Joe Biden & Former Presidents Clinton, Bush Pay Tribute To Passengers Of Flight 93

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VP, former presidents laud courage of Flight 93

Vice President Joe Biden said the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 gave their lives for their country when they overcame four hijackers to crash the plane into a Pennsylvania field.

He says that while nothing can fill the void left in the hearts of their family members and friends, their actions will always be recalled gratefully, for defining their country and sacrificing their lives so that others could live.

Speaking Saturday at the dedication of the first phase of the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Biden said those aboard the plane knew that it was more than a hijacking, but an opening shot in a new war.

He says they acted as citizen patriots have done since Capt. John Parker said in April 1775 that if war is what they want, "then let it begin here."

Former President George W. Bush called the actions aboard Flight 93 on Sept. 11 one of the most courageous acts in U.S. history and a shining example of democracy in action. More than 4,000 people, including relatives of those killed when the plane crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field, attended the service.

He said that even as the U.S. was under attack in New York and Washington, those aboard the hijacked plane defied their four captors by holding a vote to try and overpower them. He said the choice cost them their lives but was successful.

'Determination and valor'
Former President Bill Clinton said he and U.S. House Speaker John Boehner will mount a bipartisan effort to raise the remaining $10 million needed to completely fund the Flight 93 National Memorial, and he praised those aboard the plane as heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Clinton likened their efforts to the Battle of the Alamo in Texas and the battle of Thermoplyae in ancient Greece, where defenders of both died to the last man.

He noted that the passengers who overcame the four hijackers were not soldiers, but citizens, who with almost no time acted and gave the U.S. a gift: They saved the capital from attack.

He said they saved lives and denied al-Qaida the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government.

He said that he hoped that 2,500 years from now, their exploits would not be forgotten.

The terrorists "never made it because of the determination and valor of the passengers and crew of Flight 93; that plane crashed in this field, less than 20 minutes by air" from Washington, where it appeared to be headed, said Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service.

The Rev. Daniel Coughlin, who was the U.S. House Chaplain at the time of the attacks, called the sacrifices made by the passengers and crew "willing seed for freedom's harvest."

"They refused to be paralyzed. ... They break the silence and decidedly act together. They do only what is possible in an impossible situation," he said in the invocation. "Because they are your children, they find within themselves, true freedoms."

Coughlin's invocation was followed by a long moment of silence as the U.S. flag was brought in, then a singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The names of the victims were also read as bells tolled.

Poet Robert Pinsky took to the lectern and read a pair of poems, one about "needing to remember, even if you don't want to," and a second about heroism. The poems came from Brazilian Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Poland's Czeslaw Milosz.

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Sarah McLachlan performed her song of loss and remembrance, "I Will Remember You."

In remembrance in NYC

In New York City, hundreds of families, friends and strangers ringing lower Manhattan clasped hands as a bell clanged at 8:46 a.m. to signify the time the first hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower. It was one of several public and private events scheduled around the city, including a free performance by the New York Philharmonic and a memorial by Fire Department of New York for its 343 members who died on 9/11 and those who have died from illness after working at ground zero.

In Pennsylvania on Friday, family members of those who died on Flight 93 visited the crash site, read the guestbook and viewed the many mementos left by people from all over the world who have come to pay their respects.

Relatives shed some tears, but they also celebrated the spirit of the guestbook — a rare feeling that people from vastly different walks of life had come together.

"I don't focus on what happened. You can't change that," said Lorne Lyles, whose wife, CeeCee Ross Lyles, had been working as a United Airlines flight attendant for only nine months on that September morning in 2001.

"Coming here is more of a celebratory thing. She's been memorialized," Lyles said. "Just to see the outpouring from all over the world is touching. You really do have some caring people in the world."

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar spoke at the site Friday. He noted that for all the progress on the memorial, there's still work to be done. When it's finished, it will include a "Tower of Voices" with 40 wind chimes.

Public and private donors have contributed $52 million, but $10 million more is needed to build a true visitors center and to finish landscaping, Salazar said.


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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

V.P. Biden & Hospital Leaders To Announce Health Care Reform Pact Worth $155 Billion...Will Congress Support It?

Huffington Post----

(V.P. Biden announces $155 Billion deal made by Hospital leaders nationwide to help cover hospital costs. Another huge step towards Health Care Reform.)

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is struggling to show progress in a race against the clock to revamp the nation's health care system this year.

Problems in Congress threaten to overshadow a White House event Wednesday designed to boost Obama's health overhaul.

Leaders from hospital industry trade groups were expected to appear with Vice President Joe Biden to announce that hospitals are ready to give up about $155 billion over 10 years in government payments. The money could then be used to help pay for covering millions of uninsured.

But Congress, not the health care industry, is the source of Obama's troubles.

Lawmakers returned Tuesday from their July 4 break with lots of questions about the complex legislation and deep misgivings about key elements under discussion.

Democratic senators in particular are having second thoughts about a proposed new tax on generous health insurance benefits provided by some employers. Without the tax _ Republicans favor it as a brake on cost increases_ the prospects for a bipartisan deal in the Senate appear to be in jeopardy.

Obama's ambitious timetable for passing a bill this year keeps slipping. Timing is critical because lawmakers might be reluctant to vote on such a charged issue as health care next year, when all House members and one-third of senators face elections.

"We're not there yet," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has spent countless hours seeking a compromise with Republican colleagues. "I'm trying the best I can to get there soon."

Another senator deeply involved in the bipartisan negotiations said the proposed new tax on the costliest employer-paid insurance benefits is quickly losing favor with Democrats.

"It's clearly a very difficult issue," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., citing recent polls. "You go to the public to ask them what they think and they don't like it."

A compilation of surveys reviewed by senators showed at least 59 percent of the public opposed to taxing health care benefits to "pay for reform."

As a result, Conrad said, "we're looking at other options" to help finance a bill whose price tag is expected to reach $1 trillion or slightly more. Those other options may be hard to sell to Republicans whose support Baucus has been cultivating.

Baucus has long championed a tax on health benefits as the best way to pay for health care while simultaneously restraining the growth of the cost in coverage in the future. But the idea has drawn strong opposition from organized labor, a core Democratic constituency. House Democrats have been highly resistant, too, and Obama campaigned hard against it in last year's run for the White House.

The deal with the hospitals _ the one bright spot right now for Obama _ may also be on shaky ground. Officials said it's pegged to the Senate Finance Committee legislation that Baucus is negotiating, and whose prospects are uncertain. It would follow concessions from drug companies, and an announcement by Wal-Mart last week that it would support an employer requirement to help pay for health care.

Of the $155 billion in projected savings, about $40 billion to $50 billion would come from reducing federal payments hospitals receive for providing care to uninsured and low-income patients, according to lobbyists. Those payments are now made through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The Medicaid cuts would be apportioned by state, as 10 percent annual reductions beginning around 2015.

About $100 billion more would come from reductions in planned Medicare payments to hospitals. A small amount of savings would come from trimming the money hospitals get for preventing patients from being readmitted for additional care.

Hospitals would also get something out of the deal. They won an agreement that if the Finance Committee's legislation includes a public health insurance plan, it would reimburse hospitals at above the rates Medicare and Medicaid pay, which hospitals have long complained are insufficient.

The issue of a government insurance plan to compete against private companies continued to inflame sentiments on both sides of the political aisle. Republicans remain solidly opposed. Democrats, citing polls that show the public is open to the idea, are talking about a showdown on the issue.

In a sign of higher-level concern over the pace of bipartisan talks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters he intends to meet Wednesday with a small group of Republicans who have been involved in the discussions. While Democrats and the White House have said they would prefer a bipartisan bill, they also must be careful not to let the talks drag on so long that they fall hopelessly behind schedule.

