health care

I don't pretend to know how to fix the health care system in the US. I agree that there are issues and they need to be addressed. I fear throwing out the existing system and starting from scratch for a lot of reasons - many of them vague and hard for me to articulate. I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area - although I did work for a health insurance company for a while and we had premature twins who exposed us to some of the incredible expenses that come with the extremes of medical care. We were fortunate enough at the time to be on a health plan that essentially covered everything. Had we chosen a different plan option from my employer our personal expenses likely would have been more significant.

Michael Kinsley's column in the Washington Post captures one of my vaguely uneasy fears:

Statistics on life expectancy or infant mortality are averages. The easiest way to raise your averages -- maybe even the best way, if we're being honest -- is to concentrate on the general level of care and not to squander a lot on long-odds cases. But if the long-odds case is you or a family member, you may well feel differently.

 
Our twins - more accurately, the one who lived for 11 days as opposed to the one who died in utero - was a long-odds case who spent all of his short life in one of the the highest-rent district of the hospital - the neonatal intensive care unit. As his parent I would have been outraged if I'd been told that the odds were such that it didn't make financial sense to treat him.

I've spent a little time with Google tonight and there certainly are statistics to say that England and Canada - two nations with universal coverage - have better longevity rates and better infant mortality rates than we have in the US. Some of the commentary on those statistics, though, suggests that the statistics - as they often do even if they're mathematically correct - fail to encompass the whole story and that there are other factors reflected in those numbers other than just the health care systems of the respective countries.

It is a complex situation that deserves careful, transparent consideration with all parties represented - both private and public. We should not rush this decision to meet any arbitrary deadline.

You might be naive if

this surprises you.

please please please

don't put the government in charge of any more healthcare.

The Massachusetts plan that's being studied as a model for a national plan turns out not to have enough money.

There are good reasons the framers gave very limited powers to government and it's usually a mistake to expand those powers. When the government is in charge politics becomes the primary motivator.

I understand that a lot of people don't like profit as a motive because it seems greedy, but I think politics as a motive is at least equally greedy and considerably less transparent.

mediterranean diet

and living longer. A new study compares the effect of various components of the Mediterranean Diet on living longer. The bad news - I'm supposed to eat a lot less meat. sigh.

Only one approved opinion on

'climate change' at EPA. Luckily, with the new administration science will be separate from ideology. It must be so because The One said so.

Here's a more detailed piece.

Does a 'firm pledge' count

if nobody really believes it?

Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?

Apparently. Cool. I'm going to start doing that ... maybe next month.

supercharging the economy

8 modest proposals.

press show replaces press conference

yeesh. Wonder if they're selling overpriced popcorn and soda.

Why can't the president get an ice cream with his family?

I'm really no fan of President Obama, but I don't care at all if he wants to get an ice cream with his family.
Good for him, in fact. It's got to be hard being the First Family. I've always felt sorry for the kids, especially.
There are plenty of real issues to discuss.
This is just silly.

What happens to medical research under Obamacare?

Here's an amazing breakthrough (at least in trials) that took people with inoperable prostate cancer and virtually eliminated the tumor non-invasively and without chemo or radiation.

Will this kind of research still happen under a nationalized health system? How much of it happens under existing national health systems? Maybe it happens, now. I don't know, but I'm concerned about it. 

I'm really looking forward to a lot of medical breakthroughs in the next few decades to save me from my poor health choices going into my golden years.

New draconian rules for private pilots

This is kinda scary. I'm not a pilot, but I don't like the trend...

Why Obama’s big economic gamble is failing

Apparently he's a politician, not an economist.

"...current Obama budget chief Peter Orszag — concluded that an Obama-like economic stimulus package would be "totally impractical" because it would take so long to implement. (True enough, only seven percent of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been doled out so far.)"

It was impractical for actually helping the economy, but it's a cornucopia for consolidating power and rewarding loyal constituents. 

The Chicago way

White house getting out the guns for the knife fight. 

