Grab bag – Friday

Posted on February 12th, 2010 by ecthompson md

I have been travelling and my blog has been giving me the finger over the last couple of days. I think that we have the issues solved.

  • Gave a talk at DRI yesterday. I think it was well received. I didn’t hear any snoring. :-)
  • Luger dies in Vancouver. Very sad. You shouldn’t die playing a sport.
  • Huge offensive has been launched in Afghanistan. I think that the media has done a very poor job informing us about what’s at stake in Afghanistan and why Obama has decided to stay in Afghanistan. This is just the opposite of what happened in the run up to the war in Iraq.
  • It appears that a school secretary was fired for speaking Spanish to some parents. I sure hope that this story is wrong.
  • So is the Healthcare Summit on or off? The White House has sent invitations to key Congressional leaders for this summit. It still isn’t clear that the Republicans will participate. At least it isn’t clear to me.
  • Polar ice cap is getting worse.
  • American seems to be souring on Palin and the Tea Baggers.
  • There was a university school shooting. This time no students were injured. The shooting occurred at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Three people are dead.
  • Washington Post chief political guru David Broder wrote one of the worst columns that I have read in the last four or five years. The whole column is one big delusion about how politically great Sarah Palin is. C&L and Glenn have a few words to say about Broder and Sarah the Great. I can only add Jon Stewart’s thoughts below:
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Daily Show: The Rogue Warrior
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Tags: Afghanistan, Education, Environment, General, Healthcare, The Daily Show, Virginia Tech Shooting // 3 Comments »

  • Joe White

    Since no one else will say it, I will. 
     
    The large rate hikes that insurors are announcing are no surprise. 
     
    No, it’s not a function of the ‘free market’. 
     
    Its a result of Democrats perverting the market, i.e. passing a bill that mandates coverage for pre-existing conditions (Its like allowing someone to buy a life insurance policy on their recently deceased spouse).

  • ecthompson

    There was never an insurance free market in the US. Insurance works by limiting risk. A free market is too risky. 

    BTW, why are you bringing this up? I didn’t mention it in this post. 

    your analogy is 100% wrong. It is like being able to buy car insurance if you have had a wreck before. that’s what it is like. That’s exactly want it is like. 

    Thanks for your thoughts. 

  • Joe White

    My analogy is correct. It is like you are expecting the insurance company to repair and pay for damage that has just been done.

    The whole idea of insurance is to share financial responsibility of RISK IN THE FUTURE.

    If you can buy home insurance for the house that burned down yesterday, or buy life insurance on your recently departed spouse, then it’s not FUTURE RISK that you are trying to cover, it’s a past CERTAINTY. It’s already happened.

    ————————

    The reason I brought it up is because you did include the health care summit in the post.

    The issue of the rate increase will surely be front and center, and it’s important to know that the Democratic bills passed by the House and Senate are the reason that rates will go up.

    Since Obama will undoubtedly still push for  the ban on the exclusion of pre-existing conditions (included in the bill his party passed), he will be arguing FOR more rate increases like the ones the Democrats just caused.

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