If this is the sort of logic that runs our side, we deserve everything we get.  All those dupes who figured that McCain was unacceptably RINO get ObamaCare and Holder as their reward- now more absolutists want to accelerate the disaster.

[Ed. Deleted for CoC violation]

Well, it's always cold in Minneapolis, where we have the only 4-time Super Bowl loser never to win either (Denver is 2-4).  When you live next to Wisconsin, the fans tend to be a bit overbearing- both Rubber Duckie and I are surrounded by cheeseheads in our offices, each about a mile from Mall of America (Vikings) Field.

Another appreciation for NE is that they hired the great Ray Berry, and he brought them their first Super Bowl appearance.

Don't kid yourselves, guys.  Read how carefully the SGK releases were worded. 

If you think that PP is going to get new money from them, after this stunt, you need to see my beachfront resort for sale in East Afghanistan.

Mama Toad, I am sympathetic with your view about nthe linkage, but the correlation numbers, which also apply to miscarriages, still don't have a high enough coefficient to hit standard p factors.  Right now it is still an interesting "Keep on the lookout", not a rule.  Your really need double risk in a case like this; presently it is like the link between beer and cancer.

Since I am an evil PNAS Neocon who thinks that we should be as patient and willing to spend 15 years rooting out poison as the French were to work through Algeria, I

1) Agree with Claire, and

2) Will shut up so I don't cause too much trouble with the Ron Paul (R- Ostrichville) contingent.

The only bright part of this NFL season was seeing the Packers 1) lose to KC, then 2) choke at home in their first playoff round.... (broad grin)

Katievs, Brady was drafted in the 6th round, but due to some administrative matters, he was in the supplemental draft.  But it is still as much of a draft as the regular event.

I like Eli, good kid.  But Brady's aunt lives next door to us, and I take care of the dogs when they go to Foxboro to attend games in the luxury box with Mr. & Mrs. Tom Sr.  So I have to be loyal, even though both Massachusetts and NY are unrepentant blue states (the color of the Ricochet logo.....)

Having no alternative back-uo plan to fill the demand hole is exactly why ObamaCare came about to fill it.

Heritage's solution was absolute mainstream of non-Ron Paul conservative intellectuals as the private market solution.  Due to details of practical implementation, it is still not the answer.

You meant WWII wage controls.  In the 1930's, all government misguided policy was to try to prop up wages.

Every movement needs a visible leader, and lots of acolytes.  The fact that Republicans don't pay attention to this issue is its own proof.  And pretending here that there is no public demand to resolve this is not helpful.

We can blithely toss out solutions- tell me why interstate portability is not already law.  I can tell you.  BTW, it was an issue in the Massachusetts debate.

Wrong, Xennady.  The SCOTUS interpretations are divided between Federal only and those that are applied to the states as well, usually through the 14th amendment in the case of individual rights (the "due process" clause); whether or how the courty decision is applied to the states is a very interesting and active area of Constitutional scholarship.  If the Feds can't do something because of enumerated powers, the states still may be able to do it, and personal mandates under police power is one area that is not even controversial.  Settled law.

Actually, Bush did more to secure the border than any administration before or since- he and Chertoff were regularly reamed out for waiving the NEPA studies to proceed ahead with the fence.

But his Medicare D bill is a solid illustration of how to govern.  It is a good bill, there as a blocking action to prevent the Dems from simply adding drugs to Part B (Keith Hennessy explained all that).  But in addition, he got Medicare demo programs for premium support (now killed by ObamaCare), and HSA's, which Obama is trying to kill.

You have to see exactly how the question is phrased to apply the result meaningfully.  Costs are going up, with systems that perpetuate the problem, making the current systems unsustainable, including for those employed, with good plans.  If you took a survey of SS, the public would respond positively- on the assumption that it isn't going broke; same for Medicare.  Since both are going broke, public surveys about the present are less useful than they might be.

I will put up a post on my ideas, MBF.  It may take a couple of weeks.

Sisyphus, 1) No one is proposing a comprehensive federal solution in the manner of ObamaCare.  I am suggesting that we propose our own acceptable solution, not just holler "never!" and then seriously pursue it, rather than always being reactive.  We have a problem in that there seems to ber a large group that believes the answer is to kill ObamaCare and leave a hole.  That "hole" is how we got into this mess in the first place.  

2) The "issue" is provision of health care, not the perils of neglecting conservative lassez faire.  We've tried to ignore this for years, going instead for sloganeering fluff- and that has allowed the problem to get worse and worse, giving us this creeping statism.  The Telegraph chronicles the execrable NHS bureaucracy, not general European health care.

3) Speaking of Europe, if you combine good pieces of the French, German, and Swiss systems, you have a pretty good approach.

I sort of come down on the "who is competent, not leftist, and not a narcissistic fool" argument.

Life tends to be a set of choices between OK and awful if you are lucky, and bad and worse if you are not.

In this case, we have OK- none of the "Great!" alternatives ran, so get over it and remember who the enemy is.

I also advise anyone who is uncertain about Romney's pro-life convictions to read the Vanity Fair piece.

I might point out that I have never seen Felicia in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  But she is encouraged to visit whenever she likes.

This is good stuff- what Ben excels at.

Romney may be mildly tone-deaf on the "feeling" and melancholic temperament scales, everyone has weaknesses.

Ben needs to get used to it, though, because he is going to lose his bet on "the field", apparently for the very first time.