Where is health care reform going?

Folks are probably tired of my "taking one for the team" approach for health care, but I keep finding evidence for it. (...maybe because I keep looking for it!)

From the transcript of Charlie Rose interviewing Washington Post health care wonk blogger Ezra Klein on December 15:

EK: This bill is both quite an achievement, but a recognition of our
limits. And at some point we are not going to be able to content ourselves
with having picked the low-hanging fruit. We are going to have to sit down
and make hard decisions and hard choices on cost, and there won’t be the
spur and the shining goal of covering the uninsured. There will be a lot
less. And we’re still going to have to do it.

So this bill, it’s a good first step, it will make the next one
easier. But the next one is going to be the harder one and I don’t think
anybody looking at this process should be very confident that we will be
able to take it.

CHARLIE ROSE: What’s the next one?

EZRA KLEIN: In a very hard way, cost control. Not just starting the
procedures and the pilot programs, but telling doctors and hospitals and
device manufacturers and Pharma "You are going to make less money next year
than you made this year," or "You are going to make a lot less money in ten
years than you expect to be making now." That’s going to be very hard.

With the change in the numbers in the Senate, the reform train slows down a little. But only a little -- Democrats will continue to push for health care reform and I expect a bill to pass by the end of the month. They'll be back for more.

Just remember that their long-term plan is "You are going to make a lot less money in ten years than you expect to be making now."

Will this be healthcare reform?

Go Obama Go!

So some Senate Democrats are going to panic about the Coakley loss (which I did not predict correctly at all). Evan Bayh may have already.

Here's what I think President Obama should do: go all out. The whole centrist, calm, cool, collected thing isn't working. He should mash all the buttons down, turn the volume to 11 and just give a general "screw you" to the Republican party. Bring it all out: kill the bankers on Wall Street, go for single payer health care, stop all foreclosures for 180 days, all the big hits.

I think it would be politically braver than any of his baby steps and it would convince the strangely apathetic left that there's something worth fighting for. And I, for one, would enjoy the show.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'

If you have a moment or ten, read this article about Marvin Harrison and the crime he is alleged to have committed. Assuming that the facts in the article are true, it's quite likely that he shot at the fellow. The article insinuates strongly that Harrison's associates were involved in ultimately killing the target in the first case.

Should he be in prison? Playing devil's advocate here, it sounds to me like Harrison and his friends may have done Philly a service. That being said, lying to law enforcement is something that society cannot tolerate and I hope that justice before the law is served.

AIDS is funny!!

We are ND!

Thanks, Mr. President

I'm not quite sure how much blame to assign for the Underwear Bomber incident to the President and his staff. Nevertheless, his "The Buck Stops with Me" statement was a point in his favor. I don't think President Bush ever made such a statement, although my memory could be failing me.

That being said, the mostly ridiculous increase in security is 100% in his purview. I was really hoping that he would scale back the more ridiculous stuff, like the taking-off-of-the-shoes, etc. A citizen can hope.

And then, there were 4

Arizona at New Orleans
Dallas at Minnesota

Baltimore at Indianapolis
NY Jets at San Diego

Predictions?

Choose your metaphor...

What does this machine bring to mind?