Say Anything Blog

Just when I figured I should give up on Canadian healthcare and sign up for the NRO cruise I come across this little tidbit.

And let’s not forget that a study by the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine (warning: pdf) estimates that at least 18,000 people die each year from inadequate health coverage. That’s the the equivalent of thirty World Trade Center bombings in the years since 9/11.

Now the head of the Institute of Medicine could be Ramsay Clark for all I know and I’m sure that there are excellent reasons to ignore the study but even if that figure has been exaggerated by a factor of ten...wow.

No Canadian likes the long delays patients face for some procedures but if this study is accurate then I’ll stick with the system I have.

Now this guy has an interesting job.

It could be watching you coming out of an adult entertainment parlour. I’m just saying…

h/t Boing Boing

I hadn’t noticed it myself but Bill Cara raises the interesting pattern of American economic appointments...quite a few GS honchos in there.

So says the CIA in a recently declassified report described at MSNBC. I don’t actually care...I’m just trolling for some sputtering indignation.

While familiar with the work of Samuel Huntington and his concept of the clash of civilisations, I have to confess that I’ve always regarded his work as a bit eccentric and his clash thesis as an interesting example of alarmism. Little did I know that the term was apparently coined by one Bernard Lewis, a scholar whose work some will know I don’t have much confidence in nor admiration for. That the phrase should originate with Lewis makes sense to me as much of his scholarship serves to complete the long thread allegedly connecting the various periods of Islamic and Arabic history, a long thread which I’ve never believed existed in any manner that is relevant to our contemporary world.

Many readers and posters at Say Anything have drawn upon Lewis’ and Huntington’s work for inspiration in identifying Islam as the gravest threat to western civilsiation and I confess that my reaction has typically been one of bemused dismissal. Readers interested in understanding my attitude could do worse than read Michael Hirsh’s excellent examination of Lewis and his detractors published by the Washington Monthly in 2004. This piece should serve to infuriate some if not most but it does present the chief objections to the Clash idea in a very clear and readable fashion and I commend it to those who like to see what the “other” side can possibly be thinking.

The loonie traded north of 92 cents US yesterday...the future of jokes about Canadian money grows dimmer I fear.

Who knew?

Kevin Hassett says yes. Since they tend to be developing economies I would have guessed yes but the notion that being unfree may be an economic advantage gives me pause. It’s actually kind of unnerving when I think about it.

So claims a poll published by famed organ of defeatism and liberal flim flammery, Human Events. Now obviously the President and Vice President are never going to be impeached but as InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery points out, numbers like this demonstrate the uphill battle the Republican party faces in the years ahead.

The biggest scandal in the history of scandals or so they say...it appears that Chevron is settling out of court for whatever role it played. Will we see more?

Remember the Canadian coin that supposedly had spyware equipment embedded? You’ll be happy to know that it was in fact the commemorative quarter with a red poppy that fooled suspicious American contractors. The story is here but you still shouldn’t use them in American vending machines.

The GOP in Utah considered the relationship between illegals and the Dark Prince at their recent convention but sadly it was the last item on the agenda and no quorum existed to take a definitive stand at the end of proceedings. Read the story at the Reason Magazine blog...stories like this make me wonder if maybe, just maybe, conservatives don’t enjoy their share of wacky types.

You know if I’m posting about an article by a conservative that I think it’s bad news for the Republicans and sure enough Buckley’s message is just that. I won’t pretend to know who all the significant intellectuals in contemporary American conservatism are but I certainly know William F. Buckley Jr. and I suspect that his opinion still holds some sway.

I consider the current Administration an aberration in the tradition of Republican regimes as its policies have been more “big government” oriented fiscally and Wilsonian in terms of international relations. Of course circumstances often dictate what governments do and how they do them and the Bush government has faced issues that previous Republican administrations have not. Nevertheless the American public is not happy with some Bush policies, including the war, and traditional Republicans have demonstrated uneasiness with the President’s perceived loose purse strings.

Buckley thinks a significant change in the political landscape may be in the offing and I’m curious what our SA conservatives think of that.

Dissatisfaction with the Iraqi War flows from the recognition that it was the wrong thing to do or from the recognition that it was the right thing to do but it was badly planned and/or executed. This critique in the Armed Forces Journal by a Lt. Col. doesn’t pull many punches and illustrates that it’s entirely possible to criticise American policy without supporting the goals of the terrorists or wishing an end to our way of life.