The Stonecipher Report

IT PASSES!!!

Round 1 Done on US Healthcare Reform as Sweeping Bill Wins in House of Representatives

Tougher Senate Battle Looms Ahead

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Nov. 8, 2009

Yesterday – Saturday – was just such a pluperfectly beautiful day here in the Capital of the Middle of America: High 60s, sunny, calm. It was – somewhat appropriately, as it would turn out – much like that unexpectedly gorgeous and mildly unseasonable November night we enjoyed here a little more than a year ago…very similar to Election Night ’08, when we gloriously gathered in Grant Park to celebrate history together. Eh, who knew that "Indian Summer" could wait around and not bother to show up until AFTER Halloween and Election Day (and knocking on the door of Veteran’s Day)?

I spent my late afternoon enjoying some Starbucks iced coffee (a valuable tip: register a Starbucks card with them online and put some cash or credit on it, and things like soy and syrup upgrades are free – as are as many brewed hot or iced refills you would like in the same lingering café visit…some nice, potential cha-ching! savings there), listening to some music pumping into my head, and lazily – if happily and looking-forward-ly – drafting a short piece for here about the looming-for-a-vote Healthcare Reform bill, which was expected to be decided on in the US House of Representatives within a few days.

Blame For the Horrible Murder of Dr. Tiller Goes Beyond Gunman

Posted By:  Michael Sweeney

June 5, 2009

I didn’t write about this at first, because – of course – coverage of it was all over the place, everywhere you might look. I didn’t write about this at first because it seemed both so stunning and so "oh, yeah…" expected, as if these sorts of things did – or at least COULD – happen everyday in this country. I didn’t write about this at first because it made me so mad…and not confronting that anger, even for 750, a thousand, twelve-hundred words, might help me keep things controlled and bottled up and keep me from flying off the handle about a subject that has no right or wrong answer, no side with only white hats opposing only the evil black hats.

This is tough – but…a day or two didn’t calm it down in me. And I doubt it a week or two or a year or two won’t…

So…the murder of Dr. George Tiller is a clear case of domestic terrorism…and anyone connected – by deeds or words, by money or encouragement – to apprehended and accused gunman Scott Roeder’s cowardly act of killing the Kansas doctor should also be arrested and prosecuted for the cold-blooded execution.