Over the weekend, a bunch of Obama surrogates (including Secretary Sebelius) started dropping suggestions that the Public Option part of the health care reform package might be expendable in the name of compromise. Boo Hiss. This discussion should have started with single-payer as the opening position, leading to compromise from there. What’s the point of […]

Please indulge me in a quick little political action plug that will only take a few minutes of your time. All of my kids were breast-fed; it’s cheap, and the healthiest way to feed a baby. I think it gave my kids a good start at life; my kids were certainly sick less often than […]

I caught this NPR piece this morning contrasting the realities of the Canadian health care system with the scare tactics, common in right-wing adverts in the states, about people waiting months behind walls of bureaucracy in order to get urgent cancer treatments. Not surprisingly, these scary examples offered by opponents of health care reform are, […]

Please have the common courtesy to understand what you’re outraged about. Paul Krugman pointed out a story the other day about a ‘concerned citizen’ in a South Carolina town hall meeting telling his congressman to “keep your hands off of my Medicare“. Yes, you read that right. Sigh. If this guy’s correct (and for those […]

A swimming pool in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia kicked out a bunch of daycampers from the city because they might

Al Franken is finally declared the winner of last year’s Minnesota US Senate race, and will likely be sworn in within the week. Whether they voted for him or not, I bet the people of Minnesota (especially Senator Amy Klobuchar and her overworked staff) are happy to finally to have their alloted two Senators in […]

Yes, the circumstances surrounding the recent elections in Iran are quite possibly  shady, it’s quite possible that Mousavi did better than indicated, or even won.  In any case, it was wonderful to see a reform-minded candidate gain support over there, and I’m encouraged by the generally peaceful protests and demonstrations of the Iranian public, and am distraught at […]

I really hate writing these kinds of posts. On balance, I’m generally happy with President Obama’s job performance. He’s making progress in a lot of areas I generally support: He’s doing a lot to improve America’s reputation abroad, is actually making some movement toward health care reform, and those new fuel efficiency standards truly and […]

Several times leading up to the election, I made mention that I was sure that a President Obama would make some moves that I didn’t like, but that I still felt better with him than the other option. This remains true, and unfortunately, right now I feel have to register displeasure about a particular move […]