Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Zen of Rings and Dots
Via Andrew Sullivan, your procrastination tool for the rest of the day. Obechi.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Cunning Beauty of "Opt-Out"
Via TPM, Senator Jay Rockafeller (D-WV):
For those who don't follow (Like I haven't been for two weeks. Womp womp. Sorry loyal readers), let's just put it this way: the health care reform bill creates a national public option. Once in place, if a state chooses to do so it may "opt-out" of public option provision and do whatever works best for their citizenry.
It's a compromise, somewhat like the trigger option that was presented a month or so ago. But the flaw with the trigger was that we had to wait and see. If the insurance companies actually did cut costs before the trigger went into effect (and the whole process was lined with animated baby deer, bunnies, and blue birds), then it would be a good deal for the American people. Yet a sneaking suspicion leads me to believe that the insurance companies' executives and health care CEOs would go Enron on us, sucking as many profits from people as they could before the deadline, and then let the system flail around in far worse shape than it is now, passing their responsibility to make health care more affordable on to the U.S. government because they know they never really really have been providing "the best, most affordable health care in the world."
But so here's the genius of the opt-out: we aren't rolling the rigged dice the insurance companies want us to use in waiting to see if we get caught with snake-eyes. We're fixing the problem now - and the United States gets to join the rest of the modern industrialized world in the 21st century. And then down the line, if states find that their people are not benefited by the availability of the public option, the people will demand that their state governments remove themselves from the program. And as the good Senator of West Virginia told TPM [with liberty to paraphrase], it'll be a lot of fun watching pols try to convince people that their newly-earned free health care sucks. I mean a lot of fun. Like town hall meeting fun.
And this whole thing reminds me of one of my experiences while working at the Massachusetts State House. The Rep's office had been inundated with correspondence about how it was wrong of Massachusetts lawmakers to determine the curriculum on sexual education for public school students. "It's parents' duty and choice to expose their child to such ideas," they'd claim, "the state has no right to do this without parental consent." Wrong simply on that point, but we in the office found a much more persuasive solution in advocating for an opt-out option for parents. If you don't want your child to receive sexual education in public school that's fine, but you as parents have no right to deny that opportunity to another family who does. I'm sure the anti-sex ed people weren't happy about it, but there wasn't much they could argue - they got what they were so worried about and their kid would not have to attend sexual education if they signed a form excusing them from it. It was a compromise, and it's hard to complain about "opt-out" when you get what you're whining about.
I like the opt-out's chances. And after hearing about health care and the ridiculousness that has accompanied it for the past four or so months all I can say is it's about damn time.
"I'm looking very much now at this opt out public option," he said, "not opt in but opt out--so you start out with a public option, and if you don't like it you can opt out....that has a sense of freedom."
For those who don't follow (Like I haven't been for two weeks. Womp womp. Sorry loyal readers), let's just put it this way: the health care reform bill creates a national public option. Once in place, if a state chooses to do so it may "opt-out" of public option provision and do whatever works best for their citizenry.
It's a compromise, somewhat like the trigger option that was presented a month or so ago. But the flaw with the trigger was that we had to wait and see. If the insurance companies actually did cut costs before the trigger went into effect (and the whole process was lined with animated baby deer, bunnies, and blue birds), then it would be a good deal for the American people. Yet a sneaking suspicion leads me to believe that the insurance companies' executives and health care CEOs would go Enron on us, sucking as many profits from people as they could before the deadline, and then let the system flail around in far worse shape than it is now, passing their responsibility to make health care more affordable on to the U.S. government because they know they never really really have been providing "the best, most affordable health care in the world."
But so here's the genius of the opt-out: we aren't rolling the rigged dice the insurance companies want us to use in waiting to see if we get caught with snake-eyes. We're fixing the problem now - and the United States gets to join the rest of the modern industrialized world in the 21st century. And then down the line, if states find that their people are not benefited by the availability of the public option, the people will demand that their state governments remove themselves from the program. And as the good Senator of West Virginia told TPM [with liberty to paraphrase], it'll be a lot of fun watching pols try to convince people that their newly-earned free health care sucks. I mean a lot of fun. Like town hall meeting fun.
And this whole thing reminds me of one of my experiences while working at the Massachusetts State House. The Rep's office had been inundated with correspondence about how it was wrong of Massachusetts lawmakers to determine the curriculum on sexual education for public school students. "It's parents' duty and choice to expose their child to such ideas," they'd claim, "the state has no right to do this without parental consent." Wrong simply on that point, but we in the office found a much more persuasive solution in advocating for an opt-out option for parents. If you don't want your child to receive sexual education in public school that's fine, but you as parents have no right to deny that opportunity to another family who does. I'm sure the anti-sex ed people weren't happy about it, but there wasn't much they could argue - they got what they were so worried about and their kid would not have to attend sexual education if they signed a form excusing them from it. It was a compromise, and it's hard to complain about "opt-out" when you get what you're whining about.
I like the opt-out's chances. And after hearing about health care and the ridiculousness that has accompanied it for the past four or so months all I can say is it's about damn time.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Wow, that was deep.
xkcd with a very appropriate post-birthday post. Make sure to let your cursor sit over the comic afterwards and read the text box that appears. Just tragic.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Geek Reaccreditation
Via Ecocomics, this is the most interesting and thought provoking paper I've read in awhile. Yes, that's pretty sad, but we all need to get reaccredited from time to time. I was due.
(Image Credit: DC Comics)
UPDATE: Also, this theory somewhat helps to explain the ridiculousness that was Superman Blue back in the late 90s. Not so much the loss of Superman's powers, but his subsequent "energy based" powers would seem to jive with what the paper presents. For those of you who have no clue what I'm referring to, background here.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
"Nut Up or Shut Up"
This past weekend, my housemates convinced me to go see Zombieland. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this flick, but I was incredibly glad I went. One of the best comedies I've seen in a while, with a great cast and a great cameo that I had no clue was coming. It's rare that a movie will make me laugh out loud, but I did quite a few times during the course of this one. If you have ten bucks to spend, definitely go check this Zombieland out in the next couple weeks.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The IOC Mob
Rather than express my disappointment at Chicago losing its bid for the 2016 Olympics, or celebrate that South America will finally host an Olympics (though congrats to Rio), or go off at the right-wing jerks who are trying to impress that this is a sign of the world turning on Obama, I'm just going to link to Nate Silver who with his breakdown of the International Olympic Committee as an sports cartel.
"Old and Busted; New Hotness"
Via Andrew Sullivan, The Agitator comes across a YouTube it feels perfectly demonstrates why the old media just can't compete with the new:
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