One More Detour on the Writing Road

A very interesting and enlightening use of Wordle--defining the two sides of the health care debate.

Two Pictures Tell the Story on Health Care Debate

Hunter, over at Daily Kos:

We boo those with medical conditions. We deny outright that the first non-white President of the United States is even a citizen of his own country, much less leader of it. We still insist that an administration breaking the law is less divisive and controversial than daring to investigate it. We put brick-stupid or malevolently selfish people on television, and feign outrage at anyone who points out their stupidity or selfishness. And the President speaking to your children is the onset of communism, although perhaps barely a tenth of the population that utter it have any actual notion of what "communism" might actually be.

I watched Rachel Maddow's interview of Tom Ridge last night. Nice to see power, even past power, confronted and questioned in depth.

I am curious about Ridge's contention that the copy on his book's jacket was not to be believed. It reads in part:

"He recounts episodes such as the pressure that the DHS received to raise the security alert on the eve of of the '04 presidential election.'

Ridge told Rachel that those weren't his words, and that she should read the book. IIRC, he blamed the publisher for the wording, saying that they wanted to sell books. My question is, wouldn't Ridge have had cover copy approval? Wouldn't he have read it months before the book came out? If he felt it was incorrect, wouldn't he have been able to change it?

Links to some information posted on Daily Kos.

First, Five Myths About Healthcare from Around the World, such as:

3. Foreign health care systems are inefficient, bloated bureaucracies.
Much less so than here. It may seem to Americans that U.S.-style free enterprise -- private-sector, for-profit health insurance -- is naturally the most cost-effective way to pay for health care. But in fact, all the other payment systems are more efficient than ours.

Numbers follow.

Then, some folks went and analyzed how a public option would affect every congressional district in the US.

Whole Foods shoppers, that is. Their CEO has an op-ed in the WSJ a couple of days ago. it wasn't what I expected.

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America.

The rest is here.

By way of AmericaBlog.

I've shopped at Whole Foods once, several months ago. To tell the truth, I wasn't overly impressed.

Commentary like this:

But back to the point. The days of Lech Walesa and General Jeruzelski and Reagan and Kirkland are long, long past, and the current situation in Iran doesn’t resemble them in the least. All these “Reagan was manly in Poland while Obama is being a pussy with Iran” so completely miss the mark that it is akin to standing underneath a trapeze artist doing his high wire act and yelling “ELWAY WENT DEEP IN THE SUPER BOWL” and thinking you’ve added some value to the conversation.

He also regularly posts about pets. He has a cat named Tunch, and recently adopted a shelter dog named Lily.

Since you're the official OSC linky guy, I wondered if you had seen this?

People for the American Way has discovered that in a long rambling article about the ills of gay marriage, reeking of conspiracy theories, Orson Scott Card, a Mormon leader of the religious right's top anti-gay marriage organization, National Organization for Marriage, advocated the criminalization of homosexuality, labeled the US government "our mortal enemy," talked about the "insane Constitution" dying, and then appeared to advocate the overthrow of the US government "by whatever means is made possible or necessary." The article was published in the influential Mormon Times, a publication owned by the Mormon church.

My LJ reading has been hit or miss for the last week or so, so this may be old news. It really is somewhat alarming.

...Illinois has a new governor.

The press corps is frustrated with the lack of transparency so far:

A growing media frustration with Barack Obama’s team spilled into the open at Thursday’s briefing, with reporters accusing the White House of stifling access to his oath re-do and giving Obama’s first interview as president to a multi-million dollar inauguration sponsor.

Veteran CBS newsman Bill Plante was one of the most vocal critics, questioning the White House’s handling of Wednesday night’s second swearing in – which was covered by just a four-reporter print pool that didn’t include a news photographer or TV correspondent.

Not saying the Obama administration's feet shouldn't be held to the fire. But the WH press corps spent eight years transcribing whatever Ari, Scott, and Dana fed them. Now they're chafing. I don't know what to say. All the actions I want to take involve bitch-slapping.

Everyone else has already posted about the day.

I am content. I know there are hard times ahead, but for the moment, for the day, I am content.

I just watched the President and First Lady take the first dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

I love those people.