Moscow air show performers

Italian aerobatic team "Frecce Tricolori" performs during the MAKS 2009 international aerospace show outside Moscow in Zhukovsky.

Jobless rate highest in 26 years

A Yahoo Finance report says:

The unemployment rate jumped almost half a point to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since 1983, reflecting a poor job market that will make it hard for the economy to begin a sustained recovery.

What most employment reports omit can be found in the article at the link below - even though it is buried in the 11th paragraph:

If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the so-called underemployment rate reached 16.8 percent.

Nearly seventeen percent! How’s that for Hope & Change?

Link

Adding fuel to the recession fire

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Critic gave MoveOn the finger - didn’t get it back

Maybe the slogan, “Yes we Can” should be changed to “Yes we Cannibal.”

An American Standard article reports:

William Rice didn't actually give MoveOn the finger -- his pinky was forcibly removed by an ObamaCare supporter's teeth.

Rice, a 65-year-old real-estate appraiser from Newbury Park, California, expected some heated arguments when he went to a health care protest in Thousand Oaks. He did not expect to leave without his finger.

Rice was part of a small group of counter-protesters who showed up to a MoveOn-sponsored "We Can't Afford to Wait" vigil.

Mr. Rice drove himself to a hospital in nearby Los Robles for treatment.

The finger could not be reattached because a human bite has too much bacteria.

Mr. Rice said the MoveOne group, “had a Code Pink element that I’d never seen before and it had a MoveOn element I'd never seen before."

He said some of the MoveOn ObamaCare supporters were, "borderline emotionally out of control."

A Ventura County Sheriff's Department said. “It's considered a mayhem which is the removal of an appendage from a human. The crime is punishable by imprisonment for 2, 4, or 8 years.”

Scott Bush, an Obama critic who was standing next to Rice when the incident happened, said critics and supporters of Obama had had face-to-face, calm debates throughout the night without incident until the suspect in the biting crossed the street to confront critics.

Of Rice's behavior, he said: "He didn't even have a sign. He was just there to be a part of things. He's a nice man."

The Los Angeles Times rushed the story to print incorrectly saying it was an anti ObamaCare protestor who did the finger biting.

More of the story here.

Armless man couldn’t cash check without thumbprint

A Florida man born without arms says a Tampa bank would not let him cash a check because he couldn't provide a thumbprint.

Steve Valdez didn't have an account at a Bank of America location in downtown Tampa, where he tried to cash a check from his wife last week.

Mr. Valdez presented two forms of identification but was denied because he couldn’t give a thumbprint. He has no thumbs. He uses prosthetic arms.

He says a bank manager told him he could either come back to the bank with his wife or open an account himself.

Later the bank later apologized to Valdez and said alternative requirements should have been offered when an individual is not able to give a thumbprint.

Link

Obama’s school address turns into firestorm

School Districts in six states refuse to show the planned Obama school address next week.

The Associated Press reports that the planned address to students “draws Republican ire.” It’s the ire of parents and school officials regardless of their political leanings.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see through the clumsy attempt by the administrations to indoctrinate young school children with Hitler Youth style propaganda.

The accusation sounds outrageous until you take a good long look at the scheme.


How long before they will be taking measurements for student uniforms complete with "Hope & Change" patches?

From the report at the link below:

White House officials seemed to be caught flat-footed by the response to what they say was a simple back to school address by President Obama to students across the nation -- and has turned into a firestorm.

The White House now admits that one of the lesson plans surrounding the speech was written clumsily, subjecting it to misinterpretation, and had to be re-written.

But that has not stopped concern and even outrage in some school districts across the country.

The opposition to Obama’s attempt to indoctrinate school children, complete with "lesson plans," can be summed up by the final quote in the report at the link below:

"When the president goes out to talk to students about education, this shouldn't be a tool for the right wing."

A high percentage of public school administrators are leftists, but Obama has really stuck it to them with this one. They have better things to do with their time than field angry calls about a carefully constructed propaganda piece foisted on them by the White House.

