A Woman in Her Element.

By now I think everyone has heard the story of Tanya Rider, a woman who had a horrible car crash after working a shift at the grocery store (actually Fred Meyer is more than that, but I digress), and ended up 20 feet down in a ravine, trapped inside her Honda Element which had rolled onto it’s side for 8 days while police first did nothing, and then relentlessly grilled her husband — the guy who insisted that somebody give a damn.

Up to speed? Good. I suppose it’s nice to know my truck could help me survive such an ordeal, but that’s little comfort.

A Sheriff’s deputy said “We don’t take every missing person report on adults. … If we did, we’d be doing nothing but going after missing person reports.” The Sheriff herself affirmed that “most” adults who go missing leave on their own, with the implication that adults have the right to go where they wish. And go missing if they wish.

Unfortunately, my right to leave and not come home is also my right to have a horrible accident like Mrs. Rider. My right to go missing is also my right to be kidnapped and have heaven alone knows what happen to me before the cops will even give my family the right time of day, when anybody who has watched more than about 2 episodes of any given crime drama knows that “time is of the essence” when it comes to rescuing missing people.

Bully for the Sheriff for ordering a review of the 911 tapes. Unfortunately, what really needs to be reviewed is the policy. Best wishes for Mrs. Rider during her recovery.

In closing: the weak dollar myth and the divorce myth; Countrywide’s CEO turns out to have been a rat leaving the sinking ship while cashing out $138 million in stock options; Fallout from Falluja — which remember was caused by Blackwater mercenaries; well, are you as smart as an 8th grader?; because a middle school student is schooling Mr. Bush on SCHIP; sexism online; and finally, pictures from Meiji and Taisho era Japan.

Right Action

I haven’t said much here about the goings on in Myanmar, formerly Burma. However, I and the rest of the Central Sanity crew have brought up several stories over the course of the last week. For those unfamiliar with the situation, here’s a very very short version: peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations against the military government have been led by thousands of Buddhist monks, accompanied by Buddhist nuns and ordinary citizens; the government warned there would be repercussions if demonstrations did not stop; they made good on their threats, resulting in deaths, locked monasteries (with the troublesome monks inside), and cutting off the internet. The international community has responded with, well, idle threats to cut off trade and investment in the country.

Today’s dose of Burma is to let you know about some people who are truly on top of the situation there. First, the always-brilliant Dave Johnson is involved in the Burma NewsLadder, an aggregator of current stories. Also, MahaBarbara of the Mahablog has been giving regular updates with commentary, and somehow finds time to write about other things. Both MoveOn and Avaaz.org have petitions in support of the people and monks of Myanmar. I leave you with two political cartoons, one from Robert Arial and one from Ann Telnaes. I love her clean lines and minimalist style, to say nothing of her wit!

In closing: 10 least healthy salads; why the heck did The Gap even have personal information about prospective employees on a laptop computer which was easily stolen?; the problem with early childhood education in a nutshell; always pay attention to the news late on a Friday afternoon, because you never know when a real bombshell will be dropped; after everything we’ve found out about Blackwater, does anybody at all think it’s a good idea to involve them in the Drug War, really?; and h/t to Fark, a list of historical cats.

No better

I have health insurance.

In fact, I have a Point-of-Service plan with one of the region’s biggest carriers, who is in the midst of a merger that will give it most of the local market for health insurance. Keep in mind, although my “insurer” runs an HMO, this is the POS plan.

Having recently moved, I do not have a regular doctor yet. I realize that this is something that must change, and that I’d rather do this while it is not an emergency situation. While you are sick is the time you need to already have a doctor, not be frantically searching for one. Luckily we live in the age of the internet; there is an url for the company website right on the back of my insurance card. And sure enough, with a few clicks in the right places — which was more confusing than it should have been but I did find it in a matter of moments — I was able to find a provider directory. I was even able to search by specialty and proximity. It turns out there are listings in the provider directory for over 70 family practice physicians within 15 miles of my zip code. I did notice that at least half of them were working at the HMO, but that a branch of a well-known local clinic chain just down the street was listed. I pass that office several times a week.

I picked up the phone, and called to get an appointment for a checkup. Once I navigated the voice-mail system to get to a human being, I explained my situation.

