Thanks for the session with Juan Williams this evening -- some thoughts I didn't get to express as the mike was taken away before I could ask my follow-up.

As I did say, healthcare is not going to be fixed by either candidate's halfway measures -- especially after those measures get dissected by K St lobbyists and filled full of loopholes, earmarks, and exceptions that allow them to continue making their ungodly profits off a failing system.

They are making too much money off this "system" to surrender the easy bucks readily. The system makes no sense as a health-care delivery modality. It makes great sense as a racket to reward the unholy cabal that runs it: Big Pharma, Big HMO Conglomerates, and the AMA. (Just as the war in Iraq makes sense only as a racket to reward the monster military contractors, oil companies, etc. that are its beneficiaries.)

The underlying problem, of course, is the corrupting influence of money in our politics. Solve that one, and healthcare reform becomes possible -- and a lot more besides.

2 other comments Mr. Williams made should not go unanswered.

1. He claimed that the reason U.S. medications are so much more expensive is "the huge cost of R&D and testing." Horse hockey! Like many a Timesman, he's just spouting the corporate line. The same pills cost about 30% of their U.S. cost in Canada (made by U.S. mfrs). I know! I've lived there! My brother is married to an Eli Lilly heiress: I've met some of the company royalty, seen the kind of houses they live in (there's nothing "Mc" about their mansions, and every kid has 2 or 3 cars and a motorcycle too). Their CEOs loot us for million$ -- they have a huge budget for lobbyists in DC and the state capitols -- they overadvertise their "product" on TV & other media to convince people they need a lot of pills they really don't need. THAT's why the damn pills cost so much!

2. The Sarah Palin thing that he did his best to downplay is a real, live story. She has made claims that 1) the Iraq War is part of God's plan and 2) a new pipeline deal in Alaska is God's will (asks congregants to pray for it). There is live video on YouTube; look it up if you haven't seen it already!

Mr. Williams also ducked the question on what is off-limits for the media. It's quite obvious to any of us who were monitoring the convention coverage (including indymedia and Web sources): It is out of bounds for the media to cover protests outside the convention halls, especially when peaceful protestors are met with heavy-handed police brutality and independent journalists are illegally roughed up, busted, and publicly humiliated by the cops. The cops may have done themselves a disservice by busting Amy Goodman. She is such a celebrity that her arrest may warrant a line or two in print, if only in the Society column. Aside from that -- barely a mention of tens of thousands in the streets or jackbooted police tactics, in the corporate press.

(Further disturbing aspects not discussed, since the protests/suppression were not covered at all:
1. Cops disguised their identities so they could not be held accountable: i.e. no badges or names visible. This was done en masse and obviously was planned. 2. The RNC assumed liability for potential lawsuits over illegal arrests under an insurance rider, getting Mpls. off the hook. The result: NO ACCOUNTABILITY!)