Worse Than Retired Colonel Heckling Commander in Chief on House Floor

Kids Too Small to Fail

The Story That Made Me Tear Up My Prepared Speech at a Big Education Conference:

We live in a country that, one year ago this month, came together with a sense of national emergency, and bailed out banks that were “too big to fail.”

Shouldn’t we also be living in a country that can come together right now and bail out schoolchildren that are too small to be allowed to fail before they have been allowed to succeed?

. . .This is about much more than money. It’s about our priorities as a nation.

Sorry to Say, Dale’s Not Kidding About Darwin

Harvard’s Humanist of the Year blogging about this momentous movie news:

I suppose it’s time to change the last few seconds of the trailer to,
“Not coming anytime soon.”

No Such Thing as a Free Lurch. . .

. . .into America’s health care cafeteria. You may not be able to write a check and your insurance company might not be willing to — but somebody will get stuck with the bill.

So sayeth Carl Hiaasen:

A close member of my family recently had an accident in which she suffered multiple bone fractures and a partially collapsed lung. . .

I called the insurance company and said that, while we greatly appreciated the bill being paid, it was difficult to comprehend how those particular 24 hours of medical care could cost more than 11 grand.

The woman taking my call patiently checked over the bill on her computer. She said the hospital room itself was “only” $750. The bulk of the charge was for two CAT scans, totaling more than $6,000.

We love Hiaasen here in Florida. If you haven’t discovered him yet, here’s a good Salon interview.
Over LUNCH!