If we're going to rule out raising taxes to pay for quality health care for Americans, then there is only one, time-tested, faithful-to-capitalism way to bring down costs. And that's the blistering, take-no-prisoners pressure of true market competition. Which is exactly what the public option provides.

Or you could just eliminate the current, employer-pays system by eliminating the tax incentives that created it in the first place, and let individuals purchase their own health care, and health insurance, with their own money, thus re-establishing an actual market - with both a supply side and demand side making rational, self-interested choices - in the healthcare industry.

Read Aruna Viswanatha's essay from last week about the Indian healthcare system for an example of the latter.

Sorry Joan, but Matt Welch, in 5 elegant sentences, turned your whole over-the-top, paranoid accusation of racism inside out - an accusation, by the way, that reinforced the point that Welch was subtly making in his piece about liberals and use of straw-man arguments on this issue, and what that says about the actual strength of their arguments.

I said nothing about Joe Wilson.

Truth be told, I don't really care one way or the other about Joe Wilson, his outburst, or the political ramifications of it. And for the record, no, I don't share his feelings or concerns regarding illegal immigration.

You obviously are of the mistaken impression that I am a right winger. I am a registered Democrat who voted for Obama in both the primary and the general election last year.

See, that's the thing about assumptions. They often leave you looking the fool.

Welch did not compare Obama to Snoop Dogg. He compared his "we will call you out" line with Snoop's "we will shut you down" line in the song that he linked to. As you can see from his response to Joan, the comparison was meant to highlight what he - and Joan - saw as a rhetorical strongpoint of the speech. If you read his piece, you will see that this is the only Snoop Dogg reference or comparison in it.

Are you asking this question about society in general, or about our criminal justice system?

If the former, the question can't be answered, because it is left up to the individual to determine for his or herself what, exactly, he or she will presume about anyone in any given situation.

If the latter, the presumption of innocence applies equally to everyone under our criminal justice system. However, the only time that presumption is ever relevant and important is when one is charged with a crime. Outside of that context, the presumption of innocence simply involves being left alone. So yes, the presumption of innocence applies to the accuser as well, but it doesn't have any tangible meaning or relevance for anyone but the accused.

An odd, and seemingly not well thought out, question you have posed. It seems almost as though your notion of innocence somehow includes cases in which innocence hinges on the guilt of another. I don't think such cases actually exist.

Yes. You're right. One line doesn't sound anything at all like the other. I mean, its not like there are, say, 3 out of 5 common words between them. And its not like, you know, those 3 out of 5 words are structured in the exact same way.

No, it could only have been racism that made Welch compare those two lines.

And a comparison of two rhetorical lines, by default, must of necessity also be a personal comparison of the two people who uttered them. I mean, who could even conceive of parsing rhetoric from personality and analyzing them separately and distinctly? No, it can't be done.

You're right. There is no possible explanation for this other than racism.

They're two entirely different existing expressions.

Yes, but you must admit, they both sound a lot alike. Both also have a similar overtone of hostility or aggressiveness to them. If Obama had said " we will buy you lunch" that would have been a different story, but...

It's not like nooooooooooooo one but Snoop said the first....

Can you name someone other than Snoop, but just as famous, who said it in a way that would be remarkable and memorable as Snoop making it the main refrain of a song? If so, perhaps Welch could have used that person as a comparison instead. But, off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone else.

I also noticed that Obama often used the words, "I", "and" and "but" in his speeches. Something 50 Cent is widely known to do.

Ha ha ha.

See my responses to Trudy regarding the similarity of the two phrases.

Why would it be racist, if I point out to the resemblance between two people who have nothing in common except for their race and their use of a common English phrase?

As I have said several times previously: Welch was not comparing Obama to Snoop. He was comparing the rhetorical similarity of their respective phrases. A comparison of rhetoric does not necessarily imply a comparison of personalities.

Referring to a network television commercial that, in accordance with FCC regulations, features no nudity or sexual content whatsoever, as "schlock pornography" is a little over the top. Kind of akin to, say, referring to a liberal state government with a stringent business regulatory regime as "socialist."

Just sayin...