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Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:
Obama, Party Tout Lower Figure for Health Reform  —  Senate Democrats and President Obama, trying to assuage fears about the cost of health reform, yesterday touted new estimates that put the price tag for one bill at $611 billion over the next decade.  —  But the measure drafted …

Tehran claims staff members held in aftermath of post-election protests had helped instigate demonstrations

A senior Iranian cleric today said some of the Iranian British embassy workers detained in the aftermath of the protests that followed last month's presidential elections would be put on trial.

In comments that will inflame tensions between the two countries, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said the detained staff members had "made confessions" in connection with the unrest.

Jannati, a hardliner who is close to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said during a Friday prayer sermon: "In these events, their embassy had a presence. Some people were arrested. Well, inevitably, they will be put on trial."

The cleric's comments are not an official announcement from Tehran – Jannati does not hold a position in the government or judiciary. He is the leader of the guardian council, a powerful body of clerics that stands above the elected government.

Jannati did not say how many embassy staff members would be tried, or on what charges.

Earlier, Iranian officials said all but one of the nine embassy personnel arrested on 27 June had been released, but European Union officials said they believed more than one was still being held.

Jannati told thousands of worshippers that Britain "had designed a velvet revolution ... in March, they said that street riots were possible during June elections. These are signs ... revealed by themselves."

Downing Street said it was seeking urgent clarification from the Iranian government as the Foreign Office again rejected the Iranian accusations against its staff.

"All we can say is that two of our staff remain in detention," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

"I would reiterate what we said earlier this week, that the accusations against them are without foundation."

Iran arrested the embassy workers in a co-ordinated operation last weekend.

The matter seemed to be winding down after most were released in the face of a strong response from the EU.

The threat of a trial came as EU countries examined potential steps to protest against Iran's crackdown on dissent. Possible measures include a co-ordinated summoning of Tehran's ambassadors in Europe and visa bans on Iranian officials, diplomats said.

"There is no decision yet on either of those two options," one EU diplomat said after political directors from the 27-nation bloc met in Stockholm yesterday.

The diplomat said the Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, had contacted his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, earlier this week.

"We are taking things step by step," the diplomat said. "We are waiting for an Iranian response." Further meetings of EU officials are scheduled to take place in Stockholm and Brussels today.

The diplomat did not mention a separate proposal that EU nations withdraw their ambassadors from Iran, and a second EU diplomat said he did not expect agreement on that today.

Action by Iranian security forces against demonstrators who claimed the election had been rigged in favour of the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has drawn western condemnation. Iranian authorities say the vote was fair.

EU foreign ministers last week urged Iran to swiftly release all Iranian British embassy employees, and a Greek journalist, detained as alleged instigators of the street unrest.

They also warned of a "strong and collective response" against the intimidation of diplomatic staff.

