Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

I'll email the Chicago Manual of Style for an opinion if necessary, but shouldn't that --Cassandra-- go in quotes and/or parantheses?

As in, Replaced ("Cassandra") Texan?

Can I get a ruling here?

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Wait, wait, I know. Trick question right?

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Right. Your grandmother's healthcare is at the DMV level.

Another trick question for everyone: Who the fuck do you think is the single largest payor in the United States?

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Bill gates, in a good year?

Where's Hank?
 

I think the scientists feel the real debate about this took place about 150 years ago. Should they be required to appear at "Earth - Flat or Not?" debates?

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Hmmm.... must have missed that the first time around. Can it be read during a single dump? That's kind of my standard for magazines.

Seriously -- I know a little about how good VA hospitals are. Hell, my father was a doctor at a VA hospital for innumerable years. But he was also a doctor for people who had their care paid for in other ways, many of whom failed to use that benefit intelligently -- instead, they would rush in for 'emergencies' that were really chronic conditions grown much worse for neglect. (As a kid I would take messages like "I'm calling because I've been coughing blood for four days." Um, maybe you should have called three days ago?)

Any large program is subject to abuse, misuse, and sloppy management. That is at least as true of privately funded programs as of publicly funded ones (cue the Rs to start screaming in hysteria about how I'm a commie. After all, Enron was a government company, as was Columbia HCA, and after all it was really Clinton's fault. Or FDR's.) I was pointing out one issue -- more specifically, I was taking what Spanky identified as an issue and suggesting that the real issue was the converse.

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Not yet, but it would be if it were nationalized.

Tell me, what does the government do better than the private sector?

Where's Hank?
 

Not required. But if psycho-christians start pushing to teach that the earth is flat in our public schools, then I really hope that they will show.

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

I used to think the military stuff, but I hear a lot of that is outsourced now.

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Hoo-boy. Here we go again.

How'd you get to work today? Nice roads the government built, huh?

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Your grandmother's healthcare is nationalized, and it has been since 1965.

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Do you really think the government does that better and more efficiently than the private sector could? I guess those Bay Bridge cost overruns don't count.

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Maybe we could outsource Congressional lawmaking capacity. They don't seem to be very efficient lately.

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Cost containment, bulk purchasing, outcomes management. A larger patient population spreads the risk AND larger data points provide for greater opportunities for evidenced based medicine and epidemeologcial studies. Centralized medical records that are easier to manage and locate and link back to community clinics for follow up care.

Sidd (and club) this article talks about the Annals of Internal Medicine article as well as the VA healthcare system in general..

Putting aside Judicial nominations and steroids
 

Lots of things. A non-exclusive list: I was much happier with my electric service when I lived in a town that had a municipal power authority provide the juice. Ambulance service here is better than it was when the city contracted with private contractors. Real cops are better than rent-a-cops. The Fed seems to be doing a better job of preventing financial collapse than Mister Morgan did (but it was nice of him to loan us the gold when he did). The FDA seems a lot better at making food safe than the invisible hand did (see The Jungle). I also kinda like Central Park better than Grammercy Park.