Links you might enjoy....or not. Part I

Hi all,
I thought I would give you a collection of links of interest that I found through my Google Reader.

Jim Buie on the false dichotomy of health care choices.

Let us not be manipulated by the overly simplistic false choice between "government-run health care" and "letting the free market fix the health care crisis." The fact is that 45% of U.S. health care is ALREADY public, funded by government, when you take into account Medicare, Medicaid, state and federal health plans, and local governments. And, as Adam Searing wrote in a News and Observer op-ed: "The idea of citizens coming together and using taxes to pay for services for everyone is hardly controversial in many other areas. Whether it's police and fire services, city buses, the library, universal K-12 education, roads or even health care for everyone over 65, most Americans happily endorse taxpayer funding. So why the exception for health care for anyone under 65?"

- p.s. I wish Jim would write here at BlueNC.
Time - John Edwards Fires Up His Populism

After three days on the road with John Edwards in some of the poorest places in America, it's not only the depth of human need that hits you, but the layered and interlocking complexity of it — the way a complete lack of health care, for instance, can all by itself consign someone to ignorance and joblessness. But you're also struck by how so many of the people who have been dealt these difficult hands manage to play them with grace and fortitude. That may sound trite to some ears, but it probably wouldn't to anyone who has spent time with James Lowe.

Retrospectacle - Gene Therapy: A Form of Eugenics?

Gene therapy, as referred to by most medical researchers or ethicists would likely be construed as a good thing, a positive thing meant to heal and help a person's suffering. Eugenics, on the other hand, is widely maligned as negative--to artificially produce or design offspring which fit certain criteria. If gene therapy *could* be construed as eugenics, and perhaps it can't, should we care? Is there any difference between repairing or removing a disability, as opposed to preventing one genetically?

Baloon Juice - Woot - I am a Bushy Hater

But for all that, I still don’t hate Bush. I think he is a small, shallow, feeble-minded man, whose “resolve” you cherish is merely the result of a man incapable of thinking on the spot and changing course. While he is ultimately responsible for anything that has been done during his tenure, I am of the opinion that he is little more than a puppet.

Binker - Euthanasia rules

I took a short trip out to the state fair grounds Wednesday to hear the Board of Agriculture
talk about new rules for euthanizing dogs and cats. From my story:

RALEIGH - It's not much of a choice really: lethal injection or the gas chamber.

Those would be the two ways most of the 225,000 cats and dogs who meet their end in North Carolina animal shelters would be dispatched under new rules under consideration by the State Board of Agriculture.

Click here for the full story.

Of course, the reason the rules are such a big deal is that animal shelters in the state have to put about 225,000 unwanted cats and dogs to death every year, according to Ag Dept. stats. That's a fairly horrific total.

Bill Reilly - What hate-filled scum.

Cliff Schechter - Republicans Demand Staliesque Loyalty Pledge.

Once You Join The GOP, You Can Never Leave The FamilyThis is just spooky. As you may or may not know, the Kansas GOP, much like the national party but even worse, has been melting down. Their former state party chair is now the lieutenant governor under Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The AG is also a Republican-turned-Democrat who ousted a crazy Republican from that job. And the list goes on and on.So now you have to sign a loyalty pledge, like you're in one of the Five Families or Stalin's Communist Party. I know, you're not surprised. The GOP is nothing but a clinically paranoid cult these days, so what else could one expect.

Via Ed Cone - Edwards, Trailing Rivals, Holds Sway Over Party's Agenda

John Edwards may be stuck in third place in the polls and fund raising in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. But the populist seems to be playing an outsized role in driving the terms of the party's debate -- generally to the left -- on everything from Iraq to health care.....
About the time Mr. Edwards announced plans for his tour, one of his better-positioned rivals, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, posted a poverty plan on his Website. Mr. Edwards ended his tour -- wending through a poultry plant and an industrial neighborhood hit by factory closing -- Wednesday in Kentucky. On that day, Mr. Obama delivered a major speech on the subject in Washington, D.C. An Obama campaign official dismissed as "absurd" the notion that Mr. Edwards drove the debate on poverty or any other issues. But some voters feel otherwise. "I appreciate Edwards because he's at least talking about poverty," said Scott Myers-Lipton, a San Jose State University professor who caught Mr. Edwards speaking in New Orleans. "He's the only one talking about it."

Ezra Klein on BCBS Propaganda

I admit it, they've got chutzpah:

One Blue Cross ad compared the health proposals to California's disastrous energy deregulation of the late 1990s, which resulted in soaring power prices and some outages. "Let's not go there again," it said.

Yes: Instituting a large government program to provide health care to the population is exactly like devolving a large government program into the hands of the private market.

Popular Mechanics - Top 7 Ways to Utilize Wasted Space in Your House

It's hidden inside the walls, beneath the stairs, in places you'd never think to look. The solution to the great American storage crunch is all around us in the form of unused space — cavities and nooks ready to absorb clutter and help bring order to domestic chaos. As a longtime carpenter and builder, and now the host of Wasted Spaces, a new show on the DIY Network, I've specialized in finding quick and efficient ways to make use of these little-used storage resources.

Carrboro Citizen - Tomato Tasting this Weekend

The Carrboro Farmers’ Market will hold its annual tomato tasting on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Carrboro Town Commons.

Participants will be able to sample more than 60 types of tomatoes, from conventional to heirloom varieties, all grown within a 50-mile radius of the market. In addition, master gardeners will offer tomato-growing tips and tomato recipes will be available.

After sampling tomatoes, participants will be able to vote for their favorite varieties, and the winners will be announced next week.