In the first major step to revive his health care agenda after his party's loss of a filibuster-proof Senate majority, President Barack Obama on Sunday invited Republican and Democratic leaders to discuss possible compromises in a televised gathering later this month.
Obama's move came amid widespread complaints that efforts so far by him and his Democratic allies in Congress have been too partisan and secretive.
The Feb. 25 meeting's prospects for success are far from clear. GOP leaders demanded Sunday that Democrats start from scratch, and White House aides said Obama had no plans to do so.
"If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio also threw some jabs while accepting Obama's invitation. He said he was glad the White House "finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation," adding that Americans have rejected "the job-killing, trillion-dollar government takeover of health care bills passed by the House and Senate."
Obama told CBS's Katie Couric that he and the leaders of both parties will "go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."
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Wrestler writer channels `nerd rage'
When director Darren Aronofsky sought a screenwriter to turn his idea about a broken-down wrestler seeking one last shot into a movie, he turned to writer Robert Siegel.
The Wrestler went on to be nominated for a slew of awards last year, including Oscar nominations for its stars, Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. And the script for the original film that drew Aronofsky to Siegel, Big Fan, is finally hitting Toronto theatres Friday.
Big Fan "has a similar vibe" to The Wrestler, said Siegel, as he talked with the Star in a downtown hotel dining room this week. "At least superficially they are stories of guys on the fringes of the sports world."
Comic Patton Oswalt (who voiced Remy in Ratatouille) plays Paul, a 35-year-old parking-lot attendant who still lives with his mother in Staten Island, N.Y. A rabid New York Giants fan, Paul can't wait for his nightly calls to a local sports radio station, where he reads carefully scripted rants loaded with sports clichés.
But when Paul finally comes face-to-face with his hero, Giants star linebacker Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm), after following him to a Manhattan strip club, he ends up crashing into reality with heartbreaking results.
Siegel has once again penned a script that features a very believable anti-hero. But this time, he's also directing the dark film, which drew comparisons to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
"I like writing character-driven stuff. Character interests me even more than the story," explained Siegel, 38, former editor-in-chief of the American newspaper satire, The Onion.
Siegel started working on Big Fan when he was still at The Onion, but he left after nine years on the mock paper to take some "low-level Hollywood writing jobs" to pay the rent while he finished the Big Fan script. Soon it was making the rounds in Hollywood, and directors – including Aronofsky – started calling.
Aronofsky was one of several "high-profile" directors interested in the project, said Siegel. But although the two met and talked at length about Big Fan, Siegel was reluctant to relinquish control of the movie. "I just wasn't that excited about somebody else directing it," he said. "It sounds cheesy, but I felt maybe the script was just waiting for me. I was pretty ambivalent about having some big-name director involved."
But Aronofsky was clearly impressed with Siegel and came back to him for The Wrestler script. That project took Siegel away from Big Fan for two years.
Unlike The Wrestler, which Siegel wrote "with Mickey Rourke in my head" even though the actor hadn't even been cast, Siegel didn't have anybody in mind for chubby loner Paul. He knew he didn't want to cast obvious choices like Paul Giamatti or Philip Seymour Hoffman, and he needed an actor in his 30s to play the role.
He sent the script to Oswalt.
"I didn't test him, I didn't ask him to read," said Siegel. "I knew he was a very smart guy and I knew he was funny and I knew he understood the psychology of nerd rage, based on his comedy."
Siegel has a soft spot for Toronto; The Wrestler was picked up for distribution at TIFF, a day after winning the Golden Lion top prize at the Venice Film Festival.
But he added that people are mistaken if they think critical success equals a big payday. "People think if you have a successful movie, money just falls from the sky," Siegel said with a smile. "There's an opportunity for me to make lots of money, but I would have to write Ice Age 4 or The Hangover 2. I would have to come up with an idea for something with vampires and Seth Rogen.
"It's hard to get any movie made and it's even harder when you don't have Johnny Depp attached and you don't have aliens."
The Wrestler went on to be nominated for a slew of awards last year, including Oscar nominations for its stars, Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. And the script for the original film that drew Aronofsky to Siegel, Big Fan, is finally hitting Toronto theatres Friday.
Big Fan "has a similar vibe" to The Wrestler, said Siegel, as he talked with the Star in a downtown hotel dining room this week. "At least superficially they are stories of guys on the fringes of the sports world."
Comic Patton Oswalt (who voiced Remy in Ratatouille) plays Paul, a 35-year-old parking-lot attendant who still lives with his mother in Staten Island, N.Y. A rabid New York Giants fan, Paul can't wait for his nightly calls to a local sports radio station, where he reads carefully scripted rants loaded with sports clichés.
But when Paul finally comes face-to-face with his hero, Giants star linebacker Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm), after following him to a Manhattan strip club, he ends up crashing into reality with heartbreaking results.
Siegel has once again penned a script that features a very believable anti-hero. But this time, he's also directing the dark film, which drew comparisons to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
"I like writing character-driven stuff. Character interests me even more than the story," explained Siegel, 38, former editor-in-chief of the American newspaper satire, The Onion.
Siegel started working on Big Fan when he was still at The Onion, but he left after nine years on the mock paper to take some "low-level Hollywood writing jobs" to pay the rent while he finished the Big Fan script. Soon it was making the rounds in Hollywood, and directors – including Aronofsky – started calling.
Aronofsky was one of several "high-profile" directors interested in the project, said Siegel. But although the two met and talked at length about Big Fan, Siegel was reluctant to relinquish control of the movie. "I just wasn't that excited about somebody else directing it," he said. "It sounds cheesy, but I felt maybe the script was just waiting for me. I was pretty ambivalent about having some big-name director involved."
But Aronofsky was clearly impressed with Siegel and came back to him for The Wrestler script. That project took Siegel away from Big Fan for two years.
Unlike The Wrestler, which Siegel wrote "with Mickey Rourke in my head" even though the actor hadn't even been cast, Siegel didn't have anybody in mind for chubby loner Paul. He knew he didn't want to cast obvious choices like Paul Giamatti or Philip Seymour Hoffman, and he needed an actor in his 30s to play the role.
He sent the script to Oswalt.
