Brian Gongol
Is "we must act now" (on health reform) just another version of "it's for the children"?
The classic excuse for bad policy is "It's for the children." People use that canard to excuse a long list of stupid policies, because they can paint their opponents as being "against kids". It's a lark and a fallacious approach to policy. And it looks like we're going down exactly the same road with "We must not wait" on health-care reform, with a supposed two-week time limit on reforming everything about the American health-care system. Not to be too flippant about the situation, but America's best government rocket scientists went through five scrubbed launch attempts before getting the Space Shuttle off the ground for the current mission, and the Shuttle arrived at the International Space Station just in time to encounter a broken space toilet. And those are our rocket scientists -- our politicians will be the ones redesigning the health-care system. On a rush schedule. In the middle of a recession. The probability for colossally bad decision-making is enormous.
Death of Walter Cronkite marks turning point for the news
There was a time when "news" was defined by a handful of managing editors at desks in New York City. And it was delivered on a set schedule -- driven by press runs and the evening network newscasts. None of that seems relevant today.
Notes from the "Brian Gongol Show" on WHO Radio - July 19, 2009
