links for 2009-06-07

And right there, in plain print, is the beginning of medical care rationing. Now that the cameras have been put away and the media is no longer watching, their secret emerges: They are going to cut medical costs by cutting medical care. Right now, they cite four targets. They plan to:

1. Cut diagnostic imaging tests like MRIs and CAT scans.

2. Reduce the use of antibiotics.

3. Perform fewer Caesarean sections.

4. Cut care for management of chronic back pain

It seems to me that Obama is trying to force the collapse of Netanyahu's government. I base this mostly on intuition. Of course, the Obama Administration would never claim to be interfering in the internal politics of another country, but it seems obvious that Netanyahu's narrow coalition won't survive sustained American pressure on the settlements question. Netanyahu is in a terrible spot: He must preserve, at all costs, Israel's strategic relationship with Washington; on the other hand, he has right-wing coalition partners who are myopically obsessed with the status of the Neve Manyak outposts. Something is bound to break, and when it does, the Netanyahu government collapses. Which doesn't mean that Netanyahu is out of power. It means that he then shares power with Tzipi Livni's centrist Kadima Party. If I were an American policymaker, that's the Israeli coalition I would hope for: Netanyahu-Barak-Livni, rather than Netanyahu-Barak-Lieberman. You watch: It's coming.

Appearing with Sarkozy before reporters, Obama displayed growing impatience with North Korea and what he called its "extraordinarily provocative" nuclear and ballistic missile tests. He suggested that the North is testing international patience as diplomacy has failed to persuade the reclusive communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

"Diplomacy has to involve the other side engaging in a serious way in trying to solve problems," he said. "We are going to take a very hard look at how we move forward on these issues, and I don't think that there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilizing the region and we just react in the same ways."

In a highly charged televised debate on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad accused Rafsanjani, his sons and several other former top officials of corruption. It was an unusual move, given that Iranian politicians often avoid mentioning names in their attacks on opponents.

An outraged Rafsanjani rejected the accusations as "a complete set of lies" and demanded equal airtime to respond. On Saturday he went a step further, announcing that he and his sons will sue the president for slander.

With more than history on the line, Phil Ivey was at the final table of Event #8 ($2,500 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw) going for his sixth WSOP bracelet. Rumors were running wild that Ivey had up to $10 million in various prop bets revolving around him winning a bracelet. That totally eclipsed the official first prize of $96,361.

So they're pulling out all the stops — pushing Democrats and a handful of so-called "moderate" Republicans who say they're in favor of a public option to support legislation that would include it in name only. One of their proposals is to break up the public option into small pieces under multiple regional third-party administrators that would have little or no bargaining leverage. A second is to give the public option to the states where Big Pharma and Big Insurance can easily buy off legislators and officials, as they've been doing for years. A third is bind the public plan to the same rules private insurers have already wangled, thereby making it impossible for the public plan to put competitive pressure on the insurers.

Robert Reich: "I'ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill."