My Senator and Me

I was at the book fair at my kids’ school this morning (it’s parent-teacher conference time), when I came upon My Senator And Me: A Dog’s Eye View Of Washington, D.C. OMG, somehow I missed the buzz (and ridicule) over this book back when it was released in May. Written by Ted Kennedy about himself, the book is basically an exercise in self-worship and vote gathering. Here’s the synopsis:

Splash, Senator Ted Kennedy’s Portuguese Water dog, narrates a day spent with the senator running around Washington, D.C., making things happen. Traveling together on mass transit, going to meetings, experiencing the passage of a bill, touring the city, and more are all a part of a busy day in the life of a dog and his senator.

I don’t know what to say, other than this is one of the more perverse efforts of the Kennedy oeuvre. The bill they pass, by the way, is an education bill which will “help thousands of kids.”

Ted will pander to anyone.

Wouldn’t it be easier to keep track of world events if:

Talabani was head of the Taliban?

Ahmadinejad was President of Azerbaijan?

Maliki was from Malaysia?

I think they mix them up on purpose.

We’re always one step behind

From Brietbart via Junkyard Blog:

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told The Associated Press on Monday.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday, a close parliamentary associate said.

So I’m speculating that Iran is stepping in to cut a deal with Talabani, a deal that the US can’t really say “no” to. This was probably Plan B, where Plan A was to wait for the US withdrawal. Since that doesn’t seem to be as imminent as it did right after the election, Iran is preempting US strategies in Iraq, stealing the momentum and political advantage before the US takes action against them.

I’m looking for an arrangement where Iran tells Talabani that Iran and Syria will stop their contributions to the violence in return for some of their guys in key posts in Iraq and the US turning down the political heat. That is, unfortunately, not a deal we can walk away from. It’s also the best we’re likely to get in the near term, so I may be hopelessly optimistic.

I guess we’ll see in a week.

Is health care a “right?”

[Horribly long, what with all the historical stuff - I apologize]

Liberals and conservatives often have a difficult time communicating because they have different definitions for words. A “good economy,” for example, means one thing to conservatives (a healthy economy) and another to liberals (a just economy). This is a leading contributor to the lamentable rarity of rational debate on the issues.

The definition of a human “right” is another area where a huge gulf underlays liberal/conservative discussions, but is rarely addressed directly. So what is a “right?”

The wonders of universal health care

With Dems ranking universal health coverage as a priority agenda item, this seems like a timely story:

No room at five hospitals
Ivar Bolin spent the final weeks of his life being driven from hospital to hospital, and died in the family cabin while waiting for a cancer operation.

Norway is suppposed to be one of the star examples of universal health care:

Persons who fall ill in Norway are guaranteed medical treatment. The health service is a cornerstone of the Norwegian welfare state. Universal access to quality public health care is the Norwegian authorities’ goal. As a basic principle, health services are to be distributed according to need – not according to ability to pay.

Norway is often cited by liberals as a model health care system to which we should aspire, but through the 80′s and 90′s Norway has experienced budget problems, doctor shortages, and 3 month wait times for non-urgent treatments. In response, they restructured their system in the late 90′s and early 00′s, supposedly fixing those issues.

I guess the jury is still out.