“Ok,” she said, “What insurance do you have?” Note: not how will you be paying, but what insurance do you have. This left the impression — false I hope! — that cash is not welcome. I told her what my insurance card said.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, “We don’t accept new patients from that insurer.” It was clear that there was no point in arguing that I had found their number through the insurer’s directory of physicians who supposedly accepted payment from them. She of course had no idea how long this policy had been in effect. She certainly was not in a position of authority such that she could have them removed from the directory.

It was abundantly clear that my options for medical care are the HMO, a charity clinic, or someplace that would actually take my money. If I go to the HMO — clearly the easy route — I run the risk that should something be seriously wrong, they will not tell me about medical options that are not covered, thus making it less likely that I will even know about treatments that could save my life and health. If I select a charity clinic, I will be taking up time and space that someone with no insurance and no options could be using, to say nothing of spending lots of time driving and waiting. And if I pay cash, I will get a look of scorn and/or pity from the staff, to say nothing of risking denied coverage of any conditions they may diagnose.

Let me reiterate: I have insurance; our family makes well over the poverty line; I face the same sorts of lack-of-coverage issues that I would face if I were far less fortunate.

When certain people try to scare you about “socialized” medicine (they never call it universal health care and they never dare say Medicare-for-all), one of the canards they throw out there is that some faceless government bureaucrat will be making decisions about your medical care, down to what doctors you can see. I am insured, and some faceless HMO bureaucrat has already made decisions about my medical care, including what treatments are available and what doctors I can see — and remember, I am not even a member of the HMO. How is this better?

So remember this story, and read this substantially more heartbreaking one. And then think about the fact that the “reform” options have been “more of the same” from the Democrats and “more of the same with bonus tax breaks for the wealthy” from the Republicans. This despite the fact that most Americans want Medicare-for-All, this despite the fact that as I write GM workers are on strike over the fact that GM wants to get out from under the estimated $1000 to $1500 per car that goes to employee health care expenses. Only 8% of Americans polled think the system only needs minor changes, yet almost every single candidate is proposing what amounts to minor changes!

It is time to permanently end the cat-and-mouse game of insurers trying to maximize profits by cherry-picking who they will cover and what they will pay. It is time to end the acrobatics that medical billing offices must go through to receive payment, only to get less than half what they actually billed. It is time to stop squeezing human beings between health care they need and health care bills they can’t afford.

Black Hearts, Blackwater

So at the beginning of the week Blackwater was told they could no longer operate in Iraq by the sovereign government of Iraq. Put those last 4 words in quotes if you like, but that’s what they are supposed to be.

By Tuesday, Jill of Brilliant at Breakfast pointed out that the Iraqi government was stepping up to do the right thing — insure the safety and security of their citizens — but openly wondered “[D]oes anyone actually believe that Nouri al-Maliki will be able to keep Blackwater out of Iraq?” Even Time Magazine shared her concerns.

By Friday (yesterday) it was clear that Blackwater would continue to do whatever they pleased in Iraq. Over at the Archcrone’s site, I said “I’m beginning to think that Blackwater’s purpose in Iraq is to stir the pot of chaos and violence.”

This is the same Blackwater that caused the Battle of Falluja. That walk the streets of Iraq’s cities with huge weapons. That were apparently placed in positions of “training” Iraqi forces (or militants? your guess). The same Blackwater that cruises the crumbling infrastructure of Iraq in $70,000 vehicles able to withstand anti-tank rounds, who over earn $500 in a day, whose employees often “voice disdain for what they consider the soft, even pampered lives of most Americans….” The same Blackwater that may have improper contracts with Halliburton. The same Blackwater that may have perpetuated the so-called “road of death” to the Baghdad airport. The same Blackwater that has developed a reputation for shooting civilians, including unarmed children. How is it that they manage to get into this much trouble, when there are only 1000 of them in Iraq?

The same Blackwater that is the center of several controversies and the defendant in several lawsuits.

The same Blackwater that was sent to New Orleans after Katrina with military weapons instead of building tools or relief supplies.

As the late night infomercial says, however, “But wait! There’s more!” Federal prosecutors — who remember, serve at the President’s pleasure according to Mr. Gonzales — are investigating whether Blackwater smuggled weapons into Iraq, and then sold them to known terrorists. Some of these weapons were later seized by the government of Turkey and traced back, so now there is physical evidence; it apparently never occurred to anyone to remove the serial numbers from the illegally sold and obtained weapons.

