This week, Lileks on sports (really!), moderates on Ricochet, Michael Barone on ObamaCare and Christie, Nathan Harden on Phillip Seymour Hoffman and his book “Sex and God at Yale”. Also, a shout-out to Don and Mendel and to some guys who first appeared on TV 50 years ago today.

Read Michael Barone’s WSJ op-ed How ObamaCare Misreads America. And visit The College Fix, edited by Nathan Harden.

Music from this week’s episode:

All My Loving by The Beatles (live on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9th, 1964)

The Ricochet Podcast opening theme was composed and produced by James Lileks.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, EJHill

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There are 25 comments.

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  1. Profile Photo Member
    @HartmannvonAue

    So, Lileks, what do you think of the Klitschko brothers?

    • #1
  2. Profile Photo Contributor
    @jameslileks
    Hartmann von Aue: So, Lileks, what do you think of the Klitschko brothers? · 23 minutes ago

    Haven’t seen them – I don’t follow boxing much anymore. Look like wrecking machines, though. 

    • #2
  3. Profile Photo Member
    @HartmannvonAue
    James Lileks

    Hartmann von Aue: So, Lileks, what do you think of the Klitschko brothers? · 23 minutes ago

    Haven’t seen them – I don’t follow boxing much anymore. Look like wrecking machines, though.  · 17 minutes ago

    That about describes it. I don’t think there’s a comparable situation in sports history with two brothers dominating a sport for nearly two decades. 

    • #3
  4. Profile Photo Member
    @PaulDougherty

    Grilled cheese with ketchup is barbarism.

    • #4
  5. Profile Photo Coolidge
    @FreschFisch

    That picture gives me the creeps! James Likeks trying to look like Bob Davis. 

    • #5
  6. Profile Photo Inactive
    @CrowsNest
    Paul Dougherty: Grilled cheese with ketchup is barbarism. · 52 minutes ago

    A grilled ham and cheese, on the other hand, requires mustard. 

    • #6
  7. Profile Photo Inactive
    @AdrianaHarris

    No one wants to be Ringo.

    • #7
  8. Profile Photo Podcaster
    @EJHill
    Fresch Fisch: That picture gives me the creeps!

    My stuff seems to do that a lot. I seem to be the Stephen King of Photoshop.

    • #8
  9. Profile Photo Inactive
    @MateDe

    I hope the founders read the comments but I love Ricochet, it’s the only place that I can philosophize with people. Most of my friends are low information voters and my husband is a RINO Squish ( which is why I like Rob so much, I get him) . This is a great outlet for people who can’t necessarily find an outlet for their viewpoint. Plus it has opened me up to new arguments as well.

    • #9
  10. Profile Photo Member
    @Sabrdance

    EJ, I confess I’m underwhelmed by this performance.  Rob looks OK, but Peter and James look like squirrels up and died on their heads.  Or perhaps a ferret or raccoon.

    • #10
  11. Profile Photo Podcaster
    @EJHill

    Sabr – This was a Yeti request job. I made three runs at it. Three strikes and you’re out.

    • #11
  12. Profile Photo Member
    @

    It’s true. Blame it on me. No one other than the actual Beatles look good in a Beatles wig.

    • #12
  13. Profile Photo Member
    @spacemanspiff
    People (including Peter Robinson in this podcast) keep saying not a single Republican voted for Obamacare. This is not true. It’s almost true but, alas, that’s like being almost pregnant.  Joseph Cao of Louisiana voted for the bill. Cao represented a heavily Democratic district and he was trying to be responsive to his constituents. It did him no good. He was defeated by the Democrat candidate next time around.
    • #13
  14. Profile Photo Inactive
    @AdrianaHarris
    Chris: @Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Guys, alcoholism is a disease.  Have to admit a bit of surprise that a group of Ivy Leaguers (no offense) are shaky on this in 2014. · 10 hours ago

    People live long, happy lives with alcoholism by modifying their behavior. Cancer is a disease which often kills regardless of life style, medical treatment and surgery.

