Today we embarked on a 10-day camping trip to the Smokies via Cincinnati, and I have been very busy getting ready to go, so I haven't had time to write. But there were several really good items this week that I wanted to highlight, so I apologize for being a few days behind.
Nick Kristof had a great column on Thursday that you ought to go read. It has a story of an American woman who lives in Canada for a time an compares health care experiences there and here. In fact, she now feels she can't move back to the U.S. because of the health care she needs. I've read several pieces indicating that the insurance industry has gotten several Democratic senators to go along with effectively gutting the public option of the new health care reform legislation. It is vitally important that a viable public option is part of this program.
The other moving story I read was posted on Andrew Sullivan's web site (he reposted it from elsewhere). It is the story of a poor Iranian woman who (was) going out to join the demonstrations for Mr. Mousavi because she is able to dance and shout alongside wealthier boys who treat her respectfully as a peer because she is joining their demonstration. Her writing is so personal, it reads almost as a poem. She does not actually support Mr. Mousavi, she prefers Ahmadinejad, and does not even plan to vote. She fully expects on Saturday to return to being treated as an inferior.
I am anxiously awaiting stories of the transition to digital TV. I noticed an item a week or so ago about what things people are cutting back on during the recession, and cable TV was the thing that people were least likely to cut back on. (We are TV snobs. Or maybe TV cheapskates. We do have one, and we do watch quite a bit, but we do not have cable.) As many people shake their heads over the things that the American public does not seem to get excited about, I am thinking that not being able to get TV might be the thing that could lead to rioting in the streets.
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