Similar efforts were under way in the House.

It's still unclear whether the difficulties are enough to imperil Obama's objective of signing a health care bill this fall, or whether they were merely the type of obstacles that emerge any time Congress attempts to pass major legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a target of month's end to enact health care legislation, while in the Senate, Reid hopes to complete legislation by the end of the first week in August.

Sources: Huffington Post, Politico, Whitehouse.gov, Wikipedia

V.P. Joe Biden Speaks, Visits Iraq...(Palin's Resignation, Recession, Stimulus, Jobs, N. Korea)

MSNBC----

WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up.

Biden, in an interview airing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," said the nation's 9.5 percent unemployment rate is "much too high."

"The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there," Biden said.

"We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," Biden added. More jobs will be created in coming months, he said.

Biden noted that the $787 billion economic stimulus package was set up to spend the money over 18 months. Major programs will take effect in September, including $7.5 billion for broadband Internet service, plus new money for high-speed rail and the nation's electrical grid, he said.

Biden said it's premature to say whether the country will need a second stimulus package.

On other issues:

* Biden, asked whether the United States would put the lives of U.S. troops on the line should violence flare up again in Iraq, said "no." The U.S. still plans to withdraw all troops by 2011, Biden said. "That is the intention," he said. "We believe the Iraqis will be fully capable of maintaining their own security."

* Biden said if the Iranian government seeks to engage in a dialogue with the United States, the U.S. will engage. "If the Iranians respond to the offer of engagement, we will engage," Biden said. "The offer's on the table."

* Biden said Israel has the right to pursue a different course of action on Iran than the U.S. does. "Look, Israel can determine for itself — it's a sovereign nation — what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."

* On North Korea's Saturday launch of more missiles, he said "the question is, is there anything that we should do about it? Look, this has almost become predictable behavior," Biden said. "Some of it seems like almost attention-seeking behavior." The U.S. shouldn't give North Korea the attention, he said, adding that the U.S. policy has been correct so far. "We have succeeded in uniting the most important and critical countries to North Korea on a common path of further isolating North Korea," Biden said.

* The Obama administration is "well on the way" to resolving a dispute between CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, Biden said. The conflict centers on Blair's effort to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs. "They both won," Biden said. He declined to give details, saying the resolution was not yet complete.

* Biden said he respected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to step down. "It maybe had a lot to do with what the state of their life was, and the state of their family, et cetera," Biden said. "So I'm not going to second-guess her."


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Sources: MSNBC, Whitehouse.gov, Google Maps

76% Of Americans In Favor Of Public Option Health Care Plan!

Huffington Post, ----

New Poll numbers from NBC/Wall Street Journal produce two major and potentially conflicting story lines when it comes to the Obama administration's efforts for a health care overhaul. On the one hand, the American public overwhelmingly favors a choice between getting insurance coverage either through the private market or a government run option. Indeed, 76 percent of respondents said it was either "extremely" or "quite" important to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance."

With the public option being such a lightning rod in the current health care debate, progressive activists are already emailing around these numbers as evidence that voters are way ahead of the politicians. Certainly, the findings provide a boost of sorts to President Obama, who has stood by the public plan even as Republican opposition has crystallized.

That said, the president still has his work cut out for him. In the same NBC/WSJ poll, only 33 percent of respondents said they thought the president's health care plan, to the extent they knew of it, was a "good idea;" 32 percent said it was a bad idea.

In short: the administration has yet to complete the sale. An additional 30 percent of the public had no opinion of Obama's proposal for reform. But when read a description of the general outline -- requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, an employer mandate, tax credits for lower income families to buy coverage, and tax increases on wealthier Americans to pay for it - the number of respondents in support rose to 55 percent.

Sources: Huffington Post, NBC, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Newsweek, The Page, Day Life, MSNBC, Wikio