re Obamacare "tech surge" at The White House to fix broken Ocare website: I posit educated guess why West Wing is being so secretive re identities of this Nerd Squad A-Team meets Mission Impossible: Saving Obamacare 2.0. That answer is "optics"

CNN

Pundits' prescriptions for what ails healthcare CNN contributor Ryan Lizza and A.B. Stoddard from The Hill give Brooke Baldwin their RX for the Administration's healthcare woes. October 30th, 2013 06:32 PM ET 

http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/30/pundits-prescriptions-for-what-ails-healthcare/

Somewhat out of the blue Thursday, while reading some tweets of some of the people I religiously follow, I got to wondering if I'd actually stumbled across at least one of the reasons why the White House is being so secretive as to the identities of this Nerd Squad A-Team 
meets Mission Impossible - Saving Obamacare 2.0

Given the condescension that has come out of the WH over the past 5 years on a whole host of policy and political issues involving gender and identity politics, often greatly amplified by their echo chamber of sycophants in the Beltway press corps, especially among younger female reporters and producers, isn't it likely that seeing concrete facts or photos that confirm that the Obamacare rescue crew is largely composed of not just men but the dreaded White Men would just be too much of a PR buzzkill and "optics" problem for Team Obama to publicly countenance?

Instead of wholesome, free spirit, All-American girl-next-door and savvy computer nerd poster girl Angela Bennett (Sanda Bullock) in The Net, it's sixty-something year old Dads and Uncles with computer super-powers far beyond the ken of most normal mortals coming to the rescue.

Note what happens at 0:42.
Someone has hacked into a cabinet member's personal medical file. 

Just wondering...

Tech experts enlisted to help fix Obamacare website 
By CNN Staff 
updated 4:17 PM EDT, Thu October 31, 2013
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/obamacare-website-experts/index.html

While Jon Stewart & Wyatt Cenac skewer America's understanding of Sweden for laughs, Reason TV's Ted Balaker adroitly explains how Sweden's embrace of individual choice and competition have created a better economic system for them, even while many in the U.S. remain resistant to many of the same free-market policies; The new 'Stockholm Syndrome' doesn't involve hostages, but well-educated, media-savvy people who visit and become besotted with a dynamic city and the great possibilities present there -and come to realize that they don't want to return home to a place that seems decidedly less-dynamic, innovative and fun; #sweden, #stockholm

 

ReasonTV YouTube video: Sweden: A Supermodel for America? Reason's Ted Balaker adroitly explains how Sweden's embrace of individual choice and competition -and free-market reforms- have created a better economic system for them, even while many in the U.S. remain resistant to many of the same free-market policies. Uploaded June 22, 2010. http://youtu.be/tDAQWJbEl9U

The Stockholm Syndrome, Part I on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-21-2009/the-stockholm-syndrome-pt--1

Above and below, two short but humorous videos that aired on U.S. TV in April of 2009 during the public policy debate over Obamacare, which as most of you regular readers of the blog know, I opposed.

In them, comedian and Daily Show talk show host Jon Stewart and the show's correspondent Wyatt Cenac tweaks the U.S. by toying with 1960's-era cliches about most Americans general understanding of Sweden and its culture, society and political system.

This only serves to prove what most people know -nobody laughs at cliches about American stereotypes as much as other Americans.

The Stockholm Syndrome, Part II on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-22-2009/the-stockholm-syndrome-pt--2

I'm very psyched -and greatly relieved!- by the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential nominee; Integrity, optimism and a tenacious work-ethic are Ryan's hallmarks

Prosperity Project video: The Crisis. Congressman Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, outlines the debt crisis we face. Uploaded April 5, 2011.

http://youtu.be/O-QEENKN_9Y

His future plans made clearer, Marco Rubio and his family and friends can now finally breathe again and have a little more personal space, a more normal life, though this necessarily means that many of the most ardently pro-amnesty immigrant groups, and their allies in the news media, will now have to get off their summer diet of anti-Rubio remarks and anecdotes for new agitprop pieces attacking Rubio for being, well, part of the norm, and not one of their puppets.

