A Varied Look

Politics
It was a busy day for the couch potato yesterday. Morning political talks shows for 3 hours - that was enough cranial overload to last me for a bit. George Stephanopoulos (one of the best news talks shows on tv, imho) had a good panel on to discuss the upcoming timetable for Iraq (former UN ambassador Holbrook, former CIA Chief Woolsey, Fareed Zakariah (Newsweek editor), and George Will. Bottom line of their discussion - no way will this timetable be met and the US is facing a very serious and critical situation. It needs to be postponed but the Iraqi's may well have no patience for that - we are in deep, deep do-do. None of the panelists really had a solution - we have worked ourselves into a mess from which there is no easy way out.

Tim Russert had Howard Dean on for the full hour. Howard did a good job, despite tough questions from Russert. But I'm afraid for Howard, it's too late. He self destructed before his Scream when he made the mistake of scrapping with Gephardt in Iowa. I also think he miscalculated that his Internet surge represented the wishes of the general populace - actually I'm inclined to think it was just a fringe element of ardent "geeks" who were very good at getting the younger crowd to cough up lots of small donations. This, however, does not necessarily translate into a campaign for the masses. The media has also painted a picture of him that he has a tendancy to get mad and fly off the handle and the public has this image seared into their mind now. And in this world of "appearance is everything", Howard, quite frankly, looks too goofy for the average voter - something he can't help, but should we need to be reminded that that matters - just think back to Dukakis and his tank.

Who knows? Maybe Kerry will go down for some unknown reason yet (catering to special interests?)? It's a tough spot for the candidates , because any attacks they use now, will be used by GW in the general election, so if they get too rough, they may doom themselves unintentionally.

In the meantime, head on over to the Democrat's web site and pledge some money - this will be the first time I think I've actually kicked in money to a political party - believe me, the Democrats will need every bit of money they can get to beat Mr. Moneybags. I shudder to think what 4 more years of GW's policies might mean.

Uncharitable Care: How Hospitals Are Gouging and Even Arresting the Uninsured
A friend passed along the following article the other day which is worth the read. What I would like to know is what do these hospitals do with all this money given to them by the States that is supposed to help poor people who have no insurance? It smells like a big fat RAT. Would be very interested to hear the answer to that question, something the article strangely omits.

The Superbowl
Finally, a great Superbowl! One of the best Superbowl games I've watched (not that I can easily determine that, since my memory is good for about a day - don't even begin to ask me next year, who won this year!). Was hoping for Carolina to pull it off, but that last kickoff out of bounds doomed them by giving New England just enough field position to get it done.

The hyped half-time show was crap - rappers grabbing their crotches (try some Gold Bond, Nelly or perhaps a visit to the doc for a crabs checkup?) and a surprise "boob" shot from Janet Jackson, which appears to have been planned all- along. I Think that was the fastest cutaway in TV History. Where's my TIVO when I need it? (For a funny story on this event, check out ESPN's Page 2 ) The better music came from Josh Grogan and Beyonce (singing the Nat'l Anthem). Now those two have some pipes!