Being self-employed, I get to pay 100% of my health insurance costs. As I pay for it through BC&BS I get it a little bit cheaper than if I were to purchase it through a for-profit insurance company, but it's still very expensive. I am well aware that as I am fairly well paid, this burden does not fall as heavily on me as it would on other people in my position. But still, it's enough to hurt.

What really hurts is the thought that 30% of my premium does not go to my healthcare. I'm not moaning about the fact that part of my premium goes to pay for those who don't have insurance and who are forced to use the ER. Everybody should have access to care and if that's the only way that some can get it, I'm willing to pitch in. What I do find apalling is that 30% of my premium goes to overhead (on an industry-wide average). Medicare seems to be able to do the same job with an overhead of approx. 3%. There's quite obviously something wrong here.

I'd like to see the Medicare system expanded to include everyone regardless of income level, or immigration status. Yes, it will kick up my federal tax bill, but I'm already paying and I would at least be able to know that we would all have access to medical and dental care.

To those who scream "socialized medicine" I say, so freakin' what? For millions of people, socilaized medicine with an emphasis on prevention and its attendant dealys for non-critical stuff will be a great improvement. For those who want to pay for them, the botique practices will still be there.

The Republicans are in favor of continuing this war, screw what the public thinks.

The Democrats are afraid to take any steps that might actually stop the war, screw what the public thinks.

The divergency of points of view in the Capitol regarding Iraq is breathtaking. The heartless vs. the spineless.

The relationship between authority and responsibility is interesting when it comes to delegation. You can delgate authority, but W is going to find that the responsibility stays right in the Oval Office. In short, the cut-out isn't going to work.

Of course, given that this Administration has mastered the executive art of divorcing responsibility and consequences (admittedly, not something unique to the W regime) and Congress hasn't been able to shift itself out of enabling mode, I don't know that it's really going to matter. After all, Jr. had his "accountability moment" back in 2004 and as he's not running for anything ever again, the general feeling at 1600 is that we should all go into a round room and sit in the corner.

I'd like for the American people to rate as highly as the Iraqi parliament in the eyes of the Republicans in Congress and at the White House. We've been asking for the troops to come home for some time now ....

My understanding is that since resigning Monica Goodling is a private citizen. What is she doing with such documents now? She has no more right to them than I do.

She also claims to be bound by DoJ guidlines. She doesn't work for them any longer and even if she did "guidelines" do not have the effect of law, at least not the last time I looked. The worst they could do would be to fire her.

I wonder how her attorney could consider these documents untouchable. If Jr. wants to claim executive privelege for these documents, let him do so openly.

Whine, whine, whine.

The lack of a veto-proof majority excuse is lame beyond belief. W hasn't got any kind of a majority at all yet seems to be able to get what he wants. Is Harry Reid trying to tell us that he is so inept at running the Senate that he can't find a way to make Bush and his merry band of war-criminals feel more pain by vetoing than not? And Pelosi has even fewer limits than Reid does. LBJ and Tip O'Neill must be rolling over in their graves. OK, they did have veto-proof majorities, at times, but do you think they couldn't have figured something out?

Good lord people, I got some news for you - the Republicans are going to say nasty, hurtful things about the Dems no matter what they do. They might even (gasp!) run someone against them in the election. And if they keep going the way they are, the people that run against them just might win, or more accurately, the Dems just might lose. So, might as well get up on their back legs and kick some ass on the way out, rather than just whimper "Please, don't hurt me".

Oh and Mr. Lloyd - after 12 years the "3rd party is the same as Republican" bullshit is getting really tired. If the Dems want to run to their right, they should expect to lose support on their left. Once the Dems get the center-right independents to vote for them, they'll need to pass the type bills required to keep their vote, i.e. they type that the Republicans would pass. So the Dems need to decide what they want rather than trying to have it both ways.

He thinks that answering the question about John Aschcrot's hospital room brouhaha would make him look bad. He'd rather have us guessing than know.

He thinks that releasing the information about OBL might make him look good and possibly help take away some of the attention from Goodling's testimony today.

The political calculus is simple.

I didn't say I'd buy it, I know he's a lying sack of shit, but I'll bet enough people will go for it that he'll just scrape by. Just like he's done all of his miserable life.

As far as Worst President Ever® goes, I'd say he has an absolute lock on it. If anybody manages to crawl under this bozo, I hope it's long after I'm pushing up daisies.