Obama removes AmeriCorps's Inspector General in spat with friend

Curious to see if we hear any more about this. 

To summarize - a federal inspector general investigated an Obama-supporting California Mayor (and former pro basketball player), Kevin Johnson, and found that he had misused AmeriCorps grant money. Johnson supposedly has agreed to pay back roughly $400,000, or almost half the grant money that was received by his non-profit group. This seems to suggest that the there was some substance to the investigation and one would hope the inspector responsible would be commended for saving money and reducing fraud. Instead, President Obama has 'lost confidence' in him and wants him fired. Gotta love that Chicago style politics.

Who's in charge of GM?

This guy - a 31 year old white house aide. Well, that makes sense.

Stimulus plan creating jobs

at an inverse rate. It's almost like the opposite of creating jobs. Probably, I just don't understand the numbers.

“Barack Obama invokes Jesus more than George W. Bush did.”

But with less conviction ... (quote from here)

You Scare Me, Mr. President

Letter from a former executive at Proctor and Gamble.

Is science at least as important as football?

Theo Gray wants to know.

Are religious conservatives to blame for abortion doc murder?

Question posed in USA Today.

My answer - they're to blame if they pulled the trigger - or conspired to have the trigger pulled. 

Otherwise, they're free to hold and express their opinion - at least for now. And hopefully that will always be true. If people aren't free to express opinions that others disagree with then we no longer have freedom of speech. The whole point of "free speech" is to be able to do just that. There's no need for the government to protect the right to express popular opinions.

BBC asks:

Analysis: Can Obama deliver on the Middle East?

Answer: He'll probably do as well as Jim-uh Carter and other Nobel Peace Prize winners like Yasser Arafat, Kofi Annan, or the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces - you know, the ones who did such a bang-up job in the Congo.

Agenda? What agenda?

Headline:

Report says 300,000 die a year from global warming

In the article:

"Roger Pielke Jr., a political scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who specializes in climate risk, said the report was "a methodological embarrassment" because there was no way to distinguish deaths or economic losses related to human-driven global warming from those linked to naturally occurring climate extremes."

The real agenda:

"Annan stressed the need for the talks to focus on increasing the flow of money to poor regions to help reduce their vulnerability to climate hazards"

So the headline simply cites the report without indicating that it's disputed at all. That's what most people will see. Anyone who reads the article will hopefully note that

1) Kofi Annan runs the organization that commissioned the report. That should be a red flag.

2) Even some academics question the methodology of the report and frankly say there's no way to make the determinations the report claims.

3) Annan is looking to increase the money flowing through his hands - doubtless so that much of it can get stuck there. 

Which critics?

"Critics say the cyber czar will not have sufficient budgetary and policymaking authority over securing computer systems and spending."

I just can't imagine that we need the government to tell us we need secure computer systems. Luckily we have so much money that we might as well spend it on more figurehead government departments. 

.

the deficit that ate America

Can't wait to see how this gets fixed.

Not a shocker.

Maryland's millionaires  move after new taxes target them. Is someone surprised by this?

Funny because it's true ...

Fatal Attraction:

Scariest movie

ever made. (from Esquire's list of 75 movies every man should see)

UAW completes self-negotiation

at the new National Chrysler car company . Looking forward to similar conditions at GM.

No media bias here.

A Tax-cut rally was held at the Minnesota state capitol on May 2. Thousands of people attended. Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, spoke. If you were a reader of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, though, you would have no idea that such an event took place.

A Pro-Tax rally , however, apparently was newsworthy enough to make it into the state's largest newspaper, although the comments suggest it was sparsely attended. 

Both events seem like they would rate a mention in the newspaper. This blatant example of bias makes me feel better about dropping my subscription and continuing to tell them "No" every time they call me begging for me to let them send me their rag for practically free.

Mark Twain Inspirational Posters

Good stuff .

anti-piracy

Here's one idea that seems worth a shot.

Whether this is THE idea or not I'm not qualified to judge, but it seems like there's GOT to be a way to defend these ships from such poorly equipped attackers. Being perpetual victims isn't going to do anything but encourage more of this.

Tea partiers

They were the people who were doing the important things right -- and who are now watching elected politicians reward those who did the important things wrong.

from the WSJ - titled: The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism


We were looking into refinancing yesterday because we're in an ARM and I'm nervous about the inflation that's almost sure to arrive when the economy starts recovering and finds itself awash with lots of shiny new dollars. We weren't finding very attractive rates for our particular situation so Gerri called a friend who used to be a mortgage broker. His advice - quit paying your mortgage for three months. Banks will be throwing themselves (and money) at your feet.

We're not going to do that, but that's the environment that the new administration has created. Behavior that is rewarded is repeated. When money is available for people who don't pay their mortgage, then people won't pay their mortgages. Obviously.

interesting

The Cancun airport is the first in Mexico to install 50 new heat thermometers to detect passengers with elevated fevers. The thermometers are set to be put into use tomorrow for both departing and arriving travelers. Cancun and Quintana Roo have yet to officially report a confirmed case of swine flu, maintaining that there are zero infected people in the state. And that's it for the good news.

I just hadn't heard of that technology. Kind of cool. Kind of Big Brother.

From here. 

simple math ...

 If the government increased the top tax rate from the current rate of 35% to 100% (yes, that's right 100%), it would only collect an extra $400 billion this year. In other words, confiscating all the income that is currently taxed at 35% would not raise enough revenue to cover any of the annual deficits projected in the next 10 years. 

from Forbes

Bad news for Nike, et al.

Barefoot runners suffer fewer injuries.

French response to piracy:

France's policy is to refuse to accept acts of piracy and avoid having French citizens taken ashore as hostages, 

Makes sense to me.  

Really? We're actually NEGOTIATING with pirates?

That seems likely to encourage more piracy. Hard to believe a couple of SEALs couldn't manage to get the captain off. Where's Rambo or Jason Bourne when you need them? 

No liberal bias to see here. Move along.

The curious case of 200 nearly identical MSM headlines 

An ACORN-funded organization sends out a press release and it's dutifully rolled out to newspapers around the country. Follow the link for a discussion of other numbers representing 'uninsured' Americans. (again, via Instapundit.)

libertarian perspective

being libertarian does not mean you have to have a cold heart. You can be a bleeding heart, but you show it by what you do, not what you advocate forcing other people to do.

 (via Instapundit)

Phages kill antibiotic resistant bacteria ... but not here, thanks.

In use in Eastern Europe since the early 1900s, phages are viruses that attack bacteria. Considered as safe and reliable as aspirin over there, the FDA has reservations that make their use rare and last-ditch here.

 

studies published over the past several decades, based on trials conducted at Eliava and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, have shown that phage therapy has an 80 to 90 percent success rate against bacteria likely to show antibiotic resistance, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. In contrast, many antibiotics fail outright against the evolved forms of these pathogens.

 

That's 80 - 90 % success against bacteria that we can't kill - the so-called flesh-eating bacteria. 

(via Instapundit)

Race and the 2008 Election: What the Exit Polls Showed

This is interesting, and I doubt if it's surprising to a lot of people. But I don't necessarily think it's quite as ominous as some might portray it. I think that during the campaign Barack Obama did a good job of portraying himself as a centrist interested in bipartisan efforts - much like John McCain. Given the choice between two essentially (seemingly at least) similar candidates, I imagine a lot of people would have picked Obama on the basis of race in an effort to move beyond discussions of race and - ironically - to demonstrate the nations evolution away from race-based politics. (via Instapundit)

Kindle v. tOuch 2

Josh Marshall follows up with his impressions on the battle as well as the future of books.

Efficiency in government

There's a place for efficiency in government. That place is at the DMV or the building inspection office or police headquarters. Making law and enacting policy and especially raising taxes, however, are government activities where I don't mind considerable inefficiency. 

