of SO’s Christmas Eve tradition: sipping old fashioned cocktails and decorating the tree:
Senate Passes Health Care Reform
By a vote of 60 to 39, entirely along party lines, the U.S. Senate today passed a historic health care reform bill that will expand coverage to 31 million Americans without insurance.
“We’re all very, very proud of this moment,” said Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) at a press conference after the vote aired on C-SPAN. “Today we made history.”
Progress is not easy, said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), “but today we were able to prove it’s possible.”
The Senate bill, which met a wall of resistance from Republicans and a threat of “kill the bill” from the left for its imperfections, now must be reconciled with the House-passed legislation, which includes the public option that had to be jettisoned from the measure negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to achieve passage.
Other items, such as the types of taxes to levy to pay for the proposal as well as abortion language, remain to be worked out in conference.
The shaky coalition for reform has to hold together for several more weeks before the bill can be passed and signed by President Barack Obama, who wants to achieve what has eluded so many Democratic presidents for decades: health care for millions more Americans.
The president spoke to the cameras shortly after the vote, calling the measure “real reform” that bans discriminatory practices by health insurers, curbs costs, and expands coverage to millions. He said this is the “most important reform” since Medicare’s passage in the 1960s.
“Our challenge then is to finish the job,” he said, before wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
December 22, 2009
End-of-the-Year Blogging: 2009 Lists | Movies
Today in 2009 lists: movies.
- HuffPo’s The Funniest Movies of the ’00s. Some of these — “Old School” and the “Hangover” — are already classics (IMO).
- Roger Ebert’s best films of 2009 (helpfully split by indie and mainstream).
- The New Yorker’s David Denby’s picks, which include a few interesting choices; Anthony Lane’s selections are here.
- Manohla Dargis, of the New York Times, reviews the year in movies, and so does Stephen Holden.
- Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post reveals her top 10 movie moments of the decade and opens up the discussion to readers. You can even mess around with her list, voting her choices up or down. I forgot about “Children of Men”! That was a fabulous, insane, scary film. I’d re-watch that instead of the “The Road” any day.
- CNN presents several lists, from a “diverse” group of “movie experts”.
It seems I have a lot of great films still to watch!
December 21, 2009
NYT Magazine Reviews 2009 in The Ninth Annual Year in Ideas
Blog Alley’s periodic display of some of the fascinating items featured in the New York Times’ magazine The 9th Annual Year in Ideas issue.
The Cul-De-Sac Ban
Virginia’s attempt to re-open the dead ends and improve safety.
December 20, 2009
Health Care Blogging: Iced In?
The U.S. Senate appears prepared to vote on a health care bill. Maybe snow salves the soul. Or traps people in D.C. so they have to work.
Meanwhile, Frank Rich sends up flares: Beware the frauds; they live among us.