They are coming out of the woodwork

A California man angry about health care reform allegedly made threatening and harassing phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, including at least one call in which he got through and spoke to her directly, law enforcement officials said.

Gregory Lee Giusti, 48, was arrested Wednesday at his San Francisco home, said Joseph Schadler, spokesman for the FBI’s San Francisco office. Schadler would not disclose the charges against Giusti, saying they were under seal until his first appearance before a federal magistrate, scheduled for Thursday.

The arrest came a day after a Washington state man was arrested for allegedly leaving threatening voicemails for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, and as other Democratic lawmakers have faced vicious verbal attacks over their support of the historic health care overhaul.

Several federal officials said Giusti made dozens of calls to Pelosi’s homes in California and Washington, as well as to her husband’s business office. They said he recited her home address and said if she wanted to see it again, she would not support the health care overhaul bill that since has been enacted.

One official said the man is believed to have spoken directly with Pelosi at least once.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

more……

Nancy Pelosi Threatened: California Man Arrested For Health Care Reform Threats.

Asswipe Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) forcefully pushed back on White House assertions that the health care reform bill would lower the deficit in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

“This idea it reduces the deficit a flat out lie,” Graham said on the program. “You don’t include the money we’re going to spend to fix the doctor problem, which is $200 billion. So, they took it out of the health care bill and put it in the– in the jobs bill to make it look like it cuts the deficit. If you add the money we’re all gonna spend to– help doctors– not get cuts, that wipes out the deficit.

Graham later widened his criticism of health care financing, comparing it to a “Ponzi scheme”: “You– you take $570 billion out of Medicare to pay for the health care bill. Then you’re using that same $570 to say it lowers the growth of Medicare over time,” Graham said.

He added: “So, it is a house of cards. It is a Ponzi scheme of the first order. It’s gonna blow up the deficit. It’s gonna affect every business, every family in this country. It was done by one-party rule. And it was– it was a shame we had to go down this road.”

Lindsey Graham Compares Health Care Reform Financing To A “Ponzi Scheme”.

Transparent Now

President Barack Obama is planning to host a televised meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on health care reform.

The Feb. 25 meeting is an attempt to reach across the aisle but not a signal that the president plans to start over, as Republicans have demanded, a White House official said.

“I want to come back [after the Presidents Day congressional recess] and have a large meeting — Republicans and Democrats — to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward,” Obama said in an interview with Katie Couric during CBS’s Super Bowl pre-game show Sunday.

Obama said he wants to “look at the Republican ideas that are out there.”

“If we can go, step by step, through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements, then, procedurally, there’s no reason why we can’t do it a lot faster the process took last year,” he said.

In a statement, the official said, “What the president will not do is let this moment slip away. He hopes to have Republican support in doing so — but he is going to move forward on health reform.”