Aetna thinks it’s better for their company not to pay for an anesthetist/anasthesiologist’s service during a colonoscopy — and while colon cancer mortality rates have dropped over the past 4-5 years, colonoscopies are the only way of catching this killer early. Can you imagine  Read more 

The scandal that is the state of Healthcare in America is coming to the Department of Transportation! Evil privatization! The Feds are selling (well, leasing, really, but what else is a long lease, of, say 75 years?) our Interstate Highways, bit by bit, to private corporations. From MotherJones The Highwayman: DeFazio to Take on Privatization:

Even though [Senator Pete] DeFazio has now ascended to the key post on the Highways committee, it remains to be seen whether or not his efforts will slow the privatization trend, which has the enthusiastic backing of the Bush administration. To this end, the president recently nominated D.J. Gribbin to be general counsel to the Department of Transportation. Who is Gribbin you might wonder? A former general counsel to the Federal Highway Administration, he has most recently been working on behalf of Macquarie Holdings, Inc., a branch of the very same company that has been so avidly buying up the nation's highways

This is worse than just selling the "naming rights" for stadiums (stadia?) and arenas!  Read more 

Just Because It's An Old Idea Doesn't Mean It's A Bad Idea One of the characteristics of the illness I call "americanism" is the tendency to pay attention to style and hype rather than truth.  Read more