    • #14
  15. Profile Photo Member
    @FullSizeTabby

    Obviously The Blue Yeti needs to install some technological mechanism so that James can silence the microphones of Peter and Rob at the appropriate point. :-) 

    • #15
  16. Profile Photo Member
    @Chris

    @Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Guys, alcoholism is a disease.  Have to admit a bit of surprise that a group of Ivy Leaguers (no offense) are shaky on this in 2014.

    • #16
  17. Profile Photo Contributor
    @PeterRobinson
    shelby_forthright: People (including Peter Robinson in this podcast) keep saying not a single Republican voted for Obamacare. This is not true. It’s almost true but, alas, that’s like being almost pregnant.  Joseph Cao of Louisiana voted for the bill. Cao represented a heavily Democratic district and he was trying to be responsive to his constituents. It did him no good. He was defeated by the Democrat candidate next time around. · 4 hours ago

    Cao did indeed cast a lone Republican vote for the Affordable Care Act when it passed the House in November 2009.  But that wasn’t the legislation that became ObamaCare.  Instead, the Senate made changes to the House bill, then sent the legislation back to the House.  In March 2010 the House, in turn, enacted the Senate bill, doing so, this time, without a single Republican vote. And that was the legislation that went to the White House, received the President’s signature, and became (woe is us!) ObamaCare.  On the final vote, in other words, even Cao voted “no.”  

    The legislation that became ObamaCare was indeed enacted without a single Republican vote.

    • #17
  18. Profile Photo Member
    @Chris
    Adriana Harris

    Chris: @Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Guys, alcoholism is a disease.  Have to admit a bit of surprise that a group of Ivy Leaguers (no offense) are shaky on this in 2014. · 10 hours ago

    People live long, happy lives with alcoholism by modifying their behavior. Cancer is a disease which often kills regardless of life style, medical treatment and surgery. · 1 hour ago

    By that metric, the Mayo Clinic is misguided in their characterization of heart disease as, quoting their website, “Many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices.”  Here is their page on alcoholism, which opens with the line “Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease…”

    Can it be modified away?  Of course.  Should those that drink alcoholically be held accountable for their actions?  Of course.  But the fact is a certain percentage of the population is susceptible to drinking alcoholically and often do not stop in the face of consequences that would cause the rest of the population to do so.   They are “diseased”. 

    • #18
  19. Profile Photo Inactive
    @Vespacon

    Thanks for the thoughts, dreams and updates on the Ricochet enterprise you did at the end. I wouldn’t mind reading/hearing more on the subject since in a way we are “investors” in this now and often wonder if paying up made a difference. Maybe you’ve been doing it all along and I just missed it, but I like knowing how the home team is doing – so more insider stuff, please. 

    • #19
  20. Profile Photo Member
    @spacemanspiff
    Peter Robinson

    shelby_forthright: People (including Peter Robinson in this podcast) keep saying not a single Republican voted for Obamacare. This is not true. It’s almost true but, alas, that’s like being almost pregnant.  Joseph Cao of Louisiana voted for the bill. Cao represented a heavily Democratic district and he was trying to be responsive to his constituents. It did him no good. He was defeated by the Democrat candidate next time around.

    Cao did indeed cast a lone Republican vote for the Affordable Care Act when it passed the House in November 2009.  But that wasn’t the legislation that became ObamaCare.  Instead, the Senate made changes to the House bill, then sent the legislation back to the House.  In March 2010 the House, in turn, enacted the Senate bill, doing so, this time, without a single Republican vote. And thatwas the legislation that went to the White House, received the President’s signature, and became (woe is us!) ObamaCare.  On the final vote, in other words, even Cao voted “no.”  

    The legislation that became ObamaCare was indeed enacted without a single Republican vote.

    I stand corrected.

