Remember that airline commercial that asks “Want to get away?” In the Internet age, there is no getting away when somebody comes up with a truly dumb, ridiculous, or just plain bad idea.
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Obese health bill
1| House reveals new health plan
The details: House Democrats presented a 1,990-page, 400,000-plus-word bill to transform the nation’s health care system. The extraordinarily complex bill adds more than $1 trillion in new spending and 13 tax increases to the federal budget. The Congressional Budget Office concludes that enactment of the bill will increase federal health care spending.
Race still a problem
2| Poll finds Obama optimism disappeared
The details: The election of President Obama one year ago brought a dramatic jump in the number of Americans who believe that the nation’s racial problems will be worked out, to 67 percent. But that jump has nearly disappeared, according to a new Gallup poll, reverting to the same 56 percent expressed before Obama’s election.
‘Clunker’ remorse
3| Independent study finds program wasteful, useless
The details: A study by automotive media site Edmunds.com found the $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program generated only about 125,000 more sales than would have otherwise occurred. The program’s rebates of up to $4,500 per sale thus cost taxpayers approximately $24,000 each.
Flag flap
4| Democrats pick flag-defacing video as finalist
The details:Politico reports that one of 20 video contest finalists chosen by Democratic National Committee employees features an American flag being defaced with health care graffiti. The contest was sponsored by the Obama campaign committee.
Afghan delay
5| Obama drags out decision process
The details: As American servicemen ended the deadliest month yet in the Afghanistan war, President Obama deferred his decision on Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for 40,000 additional troops. Obama now wants a new study of each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces before making the decision he has delayed for weeks.
More foreclosures coming
6| New wave to hit region
The details: Another wave of foreclosures is expected to hit the Washington region’s already battered housing market as more than 100,000 homes with delinquent mortgages are reclaimed by lenders. Prince George’s County in Maryland and Prince William County in Virginia, which have already experienced high levels of foreclosures,
will be among the hardest hit.
Clueless
7| Now Rhee wants teachers to trust her
The details: After laying off 266 educators just six weeks into the new school year, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee apparently wants to know how to regain the remaining teachers’ trust. Rhee reportedly told a group of principals that she just doesn’t understand “why everyone is so afraid.”
Some don’t like it HOT
8| Alexandria opposes HOT lanes
The details: Alexandria became the third local jurisdiction to oppose high-occupancy toll lanes along the congested Interstate 95/395 corridor. The public-private partnership project was put on hold this summer because of local opposition even though Virginia officials recently announced there is no state money available for road construction in Northern Virginia.
Complaints Department
9| Parking meter gripes top list
The details: The District received a record 142,000 complaints about malfunctioning parking meters so far this year – a whopping 389 every day. That’s a lot, considering that the city has only 16,000 single-space meters which collect nearly $9 million a year from increasing frustrated motorists. But new pay by phone meters should eliminate the problem … until they start giving people the wrong number.
Don’t play there
10| Adams Morgan park off-limits
The details: Five years after spending $215,620 to renovate Pierce Park in Northwest D.C., city officials have now banned all outdoor activities on the rutted, grassless playing field. A sprinkler system installed to keep the sod alive failed within a month and was turned off, local residents say, and the city’s parks and recreation department never got around to fixing it.
