Deadly Serious

Devil's Work
Few international problems have bedeviled Mr. Obama as much as Syria and few have so challenged his desire to reduce the American footprint in the world in order to focus energies instead on what he calls “nation building here at home.” As much as he wants to avoid getting entangled in what he regards as another quagmire, he finds himself confronted by a conflict that is spilling over into the region and testing American resolve. (NYT, 6/14/2013)

And so, once again, there is greater understanding and appreciation for....George Bush. Is it any wonder that new polling indicates that his approval numbers have risen and now match or exceed those of....Barack Obama?


Steamed Up
A current and a former top tax official have been physically threatened in recent weeks as the scandal over Internal Revenue Service targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups has gathered steam, people familiar with their situation say. (NYT, 6/15/2013)

The New York Times breaks its self-imposed silence on the IRS targeting-of-conservative-groups scandal to report that IRS officials have been threatened. Probably it was those conservative groups who did it.... 


Offshore
In six months’ time, the heartless practice of refusing to let sick people buy affordable health insurance — private-sector death panels, the most odious kind of American exceptionalism — will be illegal from shore to shore. (Timothy Egan, NYT, 6/14/2013)

So here's a question for Mr. Egan: If it is heartless to deny health insurance to sick people, is it equally heartless to deny life insurance to dying people?

Here's another question: Do you know what "insurance" is?