October, 2009 archive
QOTD 0
David Corn on health insurance companies:
Just because you are vilified doesn’t mean you’re not a villain.
Light Bloggery 0
Heavy housecleaning.
Wrong Way Corrigan, Delaware Edition 0
If I were fleeing the cops, the last place I would head for would the county office complex. Odds are, there are a fair amount of cops there. Then, again, if he had turned the other way, he would have been at the Air National Guard base, also not a good place for a malefactor.
He bailed out of the car and headed for the woods. The woods are bounded on one side by suburbs, on one side by a river, on one side by an industrial complex (where the local paper has its offices), and on one side by the airport.
He’s done got an orange jumpsuit in his future.
The driver tried to evade the officer by driving through the New Castle County Government Center’s parking lot and lost control of his car and hit two parked cars, Navarro said.
We Need Single Payer 0
But this is progress:
After days of closed-door talks, Reid said he would include the “public” insurance option in a healthcare reform bill headed to the Senate floor for debate because it was the best way to lower costs and create competition.
This is hardly the final bill, but it’s a significant start. The “opt-out” provision is a joke; it makes no economic sense and is clearly a sop to advocates of the status quo; whether it survives will be interesting to watch.
The Booman has an excellent analysis of the politics of potential passage.
Interesting to note that, a few paragraphs farther down in the Reuters story was this gem:
(the health insurance industry’s) stock prices fell out of apparent concern about the prospect of competition from the government-run plan.
If they are doing such an all-fired good job, why are their investors concerned about a little competition?
It is clearly because they are not doing such an all-fired good job, except in the country-club membership for CEO’s department.
It really is all about their country-club memberships.
From Ghosties and Ghoulies and Long-Legged Beasties . . . 0
. . . and ginormous Hallowe’en stores, good Lord protect us.
My favorite Hallowe’en costumes of all time were homemade from cardboard boxes.
She came as a grounded outlet; he came as a three-pronged plug.
They kept making a circuit of the dance floor.
We Need Single Payer 0
The fee hand of the market at work:
Just last month, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued two out-of-state companies for allegedly misleading customers with phony claims about their health plans; and ten more investigations are underway, she said.
Via Atrios.
Pat Suzuki 0
Fast forward to the 4:45 mark and skip the snappy banter. Get right to the singing.
QOTD 0
Macauley, via the Quotemaster:
The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to
the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
The precursor to Mencken’s definition:
“Puritanism – the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
which is often rendered as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having fun.”
Macauley was quite the child prodigy. Bennett Cerf told the story that, when Macauley was three and in his pram, he was bawling about having bitten his finger while eating a snack. A woman came up to him and said, “Did Ooo hurt Ooo’s ittle bitty finger?”
He stopped crying, looked at her, and said, “Madam, the agony has somewhat abated.”
Then he resumed crying.
Fox. Henhouse. 0
Predictable results. Dan Froomkin:
One of the startling shifts in the last decade has been how so many of the most important policy issues of our time have become matters not of honest political debate, but of competing realities (only one of which, mind you, is supported by facts.) During the Bush years, whether it was related to Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, progress in Iraq, torture, or tax cuts for the rich, Bush and his acolytes operated in their own fictional world — with the traditional media only rarely issuing a reality check.
The world of Fox News exists in ideology and wishful thinking, not in any objective reality (and, yes, there is such a thing as objective reality–if you doubt that, stick your finger in that electrical outlet over there and report back to me).
There’s One Born Every Minute, Gag Me with a Spud Dept., Reprise 3
Karen regales me with this picture from a grocery store somewhere in the Wild West, where she resides:
The “Pay Extra for Saran Wrap” movement is growing.
One Born Every Minute, As Seen on TV Dept. 3
Gag me with a spoon.
Stray Thought 0
Investment banks making huge profits from fees on trades that they promote are like croupiers skimming bets they recommend.
Down at the Farm 0
Power failure.
