Peter Suderman, Reason’s “Hit and Run”:
The coming battle over President Obama’s nomination of Donald Berwick to the top spot at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is, like the health care reform debate before it, a struggle between centralizers and decentralizers. Indeed, Berwick is an almost prototypical centralizer. In particular, he has repeatedly expressed fondness for Britain’s NICE, which does cost-benefit analysis for the country’s government-run health care system (ie: rationing).
[…]
Given President Obama’s leanings on health care policy—as demonstrated in the recent health care legislation—it’s not all that surprising that he would choose a strong centralizer for this role. But the choice continues a worrying trend toward health care policy that places far too much emphasis on centralized control and far too little on individual decision making.
Well, I’m sure that’s merely an oversight.
After all, only hysterical Jesusbangers grown fat on jerky and frosted Pop-tarts think Obama is somehow intentionally steering the ship of state toward the roiling waters of liberal fascism and socialism. The more nuanced view, alternately, has it that the poor fucker — good man though he bravely tries to be — just doesn’t have the first idea about sailing, and probably wouldn’t know an anchor were it wrap around his royal schwantz and bury it three feet deep in a patch of kelp.
But hey. So long as he cares, who are we to complain? And you may as well just knock it off with all the talk of “death panels,” too. Because such rhetoric is entirely inflammatory and unhelpful (true though it may be) — and speaks only to how evil, racist, greedy, xenophobic, misogynist, homophobic, and bent on watching children die are those who would characterize, in such an unflattering light, administrative panels made up of kind-hearted, government-paid bureaucrats whose job it is to parse out limited health care resources.
Amen.
Is it just me, or did the author sound surprised that Barcky had charted such a course?
I see Reason writers are still being surprised over Obama’s course for the country. I question Reason’s writers’ perceptiveness more and more. Either that, or they really and I mean really just wanted to believe after 8 years of a very statist republican.
baracky is a good soviet man
Quick shout out to my friends at Protein Wisdom!
You know why I love coming here? Because I know that nobody from the Huffington Post is going to be checking in, that’s why!
Anyhooski. I juyt wanted to drop a quick comment on the fact that the Beltway press, and all the bleeding heart usefull idiots, are starting to take those few tentative steps towards the inevitable turning on Obama.
It always starts with those few little drops in the Dyke, then you get a little trickle, then it’s a stream, and the next thing you know it’s New Orleans circa Katrina.
So that’s the stage were at. Chris Matthews has lost his tingle, and the Democratic Party is starting to realize that this year is shaping up to be Mr. Goebbel’s wild Ride in the Cattle Car for them if they aren’t careful.
Because the party is what is important long term, Barry has to go.
I got to hand it to the Beltway press, they have gone above and beyond the usual standards of Pravda reporting in trying to cover up the staggering incompetence of this administration, but eventually you just have to throw up your hands and say enough is enough.
So now it’s time to get rid of The One. The only problem is once you build him up to be the answer, you can’t just slip him quietly into the ash heap of history.
So I am just going to throw a couple of ideas out there, just some conversation starters, just a couple things to think about, some stuff that maybe we would have done back in the old USSR when the time came.
1) impeach him for this Sestak thing:
plusses: it makes you look like you have integrity.
Plusses: it has the benefit of being true.
Negatives: it makes you look like you’re trying to get rid of him, which you are, but you don’t want that to be too obvious.
2) Fess up that he was born in a foreign country, and can not, strictly speaking, be president:
Benefit: true.
Benefit: legit from a legal point of view.
Downside: totally obvious that you’re trying to ditch the moron.
3) Give Barry the old ‘Chicago boat ride’.
Benefit: no more problems.
Downside: people are really going to start asking questions when Joe Biden start showing up to do the state of the union. There is only so much room in the gulag.
Guys, I got to tell you, I now understand why Barack is pushing so hard to institute the old Soviet state, it’s because it’s a lot easier to get things done. You think we had to sit around worrying about whether or not somebody disappeared. That happened nightly in 1937.
Maybe you could call James Cameron for some ideas.
They’re called NICE? Seriously? Like the group in That Hideous Strength?
Brrrrrrr….
Yeah, and the “CE” stands for Clinical Excellence. It’s a real hoot, ain’t it?
“NICE decisions”, “NICE processes”, “NICE committees”. Very nice don’t you think.
OT: Goddamn it.
Hate to derail the thread, but sdferr started it…
I watched that game to the end. Never in my life have I felt that crappy after a Tigers’ win. Terrible, terrible botched call.
TV
Horrible call, apparently. There were only about 20 perfect games in baseball history until recently, and now 3 already this season. Wow.
Oh gee, thanks.
I’m off to the store. Back in a few.
Someone should let Peter in on something: that is a feature, not a bug.
Oh, that sucks. But to their credit:
And:
All hacked from Ace’s.
Umpire Jim Joyce admits he blew the call.
It sucks, I have a feeling Galarraga’s “28-out perfect game” might be remembered a lot longer than it would have otherwise.
Darn you Pablo, darn you to heck.
o__o
More breakfast irony. Only this time with a touch of Zen.
Yeah, that was my favorite part of the quote as well, BMoe.