THE WAITING ROOM LOBBY
President Obama thinks he can get the American Medical Association to support health care reform. The key, he believes, is in offering doctors protection from malpractice lawsuits. If the President succeeds, health care will be available to more Americans than every before. Lousy health care because doctors will have no incentive to avoid malpractice, but health care nonetheless. If that seems cynical, remember whom he's dealing with. The AMA is so conservative and intent on protecting it's power, that it makes the Vatican look like a commune celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock.
BLOOD, BUT NO GORE.
A photo on the front page (above the fold - for everyone schooled in the arcane art of reading a newspaper) shows Iranians protesting the results of a rigged Presidential election. A man on the ground is being beaten by four others, whom the caption describes as "the authorities." A woman, clad from head to toe in black, seems intent upon attacking them. The way the picture is cropped makes it difficult to see what she's threatening them with. It looks like her dry cleaning, but there's something green, too, so it could be a Barnes and Noble bag as well. The authorities are not wearing uniforms, but their clubs look official enough. Altogether, "Badges? We need no stinkin' badges!"
OM LA NBA CHAM PIO NS OM.
Another photo (below the fold) shows Kobe Bryant leading The Los Angeles Lakers to their fifteenth NBA Championship. This win makes their star player, a hero; coach, Phil Jackson, a legend and their number one fan, Jack Nicholson, a god. Jackson, whose many distinctions include being a Buddhist, has also made the Dalai Lama very happy. (What is the sound of two hands clapping?) But if this championship makes Jack a god, what does it make Spike Lee, number one fan for the embrassingly bad New York Knicks?
I AINT GONNA STUDY WAR NO MORE.
I'm not going to knock Thomas Friedman off the shelf, but when it comes to the Middle East, I have some cred. Pita, hummus, falafel? I ate them all before they were popular. Golda Meir and Benjamin Netanyahu? Loved her, hated him. "Bibi" has always been so hawkish and hardline in his policies that a more appropriate nickname would be, "The Metal Matzoh." Yet, the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel has just come out in favor of Palestinian Statehood. True, there are conditions attached, but this is the Middle East, where bargaining is a way of life. If conditions weren't attached, no one would believe him. It could be like Nixon going to China - if the Palestinians agree to negotiate. If not, it's like Nixon going to a Chinese restaurant. What diplomats call an "overture" and what chefs call an "appetizer."
No comments:
Post a Comment