Billmon speculates that poor bottom lines for the health care industry may mean even greater health care woes for the uninsured.

The first time I saw a reference to this, I thought it was a joke. Apparently, it’s not; there really is a position in the White House entitled “Director for Lessons Learned.” Pays $106,641.
Talk about a rough job, I imagine Mr. Baker’s daily routine goes something like this.
(1) Arrive at work.
(2) Turn on computer.
(3) Check messages.
(4) Open file “What we learned today.”
(5) Review text: “What we did yesterday was exactly right.”
(6) Save file.
(7) Print and send or email file to Oval Office.
(8) Turn off computer.
(9) Go home.

Crooks and Liars has a clip from last night’s The Daily Show, comparing Bush 1.0 to Bush 2.0, WMD version.

Via TalkLeft, an interesting quote from one of the Court’s non-liberal activist card carrying members:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy yesterday criticized the federal Sentencing Guidelines and the lobbying efforts of correctional officers’ unions.
“The only thing worse than sentencing under the guidelines is sentencing without them,” he told judges and lawyers from across the Ninth Circuit yesterday. “I think the guidelines are far too severe,” he added, explaining that spending money on prisoners while failing to invest in efforts to inform at-risk groups about sentencing undermined the principle of deterrence.
“The fact that the prison guards’ association lobbies for higher penalties is sick,” he added emphatically.

In most of the get-tough-on-crime debates, I don’t hear much regarding the role of the prison guards’ association. I think it’s a point to disclose that interest in the discussion.

No wonder I get hungry:

Riders can burn 10,000 calories on hard mountain stages, about five times the amount an average person might consume in the course of a normal day, said Denise Demir, doctor for Landis’ Swiss team, Phonak.
Replacing those calories and the 20 pints of liquid they can also lose through sweat requires them to drink and eat in such large quantities that it frequently gives riders stomach aches and diarrhea, Demir added.

OK, so I don’t ride the equivalent of a tough Tour De France stage. But I find that even an hour or two of riding lays the groundwork for a pretty hearty meal.
This weekend I did a tougher ride in the mountains, then proceeded to a friend’s house for an overnighter. My friend subsequently wrote that I “ate up most of our food.” Ooops.
As far as eating while cycling goes, there’s a bit of a trick to that. Most of my rides are short enough that I don’t take food along. So I haven’t yet gotten a feel for how it’s best to eat on the long rides (organized centuries) were I have to do so.
That caught up to me on my last ride when I found myself battling not only a mountain and the heat, but also a bit of an upset stomach from bad timing with my eating/drinking. (Fortunately, however, no diarrhea.) I guess the best way of figuring out what works best is the process of trial and error.