Matt Yglesias puts the ObamaCare/Katrina comparison in a special perspective:
Since the comparison is in the air, it's worth noting the big difference between Hurricane Katrina and the botched Obamacare rollout. So here it is: 1,833 people died during Hurricane Katrina.
Obviously, George W. Bush and his administration are not responsible for all of those deaths. A storm's a storm. But let's be very generous to Bush and say that the underlying bad fundamentals are responsible for 95 percent of the damage and the bungled response gets just 5 percent of the blame. That's 91 dead people. How many people have died using HealthCare.gov? I'm pretty sure it's fewer than one.
That's one way of looking at it. Here is another, which starts thusly:
1. Bush's political party didn't design and enact Hurricane Katrina.
2. Bush didn't have 5 years to craft his response to the hurricane.
3. Bush didn't have the power to redesign the hurricane as he designed his response to it.
And a third view - Bush was at least instrumental in leading the rebuilding effort after Katrina; the jury is out on ObamaCare.
And for those scoring at the Yglesias home, we have managerial scandals and debacles ranked by immediate bodycount:
Katrina
Benghazi
Fast and Furious (US dead only)
Chappaquiddick
Watergate/ObamaCare/Whitewater/Iran-Contra (tie).
And do let's note - a standard lib talking point during the promotion of Obamacare was that access to health insurance saves lives. Dare we presume that failure to implement Obamacare thereby costs lives, eventually if not by this weekend? Ezra Klein was talking about 15,000 to 20,000 lives per year, which dwarfs the 1,833 who died at Katrina.
How many people died because of a birther comment?
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 06:51 PM
Dalton and Harvard, logic wasn't offered at either apparently.
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 06:55 PM
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/09/obamacare-killed-my-brother-in-law.html
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 06:56 PM
Bush didn't have 5 years to craft his response to the hurricane.
In the ADN story I posted on the previous thread about our Alaskan Governor refusing to expand Medicaid, I found this criticism of him worth mentioning:
"The governor has had two years to study this issue, and now he wants another year?" Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, said. "He should have an alternative before he rejects a plan with such broad support. Rejecting Medicaid is a mistake of truly epoch proportions."
Interesting that in all our ADN ObamaCare coverage, (and in this story as well) Obama and the Dem's and their 3.5 years and 1 billion dollars leadtime to prepare for ObamaCare which everybody hates, are completely given a pass, and the only guy not given a pass is Parnell, who is saving the state millions and passing the cost on to the dicked up ObamaCare rollout.
The Dem's are incapable of accepting responsibility for anything.
Posted by: daddy | November 15, 2013 at 06:57 PM
Well because puppies and kittens, daddy;
http://twitchy.com/2013/11/15/priceless-katie-pavlich-highlights-monumental-irony-in-dem-opposition-to-upton-bill/
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 07:00 PM
Well, that was silly, but it's what Papa Soros, commissions as commentary
http://m.nationalreview.com/article/364093/thus-spake-obama-mark-steyn
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 07:05 PM
is there a contemporary to Goodwin's law that applies to each time Bush comes up as an excuse?
Posted by: Jack is Back! | November 15, 2013 at 07:10 PM
Of course, that leaves out the role of 'Cable Guy' Nagin, and Blanco, who still escaped unscathed.
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 07:16 PM
Was that a typo or autocorrect, or did that clown really say "epoch proportions"?
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPhone | November 15, 2013 at 07:25 PM
Jeebus. Invoking Katrina, absent Iraq.
That blind spot is approaching the size of a Red Giant.
Posted by: sundiver | November 15, 2013 at 07:26 PM
Mary Landrieu tried to distance herself from both events. Right, Matty?
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPhone | November 15, 2013 at 07:28 PM
Katrina is a racial dog whistle. Pathetic.
Events have finally and publicly uncloaked Obama as a counterfeit, an amateur of common intelligence and modest education. He stammers. He calls Americans "folks." He feigns surprise at the workings of the government and the economy, the very things elementary school children understand immediately.
The ululations of his disciples are, to me, golden arias.
Posted by: MarkO | November 15, 2013 at 07:30 PM
Well unlike Robert Fulghum, he didn't learn much in kindergarten.
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 07:38 PM
Everything looks crazier in powerpoint;
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/11/15/pelosi-ive-never-met-anyone-who-liked-their-insurance-plan/
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 07:44 PM
I am amused by the new vocabulary...
Affordable -> Standard
Why? Could it be Substandard plans are now known to be the affordable ones?
If I weren't laughing so hard I would denounce myself.
Posted by: henry | November 15, 2013 at 08:09 PM
Howie Carr was talking today about the headlines when the first terminally ill person who has been kicked off his insurance dies. And then he conceded it will start happening so often that pretty soon it won't be news at all.
Posted by: Jane-Rebel Alliance1 | November 15, 2013 at 08:10 PM
"How many people died because of a birther comment?"
"One" would be just about right.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 15, 2013 at 08:12 PM
Another Howie Carr anecdote (since I spent a lot of time in the car today). He used the word "folks" 28 times yesterday. A caller made it clear that when Obama uses the word "folks" you know he is lying.
Posted by: Jane-Rebel Alliance1 | November 15, 2013 at 08:13 PM
How long before they 'paint themselves blue and
sit in a vat of warm creeble,'
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 08:13 PM
Oh Boy! Per narciso's link the market is "broken" but the Obamacare Exchange "informs" people. I hope this message is what the left sticks with.
Posted by: henry | November 15, 2013 at 08:13 PM
.
Posted by: hit and run | November 15, 2013 at 08:16 PM
""How many people died because of a birther comment?"
"One" would be just about right."
Thanks for the memory.
Once when tokin' with some associate criminals there was apparently a 'newbie' who started freaking everyone with his paranoia. One guy says to him;
"Dood, please don't be the first person to ever die from marijuana."
Posted by: sundiver | November 15, 2013 at 08:19 PM
Death threats over a joke.
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 08:20 PM
Since Chris Christie is the newly anointed front runner, what does he have to say about all this 404 Care kerfuffle? Why are we without any interest in running in2016 the only ones talking about it? Come on fat boy, where do you stand, if. You can?
Posted by: Jack is Back! | November 15, 2013 at 08:28 PM
"Death threats over a joke."
Maudlin, contrived self-pity over a joke. (If you feel you have been threatened, call the cops.)
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 15, 2013 at 08:29 PM
Ok.
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 08:32 PM
well 'it's just a flesh wound;
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2013/11/15/cnns-cuomo-uproar-over-one-slice-losing-insurance-gop-straw-man-distract
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 08:38 PM
This relentless, infantile bullshit is fucking retarded.
I'm taking a break; a long one if I've got any sense.
Posted by: Ignatz | November 15, 2013 at 08:41 PM
I am heading to bed. I don't understand the arguing, so will see you all tomorrow.
Posted by: Miss Marple | November 15, 2013 at 08:44 PM
OT: I love Clarence Thomas:
“This country isn’t perfect,” Justice Thomas said, “but it’s perfectible. That’s what Lincoln’s words mean to me.”
Posted by: Jane-Rebel Alliance1 | November 15, 2013 at 08:47 PM
For nearly a quarter century, they have ridiculed him, yet he is notably among the most impressive figures in public life;
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/11/justice-thomas-speaks.php
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 08:47 PM
You know I am not going to call the cops. This has spun so far out of control. My humor is not welcomed. Danube's excuses for attacking me is.
::self pity::
I can't leave but I will lurk. I swear it on my father's grave that you will not hear a peep from me, unless I am attacked.
The posts of mine that everbody enjoyed were every bit as important to me as the ones that some despised. There is no need to commit only part of me to the community.
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 08:48 PM
I was typing while you posted, Ig.
Let me be the one that puts an end to this, not you.
Please.
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 15, 2013 at 08:49 PM
It's been a month, since the shutdown, and yet we really don't much in the way of 'withering questions' I guess that is the value of having media in your back pocket,
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 08:52 PM
JiB, Mark Levin pointed out last night that Fat Boy is AWOL on the fight against 404Care since he was one of the first governors to openly embrace it.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPhone | November 15, 2013 at 08:55 PM
Speaking of Clarence Thomas his HC Crusaders are tied with the Heels at the half 25-25
Posted by: BB Key | November 15, 2013 at 08:56 PM
From narciso's link:
CNN's Chris Cuomo was in full ObamaCare-apologist mode on Friday's New Day, asking if the uproar over millions losing their insurance wasn't a "straw man" that Republicans were "distracting" the media with.
Cuomo said that Obama "took the bait that five percent meant everything"
Hey Cumo, isn't the 3% population of homosexuals a "straw man" for destroying the institution of marriage??
Be still my heart.
Posted by: Stephanie | November 15, 2013 at 08:56 PM
"isn't the 3% population of homosexuals a 'straw man?'"
And what percentage are the transgendered folks who seem to be in need of so much special legislation these days?
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 15, 2013 at 09:06 PM
Note well that Repeal is now being discussed in Polite Company. A sea change, I think.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 15, 2013 at 09:08 PM
OT, there's a movie about Richard Feynman's involvement with the Challenger investigation, with William Hurt playing him this weekend,
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 09:13 PM
Liberals and leftists and democrats like Yglesias continue to astound with their twisted, evil perspective on life. How the hell could any one compare events like Katrina and Obamacare? They cannot even be contrasted.
Posted by: Joan | November 15, 2013 at 09:17 PM
Note well that Repeal is now being discussed in Polite Company.
It's always been discussed in polite company, it's now being discussed in impolite company...
Posted by: Some Guy | November 15, 2013 at 09:18 PM
What the Chicago Tribune, the Las Vegas Sun, where we they when it mattered,
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 09:23 PM
Just about everybody on employer-provided plans has to enroll or re-enroll within the next month or so. Every year there are changes--lower employer subsidies, higher deductibles, etc. In families where both spouses work, they need to compare what is offered by either employer, whether they are going to be employed by that employer, etc. It is very stressful even under "ordinary" (i.e, non-Obamacluster) circumstances). That is the context in which Americans are taking stock of what The Lightbringer has wrought. Everybody--whether in the group or individual market--knows that the premium increases they are facing--whether outrageous or merely shocking--are not the fault of their employer or the insurance companies. And the mysterious and ever-shifting Obamacare rules, edicts and mandates add a level of chaos and uncertainty to the fear and uncertainty which already prevails. And they hear him lie like the used car salesman that he is, telling them not to believe what they absolutely know to be true. They know that the "5%" with allegedly "substandard plans" are just the tip of the iceberg, and they are going to be next in line to get screwed when the employer mandate kicks in--and they know that their premiums are already reflecting this.
Posted by: boatbuilder | November 15, 2013 at 09:25 PM
boatbuilder,
Hear, hear.
I've been ruminating on Democrat Mayor "What buses?" Nagin teaming up with Democrat Governor "We don't need no help." Blanco while Democrat Congressman Cold Cash Jefferson worried over his freezer.
These juicebox journo jerks grow more risibly pathetic every day.
Posted by: Account Deleted | November 15, 2013 at 09:33 PM
May I go on record as promising to vote for any presidential candidate who swears to ban the word "folks" from public discourse?
Posted by: MaryD | November 15, 2013 at 09:38 PM
I would be interested in knowing exactly when the very last futile gesture will be made before the repeal bandwagon juggernauts through town. How long, o Lord? And how funny but desperately pointless will this last gesture be? I am guessing mid-January for the last pitiful non-fix and March for repeal--but it could all go down more swiftly.
Posted by: Laura White | November 15, 2013 at 09:39 PM
Exactly right, Boatbuilder.
That's why this has legs.
Posted by: Old Lurker | November 15, 2013 at 09:39 PM
Meanwhile back at the ranch;
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/15/cia-personnel-asked-to-sign-additional-non-disclosure-form-after-benghazi/
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 09:42 PM
An interesting detail, China will not continue to enforce the one child policy, I would say it's a generation too late, but you know baby steps,
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 09:45 PM
-- promising to vote for any presidential candidate who swears to ban the word "folks" from public discourse? --
That's not enough for me, MaryD. I insist the candidate also refuses to package his self with some ever-present idiotic logo like he's a new brand of soda or running shoe.
(His/He pronoun generic, of course)
Posted by: AliceH | November 15, 2013 at 09:47 PM
Good point, AliceH, I sign up!
Posted by: MaryD | November 15, 2013 at 09:54 PM
Yglesias really is a stooge of Maguire, hired to make Tom i look even better than he is.
