Phatforums-Blog

Meggan Mallone

Age: 23
Height: 5’8″
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair color: Brown
E-mail Comments

BIOGRAPHY

Meggan Mallone is a Texas beauty of Cherokee extraction. She became a Vivid Girl in 2008 at the age of 21.

Meggan is an outgoing, gorgeous green-eyed brunette who is 5’8′ tall with a slender and athletic body. Once a cheerleader at Houston’s Lamar High School, she parlayed her all-American good looks into assignments as a mainstream fashion model in Houston before she decided to visit L.A. Shortly after she arrived in California she was invited to pose for glamor photographers such as Steven Hicks and Earl Miller. She met her agent John Stevens at that time and he showed her photos to Vivid director B. Skow. Vivid immediately offered her an exclusive contract with the company.

Meggan’s mother is a full-blooded Cherokee from Oklahoma, who gave her the Indian name “Moonstar.” Meggan says her Irish-German father, who died when she was 18, instilled in her a strong work ethic and taught her to make her own decisions.

Meggan had a pretty normal childhood, which included church on Sundays and frequent Girl Scout outings. In addition to being a high school cheerleader she competedon the swim team, was a member of the French Club and worked on the school student-run TV news channel as a producer and on-air reporter.

“My friends say that I’m bubbly and animated and I think they’re right,” says Meggan. “I have a lot of energy and love sports and definitely have a positive attitude towards life. I’mcertainly excited about being a Vivid Girl and hope to break some of the stereotypes people have about adult stars. I can only say, watch out world, I’m coming!” The multi-talented actress once had dreams of being a famous ice skater and now asa Vivid Girl she jokes, “Maybe I could be the first nude, ice skating star in the adult industry.”

Related Links:

• No Related Links

BARCELONA—The owner of the affiliate program HowIGotRich.com commented Friday about the Wednesday arrest of two of his crew members. Florida police charged the men with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child. Tampa police on Thursday also searched the HowIGotRich offices and seized computers, money and documents, according to owner Dirty D, whose real name is Michael Storm.

Storm’s companies include Web Wizard Inc., talent agency TampaNudeModels.com, the aforementioned HowIGotRich.com and a network of adult websites that include PartyWildNaked.com. TheaterSluts.com and GloryHoleGirlz.com. His content is distributed on DVD by Kick Ass Pictures.

The charges apparently are based on accusations made by a female performer who Storm said has used several aliases, including Kelsey Cummings, while shooting for other companies in the industry. Published reports from 2008 refer to the young woman as “Brandy.” According to police records, the HowIGotRich crew members and Storm encouraged her to say she was 18 before the shoot took place, even though they knew she was 17 at the time.

“Wednesday, two police departments arrested Stephen Shawn Chastain, 36, and Ryan Jay Holtz, 24, and charged them with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child,” reported the St. Petersburg Times Friday. “According to an arrest warrant, Chastain and Michael Storm, also known as ‘Dirty D,’ were present when Holtz asked the girl if she had her fake identification. Storm, 44, gave her a release form to sign and said he knew she was only 17, the warrant states. Chastain said he would pay her $500.”

Speaking from his hotel room in Barcelona, where he had travelled to attend the Barcelona Summit adult webmaster event, Storm told AVN.com the charges are utterly without merit and only self-implicate the performer.

According to Storm, while the Times article says the shoot in question took place in 2007, it actually took place sometime before October in 2008. Because he is out of the country and away from his 2257 and other records—some of which may have been seized—Storm said he is unsure of the exact date. But he did say the first admission from the performer that she had used a fake ID surfaced in Dec. 2008. Despite immediately removing from his site all images, video and promotional material depicting the performer, Storm told AVN.com that for reasons he still does not understand, the performer’s story recently changed again, resulting in the arrest of his crew.

According to Storm, Cummings originally sought him out.

“She responded to some of our Craigslist ads, and eventually a suitcase pimp brought her over,” he said. “She produced ID, filled out the model release, and we proceeded to shoot some scenes that were really nothing out of the ordinary. She rode the Sybian and did a glory hole [scene] during the shoot. There were absolutely no complaints during the shoot.”