Sarcasm from USA Today?

Headline: Obama heads overseas to tackle world economy

Guess they didn't have room for the first half of the statement: "Now that he's got the US economy all fixed up, ... "

kindle v. tOuch

Glenn Reynolds http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/75036/reviews his Kindle2. I got one for Christmas and while waiting for it to show up - three months later - I decided that an iPod tOuch would be a better choice. There's an ebook reading app that's available (free) and it's quite a bit more versatile than the Kindle. I also decided I wasn't crazy about the size of the Kindle - too big for my pockets and I'm not a Murse guy (though I've given it some thought).

It also seemed like the Kindle was more aimed at getting me to spend money at Amazon than enabling me to read whatever I wanted - like all the free ebooks that are available. I've been reading For Whom the Bell Tolls lately and enjoying it quite a bit. 

I suspect the Kindle might have a better - more paper-like - screen for reading, but I do fine with the tOuch. I haven't tried it outside much, but I've mostly been able to read it fine. Currently I've got it set to a black background with light grey text.

Having just gotten back from vacation I did decide that neither device is necessarily the best if you're vacationing at a hotel or other crowded location like the beach. It's not like you'd be well advised to leave your Kindle or tOuch unattended on your chair when you decide to take a dip in the pool or freshen your cocktail at the bar. A paper book is less likely to go for a walk than either high-tech alternative.

I'm not really a Duke fan

but it's hard not to agree with this from Coach Krzyzewski:

as much as I respect what [the president]'s doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets

Hamas for genocide everywhere, not just Israel

At least we didn't elect them to lead our government.

Stranger Danger?

Here 's an interesting commentary on Amber Alerts. 

There are only about 115 stranger abductions per year. The vast, vast majority of cases where a child is abducted involve either family members (200,000 - most custody related) or other people who the child knows (80% of 58000 according to the article). 

Definitely suggests we don't need to worry so much about our kids 'talking to strangers'. 

I know I'm a little overprotective as a parent, but I try to let kids be kids without being too paranoid.

Wisdom of crowds

And what it says  about the President's economic policies.

The president plans to raise taxes

on the wealthy - except, I guess for his administration many of whom haven't been paying all their taxes, anyway. Can anyone say 'appearance of impropriety'?

Big earners better start earning a lot more

if they're going to have to pay for the president's plans . 'Cuz right now they don't make enough to do the trick.

Exactly

How long can a system that punishes virtue and rewards greed and profligacy flourish?

Minnesota considers lowering the drinking age to 18

I can't imagine this passing, but I'm in favor.

When I grew up in Tennessee the drinking age was 21. Nevertheless we really didn't have much trouble getting our hands on alcohol. Now I have 4 kids. Our oldest is nineteen and as far as I can tell he never had much trouble getting his hands on alcohol, either. They were actually - at least most of the time - more responsible than we were in high school. They usually had designated drivers.

Of course, that's beside the point. The fact is that I think the drinking age should be lower - lower even than 18, for that matter, and the bill has a provision for 16 year-old's accompanied by their parents (curious about enforcement of parents bit). This makes sense to me.

While they're at it maybe they can raise the legal limit back to 1.0 and quit pandering to the neo-prohibitionists.

Preach it, brother

Victor David Hanson channels the Battered American.

Republicans want to invade privacy

I don't like the sound of this .

Second City politics goes to Washington

Stimulus bill provides built in protection from inspection . (via Instapundit )

Good news

for a change . :-)

Some interesting and positive notes on recent tech discoveries and achievements.

CATO institute disects government spending as economic stimulus

Those who fail to learn from history  ...

It is finished ...

Favre  retires.

Milton Friedman v. Phil Donahue

No contest .

"The only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you're talking about ... are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. "

Don't bother me with the law, we're trying to get stuff done

I get the idea that the new president has an elastic idea of legality .

