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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: President Obama: “How much higher do premiums have to rise until we do something?”
* Obama reportedly wants health care bill on his desk at end of March before Easter vacation
* Speaker Nancy Pelosi aims to have House complete its action by March 17, aides say
* Midterm elections “will be a referendum on this bill,” Senate minority leader says
Glenside, Pennsylvania (CNN) — President Obama on Monday tore into private health insurers for recent rate hikes, taking a more aggressive rhetorical turn as he pushes for final congressional passage of his top domestic priority.
Obama repeated his assertion that the plan under consideration includes the best Democratic and Republican ideas. The time for debate has ended, he argued.
Congress “owes the American people a final up or down vote on health care. It’s time to make a decision,” he told an enthusiastic crowd at Arcadia University near Philadelphia. “Stand with me and fight with me. … Let’s seize reform. It’s within our grasp.”
The administration is ramping up its health care push in the coming weeks. The White House has called for legislation to be on the president’s desk at the end of March before the congressional Easter vacation.
Two Democratic leadership aides told CNN last week that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, is aiming to have the House of Representatives pass the Senate’s health care bill by March 17.
A separate package of changes designed in part to make the overall measure more palatable to House liberals then would be approved by both chambers through a legislative maneuver known as reconciliation. Bills passed under reconciliation require a Senate majority of 51 votes. Democrats lost their filibuster-proof, 60-seat Senate supermajority with the January election of Sen. Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts.
Video: ‘The time for talk is over’
Video: Obama pushes on for health care
Video: Democrats unsure on health care
RELATED TOPICS
* Barack Obama
* Health Care Issues
* Mitch McConnell
* Nancy Pelosi
Obama opened his remarks Monday by targeting Anthem Blue Cross in California for recently boosting its rates by almost 40 percent.
A diabetic Philadelphia-area woman introduced the president. Her insurer reportedly told her in January that her rates would more than double.
“The price of health care is one of the most punishing costs for families, businesses and our government,” Obama said. “The insurance companies continue to ration health care. … That’s the status quo in America, and it’s a status quo that’s unsustainable.”
Insurance companies, the president argued, have made a calculation. He cited a recent Goldman Sachs conference call in which an insurance broker told investors that insurers are willing to lose some customers through premium hikes because of an overall lack of competition in the industry.
“They will keep doing this for as long as they can get away with it,” Obama said. “How much higher do premiums have to rise until we do something about it? How many more Americans have to lose their health insurance? How many more businesses have to drop coverage?”
Obama dismissed GOP criticism that his nearly $1 trillion proposal fails to control spiraling medical costs.
“You had 10 years,” Obama said in reference to GOP control of Congress. “What were you doing?”
He also brushed aside warnings by political observers that health care reform may lead to major Democratic losses in midterm elections.
Washington is “obsessed with the sport of politics,” he said. “We have debated health care in Washington for more than a year. … When’s the right time? If not now, when? If not us, who?”
Meanwhile, the Senate’s top Republican made it clear Sunday his party won’t relax any of its efforts to halt the reform package.
“What the American people would like us to do is not make this gargantuan mistake,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told ABC’s “This Week.”
If the bill does go through, avoiding a GOP filibuster by using the reconciliation tactic in the Senate, the battle moves to its next stage.
“Every election this fall will be a referendum on this bill,” McConnell said.
Obama said Monday he’s not inclined to take “advice about what’s good for Democrats” from McConnell.
But “the issue here is not the politics of it,” he asserted, saying Congress and the president were sent to Washington to “solve the big challenges.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Joe Biden shake hands in Jerusalem (9 March 2010)
Joe Biden is the most senior Obama administration official to visit Israel
US Vice-President Joe Biden has said there is a “moment of real opportunity” for peace between the Palestinians and Israel during a visit to the region.
Mr Biden said he hoped the agreement to begin indirect talks would be a vehicle by which both sides could “allay that layer of mistrust that has built up”.
He made the comments before meetings with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.
Hours before Mr Biden’s arrival, Israel enraged Palestinians by approving 112 new homes in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to undermine the talks.
‘Proximity talks’
At the start of the highest-level visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories yet by an Obama administration official, Mr Biden said the agreement to hold four months of indirect, so-called “proximity talks” was a chance to revive the peace process.
“I hope it is a vehicle, a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years,” he told reporters before meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres.
ANALYSIS
Roger Hardy
Roger Hardy
Middle East analyst
The Obama administration is trying again. Its first attempt to revive the peace process ended in tears. Its insistence on a complete Israeli settlement freeze sparked a row with the Netanyahu government – and it eventually had to back off.
