(Photo: Getty)

It was his third interview in recent days on the Supreme Court's health care ruling, but former Congressman Anthony Weiner said this does not mark a return to public life for him.

"Well, you called me and asked for my thoughts on this issue that I care deeply about," Mr. Weiner said when asked on The Brian Lehrer Show if he's putting his "toe in the water" for such a return. "I've not stopped caring about it and the challenges facing the middle class and those struggling to make it."

"I'm not putting my toe anywhere but I'm just going on my favorite radio show and talking about a subject that's very dear to me," he added.

In the interview,  Mr. Weiner also confirmed CNN's account that it was not in talks with Andrew Breitbart for a Crossfire-style political talk show with him.

"I've not heard anything about it until I heard those stories," he said. "It certainly wasn't true as it involves me, I can't say what was going on in Mr. Breitbart's life, but I never heard anything about it so I don't believe it was true."

He was last offered an opportunity to say anything else he'd like to add, at which point he turned remorseful about the infamous Twitter scandal that sidelined him.

"I still have regrets, I paid a very high price but I'm still committed to the same things I was," he responded. "I have a six-month-old that I have to go and feed now, so I have to say my life is filled with great joy, but as I said when I resigned, I feel great regret for the people I let down."

(Photo: Getty)

Among the many politicians who rushed out statements opposing or supporting the Supreme Court's decision that President Obama's health care legislation was constitutional, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was not among them. On John Gambling's radio show today, Mr. Bloomberg explained why he's "not sure if after all the yelling and screaming and all the politics around this, there's really any great change."

"Good or bad, at least it takes away the argument that this law was unconstitutional," he began to describe his reaction to the ruling. "It does not mean that future governments in Washington can't change the law or repeal it or something."

He proceeded to argue that everyone receives health care if they seriously need it, regardless of insurance.

"We are going to provide healthcare for everybody, that's what gets lost in this," he contended. "If you are really sick and you show up at a hospital in New York City -- and I assume everyplace else in the country -- you're going to get treated, and somebody has to pay for that. You can have everybody pay for it, you do that through, let's say, the tax system. ... But we're all going to pay for it, and whether we'll pay for it one way or pay for it another way, is the argument that sort of gets lost. "

"What are we going to call the allocation?" he continued later to explain this funding mechanism. "A lot of it is verbiage. You know, we say, 'Another 30 million people covered,' yes, but in some senses they were probably covered anyways because if they showed up in the emergency room. ... It tends to be a lot of young people who get covered all of a sudden who probably don't go for annual medical checkups and don't have real medical problems. Or older people who don't know how to get into the system."

And to conclude, Mr. Bloomberg rhetorically yawned.

"I'm not sure if after all the yelling and screaming and all the politics around this, there's really any great change. Congress passed a bill, the president signed it. Questioning whether or not it was constitutional, the Supreme Court looked at it, voted 5-4 yes, end of story. That's democracy."

(Photo: Twitter)

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the House Republicans, has been relentlessly focused on tying President Barack Obama's health care reform legislation around the necks of at least two Democrats in recent weeks: Long Island Congressman Tim Bishop and Staten Island challenger Mark Murphy.

Since March 14th, the NRCC sent The Politicker no less than 13 press releases attacking the two Democrats on the issue with headlines such as "Bishop is Responsible for ObamaCare’s Broken Promises" and "With Obama in Hiding, Will Murphy Help House Dems Defend Government Healthcare Takeover?"

Most recently, the NRCC blasted out a statement connecting Mr. Murphy to the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on a case against the bill today.

“With the government takeover of healthcare having its day in court today, Mark Murphy should say whether he will join his fellow House Democrats who have been the biggest cheerleaders for their deeply unpopular law,” the organization's communications director, Paul Lindsay, said in a statement. “Murphy's Washington Democrat allies this year are proudly advocating for the Democrats’ healthcare takeover in spite of its soaring price tag, rising premiums and numerous families being forced off their healthcare plans.”

A similar statement against Mr. Bishop, who actually voted for the legislation, was also sent out, arguing, “Bishop is now stuck with the task of advocating for the Democrats’ healthcare takeover in spite of its soaring price tag, rising premiums and numerous families being forced off their healthcare plans.”

The "Obamacare" issue was considered successful in motivating Republicans to turn out in their sweeping 2010 electoral victories, and the NRCC clearly hopes conservatives will remain similarly energized over the issue two years later.

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Getty)

In a letter sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo and ten Albany legislators Monday, Communications Workers Union of America District 1 Health Care Coordinating Council Chair John Klein urged the lawmakers to prohibit the controversial natural gas drilling procedure known as hydrofracking in New York. In addition to communications workers, the CWA represents roughly 15,000 people working in the health care industry. "I am writing regarding concerns we have about the hydrofracking process and its potential impacts on human health and the environment," Mr. Klein wrote. "As health care workers, we would be on the front line of any public health problems that result from hydrofracking."

Hydrofracking, which is short for hydraulic fracturing, involves extracting gas from underground rock layers by creating fractures with a cocktail of pressurized water and chemicals. Environment activists argue the procedure is dangerous and want it banned outright. Proponents of hydrofracking, including the natural gas industry, which has spent millions lobbying for the procedure, promise fracking is safe and will create jobs. Governor Cuomo lifted a state ban on hydrofracking this past summer and, with the Department of Environmental Conservation, is conducting hearings to come up with rules to regulate and allow hydrofracking in New York. Proposed DEC regulations would permit the procedure in the state apart from the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, which would be free from fracking and surrounded by a 4,000 foot buffer zone.

Mr. Klein's letter comes after the CWA Health Care Coordinating Council adopted an anti-hydrofracking resolution December 2.

"On the basis of current evidence, we are unconvinced that horizontal hydrofracking can be carried out in New York and New Jersey in a way that is protective of public health.  The HCCC requests elected officials and regulators to prohibit horizontal hydrofracking in New York and New Jersey," the text of the resolution read. "As health care workers, we request that this prohibition remain in effect unless rigorous data are produced demonstrating practices under which horizontal hydrofracking can be undertaken without serious impacts on public health and water quality.”

Mr. Klein's letter noted that "there has been no training or outreach to health care workers in New York that would prepare us for the specifics of hydrofracking accidents, spills or exposures." He also referenced a Department of Energy report released last month that said, "there is a real risk of serious environmental consequences" from hydrofracking and an announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency that fracking may have led to groundwater pollution in Wyoming.

"Governor, the evidence is mounting on an almost weekly basis that the industry does not have a secure handle on how to hydrofrack safely," Mr. Klein wrote. "We urge you not to sign off on this process unless and until they are able to clearly prove that shale gas resources can be processed responsibly, without sacrificing public health and the environment."