Expressio Unius

Let's Get Along

2009-09-20T22:01:00.001-07:00

Traficant Released

2009-09-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hard to keep a good man down.

So You Had a Bad 6 Hour Period of Time

2009-09-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

People generally measure the quality of their experiences in days, rather than a more precise unit of time.

That is, they refer to having a good day, a bad day, the best day of their life, etc.

But almost no one says "Boy, that was a terrible span of 3 hours" or "Those were the best 75 minutes of my life." This is true even though the experiences they're referring to almost certainly didn't last a full 24 hours.

There are exceptions, of course. But I think the general tendency is interesting. Also it resulted in this great song.

Is this a Government Takeover?

2009-09-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

The existing draft of HR 3200 would add 53 agencies [SEE UPDATE BELOW] in one form or another:

1. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 123, p. 30)
2. Health Choices Administration (Section 141, p. 41)
3. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 144, p. 47)
4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 163, p. 57)
5. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 164(d), p. 70)
6. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 72)
7. Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Administration Commissioner (Section 206(b), p. 106)
8. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 206(c), p. 107)
9. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 207, p. 109)
10. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 208, p. 111)
11. "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 221, p. 116)
12. Ombudsman for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 221(d), p. 117)
13. Account for receipts and disbursements for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 222(b), p. 119)
14. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191, p. 380)
15. Demonstration program providing reimbursement for "culturally and linguistically appropriate services" (Section 1222, p. 405)
16. Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 438)
17. Accountable Care Organization pilot program (Section 1301, p. 443)
18. Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 462)
19. Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 468)
20. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 502)
21. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 505)
22. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 519)
23. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 546)
24. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 548)
25. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 559)
26. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 565)
27. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 1422, p. 607)
28. Demonstration program for approved teaching health centers with respect to Medicare GME (Section 1502(d), p. 674)
29. Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 716)
30. Medical home pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1722, p. 780)
31. Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 824)
32. "Identifiable office or program" within CMS to "provide for improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual eligibles" (Section 1905, p. 852)
33. Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 859)
34. Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 870)
35. Loan repayment program for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 873)
36. Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 882)
37. Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 887)
38. Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 898)
39. Public health workforce scholarship program (Section 2231, p. 900)
40. Public health workforce loan forgiveness program (Section 2231, p. 904)
41. Grant program for innovations in interdisciplinary care (Section 2252, p. 917)
42. Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment (Section 2261, p. 920)
43. Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 932)
44. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 941)
45. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 947)
46. Grant program for community prevention and wellness research (Section 2301, p. 950)
47. Grant program for community prevention and wellness services (Section 2301, p. 951)
48. Grant program for public health infrastructure (Section 2301, p. 955)
49. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 965)
50. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 972)
51. Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 993)
52. National Medical Device Registry (Section 2521, p. 1001)
53. Grants for labor-management programs for nursing training (Section 2531, p. 1008)

Is this a government-run healthcare system? I guess it depends on what you mean by government-run. But it sure seems like an incredble addition to the existing bureaucracy, and it merely begs the question to ask whether it's "government-run" or not. Whatever it is, does it lead to better services and lower costs?

UPDATE: JS rightly points out that this list isn't "agencies," but rather a mix of individuals, funds, and various programs. For more on our discussion, see the comments.

You're Not Going to Tell Me How to Run My Congressional Office

2009-09-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

WT and Julia

2009-09-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

Who here thinks I should cook my way through the Julia Child book the Art of French Cooking and write a blog about it?

Me either.

In the year 2000

2009-09-03T23:09:00.001-07:00

In the future, constitutional amendments will take place either by a 3/4ths vote of the state legislatures, a constitutional convention, or by a facebook group reaching 150 million members.

Welcome to Crazytown

2009-08-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

You know that Iran is in dire straits when Ayatollah Khamanei represents the voice of moderation in the nation's leadership.

