Clem’s Chronicles: Health-Care Reform/Afghanistan/California Mudslides feared

Howdy folks-Clem Lane here. California residents are bracing for some gnarly weather-flash flooding and mudslides are possible in foothill areas decimated by wildfires from southern California to northern California…..in other news………

HEALTH-CARE BILL-A victory for health-care reform proponents-the Senate Finance Committee approved its’ version of health care reform today and even got a Republican vote in the “yes” column. Jon Karl, reporting for WORLD NEWS, tells us about the Baucus bill particulars: “It would require Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine of up to $1900 a family. Provide subsidies to help families with incomes under $88K buy insurance. Prohibit denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions.” While some 25 million Americans who are currently uninsured would be covered, Karl adds “it would still leave 16 million citizens and 8 million illegal aliens without insurance.” Predictably, carping from both the left and right to the compromise bill. Karl says that some Democrats are upset that “unlike every other Democratic bill, it would not create a new government-run health insurance program.” Republicans don’t like the cost, Karl notes, “829 billion over ten years, paid for by reducing Medicare spending by about $400 billion and $400 billion in tax hikes, including a new tax on the most expensive health plans.”
But let’s get back to the committee vote. The lone Republican in the yes column, Maine’s Olympia Snowe, was less than effusive over the bill as it stands now but said during the voting that “I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency.” Speaking later with Charles Gibson on WORLD NEWS, Ms. Snowe was asked what might cause her to pull back her support for health-care reform. Snowe told Gibson “a significant cost added to the bill, significant taxes. If some issues aren’t addressed…affordability, we need to make sure Americans have affordable health plans. And finally of course, the public option. That is not an area that I have agreed to.” President Obama seemed not to focus on Senator Snowe’s qualifiers when he spoke in the Rose Garden late this afternoon. Obama: ““And I want to particularly thank Senator Olympia Snowe for both the political courage and the seriousness of purpose that she's demonstrated throughout this process.” Jake Tapper wrote up the President’s appearance and it’s clear that the President himself isn’t taking much of a victory lap over committee passage of the Baucus bill. Tapper: “He noted that much difficult work lies ahead with ‘significant details and disagreements to be worked out over the next several weeks as the five separate bills from the Senate and the House are merged into one proposal.’

CALIFORNIA FLOODING/MUDSLIDES:  Remnants of a typhoon that hit Japan last week are poised to soak northern and central California over the next few days, and have the potential to cause flash flooding and mudslides.  The storm has already brought several inches of rain to the Bay Area; the San Francisco Chronicle reports more than 200 car accidents caused by the inclement weather, and at least 89,000 residents without power.  Further down the coast, residents have started sandbagging vulnerable areas in the foothills above Los Angeles, preparing for another natural disaster.  “It’s a one-two punch for homeowners who narrowly escaped the largest fire in LA County’s history just a month ago,” Lisa Fletcher told us on WORLD NEWS.  “The Station Fire incinerated everything that would stop a landslide.” As a result, many homeowners are also choosing to voluntarily evacuate.  This evening the electricity grid manager for the state declared a power emergency after strong winds knocked down a high-voltage transmission line in Monterey County.   The California Independent System Operator says the collapse of the transmission line cut the power flow from Southern California to Northern California by one-third, and it is encouraging residents to conserve power for the remainder of the day.  Fletcher reports tonight that the large, 400-mile storm is forecast to bring “three to six inches of rain” as well as hurricane-force winds.  “And while every storm this season will have homeowners on edge, the next 24 hours are critical to this community,” Fletcher says. (thanks to Marisa Bramwell for this entry)

