BREAKING: Air Force Censors Liberal Websites, But Leaves Conservative Ones Alone

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 24, 2006 · 9:31 PM PDT

2006/04/24 · 21:31

Earlier today, a friend of mine who flies for the Air Force sent me an email reporting that sometime in the middle of the day today, the Air Force's IT people put a block on DailyKos. He was on a coffee break and wanted to show a colleague a diary about energy policy, so he told me (probably one of Jerome à Paris'). Although it was possible to do that this morning, by around two o'clock (or however they say that in the Air Force) DailyKos was blocked.

So was Atrios.
So was TalkingPointsMemo, for crying out loud - and they're all policy and minimal invective over there!
On the other hand, Free Republic and Little Green Footballs came through just fine, thank you very much. Read More

Thoughts on Shakespeare's Birthday: Hamlet and Don Quixote

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 23, 2006 · 6:41 PM PDT

2006/04/23 · 18:41

Today is widely recognized as Shakespeare's birthday, and it occurs to me that his most famous character, Hamlet, could fairly be said to be iconic of the Democratic party these days. We see the situation well, but can't seem to act precisely and effectively. There are flashes of tactical brilliance all over, but no strategic direction. This disillusions me rather a lot.

There's a famous essay from 1860 by Turgenev called "Hamlet and Don Quixote." Basically, the idea is that there are two heroic types.. the man who thinks he is strong, and the man who knows he is weak. Hamlet can read a situation brilliantly, but finds himself paralyzed by his own character. Quixote acts decisively, but cannot read a situation accurately to save his life, which it comes down to from time to time.
Read More

Is Conservatism a Form of Mental Illness?

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 14, 2006 · 8:46 AM PDT

2006/04/14 · 08:46

Probably not. As much as it flies in the face of the way I personally conceptualize the world, I have to at least entertain the idea that it's a valid point of view. To do otherwise would be illiberal of me.

(an elaboration is just one click away - and this is also crossposted at My Left Wing) Read More

HEALTH CARE: How to pay for single payer

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 30, 2006 · 3:25 PM PST

2006/03/30 · 15:25

I was extremely dismayed Tuesday to read Georgia10's front pager on the Gallup poll indicating that health care tops the list of American concerns. I wasn't dismayed that Georgia wrote her diary, nor that Americans are worried about health care, but at the Democratic party's utterly tepid response to the subject. It's a long way down from President Clinton's principled "I'll veto anything that doesn't provide universal coverage" to Mr. Gore's demagoguing of Senator Bradley during the 2000 primaries for attempting the same thing, to where we are now. We need something better. We need Single Payer. And here, just one small click away, is one surgeon's opinion of how we get it. Read More

Cowardliness at the National Review. Like that's a surprise.

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 22, 2006 · 4:26 PM PST

2006/03/22 · 16:26

Over at the National Review (and wear gloves and don't rush your scrub when you go over there), John Derbyshire says one of the most appalling things I've ever run across:

the spectacle of Middle Eastern Muslims slaughtering each other is one that I find I can contemplate with calm composure.

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday February 26, 2006 · 5:25 PM PST

2006/02/26 · 17:25

The good news is that my college roommate is getting married.

The bad news is that it's an arranged marriage. She finally succumbed to the pressure of her family and acquiesced to the arrangement.

In a few months time, I'm getting on a plane to fly to Simla and watch Devika get married. I shall have to get fit with an elaborate sari, learn a few phrases of Hindi to be polite to the hundreds of relatives, and in general be a good girlfriend to a woman who helped me through organic chemistry, held my hair when I found out the limits of my alcohol tolerance the hard way, and who trusted me with one of her deepest secrets:

That she's gay.

I so wish there were something I could do to help.

Dubai Ports: Do we want the victory or the issue?

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday February 25, 2006 · 3:39 PM PST

2006/02/25 · 15:39

I've been thinking a lot about the Dubai Ports World issue, snarking here and there, and it occurs to me that a quick resolution to the issue in our favor is not, arguably in our interests.

