Did you rage this weekend? If not, did you get your living room spackled, sanded, and primed? Did you spend so much time listening to 105.9 the Edge that you found yourself thinking things like, On third listen, I adjudge that the bass line of "Living on a Prayer" is the most important part of the song? Are you me?

No? THEN LET'S RAGE!

1) RAGE AGAINST HEALTHCARE; RAGE AGAINST ANTI HEALTHCARE RAGERS. Universal-healthcare proponents had two victories this weekend, one courtesy a vote and another courtesy some Tea Party protesters who went Mel Gibson on members of congress. It reminds me of what a friend said about John Rocker after he flamed out: "Put a redneck in front of a microphone, this is what happens." This friend lives in the same town as John Rocker and avoids microphones.

2) RAGE AGAINST IMMIGRATION NONACTION. Of all the things Obama hasn't gotten done, this is...one of them.

3) RAGE AGAINST THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. And yes, in case you were wondering, this protest did bring out the guy on stilts dressed like Uncle Sam.

4) RAGE IN RUSSIA. This was rage against Putin, in 11 cities, but they called it Day of Wrath because dayofrage.com was taken.

5) RAGE AGAINST THE WASHINGTON POST Oh my god if I read one more Andy Alexander item about this I'm gonna write in to complain. March 9. March 11. Today. I am not celebrating this celebration of the "celebration" of gay marriage!

6) MARYLAND RAGES AGAINST WINNING. On the plus side, no reports of a riot as of Sunday night at 11:13.

7) RAGE AGAINST OUTSIDE-THE-BELTWAY TYPES: Arlington man wins National Marathon. Arlington way to go!

8) NATS RAGE AGAINST JESUS and send him to Pennsylvania. Hope you like pretzels, Jesus!

9) NOT RAGE BUT FASCINATING: T.C. Williams in Alexandria sends 80 percent of its students to college. It's in the top 4 percent of U.S. high schools for AP placement. And it's been deemed "persistently low achieving" and faces radical surgery. In today's Outlook, T.C. teacher Patrick Welsh writes a typically sharp column about the school, torching Alexandria for enrolling "newly arrived" 18- to 20-year-old immigrants in high school; "Had we done as Arlington and Fairfax counties do and offered them enrollment in an adult education program, their Standards of Learning scores would not have counted, and it's very unlikely that T.C. would have gotten the 'persistently low achieving' label. We would also be serving those students better." He also briefly tells the story of Alexandria's star-crossed effort nearly 13 years ago to create an alternative school for kids who aren't making it in T.C. Activists thought it was racist; the plan sunk.

Photo by Flickr user ep_jhu

At a press conference yesterday, At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania repeatedly referred to recent "unconscionable" hikes by city insurers—indeed his legislation is styled 'The Unconscionable Health Insurance Premium Increase Emergency Act.' He cited only one insurer—CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the District's largest—as participating in these hikes, citing raises of up to 55 percent.

"We can see no justification for 55 percent increases this year over next year," he said, adding: "We need some aggressive consumer protection."

Catania compared the situation in D.C. to California, where another Blues affiliate, Anthem, has come under intense scrutiny for rate hikes there. Under Catania's bill, insurers could raise rates no more than 10 percent in a year. In extraordinary circumstances, the city insurance commissioner could approve greater hikes, up to 15 percent.

The proposal has set off a flurry of last-minute lobbying in the council chamber. LL spied CareFirst's Tonya Vidal Kinlow making last-minute appeals to members before the legislative meeting started this morning. LL overheard her telling At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown that her employer would like a "public-policy debate" about the bill rather than rush it into effect via emergency legislation

It's the latest in many conflicts between Catania and CareFirst—most notably, his targeting of the company's reserves as excessive.

Kevin Kane, a spokesperson for CareFirst, says his company is "reviewing the legislation and its impacts."

UPDATE, 2:15 P.M.: The emergency measure passed by a voice vote, though Ward 7's Yvette Alexander and at-larger Michael A. Brown raised objections on a preliminary vote. Catania and co-sponsor Muriel Bowser of Ward 4 pledged to hold a hearing on a permanent health insurance reform measure within three weeks.