This will also mean the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times can finally wake-up from their long summer slumber and sleepwalking, 86 their Marco Rubio Veep infatuation, smell the Cuban coffee, get out of their air conditioned offices, and get moving on transforming their heretofore lame and going-thru-the-motions 2012 presidential and Florida election coverage, so much of which has been just plain pitiful the past year in the view of not just myself but friends of mine who work at national news organizations, who are rightly puzzled and chagrined at what passes for news coverage in the two largest markets of the fourth-largest state in the country.

Romney's choice of optimistic, hard-working and media-genic Jack Kemp acolyte Paul Ryan also means that we can count on Debbie Wasserman Schultz going into full ZEALOT mode in the coming week, as she once again abandons her constituents in Broward to play the role of attack dog as she criss-crosses the country, only venturing into safe Dem districts.

Yes, we can count on seeing a steady stream of photographs of her predictable nonsensical threats before older voters and rich Democratic donors, her odd facial expressions and hairstyles will produce photographs which will, in some cases, will, no doubt, prove priceless.
His Midwestern friendliness and amiability will continue to stand out in sharp contrast to her shrill, know-it-all, govt. as savior nostrums, and her patronizing glares.

As you newcomers to the blog can see, below, I've already been a strong supporter of Paul Ryan and his economic prescription... and have been waiting patiently to see when and if I should share some of the knowledge here about Ryan, a man whom a week ago, 99% of South Florida's reporters couldn't have told you anything about other than that he was from Wisconsin. 

Here's one of the sources for information that THEY and you can trust: the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com/

See my previous blog post, with video, on Congressman Paul Ryan and his budget prowess of April 8, 2011 titled, Michael Barone on Paul Ryan's AEI speech taking on his budget critics: "Ryan Steals March on Obama as Fiscal Crisis Looms"
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/michael-barone-on-paul-ryans-aei-speech.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: House Budget Press <HBCPress@mail.house.gov>
Date: Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Subject: Ryan and Sessions: ‘Unprecedented 1,200 Days’ Since Senate Democrats Passed A Budget
To:

PRESS RELEASES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 10, 2012 PERMALINK	CONTACT: William Allison (Ryan) 202-226-6100 Stephen Miller, Andrew Logan (Sessions) 202-228-0575
Ryan and Sessions: ‘Unprecedented 1,200 Days’ Since Senate Democrats Passed A Budget
WASHINGTON – House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions of Alabama issued the following joint statement marking the 1,200th day since Senate Democrats have last adopted a budget: “Tomorrow marks another disappointing record for the United States Senate: Senate Majority Leader Reid and his Democrat conference will have gone an unprecedented 1,200 days without adopting a budget plan as required by law. Not only have they failed to adopt a budget, but with America under threat of financial calamity, they have refused to even present a plan for public scrutiny. Last year, Majority Leader Reid said it would be ‘foolish’ to do a budget and the legally required Budget Committee mark-up was cancelled. No plan from his conference has seen the light of day. He refuses to disclose who he plans to tax and how he plans to spend taxpayers’ money. “This year, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad committed to bringing forth a budget plan and conducting a mark-up, and was shut down by the Majority Leader. Once again, the conference put forward no proposal and offered nothing on the Senate floor. The Senate Majority did not offer up a single plan or even cast a vote in support of a single plan. By contrast, House Republicans laid out and adopted a credible, responsible plan that avoids this looming debt crisis with spending cuts and pro-growth tax reform while preserving the safety net. "Never before has our nation needed a budget and a long-term financial plan as badly as it needs one now. The Congressional Budget Office stated this week that the federal government is on track to run another trillion-dollar deficit this year and our debt will continue to explode with this continued lack of leadership. In addition to huge deficits, we face a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of this year and a sequester that Defense Secretary Panetta said will ‘do catastrophic damage to the military.’ Responsible and moral leadership requires the Senate to meet its legal obligation to pass a budget and to begin to address the fiscal crisis that is fast approaching our nation.”
###

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Widespread power outages in Beltway cause Fred Barnes to reflect on the power vacuum in Washington that lies at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

View Larger Map
-----
The Weekly Standard
Washington Loses Power
And not just from a storm.
By Fred Barnes
July 16, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 41

For Washington, this is definitely not the best of times. The town is suffering from a power outage.