I am going to go out on a limb and declare that — even if they are not specifically in Iraq to cause chaos, which is still my theory — the situation in Iraq will get a lot better if we will allow the Iraqi government to go ahead and throw them out of the country. The President said that when they stood up we would stand down; we need to honor that or admit that Iraq is not a sovereign nation, but an American colony. Bring Blackwater “home.”

In closing: somehow I passed over 500 posts without fanfare; illegal immigrants in the US fleeing — to Canada; realism, roommates, and the single woman, but the twist is she’s over 60; the President is scared of horses; and finally, oh look,your personal share of the National Debt is up over a half million dollars, and they even add the setup for Social Security “reform” . Mr. Bush talked about this just the other day in his press conference (cleverly scheduled to try and take attention away from hearings on Capitol Hill, but Mr. Frank cleverly outwitted him with a brief adjournment). I keep having to say this, and it is very simple: if the problem is that Social Security is not going to have enough money, the solution is either bringing in more money (raising SS taxes) or lowering what it pays out (raising retirement age, lowering benefits). Not enough money will never, ever be solved by bringing in less money.

Missing the Point

Those who have been reading my thoughts on education for a while know that I measure anything that happens in a school by whether it is safe and educates children. And I interpret this broadly: the physical maintenance of a school building might not directly impact student safety or education, but the lack of it might result in conditions that do; school lunches do not educate students, but hungry students have a hard time paying attention.

That brings me to this story from the Christian Science Monitor about “The case of an Oregon teacher fighting for the right to take a gun to school for protection from her ex-husband.” On the surface, the problem seems very straight-forward: the district has a strict no-weapons policy, consistent with state law in 37 states; the teacher has a 2nd Amendment right, a permit, and a legitimate safety issue concerning her ex-husband.

Nobody seems to have considered the safety issue posed by having a teacher who is known to have received credible threats from a violent man. What happens if he shows up at school? How many people will he kill or wound before he can get to her classroom? Can she really shoot him without creating a safety risk for the students? She is concerned about her safety and rightly so, but what about everybody else? Having a gun in the classroom isn’t safe, and having her lure a dangerous nutcase to the classroom isn’t safe either.

She needs to consider a job where she does not pose a safety risk to her students. She could work in distance learning. She could become a teacher/coordinator for an organization like K12 or for a homeschooling support group. She could work in a juvenile detention facility, where the same security that keeps the students in and contraband out would keep her ex-husband out.

I truly feel for people who are victims of domestic violence. I have written about the problem several times over the years. I have given time and money to benefit shelters for those escaping abuse. I think it would be counter-productive for employers to fire people on the basis that someone might come looking for them with violent intentions. But in most workplaces, your co-workers are adults who can take actions to promote their own safety and the safety of others, who are capable of preventing someone from entering the workplace, who have a chance of disarming or dissuading or delaying or even detaining an assailant, who can dial 911 at the very first sign of a problem. This teacher’s coworkers, for all practical purposes, are children. They look to the adults around them in a school to see to their safety both on a practical and a legal standpoint. They deserve a teacher whose very presence does not pose a danger.

Cross-posted at Central Sanity.

In closing, college kids don’t know nearly enough about history and civics; one Congresswoman is fighting to stop bullying, as research points out that “Studies show that schools that list all sorts of bullying and tell students, ‘None of this is allowed!’ are more peaceful than those with vague anti-bullying policies”; stay-at-home-mom (who just happens to be a lawyer!) is a crusader against mortgage fraud; “dress for success” applies to protest movements too; and finally the EU may pass a law to lift the “liquids on airlines” ban. Let’s hear it for common sense.

I’ve got your Pomp and Circumstance Right Here

Strangely enough, one of my areas of expertise is musicology. At one time, I was poised to become a leading researcher in the American White Gospel movement, and editor/composer Charles Gabriel (whom you might know for songs such as “His Eye is On the Sparrow”).

Aren’t you glad I gave that up?

I have been out of the research loop for a number of years now, and so it is only today that I became aware of the sad and Kafkaesque story of “Nalini Ghuman, an up-and-coming musicologist and expert on the British composer Edward Elgar.” Apparently, she was detained in the San Francisco airport last year, where she was questioned for 8 hours. During this time, her visa was ripped up in front of her, her passport defaced, she was searched and told if she moved she would be prosecuted for “assaulting” the officer searching her, and she was told to get on a plane out of the country that day or go to a detention center.

