ChrisZach.com

First, read this:
(And watch for the spelling of words such as “public.”)
The Funniest Protest Signs Of 2009

Then, read this.
Thank you, someecards. Thank you very much.

I thought one of the major pillars of health care reform and reduced health care spending was the elimination of waste and a new emphasis on effective treatments. Now, some legislators are moving in the opposite direction and working to allow coverage of sham medicine with taxpayer dollars.
I respect the right of people to pay [...]

Rev. Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX, asks a valuable question in a recent article.
Excerpt:
I can’t believe I am standing today in a Christian church defending the proposition that we should lessen the suffering of those who cannot afford health care in an economic system that often treats the poor [...]

This article on Steven Chu, the new Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) — note: I am a consultant for the DOE — provides an interesting perspective on China’s attitudes about climate change. Is it possible that, despite its rapid expansion of “dirty” coal power and its polluted cities, China is more serious about [...]

I hate Swiss cheese (meaning, the stuff called “Swiss cheese” in America, not necessarily all cheese from Switzerland), but I would take the Swiss health care model over no reforms at all (I guess we call that American cheese, which is also terrible).
From the New York Times:

The Swiss Menace
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 16, 2009
It was [...]

This is a short blog post from SocialEdge.org, but a must-read.
It is important to also look at the concept of healthcare “rationing” from a global perspective.

Healthcare Rationing: What Price Is A Life?
Was Dick Cheney’s quadruple bypass surgery worth the money?
In the United States healthcare reform is policy wonk talk for changing up the way Americans [...]

Randall Stross wrote an article in the New York Times recently asking whether Tesla should receive the $400 million in low-interest federal loans it has requested. The money would come from a $25 billion loan package the government initially earmarked for improving fuel efficiency, but which now may be necessary just to keep the Detroit [...]

The automobile industry has continuously improved sound suppression in its vehicles to the point where engineers now build mechanisms into cars that purposefully introduce engine noise into the cabin, returning some of the driver’s aural feedback that had been insulated away.
But this post isn’t about that kind of automobile noise. This is about the noise [...]

And you thought you were safe from the meandering, thoughtless actions of our 43rd President, now that we’ve proven that the USA is smart enough to see we need some change at the top and elected Obama to turn the country around?
Well, Bush didn’t get that message and it turns out he’s going to screw [...]

BusinessWeek published a story yesterday with three growth scenarios for the outcome of the current financial downturn. I’m with the author in hoping for the third scenario — innovative growth.
In this scenario, the country’s investments in research (bioengineering bacteria to produce cellulosic biofuels, for example) pay off and we are able to increase our exports [...]