Snow Peeps

The top guy's got broccoli eyes. The bottom one's eyes are made out of falafel.

Snow What

Happy Monday. Turns out the weather experts finally got one right. We endured quite the brutal snow beating this weekend. I took the photo to the left on my hike home from a friend's house Saturday at about noon.

DC's not well-equipped to handle inclement weather. The streets and sidewalks that are passable are slick and slushy at best, and the city's far from dug out. Metro's running sporadically and only to and from the underground stations. My commute's not bad, but half the office is working from home.

Rumor has it we're due for another 5-10 inches tomorrow. That should make things interesting.

On the health care front, this is all the news today:

President Obama said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month...The idea for the bipartisan meeting, set for Feb. 25, was reached in recent weeks, aides said, as part of the White House strategy to intensify its push to engage Congressional Republicans in policy negotiations, share the burden of governing and put more scrutiny on Republican initiatives.

Richard's been chatting with reporters. From TPMDC:

"If this is what it takes--if doing this will make Democrats say, ok, go ahead and use their majorities to pass reform, then do it," said Richard Kirsch, director of the reform campaign Health Care for America Now.

Kirsch says Democrats have to remember that this isn't going to make Republicans any less intransigent. "They're still going to vote no," he said. "Their entire political strategy is to burn the House down, whether or not people get caught inside."

"The point is, if it's helpful to clarify for people, remind people, that Republicans don't have ideas to really address the health care problems, and will say no to anything--if it does that it's good," Kirsch said. "If this is helps, then so be it. But at this point its up to Democrats to use their majorities to pass reform."

And that's basically what aides in both the House and Senate think: that the meeting can be used to clearly differentiate who is fighting for what, while deflating the GOP charge that the reform process has been too secretive.

Happy Snow-ish Day

DC's bracing for (read: behaving ridiculously in anticipation of) what's supposed to be about 36 hours of snow. We've seen nothing yet, but lines at stores have been out of control.

The upside is being given the option to work from home. Yes, I will be exercising said option.

And if it looks like you might have some free time around 3pm EST today, sign up now to join us for a live strategy conference call with HCAN staff and Senator Franken.

In other random, unrelated news, NPR reported this morning the "drunkest" city in the country is Fresno and the least drunk is Boston. Anyone else find that surprising? The Fresno part I think I understand, but Boston? USAToday has the full list here.

Say Ow

I went to the dentist today to have my teeth professionally cleaned for the first time in too long. I'm proud to say I'm still cavity-free, but apparently skipping regular dentist visits leads hygienists to launch into "super strong painful scrape" mode.

I've learned my lesson. I'm flossing more. And never eating again.

On The DL

Just because we're not hearing health care reform play-by-play every second of every day does not mean it's not moving. AP:

Leading lawmakers hoping to revive President Barack Obama's stalled health care overhaul have started writing a compromise bill, but it's unclear when the legislation will be ready for votes, a top House Democrat said Tuesday.

The measure would change the massive Senate-approved health bill to what bargainers from the White House, Senate and House agreed to last month, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said in a brief interview.

Sargent:

White House aides have privately told Dem Congressional aides that the White House supports the House passing the Senate health reform bill with a reconciliation fix, something that could give a bit more momentum to that approach, according to two Congressional staffers familiar with the discussions.

(...)

Obama and the White House have not publicly stated a preference on how they’d like Congressional Dems to proceed. But White House aides have privately made it clear to the Dem leadership that they support the approach many Dems are coalescing behind: The House passing the Senate bill, with fixes made by the Senate via reconciliation, the sources say.

p.s. Never mind the image. I'm just in a mood.

Quote of the Day

Online dating edition (courtesy of a gf who will remain anonymous):

"It was all a bit too blatant for me. I like my dating the old-fashioned way: a sense of obligation after a drunken bar hook-up goes home and goes too far."

Linking w/o Comment

From Joe:

Yes, the DNC and Organizing for America (OFA) have been asking supporters to chip in for the fight to pass real health care reform, including a public option. But, who does it look like benefited from those donations, your donations? Ben Nelson, the guy who worked to kill real reform. And he got the money after he killed real reform, almost like it was a pay off.

Read the whole post here.