As nearly as I can tell — and nobody can tell — the only thing she did was claim to speak Welsh when she looked “Hispanic” to immigration officials. Brown people don’t speak Welsh, right?

She has lawyers and scholars and elected officials on both sides of “the pond” working on the problem but over a year later she is still unable to get a new visa to enter — let alone work in — the United States. This situation is absurd. In a nation where we are arguing about if/how we should normalize the status of illegal immigrants, we are preventing a noted scholar who already has a job at an American university from entering the country. If she were really a dangerous woman, she would have and should have been arrested at the airport. Instead, this has all the hallmarks of the State Department covering for an overzealous immigration official who broke the law by destroying her visa and defacing her passport and illegally detaining her.

Be careful what languages you claim to speak. Especially if you happen to be Brown.

In closing: background reading on maternal health; I am not sure you can consider maternal health without considering domestic violence;the always insightful Ezra on business and health care reform; one last insurance item, “insured but not covered”; now there’s as arctic passage through the sea; Real Money gives us the Real problem with Chinese imports; speaking of Chinese imports, a follow up, Wal-Mart has decided to pull those toxic flip-flops…. now that it’s September and there’s a lawsuit afoot; a White House divided against itself cannot stand (I hope) on Iran; Ted Rall expresses why many people are frustrated with Democrats in Congress (and on the campaign trail, Hillary!); and AmericaBlog points out that Gingrich is calling foul on the Petraeus report (why doesn’t that make him a traitor too, Mr. McCain?) and is threatening to run for President.

Have a great week. Be careful, it’s crazy out there.

Disingenuous.

dis·in·gen·u·ous: adj, lacking in candor; giving a false appearance of simple frankness

A new report from the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement suggests it would cost almost $100 Billion ($100 Thousand Million) “to find, detain and remove all 12 million people believed to be staying illegally in the United States.” She went on to point out that this princely sum did not actually include “the cost of finding illegal immigrants, nor court costs — dollar amounts that are largely unknowable.” Even CNN admits these are “very rough calculations.”

Clearly, we are supposed to think that’s a lot of money that shouldn’t be spent. It’s more than double the entire Department of Homeland Security budget. We’ve already got a huge budget deficit in the Federal budget. There’s a war on, miles of bridges and other infrastructure to repair, and concerns about a possible recession. Surely it would be more cost effective to develop some sort of program to give them legal status. We can’t call it amnesty; how about a “guest worker program.” I will be utterly shocked if some variant of this does not get floated around by conservative commentators by this time tomorrow.

I find both these calculations and the resulting logic disingenuous. The fact of the matter is we don’t have to find, detain, and deport all these people. Mass deportations are a supply-side solution to what is fundamentally a demand-side problem. The city of Phoenix, AZ has already found that as their economy has slowed, “[Illegal immigrants] come for jobs and when there are no jobs they leave.”

All we have to do is insist that employers follow the law, paying a decent wage with decent conditions to legal American workers. When there are no jobs for people with no right to be here, they leave. Not only does that not cost billions of dollars, the Federal government stands to bring in more tax money as documented workers pay their taxes.

In closing: Why lead in toy paint? It’s cheaper could be retitled “Why we need consumer protections”; anti-corruption efforts at the World Bank aren’t going so well, with Paul Volcker saying part of the problem is “getting the entire bank on board with the importance of an anti-corruption effort”; health care costs for businesses are increasing at a slower rate because more costs are being shifted to consumers; thanks to Pete Abel for linking to this article on health care; the Senate is talking about doing something about prepayment penalties on subprime loans, something which is normally regulated on the state level (if it is regulated at all), so let your Senator know what you think; and finally, a must read for young men and college administrators, rapists have the power to prevent rapes.

Capricious and Arbitrary

Before I get started, I promised I would link to my thoughts after the official BLS job creation numbers were released. Of course I promised that before we all found out they were really job deletion numbers.

Anyway….

In the last 2 weeks, every schoolkid in the nation has brought home a packet of stuff from school that outlines the school rules, including dress code. This is over and above the fact that in our modern world, you could almost certainly find these rules on the school or school district website. Some of these rules are sufficiently important they warrant also being posted on a visible sign at the school; signs of this type are usually posted for rules aimed at visitors, or newly implemented rules.

