ObamaCare In The News

ObamaCare remains in the news with two items.

First, the Affordable Care Act is anything but:

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration adopted a strict definition of affordable health insurance on Wednesday that will deny federal financial assistance to millions of Americans with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by employers.

In deciding whether an employer's health plan is affordable, the Internal Revenue Service said it would look at the cost of coverage only for an individual employee, not for a family. Family coverage might be prohibitively expensive, but federal subsidies would not be available to help buy insurance for children in the family.

The policy decision came in a final regulation interpreting ambiguous language in the 2010 health care law.

Ooopos! We had Boldly Predicted that Team Obama would go with the budget-busting "fix" of expanding the elibibility for subsidies. I guess not.

And Team Obama continues to retreat in its war on organized religion:

 Obama administration changes contraception rules

By: Donovan Slack and Jennifer Haberkorn

February 1, 2013 11:28 AM EST

For the second time in a year, the Obama administration has backtracked on its requirement to make religious institutions pay for contraception.

A new policy announced Friday further expanded the exemption to Obamacare: Women will still be able to get the same health benefits, but certain religious employers won’t have to pay for them. Instead, institutions that insure themselves can use a third-party to find a separate health insurance plan to pay for and provide the contraceptives.

Bitter-Clinger leaders were non-committal:

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was non-committal about the new policy.

“We welcome the opportunity to study the proposed regulations closely,” Dolan said in a statement. “We look forward to issuing a more detailed statement later.”

The Catholic Church has survived for two thousand years; they will survive Obama.

I'LL TELL YOU WHO WILL BE SHOCKED...

Kevin Drum delivers some misdirected snark:

Conservatives Shocked to Discover Healthcare in America is Really Expensive

"Can you respond to this?" asks a reader via Twitter. "Conservative friends are posting it all over." It turns out that "this" is a headline from CNS:

IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family

Apparently conservatives are outraged by this, but I have one question for them: just how much do you think healthcare coverage costs? Do you have any clue at all?

Well, I would have guessed about $15,000, but that is only becasue I have been following this question of affordability and subsidies. But guess who may not have been following it?

The average cost of healthcare coverage for a family is currently about $16,000, and by 2015 (the base year for the IRS examples) that will probably be around $18,000 or so. And that's for employer-sponsored plans. Individual plans are generally steeper, so $20,000 isn't a bad guess. It might be a little high, but not by much. And the family in question will, of course, be eligible for generous subsidies that bring this cost down substantially, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. They won't actually pay $20,000 per year.

Maybe they will be eligible, maybe they won't. With ObamaCare, getting married will be a luxury only the rich can afford.

Comments

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Family coverage might be prohibitively expensive, but federal subsidies would not be available to help buy insurance for children in the family.--

If Barrycare mandates contraception and abortion coverage: problem solved.

[Cecil Turner]

They mentioned the court cases, but not that the [main?] one in Saint Louis was dismissed yesterday

ST. LOUIS • A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the St. Louis Archdiocese and Catholic Charities alleging the U.S. government’s mandate to fund contraception and other services violates their religious liberties.

U.S. District Judge John A. Ross dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday, saying it was premature because of the government’s intent to make changes in the law and because religious and nonprofit groups were given until August to comply.

I don't see how even the new rules could survive a constitutionality review, but . . . we'll see.

[boatbuilder]

It looks like the same dodge they were selling previously as a "compromise" on the contraceptive issue--Catholic employers don't have to directly fund contraception; but they have to purchase third-party insurance which is required to include contraception. "What difference does it make at this point?"

[Porchlight]

Dolan means business. He won't accept any kind of tortured third-party agreement.

[Frau Steingehirn]

Dolan for president!

[Old Lurker]

Cross posting because I was so late to the dance several threads back...

Cecil from 9:49: "Well, in the first place, the President has a right to the cabinet he desires (barring some egregious unsuitability or criminality). The cabinet is supposed to function to implement the President's policies, which is the real rub for most on the right."

Cecil, if that were so, why does the Constitution require the Advice and Consent of those nominations. Were I a Senator, I would think that requires me to state my advice, requires the President to request it, and the nomination would require our approval. Nowhere does "egregious unsuitability or criminality" enter the clause does it, and even if it did, what is egregious to me might not be to you?