Posted by: clarice | November 15, 2013 at 09:55 PM
Laura,
The current futile gesture would not have been attempted had there been any adults in the WH. All he has left is punk sycophants and Clarice's comments re his mental stability are quite germane. I don't know if he's asked Henry Kissinger to pray with him or is currently chatting with paintings of Washington and Jefferson but I would be unsurprised if he has and is.
He's not nearly as strong as Nixon.
Posted by: Account Deleted | November 15, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Oprah, which is just a backward Harpo (he would not approve)
In order to further racial progress, she said, “generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, . . . they just have to die.”
What a lovely person and emblematic of post-racial America.
Posted by: MarkO | November 15, 2013 at 10:04 PM
You don't want to be around malignant narcissists like Obama when they are cornered.Congress' work is just beginning.
Impeachment hearings on Holder with a tandem one for Sibelius would be a pleasant kick off to the season of good cheer and tidings of joy.
Posted by: clarice | November 15, 2013 at 10:05 PM
DoT is right. We have never heard "repeal" from anything like as mainstream sources as we're hearing from now - all of a sudden.
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/11/15/it-begins-major-newspapers-in-reids-and-obamas-home-states-call-for-obamacare-repeal/
This is in part to protect the Dem brand for Hillary!, of course. But it is remarkable how quickly it's happened.
Posted by: Porchlight | November 15, 2013 at 10:08 PM
. . . they just have to die
No problem. Obama's good at killing people.
Posted by: hit and run | November 15, 2013 at 10:08 PM
It's turtles all the way down;
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/15/the_iran_sanctions_stranglehold_and_the_march_to_war?page=full
Iran isn't a threat now, but if we ignore this deal that was too odious even for the French they will proceed forthwith with the program that isn't happening.
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 10:09 PM
"I would be interested in knowing exactly when the very last futile gesture will be made before the repeal bandwagon juggernauts through town."
When he seeks out Rabbi Korff via the Ouija board, we'll know it's over.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 15, 2013 at 10:13 PM
Well he wouldn't need to, Nixon for all the policy concessions he gave the left, still stuck in their craw at a fundamental level, because of Hiss, and law and order, which they deemed repression, and Vietnam, which was the liberal's god child,
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 10:17 PM
I don't know if he's asked Henry Kissinger to pray with him or is currently chatting with paintings of Washington and Jefferson but I would be unsurprised if he has and is.
Rick, I believe I would think more highly of him if he did. "Nixonian" is an enormous step up for this fraud.
Posted by: Porchlight | November 15, 2013 at 10:18 PM
What I want to know is, how many innocent brain cells died when tens (hundreds?) of readers tried to comprehend the STUPID that emits from Matt Yglesias.
I know I lost several just on the "Ygl" in his name.
Posted by: iqvoice | November 15, 2013 at 10:21 PM
Nixon was a serious man, he may not have had the proper temperament for politics. Who do liberals exalt despite their failure, a nudnik like Carter, a scalawag like Clinton, and a cipher like Obama.
Posted by: narciso | November 15, 2013 at 10:25 PM
Stephanie - Wonderful news anytime one gets a diagnosis of "benign" !
Wishing you all the best with the upcoming surgery.
Posted by: Patriot4Freedom | November 15, 2013 at 10:34 PM
My speculation is running (galloping, actually) towards the existence of private Dem surveys which reflect the sentiments expressed in boatbuilder's comment. The results are being whispered rather than broadcast and they are leaking from pols to "reliable" propagandists in the party organs.
From the level of panic, I would surmise doubleplusungood to not quite cover the results reported. It's just idle speculation but survey reports showing sentiment rapidly deepening and hardening would account for this week's rater bizarre sequence of events.
Posted by: Account Deleted | November 15, 2013 at 10:54 PM
It's time to put the MFMers & talking heads in the hot seat.
Where were YOU in 2009 & 2010 when this fiasco was being passed?
Did you inform your readers about the consequences of this lousy Obamacare bill?
Why were you calling Americans that opposed this bill 'racist'?
Did you ever read the bill so you could inform your readers & viewers about the bill? Why not?
Looking back, do you think the Americans that wanted to 'kill the bill' were right?
Posted by: Janet | November 15, 2013 at 11:03 PM
This whole thing looks like a job for Sam Erwin and Howard Baker, not to mention Sam Dash and Fred Thompson, Rick.
