The Nation on Healthcare vs. Profit

Fascinating write-up. They make an example of a Dr. Prem Reddy, who owns 8 hospitals in California. (Emphasis mine.)

Dr. Reddy--who is, incidentally a high-powered Republican donor--has a principled reason for his piratical practices. "Patients," the Los Angeles Times reports him as saying, "may simply deserve only the amount of care they can afford." He dismisses as "an entitlement mentality" the idea that everyone should be getting the same high-quality healthcare. This is Bush's vaunted principle of "private medicine" at its nastiest: You don't get what you need, only what you can pay for.

Sobering at the least; infuriating at the worst.

Music and Life

Found on Neatorama.

A recording by philosopher Alan Watts set to animation by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Push play or go to YouTube.

Simple, but deeply important.

Let the kids decide (Ha!)

The definition of brilliant satire...

Found via Miguel's blog (supposedly from the 2005-08-04 Washington Post)

If I lived in Springfield

The Simpsons Movie site let's you build your own Springfield-like character. I like ducks.

Editorial: The flash experience is really nice, but the whole register/login/save thing was a pain in the neck.

Penn (of Penn & Teller): I believe that there is no God

via RichardDawkins.net, via This I Believe:

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, ''I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith.'' That's just a long-winded religious way to say, ''shut up,'' or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, ''How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do.'' So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.

Well said.