My castle is guarded by the ghost of dachshunds past. Yours?

The Ghost of Brownie (upper left)

1. Medicare for all!
Simple, logical argument in this WSJ article: Medicare for All Isn't the Answer

If this health care thing dies on the vine... what a victory for the good, ole US of A and her people.

How much do you contribute to Medicare/Medicaid?
How much to social security?
Man, this is a pet peeve of mine... this guy too: Tax Withholding is Bad for Democracy

I understand that any new taxes for health care will be implemented as withholding taxes. Keep that shit under the covers, baby. Opaque is good. Transparent is bad.

If people knew the money they were putting into these systems...
If people had the choice to allocate their funds where they wanted...
Dot, dot dot.

2. Book Review
Book: "That Old Cape Magic" by Richard Russo
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good

I really enjoy Richard Russo... Holly's anti-author. I didn't enjoy the WSJ basically calling him "fiction for middle-aged men" (Here it is: The Bard of the Middle-Aged). Dop. It's hard to argue against them though.

"That Old Cape Magic" is a fun read. Super fast. The characters are pretty fun and interesting. I like a (pretty) happy ending. I love books that just deal with real life stuff... relationships, work, travel, family, etc. The main character is a middle-aged guy going questioning pretty much the whole deal: career, marriage, parents dying, etc. I enjoyed the light-hearted digs at academia scattered throughout. And the guy traipsing around with his parents in his trunk was hilarious.

I ding this book somewhat because it does contain a lot of whining and complaining about parents. You know, as in, "my parents screwed me up", and I therefore blame them for my behavior from here forward. It's tough to do that and not sound, well, whiny and complain-y.

QOTD
"How, he couldn't help wondering, did you get to be this woman's age and still believe, as she apparently did, that everything meant something? She was obviously one of those people who just soldiered on, determined to believe whatever gave them comfort in the face of all contrary evidence. And maybe that wasn't so dumb."
Middle-aged fiction, indeed!
he he... yow, bill

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