It was months later that he first learned about the fake ID accusation in a story posted on AdultFYI.

“That December, she made her first claim about the fake ID, and now [in 2010] she’s making a claim that I was aware that it was a fake ID,” Storm told AVN.com on Friday. “These are the radical differences [in her story]. Why she is doing this, I have no idea, but we shot her husband [after the 2008 shoot], and they have each shot [other adult content for other producers] before and after her shoot. Nothing was out of the ordinary with this shoot.”

While the husband was not the suitcase pimp who originally brought Cummings to the set, Storm said the husband was fully aware of the shoot. As far as the accusation that he or any of his crew suggested she lie about her age, Storm vehemently denies that charge, and others.

“It never happened,” he told AVN.com. “Neither me nor any of my crew ever asked her for a fake ID. That simply never happened. She also said that one of my crew discussed with her how much we would pay, and that’s not true, either. I’m the only one who discusses what we pay. She says that I handed her the model release, but typically I don’t even talk with the girl until after she’s produced ID and filled out the model release. It’s just one of those things: Girls flake out, sometimes don’t even fill out the paperwork and storm off, so I’ve made it a habit not even to talk with them until after all of the paperwork is done.

“In fact,” he added, “all of her statements are totally false. We were totally unaware that there was any problem with her ID until months later, when she made the claim that it was a fake ID. But that was the only claim at that point. Since then, the claim has changed dramatically to us knowing and conspiring to use the fake ID, which is blatantly false. I also just learned of a new claim being made that during the shoot, we somehow encouraged her to continue, or I grabbed her arm or something. None of that ever happened, either.”

Regarding the December claim that a fake ID was used, Storm has no clue how or why the allegation came about.

“It wasn’t even a complaint,” he said, “but just a statement she made that she used a fake ID. It appeared on AdultFYI, and I’m not quite sure where the statement originated from or who passed it on. There are definitely some haters out there that are encouraging bad things to happen.

“Once the initial claim was made that she used a fake ID, we immediately took all of her content down, contacted all of our affiliates and removed all of her promotional material, because it’s just not worth it,” he said. “If someone makes some kind of crazy claim like that, it’s impossible to verify. I can’t tell what her age actually was; I can’t tell anything, if she actually lied to me and committed fraud and identity theft. Right away, she’s already admitted to all three of those things, but somehow, all of a sudden, me and my crew knew about all of it and are a part of the conspiracy.”

Storm said if the girl in fact lied and was underage at the time of she shot for him, then there may be other producers out there with her content still on the market, because she said she had performed in adult content previously.

“When she showed up, she told us that she had shot porn before,” he said. “We talked about it. She talked about her husband shooting porn, and how surprised she was to have found out he shot porn by seeing him in a gay scene. So she already had a portfolio and was actively seeking adult gigs when she came to us. She’d already shot; her husband already shot. I don’t remember if we looked any of it up at the time, but I have an interview I videotaped where she talks about it. She had details.”

Storm said that he has been in communication with his attorney, but is unclear at the moment whether an arrest warrant for him has been issued, though he assumes that one has. He said that he has no intention of avoiding the situation by remaining overseas, but needs to coordinate his return through his legal team, which he is currently putting together. He did comment that he had seen a copy of the search warrant for his offices, and it contained a few irregularities.

“I have a copy of the search warrant, which lists only computer equipment,” he said. “Everything on the warrant starts with the word ‘computer;’ however, they took banking records, lots of cash and lots of other things that have nothing to do with the search warrant, and that’s a shame. It’s clearly been done to make it impossible for me to conduct any business.

“I believe a copy of AVN magazine was seized, as well,” he added. “In fact, I can pretty much guarantee it.”

Though Storm expressed confidence that he and his crew will be exonerated, his greater concern is for what situations like this mean for the industry as a whole.

