Thursday, March 11, 2010

Today's Health Care Reform News

The non-partisan analysis by the Congressional Budget Office says the Health Care Reform bill passed by the Senate would lower the federal deficit by $118 billion in its first ten years and at least $600 billion in its second ten years. It would also insure more than 30 million Americans who currently do not have health insurance and will therefore all be ahead of you in line the next time you need to go to a hospital emergency room. Sure sounds like a good deal to me. Here's a link to a PDF of the report.

• Posted at 10:43 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

I'm sorry you folks didn't get to attend that Bob Newhart interview I went to the night before last. Maybe this will make it up to you in some small way...

• Posted at 12:52 AM · LINK

Various and Sundry Updates

I finally received, as a lot of you apparently have, a message from Amazon explaining why they cancelled most of my order and giving me $25 in credit as an apology. Darned decent of them. I mean, I know they were probably worried about customer hostility but a lot of companies wouldn't have thought that far.

Quite a few people e-mailed me to say they recognized Gene Wood playing the bellman in the early part of the show. Wood was later a prolific game show announcer and occasional host.

And quite a few asked if I knew how to see that Eric Idle concert if they're outside its exhibition area. I have no inside info but is it even remotely possible that it won't be available to us? A DVD seems certain and an airing on cable, pretty likely.

• Posted at 12:51 AM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Gene Lyons on Republican fund-raising strategies. I am reminded of the book by Thomas Frank, What's the Matter With Kansas? that advanced the following theory: That the G.O.P. has been highly successful in whipping up Middle America to vote its way, promising to outlaw abortion and bring back school prayer...but then Republican leadership takes the clout they get from those election victories and uses it, not for those issues but to push for economic policies that help mega-corporations and the super-rich, often at the expense of Middle America. I thought that book was right when I read it and it's more right today.

• Posted at 12:43 AM · LINK