Oy, what a day. Here's a quickie: Ian Welsh posted a good piece today on the government shutdown and the Affordable Care Act. He declared:
Straight up the individual mandate is a transfer of money from the working poor and the young and healthy to insurance companies and older sicker individuals. It forces people who can’t afford an extra expense every month (and if you have never lived paycheck to paycheck you should shut your mouth, you have no idea what it’s like) to buy something they can’t afford: to choose between food or rent or insurance.This seems sensible to me. But I immediately asked myself why the Republicans who've shut down the government (once again) over the ACA don't use sensible, accurate arguments against it, or against Obama. Instead they rely on lies. Which doesn't mean I believe the Democrats either. Sometimes, though, I try too hard to walk a mile -- well, a few steps -- in my right-wing friends' shoes, and see things their way. It doesn't work very well.
That's it for now. Plus Hello Gandalf -- just because I can.
