Tripoli is falling to rebel forces

Another one bites the dust.  There are rumors that Qaddafi’s security detail has surrendered to the rebels. According to news reports, NATO air cover has been instrumental in allowing the rebel forces to succeed.  Tripoli is celebrating.  Libyans in the streets singing and beeping car horns.

But the US News media has some explaining to do.  Coverage of this event here in the US has been subdued.  There are no tweets from the State Department, which usually has Obama’s propaganda team taking credit for this kind of thing.  There are no live news feeds with one exception.  Andy Carvin’s twitter stream points to the live stream from Sky TV.

You can watch the events live here at LiveTVCafe.net  Alex Crawford has been reporting live as she accompanies the rebels as they advance on Green Square.  Green Square is the coup de grace.  The rebels are less than a kilometer away.  Crawford’s live feed has been temporarily loss.  Sky News is still covering the celebrations in Libya in the wake of the rebel’s path.

Update: There are reports that Qaddafi’s son, Seif, has been captured.

Qaddafi’s government mouthpiece, Musa Ibrahim, just gave a government response where he claimed a high body count and blamed NATO for the fall of the Qaddafi regime.  What was amusing about his speech was the Sky News split screen with Ibrahim on the right claiming that Libyans in Tripoli were terrified of the rebels with live coverage of those same Libyans partying in the street on the left side of the screen.  Some spin just doesn’t sell.  Ibrahim also says that the rebels are tribalists who are out to exact revenge against Qaddafi’s forces, which only goes to show you that if you’re going to be a dictator, you should practice a more moderate form of oppression.

Also, Here’s a pic of the celebrations of the events in Tripoli that are happening now in Benghazi courtesy of Al Jazeera.

Geek Tweet of the Day:
@WarWraith
Warwick
RT @Citizen_4537c84 Twitter tells me that Gaddafi is both dead & captured. He is clearly Schrödinger’s dictator. #Tripoli #Libya

Friday Morning: What’s Happening?

Good morning everyone! These are the news stories that caught my eye this morning. Be sure to add your own links in the comments.

The All-Encompassing Health Care Nightmare

Boston Globe: Democrats oppose tax in health bill

To pay for the 10-year, $856 billion bill Baucus wants to tax high-value insurance plans, those worth $21,000 for a family and $8,000 for an individual. The Montana Democrat says those are “Cadillac plans’’ enjoyed by a small minority of Americans. Aides said about 10 percent of plans and 8 percent of taxpayers could be affected.

The tax, which President Obama embraced in his speech to Congress last week, is a major source of revenue for Baucus’s bill, bringing in an estimated $215 billion over 10 years. Baucus and other supporters of the measure say it would help drive down health care costs over the long term by encouraging companies to move toward less expensive health plans and workers to use less care.

But other Democratic senators fear that the tax would reach deep into middle-class pocketbooks, and labor unions are upset. Senators John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, members of the Finance Committee, say they want to limit the tax before signing off on the bill.

“We need to make it fairer to working people so that working folks don’t get dragged into this at a level where they just don’t have the incomes to support it,’’ Kerry told reporters after a closed-door committee meeting to discuss the bill.

Insurers and business groups also oppose the new tax and other fees in the bill, and the US Chamber of Commerce is wasting no time making its objections known.

New York Times: Rockefeller stands up for liberals on health care

All summer, the White House deferred to Senator Max Baucus, the Democrat from Montana who heads the Senate Finance Committee, as he negotiated with two moderate Democrats and three Republicans. Their failure to agree on a bipartisan bill left the administration scrambling to pass an overhaul with Democratic votes alone.

And that has emboldened liberals like the 72-year-old Mr. Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat. He heads the health subcommittee of Mr. Baucus’s panel, and yet he was relegated to the sidelines as the so-called Gang of Six talked and talked. Senate liberals are now pushing for an overhaul fully on Democratic terms — legislation more like that in the House, where liberal Democrats dominate.

Washington Post: Affordability Is Major Challenge for Reform

How to make insurance more affordable to the estimated 30 million uninsured people who would be required to buy coverage under the Baucus proposal is emerging as a central challenge as the long-awaited plan advances to full committee debate Tuesday. Democrats and Republicans alike worry that a bill intended to address one source of financial hardship — the skyrocketing cost of health care — could lead to another, in the form of hefty premiums.

“It’s very clear that the driving issue of this debate is affordability, particularly for middle-class folks. And the Democratic caucus is very much committed to getting this issue right,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a Finance Committee member who said he will offer amendments next week in an effort to improve affordability and choice.

Some Senate Democrats, along with a key moderate Republican, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), are now discussing ways to increase assistance for individuals and families who could face premium costs of up to $15,000 per year by 2016. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the ranking Republican on Baucus’s committee, is suggesting government assistance to insurance companies to help them control premium costs. And lawmakers in both parties are questioning whether Baucus’s main revenue source, an excise tax on insurance companies for their most generous insurance policies, would simply be passed on to consumers.