Now it has set a far more modest goal – indirect talks mediated by the US envoy, George Mitchell. Arab states have backed the move, but with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
It is hard to find anyone who thinks success is very likely. Israel believes it is strong enough to resist pressure to compromise – and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fears any major concession will undermine his already weak position.
“I think we are at a moment of real opportunity, and I think that the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people, if everybody stops and takes a deep breath, are actually more in line than they are opposites,” he added.
During the proximity talks, negotiating teams will meet separately with the US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who will shuttle between them.
However, correspondents say no-one on either side is talking with any great optimism about what the indirect talks might achieve.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to hold direct negotiations with the Israeli government for more than a year because of its refusal to put a complete stop to building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In November, Israel announced a 10-month suspension of new building in settlements in the West Bank, under heavy US pressure.
But the government does not consider areas within the Jerusalem municipality to be settlements and the restrictions do not apply.
Hours before Mr Biden’s arrival, the Israeli defence ministry infuriated the Palestinian Authority by approving the construction of 112 new housing units in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit.
Beitar Illit
Israel says the building in Beitar Illit is ‘an exception’
In the shadow of a settlement
An Israeli settlement in close-up
Middle East ‘haunted by the past’
It said the units had been approved before the start of the 10-month moratorium, and that they were an “exception”, because of safety and infrastructure issues.
The chief Palestinian negotiator said President Abbas had told Mr Mitchell that the move put the indirect talks at risk.
“We cannot tolerate that each time we have discussions on peace-making the Israeli government tenders more settlements, more incursions, more provocations,” Saeb Erekat told the AFP news agency.
The US said the move did not violate Israel’s limited settlement freeze, but was “the kind of thing both sides need to be cautious of”.
Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Iran fears
Mr Biden is currently holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
They are expected to discuss the peace process and mutual concerns about Iran’s nuclear controversial nuclear programme.
I can promise the Israeli people that we will confront, as allies, any security challenge it will face
US Vice-President Joe Biden
The US vice-president will try to reassure Mr Netanyahu that plans for tougher UN Security Council sanctions against Iran are serious, says the BBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen in Jerusalem.
The US does not want Israel to take military action against Iran, which is much talked about there, our correspondent says.
In an interview on Monday with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Mr Biden stressed that the US would stand by Israel.
“I can promise the Israeli people that we will confront, as allies, any security challenge it will face. A nuclear-armed Iran would constitute a threat not only to Israel – it would also constitute a threat to the United States,” he said.
“Our administration is mobilising the international community to insist that Iran fulfil its international commitments. If it does not, it will have to deal with serious consequences and with increasing isolation.”
On Wednesday, Mr Biden will meet Palestinian leaders in the West Bank before travelling to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah.
You forgot to call. You could have called, probably should have called, but you forgot. It was just that everything happened so quickly: Just as you were about to leave the office, your pals from work invited you out for a pint. One pint became two, and two pints became four hours, and you forgot to call.
Now you’re home and she’s fuming. She made dinner, planned a surprise. She’s yelling, calling your friends idiots; you retaliate with a snarky comment about the dimwits she hangs out with — and now it’s on.
When you’re in a relationship, fights can happen suddenly and without warning; both partners say things they shouldn’t, and suddenly the two of you are throwing down like Godzilla and Rodan. Some fights last five minutes and others last five days. We call these periods of conflict “the though times,” and if you’re going to be in a relationship you need to learn how to handle the tough times. This AM Rule Refresher is all about weathering storms and maintaining your relationship when things get rough. We’ve chosen a few tips from The Guy’s Guide to Romance to help you navigate the rockiest of relationship waters.
Fight fairly
You can’t prevent every fight, and since some arguing is inevitable, the best way to handle the tough times is to fight fairly. Fighting fairly means staying on topic and keeping the argument in perspective.
Don’t allow a fight over something disrespectful she said about your friends turn into a wide-ranging bitch-fest about every little problem you have with her — from the amount of time she spends on the phone to her table manners. The most efficient way to defuse the situation is to focus on solving the problem at hand.
Also, don’t take cheap shots, and don’t try to win the argument by hurting her feelings or making her cry. Name-calling is obviously out of bounds. You wouldn’t stand by while another man called your significant other names, so why would it be OK for you to do it?
Don’t act on jealousy
Shakespeare called jealousy “the green-eyed monster,” and monstrous are its consequences; that is, if you let it get out of control.
