creative commons/flickr/ by bcmom

Bob Herbert read Jane Mayer's The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals and got chills up his spine reading about Cheney's best pal. In "Madness and Shame" he says: "Dick Cheney's main man and the lead architect of the Bush administration's legal strategy for the so-called war on terror. She quotes a colleague as saying of Mr. Addington: 'No one stood to his right.' Colin Powell, a veteran of many bruising battles with Mr. Cheney, was reported to have summed up Mr. Addington as follows: 'He doesn't believe in the Constitution.'"

You'd think someone would remembered this and tried it already, but the fact that it's no longer routine for general practitioners to look for danger signs before they become expensive emergencies tells you it's been forgotten. But maybe it's wake-up time: "Cutting health costs by paying doctors more? That is the premise of experiments under way by federal and state government agencies and many insurers around the country. The idea is that by paying family physicians, internists and pediatricians to devote more time and attention to their patients, insurers and patients can save thousands of dollars downstream on unnecessary tests, visits to expensive specialists and avoidable trips to the hospital."

"More Unsurprising News: I don't know which is more unsurprising: that the White House overruled a tentative decision by the administrator of the EPA when it came to California's request for a waiver under the Clean Air Act or that the administrator lied about the White House pressure before Congress."

Let's try this again: The Jonathan Alter thing I meant to link was here. The piece I did link (but have since fixed) was a cool little story about a blind rabbi in New Jersey's 5th who is running for Congress against a Republican he calls "a Neanderthal". Dennis Shulman sounds like someone you might want to look into, especially if you happen to be in New Jersey and looking for someone to help out. (Thanks to Julia for the assistance.)

Barack Obama is a scary black man!!!! (Also: Least. Threatening. Threat. Ever.)