Why a health summit?

The general consensus seems to be that the health care bill is dead. So why is the president holding a "summit" with congressional Republicans today? I think there are a couple of reasons.

It gives him another opportunity to paint Republicans as "the party of 'No'" and blame them for the failings of the health care bill. Never mind that angry town hall meetings all over the country have shown that the people don't want the president's vision for health care. Never mind that the current bill passed a Democratic Senate. Never mind that the House has 255 Democrats and only 178 Republicans, so the GOP couldn't stop the Democrats from passing it, if they wanted to. In the president's mind (and in his reelection campaign) it is the Republicans who are being obstructionists.

It is an opportunity to possibly gain a couple of Democrat seats in the 2010 elections. With the public mood being what it is, any Republican who gets behind Obama's new health care bill is putting his job at risk. Obama will be glad to help him do it.

What should the Republicans do? They should stand resolute in stopping the current proposals. But they should also bring a couple of their own to the table. Here are two immediate steps that would vastly improve access to health care in America while bringing down costs:

1) Tort reform. Put a cap on malpractice awards, a cap on lawyer's fees, and enact a "loser pays" to stop frivolous lawsuits. If doctors don't have to practice "defensive medicine," that will eliminate a lot of unnecessary tests. We all pay for those huge malpractice awards, in the form of more expensive medical care -- the doctors and hospitals pay higher fees for malpractice insurance, that cost is passed on in higher fees for their services, and we pay for them in the form of higher medical insurance premiums.

2) Unleash the free market. End expensive mandates for insurers, and allow purchase of medical insurance across state lines. The same free market that gave us cheap cell phones and big-screen televisions can give us cheap insurance.

Hand-writing

So the Obama administration is attacking Sarah Palin. That's not surprising. What is surprising is that they are attacking her for having crib notes written on her palm during a speech at the Tea Party convention.

Seriously? From a guy (or his lackeys) who never opens his mouth without a Teleprompter?

At least we can be pretty sure that Palin actually wrote those notes herself. We don't know who is programming Obama's words.