Gregory Lee Giusti was arrested yesterday for making threatening phone calls to Nancy Pelosi and her husband, and now his mom says Fox News made him do it.

One unequivocally good thing about the new healthcare bill: it should reduce healthcare costs for women. But some people are still grumbling about "paying for everyone else's stupidity."

Like all great compromises, the abortion language in the just-passed healthcare bill leaves everybody angry, and the pro- and anti-choice sides have responded by issuing critical statements and yelling ridiculous shit, respectively.

[Washington, D.C., March 16. Image via Getty]

Rep. Bart Stupak, progenitor of the Stupak-Pitts and thorn-in-the-side of healthcare reform, said last week that he wouldn't sign the current bill because it would "directly subsidize abortions." Now he's optimistic about a compromise. Time for champagne?

Esquire just published a cursory profile of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, remarking she "is all about the execution of her job." So how did we end up dropping health care reform off to the realm of "maybe later?"

As the health care reform bill winds toward reconciliation, special interest groups and one ambitious GOP hopeful are making their last minute pushes to overhaul the bill or scrap it all together.

The Senate bill passed quietly on Christmas Eve, paving the way for the reconciliation. When Congress reconvenes next month, they will begin the task of sorting through the two versions of the reform bill and crafting a final document.

The end is in sight for Democrats pushing through health care reform. However, Olympia Snowe is opting out, Nelson's compromise is making pro-choicers and anti-choicers tear out their hair, and Politifact explains that "reducing costs" really depends on the metric.

Politics can make for strange bedfellows. Over the last two days, progressives have joined conservatives in their calls to delay or kill the health care reform bill, but party icons like Bill Clinton are advocating to stay the course.

"This tax is not just a luxury tax... This is a tax on the middle class, which is directly against what President Obama campaigned on." People, including the plastic surgeon quoted, are outraged at the proposed tax on cosmetic procedures.

[Washington, D.C., December 15. Image via Getty]

Senators Joe Lieberman and Olympia Snowe can rejoice: the public option and the Medicare buy-in are off the table. What will happen next? Howard Dean's soundbyte is to "kill the bill," but his actual stance is much more nuanced.

In the grand tradition of cartoon villains Snidely Whiplash and Dick Dastardly, Joe Lieberman scored a blow to health reform by engaging in what Matt Yglesias describes as "the old double cross."

Congress is launching itself headlong into the issue of reform, with House leaders indicating they are willing to work through the recess to pass a bill by New Year's Day.

Sen. Russ Feingold is thrilled: a deal toward a public option is creeping forward. However, the abortion battle still threatens to derail progress on health care - and history has always shown us how this could play out.

From the AP: Senators Barbara Mikulski (left) and Olympia Snowe sponsored an amendment that "would allow the Health and Human Services secretary to require insurers to cover preventive health screenings free of charge." It passed. [AP]

On Saturday, the Senate voted to move forward and debate on the health care reform, but many of the continuing talks on the issue are still circling around the same fault lines of party affiliation and religion.

Healthcare reform news: Reid is ready to force a reconciliation. Pelosi wants to combine the Senate and House bills. Catholic Bishops and the GOP want to stop everything. Ladies and gentlemen, more proof that making law is like making sausage.