Pelosi finesses tax message - TheHill.com

Pelosi finesses tax message - TheHill.com: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is finessing her support of Rep. Charles Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) controversial new tax bill, highlighting Democrats’ concern about how Republicans plan to use it in the 2008 elections. Following the unveiling of arguably the most politically explosive domestic policy bill of the 110th Congress last Thursday, Pelosi seemed to wholeheartedly support the tax overhaul authored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel. “I certainly support his plan,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said to the assembled reporters. But when the transcript of the briefing came out, words were inserted — highlighted by brackets — clarifying that she supported his goal, if not his specific proposals. The final transcript read: “I certainly support his plan [to begin tax reform.]”"

Medical News: Older Physicians Unhappy and Looking to Bail Out of Medicine - in Psychiatry, Pain Management from MedPage Today

Medical News: Older Physicians Unhappy and Looking to Bail Out of Medicine - in Psychiatry, Pain Management from MedPage Today: "Half of physicians from ages 50 to 65 are frustrated with their practices and plan to sharply cut back or abandon patient care within the next three years, according to a survey. Fifty-two percent of these older physicians said they find medicine has become less satisfying over the past five years, according to a survey by Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a national physician search and consulting firm. Only 10% of nearly 1,200 responding physicians said the practice of medicine is 'very satisfying,' down from 20% in earlier surveys. What's more, 44% of the surveyed physicians said they wouldn't choose medicine as a career if they were starting out today and 57% would discourage their children or other young people from doing so."

Compromises sought on kids' health bill - USATODAY.com

Compromises sought on kids' health bill - USATODAY.com: "President Bush and other critics of a $35 billion spending increase for children's health insurance say they'll support expanding coverage to families of four making as much as $62,000 a year, but they want to limit states' ability to go beyond that level."

Laura Bush accuses Dems of demagoguery on SCHIP - TheHill.com

Laura Bush accuses Dems of demagoguery on SCHIP - TheHill.com: "“It’s really easy to blame people for so-called voting against children,” Bush said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. The first lady went on to say that the bill would cover children who are not poor and added that the program is often used to cover adults."

Health Sector Puts Its Money on Democrats - New York Times

Health Sector Puts Its Money on Democrats - New York Times: "In a reversal from past election cycles, Democratic candidates for president are outpacing Republicans in donations from the health care industry, even as the leading Democrats in the field offer proposals that have caused deep anxiety in some of its sectors."

House OKs new children's healthcare bill - Los Angeles Times

House OKs new children's healthcare bill - Los Angeles Times: " The House on Thursday approved a revised children's health insurance bill that Democrats said addressed Republican concerns, but President Bush again threatened to veto it. The 265-142 tally fell short of the two-thirds needed to override a veto, but it raised the stakes in the political confrontation over children's healthcare."

Democrat vows equity in tax plan - Los Angeles Times

Democrat vows equity in tax plan - Los Angeles Times: "The lead tax architect in Congress on Thursday unveiled a sweeping package of cuts and increases, which could become the blueprint for the Democrats' initiative to overhaul the tax code and restore what party members view as fairness in the U.S. economy."

Clinton's lead still strong in California - San Jose Mercury News

Clinton's lead still strong in California - San Jose Mercury News: "Among likely voters in California's Feb. 5 Democratic primary election, Sen. Clinton would take 45 percent of the vote, more than double the 20 percent support for closest rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and far ahead of former Sen. John Edwards' 11 percent, according to the poll."

Health overhaul 'on life support' - San Jose Mercury News

Health overhaul 'on life support' - San Jose Mercury News: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his allies are scrambling to keep his health care plan from collapsing amid an ever widening - and increasingly contentious - rift between two of the most politically important interests in the state: labor and business."

Thompson fares poorly in 'values' straw poll - TheHill.com

Thompson fares poorly in 'values' straw poll - TheHill.com: "If former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) was supposed to be the savior of socially conservative voters, somebody apparently forgot to tell them."