“I think the risk is to the entire adult industry,” he said. “We all shoot models all the time. A claim [by a performer] that they used a fake ID is something that can happen to any company that produces adult material. We check their IDs to make sure they’re 18, but if we’re being lied to and fraud is being committed and if identity theft is being committed, who’s the criminal? Who committed the crime just now? That’s the issue. And to do it months after the fact even opens it up more, because most companies shoot lots and lots of people, so the risk is huge when someone decides to just change their mind.”

Storm said he is consoled by the fact that content producers are not required by law to ensure government-issued IDs presented by performers are in fact legitimate. The new allegations, he added, are of concern to him, but while he believes there is more than ample evidence to show they were fabricated, it is the state’s apparently lax standards that have him decidedly peeved.

“I have no idea if Florida is trying to send a message,” he said, “but what I do know is that they are betting on someone who is an admitted liar and has admitted to committing fraud and identity theft. If that’s their witness against me, then the standard is now very low for attacking any adult company.”

The added irony, Dirty D said before signing off, is that he is known for not shooting performers close to the age of consent.

“First of all, it just about never happens that an underage girl wants to shoot with us, but if it does, we just tell her to come back a couple of months after her birthday,” he said. “I don’t even joke around with it and tell them to come back a day after their birthday. We just don’t do barely legal stuff. It’s not what I’m known for.”

AVN.com has requested a copy of the police report and will continue to follow this story as it develops.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

A man who says he recovered from sex addiction says he prayed for Tiger Woods and his wife when the scandal broke.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Sex obsession likened to a meth addict looking for next drug hit
* 3 to 5 percent of Americans could have an addiction to sex, says group
* Psychiatry doesn’t have official diagnosis of sexual addiction

RELATED TOPICS

* Sexual and Reproductive Health
* Tiger Woods
* Mental Health Treatments
* Mental Health

(CNN) — When Jack Rogers first heard media reports of Tiger Woods’ multiple extramarital affairs, the first thing he did was say a little prayer for Woods and his wife. The second thing he did was tally up the number of women who claimed to have had sex with the famous golfer.

“I said to myself, ‘My God, that’s some body count,’ ” Rogers remembers.

Jack Rogers — that’s not his real name — knows a little something about body count because he has one of his own: In the first 20 years of his marriage, he says, he slept with some 50 women. While some view Woods as just an unfaithful louse who was looking for a good time, Rogers sees him as a sex addict.

What’s the difference? Rogers, who works in the high-tech industry in Washington and has two children, says his whole life was geared around how he would have his next orgasm, in the same way a methamphetamine addict is constantly trying to find his next drug hit.

Between women and pornography, “I was having three, four, five orgasms a day,” he says. “As soon as I was done with one I was thinking about how I was going to get the next one. Sex was controlling my life, and I was miserable.”

Confessions of a sex addict

Now 49, Rogers says his addiction began at age 16.

“I would have sex for hours and hours at a time, and then go look at pornography,” he remembers. “Sex was my all-consuming endpoint.”

While some young men might brag about their sexual conquests, Rogers was the opposite. He kept his sex life a secret, seeking out girls who didn’t attend his high school.

He says no one suspected.

“I was elected all-school president,” he says. “I was well thought of. I earned a full scholarship to the University of Washington. If you’d met me, you’d think, ‘Wow, I want to give that kid a scholarship.’ ”

He continued to be obsessed with sex in college. “The day Mount Saint Helens blew up, everyone was talking about it. But I didn’t even know it happened because I was having sex all that day,” he remembers.

He was never faithful to a girlfriend, and although he married at age 25, he was never at any point faithful to his wife.

“I was having affairs while we were engaged,” he says.

His quest for sex started at 4 in the morning, when he would wake up to get in touch with the women he was seeing on the East Coast. The rest of the day was spent mapping out his sexual activities. Some of the women he had sex with were colleagues. Others were prostitutes. Some were women he met by chance.

“I could meet a woman on the elevator and be having sex in her apartment two days later,” he says. “I would just get a feeling, from the amount of eye contact or the type of eye contact, that a person would be open to the idea.”

