Around the 'Net: Some Things Never Change / Here Comes "Health"/ Truce

Democratic donors rewarded with White House Perks

During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.

High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.

Pay czar: No need to take on more authority

The Obama administration's "pay czar" who reduced pay for executives at seven major corporations doesn't want broader powers over the rest of the financial sector.

"I'm perfectly comfortable, thank you, limited to these seven companies," Kenneth Feinberg told a congressional committee Wednesday.

But Feinberg, who ordered cutting top executive compensation at the seven companies in half, told lawmakers that the standards he used should guide the broader marketplace.

Woman arrested for trying to trade sex for World Series tickets

Married with children, current Penn grad student in liberal arts and onetime assistant PR director at the University of Pennsylvania, she posted an ad on Craigslist.com: "DESPERATE BLONDE NEEDS WS TIX (Philadelphia)

"Diehard Phillies fan - gorgeous tall buxom blonde - in desperate need of two World Series Tickets. Price negotiable - I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!"

House Democrats prepare to unveil health bill

House Democrats are poised to unveil health care legislation that would vastly alter America's medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and offering a new government-run plan for people without affordable coverage.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was making plans to release the bill Thursday morning, contingent on the outcome of a meeting of House leaders Wednesday afternoon, according to lawmakers and aides.

The WellPoint Revelation: Private insurance premiums could triple under ObamaCare

Washington is captivated by the Senate melodrama over the so-called public option, salivating at the ring of Harry Reid's political bell (see below). But the most important health-care questions continue to be about the policy substance—particularly those that Democrats don't want asked.

Foremost among them is: How will ObamaCare affect insurance premiums in the private health-care markets? Despite indignant Democratic denials, the near-certainty is that their plan will cause costs to rise across the board. The latest data on this score come from a series of state-level studies from the insurance company WellPoint Inc.

HotAir: White House, FNC declare truce

A senior Obama adviser says that, even though the West Wing has been roundly criticized by both adversaries and some allies for blasting Fox as an arm of the Republican Party and not a real news organization, administration insiders are pleased with how things stand.
The fuss has energized core Democrats who have wanted Obama and his advisers to get tough with Fox and other critics of the administration, the adviser says. And it has made the point that Fox is an outlier in the journalistic community, a notion that many liberals embrace…

One drawback, which even Obama aides concede, is that Fox is using the quarrel with the White House as a public-relations tool to stir up its own support among conservatives and to boost ratings. “They’re still at it,” says a senior Obama aide, who adds that White House officials don’t expect to fire another shot in the battle unless Fox strikes first.