• Iran
• Foreign policy

Stephen H. Rosenberg 1907 Shannon Court Alexandria, VA 22306 703.822.5417   U.S. District Court Senior Judge  Perry :   Obviously anyone with an IQ above that of a moron knows that   John Crangle , executive director of  Common Cause South Carolina , is absolutely  correct  when he recently called your Governor  Mark Sanford  ? delusiona l ? and said that your governor has ? serious mental problems .? Unfortunately  every  white official, with the  possible  exception of Judge  David F.   Anderson , Associate Probate Judge, Spartanburg County ( SC ), I have encountered in your state where the confederate swastika still flies is ? DELUSIONAL ? and has ? SERIOUS MENTAL PROBLEMS .? As you know, several of your  white  klan mentality confederate judges and judges? lackey shrinks angrily told me that I am ? DELUSIONAL ? when I  calmly  and  truthfully  told them that I graduated from West Point and law school, that I personally own Increte of LowCountry, that I  NEVER  owned  Frank Watson ?s station wagon, that some of Beaufort County?s crooked Sheriff Deputies ( Norberg   and  Townsend ) criminally and falsely accused me of owning  Frank Watson ?s station wagon, that  Frank Watson  stole money from my solely owned business, that my ? WHITE RACIST ? Beaufort County lawyer  Gene Hood  who racially told me ? ALL BLACKS IN BEAUFORT COUNTY ARE WORTHLESS ? also told me after Judge  Jackson Gregory  illegally changed my bond and then accused me of ? ESCAPING ? from Beaufort County jail that if I went back to Hilton Head Island to check on my missing equipment and vehicles that Beaufort County?s really crooked and vindictive Sheriff  P.J. Tanner  could ? SHOOT ? me on sight and that Magistrate  BUBBA  is  too   dumb  or  too   corrupt  to be a magistrate even in  South Carolina . These are just a  few  truthful facts that I  calmly  stated but caused some of your ? IGNORANT ************* ? ( to use President  Obama ?s  vulgar  but  correct  words ) to angrily and falsely accuse me of being ? DELUSIONAL ? One of your  white  klan mentality confederate judges is so ? DELUSIONAL ? and has such ? SERIOUS MENTAL PROBLEMS ? that  he racially and falsely told me in Beaufort County court during the almost 37 months I was illegally incarcerated with  NO   BOND  and  NO   TRIAL  in retaliation for my morally and legally correct West Point refusal to " KEEP QUIET " that the American Civil War was really the ? WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION .?  WOW !   I recommend that you  immediately  provide me with real American justice and have some of your ? IGNORANT ************* ? in  South Carolina  who are ? DELUSIONAL ? and have ? SERIOUS MENTAL PROBLEMS ?  immediately  committed to a state mental hospital  before  I am forced, in the interest of real American justice, to exercise my U.S. Constitution right to protect my property and myself. Remember, ? JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED .?                                                         Thanks ?  Steve Rosenberg  07-03-09     Vida Miller                                                                                July 2, 2009 South Carolina State Representative South Carolina House of Representatives Columbia, South Carolina                                                                                Corrected Copy                                                                           VOM@schouse.org   Vida:   You are  incorrect  in stating yesterday ? ? We  ( the state of South Carolina )  HAVE BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT .? As you undoubtedly know but refuse to admit, your state of  South Carolina  has  always  been an ? EMBARRASSMENT .?   Unfortunately things have not changed much in the past 166 years in your state ever since my fellow West Pointer and later great American ( not  South Carolina ) hero General  William T. Sherman  wrote in a letter in 1843 when he was stationed in your state of  South Carolina  that  South Carolina  is ? ALL TRASH .?   For example, your state of  South Carolina  where the confederate swastika still flies is boycotted by both the  NAACP  and  NCAA .   For example, as my brother  Jim Rosenberg   correctly  wrote in an excellent but  unanswered  letter to your Governor  Mark Sanford  in 2005, my deliberately fabricate legal problems in your state of  South Carolina  are ? THE MOST OBVIOUS AND WORST CASE OF SMALL-TOWN ?GOOD OLE BOY? CORRUPTION I?VE EVER WITNESSED .?   For example, as my good friend and 1971 West Point classmate Colonel ( retired )  Daniel L. Turner   correctly  wrote in an excellent but  unanswered  letter to several of your  South Carolina  officials in 2003, 2004 and 2005 ? SOMETHING IS TRULY FISHY IN BEAUFORT COUNTY .?   For example, as a friend of mine from New Jersey (an  American state ? not confederate ) has  correctly  told me several times beginning in 2004  ? THE WHITE PEOPLE I MET IN SOUTH CAROLINA ARE THE DUMBEST WHITE PEOPLE I HAVE EVER MET. ?   