Healthcare

Thank goodness the Hillary Plan never got off the ground. Got this
link via Samizdata. Canadian health care in crisis, from the NYT:

"This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years."

And worse, in fact criminal in my eyes:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other politicians remain reluctant to openly propose sweeping changes even though costs for the national and provincial governments are exploding and some cancer patients are waiting months for diagnostic tests and treatment.

Months? That's the difference between 'whew, thhat was a close one,' and
'well, he won't be a drain on the health care industry anymore.'

Poll?

I thought polls were supposed to sample prevailing sentiment.
And the newly trumpeted Bush approval poll does -- only among democrats,
and among "independents" which often means "democrat but embarrassed
to admit it."

From News Busters:

On the bottom of the PDF version of the poll (page 18) it says how many Democrats versus Republicans were contacted.

"Total Republicans" contacted: 272 unweighted and 289 weighted.

"Total Democrats" contacted: 409 unweighted and 381 weighted.

"Total Independents" contacted: 337 unweighted and 348 weighted.

Sheesh. The headline should be: Bush Loses Support at Huffington Post.

Ben's 13 virtues

Got this link from boing boing.
I thought, cool I bet they're the same 13 as I have. Then,
well, they lost me on the first one:

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.

I quit reading right there, just in case he also disparaged naps.

George Michael?

Really? I could swear I've bought gyros from this guy.

Darn, it's Friday

Where did this TGIF stuff come from anyway?

No, really. And it's not just that we get closer to April 15 with
every Friday. I just really have enjoyed working on this week's stuff.
Ever have one of those weeks when just everything went right?
Yeah, me either. But MOST everything has been going well and
that's good enough for me.



Also... making it better, Sometimes all you need is the headline:

Indian officials struggle to kill chickens...

I didn't look to see if there was a picture of pyjamas clad officials, looking
plaintively for help, covered in blood and feathers.

Snow Fun

100_2272, originally uploaded by lumberjack.

Note the metallic dancing cow in the foreground.
No amount of snow seems to dampen his spirit.

Snow's gone now, for now. I wouldn't complain if
we got some more.

engineering

I'm not a shoe guy but it's nice to see fashion moving towards something
I could repair in my garage if need be, "Go ahead and start getting ready, your
shoe will be ready as soon as the weld cools."

Who'll Run Our Ports?

I didn't see this as a red/blue question. Just a question of
who will be in control of security. And I haven't felt the need
to delve into the mechanics of the proposed change. I'm going
to assume that opponents will be doing that.

But here's an indication that we're on the wrong path:

Former President Jimmy Carter downplayed criticism of
White House support of an Arab-owned company's
purchase of a major seaport-operations firm.

Just the headline, that's all I have to read. Abandon the
sale W, no good can come of it.

Richard Dreyfuss

From CNSnews:

Impeaching Bush Is 'Cause Worth Fighting for,' Actor Says
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
February 17, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Richard Dreyfuss, the actor who starred in movies ranging from "Jaws" to "Mr. Holland's Opus," told an audience in Washington, D.C., on Thursday that "there are causes worth fighting for," and one of those is the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

Message to Mr Dreyfuss: "Yer gonna need a bigger boat."

Gutshot Liberals

Over at the Huffy Post they are *still* all bluck-bluck-blucking about the
V.P.'s hunting accident. On page 22 [!] of one of the comment threads:

This is an old mafia trick. Many hunters have used similar tactics to "scare" someone into compliance.
Take em out hunting and then threaten to shoot them. Talk about how easy it would be to get away with it.....

Tinfoil hats and underwear all around. Wheeee!