He says he usually had two or three affairs going on at one time, but didn’t actually derive pleasure from them. “I wanted to stop and I couldn’t,” he says. “I was miserable. It was a horrible way to live.”

How do you know if you’re a sex addict?

Jay Parker, a dependency counselor who runs a program for sex addicts in Redmond, Washington, called “No More Secrets,” says an intense interest in sex doesn’t mean someone is a sex addict.

“It’s like with alcohol — everyone who gets a DUI isn’t an alcoholic,” he says. “There are people who have errors in judgment — they’re not addicts.”

So how do you know when someone’s behavior has crossed the line into addiction?

According to the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health, an estimated 3 to 5 percent of Americans could fall in the category of having an addiction to sex.

However, it’s important to note that the official handbook of psychiatric diagnoses, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, doesn’t include a diagnosis for sexual addiction. Some therapists, like Craig Fabrikant, a clinical psychologist at the Hackensack University Medical Center, doubts such a thing even exists.

“I think it’s more of a habit than an addiction,” he says. “I would classify it as OCD — more of an obsession or compulsion than an addiction.”

But professional arguments aside, Fabrikant agrees that people like Rogers who are miserable or dysfunctional because their sex lives are out of control need professional help — and that the first step is to recognize when they have a problem.

Click here to see checklists devised by the Sexual Recovery Institute and the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health to help you determine whether you have a sexual addiction. If you answer yes to a high number of questions on any checklist, you may have a problem.

Here are some general ways to know you might have crossed the line from healthy sexual interest to sexual addiction or compulsion:

1. You lie

For Parker, the sex addiction counselor, this is the No. 1 way you know you’ve crossed the line: when you make up stories to get sex.

“If you lie with women to get them to have sex with you, you’re a predator and an addict,” he says.

2. Sex consumes you

If your interest in sex runs your life, you have a problem, says Robert Weiss, a social worker and founder of the Sexual Recovery Institute. He says addicts “are always preoccupied with hitting on someone, or picking someone up, or getting home to look at porn before their spouse comes home.”

3. You’re “divorced, dead, fired or arrested”

If you continue your sexual activities even under threat of being “divorced, dead, fired or arrested,” you’re an addict, Parker says.

“They ignore the consequences,” Weiss adds. “They say, ‘I could really screw up myself here, but I’m going to continue to do it.’ ”

4. You have an intense interest in pornography

“The pornography piece of this cannot be overstated,” Parker says. “Show me a guy who’s having sex with three women in one week, and I promise you he has a relationship with pornography.”

5. You want to stop and you can’t

Sexual addiction is defined by a loss of control, Weiss says.

“I was totally out of control. I tried to stop and I couldn’t,” Rogers says.

Five years ago, when the misery got to be too much, Rogers confessed his addiction to his wife and checked himself into an inpatient treatment program for a month, which included not having orgasms alone or with anyone else.

After leaving the treatment center, he continued on outpatient treatment, and has not cheated on his wife again.

In treatment, Rogers was not allowed to engage in any type of sexual activity or look at pornography. He also did what he called “psychodrama,” looking at situations from his past that might have led to his addiction, including being sexually abused repeatedly at age 7 by an older boy in his neighborhood. In other sessions, counselors helped him understand the effect he’d had on his wife and children, the women he’d slept with, and their families.

His wife joined him for two days at the program. He read her his “disclosure letter” describing his sexual activities over the past 20 years.

“She knew about the pornography and masturbation, but she didn’t know about the affairs or the prostitutes,” he says. “So it was very difficult to her to receive this information, just in terms of the sheer numbers of women.”

In the last week of treatment, he and his doctors mapped out what his life would look like back home after recovery. He sees a counselor and goes to a 12-step recovery program. “In my first 365 days after treatment, I went to 523 meetings,” he says.

Early on in his recovery he did sometimes look at Internet pornography, but a software program he installed on his computer alerted his wife and sponsor in his support group, and he stopped looking at porn.

Gradually, Rogers says, he learned how to have a healthy sex life with his wife.

