The Great Bottled Water Controversy August 30, 2007

The environmentalists pointing out the problems with bottled water are generally right. Too much plastic, too much waste, and so on. Not really arguing with them on the basic principle.
But I live in Falmouth on Cape Cod. The public water supply reeks of chlorine and runs through some thirty-five miles of pipes that the town [...]

Wampanoag Mashpee Leader An Admitted Liar, Convicted Rapist. So, Are The Wampanoags Really A Tribe? August 30, 2007

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe just tossed out their leader for lying repeatedly about his military record and not telling them about his conviction for rape back when.
Fair enough.
Evicted leader Glenn Marshall was the guy who led the group through the certification process which finally got them officially declared a legal tribe. He’s been credited with [...]

Healthcare Reform In Massachusetts A Sick Joke. Insurance Companies, Pols, Bureaucrats, and Governor Deval Patrick Screw The Sick. Again. August 30, 2007

Here’s some nice logic from the State of Massachusetts as it whores for the insurance companies.
The Deval Patrick administration wants to cut the Free Care Pool that catches sick people who fall through the cracks.
Why? Because the existence of the FCP, which is an effective safety net, is ‘incompatible’ with the state’s now-mandatory health insurance boondoggle. [...]

Pat Buchanan Puts Craig’s Foot (?) In His Mouth August 30, 2007

Rather than reading an intelligent book last night (currently Henning Mankell’s The Man Who Smiled) I lazily flipped through the channels hoping to catch some actual news. And lo and behold, to my utter disgust, there was Pat Buchanan toiling in the groves of a group gangbang discussion of Senator Larry Craig, of recent “I’m [...]

Economics Professor Proposes Another Stupid Conservative Republican Health Plan August 28, 2007

In the Globe today, a Boston University economics professor named Laurence J. Kotlikoff offers his solution to health care in America.
It reeks of conservative idiocy. Here’s the proposal, quoted at length:
My solution is called the Medical Security System. It would eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, and (by dropping the tax breaks) employer-based healthcare. The government would [...]

Vick Finds Jesus August 28, 2007

We should have seen it coming. In his little mea culpa Michael Vick announced to the world that he had found Jesus, who was apparently missing. He said he found God, too, if I understood him correctly.
Well, we’re glad that’s cleared up. Perhaps he’ll get credit from the judge for his good work in [...]

Democrats Need A New Language August 28, 2007

You know how the Dems are always saying stuff like “We’re going to fight for the working people”?
What they should be saying:
“We’re going to get the rich tax shirkers off the backs of the working people.”
“We’re going to bust the anti-unionists and give the working people back their right to organize.”
“We’re going to get [...]

Obligatory Gonzales Post August 28, 2007

Yeah, I stole the headline from Brad over at Brad’s Brain. It was just too good to resist.
Couple of things.
First off, the little toad said in his public resignation speech “…I have lived the American dream.”
Yes you did. You had a hardscrabble childhood, grew up to go to Harvard Law School, found yourself a rich [...]

Conservatives Confused About Vick. So What Else Is New? August 28, 2007

Conservatives, as usual, are mixing apples and oranges with their Michael Vick blabberings.
This morning on Morning Joe, former Congressman Joe Scarborough pronounced himself offended that people were more upset about the dogs Vick brutally victimized than about people brutalized by sports figures.
On the surface that’s an easy position to take. But in the Conservative way, [...]

The Political Brain – A Must Read August 27, 2007

I’m not going to write a genuine review of Drew Westen’s The Political Brain. But if you’re a Democrat or a Liberal or a Progressive or someone suffering from a related disease, you have got to read this book.
The subtitle is “The role of emotion in deciding the fate of the nation” and the guy [...]