"I didn't test him, I didn't ask him to read," said Siegel. "I knew he was a very smart guy and I knew he was funny and I knew he understood the psychology of nerd rage, based on his comedy."
Siegel has a soft spot for Toronto; The Wrestler was picked up for distribution at TIFF, a day after winning the Golden Lion top prize at the Venice Film Festival.
But he added that people are mistaken if they think critical success equals a big payday. "People think if you have a successful movie, money just falls from the sky," Siegel said with a smile. "There's an opportunity for me to make lots of money, but I would have to write Ice Age 4 or The Hangover 2. I would have to come up with an idea for something with vampires and Seth Rogen.
"It's hard to get any movie made and it's even harder when you don't have Johnny Depp attached and you don't have aliens."
The Leonid Meteor Shower will hit its peak early in the morning Tuesday
For those far enough from city lights and fortunate enough to have clear skies, it will be quite a sight and here's some tips on where and how to see it.
Of course not all will be so lucky. Meteorologists in the Grand Rapids area in Michigan have already said it may be difficult to see due to clouds in the region, and the same will hold true for others.
Scientists have also said the show is likely to be less spectacular in North America. The best viewing spot on the planet for the Leonid Meteor Shower is predicted to be Asia.
But for those who don't see it in person, here's a glimpse at what the shower might look like, with up to 30 to 300 shooting stars per hour.
WATCH A PREVIEW OF THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER:
Of course not all will be so lucky. Meteorologists in the Grand Rapids area in Michigan have already said it may be difficult to see due to clouds in the region, and the same will hold true for others.
Scientists have also said the show is likely to be less spectacular in North America. The best viewing spot on the planet for the Leonid Meteor Shower is predicted to be Asia.
But for those who don't see it in person, here's a glimpse at what the shower might look like, with up to 30 to 300 shooting stars per hour.
WATCH A PREVIEW OF THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER:
Herta Muller - After Winning the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature
An ethnic German born and raised in Romania, Müller has made the trials of life under the brutal Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu -- which ended with his overthrow and execution 20 years ago -- the focus of her work. In giving thanks for the award, she spoke of the way Ceausescu's regime has shaped her fiction.
Herta Müller appeared overwhelmed as she was escorted Thursday into the headquarters of the Trade Assn. of German Publishing in central Berlin, her first public appearance after winning the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Müller, 56, took a few seconds to compose herself before a crowd of journalists, then said, "I didn't expect it. . . . I still can't speak about it, it's still too early and I think I need some time to order it in my mind." "It's the topic of all my books," said Müller, who immigrated to Germany in 1987. "I believe that literature always goes precisely there where the damage to a person has been done. . . . I didn't choose this topic, it was thrust upon me."
Although Müller, a novelist, short story writer and occasional poet, is not widely known in the U.S., she was thought to be among the top contenders for the award, along with Israel's Amos Oz and Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa. And yet, there was speculation that the Nobel committee would steer clear of another European winner, especially after Peter Englund, permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy and the most prominent member of the prize jury, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the Nobel had become too "Eurocentric."
Englund said, "there are authors that really deserve and could get the Nobel Prize and that goes for the United States and the Americas, as well."Last year, the Nobel committee provoked a bit of a controversy when then-Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl declared American literary culture "too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature." The 2008 prize went to French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, a writer with virtually no public profile in the United States.
Müller is no household name either; although she's the author of 19 books, only four -- most recently 2001's "The Appointment" -- have been published in the U.S. (Her publisher said that after the award was announced a flurry of offers for worldwide English rights to her books had been received)."We've received three offers for the worldwide English rights and a fourth one is on the way," Friderike Barakat, foreign rights director at Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co., KG, the Munich-based publisher, said in an interview, declining to say from whom and on what terms. "I'm sure we'll receive more."
Müller comes to the award with a certain moral and political authority; as a translator in a Romanian factory, she was fired for not cooperating with the secret police, and in the 1970s she was a member of Aktionsgruppe Banat, a group of dissident writers that opposed the Ceausescu regime.She published her first book in 1982, a collection of short stories depicting the difficulties of living in a small village like her own. It was censored by Romanian authorities, but an uncensored version was smuggled into Germany, where it found critical acclaim.
After a second book, she was prohibited from publishing in Romania, leading to her immigration to Germany.In its citation, the Nobel committee wrote that Müller, "with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed." "She has many important things to say about the relationship between East and West, about how bad it was in Romania under the Communist regime," said Dr. Wolfgang Nehring, professor of German at UCLA.
Still, even among his colleagues, her work has not been widely read. "Although she writes about simple things," Nehring said, "she has a literary style that is difficult for many readers." Müller will receive a medal and $1.4 million at a ceremony in December.
Herta Müller appeared overwhelmed as she was escorted Thursday into the headquarters of the Trade Assn. of German Publishing in central Berlin, her first public appearance after winning the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Müller, 56, took a few seconds to compose herself before a crowd of journalists, then said, "I didn't expect it. . . . I still can't speak about it, it's still too early and I think I need some time to order it in my mind." "It's the topic of all my books," said Müller, who immigrated to Germany in 1987. "I believe that literature always goes precisely there where the damage to a person has been done. . . . I didn't choose this topic, it was thrust upon me."
Although Müller, a novelist, short story writer and occasional poet, is not widely known in the U.S., she was thought to be among the top contenders for the award, along with Israel's Amos Oz and Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa. And yet, there was speculation that the Nobel committee would steer clear of another European winner, especially after Peter Englund, permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy and the most prominent member of the prize jury, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the Nobel had become too "Eurocentric."
Englund said, "there are authors that really deserve and could get the Nobel Prize and that goes for the United States and the Americas, as well."Last year, the Nobel committee provoked a bit of a controversy when then-Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl declared American literary culture "too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature." The 2008 prize went to French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, a writer with virtually no public profile in the United States.
Müller is no household name either; although she's the author of 19 books, only four -- most recently 2001's "The Appointment" -- have been published in the U.S. (Her publisher said that after the award was announced a flurry of offers for worldwide English rights to her books had been received)."We've received three offers for the worldwide English rights and a fourth one is on the way," Friderike Barakat, foreign rights director at Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co., KG, the Munich-based publisher, said in an interview, declining to say from whom and on what terms. "I'm sure we'll receive more."
