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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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So, Lileks, what do you think of the Klitschko brothers?
Haven’t seen them – I don’t follow boxing much anymore. Look like wrecking machines, though.
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.
Grilled cheese with ketchup is barbarism.
That picture gives me the creeps! James Likeks trying to look like Bob Davis.
A grilled ham and cheese, on the other hand, requires mustard.
No one wants to be Ringo.
My stuff seems to do that a lot. I seem to be the Stephen King of Photoshop.
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.
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.
Sabr – This was a Yeti request job. I made three runs at it. Three strikes and you’re out.
It’s true. Blame it on me. No one other than the actual Beatles look good in a Beatles wig.
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.
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. :-)
@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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
: )