Thus my elderly mother is unfortunately  correct  when she wrote in her 2nd  unanswered  letter to your U.S. District Court Senior Judge  Matthew J. Perry Jr.  dated June 7, 2008 - - ? I?m appalled that such conditions still exist in South Carolina .?  Things are still so bad in your state of  South Carolina  that  the supposedly senior black judge in a so-called confederate state is, to use the words of my mother, too  ? afraid of backlash from some other officials in your state of South Carolina ?   to simply do his job and enforce our American laws in your state of  South Carolina.   Attached for your immediate action is a copy of my brother   Jim ?s letter, my mother?s 2nd letter to Judge   Perry   ( no attachments ) and my recent unanswered letter to some of  South Carolina ?s senior officials (no attachment).   I anxiously await your action and   real American justice.   I remind you of that old adage ? ? JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED !?   Please confirm with Judge   Perry   ( 803.765-5816 ) that I  certainly   agree   more  with the remark to me by many of my numerous fellow inmates ( I have been falsely and vindictively incarcerated 14 times ? I have spent almost 5 ? years in confederate jail/prison with  NO   BOND  and  NO   TRIAL ) who are of the same race as Judge  Perry  that ? THE ONLY GOOD WHITE OFFICIAL IN SOUTH CAROLINA IS A DEAD WHITE OFFICIAL?  than with the  very  vulgar, racist and criminal slur to me by Judge  Bryant Huff  that I  recorded  several times that ? THE ONLY GOOD ****** IS A DEAD ****** .?                                                                                Thanks ?                      Stephen H. Rosenberg                                                                Stephen H. Rosenberg (pro-se)                                                             U.S. Military Academy ? 1971                               Woodrow Wilson College of Law - 1979                                                                        703.822.5417                                                                    StRoseAsso@aol.com         Matthew J. Perry, Jr.                                                                                June 7, 2008     Senior United States District Judge   Matthew J. Perry, Jr. Courthouse                                            901 Richland Street                              Columbia, South Carolina 29201                        The Honorable Senior Judge Perry:   Over a year ago ( May 11, 2007 ) you conducted a hearing at the Columbia, SC federal courthouse concerning our oldest son Stephen H. Rosenberg?s simple and valid request to re-instate his first lawsuit against some South Carolina residents/officials ( Stephen H. Rosenberg v. South Carolina County et. Al. Civil Action No.: 0:02-2867-10BD ). You stated at the end of the three (3) hour plus long hearing in response to my son Stephen?s question to you if he would receive a court order from you that ? Yes, I will enter an order after today .? Even though it has been almost thirteen (13) months, to date you have not made a decision. You have not even had the courtesy to respond to my March 22, 2008 letter ( copy of my letter enclosed ) or emails from our two other sons who attended the hearing.     I am sorry to state that I feel that you are afraid of backlash from some other officials in your state of South Carolina if you make a ruling in favor of our son Stephen who not only lost everything he owned in South Carolina but also was kept in jail by South Carolina officials with no bond and no trial for almost thirty-seven (37) months on false charges. We are all very, very disappointed in your failure to keep your word that you would make a decision. I can not but feel that ? they ? got to you and you are afraid to help our son Stephen with problems with officials in your state of South Carolina. I?m appalled that such conditions still exist in South Carolina.     Again, our family would appreciate if you would make this ruling. We all feel that ample time has elapsed. We would also greatly appreciate your assistance in obtaining an official letter from a State of South Carolina judge stating, as we have been told several times, that all of the false and vindictive charges filed in South Carolina against Stephen have been dismissed. No official in South Carolina has responded to any of Stephen?s requests that they provide him with a letter stating all charges against him have been dismissed as you recommended Stephen do at the hearing.     Thank you for your prompt reply to this letter.                                                                                Sincerely                                                                                Kermit H. Rosenberg                                                                                Betty Jo Rosenberg                                                                                Colonel ( ret ) Kermit H. and Mrs. Rosenberg                                                                  1907 Shannon Court                       Alexandria, VA 22306                  703.768.1907     Stephen H. Rosenberg 1907 Shannon Court Alexandria, VA 22306 703.822.5417   2nd Request 07-10-08 3rd Request 07-28-08 4th Request 08-28-08 5th Request 09-23-08 6th Request 09-29-08 7th Request 10-02-08 8th Request 10-25-08 9th Request 11-03-08 10th Request 11-23-08 11th Request 12-03-08 12th Request 12-15-08 13th Request 12-20-08 14th Request 12-25-08 15th Request 12-30-08       Senior U.S. District Judge   Matthew J. Perry, Jr .                                                      