Jerry Pournelle on the 'stimulous' and inevitable nature of government

(sorry for the long excerpt - it's from here )

 

The bad news is that the "stimulus" bill, which is the largest appropriations bill in the history of the world, is still on track for passage. It nationalizes a lot of the economy, and once those steps are taken, the Iron Law of Bureaucracy will see to it that the institutions created by it will remain. Forever. I have a few more words on that over in mail.

The tax cut provision of the "stimulus bill" seem aimed at solidifying party control: most of it is transfer payments to people who don't now pay taxes. In the US 40% don't pay federal taxes. If any large number of those are given money as transfer payments they will learn to rely on them. At which point they will be motivated to vote. And community organizers will see that they do vote. Now understand: many of those who get negative income taxes do necessary work and they aren't very well paid. The question becomes, is that a federal problem, and should it be dealt with by transfer payments? Because once this is instituted, it's going to be pretty permanent. Those affected by it will be mobilized to defend it, and it will mean more to them than it does to those opposed. So it goes.

It does look as if we are going to have a sea change, a fundamental change in the relationship between the United States and its people. There was such a change during Roosevelt's time, when Washington went from being a small town in Maryland to the Capital of a Federalized United States. There sill be another, I think, now.

The President and the media

Is the honeymoon over ?

Are markets up

in reaction to the presidents appointments. Maybe investors are interpreting the appointments as an indication that payment of taxes will be optional going forward.

I like my congressman ...

KLINE: A TRILLION-DOLLAR BORROW-AND-SPEND BILL WILL NOT BRING US BACK TO PROSPERITY 

 

Double post

Two articles from NYT health writer Lisa Belkin:

Breastfeeding octuplets .

Germ-phobic mommies.  (via Instapundit)

Shocking failure of British gun control

"40 percent increase in gun crime since guns were banned."

from this report  (on youtube)

As it's turned out criminals didn't actually turn in their guns. So now only criminals have guns.

Huh. Who could have predicted THAT.

Opacity in the 'transparent' whitehouse.gov

The decision to withhold transcripts is not a departure from the Obama Team's online posture during the campaign, and signals that's exactly the posture they intend to take for the next four years. Team Obama got a lot of credit for being an active online presence, which indeed it was, but that presence was built for message control, not openness.

Shocking. 

"holistic and integrated approach toward dealing with the issue of terrorism and extremism"

I wish I knew what that meant ...

Snafus ...

This piece  makes an interesting argument about how the press is treating the new administration versus how the previous administration was treated for similar issues.

My only comment is that it amuses me to see snafu used in mainstream articles since whenever I see the word I internally break it down into it's original acronym components.

It doesn't take much to amuse me, I guess.

It actually crossed my mind

as I listened to the music  that it must be really hard to keep the instruments in tune in that weather.Guess they didn't want to take a chance on a sour note. Still seems like they could have found another way to handle it....

Aljazeera advertising on Slashdot

Not really sure how to interpret this, but it makes me a little uncomfortable.

--

We'll see I guess.

As Obama begins to govern and as the public sees that he simply borrowed Bush's foreign policy rhetoric, jazzed it up with his cadences and pauses, and then took either Bushites or Democratic centrists and called them hope and change, and as he glued new rhetorical veneers on the Patriot Act and FISA, and as he alienates many by making decisions other than voting present, and as the gaffes begin (Biden and Michelle can't be put under wraps forever), and the Chicago fumes linger (Blago ain't through yet), the fawning media will begin to look embarrassed, then ridiculous, and finally completely bankrupt. They offered no audit of Obama, no tough treatment, no honest examination of his flips, no balance in their treatment of Bush, and they will soon pay a terrible price for that derelection and worse, as the public sees them as the state megaphones that they have so sadly become.  

from Victor Davis Hanson vial Instapundit . (again)

I don't imagine the media or the left in general ever admitting to any embarrassment or wrong-thinking. They'll find a way to become victims.

