I don't know if this is cricket (although it used to be done) but I'm going link to a previous post and thread I found very interesting.  It's now gone off the main page and thanks to some spammers, off the first page of "All Reader Posts" as well.  

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/wwstaebler/2009/09/gender-discrimination-in-healt.php

It was a great post on gender discrimination in health care by wwstaebler that evolved into a more general discussion about how private health insurance works.   Thought those who missed it might want to see - and possibly continue - the discussion. Some good links there also. 

I was particularly fascinated to learn what vast differences there are in the cost (and possibly quality) of health coverage that various ones of us are paying for right now, from the individually-purchased plan to the huge employer plans.  Really shocking - and (to me) absolutely impossible to justify!!  (Tell me, would you rather pay $932 a month or $30 a month????? and, I'm willing to bet, get better, more hassle-free coverage for $30 a month?)

I so **rarely** get to write that statement .....  or any part of it.  Still, credit where it is due.

I caught just a bit of the show this am while heading out to work.  They had shown a clip of Glenn Beck with Katie Couric (she gets *all* the fun ones to interview!) and Joe S. started taking Beck to task, seriously to task, about his inflammatory talk and his responsibility for the logical consequences of such talk.  AND he said that conservative Republican leaders should speak up and disavow such talk or *they* would bear responsibility also.  'Bout time someone said it!!

And in Sullivan's Daily Dish this morning

"I am not going to give into sentiments that I think degrade the office of the president and that degrade the debate and the culture of our country. So if you come up to me calling the president a socialist, a Muslim, you're talking to the wrong guy," - Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Are fall breezes bringing a tiny bit of sanity???    One can hope.