As to the Cabinet "functioning to implement the President's policies", I would agree except that the mandated check/balance is that those policies have to be funded by the Congress which has another duty to pass a budget that the President will sign.

The guy ain't a king....yet.

[maryrose]

OL:
Right you are!
Daschle did not become HHS Secretary because the Senate said no and he had tax problems. Geithner had tax problems too but managed to skate by. Any repub that voted for him deserves a trip to the woodshed
Hagel is unqualified and unsuitable. Barry needs to pick someone else.
I absolutely love the slap back of Bammy's Obamacare wrt covering contraceptives by religious groups. Yes Bammy, we do cling to our religion and you can't force us to violate our principles.We aren't Muslims -R-Us.

[Jack is Back]

The State has rejected GZ's request for a delay in their latest motion responding to the request.

Now up to the judge to decide.

Sticking point seems to be access to Trayvon Martin's social media and cell phone as well as to Witness No. 8 which the State is playing "squirrel" with it seems.

[Firehand]

So... "Your church won't have to pay for abortions and such DIRECTLY, you can do it through a third party; doesn't that make it all better?"
Uh, no.

That they either can't understand that, or keep thinking everybody will roll over for them is interesting. And kind of disgusting.

[daddy]

JimmyK,

Just awoke. I'll be up at Keeley's about 4:15 for a quick one. Hopefully they have WiFi so I can catch up with whats going on in the world.

NK, I'm here tomorrow, but again have to quit imbibing by 4 pm or so in order to be sober by midnight. Other than that I'm flexible.

Off now to get a cab to Keeley's. Thank goodness this time I don't have to stop at Customs first.

[daddy]

JimmyK just showed up, and we've got a cute waitress!

[rse]

Oh fun! I want to be there.

[Jack is Back]

Lets say the JOM crowd is more interested in guns than contraceptives.

daddy, say hi to jimmyk. Our visit was way to short due to my mismanagement of dates and times.

Did you see my post on the influx of Alaskan license plates in our corner of Florida? What's up with That?

[narciso]

THis piece is even more odious, from bgates's neck of the woods;

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-george-zimmerman-defense-fund-20130201,0,7622671.story

Does she have the poise of an athlete.

[narciso]

I was mentioning, daddy, from my previous thread, a novel about Theodora, that draws mostly from the earlier works of Procopius, the Buildings and the Wars,

[Captain Hate]

narc, I assume that the novel doesn't portray her as an insatiable nympho tramp.

[narciso]

I did say mostly, didn't I, it gives her credit for leadership through the Nika riots, and other instances, it relies on Gibbon, who had a slightly less jaundiced viewpoint,

[Jack is Back]

narciso,

Remember all those threads and expert comments on the GZ and Trayvon incident back in the day? Obviously, we are finally educating JOM in the nuances of the Florida jurisprudence system and the cowards that populate it.

[Peter]

Daddy and jimmyk, enjoy. One of these meetups, I am going to extricate myself from family commitments and join. Have a craft beer or two. and you are close enough to have a real New York treat, a hot dog and a papaya drink at the corner of 86th and Lex

[Captain Hate]

Nooner's latest is a real laugh riot.

Mr. Scarborough, a former GOP congressman who now hosts MSNBC's "Morning Joe," broadened the criticism: "I think the debate within the party has been stifled," he said. "It has been stifled because we have created this conservative groupthink over 30 years that's become more and more narrow. . . . Everybody's afraid to talk."

She must be trying to assure her continued presence on Morning Joe where she can interact with fellow RINOs and dimwits ("Mika, I wonder if people think we're sisters" "Um don't nuns have funny uniforms?"). Speaking of which, ace discovered the sublime pleasure of ridiculing Mika while posting about grown up Scarborough petulantly refusing to identify Cruz by name because of his lack of comity (one of the left's favorite words) in questioning Hagel.

[narciso]

He does seem to take Vizzini, as his watchword, doesn't he, his own 'epistemic closure'

[narciso]

'Good News, everybody' Scott Pelley will be interviewing Obama, for the Superbowk, well that's one way of describing it, the other was the Katie/Larry act.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Scarborough petulantly refusing to identify Cruz by name because of his lack of comity--

I have ten times the contempt for a goddamned dumbass like Scarborough who enables the leftist character assassins while castigating any Republican who doesn't smile while getting kicked in the teeth as I do for the actual assassins.

[Porchlight]

I cannot wait to have a President who doesn't insert himself into every Super Bowl.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Interesting story by Rick Reilly on 49er's quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

[dave]

Actually snarkette (Drum) is wrong. For many families, the subsidy will not be available for all family members' insurance costs.

[rse]

Maybe his interview can be the lead-in to the Newtown chorus so he can tee up the emotions we are supposed to experience

[centralcal]

RIP - Barney Bush (12 y.o)

There are too many threads today!

BTW - where is Clarice off to for 19 days? Doesn't she know some of us are addicted to her Pieces and will suffer withdrawal?

The nerve!

[narciso]

Yes, it's got a very Hunger Gamesish feeling to it, with President Snow and I forget the toadyish emcee, particularly since the author, Stephanie Collins, is from Newtown,

OTOH, Kate Upton will be the BMW spot,

[daddy]

What a fun chat!

If any of you guys haven't yet done a JOM meeting because of nervousness or whatever, please just do one to get the butterflies out of your system and you'll find they're wonderful and worth doing over and over again. Very fun jabber with excellent folks.

It is now 06:30 PM NYTime, and I am at the window of Keeley's watching the traffic outside, and finishing a Belgium Chouffe draft, just after JimmyK left. It is so cool getting reports of his meet-ups with Danube and Clarice and JiB and young Frederick and Janet and NK and Melinda and the Captain and Soylent, etc. Marvelous man, great smile, very fun and wonderfully interesting. He caught me up on the stuff I haven't followed for the last few days, and I learned about his fun trips to Australia. Somehow I came upon some KInder Eggs in my luggage which I had no idea at all were there, and luckily I was able to pass them on to JimmyK's daughter. (Hope she doesn't choke on that dangerous, dangerous contraband.) How Customs missed those is beyond me.

(Prompts me to suggest that we ought to have an annual "JOM break the Law Day", where we all decide to consciously break some stupid Law on a given day and write up the crime. BTW, It's easy in my job to break stupid Laws all the time, so it may take you guys a bit more thinking to discover stupid Laws worth breaking, but I'm confident if you put your mind to it, you can do it!)

Anyhow, talking about Fraunces Tavern from last week, JimmyK was interested is seeing if the location in New York still existed of where Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton had the dinner where they cut the deal to create a new Capitol in DC in exchange for the Southern states assuming their share of the War Debt. Great idea. Sounds like a neat project. (My Walking Tour guide in Paris recently told me that Jefferson's place in Paris where he stayed was knocked down, but that some of the places he hung out at over there still existed and that about once a year they do a walking tour of Franklin's and Jefferson's remaining hangouts in that city.) That conversation prompted JimmyK to gave a good steer on a Hamilton bio.--(Chernows) That caused me to pull out my Grant's Memoirs (almost done) and the page I was reading (565), was where Grant says that 5 days after Lee's surrender, 09 April 1865, he had personally been invited by Abe Lincoln to bring his wife along to the Theater to join the Pres in his theater box. Geez! Who knew? I sure didn't. Grant said "I did get through (my work) and started by the evening train on the 14th, sending Mr. Lincoln word, of course, that I would not be at the Theater."

Good chat about Menendez, Hagel, Governor Scott Walker, Senator's Cruz and Rubio, and the rest of the usual suspects, as JimmyK caught me up. Then he headed off to wherever, and our cute redheaded waitress recommends the Chicken Wings. Okay by me---I'm easy:)

[Captain Hate]

RIP - Barney Bush (12 y.o)

I love Scotties because they're ornery little suckers (one across the street bit an Old English Sheepdog we had [which was fine with me since he subsequently opened me up; the only dog to ever do that] and currently wants to go at it with Maggie the Airedale, who would win) and I particularly liked Barney for having taken a chunk out of an MFMer in a sterling evaluation of character. RIP indeed.

Sorry I couldn't be there with you and jimmyk, daddy.

[daddy]

JiB,

I missed your Alaska License plates post and your post on the lost Siberian guys. If you could steer me or repost, many thanks. I apologize for being so far behind.

Captain Hate,

It is funny to talk to JimmyK about ACC hoops. I will not embarrass our good professor as he was a tad uncertain as to whether it was me or you who was a Terp and whether the other went to that Infidel School, Dook. To put it in Biblical terms, it is easier for a camel to pass thru the eye of a needle than for a Yankee to understand ACC Basketball:)

[Janet]

"JOM break the Law Day",

Excellent idea. I've got an old pic somewhere...
Smoking & playing with my dog at a rest stop next to a sign that says - Stay off the grass. No smoking. All dogs must be on leashes.

[Captain Hate]

Well we tend to talk in tongues which is appropriate for a conference where Bojangles is such a prominent sponsor.

[Janet]

If any of you guys haven't yet done a JOM meeting because of nervousness or whatever, please just do one to get the butterflies out of your system and you'll find they're wonderful and worth doing over and over again. Very fun jabber with excellent folks.

Very true. 2nd & 3rd meet ups get even better. I wish I'd of had longer to talk with jimmyk....and Captain Hate too on his visit to the DC area.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Janet-

We might be at Pohick Church in June.

[Janet]

I keep stealing matt's FB posts...
but this is interesting - Amid gun control debate, does 'skeet-gate' matter?

My nephew on FB posted (& has since taken down)a remark like, 'who cares if Obama can't shoot skeet.'
I wrote that apparently HE CARES since he is the one that lied about it.
This must really be bothering the Obama lovers. They have no idea what a liar he is with his entire phony life narrative.

[Janet]

I'd love to meet you, Mel. Just give a holler.

[Extraneus]

4 arrested for defying San Francisco's nudity ban

If there's one city I'd pick for a nudity ban, it would be SF.

[narciso]

Thankfully, there was no Zombie type slideshow,

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

I really wish Sean Bielat would run for senate. I hear Richard Tisea may throw his hat in. I'd actually like the job but I think I'm too busy these days.

[daddy]

I am with you Janet.

This President is so wonderful, lets find out just how wonderful he is.

Let us get the NRA to immediately publicize and promote an MSM Media Covered Skeet Shooting performance by the President at his earliest convenience.

Our President is so very eager to have so many shots of him playing Basketball and shooting hoops, that it must of course follow that he would love to have his skeet showing prowess publicized for the Nation as well. Have it at a very well publicized locale, have the media and the videos rolling, and lets see if our CIC, who loves shooting skeet (and does it frequently if press reports are to be believe) , can even hit a single clay pigeon as the cameras honestly record his cluelessness and ineptness. We should merely demand that we be allowed to observe all of the President's shooting preparation and practice between now and the date of his Skeet Shooting performance, and that it be carefully recorded and all media videos of the event be publicized in order to accomplish the "transparency" that his Administration touts at every instance. This way the President will have a wonderful opportunity to prove to America that he is not a phony.

I'm for it. How do we push this?

[centralcal]

omg - be still my heart - Senator Jane from JOM (R-MA) has such a nice ring to it!

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Thankfully, there was no Zombie type slideshow....--

Why is it 9 times out of 10 the people who want us to see them taking a stroll in the buff look like buffs?

[narciso]

It would be great, Central, failing that, this seems to be the likely candidate;

http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2013/02/brown-out-latino-republican-likely-in.html

[Frau Steingehirn]

I read "Lost in the Taiga" about the Old Believers who hid in Siberia. As I remember, one of the problems was the way to make the sign of the cross in Czarist times. The Old Believers did not accept *any* reforms.

The Council of 1666-1667, nevertheless, reversed several decisions of the Stoglav Council held under Ivan the Terrible over a century earlier in 1551. Thus the use of three fingers to make the sign of the cross was no longer anathematized. On the contrary, the Synod of 1666-1667 anathematized all those who continue to make the sign of the cross with two fingers. Protopresbyter Abbacum was among those anathematized. He was imprisoned for another decade, after which he was burnt alive by order of the State.

LUN for daddy

[daddy]

Jane is running? Where do I donate?

It is about time another JOMer besides me had the courage to run for the US Senate.

As you'll recall I got zero votes in my official run against Murkowski:( Heck, wonder if i got any campaign donations?

BTW, Still at Keeley's Bar @ 8 PM. A nice and fun hangout.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Senator Jane from JOM

I'd be the very first senator that had to consult with my on-line posse before I took a vote. I dare say it would be an improvement.

[Jack is Back]

daddy,

The link to the Old Believers who survived in the taiga in Siberia for 40 years.

Sleep well. Safe flight home.

[Jack is Back]

Jane,

Why don't you do what the rest of them do and just listen to the Jewish lobby or the NARAL lobby or the NRA lobby:)

[Gus]

My brother has a great Barney story. The May after Condoleeza Rice left office, my brother took her to visit W. After a week, he came to pick up Dr Rice and W. came to the door. Barney and the other dog took off running. As my brother went to pick up Dr Rice's luggage, W told him......"I'll get the luggage, you get F@#$ING the dogs!!!"
We always get a laugh when he tells the story.

[Melinda Romanoff on Kindle]

7 degrees outside and I'm chillin' with Miles in Spain.

Aside from that Illinois thingie hangin' around everyone's neck. Life ain't bad from the comfort of this basement.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

If she's going to run I suggest Jane buy a bike. :)

[narciso]

Hagel's responses really did lower the ball, Steyn gives a little flavor of it, how I could have come up with a better answer, just in the Al Jazeera interview:

'America, a bully, you should review your history in this region, we protected Saudi Arabia from Saddam, forced him out of Kuwait, ran food convoys in Somalia, intervened in Bosnia and Kosovo, liberated Afghanistan from
the Taliban, Iraq from the Baathist clique that Saddam stood atop'

[Dave (in MA)]

I really wish Sean Bielat would run for senate. I hear Richard Tisea may throw his hat in.

While I'd vote for Tisei over any imaginable Dem, he's for the "assault weapons" ban. Howie Carr said on his show tonight that he thinks Bielat is done with politics.

[matt]

Some of the best shotgunners in the country are from the VA/MD area. Maybe the NRA should invite the Preznit out for a shotgun and beers day out at a nice range.

He can demonstrate the finer points of his skeet technique, maybe out at Station 4 or so, and the experts could put on a clinic for the chirrun.

Afterwards they can have a beer summit and he can explain the fine points of his proposed policy dealing with high capacity shotgun magazines n stuff....

As to the dogs, Gus, we had that happen at our house last week. I'm still scratched up from chasing the big one through the damn bushes. Neighbor rang the doorbell and the dogs decided to make a break for it.

Trying to hold back one at 70 lbs and the other at 90 was impossible. They don't go far, but they're meatheads and we worry about their getting hit.

[narciso]

Here is Steyn, he leaves Hagel, complaining of
'flesh wounds'

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/339573/containing-hagel-mark-steyn

[RichatUF]

Jane-

Why not? I'd donate to the cause. And Senator Jane (JOM-MA) has a nice ring to it.

[Gus]

Matt, it just cracks me up that the former President had his dogs run loose, and was so folksy normal about it. My brother did chase down and get the "f@#$ing dogs". But it just illustrated to me, that George Bush is like you and me in many ways.
Obama, not so much. In my brothers State Dept career, he has been in the presence and company of W.Bush a number of times, and my brother has shared some anecdotes. My brother is no fan of Bush, but respects him as a man immensely.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Dave,

I got to listen to Howie for a long time today, driving home from Boston in rush hour. I cannot imagine doing that every day.

[narciso]

A little extortion, to end the week;

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2013/02/usa-panetta-cuts-make-second-rate-power-020113/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[Janet]

How do we get some promo skeet made for the event...or should his picture be on the shotgun?

FF: Have you ever fired a gun?

Obama: "Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time."

[narciso]

'most lack all conviction (except a few) and the worst are filled with passionate intensity'

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/02/happy-birthday-andrew-breitbart/#comments

[Threadkiller]

JOM meetings always fascinate me, Daddy.

Tell me more about the redhead.

[Thomas Collins]

Re the link at Ignatz's 5:43 PM post: In my opinion, it's none of my business, and none of Reilly's or anyone else's business, whether Kaepernick wants to be in contact with Heidi Russo, the woman who did the male/female thing, got pregnant with Colin and put him up for adoption. If Reilly thinks it is a fine thing that Reilly's adopted daughter is in contact with the woman who acted similarly vis a vis Reilly's adopted daughter, good for Reilly. But he is out of bounds, as far as I am concerned, with suggesting that Kaepernick should be in contact with Heidi Russo.

In my opinion, Heidi Russo's not aborting the unborn Colin and Russo's putting him up for adoption satisfies the minimal standards of what I would expect an individual to do in a similar situation, if that individual decided not to be the mother to her unborn child. She has no claim on Colin's affections and no claim for him to contact her.

This is the ultimate personal decision, and I have no repect for those in the press for asking Kaepernick about this or pontificating about Heidi Russo's pain and how Kaepernick should contact her.

[Janet]

Howie Carr said on his show tonight that he thinks Bielat is done with politics.

Our loss.
And Jane would make a wonderful Senator. Can you imagine a Senator that actually read the bills? It would be so refreshing.
I remember one Bielat/Kennedy debate. I believe a deaf person wanted something. Bielat said he was sympathetic but he'd have to look into it more. Kennedy promised he'd do whatever the guy wanted.

[Dave (in MA)]

Jane, doing what - driving home from Boston or listening to Howie?

[Dave (in MA)]

--
Ari Fleischer ‏@AriFleischer
After yesterday's hearing, I'm very worried about what Chuck Hagel as SecDef would do if he was awakened by a 10:00am call.
--

[Thomas Collins]

I hope the depo went well, Jane. I know after a day in Boston you just want to escape the city, but if you ever want to linger, give me a call and we'll whoop it up at Brandypeet's.

[Jane on Ipad]

Dave,

The commute. I'm a Howie fan. TC I miss you. We will get together soon.

[Jane on Ipad]

Janet,

My eyes are getting so bad I can barely read a post never mind a bill. Can I hire you to do it for me?

[Gus]

Folks. Be friggin' serious for just a moment.

What the F#$% qualifies Chuck Hagel to be the HEAD OR OUR DEFENSE???

Seriously. What the fuck has happened to this nation??

[daddy]

Beer is talking, but... It strikes me that if we start to consciously disregard Stupid Laws, and that we do it in Public, and we do our best to establish the stupidity of the Laws we are disregarding, even after the fact, that something positive may come of this. We may be able to use Saul Sli kis ki tsctic nummer whateerver to edicatate on the tyo even use the David Gregory excuse for culpability--He broke the Laws for an informative point of Journalism.

[daddy]

sorry so many typo's prior to posting for the above---but the sentiment remains.

[narciso]

'Are you scared' I understood that daddy, it's the Iphone isn't it?

http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/02/01/Let-Me-Get-This-Straight

[Sue]

TC

I totally agree with you. And the caption says adoptive parents. Those are his parents. Bugged me.

[Janet]

I'll read em for ya for free, Jane.

This up at Drudge - Report shows UN admitting solar activity may play significant role in global warming...

Where do we go to get back all our money that has been WASTED on the AGW scam for years? Higher gas prices, higher food prices, nit-wit ideas, paying more for light bulbs!
Enviros suing businesses, construction companies having to jump through "green" hoops,....
waste, waste, waste.

[Jimmyk]

Just getting back from my night out. Thanks, daddy, for a great hour that seemed to pass like 10 minutes, too quickly. And for the kinder eggs and Belgian brew. So far there have been no knocks on the door by the Feds to take me away in the middle of the night for possession of contraband. But if there are no posts from me for a few days, you might want see if I'm sharing a cell with that video guy.

[Gus]

Jimmyk!!!

KNOCK KNOCK!!!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Anyone for a waltz?

Technically, yes, it's a waltz.

[Rick Ballard]

TC,

Plato did proffer advice on wrestling but none on wrestling with an idiot such as Reilly.

OTOH - we don't really know which dialogs were written immediately prior to Olympiads and we certainly don't know what the chatter in the agora concerning Olympians may have involved.

2500 years of panem et circenses with no end in sight.

[Rick Ballard]

TC,

Plato did proffer advice on wrestling but none on wrestling with an idiot such as Reilly.

OTOH - we don't really know which dialogs were written immediately prior to Olympiads and we certainly don't know what the chatter in the agora concerning Olympians may have involved.

2500 years of panem et circenses with no end in sight.

[clarice]

Thanks, CC. I'm now briefly in Chicago..continue on to HK tomorrow and then at see until the 19th in Singapore and then home. I left a column for this Sunday. But I will miss 2 weeks, IT connections are slow and it would be hard to do .

