The Florida DOT wants to build toll roads in Northeast Florida, Richard Dawkins talks about Adam and Eve, Rubio dithers, Socialists win big in France, Michigan Republicans’ Vagina problem, Charlie Sheen returns, Diane Ravich takes on Mitt Romney, Havana memories, Michael Chabon on the stupidity of dreams, the wonder of books according to Carl Sagan, the cruelty of welfare reform, and more.
The Live Wire
Wire Essentials: June 15
Voter purge deja vu, tea party versus Ronald Reagan, quitting Microsoft in song, when Indianapolis was nuked, Romney’s bullying problem, Marco Rubio votes against food stamps, Fifty Shades of Gray’s origins, and more.
National Spending on Health Rising to One-Fifth of GDP
Actuaries estimate that health spending will account for 19.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, up from 17.9 percent in 2010. On average, 5.7 percent increases in spending are expected for each of the 10 years, although much of the increased spending will come in 2014 and after.
Stop and Frisk Follies
Stop and frisk is a constitutionally suspect police tactic that entails stopping and searching an individual for weapons arbitrarily. The practice disproportionately targets blacks and Latinos while yielding a minimal number of weapons–usually on whites.
Mormon, Yes. Christian, No.
“Being a Christian so often involves such boorish and meanspirited behavior that I marvel that any of my Mormon colleagues are so eager to join the fold,” writes David Mason.
“The Wreckage Was Vast and Startling”: Ernie Pyle on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944
Ernie Pyle on Omaha Beach after the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944 describes a wreckage “vast and startling” along “this shoreline museum of carnage” even as he anticipates inevitable victory for the Allies.
The Fear of Mormons
“Making Mormons look bad helps others feel good,” J. Spencer Fluhman, a Mormon scholar, argues, but it neither explains nor justifies the unresolved prejudices and self-serving veils that cling to Mormon dogma.
Philippe Petit, Still Soaring
“Improvisation,” Philippe Petit says in this absorbing 19-minute Ted talk, “is empowering because it welcomes the unknown. And since what’s impossible is always unknown, it allows me to believe I can cheat the impossible.”
Businesses Don’t Create Jobs. Consumers Do.
Nick Hanauer’s TED talk demolishing the notion that businesses create jobs was allegedly censored by TED. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the controversy around the talk helps spotlight a prevailing dogma worth debating about job creators.
Being Sick in America
The recently ill are more likely to say the cost and quality of care have worsened over the past five years, compared to people who weren’t sick. A significant proportions say their treatment was poorly managed.