I have to believe there have to be a few John Deans, Alexander Butterfields and Jeb Magruders out there.
Posted by: Jim Rhoads f/k/a vnjagvet | November 15, 2013 at 11:04 PM
Ask the members of JournoList if their chat group ever schemed to hide problems with Obamacare?
Did they know about the IRS efforts to shut down conservative groups in 2010?
Did JournoListers support or oppose Obamacare...& what facts did they base their views on?
Posted by: Janet | November 15, 2013 at 11:12 PM
Heck they could hre Fred Thompson to orchestrate the House proceedings. To the great unwashed he looks the way a Congressman ogught t, he's smart and even very funny.
Posted by: clarice | November 15, 2013 at 11:13 PM
Jim R, I agree but leave Rufus Edmisten out the new inquiry , He would carry Hagan's water
Posted by: BB Key | November 15, 2013 at 11:22 PM
Barry's RCP job approval 41.5%
About the same as Maduro in Venezuela but he still has a ways to go to get Hollande (15%) type numbers in France.
But hey...he still has 3 years. The best of Hope and Change is yet to come.
Posted by: Army of Davids | November 15, 2013 at 11:24 PM
The real fun is going to be watching the sycophants and chheerleaders peel off until the last-ditch True Believers are venturing forth from the Bunker to defend their leader and exhort the faithful to rally round. After what date will Debbie W-S cease to say that Dems will run on Obamacare in '14 and win with it?
I'll certainly be watching.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 15, 2013 at 11:58 PM
Obama is going to be more desperate from here on out. He is dangerous, because he doesn't follow the law.
Posted by: Gus | November 16, 2013 at 12:00 AM
Best "knock knock" joke I've heard in ages:
"How many people died because of a birther comment?"
"One" would be just about right.
LOL.
Posted by: daddy | November 16, 2013 at 12:08 AM
Mr. Brian Williams...did you or your NBC news team ever report to your viewers what was in the Obamacare bill? Did you realize Americans would be losing their insurance? Why not? Did you ever read the bill?
What exactly would be the use of watching your "news" show if you did not bother to inform viewers about what was in Obamacare & what the consequences of this bill would be?
Posted by: Janet | November 16, 2013 at 12:09 AM
Little Matty is getting desperate.
Posted by: Comanche Voter | November 16, 2013 at 12:10 AM
Daddy does not hear too many knock-knock jokes.
If you assholes leave me alone, I will not post.
Get it?
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 16, 2013 at 12:22 AM
LOL
Posted by: Threadkiller | November 16, 2013 at 12:24 AM
TK, hang in there, I enjoy you, I do not enjoy the back and forth between you and Danube, but I do think you are intelligent and worth being here.
Ignatz, you had BETTER NOT leave. You are so valuable here, and.
Danube, you're very bright and you don't back down. Just be kind when you can.
Posted by: Gus | November 16, 2013 at 12:35 AM
The real fun is going to be watching the sycophants and chheerleaders peel off until the last-ditch True Believers are venturing forth from the Bunker to defend their leader
That's going to be tough for them DoT. As I sit here and watch Megyn Kelly running video of Oprah telling us that the reason people are criticizing Obama is because he is African American, it reinforces for me once again that the people in America most unable to judge a person by the content of their character and not the color of their skin are the Left.
And now they have figure out how to tell the 1st African American president in History to get in the back of the bus? Yowzer! I sure can't see that going over well with the Oprah's of the world. Can there really exist a Democrat brave and foolhardy enough to publicly admit that their standard bearer is an incompetent?
I don't think so, so standby for everything out of their mouths except the truth.
Posted by: daddy | November 16, 2013 at 01:25 AM
Blood libel is par for the course for libs. Bush had nothing to do with any of the deaths from Katrina. But, if they want to go down this road, we could ask how many civilians (including innocent women and children) Obama has killed in his drone strikes.
Posted by: John Scotus | November 16, 2013 at 01:34 AM
Daddy, LIBTARDS realize that they are wrong, and they cling to the lifeboat or they drag your children down to Davey Jones locker, because they have NOTHING ELSE. Thier options are much like JIM JONES options. Be wrong and go to PRISON FOR.....EVAH.....or drag down anyone and everyone they can...WITH THEM. Libtards NEVER arrive at their PLANS, POLICIES or IDEOLOGIES logically. They get hard/turgid at the PROSPECT of building a LEGO NIRVANA..........WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S CASH.
