I Fear Huckabee.

I have been hesitant to say it, but the one that scares me the most is Huckabee. All the rest I imagine as beatable by a well run campaign funded by equal dollars.

The rest of the field have qualities that will keep the religious crowd either apathetic enough not to vote or maybe even flippable for the democratic candidate. In addition, they don't speak at all convincingly about protecting the little guy, the middle class, the underprivileged. Even the dems have problems getting these ideas, their ideas, across.

So preacher Huckabee, the man who will give lip service to populist ideals without doing it, might be problematic to the next 20 years of progressive democratic rule.

Too bad their leaders want a war-monger.

Bad Man at Columbia

thats one of the few benefits of being afghani i presume.

Prisons and Diners

I think I even confused myself trying to explain the difference between the prison experiment and the prisoners dillema .

Speaking of dilemmas.... In what seem like a another era, I actually used to go out for lunch with my coworkers. One of the reasons I stopped was the ever-presence of a particular co-worker who I call Mad Dog. Mad Dog would order the most expensive item on the menu, and proceed to make comments like "what does it matter, we are all going to split the bill evenly anyway."

I didnt know there was a economic term for such prickitude. I give you the diners dilemma.

I dont get unnatural fear of wiki out there. Is free open source based information unamerican ?

ALCS Game 4 Commentary on Manny

copied from espns sports guy

10:29: Good battle brewing here with Ramirez and Indians reliever Jensen Lewis. We're on about 25 pitches in this at-bat already. It's always funny when Manny plays in Cleveland, if only because he always has a bemused look on his face, like he's thinking, "This is so weird, I feel like I used to play here or something."


11:18: Mark from Philly offers an inspiring defense for Manny's home run preening: "When Manny went deep, my first thought was, 'Quit posing, Manny, we're still down 7-3.' Then it dawned on me that Manny probably had no idea what the score was. In fact, he probably isn't aware that baseball games are determined by which team scores more runs. Manny's only point of differentiation comes when, after hitting a home run, he sees his teammates waiting for him at home plate -- it's at that point he knows it's time to go to the strip club."

The Villification of Graeme Frost?

or The War on Twelve Year olds.

The basic plot is awesome. Usually this type of slander is fleeting and not hollywood or indie material. The media narrative moves on to the next insane rightwing smear but this, this, might have some legs. Long enough for a heart warming afternoon special at least.

Here is the premise. A family gets into an accident. The children go to the hospital. The family gets coverage from the government. The injured children have no coverage. The state pays.

So up to that point I think we have 50% of america agrees that this is the way it should be done. Even though universal healthcare is not a political reality I think, regardless of income, it makes sense to a large percentage of us that that the general populace (35%) should be covered or, at the very least, children (another 15%).

Then there is the next group who thinks it should be only covered if the family doesn’t have the ability to pay for it themselves. Now unlike the way the group is portrayed by the republican leadership, I don’t think this next group is that far off from the our group above. They just don’t want super rich lazy people being subsidized. In fact the very thought of this happening makes them upset. It is this feeling that the last 30% play on.

Unfortunately for them the Frosts qualify for the program because they meet the working families requirement for the SCHIP program of making less than $55,000 a year for a family of 4. So this program covers these people because they meet the requirement of someone that *needs* help. As one conservative commentator stated

4) That said, even if Graeme Frost is basically middle-class-ish, that wouldn't be a stunning indictment of S-Chip. No system is without error; all will let through some people who don't deserve benefits, and miss some people who do. That there has been one error, in either direction, is not necessarily an indictment of the system, but merely an indication that we live in an imperfect world. Moreover, in the case of children, I'm perfectly content to bias the system towards including too many undeserving children, rather than take the chance of missing too many deserving ones. I find S-Chip's practice of covering adults problematic, but frankly, the prospect that Graeme Frost might have gotten some undeserved healthcare ranks, on my list of things to worry about, somewhere between pandemic toe fungus, and finalizing the guest list for my Chicago Cubs World Series Victory Party.