The evidence is hard to miss, from Washington’s weeklong struggle to cope with storm damage that knocked out electricity across the region to President Obama’s inability to awaken the economy, as reflected once again in June’s pathetic jobs report.

To make matters worse, Washing-ton is out of sync with the country, at least with the noncoastal parts. The usual response is to unleash the president so he can rally America to Washington’s purposes. But the bully pulpit hasn’t been effective since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. And Obama has failed to revive it.

Read the rest of the post at
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/washington-loses-power_648233.html

Mitt Romney's summer of discontent: GOP discontent with the message AND the messenger 17 weeks before the election: "He wants to stick to biography. It's not enough." Romney's political instincts are increasingly seen as tone-deaf & defensive, not proactive

Journal Editorial Report on Fox News Channel, July 7, 2012. "Romney's tax confusion." Host: David Asman. Romney's faltering response to SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare over whether mandate is a middle-class tax increase or penalty has GOP activists concerned that the campaign is not nearly as savvy as it ought to be, and his jet-skiing on holiday in front of photographers has many saying his political instincts are tone-deaf, esp. when it comes to his family. Guests: James Freeman, assistant editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page and Mary O'Grady, member of The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/07/07/wsj_the_problem_with_romneys_campaign_is_mitt_romney.html
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1725168420001/


Mitt Romney's summer of discontent: GOP discontent with the message AND the messenger 17 weeks before the election: "He wants to stick to biography. It's not enough." Romney's political instincts are increasingly seen as tone-deaf & defensive, not proactive


Of course, a lot of these sorts of points also apply to South Florida pols.



George F. Will: Mitt Romney "Can't Get To The Presidency Running Out The Clock"
ABC News "This Week", July 8, 2012.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/07/08/george_will_romney_cant_get_to_the_presidency_running_out_the_clock.html


Charles Krauthammer: Mitt Romney "Hasn't Been Ideological Enough"
FOX News "Special Report", July 6, 2012.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/07/07/krauthammer_romney_hasnt_been_ideological_enough.html

In a week of stories re Obamacare and SCOTUS predictions, Dan Diamond at Forbes.com has the most useful essay of all in detailing how one of the cornerstones of U.S. govt. is also one of the most archaic and least-transparent: "The Bizarre Way That Millions of Americans, and Even Obama, Will Get the ObamaCare Verdict"

View Larger Map
Google Maps Street View's July 2009 image of the U. S. Supreme Court, looking east from First Street, N.E. and Maryland Avenue, N.E., across from the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. 

  Photo: Photobucket.com

In a week of stories re Obamacare and SCOTUS predictions, Dan Diamond at Forbes.com has the most useful essay of all in detailing how one of the cornerstones of U.S. govt. is also one of the most archaic and least-transparent: "The Bizarre Way That Millions of Americans, and Even Obama, Will Get the ObamaCare Verdict"

Forbes.com

Pharma & Healthcare

The Bizarre Way That Millions of Americans, and Even Obama, Will Get the ObamaCare Verdict

Dan Diamond, Contributor

June 27, 2012

At about 10:10 a.m. on Thursday, an 81-year-old reporter will pick up a printed sheaf of papers, quickly scan them for a few key phrases, rush to relay the details by phone to his editor, who will then type several choice words out on a live blog.

Yes – this is how we find out Supreme Court decisions in the United States in the year 2012. Even for the Affordable Care Act.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2012/06/27/the-bizarre-way-that-millions-of-americans-and-even-obama-will-get-the-obamacare-verdict/

The Rob Portman for VP boomlet begins to take shape, and once it becomes a bandwagon, it won't be stopped

Sen. Rob Portman and Sen. Ron Wyden Introduce Bill to Help Lower Medicare Costs by Keeping Seniors Healthy. March 29, 2012.

http://youtu.be/r51NayIBBVc

Personally, despite the avalanche of media stories we've seen in South Florida for months exploring and positing various positives and negatives about Marco Rubio, I've thought that Ohio senator and former OMB chief Rob Portman would be the GOP pick for Vice President for probably about eight months, which is part of the reason why I started a subscription to his YouTube Channel around then, and as you may've surmised, the video above is the fruit of that tree.

