I just read this over at Isaac Hunter's Tavern, the blog of local NPR reporter Laura Leslie, and was simply astounded. The state health care plan is in a major shortfall, as discussed elsewhere. So, what should we do to fix the problem? Adam Searing and Adam Linker think we should look at the administrator of the health care plan, of course we aren't allowed to look at them because the details are CONFIDENTIAL.

These are the kinds of stimulus that we should be funding. Our health care system has a lot of problems but certainly one is the redundant and archaic paper-based records and billings system. Nearly every discussion of how to reform health care, whether from the left or from the right, mentions information technology reform as a means for saving money (see below the fold). Therefore, it is good to see that a full $20 Billion has been approved in the House stimulus bill for Health Infrastructure Projects. From the story at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

Approved under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the bill would provide incentive payments to Medicare and Medicaid providers who implement certified electronic health record technology.

Lord forbid that we actually have a real discussion about marijuana, its use and its abuse. No, we have to turn this into a witch-hunt where Michael Phelps is bad, bad, bad becuase AAAAAAH MYYYY GAWWWWD he smokes pot!

Please, everyone who hasn't smoked pot raise your hand? One, two, three, four.

Now, everyone who knows somebody who had their life ruined by pot raise your hand. Okay, no one.

Now everyone who knows somebody who had their life ruined by alcohol raise your hand. One, two, three, four....four million.

Yeah, what a load of crap. If I were Michael Phelps I would man up and talk about pot for what it is, less addictive and less destructive than alcohol. He should know, he's been arrested for DUI back when he was 19!

Can we please, please, please now tax the ridiculous profits of these companies?

This started off as a comment over in James' post about Doug Berger's ideas on the budget. I started to comment that Republican Pete Brunstetter had one crazy idea and one not so crazy idea.

What two things would you cut in the state budget? "I'm not a big fan of the More at Four program," Brunstetter said. "I don't think it has had the impact that justifies the cost."

He added that there needs to be some consideration of merging More at Four with Smart Start, another pre-school program.

Getting rid of early childhood education programs is so stupid I can't even comment, but the idea of merging two pre-school programs into one overhead makes sense.

But, this is where my bullshitometer went off.

Yesterday, I was puttering around the office doing some mind-numbing tasks and decided that I would zone out to something on my iPod, which ended up being Wait Wait...don't tell me! There was a question that concerned a research study. The study on auctions showed that if you are able to get a potential customer to hold an object for 30 seconds, in this case a cup, they are likely to bid MORE than the retail value of the object. I believe they said in 4 out of 7 cases the person bid more than the retail value, knowing the retail value. The conclusion was that holding an object for even 30 seconds confers a sense of ownership to that person.

P.J. O'Rourke commented something along the lines of "Please tell me my tax dollars were not used to fund this study."

Which is a funny line, but shows a lack of how science is funded in this country and what is wrong with that system.

I saw an update from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that many states are trying to update their WIC program to better reflect newer nutritional standards and combat obesity.

Under the dietary changes, foods such as whole grain breads and cereals, canned or dried beans, and jarred baby foods will be made available to WIC recipients. In addition, beneficiaries can receive cash-value checks to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Another update to the state's WIC program calls for whole milk to be provided only to children between 12 months and 24 months and for all women and children older than age 2 to receive vouchers that cover only the cost of skim or 1 percent milk. In response to reports suggesting that juice consumption contributes to childhood overweight and obesity, New York is also looking to restrict the number of vouchers provided for the purchase of juice and eliminate juice options for children younger than age 2.

Horrible eating habits are responsible for the obesity epidemic in America. The old "food pyramid" is wrong, just wrong. That's why WIC is encouraging the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables. That's why they are trying to eliminate whole milk and juice, which are unnecessary calories. More after the break. Newer nutritional understanding has, for all intents and purposes, turned the pyramid upside down. This is the old pyramid, you can see that it says you should eat lots of grains.
This is the new pyramid as designed at Harvard.

