Roni Caryn Rabin and Reed Abelson:
State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to CNN:
Edward Snowden is one of us. Bradley Manning is one of us. They are young, technically minded people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed. They are the generation that grew up on the Internet, and were shaped by it.
Assange has put in to words something I’ve been mulling over since news broke that Snowden was being charged by the US government for theft, conversion of government property and espionage.
Wayne Hale, 32-year NASA veteran and Space Shuttle Flight Director:
For all our limitations, America is a very rich country. There are many things which America needs to do for the present moment: provide for a strong military to protect us in a dangerous world, educate our children, care for our elderly and infirm, revitalize our transportation infrastructure of roads, bridges, airports, and more. All of these activities are of vital importance today. Space exploration is about the future. Space exploration is possibly the only line item in the federal budget that is all about the future. Currently we spend one half of one percent of our nation’s treasure on the future. Isn’t the future worth that investment? Or more!
In the hearing (which was mostly about taxes), Sen. John McCain asked:
What I really wanted to ask was, why the hell I have to keep updating the apps on my iPhone all the time, and why you don’t fix that?
Hm.
You can’t make this stuff up, folks.
Gabrielle Giffords in The New York Times, on the failed law to expand gun background checks:
Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents — who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.
..and he may kill us all. But hey, it could be worse: this maniac could be launching nuclear weapons from one of those stupid new thin iMacs.
President Obama:
That is our generation’s task — to make these words, these rights, these values — of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries—long debates about the role of government for all time — but it does require us to act in our time.
Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
David Waters:
Ulises Posadas, being treated for leukemia at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, rarely hears his mother’s voice.
Last week, his mother, Dolores Posadas, was captured trying to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. She was detained in a cell near Laredo, Texas, for several days, then released and returned to Mexico.
Screw our immigration laws. This is just wrong.
A great speech that will hopefully be followed by strides in the right direction when it comes to gun control and care for those with mental health issues.
Amanda Terkel at the Huffington Post:
Smith, like many of his Republican colleagues, has expressed doubt that global warming is caused by human behavior. In 2009, he criticized the media for not airing enough “dissenting opinions” about climate change.
Additionally, those following net neutrality will instantly recognize Rep. Smith as the author of the controversial, much-maligned Stop Online Piracy Act. Though SOPA legislation was ultimately tabled in response to fierce backlash, Smith’s promotion to committee chairman could raise new concerns that he’ll again attempt to address online piracy with similarly heavy-handed measures. It’s expected that the House will vote in favor of Smith’s new role today.