Hipparchia of Over the Cliff, Onto the Rocks has located a very useful site: the Physicians for a National Health Program Single-Payer National Health Insurance FAQ.

A group of doctors provide very straight forward answers to the questions surrounding a Single-Payer system.

‘Noz of Rubber Hose looks at the 8 of 18 benchmarks that the Shrubbery claims were met by the Iraqis in his post, success! it smells like desperation.

We were told to wait 6 months, we waited and things are no better. We have waited for things to get better for four years, and they have gotten worse. This is another Arbusto dry hole. The list of the man’s failures continues to grow. He has never succeeded at anything other than elections, and we have passed the point at which people should just accept it.

The sooner we withdraw, the less money that is wasted, the fewer lives that will be lost. Iraqis will continue to die after the US leaves, but Americans won’t be killing them.

In her post on the cardboard being found in Chinese street food, Echidne of the Snakes references Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler.

As a Pratchett reader I would point out that is sounds more like Disembowel-Meself-Honourably Dibhala, a distant relative, and no relation to CMOT Dibbler – the store.

Oh, as long as we’re talking about unsavory things, you could drop by Facing South and read Chris Kromm’s piece on the recent spate of Big Time Political Scandals in the South.

The police in Suffolk County, New York are still idiots. I knew they were idiots when I lived there, but they haven’t gotten any smarter in the intervening years.

CNN reports: Teens charged in alleged plot to kill students

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said the journal described shooting students and setting off homemade explosions.

Police said a search warrant was issued for the 15-year-old’s computer, where it was discovered that he’d made numerous attempts and inquires on the Internet to obtain weapons, including an Uzi and five pounds of black powder explosive.

Point one, look in a book, black powder is a flammable material, not an “explosive.” You still need to be an adult to buy it, but it’s for sale at any gun shop upstate due to re-enactors and the black powder hunting season. The fact that they were looking into black powder, instead of the more common smokeless gunpowder, also readily available to adults in the state for reloading, shows their lack of knowledge.

[Read more →]

Steve Bates notes the passing of Lady Bird Johnson with a Ben Sargent cartoon, and cartoonist Duane Powell remembers Doug Marlette.

Yes, it’s Friday the 13^th again. The 13^th falls on a Friday more than any other day of the week, so get over it. It’s only valid in in English and Portuguese speaking countries, so go visit a Spanish-speaking neighborhood for the day.

If you want to blame someone, it’s the calendar of Pope Gregory XIII that created this imbalance.

Being Annoying

Go Away!

[Editor: I was using Sox as a model for different camera modes and he was not happy because the flash kept going off, even when I thought it wouldn’t.]

Friday Ark