Part of the reasoning is that, of course, I want to see the f**kwit in the White House suffer for a while, but in considering the current issue alongside the Miers nomination, there's a significant factor in common:

It hurts the GOP in fundraising. Read More

Health Care Costs V: Other Potential Single Payer Savings

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 20, 2006 · 1:51 PM PST

2006/02/20 · 13:51

I've been working for a while on trying to itemize what the savings would be if America were to move to a single payer system for its health care. So far, I've diaried about insurer administrative savings, physician and hospital administrative savings, prescription drug bulk purchase savings, and savings from avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations.

From a recent Grey's Anatomy, ("Break On Through"):

Webber: That's 2 million dollars a year we don't have.
Shepherd: Have you checked under the couch? I always find spare change under the cushions.

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday February 18, 2006 · 3:45 PM PST

2006/02/18 · 15:45

Although I didn't pursue a residency in colorectal surgery, I'm pretty sure someone at Google might be interested in the area.

Take the commonest seven letter euphemism for the rectal orifice.
Open up http://www.google.com
Type it in. Hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.

Enjoy!

My conclusion is that someone at Google is rather cross with the administration at the moment, although to be fair I suspect they have a reason to be.

Health Care Costs IV: Avoidable ER visits and Hospitalizations

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday February 17, 2006 · 1:06 AM PST

2006/02/17 · 01:06

When a person who has no insurance needs care, he or she eventually goes to the emergency room. This is not a cheap or efficient way to provide care. It's bad for the patient in a lot of ways, because the waits are long, the overhead costs high, and the training of the physician is focused on traumas and other urgent care matters.

Uninsured people in my experience know perfectly well that emergency rooms are for people that are really sick. Their means don't extend to paying for non-urgent care. So they wait until things are seriously life-threatening before they make the decision to seek care. Treatment eventually winds up costing more, and often leads to an avoidable hospitalization.

Then there's the other costs. The uninsured usually can't pay their hospital bills, so we physicians wind up writing off our time in these situations. The hospital admin people are obliged to make an attempt at collection, often futile, but if not almost certainly financially devastating to the patient. Read More

Disbar Ann Coulter

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday February 15, 2006 · 11:10 PM PST

2006/02/15 · 23:10

I learned today from Kos' frontpager that Ann Coulter has committed a third degree felony with her voter registration. Whether or not she's prosecuted for it, it's grounds for disbarment in New York and Washington DC, if my googling hasn't led me astray.

This is interesting because part of Coulter's wingnut credibility has to do with her legal credentials, such as they are. Some pinhead puts Fox News on at my gym and I see her up there on the TV, sound off, thank goodness, trading on a certain telegenicity to spout her talking points. I don't think she has ever changed a mind, and I basically write her off as irrelevant and useless.

However, seeing her disbarred would be helpful in making her go away because practicing law without a license in Florida (including "holding out" oneself as a lawyer) is also a third degree felony punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5,000. (Fla.Stat. sec. 454.23).

{Updated to remove mean-spirited comment about getting work done]

Valentine's Dinner for One

AmberJane

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday February 14, 2006 · 7:35 PM PST

2006/02/14 · 19:35

So, it's seven thirty and I'm unattached this particular V-Day. The guy I wouldn't have minded asking me out didn't, and two whom I'm not interested in romantically did. However, I'm having a very tasty supper (grilled bison, steamed broccoli, mixed green salad with vinaigrette) and a really nice Pinot Noir (Arcadian, 2000 - heard about it on the GrapeRadio podcast). Plus, an old flame sent me a very sweet e-mail: "Roses are red. Violets are blue. All my base are belong to you."

I had to look it up. It's funny in context. Read More

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BREAKING: Air Force Censors Liberal Websites, But Leaves Conservative Ones Alone

Thoughts on Shakespeare's Birthday: Hamlet and Don Quixote

Is Conservatism a Form of Mental Illness?

HEALTH CARE: How to pay for single payer

Cowardliness at the National Review. Like that's a surprise.

A moral dilemma (with poll)

Dubai Ports: Do we want the victory or the issue?

Health Care Costs V: Other Potential Single Payer Savings

Outrage Saturday: Feeling Lucky?

Health Care Costs IV: Avoidable ER visits and Hospitalizations

Disbar Ann Coulter

Valentine's Dinner for One