If you think about it, within the last 2 weeks, you have passed (looked at, read, maybe forgotten) signs that say things like “No skateboards or rollerblades”; “No pets allowed except service animals”; “Please do not use your cell phone at the counter”; “No shoes, no shirt, no service”; “Signature gathering and passing out of literature by non-employees prohibited”; “No smoking within 50 feet”; “No solicitors”; “Hard hat zone, protective gear must be worn past this point”. The list goes on, but the point is that a certain behavior is either required or (more often) prohibited, so somebody put up a sign to let everyone know what the rule is.

And that brings me to yesterday’s story of the Southwest Airlines Fashion Police. Honestly, there are points on both sides of the issue that roughly boil down to “who wants to see that, and a business has a right to regulate itself” vs “why are you looking, she wasn’t breaking any laws, and who the heck is the employee to ruin somebody’s travel plans and cost them a lot of money.” Personally, I don’t have a problem with Southwest Airlines — or any other business — having a dress code, as long as it is clearly posted and can be known ahead of time. After all, many nice restaurants require gentlemen to wear at least a sportcoat, and most such restaurants will gladly rent you a sportcoat for the evening to help potential customers comply.

Standing in the airport terminal, with your baggage (and spare clothing) already on the plane, is the wrong time to find out that your clothing does not meet muster.

But why limit this posting requirement to Southwest Airlines? Let’s go elsewhere in the airport. The TSA could sure benefit from some signage, and so could the flying public. Imagine the capricious and arbitrary things that could be prevented if the “Things You Should Know” from their traveler’s page were a clearly posted series of signs near the entrance of the airport. These could be simplified down to a few numbered signs such as: “Things you must do” (take off your shoes, put your bags on the conveyor, etc.); “Things you must not do” (argue with the screener, joke about bombs); “Prohibited items”; “Exempted items” (medication, breastmilk, etc.); and “Your rights and responsibilities” (including and particularly your rights should you require special screening, specifically addressing the needs of the handicapped or children).

The ideal result would be that 9 out of 10 disputes at a TSA checkpoint should be reduced to one or the other party pointing to a sign and saying something like “Number 4”. I believe such signage would sharply curtail both actual abusive behavior by TSA officers, and the perception of such abuse in cases where the TSA is just doing its job.

Oh, and an official complaint form should be freely available in every terminal without having to ask an airport/airline employee, with an anonymous drop-box.

In closing: oh gee, maybe that crap we put in food after testing it on a bunch of inbred rodents isn’t so good for human children after all; sound familiar?; all this talk of reducing emissions within a few decades is great, but the Arctic icecap may not have more than a couple decades; Sen. Dr. Bill Frist actually doing something I can support (alert the media) but he shouldn’t forget the health of children in this country (you know, the one he’s licensed to practice medicine in?); Shine on you crazy tesseract, Madeleine L’Engle has passed away; the Financial Times is concerned about a possible “wave of evictions” in the United States; the Market Oracle argues the subprime problem is too big for a bailout, even if that were morally desirable; some Foolish advice for getting out of financial trouble; statistics, educational achievement, and the reality hiding underneath NCLB; and finally, way to kill another children’s franchise, G.I. Joe film in the works. Hopefully it won’t suck as badly as most people agree the Transformers film did.

The Economy for the Rest of Us

Not a lot of people paid attention to the fact that GDP growth has had little impact on wages during the Bush Administration. In fact, CNN glossed over the fact that most families saw income and earnings decline.

Admittedly, everyone is fixated on housing and mortgages, mortgages and housing: How are Joe and Jane Average going to fare? What can be done for them? Do we need a rate cut? I mean really? Can housing really trash the whole economy? Is there precedent for that? How bad will things be for the guys holding the mortgage paper? With home sales tumbling down to 2001 levels, will commercial real estate fare any better than residential?

As for the Fed, although a lower interest rate will (at least theoretically anyway) stimulate more loans — which would be good for housing — to do so means they will have to ignore inflation. What inflation, you may say. The official numbers have been stable for quite some time. That may have to change. Food prices have been rising at the commodity level. Wheat is at a record high, milk prices have doubled in the last two years (making it pricier than gas in some areas). Other agricultural commodities are up as well. Since food is specifically not included in the “core inflation” number, economic gurus feel safe ignoring it. At some point, these rising prices must be considered by the Fed.