UPDATE, 3:55 P.M.: CareFirst has issued a statement:

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) understands and shares the DC Council’s concerns about the rising cost of health care coverage. As a not-for-profit insurer, CareFirst operates on the thinnest of margins – essentially providing services at cost. Premiums rise because the associated health care costs rise. CareFirst is striving to restrain the rise of health care costs and regrets that premium increases are necessary.

CareFirst is currently subject to regulatory oversight and only charges premiums that have been reviewed and approved by regulators in each of the jurisdictions in which we do business. In the end, there are two tests of the reasonableness of CareFirst’s premium rates. They cannot be so low as to cause unsustainable losses, nor so high that they cause excessive “profits.” In the case of CareFirst, the profit margin is negligible. If there is any margin left over after paying medical and administrative costs associated with member coverage, it is placed in reserve for the protection of policy holders.

The entire situation is a difficult one. Artificially limiting premiums so that they do not reflect the actual costs can be done only in the short term. In the long-term, premiums must realistically reflect the costs they are intended to cover. The company is dedicated to trying to control costs and seeks to avoid increases in premium to the maximum extent possible

After the jump, the morning roundup I was working on before I read that.

Copenhagen! Copenhagen! The eyes of the world are on Copenhagen, or as I like to call it whilst I warm a snifter of brandy and ruffle my Great Dane's neck folds, "Old Zealand."

David Corn is in Copenhagen. The veteran correspondent reports that an Obama insider tells him the administration "had no intention of announcing any concrete pledges for long-term climate funding." UPDATE: "On Thursday morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared at the climate summit and announced that the United States would contribute to a $100 billion international fund starting in 2020"—this is in the same item! Help me out here, David Corn!

ALSO IN COPENHAGEN: Evo Morales, who may be a Scientologist. And! Dyrlægens natmad, the "veterinarian's midnight snack." I know which I'd rather try!

HEALTH CARE! Many people are upset about the compromises involved in getting a piece of legislation through the American congress system. Keith Olbermann, for instance. And Howard Dean. If you are in favor of health care reform, you may find this debate interesting. Seriously, no snark.

THE WORLD OF SPORTS: Baseball, maybe reforming itself. PLUS: Holy crap! Vinny Cerrato resigned!

The archdiocese's issue seems to come down to two issues: adoptions to same-sex couples (which are already legal, as it happens), and mandated employee benefits for same-sex spouses of archdiocese employees.

As WaPo's Tim Craig reports, neither of the bill main sponsors, Phil Mendelson or David Catania, are budging on the issue. Said Mendo: "The way this issue has been approached by the archdiocese in the past week was tantamount to drawing a line in the sand and it may be hard for them to show some flexibility." Catania went on to ask how the archdiocese could give employee benefits to "fornicators and adulterers" but not gay couples.

LL's quick thought: Isn't this yet another argument for abandoning the already problematic employer-based health insurance model? Why should the institutional policies of an employer, subject to religious/moral/political dealings, affect the well-being of employees and their families?

Discuss.

There’s a new, crisp smell in the air—is it fall? Or perhaps the first whiff of bipartisanship in the health care debate? Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine has finally been wooed to the, um, dark side—depending on your point of view—and along with 13 Democrats helped President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority clear a key Senate panel. Her rousing battle cry was straight from the mouth of Gandalf the Grey: “When history calls, history calls.”

A police officer on horseback was attacked yesterday by “at least 20 dogs” at Fort Dupont Park in Southeast, according to WUSA. The woman responsible for the dogs was taken into custody for letting them roam free. And for being a fugitive. Which might possibly explain why she had twenty dogs. That, or they were all Ringwraiths working for Sauron. Your call.

The Associated Press has a creepy-as-orks picture of Venezuelans gathering on a mountainside (which, for the sake of theming, will be called Mount Doom) for their annual pilgrimage to worship an indigenous goddess. Apparently they prick their tongues with razor blades—and I can’t read any more because the picture is making me nauseous.

Prince of Petworth is hosting a bloodthirsty, passionate debate as to whether there should be a Christmas tree in Columbia Heights Plaza. I’m not sure if hobbits celebrate Christmas (cue disintegration of theme…) .