This is NOT your father’s Democratic Party!
Link

Early mobile phones

1922: Pioneer - The police in Chicago experiment with a radio telephone which broadcast at a frequency just above the AM radio band.



1940s: Horseback - The US Army Signal Corps communicate via radio in the field during wartime.

IRS would become ObamaCare enforcer

There will be new and powerful federal agencies that would be created by the passage of ObamaCare.

The Health Choices Administration, the Health Benefits Advisory Committee, the Health Insurance Exchange — there are dozens in all.

If the plan envisioned by Obama and Congressional Democrats is enacted, the primary federal bureau responsible for implementing and enforcing national health care will be an old and familiar one: the Internal Revenue Service.

Under the Democrats' health care proposals, the already powerful — and already feared — IRS would wield even more power and extend its reach even farther into the lives of ordinary Americans, and the presidentially-appointed head of the new health care bureaucracy would have access to confidential IRS information about millions of individual taxpayers.


In short, health care reform, as currently envisioned by Democratic leaders, would be built on the foundation of an expanded and more intrusive IRS.

The IRS would assume several new rolls under ObamaCare:

1. The IRS would become the main agency for determining who has an acceptable health insurance plan.

2. The IRS would be charged with finding and punishing those who don't have an acceptable plan.

3. The IRS would subsidize individual health insurance costs through the issuance of tax credits.

4. The IRS would enforce the rules on those who attempt to opt out, or “abuse” the rules.

The article at the link below says a substantial portion of H.R. 3200, the House health care bill, is devoted to amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in order to give the IRS the authority to perform these new duties.

More of the story here.

Final look at the Jackson Five

Prisoners in UK have a better diet than National Health Service patients

The nationalized healthcare that Barack Obama wants to force on us will be very similar to the British NHS (National Health Service) with one healthcare provider - the government.

The Daily Mail online reports:

Patients in Health Service hospitals are far more likely to go hungry than criminals in jail, scientists warned yesterday.

They say frail and elderly patients do not get the help they need with meals, and nobody checks whether they get enough to eat.

Despite years of Government promises to tackle poor hospital nutrition, food still arrives cold, and patients often miss out because meal times clash with tests and operations.

The report says prisoners receive carbohydrate-rich, low-fat foods which in many cases are better than they would have been eating before they entered prison.

Hospital meals are often taken away untouched, because they are either unappetizing or are placed out of patients' reach.

The latest figures show 242 patients died of malnutrition in NHS hospitals in 2007 - the highest toll in a decade. More than 8,000 left hospital under-nourished - double the figure when Labor came to power.

The NHS throws away 11million meals every year, and many nurses say they are too busy to help the frail eat.

Many say ObamaCare will be no better than the British National Health Service where waiting for medical tests and procedures is commonplace. The very young, the elderly and the obese have limited medical procedures available to them.

Will prisoners in the United States eat better under ObamaCare than hospital patients - especially seniors?

Link

What happens if you find ObamaCare hard to swallow?

Cameron set to topple Brown in UK election

A Sun poll in the UK predicts that Tory (Conservative Party) candidate David Cameron (upper photo) will sweep to power with a 96-seat majority in the House of Commons.

Seven in ten voters think Gordon Brown (lower photo) is doing a "very bad" or "fairly bad" job of supporting British troops in the Afghan conflict.

In a further blow to the Prime Minister, twice as many voters believe Britain's armed forces would be better off in Mr. Cameron's hands.

The poll also reveals 51 percent of people think Mr. Brown should have actively opposed the Scottish decision to release the Lockerbie bomber which is often referred to as the “oil for terrorist” deal with Libya.

More than one third believe the bomber release will do nothing to boost trade relations with Libya.

Link

One Obama voter in eight is now turning on him

Scott Rasmussen, whose poll measures likely voters and is an especially good indicator of public attitudes, now has Obama’s job approval dropping to 46%. Zogby, the other good poll, has him at 45%. These surveys suggest that healthcare reform and the continuing bad economy are driving Obama down at a record clip.