Over the weekend, when reading what was new at The National Journal, a magazine that, as I've noted before here, I first became aware of while attending IU, I came across this very persuasive column by Major Garrett making some of the same points that I've been making in conversations for months down here, a few of which are precisely why Rubio is not as qualified right now.

Despite what you may start hearing from the Mainstream Media about Mitt Romney looking to protect his right-flank by choosing one of two former governors, it won't be either Tim Pawlenty or Mike Huckabee, because in my opinion, neither has the ability to move a sufficient number of the tens of thousands of college-educated Independent voters in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania who are THE voters who will decide November's election.

They are more interested in the economy, cutting government spending and creating jobs than they are in social issues, and Rob Portman is someone whose résumé and personality will appeal to them, especially the entrepreneurs who genuinely want meaningful health care reform, but NOT the sort of over-reach and top-down government tyranny of Obamacare, which will be a job-killer.

The National Journal

ALL POWERS

Rob Portman's the One

Why I think the senator from Ohio is going to be the veep nominee.

By Major Garrett

Updated: April 5, 2012  2:45 p.m. 

April 4, 2012  6:00 a.m.

Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee, Wisconsin sealed the deal, and he will pick Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio as his running mate.

Write it down. And harangue me mercilessly this summer if I am wrong.

Column writing, I have learned, is part provocation and part explanation.

There is nothing provocative about declaring that Portman will be Romney's running mate, except that it hasn't happened and I don't know it an as absolute fact.

But everything tells me it will be so.

Read the rest of the column at:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/all-powers/rob-portman-s-the-one-20120404

-----

http://twitter.com/#!/MajoratNJ

http://www.youtube.com/user/SenRobPortman

Sen. Marco Rubio discusses Obamacare before SCOTUS -interview on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' with Becky Quick, Joe Kernen & Andrew Ross Sorkin; with Dennis Miller on his talk radio show

Sen. Marco Rubio discusses Obamacare on CNBC-TV's Squawk Box with Becky Quick,  Joe Kernen & Andrew Ross Sorkin. April 4, 2012.
http://youtu.be/VsrF-h8Dtj0





Audio of Senator Rubio discussing the Supreme Court's review of Obamacare with actor and radio show talk host Dennis Miller. March 28, 2012.
http://youtu.be/LmGDNpjapoo


-----


Dennis Miller Show's homepage: http://www.dennismillerradio.com/


CNBC-TV's Squawk Box homepage: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838368/


http://www.cnbc.com/


Florida Senator Marco Rubio's YouTube Channel: 
http://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorMarcoRubio


His other one is: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarcoRubio


Reclaim America PAC: http://www.reclaimamericapac.com/

Peggy Noonan thinks dithering & detached "O" has now become "creepy. "Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest." She's right, of course.

Audiobook: What I Saw At the Revolution -A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. http://youtu.be/nDvF7SispPU

Peggy Noonan thinks dithering & detached "O" has now become "creepy. "Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest." She's right, of course.

In this installment from the audio version of the book I bought the first day it was available in 1990 at The Trover Book Shop on Capitol Hill, where I spent hundreds of hours over the years, Peggy Noonan recounts the end of an era of innocence in the days before the 1960 Presidential election on Massapequa , Long Island.Noonan shoots and she scores with: "[Obama's] hermetically sealed inner circle, which operates with what seems an almost entirely abstract sense of America."


From personal experience I can tell you that when you are seated just a few feet away from her and she starts talking about these sorts of cultural issues in that lilting voice of hers, it's positively mesmerizing.

After reading/listening to her impart a little bit of what she saw and remembers that Fall of 1960 about what America was about, you know exactly why her criticism of Obama and his myopic cronies rings so true and causes so many heads to nod in agreement, which is precisely why I placed the audio here for you to listen to yourself. 
The proof is in the pudding.

And even the Europeans have finally come to see him for what he is, esp. the Poles.
Unreliable.


American Crossroads: Operation Hot Mic
http://youtu.be/-Czo5Vf8KZs


Wall Street Journal
Declarations
Not-So-Smooth Operator
Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.
By Peggy Noonan
Updated March 30, 2012, 6:35 p.m. ET,

Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, "Nothing new there," but actually I think there is. I'm referring to the broad, stable, nonradical, non-birther right. Among them the level of dislike for the president has ratcheted up sharply the past few months.