There’s a difference between healthy and unhealthy jealousy, and you need to be aware of the distinction if you hope to handle the tough times. In any relationship, both partners are going to periodically struggle with jealousy. If you’re the jealous one, make sure to act only on facts and not on suspicion. Just because you don’t know where she was last night, doesn’t necessarily mean she was cheating. Be rational. If she’s never given you a reason to suspect her of cheating, don’t treat her like a felon. If she’s the jealous party, try reasoning with her. If that doesn’t work, get a third party to act as referee. A mutual friend will be able to tell the two of you whether her jealousy is warranted or not.
If you can handle the tough times in a relationship, then you’ll both be happier…
Avoid dangerous argument topics
Occasionally, to handle the tough times, you need to take some preventative measures. One way to keep your relationship out of trouble is to avoid certain arguments. Some topics are just too hot to handle, like her sense of style, for example. You might think she’d benefit from hearing your opinion on her wardrobe choices, but you would be very, very wrong. Stay away from radioactive topics such as her weight and her clothes and you’ll be a lot happier in the long run.
Apologize sincerely
Sometimes the best way to handle the tough times is to just admit that you were wrong. Every good general knows when to retreat. On occasion, it’s best to give a little ground and live to fight another day. In other words, a sincere apology can save a relationship. If you’ve hit a rough patch in your relationship, and you’re partly to blame, man up and admit your mistake. Be sincere in your apology and make sure — whatever you do — you don’t commit the same crime again. The fight will be twice as bad next time. Saying “I’m sorry” is a sign of maturity, and if you start admitting your mistakes, she’ll be more likely to admit hers.
tough time tips
Of course, in some situations the only solution to the problem, the only way to handle the tough times, is to take a break and put some space between you and your significant other. When taking a break it’s essential that you establish some ground rules before you part ways. Can you see other people? How often are you going to call each other? For advice on those issues, and more ways to handle the tough times, check out The Guy’s Guide to Romance.
‘The Daily Princetonian’ editorial board denounces the screening, saying porn is ‘not designed to communicate, persuade or express’
PRINCETON, N.J.—A simmering campus controversy is dogging the decision by Princeton University’s student government body (USG) to grant $1,500 to a student group called Let’s Talk Sex (LeTS), which plans to schedule an event during the current semester that includes the screening of clips from pornographic films followed by a discussion with a porn industry director or actor.
The money was granted during a USG meeting Feb. 21. By March 2, students opposed to the screening had organized an online petition, which has since garnered 236 signatures. According to a March 6 article in The Daily Princetonian, “A sizable number of the signatories, however, are Princeton alumni or individuals not affiliated with the University.” The article says that Anscombe Society President Shivani Radhakrishnan, who also is a member of The Daily Princetonian editorial board, started the petition.
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“Pornography portrays women as objects of sexual desire and normalizes this objectification,” said Radhakrishnan. “In addition to these social costs, there are health costs [like] addiction.”
LeTS president Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux said the screening, which was approved by a majority vote of the USG Senate, will take place. “We’re still in the planning stages, and we will release more information about the exact nature of the event when we know what the date will be,” she said.
According to USG president Michael Yaroshefsky, there was nothing unusual about the LeTS event request or the approval process that followed.
“A disbursement of over $1,000, it must also be approved by a majority vote of the USG Senate,” he said. “Before coming before the Senate, this funding was vetted by the Projects Board and found to be eligible for funding.”
Monday, however, The Daily Princetonian editorial board published an editorial that argued against using USG funds to screen porn clips, even if there is a discussion afterwards. Radhakrishnan recused herself from voting on the editorial.
The complete text follows:
The majority correctly argues that the University is a place for intellectual inquiry. To that end, it should foster speech that is intended to be a part of intellectual and artistic expression. Several issues arise, however, in airing pornography as part of any presentation meant to foster discussion. In terms of its pertinence to the presentation, pornography is not designed to communicate, persuade or express—it is intended to cause sexual arousal. As such, the screening of the pornography, while providing a visual aid to the speaker, is not necessary for the sake of the talk. It serves merely as a presentational tool. But such utility must be weighed against the larger concern that arises from the screening.
Many of the opponents of pornography find not only its production and existence but also the act of watching pornographic images to be deeply problematic and immoral. Whether or not such convictions and beliefs arise from moral inclination, the screening of pornography prevents many opponents from attending the event. They literally cannot watch the pornography, even in the context of the lecture, for that act of viewing pornographic images is itself immoral.
The addition of pornography to this lecture thus actually undermines its central goal—to foster dialogue. No matter the potential artistic merit or presentational benefit provided by airing pornography, this screening all but prevents its opponents from attending. It undermines both the University and Let’s Talk Sex’s goal of encouraging dialogue, and for that reason, it should be prevented.