On Election Day, 2008 — less than a year ago — Obama got 52% of the vote. Now, he is six to seven points below that level in his job approval — one Obama voter in eight is now disillusioned and turning on him.

How long will Obama cling to the wreckage of his healthcare proposals? Does he plan on going down with the ship all the way to the mid-30s in job approval as Bush did with Iraq? Will he take his party down with him? Will the party let itself be taken down?

These are the relevant questions as Obama returns from his vacation. The massive paid media effort for healthcare changes have not worked.

The constant pro-ObamaCare in media news reports also have not worked.

Also disappointing to the administration is the complete lack of a “dead Kennedy” bounce in the polls. That shouldn’t be surprising, however, because the only Kennedy’s that mattered to most American’s have not been with us since the 1960’s.

Link here and here.

Deputy gets poor tread wear - dog makes meal of tires

Some dogs chase cars. One dog in North Carolina tried to eat one.

A pit bull deflated all four tires of a Cumberland County Sheriff's cruiser.

The deputy parked his cruiser in a woman's driveway while responding to her complaint about another dog.

The pit bull didn’t attack the deputy but chomped into the tires.

The pit bull owner will be billed $500 for the damage.

Link

Feds to crack down on sale of many used products

Washington seems to be obsessed with the need to control.

Now the Obama administration wants to control sales at thrift stores and even your garage sale!

If you're planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you'd best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law.

As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products.


The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer.

The crackdown affects thrift-store operators such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

It affects everyday Americans cleaning out their attics for yard sales and church bazaars.

It affects selling on eBay, Craigslist and other Web sites.

Secondhand sellers now must keep abreast of recalls for thousands of products, some of them stretching back more than a decade, to stay within the bounds of the law.

How long before a “Used products Czar” inspects your next yard sale?

Link

Sentenced to death on British National Health Service

An article from The Daily Telegraph says leading doctors warn that patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS (National Health Service) scheme to help end their lives!

Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.

But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn.

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.

Much of ObamaCare is eerily similar to British National Health Service. For instance, they both restrict medical procedures available to the elderly and the obese with the government making the decision rather than the doctor.

Link

Dim future for energy saving light bulbs

The European Union has admitted that the new energy saving light bulbs are not as bright as traditional bulbs (incandescent) and claims about the amount of light they produce are "exaggerated".

Soon they will be the only kind of light bulb allowed, but now officials in Brussels have admitted that energy-saving bulbs are not as bright as the old-fashioned kind they are replacing.

From tomorrow a Europe-wide ban on traditional incandescent bulbs will begin to be rolled out, with a ban on 100W bulbs and old-style frosted or pearled bulbs.

Buyers of the compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), are told on the packaging that they shine as brightly as an old-fashioned bulb.

The European Commission, which was responsible for the ban, has now conceded that this is "not true" and that such claims by manufacturers are "exaggerated".

Will liberal “greenies” in this country back off on their threat to ban incandescent bulbs by the year 2012?

Probably not, with left-wing liberals it’s all about control.

Never mind that curly bulbs are not as bright - we can use more.

Never mind that they don’t last as long as promised - we can buy them more often.

Never mind that they take longer to reach full brightness - we can leave them on longer.

Never mind that they are hazardous - we can buy Hazmat gear to wear when we dispose of them.

A Congress that gave us the Cash for Clunkers disaster and now wants to control our health-care has promised to impose on us a hazardous light bulb that cost more and does less.

The phrase, “they are not as bright as the old-fashioned kind they are replacing" also applies to the politicians who are making these laws.

Link

Man survives after heart stopped for 45 minutes

A Brooklyn man is recovering after doctors said his heart had stopped beating for 45 minutes.

Joseph Tiralosi was released from the hospital Tuesday.

He had gone to the emergency room at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center on Aug. 17 because he wasn't feeling well. Within minutes of his arrival, he collapsed and his heart stopped beating.