G.O.P. Debate Reviews - New York Times Blog

G.O.P. Debate Reviews - New York Times Blog: "Viewers tuned into last night’s debate among Republican presidential candidates witnessed their pointed attacks on one another and, of course, on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. "

Politics add irony to health debate - sacbee.com

Politics add irony to health debate - sacbee.com: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plans have a lot in common, but the labor unions that have attacked the governor's plan have been largely silent about Clinton's"

House Sustains President’s Veto on Child Health - New York Times

House Sustains President’s Veto on Child Health - New York Times: "The House on Thursday upheld President Bush’s veto of a bill to provide health insurance to 10 million children, but Democrats vowed to send it back to him next month, with minor changes, in the belief that they could ultimately prevail."

TheHill.com - GOP hopefuls stick to guns against SCHIP

TheHill.com - GOP hopefuls stick to guns against SCHIP: "Republican candidates hoping to unseat vulnerable House Democrats by and large are sticking by their party’s line in opposition to the children’s healthcare bill President Bush vetoed earlier this month. Democrats fervently believe the debate over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will benefit them at the polls. The House on Thursday will try to override President Bush’s veto of the bill. But as the vote draws near, Democrats appear as though they’ll come up short in their efforts to get GOP lawmakers, and a few of their own, to change their votes and bring the tally to the needed two-thirds majority. Nearly every Democrat in Congress voted for the bill."

Tests of Heart Devices to Get Review - New York Times

Tests of Heart Devices to Get Review - New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration is likely to study whether to require more extensive tests of critical heart-device components before they are sold, as a result of Medtronic’s recent problems with such a product, an agency official said yesterday. “We are going to be looking at this to see whether the failure can help us design better tests,” said the official, Megan Moynahan. "

Politics - Unions protest health plan - sacbee.com

Politics - Unions protest health plan - sacbee.com: "Prodded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of a plan backed by Democrats to expand health care coverage, labor unions Wednesday began 48-hour vigils around the state to oppose the Republican governor's proposal."

Tinseltown filling campaign coffers - Los Angeles Times

Tinseltown filling campaign coffers - Los Angeles Times: "The entertainment industry, long a major lobbying force in Washington, has spent at least $6 million on the 2008 presidential campaign, the bulk of it going to Democrats."

Deadly Bacteria Found to Be More Common - New York Times

Deadly Bacteria Found to Be More Common - New York Times: "Nearly 19,000 people died in the United States in 2005 after being infected with virulent drug-resistant bacteria that have spread rampantly through hospitals and nursing homes, according to the most thorough study of the disease’s prevalence ever conducted."

Health care plan called 'gimmick' - sacbee.com

Politics - Health care plan called 'gimmick' - sacbee.com: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan will not make it out of the Legislature, according to a key Democratic lawmaker who dismissed as a 'gimmick' the governor's proposal to use the state lottery to help cover the 6.7 million Californians without insurance. The Republican governor, who will veto the Democrats' counter-proposal as early as today, said this week he expects to strike a deal with Democrats within two weeks and begin working on placing a financing proposal before voters on the November 2008 ballot."

Watchdog questions Assembly leader's living arrangements - San Jose Mercury News

Watchdog questions Assembly leader's living arrangements - San Jose Mercury News: "California's second-most powerful politician, whose lavish campaign spending is already under scrutiny, shares a luxury downtown penthouse with a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser, the Associated Press has learned."

EDITORIAL: Mr. Nuñez, who are you wining and dining? - Los Angeles Times

EDITORIAL: Mr. Nuñez, who are you wining and dining? - Los Angeles Times: "It's going to be a sad day for California retailers when Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez leaves office. The Los Angeles Democrat has tossed money around like a drunken sailor, and I mean no disrespect to any drunken sailors."

Núñez's Prop. 93 plea to caucus - sacbee.com

Núñez's Prop. 93 plea to caucus - sacbee.com: "Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez privately has asked all 47 Assembly Democrats to donate about $50,000 apiece to help pass an initiative that could give all of them extra time in office."

McCain to Unveil Health Care Plan - washingtonpost.com

McCain to Unveil Health Care Plan - washingtonpost.com: "John McCain wants to give people more control over their health care _ and more options _ while injecting more competition into the system in hopes of lowering costs and improving services. The Republican presidential candidate will propose a series of changes to the health care system in a speech Thursday, offering a broad overhaul plan that contrasts sharply with those his Democratic rivals have offered. "

Hospital fatality rates go down

Hospital fatality rates go down: "Hospital deaths from heart attacks and other serious conditions fell sharply in 2004 from a decade earlier, a U.S. health agency said. Overcrowding at hospitals means there are still unnecessary deaths, a doctors' group said."

Democrats See Wedge Issue in Health Bill - New York Times

Democrats See Wedge Issue in Health Bill - New York Times: "Democrats believe they have Republicans — short on campaign cash, contending with a spurt of retirements and quarreling — on the run over the legislation, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Party leaders say the willingness of so many House Republicans to stick with Mr. Bush in the face of bipartisan backing for a $35 billion expansion of the program to provide insurance for poor children will prove costly as Election Day looms a year from now."

Ex-Official Rates Field of G.O.P., Stingingly - New York Times

Ex-Official Rates Field of G.O.P., Stingingly - New York Times: "Dan Bartlett, President Bush’s former counselor, has issued a stinging critique of several candidates seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination"

Thompson upstaged by Giuliani, Romney - Los Angeles Times

Thompson upstaged by Giuliani, Romney - Los Angeles Times: "Fred Thompson emerged Tuesday from weeks of preparation for his first presidential debate, but largely watched from the sidelines as rivals Mitt Romney and Rudolph W. Giuliani clashed over who can return the party to its fiscally conservative roots."

Time running out on CA governor's ambitious legislative agenda

Time running out on CA governor's ambitious legislative agenda: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious plans to overhaul California's troubled health care system and solve the state's long-term water needs hit snags Tuesday, with one week left before the expected end of a special legislative session called to consider his agenda. The governor unveiled a revised health care plan that included leasing the state lottery to a private company to help pay for expanding coverage to uninsured residents and give a tax break to low- and middle-class families. But the proposed changes drew only a passive response from Democratic leaders, while consumer and labor groups said the plan does not do enough to protect the working poor from escalating costs."

CA State budget: Revenues fall -- projected deficit soars - sacbee.com

CA State budget: Revenues fall -- projected deficit soars - sacbee.com: "Just weeks after lawmakers enacted a state budget amid partisan turmoil, finance officials say revenues are slipping below projections, making it likely that next year's problem will be worse than expected."

More Doctors in Texas After Malpractice Caps - New York Times

More Doctors in Texas After Malpractice Caps - New York Times: "Four years after Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, doctors are responding as supporters predicted, arriving from all parts of the country to swell the ranks of specialists at Texas hospitals and bring professional health care to some long-underserved rural areas."

Citing Health, GOP's Domenici Says He'll Retire From Senate - washingtonpost.com

Citing Health, GOP's Domenici Says He'll Retire From Senate - washingtonpost.com: "Sen. Pete V. Domenici told a gathering of family members and supporters in Albuquerque that he has been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease and will not seek a seventh term next year. "

Means Test Sought for Medicare Drug Plan - washingtonpost.com

Means Test Sought for Medicare Drug Plan - washingtonpost.com: "The Bush administration is advancing a proposal to levy higher premiums and deductibles on upper-income seniors enrolled in Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, raising fees on beneficiaries with incomes over about $80,000 a year, administration officials said yesterday."

Thompson Raises 9.3 Million - New York Times Blog

Thompson Raises 9.3 Million - New York Times Blog: "Fred D. Thompson, a late entrant to the Republican presidential sweepstakes, reported today that he had raised $12.7 million since June. But for the true apples-to-apples comparison with his Republican counterparts, the relevant figure is the third-quarter primary figure, which is $9.3 million, putting him just behind both Mitt Romney, at $10 million, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, at $10.5 million."

Nuñez travels the world like a high-roller - Los Angeles Times

Nuñez travels the world like a high-roller - Los Angeles Times: "As leader of the California Assembly, Speaker Fabian Nuñez has traveled the world in luxury, paying with campaign funds for visits to some of the finest hotels and restaurants and for purchases at high-end retailers such as Louis Vuitton in Paris."

Romney, Giuliani sharpen their rivalry - Los Angeles Times

Romney, Giuliani sharpen their rivalry - Los Angeles Times: "Mitt Romney and Rudolph W. Giuliani clashed over taxes Thursday in a flare-up that illustrated a sharpening rivalry between the two leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination."