This from Liz Benjamin:

Jack Uldrich, chairman of the Minnesota Independence Party, has issued a formal call for the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent mayor to "give serious consideration" to a White House run.

"The two-party system has catastrophically failed America," Uldrich said. "America needs a serious, credible independent to right our sinking ship and get it back on track to a prosperous future.

"There is no one better positioned than Mayor Bloomberg to accept the mantle of this immense challenge."

To which i have to add a wake-up call: Bloomberg spent $102,000,000 of his own money to become chief realtor mayor of New York City. That's $175.00 a vote.

What does it translates to? Obama won with 65,182,692. If you consider that number for a minute, not the total of people who actually voted, then that would make Bloomberg's cost for running for president a staggering $11 406 971 100. Yes, that's $11 BILLION right there.

Blommberg didn't win because of his leadership. He bought himself a voting field devoid of any real opponents. And even the guy that was supposed to not even come close to beating him, didn't play his losing card the way he should have.
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Have you read Team Obama's proposal for health care reform? If you haven't, I suggest you do so immediately. Right on Page 3 of the PDF is what prompted me to write this blog post:

Invest in Community Health Centers. Community health centers play a critical role in providing quality care in underserved areas. About 1,250 centers provide care to 20 million people, with an emphasis on preventive and primary care. The Senate bill increases funding to these centers for services by $7 billion and for construction by $1.5 billion over 5 years. The House bill provides $12 billion over the same 5 years. Bridging the difference, the President’s Proposal invests $11 billion in these centers.

Those who know me personally, know the history of chronic illnesses and allergies that afflict my family. And they know that for a good 5-6 years we had to do without health insurance. Had it not been for Dr. Robert Schiller and the staff at Institute for Family Health (Sydney Hillman Framily Practice), we would have been in deep financial shit.

Our family doctor is not only the head of Family Health at Beth Israel Hospital. He is also a renowned homeopath with a vast knowledge and respect for non-allopathic (aka alternative) medicines. Every single MD in the practice is known for attacking allergies, chronic illnesses, addictions, AIDS & STDs using a mixture of western and alternative medicines. Why? Because it ultimately reduces costs.
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[ #SOTU delivered Jan. 27, 2010, as released by the White House ]

Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For two hundred and twenty years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They have done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility. And they have done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle.

It's tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable – that America was always destined to succeed. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were times that tested the courage of our convictions, and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements; our hesitations and our fears; America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, and one people.

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I love charts. Anything that visualized data is like *shiny* to me. It also shows that at least someone in Congress or the Senate has been doing their homework. Particularly when pointing out there were more jobs created under the private sector under the Clinton administration than under Bush.

The knee-jerk reaction would be to say, "how partisan". Yet that data on those charts make it hard to debate. Sure, the numbers could be off, but it's the kind of work I am seeing more and more from Democrats in Congress than from Republicans on these video clips from the floor.

Seems the Blue Dogs wanted a spending freeze for the next month (how can that be in the middle of a budget?), but Acuri will take the fiscal bone Obama's throwing them with next year's budgetary apocalypse.

Watch it!