Where's the outrage and anger

from the GOP ? (via Instapundit )

This had crossed my mind, but I hadn't really checked into it. Talk radio has certainly been fairly bombastic, but that's what they do. In particular I haven't heard of any Republican politicians or activists bemoaning the election results or our new president. Arguably, conservatives are less activist and more likely to support their candidates quietly when it's appropriate - during elections - but to accept and respect the results of the election. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, there hasn't seemed to be the same reaction from conservatives this year as there was from liberals after the last two elections.

An inauspicious start?

Obama and Roberts, take two.
And seriously, chief Whitehouse counsel is named Greg Craig? I think his parents didn't like him much.

The new president

He also imposed a pay freeze on senior staff earning more than $100,000, saying that given the economic crisis, "It's what's required of you at this moment." 

Sounds promising.

Men's Health names Worst Foods

Good stuff - and so far amusing to me since I haven't seen anything I've ever eaten. This likely has more to do with my cheap side rather than any healthful inclinations I have.

irony to come

This  seems to me destined to become ironical - 

With masterful insight, Bunch exposes this dangerous effort to reshape America's future by rewriting its past. As the Obama administration charts its course, he argues, it should do so unencumbered by the dead weight of misplaced and unearned reverence.

From: Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future

 

nanotech treatment of cancer

Cool stuff. 

Still about 3 to 5 years away from clinical trials, but very cool.

Anti-semitism

The elephant in the room .... This saddens and frankly amazes me. Somehow Americans are painted as intolerant, while Europe gets a pass for it's anti-semitism. How does that work?

Senator Franken

One of my co-workers observed that the only logical explanation for the incredible swing of votes - assuming there was no dirty dealing - is that there were more Franken voters who had trouble figuring out how to fill out the paper ballots. Hmmm.

Free the Sudafed!!

Instapundit mentions that he'd like to sue the people who make it so hard to buy sudafed. I'm on board with that one, though I didn't know this was such a widespread phenomenon. I assumed it was a Minnesota 'solution' and didn't think it would reach to more conservative Tennessee. 

Guess I shouldn't be too surprised since I remember stopping at a gas station in Tennessee a few years ago and seeing that power/energy drinks were controlled substances like cigarettes and alcohol. Not the case in Minnesota - which I agree with.

So what happens

when the Fed gets into the 0% financing game? I'm just curious.

Good point

on the shoe chucker ...

Illinois governor arrested

over corruption charges  related to choosing the President-elect's senate replacement. Wow. Corruption in Illinois politics. Who'd have guessed?

RNC chair candidate

vows "to restore [Republicans] confidence by re-emphasizing the party's stance on issues like abortion and gay marriage."

I don't think that's the way do it. I'd rather see them move away from the religious issues to the smaller government, lower taxes planks of the platform. I don't expect that to happen, though.

Dave Barry is

fuh-knee.

Literally sitting at my keyboard with tears of laughter welling up - but not actually running down my face. Not quite.

"Blow 'em outta the water, Dad!"

I'm glad the cruise ship got away, but I'd rather hear they shot back. Seems like we ought to be able to put some guns on some of these ships that are getting hijacked and kill the pirates. There seems to be a reluctance to do that which I don't understand. Six guys in two speedboats shouldn't expect to be able to hijack a ship with 700 people on it. Seriously.

Dubai beach no place for funny business

Two drunken westerners were arrested for having sex on a beach in Dubai. They were subsequently convicted "for having sex outside of marriage, public indecency and drunkenness" and sentenced to three months in prison. The jail time was eventually dropped on appeal. 

I'm just going to go ahead and cross Dubai off my list of places to visit.

Palin: What he said...

5. McCain made a huge mistake in picking Sarah Palin.

No subject is more likely to break up a dinner party early than the Alaska governor McCain chose as his running mate. Everyone not only has an opinion about her qualifications (or lack thereof) but also feels it necessary to share those opinions with anyone within shouting range.

Love her or loathe her, the data appear somewhere close to conclusive that Palin did little to help -- and, in fact, did some to hurt -- McCain's attempts to reach out to independents and Democrats. But just because Palin doesn't appear to have helped McCain move to the middle doesn't mean that picking her was the wrong move.