AFGHANISTAN:  President Obama and his National Security team will sit down again tomorrow to go over U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.  The top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is recommending additional troops in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.  Martha Raddatz tells us the debate continues to focus on the 40 thousand more troops number that McChrystal requests. Raddatz had reported a much higher number also included as an option-“significantly more than 60 thousand but less than 100 thousand”. And tonight Martha says she has sources who say the actual higher number mentioned by McChrystal as an additional option is 80,000.  Today McChrystal is also quoted as saying in his report that widespread government corruption could derail the battle, even if additional troops are approved.  In an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that government corruption is an issue in his country but disputed the extent of irregularities in the recent presidential election. Karzai insisted the balloting "as a whole was good and free and democratic" despite efforts by the Taliban to keep people from the polls.  After an eight year war that has left hundreds of American soldiers dead,Diane Sawyer asked Karzai: “What went wrong? (Karzai) The first thing that went wrong is lack of concentration…on the sanctuaries of terrorists.  The second thing that went wrong was not paying attention to the Afghan police and security forces.  The third thing that went wrong was that the war on terror was conducted in Afghan villages where it was not…and thousands of civilians were maimed and killed and homes were destroyed.  The Afghan people were alienated.  The Afghan people were made angry.  While the Afghan people still support engagement of the United States in the war on terror, the Afghan people want to be praised and not hurt.” As for General McChrystal’s call for additional troops in Afghanistan, Karzai told Diane Sawyer that “I’m fully behind him.” (thanks to Ed Bailey for this entry)

CT SCAN RADIATION OVERDOSE:  Cedars-Sinai Hospital says an error in the programming of a CT scanner last year led to an overexposure of radiation – eight times the normal dosage – to more than 200 patients.  The programming error happened in February 2008; in a statement, the hospital said “there was a misunderstanding about an embedded default setting applied by the machine…As a result, the use of this protocol resulted in a higher than expected amount of radiation.”  Cedars-Sinai did not notice the programming mistake until this past August – 18 months later – when a patient reported that he started losing his hair after the scan.  The hospital then discovered that of the 206 patients – all of whom underwent the CT scans to look for signs of stroke – about 40 percent suffered some hair loss and/or reddening of the skin after the scan. On WORLD NEWS, Mike von Fremd reported that “experts say a mistake such as this is highly unusual…still…the Food and Drug Administration has issued a nationwide alert warning hospitals across the country to check the settings of their CT scanners.” Cedars-Sinai said it has “added double-checks to our process whenever a protocol is changed, and are pleased that the FDA is also looking into whether or not there should be changes made by CT scanner manufacturers in their equipment settings as well as the possibility of manufacturers adding alarms and alerts to their equipment to serve as an additional safeguard for patient safety at hospitals nationwide.” (thanks to Marisa Bramwell for this entry)

RUNAWAY RELIGIOUS CONVERT- A Florida judge says he plans to order the teenager who ran away from Ohio to Florida because she feared for her safety for converting from Islam to Christianity sent back to Ohio. The Orlando judge said Tuesday that he will sign the order when he gets the documents on 17-year-old Rifqa Bary's  immigration status. Dan Harris, filing for WORLD NEWS, quickly recaps the story: “Rifqa ran away from her parents’ home in Ohio in July after an alleged confrontation with her parents…taking refuge in Florida with Pastor Blake Lorenz and his wife, whom she met over the Internet.” Rifqa’s parents disputed their daughter’s allegations telling Harris earlier this year that “their daughter had been coached-brainwashed-by members of the Christian community.” The father even pointed to his daughter’s cheerleading career as proof that they were not strict with her, and Harris says that “A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation seemed to back him up…concluding that there was no credible threat to Rifqa.” The judge says he will likely turn over the case to an Ohio court in the next few weeks but that doesn’t mean Rifqa is going home to her family. Harris says “for now, she will be sent to a foster family in Ohio.”