So on a non-hobbit related note, there was also a Latin music festival on the South Lawn of the White House yesterday. Mexican singer, Thalía deemed President Obama's dance moves "Macho." No translation necessary. 

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier has reportedly made budget cuts by refusing to hire new officers for the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit. Needless to say, the GLBT community isn’t thrilled. Lanier also got rid of the hostage-negotiation squad a couple months ago. This is the first I’ve heard of these kind of community-oriented units, and I like the idea; unfortunately, everything I write about (i.e., the Adams Morgan bicycle sculpture, the Georgetown Circulator) seems to die. I’ll stop this post now.

Drawing/Photo by Nadine Maude, Creative Commons Attribution License

There was a quick-draw showdown on the dusty streets of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, and Montana Senator Max Baucus came out swinging. Both Democratic proposals to create a government-run insurance plan were shot down by the committee, leaving saloon shutters flapping and the road wide open for Baucus to ride in with his plan by the end of the week.

And how does the committee chairman want to run this town? Like any good sheriff, he vies for the middle of the road: that is to say, nonprofit insurance cooperatives over the public option, and as an alternative to private companies. After all, no cowboy worth his salt will trust those private vigilantes...but neither will he tame the wild west.

And over in Foggy Bottom, the metro stop, in addition to a couple blocks of 23^rd street, was closed for several hours due to a “suspicious package.” As one GWU student put it, “[the package] was bouncing.”

If bouncy packages weren’t enough to worry about, the robbers have decided to take on the guise of D.C. businessmen—a mugger alert went out Monday on 16^th and K Street for a man wearing a black suit, black hat, white shirt, and carrying a briefcase. Maybe he had an interview later?

And finally, ABC7 reported that at the concert last night at the FedEx Field, “U2 fans” were concerned about the traffic, and a lot of “U2 fans” couldn’t get off work early. Sadly, the author didn’t realize that the 80,000 concertgoers were rushing to see the far superior unmentioned act, Muse. Any of these mythical U2 fans out there want to give a shout-out?

That's it for today—I think the swine got me, and there's no vaccine until the first week of October....

Photo by Freeparking, Creative Commons Attribution License

Not directly, though. The following morning, Craney says, as many as a dozen GOP loyalists will be at the very same P Street Whole Foods, weather permitting, distributing literature defending Mackey's point of view, including copies of the Wall Street Journal op-ed that touched off this whole debate.

"We're trying to show the other side of the health care debate in D.C.," he says, "and how it affects District residents."

LL raised the possibility, given the well-recognized progressive bent of Whole Foods soppers, that Craney et al. might find themselves subject to a barrage of $3 organic tomatoes.

"We'll bring rain coats for the rain," he says, "but not for the tomatoes."

Craney notes that he's been subject to some Whole Foods-related abuse before. He says he regularly drives his Jeep Grand Cherokee, bearing John McCain and Rudy Giuliani bumper stickers, to the Tenleytown location. "I can't tell you how many times I get stuff put on my car that says something...snide." His favorite: "Something about about how either Rudy Giuliani or John McCain would not like how I parked my SUV."

They'll be there from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

• Does anyone else find this kinda poignant and sad? Also kinda related: Post computers drive tech writer to cloud.
• Ruth Samuelson corner: 1) Now that's "getting" Results! 2) Madness in Capitol Hill: Is it Acker Place NE or Acker Street NE? Please help us out if you can. Amanda Hess corner: CP sex columnist accidentally sets Coeur d'Alene ablaze on her way out.
• Doing more with less: famous people reduce cup sizes.
• Throwing a hot dog down Middle America's hall: "Hipster Grifter" Law & Order episode planned?
• My wife is British, and her family members complain, often justifiably, all the time about the NHS. It is a royal (fnar) pain in the ass, you have to schedule OB/GYN visits a year in advance, you don't get private rooms in hospital. BUT: I for instance pay about $800/month for my employer-"provided" health care. And when my kid got sick last time we were over, they treated him no questions asked. Health care, like roads, is basic infrastructure stuff, one of the few things government can do well. So I'm with the Brit Twits here.
• Nats lose. And Redskins prepare to embark on another wacky season. Hey, why's there a Michael Vick Skins jersey for sale? It's the curse!