Cases related to child pornography showed the largest increase
TOKYO—Japan’s national police agency has reported a marked increase in the amount of cyber-crime committed in 2009. With crime up almost 6 percent over 2008, police said they took some sort of official action, including arrests, in 6,690 cases during the year. The numbers are the highest on record since data was first collected in 2000.
The largest number of cases was for child pornography, which nearly doubled to 507, police said. Cases concerning the illegal access of bank websites and other database breaches jumped to 2,534 cases, surging by more than 45 percent and setting another record.
Cases of copyright infringements also rose by more than 30 percent, to 188 cases, but online auctions fraud, which had presented a serious problem, fell by 54 percent to 522 cases after major sites such as Rakuten and Yahoo improved their settlement systems. They now prevent sellers from being paid before goods are delivered.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Adult stars Jenna Haze and Sasha Grey lead the top 10 list of porn stars users of the RealTouch haptic virtual sex system most enjoy having sex with, according to the creator of the product, AEBN.
RealTouch enables users to watch encoded adult movie clips on their computer screens and virtually experience the same sensual feelings of having sex with the adult actresses.
AEBN said the selections made by RealTouch owners during the month of February 2010 have been tabulated and winners in order are: Jenna Haze, Sasha Grey, Ashlynn Brooke, Bree Olson, Lisa Ann, Alexis Texas, Tori Black, Jenna Jameson, Lexi Belle and Faye Reagan.
The most frequently downloaded movies for Jenna Haze and Sasha Grey were their scenes from Zero Tolerance’s “POV Centerfolds” series, AEBN said.
“This is clearly a snapshot of which girls were most appealing in February. We expect to see some changes in March. Both Joslyn James (alleged ex-Tiger Woods paramour) and Tanner Mayes seem awfully close to breaking through into the top ten at this point,” said Scott Rinaldo, RealTouch Product Manager.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A state senator is proposing legislation that would ban state employees traveling on business from staying at hotels that offer violent, pay-per-view porn.
According to USAToday.com, Democratic Senator Tarryl Clark of St. Cloud proposed the legislation.
The bill, however, would not include non-violent sex videos. It’s not clear who would screen the movies and how the state would define “violence.”
Under the proposal, Minnesota would establish a list of approved hotels where employees can stay. Hotels not on the list would be considered as having violent porn.
In 2008, a coalition of groups met with Marriot International officials to urge them to stop offering porn in hotel rooms.
LOS ANGELES — Ecommerce operators take note: mobile use is apparently ascending so quickly that even Google is proclaiming the imminent end of desktop computing.
“In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant,” Google Europe chief John Herlihy said at the recent Digital Landscapes conference in Dublin, adding, “In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs.”
Herlihy underscored the increasing importance of mobile technology and the pivotal role it will play in Google’s future — and in the future of global communications overall, including the positive impact it will have on evolving business trends.
“Mobile makes the world’s information universally accessible,” Herlihy told the audience. “Because there’s more information and because it will be hard to sift through it all, that’s why search will become more and more important. This will create new opportunities for new entrepreneurs to create new business models — ubiquity first, revenue later.”
This tactic of quick-to-market capitalization requires a nimble corporate culture.
“We seek ubiquity and then pray for luck,” Herlihy offered. “We learn from bad decisions. If something is wrong, we kill it as soon as possible, take everybody out and move onto a different project as soon as possible.”
According to Herlihy, Google allows nothing to get in the way of giving value to consumers.
“Customers today have more choices and are more aware of our competitors’ offerings,” Herlihy said. “Unless we can serve them 24/7, 365 days a year, competitors will eat our lunch. There is a level of paranoia there.”
With Google’s increasing emphasis on the mobile marketplace, “mobility” is what the company will soon be all about — and the benefits for modern adult marketers could bring in a renewed round of industry entrepreneurship.
“At the end of the day it’s the customer who owns the cash,” he concluded. “That’s why we construct our organization to deliver value. The underlying framework is to make it easier for people to do business, solve problems and move on.”
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — X2K Media has announced that the 6th annual Phoenix Forum Charity Golf Tournament will be held on Wednesday, April 7.
The event will be held at Ocotillo Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz., and will kick off the highly anticipated 11th Annual Phoenix Forum trade show in Tempe, Ariz., being held April 8-10 at the Tempe Mission Palms Resort.
“The signature Golf Tournament is a staple in kicking off a fantastic week of business and fun in Arizona,” said an event rep, which described the tournament as a four man scramble that always fills up fast.
“The day will consist of VIP shuttle service from the host and surrounding hotels to the Golf Club sponsored by CCBill, players will then register and enjoy coffee and juice, followed by the National Net putting contest and a shotgun tee start time at 12:00 p.m. sharp,” the rep stated, adding that “On the course will be a number of contests, models, bars, food and even some golf, happy hour to be followed by awards, dinner and raffleTransportation will be provided back to the hotels as well.”
Proceeds of the tournament will help support the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) and the Free Speech Coalition (FSC).
“I am excited as always to kick off one of my favorite shows of the year,” X2K Owner Stephen Bugbee said. “This is an amazing event that supports a couple great causes and I am fortunate that I and my company are able to be such a large part of the show.”
The event is sponsored by Epoch, CCbill, Cold Hard Cash, CE-Cash, National Net, NetBilling, DatingGold, Exit-Chat, MPA3, Playboy, Adult.com, Premiere Partner Technologies, Cherry Pimps and Video Secrets; with further sponsorship opportunities available for the golf event. Some of the sponsorships include an Epoch Bloody Mary bar, CE Cash $50,000 hole in one; keg hole and numerous contest holes as well as the 19th hole Happy Hour.
Registration is now open at www.webmastergolftour.com.
Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, center, said Sunday that his party does not currently have ‘a mortal lock’ on the necessary votes to pass health care reform in the House.
Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, center, said Sunday that his party does not currently have ‘a mortal lock’ on the necessary votes to pass health care reform in the House.
Washington (CNN) – Despite a call from the White House for health care legislation to pass this month, key Democrats on Sunday avoided any promises about how soon the next steps may come.
“I believe it will pass. Do we have a mortal lock? No,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Questions remain about specifics of the final legislation, and until then “it’s going to be hard to get people to commit” to a vote in the House, he added.
The president’s own secretary of Health and Human Services skirted repeated questions about the timeline set by the White House.
“I think the president has called for an up or down vote. I’m confident that we’ll have that up or down vote,” Kathleen Sebelius told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Pressed about whether the president would come back to the legislation if it does not pass this month, she responded, “I think it’s realistic because the American people are desperate for something to help them.”
She added, “the time clock is not about… a Congressional tick-tock – what Americans want is something to be done.”
The administration has called for the sweeping legislation to be at the president’s desk before the Easter vacation at the end of the month. And it has set an even earlier date for the House to vote on the Senate’s version of the bill – one of two major steps in passing the bill.
“The president leaves for Indonesia and Australia on March 18th, and… I believe that, based on conversations that I’ve had in the building, that we’re on schedule to get this through the House by then,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday.
The second major step in the Democrats’ strategy – having the Senate vote on a separate package of amendments to the bill through a simple majority vote using a process called budget reconciliation – would “come closely thereafter,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs added that he was “not setting a deadline,” but going by conversations with people about a schedule.
Two Democratic leadership aides told CNN last week that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is aiming to have the House complete its action by March 17. They said language in the legislation would be posted in the coming days, and that final language would be available 72 hours before a vote.
Deadlines come and gone have been a staple of President Obama’s efforts to push through health care reform. “State of the Union” on Sunday ran a montage of clips of the president from the past year, first calling for a final bill “before the August recess,” then for getting “health care done by the end
of this year.”
But the latest prodding is unlikely to trigger the kind of rush the White House wants.
“People are still looking at some of the changes that are being made to the bill,” Van Hollen told “State of the Union.”
He added that “until people have a final product that they are able to look at and the Congressional Budget Office, our referee on budget issues, says whether or not this will do what the earlier bills did, then I think it’s going to be hard to get people to commit.”
Fellow Democratic Rep. Brian Baird, D-Washington, remains undecided about whether he will support the legislation. A practicing neuropsychologist before being elected to Congress, the retiring congressman told CNN he applauds the president and the party “for taking this difficult challenge on.”
“The question is: Is this the best way we can do reform? And it is very complicated. It will be expensive, though to its credit, both bills, the House bill and the Senate bill, will be largely paid for and actually reduce the deficit over time,” he said, adding that he “would have approached it perhaps a good bit differently.”
The Senate’s top Republican, meanwhile, made clear his party won’t relax any of his efforts to halt the reform package however it can.
“What the American people would like us to do is not make this gargantuan mistake, in spite of Secretary Sebelius’ best efforts,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told ABC’s “This Week.”
And if the bill does go through, avoiding a Republican filibuster in the Senate by using the reconciliation tactic, the battle moves to its next stage.
“Every election this fall will be a referendum on this bill,” McConnell warned.
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