June 28, 2008                                                            U.S. Senator   James DeMint   U.S. Senator   Lindsey Graham U.S. Representative   Henry Brown   ? 1st District U.S. Representative   Joe   Wilson   - 2nd District U.S. Representative   J. Gresham Barrett   ? 3rd District U.S. Representative   Bob Inglis   ? 4tht District U.S. Representative   John Spratt ? 5th District U.S. Representative   James E. Clyburn   ? 6th District South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice   Jean Hoefer Toal   ?   are you still drinking and driving ?   South Carolina Governor   Mark Sanford South Carolina Attorney General   Henry McMaster South Carolina SLED Chief   Reggie   Lloyd   All South Carolina Officials:   I have a   very ,   very   simple question. In the interest of real justice, I expect and demand an immediate response and everyone?s immediate compliance with the laws of South Carolina and the United States.     Are any of you   intelligent   enough to   realize   and   courageous   enough to   publicly   admit   that your   white   ? GOOD OLE BOY ?   crooked   and   vindictive   Beaufort County officials deliberately lied and fabricated false charges against me, keeping me   illegally   incarcerated for almost thirty seven ( 37 ) months with   NO   BOND   and   NO   TRIAL , when they charged me with owning my crooked and racist   white   employee   Frank Watson ?s station wagon that caused a DUI hit and run accident on Christmas Day, 2000 in Hilton Head Island, SC?   Anyone with an IQ above that of a moron who is   not   a racially bigoted, corrupt and vindictive ? WHITE   TRASH ? klan mentality confederate ? GOOD OLE BOY ? moral ****   white   official nor what the late great American ( not South Carolina ) heroine Ms.   Rosa Parks   correctly called some members of her race ? an ? UNCLE TOM ? - knows from a quick review of the title to   Frank Watson ?s station wagon ( please confirm with your South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles ), that I have   NEVER   owned   Frank Watson ?s station wagon.  See attached copy of the title to   Frank Watson ?s station wagon   As you know, a friend of mine from New Jersey has told me several times that ? THE WHITE PEOPLE I MET IN SOUTH CAROLINA ARE THE DUMBEST WHITE PEOPLE I HAVE EVER MET ? and as several of my   really   racist, fellow   white   inmates while I was incarcerated in the Beaufort County jail angrily told me that ? THE ******* IN SOUTH CAROLINA ARE SO DUMB THAT THEY CAN?T READ .? Even my Beaufort County   white   lawyer   Gene Hood   racially told me ? ALL BLACKS IN BEAUFORT COUNTY ARE WORTHLESS .?     For everyone?s additional edification, I have attached a copy of my brother   Jim Rosenberg ?s unanswered letter to South Carolina?s   white   Governor   Mark Sanford   who grew up in   white   controlled Beaufort County, who is supposedly a childhood friend of crooked   white   Beaufort County Sheriff   P.J. Tanner   and whose   white   sister is married to the   white   mayor of the Town of Beaufort. I have also attached a copy of the police report that I filed against   Frank Watson   when I discovered that he and his wife   Gay Watson   who worked ( perhaps still does ) for the   white   controlled Town of Hilton Head Island had been stealing money out of my solely owned Beaufort County based business. Please note in the police report that   Frank Watson   angrily and criminally told me ? ? IF YOU TELL ANYONE I WILL KILL YOU .?     I hope this truthful letter does not prompt any of you to vulgarly tell me, as   Frank Watson   told me, that I am a ? ******* ****** LOVER ? and ? DAMN JEW BOY ? and that ? THERE ARE TOO MANY ******* IN HILTON HEAD .?     As every official in South Carolina should know by  now , I have and will continue to refuse to comply with the illegal warnings I received from all of my South Carolina lawyer, all of whom are  white , such as   Mike   Wyman ,   Gene   Hood ,   R. Nicholas Felix ,   Larry   Weidner  and  Bothwell Graham   - that I need to ? KEEP QUIET ? concerning my knowledge of Beaufort County  white  racism and corruption.   Instead I will comply with the morally and legally correct advice of   Janet Cohen , the wife of former Secretary of Defense   William Cohen , who recently stated, ? Racism still lives in this country. It?s important for us to share our stories .? I will  continue  to ? share ? my ? stories ? about ? racism ? and  corruption  even in South Carolina where the confederate swastika still flies and  continue  to  demand  real American ( not South Carolina ? GOOD OLE BOY ? confederate ) justice.(...)

Michael Jackson’s family has confirmed that his memorial service will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday July 7.

Up to one million fans are expected to attend the star-studded service, with a further 750 million watching on TV. We’re not sure on what channels where yet, but there’s a good chance the service will be available live or delayed in many countries.

The singer’s family has confirmed the ceremony will feature performances and tributes from a range of stars, reportedly including former Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor. Former Miss Indiana Kellee Patterson and singer Deniece Williams, both from Michael’s home town Gary, Indiana, have also agreed to perform.

The Jackson family is reportedly keen to make sure the service lives up to the spectacle the singer dreamed of. The family’s lawyer Brian Oxman confirmed: “It’s going to be huge. Massive.” In 2002, Michael said: “My funeral is going to be the greatest show on earth. That’s what I want. Fireworks and everything.”

Nearly 20,000 people will be seated in the stadium, while giant screens will broadcast the send-off to fans who can’t get in.
US President Barack Obama - who recently expressed his sadness at Michael’s death - is believed to have been invited.

The service will start at 10am, and will reportedly last two hours. Ironically, it will be held on the stage Michael spent his last evening alive as he rehearsed for his London residency. As we reported yesterday, footage from the stage has been released.

Fans were outraged yesterday, when it emerged venue owners AEG Live were planning to charge $25 for tickets to the service.
The company has since backtracked and will now give away 11,000 tickets for free. A spokeswoman for the company said: “Executives have been in back-to-back meetings all day over how things will work. They’ve just come out to see the reports everywhere. I can confirm that we will not be charging.”

Michael’s body is expected to be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, where his grandmother was laid to rest in 1990. Other celebrities interred there include Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Liberace and David Carradine, who died in Thailand last month.

It is not known when the funeral will take place, but the singer is expected to be buried in a $25,000 gold-plated casket.
The custom-made coffin - which features a blue velvet interior and a hand-polished mirror finish - is the same type used to bury legendary singer James Brown in December 2006. The Jackson family had been hoping to bury the singer at his beloved Neverland ranch, but they were unable to obtain the residential exemption necessary for a burial on private property.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has appointed a new executive director. Joshua Caulfield has been recruited into the role from outside the games industry following a career that has, to date, encompassed a number of senior level positions.

Most recently he held the position of executive vice president and interim executive director for the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association.

"The decision to hire someone from outside the games industry was not taken lightly," said Bob Bates, Chairman of the IGDA. "But when the board examined the challenges we face, we realised our key volunteers already have a wealth of industry knowledge, and what we needed was an experienced association professional to help us manage the organisation to better serve the needs of our SIGs, Chapters, and members worldwide."

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Octavio Sánchez / Christian Science Monitor:
A ‘coup’ in Honduras?  Nonsense.  —  Don't believe the myth.  The arrest of President Zelaya represents the triumph of the rule of law.  —  TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS -  —  Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth.  The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States …

One of the founders of The Pirate Bay suggested that one could buy a share in The Pirate Bay, but were people buying shares a little too early? That’s what Aktietorget is trying to find out after the stocks for the buyer, Global Gaming Factory, went up before the announcement of the acquisition.

All this is according to Swedish news site, The Swedish Wire. There were comments that if the sale didn’t go through, then the site would then revert back to the original owners. From the report:

“There are reasons to suspect that information was leaked”, said Peter Gönczi, executive vice president at Aktietorget, to business daily Dagens Industri.

