Health Care Reform Media Roundup

In the wake of the passage by Congress of the much-debated and historical health care reform bill, here's a quick rundown of the breadth of coverage in the last few hours:

CSPAN healthcare hub: includes links to streaming video from CSPAN-3: Speaker Pelosi's press briefing, the House vote on the bill and reconciliation, House floor debate, President Obama's remarks, and comments from Senator McCain; in text, the vote tally and text of the bill

NYTimes news analysis: David Sanger worries about the consequences of the passage of this major legislation without a single Republican vote

Fox News: reports on brewing legal challenges to the law

The Washington Post: discusses the logistics of what will happen next, including President Obama's signing ceremony tomorrow. This article was posted at 2:20 today.

Full text of the health care reform bill

The historic H.R. 3962, the bill to reform healthcare insurance was passed by The House of Representatives, having already passed the Senate. Click the link above for the entire text of the bill, made available by the Government Printing Office at www.gpoaccess.gov.

Deficit Reduction Financing Act of 2010

Going through the Maryland General Assembly is House Bill 1533, the Deficit Reduction Financing Act of 2010.
Features:

• would repeal the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund and the Stem Cell Research Commission
• would repeal some requirements that contractors pay their employees minimum wage
• would provide that retirees eligible for a prescription drug plan under Medicare would not be eligible for the State precription plan
• would reduce General Fund appropriations for state-funded institutions of higher learning by at least 50 million dollars
• would eliminate 1,000 positions in the USM.

Digital Americana

Digital Americana bills itself as the first digital literary journal, which is not to be confused with online literary journals, of which there are thousands.
DA is designed for the Apple i-pad and includes, according to the magazine's web site, "insightful articles, interviews, and of course, the best fiction.
Featured extras include compelling short independent films, indie music, modern animation, comic illustration, and photography from talented artists around the world."
The site requires Quicktime for all its features to work.

Video: Special Collections Vol. 1

Below is a video highlighting materials that Mary-Jo Price has in Special Collections pertaining to coal mining in Western Maryland and its role in the origin and early history of this university.

Library re-opens Sunday at 1

Sunday, Feb. 14, we will re-open after the weather-related closure at 1 p.m. and will be open until midnight.

BOM for January

Book Of the Month, Jan.

Searching For Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America. Rich Benjamin. Hyperion, 2009. E184.A1 B374 2009

This nugget of middle-brow pop-sociological exploration finds journalist Rich Benjamin staying for a time in various all-white exurbs and reporting his findings.

Whitopia is Benjamin's term for towns like St. George, Utah and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, whose residents are attempting to return to a "simpler time."

Benjamin's prose is jaunty and brisk, his style narrative more than analytical.