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Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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11:34 pm - The Audacity of Shamelessness
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I've been watching the health care reform debate with keen interest. It is one of those situations where I think there's a public policy problem, but the solution is very difficult to tease out. None of the proposals I've heard thus far have truly addressed the problem in an honest way, proposed a solution that would actually address the stated problem, and given any indication that the proposal is likely to gain political traction. It's a hard trifecta to hit, but what's the point of a pricey plan that doesn't achieve what we need, or of armchair proposals that will be shot down in committee faster than you can say "interest group politics"?
What I have seen is a lot of self-serving crap. This evening's article about how Democrats propose to pay for the $1.3 trillion cost of the Kennedy-Dodd bill (which, even if it manages to actually achieve its projected aim, would only cover 16 million of the estimated 45-50 million currently not enrolled in Medicare/SCHIP/a private plan*) may take the cake:
To pay for the legislation, Baucus has signaled he intends to propose a tax on health insurance benefits for individuals with the costliest health insurance coverage, possibly plans with premiums totaling more than $15,000 between employer and employee combined. Obama campaigned aggressively against the idea when Republican rival Sen. John McCain proposed it during last year's presidential campaign.
While the president has recently signaled flexibility on the issue, Dodd criticized it for potentially penalizing individuals and families at a time they are under financial pressure. "I'm not attracted to that idea," he said.
Other senators, allied with organized labor, have also expressed opposition, although Baucus has told reporters he could exempt health benefits included in union contracts from the tax.
Oh. My. Goodness. Why not just cut out the middle man and put a box on next year's tax form that says "Did you vote Democrat last November? If no, please pay tax on your health benefits."
I know, I know. If I'm appalled by shamelessness, I shouldn't have moved to DC. But still, the audacity of it all is astounding.
* Super-special bonus on that anemic 16 million? We have no idea which 16 million are going to pick up coverage. Of the 45-50 million, it is estimated that 10-15 million are illegal immigrants, who are not going to be covered under any plan. So we're really talking about 30-40 million who don't have coverage, which includes people who don't carry insurance but could pay for it (mostly young and healthy) and people who are eligible for Medicaid/Medicare but haven't signed up. So, does the Kennedy-Dodd bill help 16 million people who couldn't afford insurance buy it? Or does it provide subsidies for people who could have purchased insurance without them? Or finally round up people who could've have been on benefits for years, but for whatever reason haven't signed up. To my mind, the "problem" is that there is a group people who are too poor to pay for any health insurance, but none of the solutions being marketed appear to target this band of the 45-50 million currently without a private plan or enrolled in a government program. I've seen the number of people too poor to afford a policy estimated at about 8-10 million. I think we could subsidize some very nice private insurance plans for those folks at far less than the $1.3 trillion proposed.
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(5 Reviews | Be a Neilson Family )
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| Saturday, June 13th, 2009
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1:21 pm
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I'd think this was extreme satire, had I not lived it a few times (just strike "self-loathing black person" and insert "self-loathing woman"). As ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gimmelgirl might put it, I'm frummy on the inside, but to the casual observer, I fit with the typical yuppie mold. Combine that with area of law that I practice, and people who don't know me very well have felt free to say an enormous number of things that I doubt they would have said had they known that I'm an evil, self-hating, talibangelical, rethuglican, right-wing extremist. With bonus false consciousness!
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Friday, June 12th, 2009
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7:39 am - Political Theory 101
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James Von Brunn, the man who murdered Holocaust Museum guard Stephen Johns, was a prolific writer, spewing his views all over white supremacist and conspiracy theorist websites, using his own name. People who have had a sufficiently strong stomach to ford these sites to find Von Brunn's essays have found that Von Brunn:
* hates Jews, blaming them for everything wrong in the world;
* hates Israel;
* thinks George W. Bush allowed or caused 9/11 to happen;
* hates neoconservatives;
* hates blacks;
* believes Christianity is a zionist plot and a false religion that weakens gentiles;
* opposes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan;
* is a Holocaust denier;
* hates Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush, John McCain, Bill O'Reilly, Hillary Clinton, Rupert Murdoch;
* believes the Illuminati are conspiring to control the world;
* supports a "western socialism" (capitalism being a Jewish conspiracy);
* in 1981, tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board, blaming them for the state of the economy.
Poll #1414779
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllVon Brunn's beliefs are:
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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10:38 pm - SYTYCD 20
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Couples ranged from good to outstanding; I don't remember it being this good this early in the competition last year.
Jeanine & Philip – Had a lot of luck tonight: they pulled Philip's specialty, and they got a genius routine from Tabitha and Napoleon, but then they worked it out and nailed it.
Asuka & Vitolio - Disappointing. I like Asuka very much (didn't see Vitolio enough in the prelims to know if I liked him), but unlike Jeanine and Philip, they didn't get any luck: they got Broadway, which is really not their thing, and it was a very stylized and didn't give them a ton of opportunity to demonstrate their personalities. It was technically good, but just not terribly enjoyable. I wish they'd gotten the Mandy Moore or Tony Meredith pieces.
Karla & Johnathan – Much better than I would have thought, having not seen much of them. Jonathan is adorable, Karla is talented. They were not technically the strongest, but they danced together, and with lots of personality.
Evan & Randi – Love them, love them, love them. So strong and fully together. They got my vote tonight.
Paris & Tony – Just not good. They didn’t get the “good” Tabitha and Napoleon number, either, but Tony should have hit that much harder. Paris did as well as could be expected, but like Asuka and Vitolio, they just didn't add anything at all to it (and they didn't have nearly the excuse that A&V had).
