Schwarzenegger: Mr. Politician

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposed extending health care coverage to all of California’s 36 million residents as part of a sweeping package of changes to the state’s huge, troubled health care system.

... Under Mr. Schwarzenegger’s plan, which requires the approval of the Legislature, California would become the fourth and by far the largest state to attempt near universal health coverage for its citizens. The other three states are Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.

-- Jennifer Steinhauer for The New York Times

This is still in the earliest stages, and it looks like there may be a hang-up on the provision of health coverage for the state's large population of illegal immigrants, but it is remarkable to see Schwarzenegger's political nimbleness, going from Mr. Conservative Republican to the People's Liberal Socialist. Not exactly the Ronald Reagan clone that some were doubtlessly hoping for.

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Schwarzenegger: Mr. Politician

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposed extending health care coverage to all of California’s 36 million residents as part of a sweeping package of changes to the state’s huge, troubled health care system.

... Under Mr. Schwarzenegger’s plan, which requires the approval of the Legislature, California would become the fourth and by far the largest state to attempt near universal health coverage for its citizens. The other three states are Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.

-- Jennifer Steinhauer for The New York Times

This is still in the earliest stages, and it looks like there may be a hang-up on the provision of health coverage for the state's large population of illegal immigrants, but it is remarkable to see Schwarzenegger's political nimbleness, going from Mr. Conservative Republican to the People's Liberal Socialist. Not exactly the Ronald Reagan clone that some were doubtlessly hoping for.

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What Happened to My Continent!?

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Kiss the Mediterranean goodbye. Ditto the Red Sea and its wonderland of coral reefs and exotic sea life. And prepare for the day when San Francisco has a gritty new suburb: Los Angeles. Indeed, much of Southern California, including the Baja Peninsula, will eventually migrate up the west coast to make Alaska even more gargantuan.

Geologists have long prided themselves on their ability to peer into the distant past and discern the slow movements of land and sea that have continuously revised the planet’s face over eons. Now, drawing on new insights, theories, measurements and technologies — and perhaps a bit of scientific bravado — they are forecasting the shape of terra firma in the distant future.

-- William J. Broad for The New York Times

They concede that these longer term predictions are a more uncertain quantity, but what is fifty million years here and there - a blink of an eye, as they say. Though, I don't imagine any people will actually get to see this new earth, but that is a question to tease the imagination.

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What Happened to My Continent!?

♠
Kiss the Mediterranean goodbye. Ditto the Red Sea and its wonderland of coral reefs and exotic sea life. And prepare for the day when San Francisco has a gritty new suburb: Los Angeles. Indeed, much of Southern California, including the Baja Peninsula, will eventually migrate up the west coast to make Alaska even more gargantuan.

Geologists have long prided themselves on their ability to peer into the distant past and discern the slow movements of land and sea that have continuously revised the planet’s face over eons. Now, drawing on new insights, theories, measurements and technologies — and perhaps a bit of scientific bravado — they are forecasting the shape of terra firma in the distant future.

-- William J. Broad for The New York Times

They concede that these longer term predictions are a more uncertain quantity, but what is fifty million years here and there - a blink of an eye, as they say. Though, I don't imagine any people will actually get to see this new earth, but that is a question to tease the imagination.

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Recharging

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Such heavy sighs this morning.

Maybe Monk should just take his walk and say the hell with it. He needs to refreshen his batteries, or else the reading life itself becomes deadened.

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One wonders again how Monk spent those years without any such recourse.

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Recharging

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Such heavy sighs this morning.

Maybe Monk should just take his walk and say the hell with it. He needs to refreshen his batteries, or else the reading life itself becomes deadened.

___ ___ ___

One wonders again how Monk spent those years without any such recourse.

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Leaving an Angel for the Hell of Iraq

I can imagine how tough it must be to be called into Iraq when you have to leave such an angel of a wife. Click the pic for the romantic story, which includes how they tried for a pregnancy before he left, but Providence would not have it.

.....

Where you at, Uncle Mike?

I'm with the Army guys.

Why?

We have to go fight the bad guys.

Why?

So the bad guys don't come here and hurt you.

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Leaving an Angel for the Hell of Iraq

I can imagine how tough it must be to be called into Iraq when you have to leave such an angel of a wife. Click the pic for the romantic story, which includes how they tried for a pregnancy before he left, but Providence would not have it.

.....

Where you at, Uncle Mike?

I'm with the Army guys.

Why?

We have to go fight the bad guys.

Why?

So the bad guys don't come here and hurt you.

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The Bookizer

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Monk was rethinking his reading plans after seeing someone mention "The Butcher Boy" in a discussion about "Clockwork Orange." It no longer made as much sense to spend time reading James Bond serial fiction when there is a sea of richly divined books to be plumbed.

However, after researching those books, Monk is left doubtful. Moreover, one of the big reasons why he wanted "Casino Royale" is that he wants to lump it in under the porn exception to his hit-and-run reading, and to see if other Bond and maybe even Ludlum novels might sex up the hit-and-run reading.

Opening the flood gates for first reads is risky. One does not want it to become the dominant reading. But you only live once and sometimes you gotta take chances, playing fast and loose.

If Monk cannot be a womanizer, he may as well have his way with countless cheap books. Maybe more Grisham and Koontz, too!?

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The Bookizer

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Monk was rethinking his reading plans after seeing someone mention "The Butcher Boy" in a discussion about "Clockwork Orange." It no longer made as much sense to spend time reading James Bond serial fiction when there is a sea of richly divined books to be plumbed.

However, after researching those books, Monk is left doubtful. Moreover, one of the big reasons why he wanted "Casino Royale" is that he wants to lump it in under the porn exception to his hit-and-run reading, and to see if other Bond and maybe even Ludlum novels might sex up the hit-and-run reading.

Opening the flood gates for first reads is risky. One does not want it to become the dominant reading. But you only live once and sometimes you gotta take chances, playing fast and loose.

If Monk cannot be a womanizer, he may as well have his way with countless cheap books. Maybe more Grisham and Koontz, too!?

xXx

Thomas Jefferson's Koran

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The ever droll and brilliant Christopher Hitchens affords us the opportunity to mark the Keith Ellison controversy, who I gather is the first Muslim elected to Congress, and who immediately made his big splash in national politics by insisting on swearing his oath for office on the Koran instead of the Bible, and who then had the flash of genius in using the venerable Thomas Jefferson's Koran for the ceremony. Mr. Hitchens recently wrote a biography on Jefferson, and he gives us some interesting historical background.

( Hitchens column )

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Thomas Jefferson's Koran

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The ever droll and brilliant Christopher Hitchens affords us the opportunity to mark the Keith Ellison controversy, who I gather is the first Muslim elected to Congress, and who immediately made his big splash in national politics by insisting on swearing his oath for office on the Koran instead of the Bible, and who then had the flash of genius in using the venerable Thomas Jefferson's Koran for the ceremony. Mr. Hitchens recently wrote a biography on Jefferson, and he gives us some interesting historical background.

( Hitchens column )

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