I think that gets us to another 20%. Normally that would be it. A soft 20% in additon to a hard 50% giving us only 70 freakin percent. However, I think the push back by the right end of the dial is going to solidify that 20% and push us into converting the crazies. Here is a USA today snippet about the pushback.

The blogs were "pretty insulting stuff, and really just low," Halsey Frost, Graeme's father, said Tuesday.

Bloggers said the house was worth more than $400,000. It turns out it was bought for $55,000 in 1991 in a Baltimore neighborhood where "there were drug dealers and prostitutes on our street," Bonnie Frost said. Halsey Frost, a woodworker, did most of the renovations, which are "still not done," Bonnie said.

Bloggers said Graeme and Gemma go to private Park School, where tuition costs about $20,000. Graeme gets a scholarship, while Gemma's brain injuries were so severe that the city pays to educate her at a school for children with disabilities, the couple say.

The commercial property, which bloggers noted was bought for $160,000 in 1999, was intended to house Frostworks, Halsey's business. It folded soon after, he said — partly because of the cost of health insurance.

He has worked for small companies and is trying to restart his own business. She works part time for a consulting firm. The couple — who have four children in all —earned about $45,000 last year, well below the $55,220 limit for a family of six set under the original SCHIP program. Maryland's program goes higher, to nearly $83,000 for a family of six. "We are struggling," Bonnie Frost said. "We live paycheck to paycheck. "

Bloggers who helped circulate financial information about the family over the weekend backed off a bit Tuesday. "It's the difference between Google and journalism," said Rick Moran, who penned a piece for The American Thinker. "It's been proven that the family was means-eligible." His editor, Thomas Lifson, said, "It's just more complicated than might have appeared in the first round of investigation."

Both said the Frosts became fair game by putting their family in the political arena. They questioned Democrats' decision to use a 12-year-old as their spokesman. "It just smacked me as being unfair," Moran said. "You cannot criticize the program without being accused of going after the boy." .

Is it not fair that someone who wants to deny monetary assistance to pay hospital bills of a sick injured child is labeled a bully? Boo Hoo

Similar to the wingnuts, I myself have done some own online research of the families vast wealth. Below is a photo of the family, only slightly modified, showing conclusive proof of there means. As one can see by the suitcases full of money ( both clear and cartoon), gold grills, and the diamond encrusted english crown these frosts are clearly abusing the system. disgusting.

Lastly, here is a comment from a conservative commentator in that soft 20%.

5) Reading the comments on this, I have to ask conservatives and libertarians: is this really the hill you think we should die on? I do understand your objections to the program, but an informal survey of swing voters, in their current incarnation as my mother, indicates that this is killing you with the moderates. Save it for national health care next year, is what I'm saying. This debate is framing the issue in a way that is going to make things harder, not easier, when Hilarycare is on the table again.

Please get up on that hill. Pretty please.

UPDATE
It looks like I beat krugman and time to the punch. Their headlines are pretty good. Hey Olbermann "The War on Twelve Year Olds" is still up for grabs...

In the end I think my graphics give me the edge.

Senator Wide Stance Staying Put

I'll tell you why the un-resignation of our foot-tapping senator makes me happy ?

Larry Craig isn't going anywhere. He will not resign his seat and will fight to clear his name in the Senate ethics committee.

"I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively," Craig said in a written statement certain to disappoint fellow Republicans who have long urged him to step down.

Well that puts some people on the spot, doesn't it? We had the Republican Senate leaders forced to cancel a press conference today because they didn't want to have to deal with the Craig story, and we've got a whole lot of Republicans in Idaho (29, in fact) who've applied for the job and a governor who had decided on a replacement and was just awaiting Craig's resignation, all dressed up with no place to go.


"There is core support here that thinks Craig has been railroaded and there’s another group that thinks he should stick it out," LiCalzi said.


"It’s not over until Larry Craig says it’s over," LiCalzi said.

because it is a lead weight on the whole party.

This elephant looks like it has a wide stance no, too bad the bathroom stalls in minneapolis are so narrow?

SCHIP

Is this an effective AD?