Doctors kept his body cold while they removed a clot and Tiralosi's heart started working normally.

Doctors say he lived through the episode without incurring any brain damage.

Link

Police State using swine flu as an excuse?

This Police State bill would allow authorities
to enter homes and detain without warrant!
This is called a "pandemic response bill" that is currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature that would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency.

This is called a "pandemic response bill" that is currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature that would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency.

It would compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.

If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.

Overkill or using swine flu as a foot in the door for more control?

Link here for more.

Ohio judge used duct tape to silence suspect

An Ohio judge ordered the mouth of Harry Brown (pictured), 51, of Canton, to be duct taped during a hearing last week because of repeated interruptions during the proceeding.

Brown complained that his court-appointed attorney wasn't prepared and angered the judge with interruptions. After a warning, the judge ordered Brown's mouth taped shut.

When the tape was removed, the defendant said the judge wasn't being respectful. The judge ended the hearing and sent the case to a grand jury.

Link

The ObamaCare snake oil has a new label

Experts forecast double digit Democrat losses in 2010

The rationale for big Democrat losses in 2010 can be found at the link below:

After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.

Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance.

The report says that top political analyst Charlie Cook wrote that “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.”

Many veteran congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu, with a consensus forming that the chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats.

First-term Democrats will have their feet to the fire. They will be pressured to vote for ObamaCare and then Cap & Trade, which will almost surely guarantee they will not be re-elected.

More here.

Proposed bill would give Obama emergency control of Internet

A CNET article at the link below reports about a Senate bill proposed last spring to hand the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

Civil liberties groups are just as alarmed about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors.

CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (exerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

Who gets to define a "cyber emergency"?

Could too many bloggers talking out against his health care fiasco be declared an emergency? This is truly troubling. It smacks of communism type censorship!

Internet control has worked well in China and North Korea. This is how totalitarian governments take control of the people.

Jimmy Carter wanted to gain control of all Television sets in the U.S. electronically so he could turn on everyone's TV for what he called “emergency messages.”

CNET is home-based in liberal San Francisco and their age demographic following is mostly computer geeks under age 40.

It is interesting to read the comments at the end of the CNET article. It’s a good bet that many of these were written by the same young techie’s that helped elect Obama.

Now they are panicking that Obama may take control of the Internet.

Maybe they are finally starting to realize that the government is trying to take over the country.

The thirty-something’s that helped elect Obama have ignored his take-over of Detroit automakers, the banking industry, healthcare, the census, etc.

The possibility of government control of the Internet has finally started to wake them up.

They will especially be incensed when they realize that Obama doesn’t even need a bill to pass in order to take over the Internet. He could just do it anyway by issuing an executive order!

No wonder they suddenly aren’t so happy with “hope and change.”

Link

Dealers still waiting on government for clunker cash

What the government forgot to tell car dealers is the entire cash for clunker program was a clunker!

A Chicago TV station online news website reports:

Here's the figure: $2.878 billion.

That's how much money the government owes car dealers for the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

Now that it’s all over, dealers are saying, “show me the money!”

"Out of 142 deals they owe us for, we've gotten paid on seven," Lou Tornabeni of Ettleson Hyundai said.

"We had 102 cash for clunkers," Carm Scarpace of Westfield Ford said. "We've been paid for one."

The dealers were originally supposed to get paid within 10 days after submitting the paperwork.

Later the government blamed the dealers for payment delays.

Link

Luxury condo has 32 stories but only one occupant

A downtown Fort Myers, Florida condo has 32 stories but only one occupant.

Victor Vangelakos lives in a luxury condominium tower on the Caloosahatchee River.

He never has to worry about the neighbors making too much noise.

There are no neighbors.

Mr. Vangelakos, his wife Cathy and their three children are the only residents in the 32-story Oasis I condo on the east edge of downtown Fort Myers.