It's not due to the election, and it's not because the Republican candidates are so compelling and making such brilliant cases against him. That, actually, isn't happening.

Readers comments at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577312043447691520.html#articleTabs%3Dcomments
-----
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/168909-1 
C-SPAN: In Depth with Peggy Noonan. March 3, 2002. Three hours.
When this first aired, I made videocopies of it for friends overseas.

Archive of Noonan's WSJ columns at:
http://online.wsj.com/search/aggregate.html?article-doc-type={Declarations}

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/peggy-noonan.html

http://peggynoonan.com/ Read the rest of the column at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577312043447691520.html

Even with his 57 states, Wash. Post says O is the loner president -'Beyond the economy, the wars and the polls, President Obama has a problem: People'

While we were busy dodging downpours of rain on Friday in South Florida, trying NOT to get drenched walking from a parking lot to wherever we needed to be, or NOT get blindsided on the local, often-poorly lit roads by one of the LARGE NUMBER of South Florida drivers who DON'T believe in using their headlights when it rains -a higher percentage in HB, it goes without saying- the Washington Post was running White House correspondent Scott Wilson's latest piece, and it's devastating.

It's one of the most insightful and persuasive articles of the year, detailing how President Obama's own personality comes into conflict with what he needs to do on a practical level in order to be successful with his own supporters on Capitol Hill, let alone, House Speaker John Boehner and the Hill Republicans and the nation at large.

The Washington Post

Obama, the loner president

By Scott Wilson

October 7, 2011

Beyond the economy, the wars and the polls, President Obama has a problem: people.

This president endures with little joy the small talk and back-slapping of retail politics, rarely spends more than a few minutes on a rope line, refuses to coddle even his biggest donors. His relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill is frosty, to be generous. Personal lobbying on behalf of legislation? He prefers to leave that to Vice President Biden, an old-school political charmer.

Obama’s circle of close advisers is as small as the cluster of personal friends that predates his presidency. There is no entourage, no Friends of Barack to explain or defend a politician who has confounded many supporters with his cool personality and penchant for compromise.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-the-loner-president/2011/10/03/gIQAHFcSTL_story.html

WaPo reader comments at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-the-loner-president/2011/10/03/gIQAHFcSTL_allComments.html?ctab=all_&#comments

2,830 comments as of Sunday the 9th at 2:10 p.m.

But who's counting?

If Obamacare is so great, why do so many people want no part of it, esp. Union members? Barone: O Skirts Rule of Law to Reward Pals, Punish Enemies

The Beltway story du jour involves the ever-reliable and observant Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner explaining something in detail that you may have heard a little about about on the radio or TV, but never got an adequate explanation for -the overwhelming evidence of favoritism among Obama supporters in gaining waivers from provisions of Obamcare they said everyone had to obey.
Or as he puts it, "Examples of crony capitalism, bailout favoritism and gangster government."

-----

Washington Examiner

Obama Skirts Rule of Law to Reward Pals, Punish Enemies

A Commentary By Michael Barone

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Question: What do the following have in common? Eckert Cold Storage Co., Kerly Homes of Yuma, Classic Party Rentals, West Coast Turf Inc., Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc., Only in San Francisco, Hotel Nikko, International Pacific Halibut Commission, City of Puyallup, Local 485 Health and Welfare Fund, Chicago Plastering Institute Health & Welfare Fund, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Teamsters Local 522 Fund Welfare Fund Roofers Division, StayWell Saipan Basic Plan, CIGNA, Caribbean Workers' Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Health and Welfare Plan.

Answer: They are all among the 1,372 businesses, state and local governments, labor unions and insurers, covering 3,095,593 individuals or families, that have been granted a waiver from Obamacare by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

Read the rest of the essay at:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/05/obama-skirts-rule-law-reward-pals-punish-foes

Previous Barone post at: http://washingtonexaminer.com/people/michael-barone

3/31/10 WSJ Opinion Video: Would the Founders Love ObamaCare? Daniel Henninger discusses the widespread anxiety over the size of government.

