The Agnostic’s Guide To The Botched Obamacare Rollout

The Article: The Agnostic’s Guide to the Botched Obamacare Rollout by Kurt Eichenwald in Vanity Fair.

The Text: There isn’t a lot of honesty when it comes to discussing Obamacare. Too many Republicans lie about the implications of the health-insurance program and dismiss out of hand the reasons a massive overhaul of the long-time system is necessary. Too many Democrats dismiss the challenges that the program faces, its potential shortcomings, and the flaws in its design. Then, on both sides, there are the absolutists: conservatives who say the uninsured are just a bunch of lazy takers, and the liberals who say that only a single-payer system can solve the problems we face.

Small wonder it’s virtually impossible to get a clear understanding of how to look at the bumpy start to the Obamacare rollout.

I’ll give it a shot. While I’ve been writing about Obamacare of late—attacking the G.O.P. lies and explaining why an overhaul of our system is necessary—folks seem to have missed that I’ve never said whether I believe the president’s signature legislative victory is any good. There’s a reason for that: I don’t know. I am an Obamacare agnostic—if it works, as I hope it will for the good of the nation, then it’s a great thing. If it doesn’t, then that is a disappointing thing and we need to try something else. Unlike too many, I don’t believe pretending to be a soothsayer—“It will destroy America!” “It will save the world!”—is anything more than ideologically driven sophistry.

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The Most Interesting Gay Rights Speech You’ll Ever Hear

Who would have thought that the gay rights movement could be compared to the civil rights movement of the 1960s…color me shocked!

Ted Cruz, An American Original

Also, only in America would none of this be obvious to a majority of the electorate.

Time For A Moratorium On The Word ‘Racist’?

The Article: It’s time to put a moratorium on the word ‘racist’ by Reniqua Allen in The Guardian.

The Text: In the late nineties, conservative John Bunzel, a former member of the US Commission on Civil Rights, wrote that President Clinton’s Advisory Board on Race should call for an end of the “corrupted usage” of the word “racist” especially when used as an “accusation” or “smear word” because:

[It] breeds bitterness and polarization, not a spirit of pragmatic reasonableness in confronting our difficult problems.

While I agree with little else that he said in that article, 15 years later, the sentiment is hitting home. It’s time to put a moratorium on the word “racist”.

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Six Minutes Of Ann Coulter Fails

This is really, really uncomfortable to watch. I’d almost feel sorry for her, but that implies that she possesses an inkling of humanity.