Open Thread

This Sunday's NYT provides a must-read for those of us interested in resolving the long-term problem of reducing health care costs. This piece take a look at how colonoscopies are performed and charged to demonstrate the scope of the problem. And basically the scope of the problem comes down to Profit incentives, rather than health incentives. It also shows how hard it is to even get cost data for procedures -- even by a physician doing the procedure. Certainly our health care system pays dearly for heroic end-of-life care, but it certainly looks as though basic procedures done by our physicians in their offices or their physician centers are ripe for cost review.

Today's Open Thread is in the form of a Chart of the Day. Chart of the War on Drugs era, most probably. But this chart comes from a 2005 study, taking a look at trends in incarceration of drug offenders. It was cited over at Wonkblog this week, noting some of the small changes in the War on Drugs:

Yesterday, there was a protest at the Sallie May HQ down in Newark:

They carried signs, chanted and sang as they marched to Sallie Mae's offices before the company's annual shareholder meeting. They came demanding to meet with company leaders in hopes of airing their concerns with rocketing student loan debt. "We were sold degrees that aren’t worth what they were worth," said Sara Fitouri, a first year law school student at the University of Denver who is $145,000 in debt. "We don’t believe students should have to pay those debts." The students were successful in getting company officials to agree to a sit down meeting with leaders. Sallie Mae Board Chairman Anthony Terracciano told the students they would get their meeting, but not today because company leaders were all busy in board meetings.

If you haven't been following the saga of Toronto's alleged crack-smoking and murdering mayor, you should start here with Josh Marshall, who has been following the story in depth. Sometimes our enemies reveal why they are our enemies. Exxon's CEO on his opposition to alternative energy and cutting our dependence on oil:

"What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?"

So you may have heard yesterday that President Obama has tapped a former Bush official to lead the FBI and you may have screamed a little bit to yourself. But there is a good reason why....

NY Congressman Peter King (R):

"We know the type of suffering that people go through during these types of crises and we're not going to hold - I'm certainly not going to hold the good people of Oklahoma hostage because they may have some hypocrites in their delegation. [...] We had to wait over 100 days before we even got the aid approved to New York and New Jersey. Now, we find the senator from Oklahoma who voted against aid to New York and New Jersey saying that aid should be sent to Oklahoma because there's a difference between tornado assistance and hurricane assistance. This is absolute hypocrisy."

And we have some polling goodness inside..

Memorial Day has come to be a day when we are all urged to remember those armed services members who have served and who are currently serving the country. This is important and I hope we all have some time to reflect on the sacrifices made by these men and women on our behalf.

Even more details of how DelDOT was organized as a conduit of taxpayer dollars directly to developers is in this morning's News Journal. This is a remarkable story -- including some detail on how DelDOT specifically locked in higher appraisal values just to ensure that developers could loot the Treasury for the maximum amount.

In case there is anyone taking a break from holiday festivities long enough to check in here, here's an Open Thread for you!

It is the beginning of a long weekend -- for me, this is the first long holiday weekend of the year. From here on out, there is a scheduled holiday weekend pretty much every other month now. Yay!

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma has in the past opposed emergency aid for Hurricane Sandy. But unlike his Oklahoman colleague in the Senate, Tom Coburn, he will support federal emergency funds for the Moore Tornado disaster. Which means of course, he is a flaming hypocrite who would deny aid to East Coast Democrats and liberals but gladly take it for his Sooner state conservatives. Not so, says Inhofe. A tornado and a hurricane are "totally different."

That was a "totally different" situation, Inhofe told MSNBC, arguing that the Sandy aid was filled with pork. There were "things in the Virgin Islands. They were fixing roads there and putting roofs on houses in Washington, D.C. Everybody was getting in and exploiting the tragedy that took place. That won't happen in Oklahoma."

Oh sweet Jesus. Is Inhofe unaware that the Hurricane hit the DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and all of New England too? Is he not aware that the Virgin Islands are hit by tropical storms and Hurricanes on a yearly basis. Why are Republican Senators so fucking stupid? Why!!!???!!!

Virginia state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R), the Republican nominee for Attorney General in Virginia, had introduced legislation in 2009 to require women to report their miscarriages to their local police department. Not only that, these devastated women would have to provide information in their report on the location of the fetus' remains. Or else what, you ask? Well, if the mother did not report her miscarriage to the police, she would be charged and presumably be found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which in Virginia carries a maximum sentence of “confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500.” And they wonder why women, nationwide and in Virginia, have a problem voting Republican. Hey Assshain, oh excuse me, Obenshain, a woman's miscarriage is none of your goddamn business, nor the government's. It is a horrible tragedy for expectant mothers to go through. And you want to make their pain worse.