highlights from a week's worth of entries that I was too busy to actually write
I know, I know, I've been away. There have been things I've been dying to write about, but sometimes the rest of my life gets in the way. Having one day job and looking for another while working on a film and trying to maintain something reasonably close to a social life have kept me away from the keyboard all week, sadly. And now I'll be out of town all weekend, so don't look for new posts until at least Monday.
In the meantime, I thought I'd give a quick rundown on some of what I would have liked to have the chance to write about in more detail this week.
• The health care-for-all law that's apparently about to pass in Massachusetts fascinates me. Sounds great, right? It has its good points, and I admire the creativity behind a law that theoretically seeks to spread responsibility for a single problem among many different groups that factor into the issue. On its face, the law will place new requirements on the working uninsured, companies that don't give it's employees insurance, and insurance companies themselves. But in practice, the responsibility on employers—a fine of about $250 per employee—isn't nearly high enough to make it a financial threat; health coverage runs can be several thousand dollars an employee. Not only that, but this teethless fine may not even be part of the final bill, as Governor Romney has threatened to use his line-item veto to disqualify that part of the law. The net result of that would be a law that a) makes it more financially viable for corporations to NOT offer its employees insurance, and then b) forces those same employees to purchase insurance for themselves, whether they want it or not. Is that progress? Seems to me like it's a transparent attempt for Romney, who has Presidential aspirations (good luck with that) to position himself as a conservative who was elected in the bluest of blue states and is strong on health care.
• Speaking of '08, I'm continuing to warm to the idea of a Hillary candidacy. You vote for a team as much as a single politician, and with a star like Hillary, does anyone doubt that she'd have all the resources that she needs--staff, money and otherwise?
• I usually go home for lunch, which is nice. Today it meant I got to see White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan try to spin Cheney aide Scooter Libby's charge that the President knew about the release of Valerie Plame's identity. McClellan tried to distinguish between "releasing information that's in the public interest" and "leaks," after the press dug up a quote from Bush denouncing leaks. McClellan also argued, bizarrely, that anything released to the public is, by definition, unclassified, because it's released to the public. Even if by every standard of these things it had been, you know, classified. At least I think that's what McClellan was saying.
• Meanwhile in the wacky world of baseball, Billy Wagner smartly began his New York career by refusing to change his theme song, which happens to be "Enter Sandman," a song that's been Mariano Rivera's trademark during his legendary run as the game's elite closer. It's silly enough that Wagner would want to use a song that creates such an obvious comparison in the same media market as Rivera, but why does the team allow that to happen? Worse yet, after blowing a save in the Mets' second game, Wagner said: "Now Mariano can have the song, because he's never blown a save, right?" Slick, Billy. Real slick. Kinda brings new meaning to the phrase "pick on someone your own size." Wagner is like the skinny new kid in school picking on the star defensive lineman. (Or I guess he would be like that, if popularity in New York was equated to weight... or something.)
And with that, I now return to neglecting you, my Home/spuN readers, for another few days. Have a great weekend.
In the meantime, I thought I'd give a quick rundown on some of what I would have liked to have the chance to write about in more detail this week.
• The health care-for-all law that's apparently about to pass in Massachusetts fascinates me. Sounds great, right? It has its good points, and I admire the creativity behind a law that theoretically seeks to spread responsibility for a single problem among many different groups that factor into the issue. On its face, the law will place new requirements on the working uninsured, companies that don't give it's employees insurance, and insurance companies themselves. But in practice, the responsibility on employers—a fine of about $250 per employee—isn't nearly high enough to make it a financial threat; health coverage runs can be several thousand dollars an employee. Not only that, but this teethless fine may not even be part of the final bill, as Governor Romney has threatened to use his line-item veto to disqualify that part of the law. The net result of that would be a law that a) makes it more financially viable for corporations to NOT offer its employees insurance, and then b) forces those same employees to purchase insurance for themselves, whether they want it or not. Is that progress? Seems to me like it's a transparent attempt for Romney, who has Presidential aspirations (good luck with that) to position himself as a conservative who was elected in the bluest of blue states and is strong on health care.
• Speaking of '08, I'm continuing to warm to the idea of a Hillary candidacy. You vote for a team as much as a single politician, and with a star like Hillary, does anyone doubt that she'd have all the resources that she needs--staff, money and otherwise?
• I usually go home for lunch, which is nice. Today it meant I got to see White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan try to spin Cheney aide Scooter Libby's charge that the President knew about the release of Valerie Plame's identity. McClellan tried to distinguish between "releasing information that's in the public interest" and "leaks," after the press dug up a quote from Bush denouncing leaks. McClellan also argued, bizarrely, that anything released to the public is, by definition, unclassified, because it's released to the public. Even if by every standard of these things it had been, you know, classified. At least I think that's what McClellan was saying.
• Meanwhile in the wacky world of baseball, Billy Wagner smartly began his New York career by refusing to change his theme song, which happens to be "Enter Sandman," a song that's been Mariano Rivera's trademark during his legendary run as the game's elite closer. It's silly enough that Wagner would want to use a song that creates such an obvious comparison in the same media market as Rivera, but why does the team allow that to happen? Worse yet, after blowing a save in the Mets' second game, Wagner said: "Now Mariano can have the song, because he's never blown a save, right?" Slick, Billy. Real slick. Kinda brings new meaning to the phrase "pick on someone your own size." Wagner is like the skinny new kid in school picking on the star defensive lineman. (Or I guess he would be like that, if popularity in New York was equated to weight... or something.)
And with that, I now return to neglecting you, my Home/spuN readers, for another few days. Have a great weekend.
posted by Zackattack at 5:26 PM
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