Consequently, Peter Gönczi will start an investigation to see if the trading rules have been despoiled.

If the acquisition is completed, Aktietorget might start a further investigation since The Pirate Bay is suspected of committing criminal actions. In April Stockholm’s district court sentenced Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström each to a year in jail and ordered them to pay damages of 30 million kronor (€2.72 million, $3.56 million dollars) to the movie and recording industry. The verdict has been appealed to a higher court.

“Aktietorget wants to make sure that the companies that are traded on the list are managing legitimate businesses”, Peter Gönczi said to Dagens Industri.

Here’s an interesting question in all of this. What if the sale was halted and the infamous BitTorrent website was reverted back to the owners? Certainly, this would pose as an interesting problem for the founders on the PR front. Users already know that the admins intended on selling the site – something that didn’t sit well for many users. All this is on top of the legal implications of the site since the admins did say that they intended on filing charges against the Swedish legal system in the European Court of Human Rights right before the sale. This was the result of a three judge panel deciding that the admins cannot appeal the decision that the original judge wasn’t biased.

One thing is for sure, this latest tangle could dramatically complicate things for the admins of The Pirate Bay. Not really something an exhausted team would want at this point in time.

Have a tip? Want to contact the author? You can do so by sending a PM via the forums or via e-mail at drew@zeropaid.com.

No, not Vladamir Putin, but Elena Vladimirovna Putin — think Putin if he was a girl with white hair, red eyes and a shapely figure.

Her name is also a reference to a Grand Duchess of Russia.

Putin is appearing in upcoming ero title My Girlfriend Is The President. There's also the President of Nippon — a character named "Obama". (There is also an "Obama" surname in Japanese.) This open has orange hair, green eyes and big ribbons.

The realism and accuracy are astounding. My Girlfriend Is The President is swore into office this fall. Previously, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso appeared as a character in the ero title Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!

å¹¼ãªã˜ã¿ã¯å¤§çµ±é ˜ [ALcot - NSFW]

During June evening news broadcasts, both ABC and CBS reported on the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) June 15 preliminary analysis of an incomplete version of the Senate health committee's draft health care reform bill. Both the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News highlighted claims that the bill cost too much for the number of Americans it insured. However, on the July 2 edition of the programs, neither reported on the release of CBO's July 1 preliminary score of what the committee's chair referred to as the "complete bill," which included both a public health insurance option and an employer mandate requiring businesses with over 25 employees to either insure their workers or pay a fee per uninsured worker. The CBO calculated that the updated bill would cover more of the uninsured for a lower cost than it had estimated the earlier version of the bill would.

According to CBO's July 1 score of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee's (HELP) bill, under the legislation, 21 million fewer Americans would be uninsured in 2019 than under current law. In a July 1 letter to members of the HELP committee, publicly released the following day, committee Chairman Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Kennedy's chief deputy on health care reform, wrote that the "Congressional Budget Office has carefully reviewed our complete bill, and we are pleased to report that the CBO has scored it at $611.4 billion over 10 years, with the new coverage provisions scored at $597 billion" -- a cost they noted was a "significant reduction from earlier estimates." The preliminary score of the complete bill that the committee released stated that Title I of the bill would increase the deficit by $597 billion over 10 years.

By contrast, CBO's June 15 score of an incomplete version of the HELP bill -- which CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf made clear did not include a public option or an employer mandate -- found that under the legislation, 17 million fewer Americans would be uninsured in 2019 than under current law, at a cost of approximately $1 trillion over 10 years.

Indeed, President Obama said in a July 2 statement that "[t]he Congressional Budget Office has now issued a more complete review of this bill, concluding that it will cost less and cover more Americans than originally estimated." Obama also stated that the bill "reflects many of the principles I've laid out."

