In our debate about health care, the clinching argument by opponents of significant reform is usually “Do you want a health care system like Canada’s?” Any time I’ve asked a relative or friend in Canada whether they want a health care system like that in the United States, the answer has always been “No way!”
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E-Books and Real Books
Several years ago we had to decide what kind of piano to buy for our children. Electronic keyboards were attractive because of their size, economy and versatility. But most reviews I read compared them to “real pianos.” (“Sounds almost like a real piano.”) This raised the question: if you’re looking for a product being judged …
Negotiators or Escorts?
When such as Bill Clinton, or Bill Richardson, or Jesse Jackson travel abroad to “negotiate” the release of hostages, aren’t they more like escorts sent to accompany home those whose release has already been negotiated?
Men Among Men
Would Sgt. Crowley have arrested Dr. Gates if he’d been alone? The reason I ask is a longstanding observation that when in the presence of each other, men tend to behave far differently than when they’re by themselves, or in the presence of women. My favorite illustration is a study in which drivers were observed …
Chauncey Gardiner
A New Yorker writer recently called Iran’s president “Chauncey Gardinerish.” In the 1979 movie Being There, Peter Sellers played a dim-bulb gardener named Chance who is, when dressed in the well-tailored suits of his late employer, is taken to be an upper-crust executive named Chauncey Gardiner (because he introduces himself as “Chance . . . …
Dashboards
A reader has asked about “dashboard,” a word being used for computer programs whose elements are laid out on a “dashboard.” This term originally referred to the angled board used to protect buggy users from the muddy backsplash of horses’ hooves. It was subsequently borrowed by makers of horseless carriages for the front panels inside …