9
May
2006
May
2006
President Ahmadi-Najad’s Letter to President Bush:3
Condoleeza Rice Says It Should Not Be Dignified With a Reply
What Do YOU Think?
9
May
2006
May
2006
Tell Me Where It HURTS0
I am reasonably convinced that social historians will one day look back at these years and wonder what really ailed us so long and prevented us from fixing our broken U.S. health care system. They will be astonished by the the sclerosis of will and imagination that allowed 45 million Americans to go with no health care coverage at all and that left another 20 million seriously underinsured. They will puzzle over the fact that we spent more than twice the proportion of our national wealth that other industrial nations spent on health care–now 16 percent of GDP–yet our outcomes (life expectancy and other measures of healthiness) remained so much worse. Read the rest of this entry »
4
May
2006
May
2006
Moussaoui and the Madness of King George0
It was possible, however briefly, to be genuinely proud of this country on Wednesday when a federal jury rejected the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, a bit player with no direct role in the 9-11 attacks whom the Bush Administration decided to exhibit in a costly show trial–and who made the most of his moment in the limelight. Read the rest of this entry »
2
May
2006
May
2006
Starting From Zero1
In New York over the weekend I had the unnerving but increasingly frequent experience of missing the unspoken predicate in a casual conversation. I was taking a couple of days off, was enjoying glorious spring weather in a city I love, and had popped into a popular 8th Ave. drinking establishment of a decidedly lavender hue. A comely young gent and I were chattering away about this and that when he interjected, “but of course you’re not a Christian…that’s not possible.” The easiest thing in the world in situations like this is to go along with the predicate, but in this case I decided not to go along with it despite my goatish interest in holding the interest of this person. I merely replied that, in fact, I am a Christian but that I was sure he didn’t have time for the whole story. With that his smiling face hardened just perceptibly, and after exchanging a few more pleasantries he sauntered off. Read the rest of this entry »
2
May
2006
May
2006
May 1: A Day To Remember Why We Are2
As I walked in the sun down the line of march yesterday, I finally managed to ask one of the many Spanish-speaking people with me what was being shouted (I had the syllables, but not the meaning). Her English was not very good, and my Spanish was much worse, but we finally got it (and you probably already know what it is): Un pueblo unido jamas serra vencido. I’ve chanted the same thing in English, many times: A people united will never be defeated. Read the rest of this entry »