New York’s 23rd District

Looks like the teabaggers managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in New York's 23rd. How did this happen? Well, the far right conservatives were so sure that there's a hidden majority of wingnuts out there that they poured everything they had into undercutting the moderate Republican candidate and promoting one stamped "Glenn Beck Approved For Your Protection!"

Of course, they weren't confident enough in their agenda to try it in a normal district, they had to try it in a district that hasn't sent a Dem to Washington since the Civil War. It was the safest election possible in which to try this strategy, and it failed.

I'd like to say that this is good for the Republican Party and good for the country, as it will demonstrate clearly to the fringe that they need to be able to make peace with the moderates in their party, and maybe, just maybe, we could have a Republican party who once again cares about responsible governance. But the wingnuts are allergic to facts, scoff at data, and consider learning to be a sign of weakness, so I seriously doubt that will happen.

Wow

The amount of work that must have gone into this is staggering, unless he did it all from his head, which would also be staggering, but in a different way.

Sometimes the headline is the story

Microwaving Peeps With a Beloved Children’s Book Author.

"Conservative" dems?

Since the two dems currently threatening to help Republicans filibuster the health care bill both have spouses that work for the health care industry, and receive tons of money from from that same industry, can we please stop calling them "conservative" Democrats, or, even worse, "fiscally conservative" since the public option they're opposed to would save money for everyone not in the health insurance business? Can we just call them "corrupt"?

In other news, this is childish, but very funny.

So What Is the 'Opt-Out' Compromise? | Talking Points Memo

Josh Marshall lays it out.

I would go a bit further and say that opting out will end up being an economic loser in the long run for any red states that choose to go that way, as new companies will probably be more likely to relocate to states with the public option.

At least, that's what I think will happen, because I think the public option is good policy. The nice thing about this compromise is that we'll be able to gather actual data that either refutes or supports that hypothesis.

In the short term, I don't think this is the best approach in terms of the public good, but I do think it might be better long term policy in terms of gathering data and building a strong national healthcare policy.

Spooky Ruins

This Old House has a nice photo gallery of old ruins and abandoned buildings that includes this creepy description: "The bright snowscape and generous space evoke a sense of peace and harmony—until one looks closer to discover frantic scratch marks still left on the walls."

Nice.

My latest million dollar idea

One of the problems in our current healthcare system is that it discourages people from starting their own business, because their healthcare is shackled to their jobs. So if we fix that, what's going to happen? Are the best and brightest employees going to start jumping ship in order to start their own businesses? That's got the potential to be a huge problem for big corporations, and I have a potential solution, inspired by our former president's latest foray into inspirational speaking:

De-motivation seminars. It should be pretty cheap to set up, actually. The vast majority of small businesses fail within a couple of years, and a lot of those people end up bankrupt. That means there are tons of people out there with very compelling stories about how they had a nice, safe, boring job in a cubicle somewhere, but they left it all behind to chase their dreams and ended up bankrupting their families and ruining their lives. The nice thing is that we can probably pay these people peanuts, and then charge companies a ton to help them keep their employees chained to their desks by fear of bankruptcy.

Funny

From Failblog.

Things I Didn't Know Were Possible, #1

Albino Trees.

Chore Chart

Cool customizable, printable chore chart.

Middle of the night insight

If the news networks were doctors, MSNBC would be the specialist who drives a fast car and loves to prescribe the latest drug, even if there's an old one that works better. CNN would be the grizzled old doc who hasn't read a journal article in 20 years.

Fox would be your friend's uncle who claims to have one year of medical school, but really has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from some internet school, and currently runs a macrobiotic bookstore and libertarian restaurant, whatever that is.

It should be noted that I don't actually get any of these channels.

Holding Action

This weekend, I replaced one thermostat, one garbage disposer, 8 cabinet door handles, and two lightbulbs. There was some increase in functionality with some of those replacements, but mostly it was just about keeping the house working properly. Sometimes, that's enough, I guess.

For the Record

Bragging that you let your black friends use your bathroom makes you look more racist, not less.

This analysis would seem to support the repeal of helmet laws if and only if the rider has a current organ donor card.