MISSION TO MOSCOW: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has begun her first visit to Russia since being named to the Obama cabinet.  Secretary Clinton met today with her counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at his home outside Moscow. International issues dominated the talks but it appears Clinton failed to win specific pledges on tougher sanctions against Iran if Tehran does not allay concerns that it wants to build a nuclear bomb.  At a news conference with Clinton, Lavrov restated Russia’s position that any talk of sanctions against Iran at this stage would be counter-productive. Lavrov said "considerable progress" had been made by U.S. and Russian negotiators towards a new bilateral treaty cutting their stocks of strategic nuclear weapons. They are working toward a deadline of December for concluding a treaty to replace the Cold War-era START pact.  Secretary Clinton also met with President Medvedev before taking in the Bolshoi tonight.  Clinton is nearing the end of a European trip that has included stops in Zurich, London, Dublin and Belfast.  On Wednesday she will hold a town hall-style meeting at Moscow State University and fly to the ethnically diverse Republic of Tatarstan to hold a "roundtable" discussion. (thanks to Ed Bailey for this entry)

SCOTUS TODAY-Ariane DeVogue has some Supreme Court news-
***The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal today of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling who claims he did not receive a fair trial. He is challenging the scope of the federal “honest services” fraud statute that was applied against him in his 2006 conviction. Skilling was convicted of  conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors involving the 2001 collapse of Enron. The Court will hear the case this term, probably later this winter.
***The Court DID not act on a case regarding whether the Department of Defense has to release possibly hundreds of photos depicting abuse of detainees by US servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lower court has ordered the release of the pictures, but the government has asked the Court to delay consideration because of pending congressional legislation. The legislation  would authorize the Secretary of Defense to exempt the disclosure of the photographs by determining that their disclosure would endanger  lives.
***The Court also has agreed to hear the case of Glenn Marcus—known as the S&M Svengali. He was convicted and sentenced to 9 years for abusing a woman he photographed for his website. A federal appeals court overturned his conviction based on the fact that he had been convicted in part based on a law that did not exist when his crime was committed. Sotomayor sat on the panel that ruled for Marcus but suggested in her ruling that the Supreme Court may need to step in. She is recused from this case.

OTHER STUFF-
–COLD CASE ARREST- Authorities say DNA evidence has helped them make an arrest in a nearly 20-year-old southeast Texas case where an 8-year-old girl was brutally attacked. Police and FBI agents said Tuesday the recently tested evidence led them to arrest 40-year-old Dennis Bradford in connection with the 1990 assault in Dickinson, TX. Bradford was arrested in North Little Rock, Ark., where he has lived the past seven years. The victim held a news conference today and told reporters she never gave up hope her attacker would be brought to justice. (AP)
–STATES BEGIN RECEIVING FIRST SHIPMENT OF H1N1 INJECTABLE VACCINE-The following states have gotten the H1N1 injectable vaccine: Arkansas; Florida; Indiana; Kansas; Maryland – Montgomery County; Michigan; Nebraska – Wayne County/Omaha, as expected; Ohio; Oklahoma; Utah. (Grace Huang)
–MILITARY RECRUITING SETS RECORDS-The economic downturn seems to be a boon for US military recruiting efforts. The military posted a record recruiting year this past year in both numbers and in the highest quality of recruits ever gained since the establishment of the all-volunteer service in 1973.(Luis Martinez)
–AIG BONUSES-Kenneth Feinberg, the so-called pay czar appointed by the Obama Administration to oversee AIG and six other bailout recipients, wants AIG to hold back some of the dosh it’s sending to employees in the form of bonus payments. That information courtesy Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, who compiled a report that was released today. Barofsky, in his audit, said Feinberg has indicated that he wants AIGFP’s future retention payments to be scaled back. The company is set to pay out a second portion of retention payments, totaling $198 million, in March of 2010. (Matt Jaffe)
–INTEL POSTS BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED NUMBERS, STOCK FUTURES UP- Intel Corp. says its third-quarter profit dropped 8 percent as prices for its chips fell. Sales fell 8 percent to $9.4 billion, but both numbers were better than Wall Street projected and Intel offered better-than-expected sales guidance for the fourth quarter. U.S. stock index futures are up across the board in response to the Intel numbers suggesting a positive start to the Wednesday trading day.