Links you might like, Part V
Submitted by Robert P. on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 3:30pm
Man with Homer Simpsonesque brain lives normal life.
Ezra Klein on S-CHIP and the Medicare Advantage Plans.
Back in 1982, Congress tried to unleash the magic of the free market by letting private insurers offer Medicare plans for seniors who wanted them. The insurers would be paid at the same rates as Medicare and, if they were indeed more efficient, could then offer more expansive benefits and out-compete the public program.
They were not more efficient. But they've been very good at lobbying Republican Congresses. And so now, the government is paying these private plans about 120 percent of what Medicare gets per patient. In other words, the government is overpaying these plans in order to help them out-compete the public plan -- which they're still not doing. It's an almost hilariously absurd state of affairs, were it not actually costing us all a lot of money.
It's EVOLUTION folks, and it could cost you your life.
In spite of the importance of antimicrobial resistance, we show that the actual word "evolution" is rarely used in the papers describing this research. Instead, antimicrobial resistance is said to "emerge," "arise," or "spread" rather than "evolve." Moreover, we show that the failure to use the word "evolution" by the scientific community may have a direct impact on the public perception of the importance of evolutionary biology in our everyday lives.
John Edwards releases his TAX Plan. More tomorrow on his Disabilities Act Anniversary speech.
"The engine of our economy is not Washington, D.C., or Wall Street. It is the tens of millions of men and women in offices, factories and fields across America who go to work every day trying to do right by their families," he said.
Early review of the $100 laptop.
Dick Cheney sends a father to jail for disagreeing with his Iraq policy. This is the natural course of things when you start having supporter-only, ticketed events. I would urge all OUR candidate to eschew this practice.
No Child Left Behind a Republican victory, all work no play, don't worry, their kids will go to private schools.
Dems seek Gonzales probe and subpoena Rove.
Lifehacker - are you phish food? I scored a 7 out of 10, but only missed two sites....
Revo Uninstaller: The thing you didn't know you needed, but do. It's awesome.
Colbert on O'Reilly on Iraq. You have to watch commercial first.
Does this feel like republican science to anyone else?
These researchers laud the public interest in food and its environmental impact, but their work, they say, shows that "local" is not the best way to think about food and energy, or the best basis for food-buying decisions. Some of these researchers are trying to devise more accurate ways of telling consumers the climate impact of their food choices. But they are discovering that the task can be tricky. The key, they argue, is to find a way to label foods that is both accurate and simple enough for consumers to accept.
Their work also highlights a more fundamental challenge for local-food enthusiasts. Michael Pollan states this challenge starkly: "Local means local in season," he says. In places like Boston, it means not only summers of fresh berries and arugula but January diets heavy on root vegetables and canned tomatoes. Can such a movement ever find mainstream acceptance?
Gelata Bridge, an awesome idea that no planner would ever think of, just people making the most of things.
No time for all the dead, from Scrutiny Hooligans.
is this the open thread?
Harlow Barget of State Government Radio featured the following commentary on GOP hypocrisy on his radio show:
I’ve tried to resist, but the temptation to comment is just too great. I’m talking, of course, about the recent sex scandals involving self-righteous politicians in the Old North State.
Maybe the Devil made them do it, but I see the Hand of a Higher Power bringing justice to the smug and proud. In recent years, especially in the South, there has been an overt attempt by pious politicians to exploit religion for their own ends.
The Republican Party as a whole has been successful in winning a majority of churchgoing voters. Fundamentalist Christians in particular have voted overwhelming for Republicans. That’s not some liberal cant. That’s a fact.
There’s nothing wrong or undemocratic about that voting pattern. Republicans have best represented the views of such voters.
What’s been wrong are the suggestions--and it’s more than suggestions from people such as former and disgraced House Majority Leader Tom Delay of Texas--that their opponents are godless infidels.
People can disagree honestly over how to fix our broken health care system or how to interpret Roe v. Wade. But it’s not American to question people’s faith because they disagree with your political solutions. Such absolutism is the path to the world of the Taliban.
Thus, when these preachy politicians, to paraphrase the ancient words of the Episcopal Prayer Book, “have left undone those things which they ought to have done and done those things which they ought not to have done,” there is divine humor in it.
Representative David Almond of Stanly County campaigned as a “family values” Republican. He was run out of town by his own party after a complaint by his female legislative assistant was filed against him for what is reported to be sexual misconduct.
Then, there is 74-year-old, former Republican Representative Coy Privette of Cabarrus County. He is a Baptist minister who brought conservative religious politics to the capital in his war against mixed drinks. Reverend Privette has been charged with hiring a prostitute and has resigned from his position as president of the Christian Action League.
In Washington, Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana confessed his sin of being a customer of the D.C. Madam. This is one of the holier-than-thou crowd who denounced President Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct and vowed nothing was more sacred than the institution of marriage.
And let us not forget Reverend Ted Haggard and Congressman Mark Foley, Republican moralizers both.
Their downfalls underscore that we all are fallible. The lesson to self-righteous politicians—Republican or Democrat—is that if they are going to talk the talk of family values, they’d better walk the walk better than these hypocrites.
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Les Merritt, Toady Extraordinaire
Where is Liddy?
Sanford-Hunt: Aug 25th
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http://twitter.com/Jerimee
I Take Issue w/ BS
Hmmm... there is a set of organic producers in New Hampshire that feeds their community through their hoop houses during the winter.
Oh, yes. Lettuce and spinach, kale and carrots....I don't think they can do tomatoes in January ... but hey, the cardboard crap in the stores don't taste like tomatoes any time of year so - so what?
Oh yes. It's such a wise idea to keep trucking food thousands of miles - so the middle men can keep swilling their profits and people can keep buying at Wal-Mart.
Really - it's corporate policy of many stores that if a supplier cannot supply all of the stores within a district (however large a district might be) they won't do business with that supplier.
I checked. That means if Clayton Food Lion wanted to buy produce from me, it could not unless I could supply the other stores in that buying district. Great for corporate bookkeeping - not so great for farmers and consumers.
It's up to us to:
Live wisely and well.
Yesterday I noticed a large printed sign
at the entrance to my local Food Lion promoting NC Produce. I don't know how long it's been there but I seldom notice anything in the fresh foods section with NC on the label.
It seems corporate has taken notice but hasn't figured out how to live up to it. yet.
Have you called to support H. Res 333 Impeach Cheney Today?
call 202-224-3121 & ask for your Congress member by name
Progressives are the true conservatives.
I saw that, too
We haven't been shopping there - we usually go to - don't laugh - the Piggly Wiggly. It's closer. But I checked all of the Pig's produce, and even the stuff that could have been local at this time of year, like corn and tomatoes, wasn't. The tomatoes were "product of Canada".
So I guess we'll check out the Lion instead of the Pig. But the butcher at the Pig will cut the meat any way you want it while you wait, and it's always fresher. I'll have to ask him where he gets the meat.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi