but not surprising. If the dems give this up we will I guess know their stance on healthcare. Do they not realize how expensive the consequences will be.

New Right-Wing Stimulus Myth: Progressives Want To Spend ‘Hundreds Of Millions On Contraceptives’

Think Progress, By Amanda Terkel, January 26

In recent days, conservatives have been stepping up their opposition to any stimulus proposal that favors smart spending over tax cuts for businesses. To push their argument — which most economists have discredited — they have tried to call out wasteful spending in the bill. Last week, for example, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) went on a tirade about funding to revitalize the National Mall.

This week, the focus is on contraceptives. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has claimed that the package would spend “hundreds of millions on contraceptives.” Yesterday on ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) about the provision. Pelosi replied:

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

[...]

Like other portions of the stimulus bill, this measure would not only aid states, but also provide preventative, cost-saving health care to help low-income women support their families and keep working. It focuses on access to recommended services and contraception to prevent unplanned pregnancies and promote maternal and infant health — not abortion. ThinkProgress has learned that an upcoming Congressional Budget Office report estimates that this change would save $200 million over five years and $700 million over 10.

Clearly people having sex is the cause of all economic problems.

The eighth baby was the surprise

Los Angeles Times, By Jeff Gottlieb & Sam Quinones , January 27

From left, Drs. Mandhir Gupta, Karen Maples and Harold Henry discuss Monday’s birth of octuplets, the second time it has occurred in the U.S.

A team of 46 doctors, nurses and surgical assistants at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center meticulously planned the births for weeks. As the date approached, they held two practice runs. They didn't want any surprises.

But they got one anyway Monday morning when it came time for the delivery.

"We had plans for seven babies. Then we found baby H," Dr. Karen Maples said. "My eyes got to be the size of saucers."

It took only five minutes -- from 10:43 a.m. to 10:48 a.m. -- for all six boys and two girls to be delivered and processed lovingly through an assembly line of medical workers.

The mother and her medical corps had made history.

It was only the second known delivery of octuplets in the U.S., physicians and experts said.

Los Angeles Times, By Jessica Garrison, Andrew Blankstein & Jeff Gottlieb, January 30

The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week already has six young children and never expected ["Who could have predicted!"] that the fertility treatment she received would result in eight more babies, her mother said Thursday.

The woman, who has not been publicly identified, had embryos implanted last year, and "they all happened to take," Angela Suleman said, leading to the eight births Monday. "I looked at those babies. They are so tiny and so beautiful."

She acknowledged that raising 14 children is a daunting prospect.

"It's going to be difficult," Suleman added, noting that her daughter's father is going back to Iraq, where neighbors said he worked as a contractor, to help support the expanded family.

if funding were cut off, that it would stop decrepit, Republicans getting their Viagra prescriptions filled? Jeez, anyone reading this would falsely believe Republicans don't reproduce in the conventional manner.

I don't feel held up because somebody else can't take the bandwidth
and use it for more commercial stuff.

I've been in a number of places where the rabbit ears kinda worked, but the digital image from the converter was constantly trying to resolve into a digital mess, oh those pixels were flying.

Mine works fine, so I've been going out and trying to get some(even) older people's converters to work for them.

eom.

Gee I haven't said that to you since we both toiled away on Venezuela:-)

_{I feel the American worker has been sacrificed to the capitalist idols in the ancient Mayan fashion. - Sue Lamb, NYT reader}