Unions illustrate this concept, as does your garden variety DUMB as LINT libtard. No thought is ever given to the REALITIES of what they dream of.
Posted by: Gus | November 16, 2013 at 01:48 AM
Daddy, you are an intelligent man. Logic. Daddy, LOGIC is philosophy and LOGIC is mathematics. Oprah. Is an entertainer.
Logic.
Obama, an extremely flawed narcissist, COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE EVER BEEN ELECTED....sans WHITEY voting for him. LOGIC.
Oprah Winfrey, has no logic. She is WEDDED and COMMITTED to the BLACK PEEPS ARE VICTIMS myth, and it's a myth that has made Oprah millions of dollars.. White PEEPS are the lions share of those who have made "Oprah" MEGA WEALTHY. Logic. So all of those who have made Obama, the clown, and Oprah, the TV PERSONALITY RICH BEYOND anyones wildest dreams became RACIST..........WHEN???
Posted by: Gus | November 16, 2013 at 01:53 AM
John Scotus. Obama has conducted drone strikes in SOVEREIGN countries. Without permission or authority. What does that make him in the eyes of LIBS and the U.N.??
I saw a moron with WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER on her Toyota family van...today. She had a couple dozen LIBTARD bumper stickers. Literally, probably 24 or so. Yes COEXIST was one of them. HONOR TEACHERS was another.
At the stoplight, I glanced at who the L-tard was, and she looked like a dummy. Probably a PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER. Slogans are not POLICY. Coexist?? With HITLER?? With George W.Bush??? These people are pathological. They are good. We are bad.
Posted by: Gus | November 16, 2013 at 01:58 AM
How many died at Watergate? The entire American press corps, peace be upon them.
Tom et al may be amused by Steve McIntyre's foray into the statistics of the science of nutrition @ climateaudit.org
You all birthers and anti-birthers can rest easy now. If you like the place of birth you had, you can keep it. Period.
Posted by: Puttin' on the Max Factor Ritz Crackers. | November 16, 2013 at 05:58 AM
Cranium's up!!!
Video: Scientists Recover Ancient Hominid Skull From Cave
This is cool...the cranium was still in the ground and the team was collecting every bone around it before attempting extraction. They worked barefoot to increase their sensitivity and awareness when stepping anywhere—because there are just that many fragile hominid bones in the cave.
What a ton of fun these girls are having! It bubbles out of them and is infectious.
Becca Peixotto, the girl talking on the tape at the end, brought the skull up and is an archeologist from the DC area. I think she is the smallest of the bunch, but like all the others she can't take the smile off her face. She says that beneath and surrounding the cranium that they spent all day working on are lots of other bones, many of significant length. You can feel her excitement.
BTW, In the write-up they refer to something called the "calvaria", which the dictionary calls the "Skullcap", which then makes sense to me because of Mt Calvary "The place of the skull". So even on a hominid dig I learn about the Bible:)
Also worth mentioning is that in 2 earlier stories today they said that the vertical slot they had to descent down was either 12 or 20 meters long (36 or 60 feet). Regardless, that's a long slot, and from the photos the slot only looks to be a diameter not much bigger than a basketball hoop. Yow! That would explain why they couldn't just drill or blow it open and get their regular paleontologists down there doing the digging.
Posted by: daddy | November 16, 2013 at 06:06 AM
Janet, at 1103--your call to hold the press accountable.
Here's the letter I sent the NYT yesterday morning. Quite sure it won't be the one that bumps my published total to four.
But if everybody here takes the three or four minutes it takes to email them, they may begin understand that we are not all LIVs who can be manipulated by the war on women, or with free cell phones, or would think that a youTube video is why four American diplomats were murdered in BenGhazi.
Letter:
None of what is happening with this roll out, other than the total incompetence involved with the website itself, is a surprise.
That politicians lie is no surprise either, though the magnitude of this one is epic.
The reason this has happened though is that the press--journalists, as you like to refer to yourselves when you want special protections--
did not report on what the ACA would mean. I knew what was in it before it was passed.
You should have too, if you didn't. I suspect you did, but chose not to cover it.
You are even bigger losers than Barack Obama and the Democrats.
