Liberal Talk Radio

As a card-carrying member of the union of the whiny underemployed, I think we should try it*:
In another sign that healthcare will return as a major issue when Democrats take over Congress next month, a prominent Democratic senator unveiled an ambitious proposal Wednesday to provide medical insurance for all Americans while reining in costs.
The plan [...]

It’s not just the whiny underemployed — the high cost of health care may be stifling America’s entrepreneurial spirit:
Entrepreneurs have plenty of things to keep them awake at night worrying: payroll, inventory, pricing, competition. For Jere Smith and her husband, Don Lueders, the main thing is health insurance.
Many small-business owners struggle with the high cost [...]

Pictures get a little wonky when you take the camera off the tripod, but still kinda fun:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg testified on Capitol Hill yesterday that New York needs immigrants:
Mayor Bloomberg criticized the legislation to crack down on illegal immigration being considered by the Republican-led Congress yesterday and called on federal lawmakers to concentrate on the “future rather than pander to rabble-rousers and parochial fears.”
Mr. Bloomberg said the economy would [...]

Mickey Kaus makes a good point about immigration:
It’s not enough to say you are for “enforcement first,” and legalization later–my position–if the “enforcement” you’re talking about is a (highly desirable) effective system of employee document checks. That system–again, if it’s effective–would if applied across the board immediately throw millions of illegals out of their jobs. [...]

That didn’t take long. Six months ago, residents of New Orleans put aside their differences and looked forward together, trying to rebuild. The murder rate plummeted.
But now it seems that the residents of a gated subdivision are demanding that FEMA not put a trailer park near their houses. Half the [...]

Of course Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt recommends stockpiling food — he’s Mormon! No, seriously:
In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the [...]

Malcom Gladwell makes the deceptively simple argument that our debate on health care policy needs to separate funding issues from structural issues. I’m going to post the whole thing because it’s concise and smart:
In the comments on my about-face on health care, a number of people make the familiar’ criticisms of the Canadian system.’ [...]

He writes:
Earlier Brownie said something to the effect that in Homeland Security there’s basically a segment oriented towards dealing with terrorism and a segment oriented towards dealing with national disasters and the former doesn’t really give a shit about the latter. He then went on to say that if terrorists had blown up the levees [...]

As expected, the New York Times is running with the President’s oil addiction declaration, opining that Bush did not go far enough during the State of the Union. But after watching the Super Bowl* last night, I have to say that it was striking how many hybrid car commericals there were. And were it not [...]