Crawford

It’s Time

July 30, 2009

It’s been more than two weeks. Both e-mail and telephone contacts have failed to elicit any response. So far, my offers to debate my congressman during the August recess have gone unanswered. It’s  possible you have heard the term Blue Dog Democrat. This is used to identify a group of congressmen who in the past […]

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The Wrong Way

July 28, 2009

Someone recently asked me what the objections to single-payer are from those opposed. I’m glad they didn’t specify that it had to be rational objections. That would leave me searching for another topic. My job was made somewhat easier by a column in the New York Times by Randy Cohen, former writer for David Letterman. […]

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Punishing Ourselves

July 28, 2009

Few aspects of our society need more correction than the corrections system. For anyone unfamiliar with how I spend some of my recreational time, I do volunteer work in prisons with those suffering from mental illness. After a decade of such involvement I flatter myself that I have a better understanding of what goes on […]

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Stupid Is As Stupid Does

July 20, 2009

We, as an electorate, apparently are not as astute as we would like to think when it comes to recognizing intelligence, or its polar opposite. The single-digit IQ of someone such as Senator Sessions is probably too obvious to warrant much more than a passing mention. Perhaps worth an extra moment’s attention is how ill-advised […]

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Fraud

July 15, 2009

Guess what the most important issue in Washington is. Healthcare reform? Wrong. I just saw a news bulletin. The House Democrats have produced HR II, their 1,018 page version of healthcare reform. Well, now, not exactly. So, what, exactly?

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Reunions

July 13, 2009

For an old guy, my travels have been keeping the Arab world financially solvent this past month or so. After enjoying 36 degrees in June up in the tundra around Mackinac Island I spent 9 days at Tennessee’s Fall Creek Falls State Park for my wife’s family reunion. This past weekend was devoted to my […]

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Yes We Can Save

July 8, 2009

You’ve heard all the good news coming out of Washington. al-PhARMA has generously offered to cut their theft by $80 billion over the next 10 years. The health insurance industry is promising to reduce their greed by 1.5% for the next 10 years. HCA and other the poor hospital corporations (ignore all of those construction […]

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Bait And Switch

July 3, 2009

Apparently lots of people are as gullible as Charlie Brown. How many of you remember the New York Times‘ poll last month? The exact question was, “Would you favor or oppose the government’s offering everyone a government-administered health-insurance plan like Medicare that would compete with private health insurance plans?” Seventy-two percent favored such a plan. […]

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A Drunken Party

June 30, 2009

Who do you trust? John Belushi got it right. Most academics get it wrong. Everyone in academia knows just what a symposium is. At least they think they know. Have you read Plato’s Dialogues? One was named Symposium. Yes, the Greeks had a word for it: a drunken party. I could have heard much more […]

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Tranquility Base

June 26, 2009

The astronauts had their Tranquility Base on the Moon’s Mare Tranquillitatis. They wouldn’t share so I had to find one for myself. It is Buzzard’s Roost in Tennessee’s Fall Creek Falls State Park. And no, it wasn’t named for me. Once again it’s time to veg out and gain some more weight. How else will […]

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