Speaking of health care....
I'd just like to point this out, to our friends and enemies on both sides of the health care debate: government-run health care will, by necessity, be run by the Government. Yes. So too is the Post Office, and I don't think enough people remember this. So, I'm going to tell you a story.

I just got back from my local branch of the United States Post Office, where I tried to mail a letter. The time was 12:06. To my surprise, I was barred from entry. The reason for this was, you might have guessed, that the Post Office closes at noon on Saturday.

In what reasonable world does the Post Office close at noon? But I digress; it closes at noon because it closes at noon.

Now, there were probably about 15 to 20 people standing in line inside, and what looked like a family of 4 or 5 children, all cavorting about and having the time of their lives. They were still being served, but because I was 6 minutes late there was "nothing [they] can do" for me.

This, like arbitrary closing times despite the four other people behind me trying to get in is typical of government thinking. Had I been at Mailboxes Etc., I probably would have been let in. Since it was a State-run operation however, the letter of the law states that my simple 50-cent transaction must occur before noon on Saturday--not 12:01, 12:02, or 12:06. I am an aberration if my needs don't match the services available. Truly, this is the kind of thinking we want in our hospitals.

What's going to happen to people when the Government runs our health care? Now, I'm really not that put out over having to mail my letter on Monday morning, and the guy who turned me away was rather polite about it all. That's not the point. What I worry about is things getting worse because the State's getting involved.

There will inevitably be many claims against our new insurance overlords. Who arbitrates these claims against the State? Yep. The State. How do you unionize against the State? Sure, you can fire the bastards but that still leaves us (not them) with the problem.

It'll happen whether we want it or not. We await silent Tristero's Empire.