entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

My generation, when we were kids, dreamed of joining NASA to become astronauts.

The current generation of kids can dream of joining NASA so they can make rude drawings on other planets.

Wikipedia seems to have become Jimmy Wales's personal modeling portfolio.  At least he's more handsome than Larry Sanger.

The only healthcare system that thrives in a true free market is the one where you get a proctological exam from Adam Smith's invisible hand.  And always remember: a free market is worth exactly what you paid for it.

I received a call from my House Representative, Zoe Lofgren (and i note that it's not Zoë because she doesn't pronounce the 'e' in her name), asking me to join a phone conference about health care reform.  The various people who chimed in with comments and questions ran the gamut from people who showed various levels of support and opposition who made civil and thoughtful contributions, to outright morons, such as one dolt who said, "I don't want the government in charge of health care.  I'm an employer and people tell me they don't want benefits, and if they need anything they'll just get it for free at the emergency room."  Another clown added, "Health insurance companies want to turn a profit, and there's nothing wrong with making a profit; that's what this country was founded on."  Funny, i thought this country was founded on tax evasion.

In many ways, foreign health-care models are not really "foreign" to America, because our crazy-quilt health-care system uses elements of all of them. For Native Americans or veterans, we're Britain: The government provides health care, funding it through general taxes, and patients get no bills. For people who get insurance through their jobs, we're Germany: Premiums are split between workers and employers, and private insurance plans pay private doctors and hospitals. For people over 65, we're Canada: Everyone pays premiums for an insurance plan run by the government, and the public plan pays private doctors and hospitals according to a set fee schedule. And for the tens of millions without insurance coverage, we're Burundi or Burma: In the world's poor nations, sick people pay out of pocket for medical care; those who can't pay stay sick or die.

I have read some stuff out there about how Romney's healthcare plan in Massachusetts could be a viable alternative to Obama's plan, because it doesn't have the dreaded Maoist public option, and yet everyone is covered anyway.  What is your view of it, as someone living with it?

jacksonpublick brought me this amazing exercise of nerd power by the legendary John Hodgman.

God bless Bernie Sanders:

A U.S. senator berated Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday for refusing to name banks that borrow from the central bank and introduced legislation that would require public disclosure.

[...]

When Sanders pressed on whether Bernanke would name the firms that borrowed from the Fed, the central bank chairman replied, "No," and started to say that doing so risked stigmatizing banks and discouraging them from borrowing from the central bank.