“That’s what we aim for,” Parker says. “We’re not trying to turn someone into a monk. He needs to learn how to have sex like a gentleman.”

Related Links:

• No Related Links

Stronger manufacturing has boosted US growth

The US economy grew at an annualised rate of 5.9% in the last three months of 2009, revised official figures have shown.

The rate is higher than the first estimate of 5.7%.

The figures confirm the world’s largest economy is emerging rapidly from recession.

According to economists, the rise was down to an increase in manufacturing output rather than stronger consumer spending.

In fact, growth in consumer spending was revised down from 2% to 1.7% in the quarter.

Manufacturing rose to meet the demand from retailers and businesses who had allowed stock levels to fall.

Business spending on equipment and software, for example, saw an 18.2% rise, while exports of US goods rose by 22.4% – the fastest pace in 13 years.

Sustainable pace?

While the swift pace of recovery in the economy has impressed many economists, few expect the rate to be sustained.

“[This is] nothing to change our view that GDP growth will maintain a rapid pace in the first half of this year, before slowing sharply in the second,” commented Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.

A recent fall in consumer confidence and a persistently high rate of unemployment are also causes for concern.

Consumer confidence slumped to a 10-month low in February, while the rate of unemployment remains close to 10% and is expected to remain high for the rest of the year according to the Federal Reserve.

Separately, sales of previously-owned US homes in January fell to the lowest level since the summer.

The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 7.2% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, much more than forecast and down from 5.44 million in December.

Economists had been expecting an increase from the previous month.

“Today’s figure is certainly not good news in terms of sales,” said Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

BEIJING—Not to be outdone by the governments in Australia, France or Iran, China, the leading contender in the World Censorship Olympics, has increased its lead this week with the news that people who want to start .cn websites will now have to submit to an application process that will ensure that they are … well, we really don’t have a clue what the Chinese government wants to see from these people other than something they don’t want to see.

“To apply, an individual must visit his or her local Internet service provider’s office, submit an identification card and pose for a photograph,” reported the Los Angeles Times. “Applications will then be sent to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for review.”

One is probably safe in assuming, then, that the review process includes scrubbing the ID card against all manner of databases, including ones belonging to the police and governmental agencies that keep track of suspected dissidents. It is highly questionable that they will have a way to scrub for people interested in opening an adult-oriented site, despite the official party line that the rule is to root out the porners.

“Internet security needs to be cured from its roots,” a government official said Sunday.

The Times reports experts as saying that people will now try to create their sites overseas.

“Things will definitely be much more difficult now,” the paper quotes Chen Nan, a webmaster for an information technology site, as saying. “But people are just going to turn to dot-com domains. If you’re not doing anything sensitive, you don’t have to worry about getting blocked.”

One suggestion, though. If ICANN approves .XXX, Chinese citizens should avoid it at all cost.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has not indicated when the new rule will go into effect.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

‘
NEW YORK — Digital Playground contract girl Riley Steele got the full porn star treatment on her visit to the Howard Stern show today.

Steele took a ride on the Sybian sex machine, spoke about her school days masturbation, blow job skills and her visit to Kid Rock’s bondage room at the Hard Rock Hotel.

The re-cap on HowardStern.com told of how Steele was “born to be a porn star.” She said she started masturbating in preschool, used to blow the father of some kids she babysat and first hooked up with girls when she was in elementary school: “I don’t really connect with guys on an emotional level,” she said.

Steele said she’s improved her oral sex skills since her early days, citing fellow porn star Erik Everhard as the person who gave her the best tips. Stern asked how male porn stars like Erik could last so long with her, but Steele said she didn’t know: “Maybe they’re on drugs or something?”

The site noted that Steele told the crew that she was once hired to dance on-stage at one of Kid Rock’s Las Vegas performances and later went back to his room at the Hard Rock – a typical VIP room except for the bondage room. “It was pretty hardcore stuff,” she said. She added that she got it on with fellow porn star Jesse Jane in the room — but made it sound like Rock didn’t join them.