Would the Founders Love ObamaCare?

Daniel Henninger discusses the widespread anxiety over the size of government

with Wall Street Journal reporter Kelsey Hubbard.

March 31, 2010

http://online.wsj.com/video/would-the-founders-love-obamacare/25CCD8C0-BE8A-46C2-AEAD-5F34AD89847A.html

See also http://online.wsj.com/video-center

Kendrick Meek's curious out-of-the-blue Saturday morning Town Hall meeting

A last-minute email of mine that went
out across the transom late Friday night
to interested parties across the Sunshine
State concerned whether or not Rep.
Kendrick Meek would actually be making
what amounts to an in-store appearance
at Hallandale Beach City Hall on Saturday
morning, or go the route chosen by
Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

And therein lies the mystery...

This is an edited version of that email.
-----------------------
Friday September 11th, 2009
11:25 p.m.

Last Wednesday afternoon while up at Hollywood
City Hall for their City Commission meeting on the
explosive Police pension issue, I saw the flyer below
on their public notice board near the City Clerk's
office and snapped a shot of it.



Hm-m-m...
So Congressman Meek will hold a Town Hall
meeting pertaining to Health Insurance Reform
at David Park Community Center, 108 N. Park
Road in Hollywood on Saturday the 12th from
9-11 a.m.

Not to discuss the issue of "health care reform" that
everyone originally bought into for reasons of logic,
compassion and economics, but health insurance
reform, the new tact taken by Obama in his effort
to sell a program that doesn't really seem to exist
on paper so much as in the hands and heads of
Senator Max Baucus's Senate Finance Committee
and staffers. http://finance.senate.gov/

(See Proposed Framework for Health Care Reform,
from Sept. 9th
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb090909.pdf
Also, see various Baucus, Grassley Policy Options
for Financing Comprehensive Health Care Reform
listed at http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/legislation.htm )

So, having been surprised at coming across this
news nine days ago without having read anywhere
else about it, I made a mental note to myself to use
the photo and mention it on the blog as the date
drew near, which was going to be Thursday.

But literally as I was in the middle of writing about it,
with my list of health care articles and links at the ready
to sprinkle here, I decided to take a break and take
a spin over to the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics
blog to see if there was anything percolating over there.

In retrospect, I'm glad I did because it prevented me
from writing and posting something I'd immediately
have had to pull down and make surgical edits to.

What I saw there shocked me:
Congressman Kendrick Meek plans health
care town hall in Broward

Posted by Anthony Man on September 10, 2009 09:52 AM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/09/congressman_kendrick_meek_plan.html

My first thought: Isn't that the same time that
he's supposed to be in Hollywood?
And my second was why is it being held there,
in such a small facility?

I immediately started wondering whether Meek
& Co. would pull a phony Town Hall like another
South Florida gerrymandered congressperson
who's never had to run a competitive race for
their seat, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

You'll recall that she recently had a pre-digested
Tele-Town Hall, which has all the civic charm
and spontaneity of a car maintenance manual.
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word...

Then, this morning, the Herald ran a similar
version on page 3B, which is what I had in my
email to you all this morning, at bottom.

This afternoon, I swung by the HB Cultural
Center to find out why this event was being
held Saturday morning in a facility that barely
holds 100 people, when the Cultural Center
behind City Hall can hold many times that
number.

Well, it turns out the HB PAL is having their
abbual antique sale there the whole weekend,
so that's out, unfortunately.

But still rather curious about how the whole
event seemed to spring up overnight, since
neither I nor any of my well-informed friends
had heard anything at all about Meek actually
coming here until Thursday's Sun-Sentinel blog
post, I asked a someone in a position to know
whether or not an effort had been made to have
it in the Cultural Center in the past few weeks,
or, at a future date, when more citizens could
attend.
"No."

You might recall that during the recent
congressional recess of several weeks,
the deadest and warmest weeks of the
year in Washington, trust me, rather
than taking advantage of that time to
cross the countyline and have a health
care meeting at the HB Cultural Center,
Meek was campaigning all over the state
for the U.S. Senate.

Tonight, around 8:15, I walked by HB City Hall
and was surprised to see that a barricade had
already been erected in the parking lot near
the entrance off U.S.-1.