Müller comes to the award with a certain moral and political authority; as a translator in a Romanian factory, she was fired for not cooperating with the secret police, and in the 1970s she was a member of Aktionsgruppe Banat, a group of dissident writers that opposed the Ceausescu regime.She published her first book in 1982, a collection of short stories depicting the difficulties of living in a small village like her own. It was censored by Romanian authorities, but an uncensored version was smuggled into Germany, where it found critical acclaim.
After a second book, she was prohibited from publishing in Romania, leading to her immigration to Germany.In its citation, the Nobel committee wrote that Müller, "with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed." "She has many important things to say about the relationship between East and West, about how bad it was in Romania under the Communist regime," said Dr. Wolfgang Nehring, professor of German at UCLA.
Still, even among his colleagues, her work has not been widely read. "Although she writes about simple things," Nehring said, "she has a literary style that is difficult for many readers." Müller will receive a medal and $1.4 million at a ceremony in December.
The Announcement of 2009 Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize for Literature betting odds and leaving comments on last year’s competition – so we’ve decided to show you the odds available for the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The announcement of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature will be made at 1pm CET – so 11am GMT on 8th October 2009 (remember we are on British Summer Time, so that will be 12 noon UK time!) – so make sure if you have a feeling about who you think will win this year’s prize, that you place bets before then!
Ladbrokes have the Nobel Literature Market from which we have selected the prices below – to open the Nobel Literature Prize betting with Ladbrokes, you must first register an account, then navigate to the “Sports Betting” section, and click “Specials” on the left-hand menu. Then you need to hit Awards and Nobel Literature Prize 2009.
Here are the betting odds available:
Amos Oz 3/1
Herta Muller 3/1
Joyce Carol Oates 5/1
Philip Roth 5/1
Thomas Pynchon 7/1
Adonis 9/1
Assia Djebar 9/1
Haruki Murakami 9/1
Mario Vargas Llosa 9/1
Claudio Magris 12/1
Don DeLillo 12/1
Thomas Transtromer 12/1
Ismail Kadare 14/1
Ko Un 14/1
Milan Kundera 14/1
A.B Yehoshua 16/1
Luis Goytisolo 16/1
Antonio Tabucchi 20/1
Cees Nooteboom 20/1
Chinua Achebe 20/1
Peter Handke 20/1
Shlomo Kalo 20/1
Alice Munro 25/1
Arnot Lustig 25/1
Bob Dylan 25/1
Juan Marse 25/1
Les Murray 25/1
Ngugi wa Thiongo 25/1
Yves Bonnefoy 25/1
Atiq Rahimi 40/1
Margaret Atwood 40/1
A. S. Byatt 50/1
Bei Dao 50/1
Carlos Fuentes 50/1
Gitta Sereny 50/1
Mahasweta Devi 50/1
Michael Ondaatje 50/1
Vassilis Aleksakis 50/1
Adam Zagajewski 66/1
E.L Doctorow 66/1
Harry Mulisch 66/1
Peter Carey 66/1
Umberto Eco 66/1
William H Gass 66/1
William Trevor 66/1
Salman Rushdie 80/1
Antonio Lobo Antunes 100/1
Beryl Bainbridge 100/1
Cormac McCarthy 100/1
David Malouf 100/1
Eeva Kilpi 100/1
Ernesto Cardenal 100/1
F. Sionil Jose 100/1
Ian McEwan 100/1
John Banville 100/1
Jonathan Littell 100/1
Julian Barnes 100/1
Kjell Askildsen 100/1
Marge Piercy 100/1
Mary Gordon 100/1
Maya Angelou 100/1
Michel Tournier 100/1
Patrick Modiano 100/1
Paul Auster 100/1
Rosalind Belben 100/1
As you can see, Ladbrokes make Amos Oz and Herta Muller joint favourites, at 3-1 a piece, however, the favourites rarely win the Nobel Prize for Literature in our experience. It might be worth taking a small stakes bet on an outsider, such as Peter Handke of Ko Un.
The announcement of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature will be made at 1pm CET – so 11am GMT on 8th October 2009 (remember we are on British Summer Time, so that will be 12 noon UK time!) – so make sure if you have a feeling about who you think will win this year’s prize, that you place bets before then!
Ladbrokes have the Nobel Literature Market from which we have selected the prices below – to open the Nobel Literature Prize betting with Ladbrokes, you must first register an account, then navigate to the “Sports Betting” section, and click “Specials” on the left-hand menu. Then you need to hit Awards and Nobel Literature Prize 2009.
Here are the betting odds available:
Amos Oz 3/1
Herta Muller 3/1
Joyce Carol Oates 5/1
Philip Roth 5/1
Thomas Pynchon 7/1
Adonis 9/1
Assia Djebar 9/1
Haruki Murakami 9/1
Mario Vargas Llosa 9/1
Claudio Magris 12/1
Don DeLillo 12/1
Thomas Transtromer 12/1
Ismail Kadare 14/1
Ko Un 14/1
Milan Kundera 14/1
A.B Yehoshua 16/1
Luis Goytisolo 16/1
Antonio Tabucchi 20/1
Cees Nooteboom 20/1
Chinua Achebe 20/1
Peter Handke 20/1
Shlomo Kalo 20/1
Alice Munro 25/1
Arnot Lustig 25/1
Bob Dylan 25/1
Juan Marse 25/1
Les Murray 25/1
Ngugi wa Thiongo 25/1
Yves Bonnefoy 25/1
Atiq Rahimi 40/1
Margaret Atwood 40/1
A. S. Byatt 50/1
Bei Dao 50/1
Carlos Fuentes 50/1
Gitta Sereny 50/1
Mahasweta Devi 50/1
Michael Ondaatje 50/1
Vassilis Aleksakis 50/1
Adam Zagajewski 66/1
E.L Doctorow 66/1
Harry Mulisch 66/1
Peter Carey 66/1
Umberto Eco 66/1
William H Gass 66/1
William Trevor 66/1
Salman Rushdie 80/1
Antonio Lobo Antunes 100/1
Beryl Bainbridge 100/1
Cormac McCarthy 100/1
David Malouf 100/1
Eeva Kilpi 100/1
Ernesto Cardenal 100/1
F. Sionil Jose 100/1
Ian McEwan 100/1
John Banville 100/1
Jonathan Littell 100/1
Julian Barnes 100/1
Kjell Askildsen 100/1
Marge Piercy 100/1
Mary Gordon 100/1
Maya Angelou 100/1
Michel Tournier 100/1
Patrick Modiano 100/1
Paul Auster 100/1
Rosalind Belben 100/1
As you can see, Ladbrokes make Amos Oz and Herta Muller joint favourites, at 3-1 a piece, however, the favourites rarely win the Nobel Prize for Literature in our experience. It might be worth taking a small stakes bet on an outsider, such as Peter Handke of Ko Un.
Jon Gosselin - Kate Twins on Bday
"She's trying to prevent me from seeing my kids on their birthday because she doesn't want to see me," alleges the dad of eight, 32, in an interview on Entertainment Tonight that airs Wednesday night.
Jon Gosselin says estranged wife Kate is trying to keep him from seeing his twins Mady and Cara on their 9th birthday Thursday. See adorable photos of the Gosselin kids through the years, Jon says that if "obeys" Kate, "That's like giving her full custody.... She can't tell me what to do."
Jon and Kate switch off living in the family's $1.1-million Pennsylvania home when they have custody of the kids, but Jon says he's "just going to stay" when his turn is up.
"I own the house, so I can do what I want," he says.
Look back at Jon's most scandalous moments
Kate -- who alleges that Jon stole $230,000 from a bank account, leaving her without enough cash to pay bills -- wrote Jon an email that says, "Due to recent events, it will be too stressful to the kids to have both of us here as planned. I would like to split the evening so they can see us both."
But despite Kate attempting to set up a visit between 4 and 6 p.m. that day, Jon still says, "She doesn't want to work things out." Earlier Wednesday, Jon said most of his kids didn't care when they found out their parents were splitting up.
Check out all the women Jon has romanced
"When we told them we were going to get divorced, the 5-year olds said, 'What's for lunch?' The only two people who really cared with [9-year-old twins] Mady and Cara," Jon told ET. "Cara broke down and Mady said, 'Oh, I saw this coming.'"
Jon Gosselin says estranged wife Kate is trying to keep him from seeing his twins Mady and Cara on their 9th birthday Thursday. See adorable photos of the Gosselin kids through the years, Jon says that if "obeys" Kate, "That's like giving her full custody.... She can't tell me what to do."
Jon and Kate switch off living in the family's $1.1-million Pennsylvania home when they have custody of the kids, but Jon says he's "just going to stay" when his turn is up.
"I own the house, so I can do what I want," he says.
Look back at Jon's most scandalous moments
Kate -- who alleges that Jon stole $230,000 from a bank account, leaving her without enough cash to pay bills -- wrote Jon an email that says, "Due to recent events, it will be too stressful to the kids to have both of us here as planned. I would like to split the evening so they can see us both."
But despite Kate attempting to set up a visit between 4 and 6 p.m. that day, Jon still says, "She doesn't want to work things out." Earlier Wednesday, Jon said most of his kids didn't care when they found out their parents were splitting up.
Check out all the women Jon has romanced
"When we told them we were going to get divorced, the 5-year olds said, 'What's for lunch?' The only two people who really cared with [9-year-old twins] Mady and Cara," Jon told ET. "Cara broke down and Mady said, 'Oh, I saw this coming.'"
Secret Girlfriend - Comedy Central's
Along with the show's origins, its format also is unusual. Shot from a first person perspective, Secret Girlfriend engages the viewer as its "central character." First there was NBC's Quarterlife. Then came ABC's In The Motherhood.
Now, the latest series to morph from the web to TV is Comedy Central's Secret Girlfriend. Launching Oct. 7 on the cable channel, the program actually began as a series of mobisodes.
In an exclusive interview, Mediaweek correspondent Alan Frutkin talks with the show's four major cast members about Secret Girlfriend's unique look and its relevance to media-savvy young viewers.
Now, the latest series to morph from the web to TV is Comedy Central's Secret Girlfriend. Launching Oct. 7 on the cable channel, the program actually began as a series of mobisodes.
In an exclusive interview, Mediaweek correspondent Alan Frutkin talks with the show's four major cast members about Secret Girlfriend's unique look and its relevance to media-savvy young viewers.
Chynna Phillips Believes Mackenzie's Story 100 Percent
Actress Mackenzie Phillips scandalously and disturbingly reveals that she had a 10-year affair with her father, musician John Phillips. It's an outrageous claim, but likely (and sadly) not an untrue one. Mackenzie's half-sister, Chynna Phillips, backs her up all the way.
Of the hit 90s group Wilson Phillips, Chynna, shares her side of the sad tale, recalling how she once got a call from Mackenzie, now 49, in 1997. This was 11 years after the affair had ended. Mackenzie Phillips spilled to Chynna, now 41, all about how their father had an affair with her.
"She said, 'I don't know why, but I just really felt the need to call you and tell you something that I think you need to know,'" Chynna Phillips said. Chynna Phillips believes Mackenzie's story 100 percent. "[Mackenzie] went on to tell me that she had had an incestuous relationship with our dad (of '60s band The Mamas and the Papas) for about 10 years."
When the affair began, John Phillips was married to his third wife, model Genevieve Waïte. Chynna's reaction, not surprisingly, was total shock. "Somebody could have dropped a piano on my head and I probably wouldn't have felt it," the singer says in an interview with Us Weekly. "But I knew it was true. I mean, who in their right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?" She says the news sent her into "a deep, deep sadness and depression."
High on Arrival, Mackenzie Phillips also claims she and her father did drugs together and that her father "shot me up for the first time." Chynna confirms this as well: "They were both doing drugs together." "After long nights of heroin use, she's claiming that she once woke up and that my father was on top of her having sex with her," Chynna said.Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes.
Of the hit 90s group Wilson Phillips, Chynna, shares her side of the sad tale, recalling how she once got a call from Mackenzie, now 49, in 1997. This was 11 years after the affair had ended. Mackenzie Phillips spilled to Chynna, now 41, all about how their father had an affair with her.
"She said, 'I don't know why, but I just really felt the need to call you and tell you something that I think you need to know,'" Chynna Phillips said. Chynna Phillips believes Mackenzie's story 100 percent. "[Mackenzie] went on to tell me that she had had an incestuous relationship with our dad (of '60s band The Mamas and the Papas) for about 10 years."
When the affair began, John Phillips was married to his third wife, model Genevieve Waïte. Chynna's reaction, not surprisingly, was total shock. "Somebody could have dropped a piano on my head and I probably wouldn't have felt it," the singer says in an interview with Us Weekly. "But I knew it was true. I mean, who in their right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?" She says the news sent her into "a deep, deep sadness and depression."
High on Arrival, Mackenzie Phillips also claims she and her father did drugs together and that her father "shot me up for the first time." Chynna confirms this as well: "They were both doing drugs together." "After long nights of heroin use, she's claiming that she once woke up and that my father was on top of her having sex with her," Chynna said.Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes.
World of V8-Powered Monster Miata
Here at Monster Miata, we tend to think on the extreme end of things, Brute torque is the name of the game here. But handling, strength and reliability will not be compromised. There are a lot of scary fast cars on the road these days – the goal at Monster Miata is to provide a fun yet civilized daily driving car that can out-perform “those cars” on the track. I’m proud to say we have achieved this. T he Mazda Miata lends itself quite nicely to the torture of a torque monster V8 transplant, I have converted 100+ Monster Miatas in the past 14 years. It is a passion of mine. After having talked to a great many gearheads, my consensus is there needs to be a straight-forward way for the average person with a toolbox to do a V8 conversion themselves.
Welcome to the world of V8-Powered Miatas. Monster Miata has produced the “easy to understand” V-8 conversion kit. The instruction manual and detailed photos are the key to simplicity. The majority of the conversion parts simply bolt on. Welding is required in some areas. If you do not have welding capabilities, the exhaust shop can handle it at the same time you have the exhaust done.
Welcome to the world of V8-Powered Miatas. Monster Miata has produced the “easy to understand” V-8 conversion kit. The instruction manual and detailed photos are the key to simplicity. The majority of the conversion parts simply bolt on. Welding is required in some areas. If you do not have welding capabilities, the exhaust shop can handle it at the same time you have the exhaust done.
First Rocky Extrasolar Planet.
Astronomers have finally found a place outside our solar system where there's a firm place to stand — if only it weren't so broiling hot. As scientists search the skies for life elsewhere, they have found more than 300 planets outside our solar system. But they all have been gas balls or can't be proven to be solid. Now a team of European astronomers has confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet.
Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal."We basically live on a rock ourselves," said co-discoverer Artie Hatzes, director of the Thuringer observatory in Germany. "It's as close to something like the Earth that we've found so far. It's just a little too close to its sun."
Close that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.
"It's hot, they're calling it the lava planet," Hatzes said.
Major discovery in the field of trying to find life elsewhere in the universe, said outside expert Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution. It was the buzz of a conference on finding an Earth-like planet outside our solar system, held in Barcelona, Spain, where the discovery was presented Wednesday morning. The find is also being published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Planet is called Corot-7b. It was first discovered earlier this year. European scientists then watched it dozens of times to measure its density to prove that it is rocky like Earth. It's in our general neighborhood, circling a star in the winter sky about 500 light-years away. Each light-year is about 6 trillion miles.
Four planets in our solar system are rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
The planet is about as close to Earth in size as any other planet found outside our solar system. Its radius is only one-and-a-half times bigger than Earth's and it has a mass about five times the Earth's. Now that another rocky planet has been found so close to its own star, it gives scientists more confidence that they'll find more Earth-like planets farther away, where the conditions could be more favorable to life, Boss said.
Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal."We basically live on a rock ourselves," said co-discoverer Artie Hatzes, director of the Thuringer observatory in Germany. "It's as close to something like the Earth that we've found so far. It's just a little too close to its sun."
Close that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.
"It's hot, they're calling it the lava planet," Hatzes said.
Major discovery in the field of trying to find life elsewhere in the universe, said outside expert Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution. It was the buzz of a conference on finding an Earth-like planet outside our solar system, held in Barcelona, Spain, where the discovery was presented Wednesday morning. The find is also being published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Planet is called Corot-7b. It was first discovered earlier this year. European scientists then watched it dozens of times to measure its density to prove that it is rocky like Earth. It's in our general neighborhood, circling a star in the winter sky about 500 light-years away. Each light-year is about 6 trillion miles.
Four planets in our solar system are rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
The planet is about as close to Earth in size as any other planet found outside our solar system. Its radius is only one-and-a-half times bigger than Earth's and it has a mass about five times the Earth's. Now that another rocky planet has been found so close to its own star, it gives scientists more confidence that they'll find more Earth-like planets farther away, where the conditions could be more favorable to life, Boss said.
The Lost Symbol - Freemasons await Dan Brown novel
The lodge room of the Naval Masonic Hall is a colorful and somewhat inscrutable sight for the nonmember, with its blue walls, Egyptian symbols, checkered floor in the center and high ceiling painted with gold stars. Countless secrets supposedly have been shared in this and thousands of similar rooms of the Masons around the world. Facts of life have been debated, honors bestowed, rituals enacted. You would need to belong to a lodge to learn what really goes on.you could simply ask.
"Emphasis on secrecy is something that disturbs people," says Joseph Crociata, a burly, deep-voiced man who is a trial attorney by profession but otherwise a Junior Grand Warden at the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia. "But it's not a problem getting Masons to talk about Masonry. Sometimes, it's a problem getting them to stop."
All the books and Web sites dedicated to Freemasons, the Masonic Order has been defined by mystery, alluring enough to claim Mozart and George Washington as members, dark enough to be feared by the Vatican, Islamic officials, Nazis and Communists. In the United States, candidates in the 19th-century ran for office on anti-Mason platforms and John Quincy Adams declared that "Masonry ought forever to be abolished."
And now arrives Dan Brown.
Six years after Brown intrigued millions of readers, and infuriated scholars and religious officials, with "The Da Vinci Code," he has set his new novel, "The Lost Symbol," in Washington and probed the fraternal order that well suits his passion for secrets, signs and puzzles.
Released Tuesday, has an announced first printing of 5 million copies and topped the best-seller lists of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online. At Kramerbooks in Washington, about two dozen copies were purchased the morning it went on sale and the store expects to easily sell out its order of 150 books.
The Lost Symbol," symbolist Robert Langdon is on a mission to find a Masonic pyramid containing a code that unlocks an ancient secret to "unfathomable power." It's a story of hidden history in the nation's capital, with Masons the greatest puzzle of all. Brown's research for "The Da Vinci Code" was highly criticized by some Catholics for suggesting that Jesus and Mary Magdalene conceived a child and for portraying Opus Dei — the conservative religious order — as a murderous, power-hungry sect.
Mason response could well be milder. Brown goes out of his way in "The Lost Symbol" to present the lodge as essentially benign and misunderstood. Masons are praised for their religious tolerance and their elaborate rituals are seen as no more unusual than those of formal religions. The plot centers in part on an "unfair" anti-Masonic video that "conspiracy theorists would feed on ... like sharks," Langdon says. "I have enormous respect for the Masons," Brown told The Associated Press during a recent interview. "In the most fundamental terms, with different cultures killing each other over whose version of God is correct, here is a worldwide organization that essentially says, `We don't care what you call God, or what you think about God, only that you believe in a god and let's all stand together as brothers and look in the same direction.'
"I think there will be an enormous number of people who will be interested in the Masons after this book (comes out)," Brown said.
Crociata and other Washington Masons expressed amusement, concern, resignation and excitement about Brown's novel. Crociata anticipates a "page-turner," like "The Da Vinci Code," and assumes, for the sake of a "good read," that Brown will make the Masons seem more interesting than they actually are. Fellow Mason Kirk McNulty can't wait to read the novel: "Dan Brown is a writer of fiction; he's not writing an article for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Whatever he says is OK. But it would be better if he says something nice about Freemasonry."
Mason Michael Seay says some members are "not pleased about all the hoopla," but sees the attention as a chance to "get our story across." Lodge member Darryl Carter says he expects some "artistic license" and senses from conversations with other Masons that they expect to benefit from the attention. "We welcome Dan Brown doing his work because Masonry has not had the kind of popularity that it once did and that a work by somebody of Dan Brown's caliber could really attract people to Masonry," Carter says.
The Freemasons date back to the Middle Ages, to associations of workmen who built cathedrals in Britain, though some also believe in a connection to ancient times with the mines where King Solomon took material for his Temple. Freemasonry has endured, and transformed. The British began to accept members who were not stonemasons and by the 1700s, lodges were being called "speculative," philosophical societies rather than worker guilds.
The Masons, Crociata and others emphasize, are not a political or religious organization. No theology beyond the belief in a divine being is required and no causes are advocated beyond millions of dollars in annual contributions to children's hospitals, cancer wards and other charities. "This is the world's oldest fraternity and it has an old and distinguished history," Crociata says. "There's much beauty to be found in its ritual. On the other hand, it's a fraternity, not a religion. It's a place to get together with guys that you know, that you trust, that you are willing to trust. A place where you can speak from the heart, if you want."
No official gathering is taking place at the hall on this recent afternoon, so it's all right for a reporter to have a look around. The Naval Masonic room has features common to other lodges, such as the Mason emblem, a set square and compass and letter "G" (for both God and Geometry), and some decorative images, such as the Egyptian-styled eyes and snakes painted throughout. Brown's book moves quickly among such Washington landmarks as the Library of Congress and the Washington Monument and draws upon the Masons' very public presence in Washington, dating back more than 200 years.
George Washington used a Masonic gavel and trowel in 1793 as he lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. The same trowel would be included 55 years later when President James K. Polk, a Mason, presided over the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument, and again in 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt, also a Mason, laid a cornerstone for a Masonic temple.
According to "Freemasons for Dummies" author Christopher Hodapp (his book is so well regarded at the Naval lodge in Washington that it's kept in a glass cabinet outside the meeting room), membership peaked in the United States just after World War II, when there were close to 5 million Masons. The number dropped in the 1960s, when the Masons seemed hopelessly antiquated to a rebellious generation, and dropped again in the late 1980s as older members died. Hodapp, himself a Mason based in Indianapolis, says there are now around 1.5 million in the U.S. and 3 million worldwide.
"But it's picking up again, in part because of people like Brown and (novelist) Brad Meltzer ('Book of Lies,' 'Book of Fate'). Younger men are seeing popular references to it. We're also seeing people from single-parent households who don't have that kind of brotherhood feeling you get in the lodge," Hodapp says. Meetings at the Naval Masonic room are presided over by a Master who sits in a high-backed chair on the East side of the room, in honor of where the sun rises. On the South and West are chairs for the top aides, the senior warden and the junior warden. Only the North, "a place of Masonic darkness" (a belief related to the lighting of Solomon's Temple) is not represented.
Every lodge has an altar on which is placed a holy book, or books. A Bible is usually there, but because only a belief in a higher being is required, a Quran or other religious text might be found, depending on the religious faith of the members present. The black and white squares of the checkered floor below the altar represent "good" and "evil," terms the Masons resist defining too closely.
"As far as what is good and bad for any individual ... the idea is to inspire thought on some of the important questions of life on the minds of our members so that they can go home and think about them and draw their own conclusions," Crociata says.
Would-be members pass through three degrees of acceptance: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason. In "The Lost Symbol," Brown describes an initiation ceremony that Hodapp says is essentially accurate. A man is blindfolded, has a dagger pressed against his chest and is instructed to vow that, "uninfluenced by mercenary or any other unworthy motive," he will offer himself as "a candidate for the mysteries and privileges of this brotherhood."
Brown is not a Mason, but said that working on the novel helped him imagine a time when religious prejudice would disappear and added that he found the Masonic philosophy a "beautiful blueprint for human spirituality." He was tempted to join, but, "If you join the Masons you take a vow of secrecy. I could not have written this book if I were a Mason," he says.
First Commencement at Singularity University
Founded last year with the idea that rapidly evolving technologies can be harnessed to solve problems like poverty and climate change, Singularity University does not offer a traditional degree — though it is working to get some universities to accept students' coursework for credits. Chatter about ensuing plans permeates any graduation, though it's not common for the talk to surround which class projects will receive venture capital funding.
Hot topic at the first commencement at Singularity University, a school that is backed by Google, operates on NASA's Silicon Valley campus and gets its name from futurist and co-founder Ray Kurzweil's favorite term for our technologically enhanced future. More than a graduate school, it resembles an incubator for technological ideas that, at the end of a nine-week program, may turn into actual companies with a humanitarian edge.
In June, students spent three weeks attending lectures by faculty members and visiting luminaries such as Vint Cerf — one of the founding fathers of the Internet — to get a basic grounding in fields ranging from networks and computing systems to artificial intelligence and robotics. After that, they chose one of four subjects to study more closely for three weeks. For the privilege, the 40 members of the initial class paid $25,000 apiece. Singularity is working bring the cost down, by starting monthly sessions for executives in November. Those will fund scholarships for the summer program, said Peter H. Diamandis, Singularity co-founder and CEO of the X Prize Foundation.
There were 1,200 applicants. Executive director Salim Ismail said the next session — which is slated for mid-June 2010 — will include 100 or 120 students, and added that even that expansion may not fulfill demand. The premise for the school is that change is occurring exponentially from the frenetic pace of technology and globalization.
The final weeks of their studies, students split into four groups and created projects whose only requirements were that they needed to focus on one of the world's great challenges and have the potential to improve the lives of a billion people over a decade. The goal, as some Singularity faculty admit, sounds lofty. But with classic Silicon Valley optimism, the faculty, leaders and students seem confident that work done at Singularity U. will change the world.
There were no spaceship models on display during a presentation of the projects Thursday afternoon. One team, called Acasa, proposed the use of rapid prototyping machines to essentially "print" affordable housing. Another team, Gettaround, showed an iPhone application and corresponding in-car technology that people can use to rent out their cars to others when not using them — without needing to hand over their keys. The groups displayed their work to a room full of faculty, staff and potential investors, explaining how and when their projects could play out in the real world.
A reception afterward, attendees piled plates with fragrant Indian food while venture capitalists mingled with some students. In a side room, students in dress clothes spoke with Google co-founder Larry Page, who sported a white T-shirt, khaki shorts and red Crocs. Asked about the students' projects, Page said only that he thought they looked good, and then stepped away to join the reception.
Margo Liptsin, 23, a member of Acasa who is about to begin pursuing a Ph.D. in the history of science at Harvard, said her group arrived at its idea for the automated construction of affordable homes after toying with "three-dimensional printing," a process that uses a machine called a rapid prototyper to "print" an object, often out of plastic. Acasa explored how this technology could be used to help people, and figured housing was the most relevant and tangible answer, Liptsin said. An architect in her group suggested the team get in touch with University of Southern California professor Behrokh Khoshnevis, who had developed a rapid prototyping technology that can be used to make walls.
Acasa plans to meet with venture capitalists. The company is seeking $10 million in initial funding, and it hopes to build a prototype house within eight months of getting financing. Acasa wants to build its first houses in Mexico and branch out from there. Even though part of the point of developing this project in Singularity University was to snag funding, Liptsin said it was hard to imagine the group would be talking to investors so quickly.
Hot topic at the first commencement at Singularity University, a school that is backed by Google, operates on NASA's Silicon Valley campus and gets its name from futurist and co-founder Ray Kurzweil's favorite term for our technologically enhanced future. More than a graduate school, it resembles an incubator for technological ideas that, at the end of a nine-week program, may turn into actual companies with a humanitarian edge.
In June, students spent three weeks attending lectures by faculty members and visiting luminaries such as Vint Cerf — one of the founding fathers of the Internet — to get a basic grounding in fields ranging from networks and computing systems to artificial intelligence and robotics. After that, they chose one of four subjects to study more closely for three weeks. For the privilege, the 40 members of the initial class paid $25,000 apiece. Singularity is working bring the cost down, by starting monthly sessions for executives in November. Those will fund scholarships for the summer program, said Peter H. Diamandis, Singularity co-founder and CEO of the X Prize Foundation.
There were 1,200 applicants. Executive director Salim Ismail said the next session — which is slated for mid-June 2010 — will include 100 or 120 students, and added that even that expansion may not fulfill demand. The premise for the school is that change is occurring exponentially from the frenetic pace of technology and globalization.
The final weeks of their studies, students split into four groups and created projects whose only requirements were that they needed to focus on one of the world's great challenges and have the potential to improve the lives of a billion people over a decade. The goal, as some Singularity faculty admit, sounds lofty. But with classic Silicon Valley optimism, the faculty, leaders and students seem confident that work done at Singularity U. will change the world.
There were no spaceship models on display during a presentation of the projects Thursday afternoon. One team, called Acasa, proposed the use of rapid prototyping machines to essentially "print" affordable housing. Another team, Gettaround, showed an iPhone application and corresponding in-car technology that people can use to rent out their cars to others when not using them — without needing to hand over their keys. The groups displayed their work to a room full of faculty, staff and potential investors, explaining how and when their projects could play out in the real world.
A reception afterward, attendees piled plates with fragrant Indian food while venture capitalists mingled with some students. In a side room, students in dress clothes spoke with Google co-founder Larry Page, who sported a white T-shirt, khaki shorts and red Crocs. Asked about the students' projects, Page said only that he thought they looked good, and then stepped away to join the reception.
Margo Liptsin, 23, a member of Acasa who is about to begin pursuing a Ph.D. in the history of science at Harvard, said her group arrived at its idea for the automated construction of affordable homes after toying with "three-dimensional printing," a process that uses a machine called a rapid prototyper to "print" an object, often out of plastic. Acasa explored how this technology could be used to help people, and figured housing was the most relevant and tangible answer, Liptsin said. An architect in her group suggested the team get in touch with University of Southern California professor Behrokh Khoshnevis, who had developed a rapid prototyping technology that can be used to make walls.