You can see that the white bread, white pasta group has moved to the top of the pyramid, use sparingly. Even the remainder of the pyramid blocks are better defined, such as "healthy fats" versus just "oils".

This is the "new" pyramid from USDA, which I'm not happy with. The USDA has tried to turn the pyramid into a rainbow logo - I'm not thrilled about it. Either way, I think what the WIC is doing is great. Folks often say you can't regulate good behavior, "What are you going to do, tax fatty foods?" Well, yeah. At least in this case you can, what you can do is limit tax-payer dollars for things that make you fat and unhealthy and expand funding for foods that are healthy. No more Cheetos and Wonder Bread, more apples and oranges.

Here is an eye-opener to start your Monday.

In 2002, four intrepid researchers filed a Freedom of Information Act. But they weren't looking for information on Guantanamo or revelations from Cheney's lair. All they wanted was the FDA's drug analysis data. Taxpayer funded research. They got it. The studies examined were conducted between 1987 and 1999 andcovered Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, Serzone, and Effexor. They found, on average, that placebos were 80 percent as effective as the drugs.

Chris Cillizza from The Washington Post has chosen his Best Senate Campaign of 2008...I think you see where this is going.

Drumroll please.... And the best Senate campaign of 2008 is:

Kay Hagan of North Carolina -- Hagan, a state senator, got into the race against Sen. Elizabeth Dole after a number of better known candidates including Gov. Mike Easley and Rep. Brad Miller took a pass on the contest.

More after the break.

Welcome to the US Senate Mr. Al Franken. Keep up with the tally here.

We've all heard it spewed from Republican mouths, how Detroit car makers pay $73/hour to their workers. That's why we can't compete with Honda and Toyota. This NYT piece shows how that argument is putting your head in the sand, ignoring the reality.

So here’s a little experiment. Imagine that a Congressional bailout effectively pays for $10 an hour of the retiree benefits. That’s roughly the gap between the Big Three’s retiree costs and those of the Japanese-owned plants in this country. Imagine, also, that the U.A.W. agrees to reduce pay and benefits for current workers to $45 an hour — the same as at Honda and Toyota.

Do you know how much that would reduce the cost of producing a Big Three vehicle? Only about $800.

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to the woods of Pennsyltucky tomorrow morning, so I wanted to wish everyone a happy turkey day and also leave you with a little color. This is a picture of Sharpies on paper that I took with my Blackberry.
Why? Well, the fact that they are mounted on a slide should give you a hint, more after the break.

Fun with maps, guess what is overlaid (dots) with the 2008 county-by-county election results shown here (click for larger image):

Just saw a couple updates about the US Senate races in Alaska and Minnesota and thought I would post them here. The news is good. Alaska is in our column as of right now, although the lead could see-saw back and forth. Minnesota is so close that it puts to rest the "one vote doesn't matter" myth forever.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Just as Sen. Ted Stevens appeared set to return to Congress, felony conviction and all, his re-election bid has faltered. If he loses, it also closes a possible door into the Senate anytime soon for Gov. Sarah Palin.

More after the break.

The Coleman-Franken recount state machinery is gearing up. Both sides are lining up lawyers for each of the 100+ recount sites (87 counties + multiple sites in larger cities.)
...
Precincts and counties has been "certifying" their votes since Nov. 4: adding in absentee ballots, checking & correcting for math errors. During each day both candidates' numbers have moved up and down but the net has drifted toward Al Franken, from a Coleman lead of 775 to this morning's 206.

More after the break.

We are still a center-right country and if you have any doubts about that just listen to the news. Listen to Morning Joe on MSNBC and Joe Scarborough and company will repeat it ad naseum throughout the morning. Watch CNN and every announcer will make mention of fact. Watch Hardball and you'll be sure to hear Chris Matthews talking about it. Pick up a newspaper and read the columns, it will be in there somewhere.

Center-right. What does that mean? I guess we'll have to figure it out based on what the country thinks.