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.

Victory for 1st Amendment.

Supreme Court Drop-Kicks McCain/Feingold, Scores Victory for 1st Amendment. Obama preparing "Forceful Response"

So there it is: the President and members of the Mandarin Class are preparing a “forceful response” to the First Amendment.

Had enough yet?

Ann Coulter accurately describes Christianity

I'm not Ann Coulter's biggest fan, but I have to point out this column:

If you can find a better deal, take it!

You should read the whole article, but I'm going to quote a few lines of it here to give you the gist of it. She starts of by quoting Britt Hume on FOX News, talking about Tiger Woods. Hume mentions that Tiger is a Buddhists, and he suggests that Buddhism doesn't offer the kind of "forgiveness and redemption" that Christianity does.

Quoting Ann now:

Most perplexing was columnist Dan Savage's indignant accusation that Hume was claiming that Christianity "offers the best deal -- it gives you the get-out-of-adultery-free card that other religions just can't."
   
In fact, that's exactly what Christianity does. It's the best deal in the universe.

God sent his only son to get the crap beaten out of him, die for our sins and rise from the dead. If you believe that, you're in. Your sins are washed away from you -- sins even worse than adultery! -- because of the cross.

 "Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9.
   
If you do that, every rotten, sinful thing you've ever done is gone from you. You're every bit as much a Christian as the pope or Billy Graham.
   
No fine print, no "your mileage may vary," no blackout dates. God ought to do a TV spot: "I'm God Almighty, and if you can find a better deal than the one I'm offering, take it."

With Christianity, your sins are forgiven, the slate is wiped clean and your eternal life is guaranteed through nothing you did yourself, even though you don't deserve it. It's the best deal in the universe.

King Cakes!

If you're from North Carolina, you may not know what a king cake is. My Louisiana friends sure know about them! They appear in bakeries along the Gulf Coast every year, starting on January 6. They vanish from the shelves after Mardi Gras.

A king cake isn't actually a cake, it's a ring of bread. A traditional king cake is a brioche dough filled with a butter/cinammon/brown sugar mixture, although more modern ones tend to have cream cheese or pie filling in them. The top is sprinkled with granulated sugar that has been dyed in the Mardi Gras Colors of purple, green and gold. A small plastic baby doll is inserted into the cake after it's baked.

In offices all along the Gulf Coast, someone will bring a king cake to work tomorrow. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece with the baby in it has to buy the next one. This goes on until Ash Wednesday, when we all repent our fattening sins and diet until next year.

I've discovered two bakeries in the area that make king cakes: La Farm in Cary and Great Harvest Bread Company in Chapel Hill. La Farm has a counter at all of the Triangle area Whole Foods stores, so you might even find a King Cake there (or have the bakery manager order one for you). I haven't tried either of them yet, so I can't tell you how they compare to Randazzo's or Gambino's. But those require a trip to New Orleans, or about $40 to have one shipped here. I'll bake my own before I spend that kind of money.

Quote of the Day

"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable."
John Kenneth Galbraith

NC Economic Forecast

Yesterday in Raleigh, Bank of America's new CEO Brian Moynihan delivered the keynote address at the North Carolina Economic Forecast Forum. Here's the video, courtesy of WRAL:

New BofA CEO, economists look to future