Additionally, Obama noted, as did Kennedy and Dodd, that "[w]hen merged with the Senate Finance Committee's companion pieces, the Senate will be prepared to vote for health reform legislation that does not add to the deficit, reduces health care costs and covers 97% of Americans." Addressing this point, washingtonpost.com blogger Ezra Klein explained in a July 2 post that Medicaid expansion is under the Senate Finance Committee's jurisdiction and thus could not be included in the HELP bill. From Klein's post:

The short version is this: CBO estimates that by 2019 the bill will cover 21 million people at a cost of $597 billion. But -- and this is important -- the HELP Committee's bill doesn't include the Medicaid expansion, because Medicaid is under the sole jurisdiction of the Finance Committee. But if Medicaid is expanded to 150 percent, it will cover an additional 20 million at a cost of about $1 trillion. Add in the savings that Finance is expected to get from reforming Medicare and you're looking at a bill that will cost $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion and cover 42 million people (which would mean 97 percent of the legal population in 2019 would have health insurance) by 2019.

On the June 15 edition of ABC's World News, Jake Tapper reported that "this evening the Congressional Budget Office has offered an analysis" of the HELP bill and "concluded that the plan would cost at least $1 trillion over the course of 10 years with a net increase of 16 million people insured." George Stephanopoulos then stated that "Republicans are already weighing in on that report. They're doing some back-of-the-envelope math saying it's going to be $62,500 for every new person covered." As Media Matters for America noted, Tapper did not point out that the CBO had stated that its assessment was incomplete.

Similarly, on the June 16 edition of the CBS Evening News, Wyatt Andrews reported, "The Congressional Budget Office, CBO, said Senator Ted Kennedy's health care proposal could cost $1 trillion over 10 years and 36 million Americans would still be uninsured." Andrews also aired a clip of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor's assertion, "The news yesterday from CBO is the turning point in the healthcare debate."

From the June 15 edition of ABC News' World News with Charles Gibson (transcript from the Nexis database):

TAPPER: And George [Stephanopoulos, guest anchor], this evening the Congressional Budget Office has offered an analysis of a different Senate Democrat's plan -- that of Senator Ted Kennedy. They concluded that the plan would cost at least $1 trillion over the course of 10 years with a net increase of 16 million people insured. George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And Jake, Republicans are already weighing in on that report. They're doing some back-of-the-envelope math saying it's going to be $62,500 for every new person covered. What's the White House saying about the report?

TAPPER: Well, they're saying, first of all, that the president is insisting that any plan be deficit-neutral, that it be paid for, and they're also saying that there are a lot of different plans on Capitol Hill, they're all going through the legislative process, and they have not seen the Congressional Budget Office report yet, so they cannot officially comment.

From the June 16 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric (transcript from the Nexis database):

JEFF GLOR (guest anchor): Still ahead on the CBS Evening News, health care reform. The president says he knows how to pay for it, but can he really afford the bills? A reality check.

[...]

GLOR: We always knew overhauling our health care system would not be cheap, but today we learned more about the staggering sums involved. At least a trillion dollars over the next ten years according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. And there are growing concerns that President Obama lacks a realistic plan to pay for this sweeping reform. Details now from Wyatt Andrews in tonight's "Reality Check."

[begin video clip]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are we going to pay for that, Mr. President?

ANDREWS: That one question, how the nation really pays for a health reform, just got a shocking wakeup call. The Congressional Budget Office, CBO, said Senator Ted Kennedy's health care proposal could cost $1 trillion over 10 years and 36 million Americans would still be uninsured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a preliminary set of numbers.

ANDREWS: Democrats called the numbers inconclusive. Even the CBO called its own report incomplete. But the sheer magnitude of what Congress is considering is undeniable.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (House minority whip): The news yesterday from CBO is the turning point in the health care debate.

ANDREWS: So what will health reform cost? The president has also estimated $1 trillion.

OBAMA: And will be deficit neutral.

ANDREWS: And claims he can achieve reform without raising the deficit. The fact is, this means raising taxes. And where the president claims he can raise $267 billion by limiting the tax deductions of high-income wage earners, the fact is most of Congress opposes this idea.