The 45-year-old Weehawken, N.J., firefighter bought the condo from Miami-based The Related Group for $430,000 and closed on it in November. He planned to make it a vacation getaway and eventually his full-time residence when he retires in four years.

But prices have fallen hard since the real estate bubble burst in early 2006. Only a handful of those who put down deposits on the tower’s units actually closed on the deal. Those who did have swapped their Oasis I units for condos in Oasis II next door.

Vangelakos didn’t, because he was unable to convince his lender to agree to the swap.

That leaves the Vangelakos family splitting their time between New Jersey and a creepy, surreal life in the empty Oasis I.

They’re the only ones using a well-appointed clubhouse, but they can’t watch the big plasma TV because they can’t the remote controls.

Link

Obama approval rating continues to fall

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday, September 1, shows that 41% of the nation’s voters strongly Disapprove of the way Barack Obama is performing his role as President while only 30% of the nation's voters strongly Approve leaving an approval Index rating of -11.

The “Strongly Disapprove” line is in red and rising.

Link

Slipping away

Monday Night Football without Kornheiser

Will Tony Kornheiser be missed in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth?
Above left to right: Jaworski, Tirico, Kornheiser
He seemed to be miscast and never really appeared comfortable on Monday Night Football. He lacked the rapport with Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski because was too argumentative.

Jon Gruden (shown at left), the former Tampa Bay and Oakland coach appears to be a good replacement for Kornheiser.

The 45-year-old Gruden, came in as an 11 season NFL head coach.

Although Gruden has a reputation for being brash, opinionated, and irreverent, he should popular with the fans and more accepted than the argumentative Kornheiser.

Teddy seeking help from daddy one more time

Will Afghanistan be Obama’s Vietnam?

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the situation in Afghanistan is serious and deteriorating.

"I've said that over the past couple of years, that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated in their tactics."

Afghanistan a tribal society that will never accept democracy. It took Russia a long time to realize that they could not defeat the tribes in Afghanistan.

There is serious doubt that a military conflict in Afghanistan can be won.

The White House is asking for or more troops while basically admitting we are losing.

Mr. Obama, along with other Democrats in Washington, wanted Bush to pull out of Iraq. Now may be a good time to take their own advice and pull out of Afghanistan.

The longer Obama keeps up the war in Afghanistan the more likely it will end his presidency just as Vietnam ended the presidency of Lyndon Johnson who desperately wanted another term in the White House.

Link here and here.

ABC and NBC won’t to run an ad critical of ObamaCare

One more testament to the media love affair with Barack Hussein Obama is the report that ABC and NBC won’t to run an ad critical of ObamaCare.

The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS.

On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form.


The photo above is from the advertisement banned on ABC and NBC.

"It's a powerful ad," said Bob Adams, executive director of the League of American Voters, a national nonprofit group with 15,000 members who advocate individual liberty and government accountability.

"It tells the truth and it really highlights one of the biggest vulnerabilities and problems with this proposed legislation, which is it rations health care and disproportionately will decimate the quality of health care for seniors."

A doctor in the ad asks: "How can Obama's plan cover 50 million new patients without any new doctors? It can't."

Dick Morris (pictured), a FOX News political analyst and the League of American Voters' chief strategist, conceptualized the advertisement and said its purpose was to "refocus" the debate on health care reform.

"I feel the whole debate on health care reform needed to be refocused on the issue of Medicare," he told FOXNews.com. "Most of the debate had been on issues of socialized medicine and cost. I felt that the impact of the legislation in cutting the Medicare program and enforcing rationing needed to be addressed."

Dick Morris is a former advisor to former President Bill Clinton.

ObamaCare will force the medical community to suddenly care for 50 million new patients.

The new patients will be illegal aliens, gang members as well as young people who would rather spend their money on boats, sport cars and other toys rather then on medical insurance premiums.

Link here and here.

Trashy music

(click on picture to enlarge)
A tourist takes pictures as a street musician performs from inside a trash receptacle in Cambridge, England.

We may soon be able to drink our own shower water!

