It worked!

I have a lot of frustration with the health care reform legislation. For one I don't really see how it's going to address the cost of health care. The new consumer protections will only increase the cost of insurance. Maybe the exchanges would pool individuals and address that to some extent. I'll admit it's a really hard problem.

I also get frustrated with the whole need to protect the private insurance industry. If the goal is that everyone should be able to get health-care, then why do we need to work so hard to have this profit layer in-between. I really don't like the idea of my tax dollars (for health care insurance subsidies) going to a company's profits unless there's equivalent value per dollar compared to the government directly providing the service and that doesn't appear to be the case.

Imagine if, at a local level, the city decided to have a private company handle providing firefighting services but it cost you more since the company needs to make a profit. How would that go over? Unless private contracting reduced cost for equivalent service, people would be pissed.

Not that using private contractors is always bad. I think for NASA there is real potential in contracting to private companies in the future for taking up ISS supplies and other things for instance.

Ugh.

I should say that I did sort of ok with the home invasion. I charged a guy with a baseball bat cutting off his attack. . .

I had to go back a few posts to find out this was a dream. I was about to say "Holly Shit". Not that the dream sounds pleasant, but at least it wasn't real.

Anyone else want to drop an anvil on Joe Lieberman's head? And then deny him health care coverage?

Can we cockpunch Rahm Emanuel while we are at it? [link]

Anyone else want to drop an anvil on Joe Lieberman's head? And then deny him health care coverage?

Yes. And then a piano.

Mr. Lieberman, do you truly think you're being "principled?" Because the rest of us see this move as being an insurance tool.

Can we cockpunch Rahm Emanuel while we are at it?

What did he do? (can't access blogs at work)

I tend to enjoy those sorts of dreams, msbelle, but I don't have anyone to protect. I have a subclass of revenge fantasy dreams that somehow don't manage to cross into nightmares even though the events that precipitate the need for revenge are obviously quite dire. Which sucks for my immediate family, because it's usually them.

I sneezed and my brain rattled around in my head and it doesn't feel good.

For Chicagoistas:

Red Hen Bakery and eight other shops along Milwaukee Avenue are displaying CTA Bus Tracker arrival times for the 56 bus on in-store screens, so you don't have to wait outside in the cold.

Msbelle, a friend of mine from high school actually fought off a home invader with an aluminum softball bat. She chased him out of the house and beat the shit out of him AND his car. They found the guy by taking blood samples off her bat. She was home alone with her young son.

>Can we cockpunch Rahm Emanuel while we are at it?

What did he do? (can't access blogs at work)

Money Quote:

The White House wants Reid to hand Joe Lieberman the farm.

An aide briefed on discussions with the White House says that there would be no story if Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel hadn’t interceded. The aide confirmed an account, reported by Huffington Post, that Emanuel visited Reid personally, telling him to cut a deal with Lieberman.

Then the aide provided more detail.

Emanuel didn’t just leave it to Reid to find a solution. Emanuel specifically suggested Reid give Lieberman the concessions he seeks on issues like the Medicare buy-in and triggers.

“It was all about ‘do what you’ve got to do to get it done. Drop whatever you’ve got to drop to get it done,” the aide said. All of Emanuel’s prescriptions, the source said, were aimed at appeasing Lieberman–not twisting his arm.