Remember where McCain found himself this past summer. He had won the Republican nomination, but the GOP base clearly felt little buy-in into his campaign. A slew of national polls reflected that energy gap, with Democrats revved up about the election and their candidate and Republicans somewhere between tepid and glum.

Enter Palin, who was embraced with a bear hug by the party's conservative base. All of a sudden, cultural conservatives were thrilled at the chance to put "one of their own" in the White House. In fact, of the 60 percent of voters who told exit pollsters that McCain's choice of Palin was a "factor" in their final decision, the Arizona senator won 56 percent to 43 percent.

For skittish conservatives looking for more evidence that McCain understood their needs and concerns, Palin did the trick. It's hard to imagine conservatives rallying to McCain -- even to the relatively limited extent that they did -- without Palin on the ticket. And without the base, McCain's loss could have been far worse.

From this.

How Palin nearly saved McCain

Hey - not my words ... see for yourself .

Minnesota election fun

Big write up in the WSJ about the recount shenanigans surrounding the Minnesota Senate race. 

I will admit with a little embarrassment that I supported our wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura. I would have voted for him, but we had just moved to the cities and I didn't realize how easy it is to register at the polls. I liked his anti-status quo attitude and his desire to shrink government. In the end I think he was an experiment that didn't do a whole lot, but where government's concerned I'd typically rather see them do nothing than do something that costs more money.

As for the current race, I really hope we don't wind up with a comedian for a Senator. 

About time

McCain comes out and says Palin didn't hurt campaign. Duh. He should have issues a statement earlier.

So I was watching the news

last night before bed, and I was amazed to learn that the president doesn't actually have the power to affect the economy single-handedly. It was almost as if the news people were resetting expectations for the new president. I can't imagine why that should be. It's too bad they didn't stumble upon this epiphany sometime in the last year when they were content to blame every bad thing in the world on the 'Bush Administration'. 

I keep saying I'm going to quit talking about politics, and I keep not doing that. Oh well.

Interesting thoughts on what the Republican party could do to attract youth

So what does the Republican Party need to do to get the youth vote back? If these Harvard students are typical (and perhaps they are not, as Harvard students are hardly a random sample), the party needs to scale back its social conservatism. Put simply, it needs to become a party for moderate and mainstream libertarians. The actual Libertarian Party is far too extreme in its views to attract these students. And it is too much of a strange fringe group. These students are, after all, part of the establishment. But a reformed Republican Party could, I think, win them back.

From here . 

Actually this would work to attract me back, too. Unless something like this changes, I'll just go ahead and vote libertarian or some other third-plus party going forward. 

I've been voting Republican for the past X years because defense and smaller government are key issues for me. And while I stand by their record on defense, the smaller government thing hasn't so much worked out.

I've voted GOP in spite of their social conservatism, certainly not because of it. I'm pro-choice. I'm fine with gay marriage. I'm a Christian, but it's not important to me that my representatives is or that they go to church. 

This seems

about right . I haven't agreed with everything President Bush has done, but I've never understood the bile and rage that he has inspired. I have always felt that he was straightforward and about as honest as a politician can be. I wish he had worked to shrink government instead of grow it. I'm not entirely comfortable with his evangelical tendencies, but I think he's done what he thought was right, and I give him a great deal of credit for his execution of the war on terror. He did not wreck the economy, that honor goes to the democrats who were in charge of Fannie and Freddie. It will be interesting to see how history treats him a few years down the road.

No doubt both from our "allies" and our enemies:

"Obama victory sparks cheers around the globe" 

Nothing but

den Beste. And now I'm ready for a break from election-related shite. 

Seriously ...

This  really sounds like something out of a cartoon .... What's scary is realizing I'm actually not cynical ENOUGH.

A good person

Somehow I can't picture Senator Obama visiting anyone in the hospital without a full press contingent.