Acasa plans to meet with venture capitalists. The company is seeking $10 million in initial funding, and it hopes to build a prototype house within eight months of getting financing. Acasa wants to build its first houses in Mexico and branch out from there. Even though part of the point of developing this project in Singularity University was to snag funding, Liptsin said it was hard to imagine the group would be talking to investors so quickly.
Critics Of The President's Barack Obama Plans
President Barack Obama returns to the White House after a day of diplomacy in Guadalajara, Mexico, His approval ratings slipping, President Barack Obama is retooling his message on health care overhaul, aiming to win over Americans who already have insurance.Polling shows that Americans — especially those who already have coverage — are skeptical of the Democratic proposals to expand coverage to the nearly 50 millions who lack it. So Obama will use a potentially boisterous town hall-style meeting in New Hampshire to highlight how his proposals would affect workers whose employers provide their health insurance.
Critics of the president's plan — his top domestic priority — have grabbed headlines by disrupting town hall meetings, putting the White House on the defensive.Hours before Obama was to arrive at Portsmouth High School, the road leading to the event site was lined with people — about 100 supporters of Obama's health care overhaul on one side and about half as many opponents on the other. "I'm here because I'm an American, I believe in free speech and I'm scared to death," said Barbara Taylor, 65, of Exeter, N.H.
She arrived at 7:30 a.m. and was soaking wet from a severe downpour earlier in the morning. The rain had blurred the red ink on the sign Taylor carried: "Hands Off Our Health Care."On the other side, Linda McVay held her own sign calling attention to Americans without health insurance. She said her son has been without insurance since losing his job in November.
Obama is prepared for possible disruptions Tuesday, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, appearing on television talk shows."I think what the president will do is turn to that person and probably ask them to be civilized and give them an answer to their question," Gibbs told CBS' "The Early Show."
Concerns over Obama's proposal are heating up meetings, chat rooms and radio shows, driving his approval numbers down and threatening the future of his signature issue. While Congress is in recess for the month of August, lawmakers are hearing from frustrated constituents worried about government's role in health care and the costs of an overhaul. "There's a lot of fear out there," said Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, a New Hampshire Democrat.
To calm that fear, Obama plans to spend the month highlighting the upside of health overhaul for Americans already with insurance, starting in a state in which 89 percent of residents have health coverage.In Portsmouth, N.H., Obama will speak directly about his proposal to ban insurance companies from denying individuals coverage because of pre-existing conditions. During a Friday trip to Bozeman, Mont., he will talk about how his plan would block companies from dropping an individual's coverage if he or she becomes ill. And in Grand Junction, Colo., the president will talk about how the Democrats' plan would end high out-of-pocket costs in some policies.
The Democratic National Committee began running television ads that ask, "What's in it for you?" and then highlights those goals. Officials said the ad started running Monday night in Washington and on cable; it would follow as early as Tuesday in states Obama planned to visit, including New Hampshire.
About 1,800 people are expected for that midday event in the Democratic-leaning Seacoast region of the Granite State. Of those, 70 percent were given tickets based on a random lottery — a potentially dicey crowd in a state known for its grass-roots political activism.
"Participating in government here in New Hampshire is like putting on socks for the average American," said Ray Buckley, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Outside, a dozen grass-roots organizations plan a counter-rally.Republicans say the heated debate is a sign of widespread public dissatisfaction with Obama's ideas. But with some of the anxieties spilling into angry disruptions and even threats, Democrats have accused Republicans of orchestrating the events to sabotage legislation. In an article published Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote, "Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American."
Critics of the president's plan — his top domestic priority — have grabbed headlines by disrupting town hall meetings, putting the White House on the defensive.Hours before Obama was to arrive at Portsmouth High School, the road leading to the event site was lined with people — about 100 supporters of Obama's health care overhaul on one side and about half as many opponents on the other. "I'm here because I'm an American, I believe in free speech and I'm scared to death," said Barbara Taylor, 65, of Exeter, N.H.
She arrived at 7:30 a.m. and was soaking wet from a severe downpour earlier in the morning. The rain had blurred the red ink on the sign Taylor carried: "Hands Off Our Health Care."On the other side, Linda McVay held her own sign calling attention to Americans without health insurance. She said her son has been without insurance since losing his job in November.
Obama is prepared for possible disruptions Tuesday, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, appearing on television talk shows."I think what the president will do is turn to that person and probably ask them to be civilized and give them an answer to their question," Gibbs told CBS' "The Early Show."
Concerns over Obama's proposal are heating up meetings, chat rooms and radio shows, driving his approval numbers down and threatening the future of his signature issue. While Congress is in recess for the month of August, lawmakers are hearing from frustrated constituents worried about government's role in health care and the costs of an overhaul. "There's a lot of fear out there," said Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, a New Hampshire Democrat.
To calm that fear, Obama plans to spend the month highlighting the upside of health overhaul for Americans already with insurance, starting in a state in which 89 percent of residents have health coverage.In Portsmouth, N.H., Obama will speak directly about his proposal to ban insurance companies from denying individuals coverage because of pre-existing conditions. During a Friday trip to Bozeman, Mont., he will talk about how his plan would block companies from dropping an individual's coverage if he or she becomes ill. And in Grand Junction, Colo., the president will talk about how the Democrats' plan would end high out-of-pocket costs in some policies.
The Democratic National Committee began running television ads that ask, "What's in it for you?" and then highlights those goals. Officials said the ad started running Monday night in Washington and on cable; it would follow as early as Tuesday in states Obama planned to visit, including New Hampshire.
About 1,800 people are expected for that midday event in the Democratic-leaning Seacoast region of the Granite State. Of those, 70 percent were given tickets based on a random lottery — a potentially dicey crowd in a state known for its grass-roots political activism.
"Participating in government here in New Hampshire is like putting on socks for the average American," said Ray Buckley, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Outside, a dozen grass-roots organizations plan a counter-rally.Republicans say the heated debate is a sign of widespread public dissatisfaction with Obama's ideas. But with some of the anxieties spilling into angry disruptions and even threats, Democrats have accused Republicans of orchestrating the events to sabotage legislation. In an article published Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote, "Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American."
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