Riley then jumped on the Sybian sex machine as Stern guest actor Tracy Morgan manned the controls, getting Riley to orgasm in just a couple of minutes. “When she hopped off, Morgan snatched the rubber attachment she’d ridden, saying he was taking as a souvenir. Morgan said, “This is gonna be in my homemade Smithsonian,” the website reported.

The interview is scheduled to air repeatedly on Sirius XM channel 100 and also air on Howard TV on the On-Demand channel and on all Howard TV cable channels beginning Friday, February 26 at midnight, EST for one month.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

The Great Male Survey of 2009 is complete, and there are a few surprising characteristics that apply to the Player’s area of romantic and sexual expertise. While some of the statistics were expected, others only proved that while men have a workable understanding of that mystery we know as “woman,” we still fall a little short. For instance, there’s a good amount of passiveness and insecurity out there: The majority have withheld the details of their sexual fantasies, and one in every five men would read the private mail of a woman who they perceived to be “up to something.” On the other hand, there are some encouraging results that should bode well for the future — and when next year rolls around, perhaps we’ll find more trends that indicate a rising population of confident, capable and above all else, understanding men. In the meantime, the Player has compiled a list of tips, based on the Great Male Survey results, which should prove useful in bettering your love lives.
Let go of your inhibitions
When I read that 57% of men hadn’t told their wives or girlfriends about their sexual fantasies, I had to frown in disappointment. One of the chief failings of relationships is a lack of intimacy, and more in relation to the Player, this lack of openness closes doors and flies in the face of everything the ladies’ man stands for: maintaining a satisfactory love life by remaining open to new ideas and new adventures. On the intimacy side of things, telling a woman your sexual fantasies is an indication of trust and indicates a real willingness to expose the deepest recesses of your soul. Unless your fantasies involve some seriously depraved (or perhaps even dangerous) stuff, the relation of your amorous dreams can only have a positive impact on your relationship. If you’re out cruising the women in true Player fashion, tear down some of the walls that stand between you and your innermost desires.
Take responsibility for the sexual heat
One of the more obvious — and yet hardly surprising — discrepancies found in the survey results is that 76% of men believe that couples with healthy sex lives have sex multiple times per week — and yet, only 33% actually have sex on that consistent basis. Furthermore, less than half of the participants (46%) said they’re only “somewhat satisfied with their sex lives” while another 19% said they’re “not at all satisfied.” One may claim that it’s the age-old problem, in that men never get to have sex as often as they wish. While it may be true that men complain more often about a lack of sex, you would be surprised to learn how often women do the same. They’re just not as loud about it. It takes two to tango and therefore, you must accept at least some of the responsibility; in any relationship, be it a fling or a marriage, the man must keep the sexual heat turned up high. In short, keep things unpredictable and spontaneous.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

Terms of the settlement are confidential

LOS ANGELES—In 2005, seven months after suing Google for infringing its copyrighted works by posting thumbnail versions of its photos in search results, Perfect 10 and owner Norm Zada did the exact same thing with Amazon. After years of roller-coaster rulings by a variety of courts—with most going against Perfect 10—the parties in the Amazon lawsuit settled their differences Tuesday in a federal courthouse in Los Angeles.

“Lawyers for Amazon.com and Perfect 10…said the companies had settled the case,” reports Business Week. “Terms of the settlement were confidential and wouldn’t be disclosed, Jeffrey Mausner, a lawyer for Perfect 10, said after the hearing. Anthony Malutta, a lawyer for Amazon.com, declined to comment.”

In the last major pronouncement on the cases, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007 ultimately ruled neither Google nor Amazon directly infringed Perfect 10′s copyright by posting thumbnail images, but the appellate panel kicked the question of secondary liability back to disctrict court.

“Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit panel found that Perfect 10 had a clear copyright to at least some of the images in question, and since Google did reproduce tiny versions of those images (“thumbnails”), the District Court ruled that Perfect 10 would probably succeed in establishing at trial that Google had violated its copyright,” Mark Kernes wrote at the time. “The question then became, as the Ninth Circuit framed it, whether Google could show that it could prove ‘fair use’ under the Copyright Act and/or the [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] as a legitimate defense. While the Ninth Circuit absolved Google (and later Amazon.com) of any direct liability for infringing on Perfect 10′s images, it refrained from doing so on the question of secondary liability.”

While Perfect 10 continues to insist that Google has violated DMCA provisions and thus lost its “fair use” protection, instead of going back into court for a full trial to determine the secondary liability aspects of Amazon.com’s linkage to full-sized Perfect 10 images on third-party sites, the two parties apparently have decided to settle their differences privately.

It remains to be seen whether Perfect 10 and Google arrive at a similar understanding.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Democrats, Republicans spar before bipartisan health care summit
* Olympia Snowe, who voted for health care reform plan in Senate, declines invite
* Democrats discuss possibility of reconciliation to move legislation; GOP warn of backlash

Watch the summit LIVE on CNN.com, starting at 10 a.m. ET.

Washington (CNN) — The day before the White House’s bipartisan summit on health care reform, there didn’t appear to be much mood for compromise on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Chris Dodd, a key author of the Senate health care bill, told reporters flatly Wednesday that if Republicans continue to demand that Democrats scrap their health care proposals and start over, “then there’s nothing to talk about.”

“If you expect me to start all over on this, there’s really not much point in this, ’cause we’re not going to start over,” Dodd said.

But Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell argued that’s exactly what Republicans want.

“Unless they’re willing to do that, I think it’s nearly impossible to imagine a scenario under which we can reach agreement because we don’t think we ought to pass a 2,700-page bill that seeks to restructure one-sixth of our economy,” McConnell said.

Dodd said Democrats and Republicans could find some common ground in some areas, such as a Republican push to allow insurers to sell insurance across state lines. Dodd called the GOP proposal “a legitimate issue” but added that Democrats already have a version of that proposal in their legislation.
Video: Why White House summit matters
Video: Sen. Barrasso on health care
Video: Dying for health coverage
RELATED TOPICS

* Health Care Reform
* Health Care Issues
* U.S. Politics
* Health Insurance

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennesee, will give the opening statement for the Republicans at the summit, according to two GOP sources.

However, Sen. Olympia Snowe, the only Republican to have voted for a health care reform plan in the Senate Finance Committee in October, will not attend.

Spokesman John Gentzel said the Maine senator turned down a White House invitation to attend because she understood the rules of the summit were that the Democratic and Republican leadership would select summit participants.

“The Republican leadership had long since selected their team and therefore, it would have been inappropriate for Sen. Snowe, under those circumstances, to accept the invitation,” Gentzel said.

The invitation for Snowe infuriated Senate Republicans.

One senior GOP official said that as recently as Tuesday, the White House told Republicans the room was full but then went behind their backs on Wednesday and invited two more senators. The official said there are “some real credibility issues” plaguing the health care summit.

House and Senate Democrats participating in Thursday’s summit met in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office to game out their approach for the meeting. Republicans held their own strategy session in McConnell’s office later Wednesday afternoon.

Pelosi told reporters she had “great optimism” about the meeting.

But she declined to give any specifics about how Democrats will proceed on health care reform. She also sidestepped questions about Democrats’ plans to use a controversial parliamentary shortcut to bypass GOP opposition and pass a health care bill.

What to watch at health care summit

“I’m going there to talk about substance,” she said. “We agree that we should have universal access to coverage, with affordability for the middle class and accountability for the insurance companies. That, to me, is what the subject is about tomorrow.”

But Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, admitted that Democrats did talk Wednesday morning about using “reconciliation” to move health care legislation. He said Democrats anticipate the issue will come up at Thursday’s summit.

Reconciliation is a process, limited to budget-related bills, that bypasses the Senate rule on 60 votes being needed to end debate. By using reconciliation, only a majority vote would be needed to advance a bill.

McConnell warned the political consequences would be severe if Democrats moved forward without GOP support.

Pointing to the backlash over the special deal in the Senate bill for Nebraska’s Democratic senator, Ben Nelson, to cover his state’s Medicaid costs, McConnell said, “If they think the American people are mad at them now, they haven’t seen anything yet.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this week pointed out that reconciliation has been used more than 20 times since 1981, by both parties.

Related Links:

• No Related Links

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left), President Abdullah Gul and Gen Ilker Basbug meet in Ankara, February 25 2010
Thursday’s meeting was called amid escalating tension between the government and the military

Turkey’s leaders have met the head of the armed forces, Gen Ilker Basbug, about an alleged plot to stir up chaos and justify a military coup.

After several hours of talks, the presidency said Turkey’s problems should be solved constitutionally.

The talks between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and Gen Basbug come after 20 military officers were charged over the case.

They were called amid rising tension between the government and military.

Former heads of the navy and air force are still being questioned and could yet be charged.

The military has denied any coup plot and has held its own officers’ summit to discuss the “serious situation” in the wake of the latest arrests.

The generals believe the AK Party has a hidden agenda to subvert the country’s secular system
Roger Hardy
BBC regional analyst

Turkish military faces crossroads

The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Istanbul says the Turkish government is embroiled in the greatest test yet of its authority over the armed forces.

Turkey’s military has overthrown or forced the resignation of four governments since 1960 – most recently in 1997 – though Gen Basbug has insisted that coups are a thing of the past.

The scale of Monday’s operation against the military was unprecedented. Those arrested include two serving admirals, three retired admirals and three retired generals.

A number of them are being kept in jail while 12 have reportedly been freed.

Retired air force commander Ibrahim Firtina and former navy chief Ozden Ornek arrived at court on Thursday morning for questioning.

‘Mosque plot’

Dozens of current or former members of the military have been arrested in the past few years over similar plot allegations, and some have been charged.
Former Air Force Commander Gen Ibrahim Firtina arriving at court in Istanbul, 25 Feburary 2010
Ex-Air Force head Gen Ibrahim Firtina was among those being questioned

The latest men to be charged were arrested over the so-called “sledgehammer” plot, which reportedly dates back to 2003.

Reports of the alleged plot first surfaced in the liberal Taraf newspaper, which said it had discovered documents detailing plans to bomb two Istanbul mosques and provoke Greece into shooting down a Turkish plane over the Aegean Sea.

The army has said the scenarios were discussed but only as part of a planning exercise at a military seminar.

The alleged plot is similar, and possibly linked, to the reported Ergenekon conspiracy, in which military figures and staunch secularists allegedly planned to foment unrest, leading to a coup.

Scores of people, including military officers, journalists and academics, are on trial in connection with that case.

‘Painful transformation’

Analysts say the crackdown on the military would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.

HOW ‘COUP PLOTS’ EMERGED
June 2007: Cache of explosives discovered; ex-soldiers detained
July 2008: 20 arrested, including two ex-generals and a senior journalist, for “planning political disturbances and trying to organise a coup”
July 2008: Governing AK Party narrowly escapes court ban
October 2008: 86 go on trial charged with “Ergenekon” coup plot
July 2009: 56 in dock as second trial opens
Jan 2010: Taraf newspaper reports 2003 “sledgehammer” plot to provoke coup
Feb 2010: More than 40 officers arrested over “sledgehammer”; 20 charged

The army has regarded itself as the guardian of a secular Turkish state, but its power has been eroded in recent years, with Turkey enacting reforms designed to prepare it for entry to the European Union.

Many Turks regard the cases as the latest stage in an ongoing power struggle between Turkey’s secular nationalist establishment and the governing AK Party.

Critics believe the Ergenekon and sledgehammer investigations are simply attempts to silence the government’s political and military opponents.

The AK Party has its roots in political Islam, and is accused by some nationalists of having secret plans to turn staunchly secular Turkey into an Islamic state.

The government rejects those claims, saying its intention is to modernise Turkey and move it closer to EU membership.

“Transformations may sometimes be painful,” Economy Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday.

“We are trying to make Turkey’s democracy first class.”

Related Links:

• No Related Links