But the unkindest cut was barely covered outside the financial news, and frankly isn’t as obvious as the rising price of a loaf of bread and a jug of milk. Our economy only added 38,000 jobs in August, the lowest number since June of 2003 (ironically, the month I began writing ShortWoman). That’s far, far below the 150,000 jobs we would need to keep up with new people entering the job market, and even far far below the 120,000 jobs expected. These figures are admittedly from payroll processing firm ADP and not the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but it seems to me that ADP ought to have a pretty good idea of how many people are taking home a paycheck in August who weren’t in July. The ADP number is always lower than the BLS number, so there is controversy about which is more accurate (does ADP undercount, or are the BLS numbers inflated?). The BLS number is only expected to be 65,000. This is despite the fact that there were more help wanted ads in August, and despite the fact that workers actually feel comfortable negotiating better terms with their bosses.

The only bright spot is that these numbers should reflect the official layoff numbers, released monthly by Challenger, Grey, and Christmas. Corporate layoffs were up 85% to 79,000, including over 30,000 in financial services and housing, each. Yes, each. Forbes put the whole situation very succinctly: Good Luck Finding A Job.

I am planning a piece on “service jobs” in the next few days, probably after the BLS version of the job creation numbers are released. It will probably be posted over at Central Sanity with a pointer over here.

In closing: wrong house, sorry about the threatening to shoot you in the head, ma’am; a must see chart; Andrew Sullivan on banned books; the money quote is “Anyone who objects to single-payer health care on the grounds that it’s ‘bureaucratic’ is invited to navigate the phone tree at my HMO. Kafka would consider it ‘over the top.'”; new research suggests that when we are told that something is false, we only remember the “false” part for a little while; if you haven’t seen it yet, check out Pete Abel on Project Vote Smart; definition of irony; follow-up on Tony Snow; bipartisanship? Isn’t that where you kiss and make up and then act surprised to find a knife in your back? And finally, if only it were a nice Tom Clancy novel, New Book Details Cheney Lawyer’s Efforts to Expand Executive Power.

Whatever Happened to Shorties Jane?

Harry? Wrong time for compromise, Senator Reid.

Patrick, on the other hand, has figured it out. Senator Patrick “Go **** Yourself” Leahy has said what I have been telling you Senator Reid should have said: we can talk about Mr. Gonzales’s successor once we’re done investigating Mr. Gonzales.

Some ideas worth considering: Alternet offers 10 reasons they feel pot should be legalized.

Maybe we can pass a hat for him. Dan Brown comments on Poor Tony Snow, making $168,000 annually and that’s just not enough to support the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed. Yeah, I wonder if he gets to keep his federal health benefits as he battles cancer.

Is he actually a licensed, you know, Doctor? It turns out that the latest nominee for Surgeon General is even a controversial figure in his own church.

Short Version: “It’s Icky!” isn’t reason enough to say it’s immoral, so how about we stay out of one another’s bedrooms. A conservative offers a truly conservative view on homosexuality and Senator Craig’s little mishap.

We don’t want no help around here. Have you ever seen a child stubbornly refuse too accept assistance, insisting he or she “can do it myself!”? Well, turns out the Feds are refusing help too. On one hand, one can see where officials might not want Joe Average offering “negative help” — help that creates more work or actually does harm. On the other hand, it sure looks like a small group of motivated helpers can, in the right circumstances, do more than the pros.

Baka hashi wo suru no hito. [stupid chopstick-using person] Ill-mannered ways to use one’s chopsticks.

Chancellor. CEOs. Queen. Secretary of State. Executives and Ministers, Judges and Senators. Forbes presents the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.

Just because I like to eat them doesn’t mean I hate animals. Neil the Ethical Werewolf offers this commentary on being omnivorous and still doing your part to reduce cruelty to animals.

Take MaxSpeak off your favorites lists and add Econospeak. I will miss Max, no question. But his co-bloggers have already set up shop at Econospeak. Check out this item on a possible Middle Way in Iraq.