You are the biggest losers.
Posted by: anonamom | November 16, 2013 at 06:17 AM
I also saw today on FOX Business, The Gerri Willis Report, that she was doing a show from FAO Schwartz, and interviewing guys who worked there on toys that have kept their value and interest over the decades.
Discussing the board game Monopoly, the guest said something like "it was invented in an effort to educate people about the power of monopolies tied in with some guys Tax theory." Something like that.
That got me thinking that since the smartest guy on the planet, Barack Obama, thinks understanding Insurance is too difficult, and since he's already shown us he's too stupid to know the difference between Liability Car Insurance and Collision Car Insurance, I think somebody needs to come up with a BoardGame to 'splain it to we dumb Americans. So I'm suggesting: ObamaCare---The Board Game. (Hopefully we can get it invented and shipped out via FEDEX before Christmas).
We need to have spaces around the Board, like in Monopoly, except with different names (ie) "Medicare Fraud---pay 2000 dollars and go back 3 spaces", and "Illegal Alien---jump to the head of the line for an organ transplant," etc.
There also needs to be cards for:
---"Compassion" (you lose your turn),
---"Telling people you've got Compassion"--(collect $2000 from each other opponent),
--- "You can keep your old Insurance Plan---pay $5000" to the Federal kitty-pot,
---and of course the most important card in "ObamaCare"...The Race Card!"
We also need a Sandra Fluke Birth Control card, and a space where you smoke Medical Marijuana---"Dave's not here man".
Open for suggestions. What am I missing?
Posted by: daddy | November 16, 2013 at 06:32 AM
Ed Rogers in the WaPo:
"Democrats could soon conclude that blaming Republicans for depriving 48+ million Americans of health care is better than having 114+ million American households furious at your meddling with their health insurance and ridiculing your hallmark accomplishment. The big punt is still possible. There is a chance Obamacare could be repealed in a bipartisan vote."
I don't know where he gets that 114 million figure from, but it has a nice ring to it.
I'm beginning to understand how the Left felt during Watergate.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | November 16, 2013 at 06:45 AM
Good one, anonamom. Just the right level of venom.
Posted by: Extraneus | November 16, 2013 at 06:53 AM
Fantastic, Janet and Anonamom!
Hilarious, Daddy!
Democrats = democrazies
Posted by: BR | November 16, 2013 at 06:56 AM
Great idea, daddy. How about when you make it back to go and get a $200 raise you lose your $2000 subsidy?
Posted by: Extraneus | November 16, 2013 at 06:56 AM
When one has insurance, I've noticed you tend to use it for unnecessary things just because you have it. Next we'll see 60-yr old women getting pregnant :)
Posted by: BR | November 16, 2013 at 06:58 AM
The Laugh Theory: In India there are groups who go out in parks and just start laughing, good exercise for body muscles and general well-being.
So, eventually 404Care will have the whole world laughing.
Posted by: BR | November 16, 2013 at 07:00 AM
How far back has the US press been covering up and pushing agendas for Dems? Pre-Kennedy? Roosevelt?
Posted by: BR | November 16, 2013 at 07:07 AM
Pretty far back, BR.
Pa. paper: Sorry for panning Gettysburg Address
Posted by: Extraneus | November 16, 2013 at 07:11 AM
Hmmm. interesting, Ext! And look who was busy around that time: Karl Marx
The Communist Manifesto (1848)
Das Kapital (1867–1894).
Posted by: BR | November 16, 2013 at 07:18 AM
Rick made a point about what private polls were showing and anonamom about what was not covered by the press. Had lunch with a good friend who is a star lawyer and very bright and very liberal this week and she was horrified that firm coverage had been cancelled.
I put on my hc hat and explained how small the changes could be and still lose the grandfathering. Losing insurance for many Libs is the first time there has been a personal cost to the beliefs that they have espoused their adult life.
They were so proud of themselves for electing bo and recognizing that he lies and is aloof and less competent than any secretary or paralegal they would tolerate is a major shock.
Posted by: rse | November 16, 2013 at 07:28 AM
The League of Scruffy Beards and Sourpusses
No woman would have them, so they had to sublimate with idiotic "philosophies".
Hegel

Marx

Engels

Posted by: BR | November 16, 2013 at 07:30 AM