Once again, I need to recruit another nurse. This kind of reshuffling is to be expected after several years of stability and I’m fortunate that I don’t have to do it more often. I’m posting ads on places like Craigslist because placing a classified in the Strib is exorbitantly expensive. If anyone has other ideas on recruiting methods, let me hear them.
Geek favorite Guillermo del Toro (director of Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth) has signed on to direct a feature length version of The Hobbit…and its sequel? Huh? The second film proposes to fill in the gap between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. I’m no Tolkien scholar, but I don’t remember any of his writings expounding on the events of that interregnum. The film could be interesting, but it could also turn into Bilbo Baggins and the Phantom Menace. The LotR trilogy worked because the scripts borrowed and oftentimes strengthened the best elements of the books. Without the firm footing of existing material, the sequel could descend into fanboy flights of fancy, like Bilbo hooking up with some Elven warrior princess hottie.
I got around to watching the recent Frontline episode that profiled health care systems in other wealthy democracies. In short, places like the U.K., Taiwan, and Germany make us look like a banana republic when it comes to providing access to health care. This doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, but the success of other national health care systems only highlights the tone-deafness of our own elected leaders on this issue. The narrator makes it clear that, once implemented, universal health care systems are tremendously popular with citizens. If Republicans could overcome their slavish devotion to free-market absolutism and pass meaningful health care reform, such a move would likely reap them huge political rewards. I suspect McCain understands this and could be persuaded to endorse a health care system that is a public/private hybrid, but that isn’t going to happen while the GOP is beholden to Grover Norquist and his acolytes.
My prediction for the Pennsylvania primary result wasn’t that far off. But what I find really interesting is how all the doomsayers in the blogosphere and mainstream media are proclaiming that Obama can’t win white voters. While race may influence some voters, the real dynamics are age and class. For whatever reason, working-class folks view Clinton as one of their own even though her income is in the stratosphere. And Clinton is the last gasp of a boomer generation that isn’t quite ready to yield the political stage to their juniors. Those of us who support Obama want to get on with the business of living in the 21st century. Clinton supporters seem content to revisit the Nineties.
As Andrew Sullivan notes, Obama has a commanding lead in Minnesota, a state as lily-white as they come. We have plenty of blue-collar workers and oldsters. But we also elected Jesse Ventura as governor, so we might also be a state of contrarians.
Last night, I overheard someone say that The Daily Show is coming to Minnesota during the Republican National Convention. I have no idea if this is in fact true. But assuming it is, I’m going to start shamelessly appealing for someone to hook me up with tickets. Otherwise, I will be forced to take that entire week off of work so I can camp outside the box office.
C’mon, people. This blog isn’t complete without a picture of me and Jon Stewart.
The only way to watch cable news coverage of a primary is to do so slightly intoxicated. I’m going to watch the returns with some fellow junkies. I’ll post a follow-up if the mood strikes me.
The news keeps making reference to some election or another taking place tomorrow. We’re still doing those? I thought this whole thing had devolved into a tedious and unending reality tv series, like The Real World minus the hook-ups.
My prediction: Hillary by seven. If all those newly registered voters turn out in droves, it could be somewhat closer. She probably needs to win by at least eight or nine to justify remaining in the race. Whatever happens, the circus will likely continue for at least a couple more weeks.
Today’s Strib features a story about the mortgage crunch and its deleterious effects on outer-ring suburbs like Wright County. The story is familiar: developers rush into an exurban area with dollar signs in their eyes, selling overpriced homes to individuals with spotty credit histories. Then the market crashed, leaving many development projects in limbo and saddling borrowers with mortgages that now exceed the value of their homes. The article reminded me of that recent Atlantic feature which outlined how these seemingly idyllic housing developments, hard-hit by the economic downturn, could become the new slums of the American landscape.
Even though most of the media is still preoccupied with analyzing the bitterness of rural Pennsylvanians and politicians’ friendships with former Sixties radicals, the NYT comes along with an article informing us that health insurers have come up with another way to screw over people who have the gall to get sick. Major insurers like Kaiser have devised a new co-pay tier for expensive drugs that treat life-threatening conditions like cancer or multiple sclerosis. Co-pays for these “Tier 4” drugs can be hundreds of dollars per month. If you don’t have the cash on hand to pay for the co-pay, then you’d better hope that your Visa isn’t maxed out or else it’s no medicine for you.
Isn’t the whole purpose of insurance to spread the risk across a large population so that cost burdens do not fall disproportionately on one person or any group of people? If private companies don’t have the wherewithal to adequately pool risk, then we need to recognize that the time has come for a single-payer solution.
It occurs to me that I’m a flesh-and-blood version of a first-grader’s drawing. Big head. Limbs like sticks.
See, these are the kinds of things that pop into my head when I’m sitting at my desk on a Friday night.