Comments on: A personal friend.

By: brian stouder

brian stouder — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:13:06 +0000

I have no problem with the neighbor. Regardless whether you know what your neighbor looks like, someone making a forced entry into a home could be domestic violence, or whatever else.

But once the cops show up, it seems to me, the burden of being extra careful should be upon the police. Making an arrest of an (understandably) agitated home-owner, from his or her own home, for being “tumultuous” strikes me as wrong from the get-go.

Whether the racial component of this is THE driver might be arguable, but it cannot (and certainly will not) be dismissed.

By: moe99

moe99 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:03:30 +0000

Beb, the caller was a woman:

The woman, Lucia Whalen, is the circulation and fundraising manager at Harvard Magazine, a news and alumni magazine affiliated with the school. The magazine’s offices are down the street from Gates’ home. By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32010985/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity

By: beb

beb — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:45:09 +0000

The thing about the arrest of Prof Gates is that the call to the police came from “a neighbor.” What does it say about that neighbor that he didn’t know that the owner of that house was a black guy, or had some idea of what he looked like? What kind of neighbor is that?

By: brian stouder

brian stouder — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:40:29 +0000

Mitch writes that Frank “clamored up on stage.” It’s “clambered.”

Unless ol’ Frank had an epileptic fit, or was otherwise in a raucous mood up there, on the stage

By: Jim S

Jim S — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:08:59 +0000

Note also that Mitch writes that Frank “clamored up on stage.” It’s “clambered.”

By: MichaelG

MichaelG — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:21:52 +0000

Lance is nothing if not entertaining. He does great interviews too. Saturday’s climb is, they say, supposed to be a big deal as well. I’m certainly enjoying the show.

By: Jenflex

Jenflex — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:12:05 +0000

Catherine,
I loved that NYT article as well…it’s the only piece of thoughtful political discussion I’ve been able to have with my aging-and-increasingly-curmudgeonly father.

His take? If you could extend your soon-to-end life 6 months by raiding your kid’s $54K college fund for the drug, would you do it?

To me, we have GOT to figure out a way to get over this notion that somewhere there is an endlessly deep pocket. (Mark, DON’T go off on government spending here, ‘kay?)

By: Dexter

Dexter — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:50:18 +0000

MichaelG: I admit that when lance announced in September that he was going to France in July, I thought it was a bad idea…that he had no chance , and then the broken collarbone threatened his TDF comeback.
Two days ago he conceded that he would now be working for Alberto Contador, that Albert was clearly the Team Astana leader.
And then yesterday…Paul, Phil, and me the TV watcher all thought it was over for sure for Armstrong as he dropped way back, even trailing Andy Schleck. Then, it was as if Lance was shot from a cannon, blowing Andy Schleck off the road and rejoining Chase 1 .
Then came the statement that he could no longer accelerate , he couldn’t win this year, that it was essentially over.
Now, no one in cycling believes that Lance’s age (37 and a half yrs.) will be what prevents him from winning this year. The proclaimed jovial atmosphere that Team Astana now can enjoy was just a smokescreen. Sandbagging is indeed the same word I was using yesterday as I discussed my viewpoint with friends.
Today and tomorrow are key: If somehow Alberto cracks just a little, Lance can overtake him. Things shouldn’t change today on this upcoming up-and-down stage, but by Thursday’s end, we’ll know who will win on the Champs-Elysee on Sunday.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:16:06 +0000

A thoughtful article on health care rationing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

By: MichaelG

MichaelG — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:26:28 +0000

Thanks, Dexter. VS comes on with coverage of the Tour here at zero dark thirty in the AM, at some time during the day and then again at 5:00 PM. I’ve been watching the five o’clock version with Roll and Hummer during the week. Roll is great. Hummer has a way to go. On weekends I have been getting up early to watch Liggett and Sherwin who are the best of them all. Great performance today by Armstrong sandbagging the shit out of the field. Contador has to be thinking. Lance is the master of the psych.

Caliban’s comments were right on the mark.

As a timely item, I touched the health care world today at Kaiser. Saturday I bumped a chef’s knife off the counter and it fell on my foot. This AM I finally called Kaiser at about 6:00. They gave me an appointment for 10:00. Not with my regular doc but with a Dr. Patel. I didn’t care. I just wanted to see a doc. I sort of had vague expectations about a Dr. Patel. I was a little off. I was called at about 10:05. Dr. Patel turned out to be an extremely attractive young lady, a confident kid of about thirty. Clearly born, raised and educated in this country. She was very professional but with an easy, relaxed, personable and confidence inspiring manner way beyond what one would expect from one of her age. Her lecture about my not coming in on Saturday for stitches was light and well done without patronizing or hectoring me.

“Sunday, Monday, Tuesday” she said popping fingers at me one by one with a smile on her face “That’s three days. You know you should have come in.” She knew I knew and didn’t rub it in. She did the foot and then the whole thing became a session about my blood pressure which has jumped all of a sudden. She even had a sense of humor and was very gentle in her blood pressure spiel. I was extremely favorable impressed. Did I mention she was a babe?

Then I went over to the pharmacy across the courtyard where my new blood pressure pills were already waiting for me. No waiting. I had a consultation with the pharmacist. She was a very young Vietnamese woman whose name I forget, also clearly born, raised and educated in this country. She was happy to take a good ten minutes with me to discuss the medication, side effects, alternatives, results, etc. She answered all my questions and provided information in a professional but personable fashion, again with no hint of condescension. Altogether it was an excellent encounter with the health care establishment. I have nothing but the highest praise for the way I was treated today. The whole thing left me twenty co-pay bucks out of pocket. Things can work for those of us lucky enough to have good coverage. There’s no mystery here. Just a good system.