Um, when was the last time you saw a movie on an airplane? In my case, that would be never. I have never, in all my [REDACTED] years been on a flight that had a movie. Never ever. But apparently I could be watching some really racy and/or violent films. Parents are shocked, just shocked I tell you. Apparently they never got the memo that they are responsible for seeing to Junior’s entertainment on the plane.

Happy Labor Day. I have two items for you, one from Kim Pearson and one from the always eloquent Maya’s Granny.

Obligatory Housing Posts. Matthew Yglesias asks if real estate is such a great investment, how come the government has to give us tax breaks to buy it? Elsewhere, BondDad evaluates the possible upcoming scenarios. Next up, a fellow who feels the Bush plan is a bad joke.

Welcome Back Congress. Have a good vacation? You realize that’s more than Joe and Jane Average get, right? Good. Now get back to work and clean up that FISA mess you left on your desk.

Contractors Helping Contractors. I hesitate to point out that the Army may have to hire contractor medical personnel to take care of the other contractors in Iraq, because the fact of the matter is that there are many many medical contractors working on military bases right here Stateside. Maybe they ought to look into why they are having a hard time recruiting enough medical personnel in the first place, eh?

Making America Safer for Criminals. The Department of Justice has been “hollowed out” over the last few years, pushing experienced people out in favor of rookies that will toe the party line and Do What They Are Told.

I hope our President is as logical. If you have been poking around the Leftosphere this weekend, you have heard rumblings of invading Iran within a week. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn’t think so. In fact, he says that he’s an engineer, and he’s used his science and math skills to determine that America does not dare attack his nation. Oh yeah, and he’s got faith in Allah to that effect as well. It seems clear to me that he thinks our nation will act rationally, and I’m just not sure that is true anymore.

You mean people will pay good money for a book of ads? Someone did the math, and determined that over 700 of Vogue’s 800-someodd pages are advertisements.

At least he’s being honest about it. John Edwards has announced that his mandatory health insurance plan will include mandatory preventative care. Hey, kudos for calling it a “mandatory” plan instead of a “universal” one. But I must say I don’t like the idea of mandatory preventative care. First, how dare “the government” say I have to get X test done. Some of these tests are expensive and controversial. I assume that if I decline any of these tests — or simply don’t have the time to get them done — I will be on my own should something serious come up? This is the kind of thing people point to when they accuse liberals and progressives of favoring a “nanny state.” Frankly, as long as I pose no health hazard to others, it should be my choice what preventative care I choose to avail myself of. Second, I don’t see where he’s mandating that our employers give us the time off to make these mandatory appointments and have our mandatory care done. I hope Mister Two-Americas has thought that far ahead Corrected: I have now read the Edwards proposal as it appears on his website. I should have read it before saying anything, and I apologize for not having done so. I still don’t like that employers are the cornerstone of coverage, but here’s what it says about preventative care:

Health Care Markets will offer primary and preventive services at little or no cost. Incentives like lower premiums will reward individuals who schedule free physicals and enroll in healthy living programs. Edwards will also support community efforts to improve health, such as safe streets, walking and biking trails, safe and well-equipped parks, and physical education programs for children.

Dog Trainers Wanted. Open Left is looking for people to profile a few so-called Bush Dog Democrats. As you know, I prefer to call them Democrats in Name Only, or DINOs. Of course Liebermensch, my original DINO, has already been neutered. I also like that DINOs make it easy to distinguish DEAN-ocrats.

Two years later, we are still talking about this. Cleaning up New Orleans, that is. Mind-bogglingly enough, guys like Tom Tancredo are in essence saying “Ok, Waah Waah. Clean up your own mess and stop playing the pity card already.” Frankly this attitude boggles my mind when you consider everything that was done to thwart people from cleaning up and getting things back to normal. There are people who are still trying to get their insurance companies to cough up the money they are owed so they can clean up and get things back to normal (while still paying the mortgage I might add). And that’s to say nothing of the fact that almost no funds have gone towards rental housing, that some people have cleaned up the best they can only to find their homes bulldozed, that in some cases people have been physically prevented from returning to their homes at all. Mr. Tancredo? You want to stop “helping” these people? Good, stop preventing them from helping themselves, and help them line up the resources to rebuild it themselves instead. It sure is easy for some guy with “reported assets of between $530,000 and $1.1 million” to talk about not waiting for other people to help out.

I could be wrong, I could be right. Last but not least, a lengthy interview with Johnny Rotten.