Looking north towards the barricade from
in front of HB City Hall, with U.S.-1 to the right.

This, of course, was the 'one trick pony' they
employed for many years, to no positive effect,
at the city's public beach, as a substitute for
their actually patrolling the beach areas like
other South Florida oceanfront cities do,
esp. on busy three-day holiday weekends like
last weekend.

But in Hallandale Beach, under this particular
mayor, this particular city manager and this
particular police chief, that's not the way they
do things.

Which doubtless explains why there are always
so many dozens of police cars glued to the
HB Police Dept. parking lot that are never seen
on the city's roads.
But then what am I saying, you already know that,
don't you?

As you may recall, the real tip-off to potential
miscreants arriving at North Beach, with mischief
on their mind, that they had no reason to fear the
police were those bowls of cat food and water
that were placed directly in front of either the
police car's tires or underneath the chassis.
Day-after-day, week-after-week.


One of the three empty Hallandale Beach
police cars parked near the public entrance
to HB City Hall tonight.
Can't say for sure if it's one of the many
that's been growing roots over near the
Old Dixie Highway entrance to City Hall
the past few years, that were caked with
months worth of dirt.
It was too dark to tell since the three parking
lot lights closest to the entrance -shocker-
weren't working.
Just like last week and last month and...


The ruse is now in place tonight at HB City
Hall as I write this, and as you can also see,
the Meek folks don't want you taking flash
photographs.
Perhaps he thinks he's Amish


Please don't take photos of the Congressman
in the building that your taxes paid for -he's
now Amish!


Why do I have a bad feeling that many
of the Hallandale Beach 108 will be plants?



Hey, what do you know, the parking lot light
closest to the public entrance of HB City Hall
is STILL out.

And, the very light that's closest to the one
and only HB Police Dept.-controlled security
camera in front of that side of City Hall.

The light that has NOT worked for 18 of the
21 months since the cameras first went up.

The light that HB Police Chief Magill could
apparently care less about seeing fixed,
judging by his pathetic excuses many months
ago when I reminded the whole Commission
during public comments of a night meeting
he was present at, how poorly the City Hall
area has lit at night for years, and if they
doubted it, they could just step outside and
see for themselves.

There are many cities in this country where
my comments would've led to it being fixed
the next day, if out of embarrassment more
than anything.

But not here in HB.

Months later, that light just keeps on snoozing
thru the night.
That's your Hallandale Beach City Hall in action!




Meanwhile, down the street a few blocks,
on the median of U.S.-1 & S.E. 9th Street,
I said hello again to our old friend
-the HB sign.

Moved a few hundred feet north many months
ago because of FDOT road construction, despite
its new location, its light STILL doesn't work,
extending its previous futile record of being out
of commission to well over five years
-longer than the U.S. fought in WWII.

Another Mike Good/Joy Cooper success story.

Now that I've added a big memory card to my
digital camera, I can shoot video and plan on
doing so Saturday morning, to capture whatever
happens, if anything.

I strongly suggest that those of you with an
interest in attending bring along your own
camcorder to record the action,
such as it may be.

See photo at:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/09/no-bullhorns-no-protesters-at-meeks-town-hall-.html
--------------------------
This weekend, I'll be posting something I've already
written about Meek and the candidates who are
seeking to replace him in Congress, and why they've
been so curiously AWOL in Hallandale Beach,
as well as the pages of the Herald and the
Sun-Sentinel, but for now, I just wanted to pass
this along in case you're up to the idea of asking
about arcane provisions of 3200 at 9 am on a
Saturday morning.

I'll be there with my camera and writing pad at the
ready, hoping for either insight or group dynamic
hijinks, but not really expecting to see either.

------------------

Posted on Fri, Sep. 11, 2009

Meek to hold town hall on Saturday in Hallandale Beach

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek will hold a town hall meeting Saturday in Hallandale Beach to discuss proposals to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.

Meek, D-Miami, represents part of South Broward. He is also running for his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate next year.

The event will begin at 9 a.m. in the City Commission Chambers, 400 S. Federal Hwy., Hallandale Beach.

Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. Space is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, Meek's office said.

-- SUN SENTINEL