The Dallas Morning News reports the Southern Methodist University has agreed to be site of the library and public policy center of the current resident of the White House.

Since I like to be helpful, I looked for some plans for this new development in the Dallas area. If they are in a hurry, this model has all the conveniences and is certified as an American with Disabilities Act compliant design.

If they would like something of a more historic design, there is always this gem of a building which is a display of traditional American craftsmanship and values.

The Associate Press reports that people are starting to object to the con: Microsoft class action suit over Vista approved

SEATTLE – A federal judge said Friday that consumers may go ahead with a class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. over the way it advertised computers loaded with Windows XP as capable of running the Vista operating system.

The lawsuit said Microsoft’s labeling of some PCs as “Windows Vista Capable” was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to run all of Vista’s features, including the much-touted “Aero” user interface.

It amazing, these people apparently think that corporations shouldn’t deceive them to make a profit. Where would they get a radical idea like that. They are probably DFHs.

Kevin Drum cuts to the chase on involving the insurance industry in a universal coverage plan, in a post about DNA testing, DNA and the Insurance Industry

It’s worth saying this over and over: insurance companies don’t discriminate because they’re evil. They do it because it’s what insurance companies do. It’s a core part of their business, and if they don’t do it they’ll go belly up.

This is the biggest reason for wanting to get private insurance companies (mostly) out of the healthcare business. If it were just a matter of their being corrupt or evil, that actually wouldn’t be so bad. We could figure out ways to regulate them into good behavior. But it’s harder than that. The kind of behavior that most of us want — comparable coverage for everyone under nondiscriminatory pricing rules — is flatly not something an insurance company can offer. If they do, they aren’t being an insurance company. And if they aren’t being an insurance company, then what good are they doing?

That’s the problem with the Obama and Clinton plans – they want to include the insurance industry. The insurers only want to issue policies to people that will never make a claim, and they spend millions every year determining who these people are. We are almost at the point where anyone the insurance industry is willing to sell a policy to, can be fairly certain they won’t need one for an extended period. This isn’t a bug, it is the design of the system that will produce a profit for insurance companies, which is the reason they are in business.

[Added personal aside: based on their performance after Katrina, I feel that insurance companies are both corrupt and evil.]

This just about puts the cherry on top for Democratic voters in Florida, having Ralph Nader round up the cash from wingnut donors to run for President again, and, no, I didn’t accidentally misspell anything on the graphic.

OTOH, since Democrats have already conceded Florida, we don’t have to listen to that crap again.

For unknown reasons Michael at Cannablog thinks this place is Excellent, and has given it an award.

Regardless of my own feelings of worthiness, or lack thereof, there are a number of people among the denizens of blogtopia™, who should be recognized.

Andante at Collective Sigh has gotten some bad health news and is having to deal with the treatment and concerns over paying for it. She shows excellence in spirit in the way she dealing with it.

Michael at Musing’s musings is displaying his excellence is dealing with the tragedy of the attack at NIU. He is chronicling his feelings about adjusting to this new reality.

Rook at Rook’s Rant keeps on keeping on dealing with what the world throws at him.

Catnapping at Odd Neighbor Illustrations produces beautiful artwork in a location where refrigeration thermometers are all they use this time of year.

Elayne Riggs of Pen-Elayne on the Web is one of the most consistent bloggers around. Her “Silly Sites” are there every day, and every month starts with “White Rabbits”.

Fallenmonk of Fallenmonk is the source for skytracking information on satellites as well as a recipes for traditional and untraditional grits.

Jack K. is the Grumpy Forester and among the reasons he’s grumpy is having to deal with dial-up, because no one thinks that people outside the cities in Oregon want or need broadband.

PoP of Morning Martini is always worth reading, especially for Fred the Cat’s Friday sermon.

Scorpio can be found at Eccentricity, Mockingbird’s Medley, and Pacific Views which certainly qualifies for excellence.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.