JONATHAN OBERLANDER (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill): And if they're unwilling to do that, they`re going to have to pick an option that has other political difficulties. And so the question is which kind of poison do they want to drink?

ANDREWS: The president has also outlined more than 600 billion worth of spending cuts, some of which cut Medicare payments to hospitals. Last month, the hospitals claimed at the White House they would support billions in savings, the fact is they now say they never meant cuts, that payment cuts are not reform.

[end video clip]

ANDREWS: What's coming and very soon is a dog fight over that trillion dollars and every interest group that promised to compromise to achieve health care reform will be arguing someone else should go first. Wyatt Andrews, CBS News, Washington.

It continues to amaze me and many others how online television and video offerings are being compartmentalized by territory, when the Internet is a truly global playground. An International Hulu shouldn’t actually be necessary but unfortunately it is. But at least it’s on its way, which is better than nothing.

Hulu has reportedly had plans to roll-out internationally for a while. In March, the company hired a senior vice president of international operations whose role was described as being “responsible for leading Hulu’s expansion efforts outside the United States.” Then in May, these plans to expand outside of the U.S. borders were revealed.

There were newspaper reports at the time stating that Hulu was in negotiations with several large British broadcasters, including ITV and Channel 4. The plan was to make the UK the first port of call in an international roll-out of Hulu. Each country would get a localized service, with some American shows available alongside shows from that territory.

Now, The Telegraph has revisited the story after Hulu made its plans for an international roll-out clearer. Johannes Larcher, the SVP mentioned earlier, spoke this week at the Future of Broadcasting conference in London. He confirmed the plans for a Hulu UK launch, but would not be drawn on possible content partners or when the service was likely to launch.

He also spoke about the possibility of offering high quality streaming video and stated that Hulu was willing to discuss its plans with British ISPs in order to make this a reality. Which is important because ISPs in the UK already aren’t happy with the amount of bandwidth taken up by the BBC iPlayer. A UK version of Hulu really would be the icing on the cake for them, especially is programs were offered in anything close to HD.

Larcher said:

“We are talking to everyone. The UK is our number one priority in terms of international expansion. We are very interested in the UK. We hope in the very near future we will have some plans to reveal for the UK. [The] UK is very ready for a product like Hulu.”

Larcher also admitted the rather obvious assumption that Hulu was moving into the UK market to cash in on the collapse of Kangaroo, the joint online video project between the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. Which makes the Competition Commission’s decision to forcibly kill off the project look even more ludicrous than it did already. Doing so has effectively left a gap in the market which an American company is going to exploit.

Hulu has been very successful in the States and will undoubtedly be just as successful in other territories. The UK is the obvious country to start this roll-out as the iPlayer has opened many people’s eyes to the world of premium online video catchup services. And of course the death of Project Kangaroo means there are broadcasters likely to be very willing to climb on board the Hulu Express.

Dailymotion announced today that Cedric Tournay has been named its new CEO. Tournay replaces Ian Brotherston, who was only in the job since April. Brotherston will stay on with the company but will move over to become executive vice president of international strategy.

MediaPost reports that Dailymotion always considered Brotherston’s appointment as CEO as an interim one, though that temporary status was not mentioned at the time. We dug up the April 21, 2009 press release announcing Brotherston as CEO, which didn’t say anything about his being interim:

Brotherston joined Dailymotion from Red Bee Media, the privatized Broadcast Technology Division of the BBC, where he was Commercial Director. A Dailymotion rep told us that the company was originally not going to announce Brotherston’s appointment since it was interim, and much of the initial press was based on leaked and incomplete information. The rep said at the time he was unable to comment on the CEO search.

Brotherston was brought on to replace then CEO Mark Zaleski, and at the time it was rumored that Dailymotion was looking to raise additional funding this year. Zaleski had been brought on from QXL in August 2007 as executive chairman.

Tournay was most recently the CEO of Doctissimo, one of the largest health and medical web sites in Europe, and managed its sale to Lagardere group.