CNN's Most Hilarious Headlines

2009-07-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

The side panel link from CNN's July 15, 2009 article covering the third day of the Sotomayor hearings:

Most Viewed Most Emailed Top Searches

1 Exchange students live nightmare
2 168 killed as jet crashes in Iran
3 Africans face U.S. misconceptions
4 Day 3 of Sotomayor hearing
5 Jacksons a unique parental team
6 Mystery killing of 3-year-old
7 5,000-pound shark washes ashore
8 Sotomayor found Princeton alien
9 911 call launched Caylee drama
10 'Absolutely' overused? Absolutely

Whoa! An alien? At Princeton!? And Sotomayor blew the lid off of it!? Nice work Sonia! I guess she's right, a wise latina is better suited to discovering alien species than a while male who "hasn't lived that life." (Carl Sagan, I'm looking at you)

Seriously folks, why waste her on the Supreme Court? Get her confirmed as the new head of NASA!

Don't Look Away

2009-06-21T23:46:00.001-07:00

This woman was murdered by illegitimate cowards who deserve nothing but suffering and derision.

Freedom is contagious

2009-06-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

China censors its own news outlets for fear of inspiring democratic movements within China.

You can't stop freedom folks. As time progresses, the tendency toward greater and greater freedom approaches 1.

This other guy is pretty cool too

2009-06-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

The focus is on Mir Hossein Mossavi, mostly because people expected him to win, and because he was the primary opposition candidate. But this other guy, Mehdi Karoubi, is looking pretty good too.

Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi called on Friday for Iran's election result to be cancelled, hours after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In an open letter which will be delivered to the country's highest legislative body, the Guardian Council, on Saturday, Karoubi said: "Accept the Iranian nation's will by cancelling the vote and guarantee the establishment's survival."

The letter was published on Karoubi's website.

Suck it Ayatollah Khamenei.

I may die tomorrow.

2009-06-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

And this is courage.

"I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I'm listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It's worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I'm two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow's children..."

And the police shoot blindly into the crowd

2009-06-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Canadian Journalist Beaten, Given Tea

2009-06-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

This is an incredible story of a Canadian journalist mistaken for an anti-coup protestor.

By being detained, he was able to see the brutal conditions of other detainees.

“There has been a terrible misunderstanding,” I was told. “There is a bad situation in Tehran, and sometimes the officers get confused,” he said with a smile, while a plainclothes officer offered me water and tea.

In an almost surreal gesture, they introduced me to the riot police officer standing nearby, who shook my hand and said, “You are my friend,” and, “Canada is good.”

The officer told me I was free to go, and I was allowed to walk out of the Interior Ministry building with nothing more than bleeding welts on my neck and a swollen arm.

My journalist credentials and Canadian passport got me out of the Interior Ministry building, but dozens of others remained in that basement.

Please God protect the people left behind in that room.

Where Can I get up to date Iran News?

2009-06-15T01:46:00.001-07:00

The undercoverage of the coup in Iran is pretty surprising, but here are the links I'm finding most helpful to understand what's going on, and what the likelihood of another revolution is:

NYT's The Lede

Huffington Post's Live Blog

TehranBureau is Twittering from the inside.

Daily Dish, by Andrew Sullivan

We Will All Go Down Together

2009-06-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

Embedding is disabled, but this is worth clickin the link for.

Great Song

2009-06-07T19:37:00.001-07:00

Awesome Name for a Political Party

2009-06-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

Congrats to the Swedish Pirate Party for picking up a seat in the EU Parliament.

Truly inspiring for all pirates. Wait, is that good or bad?

iTunes at $1.29 per Song Now

2009-05-28T00:39:00.001-07:00

Whoa. I just noticed this over the weekend. Which only makes me about 3 months behind the times.

Guess what? Major record labels are *losing* money on the new system.

Is Sotomayor a "Racist"?

2009-05-28T00:26:00.000-07:00

You be the judge:

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

Michael Vick's Rehabilitation

2009-05-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

Michael Vick is out of prison, and on house arrest for two more months, before he is done serving his time.

But how can Michael Vick make up for this?

I suggest that he do something can help him both rehabilitate his image and possibly get him back in the NFL -- offer to donate his next 5 years' salaray to the SPCA.

Sad Parrot

2009-05-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how they got the Pittsburgh Parrot to look so sad in his costume.

I remember the Bream slide that started the Pirates' 16 year losing streak. I was a Braves fan. I was 12.

Never Lose Faith In Your Team On The Air

2009-05-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

Especially not when there's still hope. This video is awesome.

Good Picture

2009-05-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Obama hugs John ("Jack") McCain IV at the 2009 Naval Academy graduation.