[narciso]

The wiley Canadian menace, must be kept at bay at all times;

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/02/01/state-dept-er-were-gonna-need-to-delay-that-keystone-pipeline-another-few-months/

[Gus]

So Rodham kept KEYSTONE and JOBS from coming to fruition for 4 years. YET!! She is completely unaware NOR responsible for our own people being MURDERED in BENGHAZI.
How completely and utterly ABSURD.
Rodham is a clown.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Clarice in Chicago and no phone call.

Hmmmm.

[Captain Hate]

Plato did proffer advice on wrestling but none on wrestling with an idiot such as Reilly

Reilly needs a tall order of STFU and a shot in the chops to mind his own business. If I were Kaepernick that would be the last time I'd interact with him. Attitudes of adopted kids range all over the place and for that imbecile to decide that one way is superior to another adds another data point to my opinion of just how dim most MFM people are.

[narciso]

How goes Middlemarch, Captain. I might have given up on it too soon, from the Karl bio on Elliot,

[Melinda Romanoff]

While we're waltzing, here's "Waltz For Debby", by Bill Evans. A waltz he wrote for his niece, upon her request. This is a cleaner version of the original, by the same artists.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Gus-

A word challenge for you.

"Tommy Emmanuel".

DISCUSS.

[narciso]

That has more of the flavor of a Waltz, Waller is good but it has a different vibe, I imagine Clarice was trying to remain incognito, Melinda.

[Captain Hate]

I've got less than 100 pages, narc. I'm enjoying it a great deal albeit at a very slow pace. Allowing for subjective differences between individuals, I'd be at least a little surprised if you wouldn't enjoy it.

Btw I watched the last episode of season 4 of Breaking Bad earlier today and am kind of surprised they brought it back for another season (albeit chopped up into 2 half seasons) because it seemed like everything was wrapped up very neatly.

[Melinda Romanoff]

narciso-

It was the point, up to a point, being written for a 9 yr old.

[narciso]

I'll pick it back up eventually, I thought of starting on Daniel Deronda, but it didn't appeal to me as much. From that otherwise ponderous PBS special, I see 'Breaking' as a variation on the 'Scottish Play' the Scarface meme, never made sense because Capone, or Tony Montana was never on the straight and narrow,

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I too call BS on Reilly. As many of you know, I have five (count 'em) adopted daughters. Two were adopted in infancy. Unlike Colin's parents, we neither met nor knew the birth moms.

One of my daughters, now 35, sought her birth mom for many years and found her last year. A lovely woman who is young enough to be my daughter, she has had a very tough life, but now has her act together at age 50. She never sought my daughter out, but was happy when the state agency contacted her about meeting her. Her own mom has Alzheimers and is several years younger than I am. She and her father joined our very large family for Christmas dinner and it was a great experience for all of us.

My other daughter, now 33, like Kaepernick has no desire to seek out or meet her birth mom.

My other three daughters are natural sisters from Korea who came to us when they were 12, 9, and 7.Their parents died when the girls were quite young, so there was never any question about their origins.

The point of all this is to reinforce CH's observation at 11:15. Adoptive children, like natural children have attitudes that vary all over the place.

[narciso]

A Bizarro world, where NPR is smarter (for a moment) then ESPN, in the LUN,

[Melinda Romanoff]

And I go hide inside Chet Baker, as always.

G'night all.

[Ignatz]

I want to point out I wasn't endorsing Reilly's viewpoint. I was kind of shocked when he said he'd asked CK (it's easier than trying to spell it) about it to his face. Seemed inappropriate as did his adamant moralistic advice to him.

I do want to also point out though that I have a lot of respect for Reilly's writing and have enjoyed many good columns of his over the years.
This one was interesting to me for the story I didn't really know about CK. It was interesting but not one of Reilly's good ones for the aforementioned overreach, but I don't think he's an idiot or a moron.

[squaredance]

Sorry to hear about Barney. I always appreciated how the Bush clan treated their dogs. Tells you something about their characters.

[Jack is Back! (On his iPad)]

Reilly's attitude equals subliminal guilt at removing a child from its Mother. Even though it is lega, morally correct and very much in the Christian tradition, there is a large measure of misplaced empathy in his feelings.