Caitlin & Jason - Didn’t expect that (Jason is great; why did they hide him?). Really interesting and fun, but I think they weren’t dancing together as much as I would have liked. And it suffers when you compare it to what Katee and Joshua did last year.
Janette & Brandon – Love Brandon, don’t understand the hate. I don’t know classic ballroom, but it looked good to me. Great lifts.
Ashley & Kupono – Kupono is an odd duck, like Mark from last year, but I like him. Not sure what I thought of the number, but they danced whatever that was very well.
Melissa & Ade – Melissa's ‘naughty’ pose is unbelievably irritating, but she and Ade danced the hell out of that. It was strong and smooth and beautiful. Really, really wonderful job.
Kayla & Max – Great job! When you compare Karla and Jonathan, you can see how much technically stronger Max and Kayla are. Both couples were very entertaining, but Kayla and Max put all the extra form touches in and their carriage is outstanding.
No one bombed, and most of the performances were really very good. I think Paris & Tony were the weakest, and Tony needs to worry about his future (he's lucky the judges have been favoring him throughout the process; he really should not even be here). Asuka & Vitolio will probably join them in the bottom three. Karla & Johnathan probably deserve to round it out, even though they did quite well. I can't imagine Asuka going home based on her strength in what she does, but I think the rest should be worried.
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Sunday, June 7th, 2009
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2:16 pm
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Thursday night's Top Twenty results were disappointing. I deeply disagree with the judges' assessment that there was room for only one Broadway boy in top guys; they made room for several contemporary dancers (as usual) and two b-boys, even though the young man from Boston was substandard in all other areas and did not, in my opinion, even make an incredible popper (if we needed to place someone for popularity and personality reasons, I think the Japanese popper or the black tapper would have been far better and more qualified choices). I think Ryan was excluded only for purposes of drama (and that Natalie Reid was similarly hosed after the contemporary round--not even a solo, just the boot? That was for 'story', not based on her talent).
So, let's have some dancing to take our minds off it!
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Thursday, June 4th, 2009
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7:11 pm - SYTYCD Anticipatory Fever
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This Mia Michaels piece was one of my favorite contemporary dances last season. I never cared for Kherington's style, but I thought she nailed this performance.
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
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7:12 pm
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8:28 am
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Chelsie and Mark ably handled everything that was thrown at them. I loved this jazz routine, though I think it wasn't the best of the dances choreographed last season.
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Sunday, May 31st, 2009
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9:39 pm
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Another great "lyrical" hip-hop dance from last year's SCTYCD. Katee and Joshua were a strong, beautiful pair; definitely my second favorite couple.
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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| Saturday, May 30th, 2009
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9:33 pm - Mark & Chelsie are the Awesomest!
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I'm celebrating the return of SYTYCD with my favorite dances from last year. Mark and Chelsie were, by far, my favorite couple, so expect lots of them!
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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12:18 am - SYTYCD Friday
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Last night was a tough call, because I loved Sam the wrestling popper, but I think Nath, the just-shy-of-18 contemporary dancer was my favorite. He was probably the most technically proficient:
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(1 Review | Be a Neilson Family )
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| Friday, May 29th, 2009
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8:35 am
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Wow:
As more states take up the debate on same-sex marriage, some advocates of legalization are taking a very specific lesson from California, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dominated both fundraising and door-knocking to pass a ballot initiative that barred such unions.
With the battle moving east, some advocates are shouting that fact in the streets, calculating that on an issue that eventually comes down to comfort levels, more people harbor apprehensions about Mormons than about homosexuality.
"The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming!" warned ads placed on newspaper Web sites in three Eastern states last month. The ad was rejected by sites in three other states, including Maine, where the Kennebec Journal informed Californians Against Hate that the copy "borders on insulting and denigrating a whole set of people based on their religion."
Californians Against Hate. My irony meter just exploded.
"I'm not intending it to harm the religion. I think they do wonderful things. Nicest people," said Fred Karger, a former Republican campaign consultant who established Californians Against Hate. "My single goal is to get them out of the same-sex marriage business and back to helping hurricane victims."
I love blacks Jews womenCatholics immigrants Evangelicals Mormons, I just want them to stop participating in the political process. Who do these Mormons think they are, full citizens of a democracy?
The strategy carries risks for a movement grounded in the concept of tolerance.
You don't say.
More and more I seem to encounter from the left a wish that people who disagree with them would simply disappear. 'I agree with me. All my friends agree with me. The New York Times agrees with me! Do I really have to spend time arguing the merits of my new policy proposal with people who voted for Chimpy McBushitler and spend every Sunday morning speaking in tongues to the Flying Spaghetti Monster?'
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(3 Reviews | Be a Neilson Family )
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| Thursday, May 28th, 2009
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10:16 pm - SYTYCD Thursday
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"I do data recovery from damaged harddrives for a living. A lot of my job really consists of grief counseling. Losing data is a very traumatic experience." Leo the Ukrainian
Dances like every computer tech professional I know.
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(1 Review | Be a Neilson Family )
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9:06 pm - Tap-Hop Takes Wednesday Night
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Enjoyed last night's SCTYCD auditions, especially Erik "Silky" Moore, the young man who combined tap and hip-pop in a fun, well choreographed routine to "Thriller".
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(2 Reviews | Be a Neilson Family )
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| Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
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11:23 pm
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I missed last week's SYTYCD auditions because I was out of town, but I caught up tonight. Though he didn't make it to the Vegas round, the young pop and locker with the adorable little brother was my favorite.
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( Be a Neilson Family )
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