Ever have a hankerin’ to drink your own shower water? It may soon be possible.

Eco-thinkers have come up with an amazing new way to create drinking water - by putting plants in the bottom of a shower.
Designers Jun Yasumoto, Vincent Vandenbrouk, Olivier Pigasse, and Alban Le Henry came up with the concept when looking for new ways to recycle precious H2O.

After you have washed in the special eco-shower the water passes down into a series of physical filters and is treated by plants such as reeds and rushes growing around your feet.

Not sure I’d be keen on showering with plants around my feet and I’m very sure I’ll never be keen on drinking my own shower water!

Link

Times Online: Pan Am flight 103 bomber set free for oil

This will outrage family and friends of those aboard Pan Am flight 103 who were mostly Americans.

It should also outrage citizens of Great Britain.

It appears the story of the poor health of al-Megrahi was a ruse. The release was in the works for some time, and the British government found a Libyan doctor to attest to al-Megrahi's illness.

According to the report at the link below this prisoner for oil exchange had been in the works for some time. The letters were written 2 years ago.

The wreckage of Pan-Am flight 103
They obviously held back on this since 2007 until after Bush was out of office. They wouldn't have dared to do this if Bush were still President, because they knew he would have denounced them for the entire world to see.

If they guessed that Barack Obama would look the other way during this terrorist for oil exchange, they were right. The White House has been silent on this whole affair.

Link

= = = = = U P D A T E = = = = =

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has admitted the British government caved in to Libyan demands that the Lockerbie bomber be included in a prisoner transfer deal with Britain.

The Justice Secretary said he originally wanted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi omitted from the agreement, but relented and agreed the bomber should be eligible.

Shortly after the reversal of Britain's stance, a multi-billion pound oil exploration deal between Libya and BP was rubberstamped.

More of this story here.

Who gave him the T-shirt?

Did he get the T-shirt from Gordon Brown or Moammar Gadhafi? ... just asking

The Obamacare guinea pigs

It’s tough but somebody’s gotta to live here...

The Narrows west of Loveland, Colorado




Northwest of Estes Park, Colorado




Flood damage northwest of Estes Park, Colorado

Black model attacks companies for dropping black models in recession

Noted British model Naomi Campbell (pictured) has accused the advertising business of using the recession as an excuse to drop black models.

The 39-year-old supermodel, who is a close friend of Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, claims that major companies are refusing to use non-white women to promote their products.

"This year, we have gone back all the way that we had advanced," she says. "I don't see any black woman, or of any other race, in big advertising campaigns."

Ms. Campbell’s accusation may have been buoyed by the publication last year of a special edition of Italian Vogue dedicated to non-white models.

Actually big advertising companies are guided by profits rather then race. If the black models who were cut would have contributed to profits of the ad companies they surely would have been retained.

Link

Melon head fans

A group of fans watch the action wearing watermelons on their heads during the eighth inning of a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto last month.

The White House dog grows up

Firms with Obama ties profit from health care push

From an AP article at the link below:

Barack Obama's push for a national health care overhaul is providing a financial windfall in the election offseason to Democratic consulting firms that are closely connected to the president and two top advisers.

Coalitions of interest groups running at least $24 million in pro-overhaul ads hired GMMB, which worked for Obama's 2008 campaign and whose partners include a top Obama campaign strategist. They also hired AKPD Message and Media, which was founded by David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama's campaign and now to the White House. AKPD did work for Obama's campaign, and Axelrod's son Michael and Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe work there.

The firms were hired by Americans for Stable Quality Care and its predecessor, Healthy Economy Now.

Each was formed by a coalition of interests with big stakes in health care policy, including the drug maker lobby PhRMA, the American Medical Association, the Service Employees International Union and Families USA, which calls itself "The Voice for Health Care Consumers."

Their ads press for changes in health care policy. Healthy Economy Now made one of the same arguments that Obama does: that health care costs are delaying the country's economic recovery and that changes are needed if the economy is to rebound.

More of the story here.