http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:48:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en What was in the health care bill that passed Congress?  Health care exchanges were in, multi-plan markets for those who had to buy coverage on their own.  Tax incentives for small business that covered their employees—they were in.  Anti-abortion restrictions made the cut.  A provision to close the “doughnut hole” ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=76 LIFE AFTER CELEBRITY Reactions to J.D. Salinger’s death have touched on two themes: the impact that Salinger’s writing, especially The Catcher in the Rye, had on the lives of those who came of age in the decades that followed its publication in 1951; and fascination with Salinger’s gradual retreat from New ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=75 Who Do You Trust?* To opponents of health care reform, especially opponents of a public option, the controversy over when women should begin having annual mammograms looked like a preview of the risk that would attend publicly administered health coverage.  An obscure government-constituted panel could, on the basis of hard-to-understand statistics, ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=74 I’ve been listening to Irish music, on records, tapes and CDs, in pubs and concert halls for years.  But I had never heard or heard of “Galway Girl” until my wife, my two sons and I took a family trip to Dublin at the beginning of the summer.  There we ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=73 On October 7, the war in Afghanistan turns eight.  Eight years after Pearl Harbor, Germany, Japan and Italy had democratic governments and the Marshall Plan was rebuilding the economy of Europe.  Eight years after World War I broke out, the League of Nations was two years old and Germany was ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=72 The mark of the great football coaches is their ability to go into the locker room down a couple of touchdowns at halftime, figure out what’s going wrong, and devise a strategy to make up the difference and win. Barack Obama’s been there before. He was there after the New Hampshire ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=71 Ask every person if he’s heard the story, And tell it strong and clear if he has not, That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory… For one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot. I wasn’t a Kennedy fan originally, not a fan, I mean, of the liege lords of Camelot, ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=70 Maybe.  But I wouldn’t count on it.  He’s beaten worse raps than this. What?  You haven’t heard about his latest brush with the law?  Let me update you. On July 4, Washington’s former mayor, now a 73-year-old member of the City Council, set out for a weekend on the ocean with his ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=69 Hint: It’s Not by Counting Republican Votes It’s tempting to try to score President Obama’s campaign pledge to end partisan gridlock in Washington by counting the number of Republicans who vote for his high-priority proposals.  No Republican votes for the Obama stimulus package in the House?  A shutout.  (That’s the way, ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=68 At Obama’s Inauguration What do I mean when I say that I attended the inauguration of Barack Obama?  It means that I was, in fact, physically on the National Mall, about three blocks or so from the west side of the Capitol where the oath of office was administered to the ... http://www.connecting-the-dots.net/wordpress/?p=67