I've been struck, particularly over the past few days, by the quality of the comments I'm getting on this blog. I appear to have some very intelligent, very thoughtful readers. I'm trying to run a high-class joint here, and you guys make it look easy.
So, here's to you.
And this post is for you: Consider it a metaphorical round of drinks on the house. Also an open thread.
Cheers!
cheers
I'll drink to a Democrat in 2004. Unfortunately, as a Brit, I don't have a great deal to look forward to, politically speaking. Tony Blair is a shallow, spinning liar who doesn't appear to understand the value of personal liberty, but he's still better than the Tories.
Mine's a pint of best bitter. Not too cold. Cheers.
Make mine an overpriced latte with whole milk and a dash of chocolate. Are those pastries fresh?
Make mine an overpriced latte with whole milk and a dash of chocolate. Are those pastries fresh?
This is a bar, not a Starbucks, lady.
But I may have an old box of beef jerky or some pickled eggs in in the back. Lemme go check . . .
" I'll drink to a Democrat in 2004. Unfortunately, as a Brit, I don't have a great deal to look forward to, politically speaking. Tony Blair is a shallow, spinning liar who doesn't appear to understand the value of personal liberty, but he's still better than the Tories."
'Do not EVER get lost in the party system of politics.'
- - - Geo Washington , farewell address.
A shot and a beer...mmm...a toast to the missing Texas Democrats!
Cognac?
I'd be happy to provide some IPA from Oregon for your bar, Billmon. We also have some nice Pinot Noir or Chardonay that I could recommend.
Nice place you have setup here.
[Technical aside: I was thinking about what great graphics you've been providing for your posts earlier today. What program are you using to gin them up for us?]
I'd ask for a Primo but they went out of business about 20 years ago. Gimme a Lone Star, also in honor of the missing Texas Democrats.
Dr. Howard Dean on health care.
From Associated Press: Democratic Candidate Shapes Health Plan
"He discovered there were lots of small steps he could take that actually made a difference," said Kathy Hoyt, who served as Dean's chief of staff. "So he kept pushing at it, year after year."
In later years, Dean focused on expansion of health care for adults, providing coverage to custodial parents and caregiver relatives with incomes up to 185 percent. The state has a prescription drug benefit for people with incomes up to 400 percent of the poverty level.
Dean also oversaw enhanced coordination between the health care system and the school system to identify children eligible for the health benefits. Much of the expanded health care programs were financed by a combination of federal aid, money from the tobacco settlement and increases in the cigarette tax.
"Vermont has been a real model," said Jack Meyer, president of the Washington-based Economic and Social Research Institute, which studies state health care initiatives.
"They have put together a package that really tries to -- whether it is pregnant women, or kids, or parents or even childless adults -- look at the entire population and provide something for everybody in poverty, and most of the near-poor as well," Meyer said."
From Reuters: Democrat Dean Unveils Plan for Health Coverage
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean is to outline a plan on Tuesday to vastly expand U.S. health care coverage, making it easier for families to afford health insurance and for small businesses to offer it to employees.
Dean, a doctor and former governor of Vermont who has promised to put health care at the heart of his 2004 White House campaign, said his plan also would penalize large companies that do not make it easy for employees to buy insurance by taking away corporate tax breaks.
"To me, health care isn't simply a policy issue, it's a moral imperative," said Dean, according to the text of a speech he will deliver on Tuesday at Columbia University in New York.
"Here, in the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it's simply wrong for a sick child to go without seeing a doctor because her parents can't afford it," he said, noting the United States was the last of the major industrialized countries to provide universal health care.
Dean, who expanded health coverage in Vermont during his term as governor, is the second of nine Democratic contenders vying for the right to challenge President Bush to release a detailed plan for health care coverage for the 41 million uninsured Americans.
His proposal would expand existing state and federal plans to allow health care coverage to every child and young adult up to age 25 while offering tax and other incentives to help working families afford insurance.
...
"We can do this if we take part of the Bush tax cuts and use it to create a practical system giving every American an affordable way to purchase health insurance," Dean said.
...
"We must remember that the important distinction in this election isn't between the details of the Democratic plans," said Dean. "It's the distinction between Democrats -- who view this as a moral imperative -- and President Bush, who for over two years has failed to address this issue."
The Doctor is in!
I'll take a white russian, and comment that, perhaps sadly, I strongly PREFER your dumbed-down, candy metaphor for economics. EVERYTHING is easier ot understand is you make it, well, easier to understand. Here's to metephors and the hope you continue to break down the complexities into digestible terms for us.
I'll take a white russian
I've been getting a lot of emails from her. I keep telling her I'm already married, but still I keep getting the emails.
She has a thing for bartenders, I guess . . .
I see The Thief is about to make yet ANOTHER speech, broadcast live, of course. I wonder how he'll spin the attack in Saudi Arabia.
Do you think he'll actually use the term Clenis(TM)?
Thanks for the collective complement. But how do you know that we're not at Klingons-r-us.com when we're not reading you?
Keep up the good work.
But how do you know that we're not at Klingons-r-us.com when we're not reading you?
What you do on your own time is your own business.
(I'd say that in Klingon if I knew how.)
Anyone out there speak Klingon?
Here is a link to Clare Short's resignation speech in full. Cheers.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=405769
You asked for it:
The Galactic Phrasebook
Gee. Did you know a bar or saloon is a "tach" in Klingon?
parkhest Damn!(swearing)
Oooh ... how about this Klingon gem:
DaH HIHoH Have a nice day! (lit. a command, 'Kill me now!') suggested as a joke - so that naive tourists would ask to be killed.
(Yes, I have better things to do than this today ... I just can't seem to get around to doing them ...)
awww, what a sweety, you are billmon...
and--what?--no guinness?
okay, set me up a lone star too....any texas democrats want to crash at my place, the door's open.
So very glad you started blogging, Billmon - great writing & thinking & humor. (And such a nice young man. Scotch please, better make it a triple. And some purple skunk chaser.)
And such a nice young man.
Shucks, I bet you say that to all the bartenders.
Have any darker beer?