    • #20
  21. Profile Photo Inactive
    @AdrianaHarris
    Chris

    Adriana Harris

    Chris: @Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Guys, alcoholism is a disease.  Have to admit a bit of surprise that a group of Ivy Leaguers (no offense) are shaky on this in 2014. · 10 hours ago

    People live long, happy lives with alcoholism by modifying their behavior. Cancer is a disease which often kills regardless of life style, medical treatment and surgery. · 1 hour ago

    By that metric, the Mayo Clinic is misguided in their characterization of heart disease as, quoting their website, “Many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices.”  Here is their page on alcoholism, which opens with the line “Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease…”

    Can it be modified away?  Of course.  Should those that drink alcoholically be held accountable for their actions?  Of course.  But the fact is a certain percentage of the population is susceptible to drinking alcoholically and often do not stop in the face of consequences that would cause the rest of the population to do so.   They are “diseased”.  · February 8, 2014 at 9:53am

    Homosexuality used to be considered a disease in the form of mental illness. Now it isn’t.

    • #21
  22. Profile Photo Member
    @Chris
    Adriana Harris

    Adriana

    People live long, happy lives with alcoholism by modifying their behavior. Cancer is a disease which often kills regardless of life style, medical treatment and surgery. ·

    By that metric, the Mayo Clinic is misguided in their characterization of heart disease as, quoting their website, “Many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices.”  Here is their page on alcoholism, which opens with the line “Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease…”

    Can it be modified away?  Of course.  Should those that drink alcoholically be held accountable for their actions?  Of course.  But the fact is a certain percentage of the population is susceptible to drinking alcoholically and often do not stop in the face of consequences that would cause the rest of the population to do so.   They are “diseased”.  

    Homosexuality used to be considered a disease in the form of mental illness. Now it isn’t. ·

    I agree most people accept homosexuals are “born that way”.  

    The medical community believes that alcoholics (not heavy drinkers or stray jerks) are “born that way” and use the word “disease”, as in a defect.

    You seem to think they chose it.  I disagree.

    • #22
  23. Profile Photo Member
    @NathanHarden

    Hi Chris: Genetic disposition clearly plays a role. Makes it harder for some to beat. But possible to beat or manage with help, as Hoffman’s reported 23-year sobriety stint shows. The question in the podcast though, as I recall, was whether we should try to deny moral culpability in cases of substance abuse. I don’t think we can.  Hoffman died as a direct consequence of a choice he made that final tragic night. Clearly it was something he had tried to beat. As I understand it, heroin addiction is acquired by practice–the direct consequence of one’s choices. Maybe the addictive tendency is a “disease” in some sense, but it’s more than a simple “disease” as I think of the word. Lukemia is a disease. This is something different, in moral terms.

    Chris: @Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Guys, alcoholism is a disease.  Have to admit a bit of surprise that a group of Ivy Leaguers (no offense) are shaky on this in 2014. · February 7, 2014 at 7:08pm

    • #23
  24. Profile Photo Member
    @Chris

    Hi Nathan,

    I’m not going to listen again, but the tone I recall questioned the idea of alcoholism as a disease.  As I linked to in #21, the medical community, e.g., the Mayo Clinic, calls it a disease.  

    Was his death self inflicted?  Yes – Hoffman stuck the needle in his own arm.  That said, we use the word disease with other “self inflicted” issues such as heart disease.  No Richochetti I recall have qualified the death of someone by heart disease as “well, it’s not really a disease; he ate the cheese fries” although someone may have commented “he should have taken better care of himself”.  Nor does anyone say heart disease isn’t a real disease like cancer.  

    I know that Medicine evolves and often gets it wrong:  surgeons didn’t always wash their hands, homosexuality was a mental illness, etc.  

    But I’ll go with Mayo on using the word “disease” to mean “defect” or “abnormal”.  Not everyone who takes a drink becomes an alcoholic, but some do.  They have a defect and react to alcohol differently than the norm.  This abnormality causes them to chase the high beyond any “reasonable” measure.  They are sick.

    • #24
  25. Profile Photo Member
    @DavidCheney
    Adriana Harris: No one wants to be Ringo. · 

         :    )

    • #25
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