Coke adds life

Outrage as Doctors’ Group Allows Coca-Cola to Sponsor Health Advice:

Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation’s largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke.

The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy’s consumer health and wellness Web site, www.FamilyDoctor.org.

Doctors and such folk see this as a breach of integrity: how can the AAFP work for healthier lifestyles when a junk food company could threaten to yank funding at any time?

They shouldn’t look at it like that. They should look at it as: under the illusion of good public relations, Coca-Cola is helping to ensure its own doom!

Alternate conclusion: It’s those Coke Zero guys!

Note: the appearance of several NASCAR drivers in the preceding YouTube video in no way violates my previous pledge to stop writing about Danica Patrick possibly signing with a NASCAR team. Although since we’re already talking about it, there’s been no new news in the last few hours.

Good time to be on the fence.

Pelosi: ‘We will’ have the votes to pass healthcare bill by Saturday

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted Thursday she will have the votes to pass the Democratic healthcare bill by Saturday.

The statement, however, is a tacit acknowledgement that she doesn’t have them yet.

“We will,” Pelosi said, when asked if she had the 218 votes needed to pass the $1.055 trillion bill, designed to extend healthcare to 96 percent of the population and create a government health insurance plan.

Whaddaya suppose it’ll be worth to the Speaker to drag that last vote off the fence in time to meet her self-imposed deadline?

Via Memeorandum

Look, I’m not falling for this “Danica Patrick going to NASCAR” thing again.

It’s like the story that never dies. The Neverending Story. Which was kind of a stupid movie, really, if you like things like plot and character and writing, although if you went to see that movie looking for those things I kind of question your intelligence in the first place.

Oh, fine, let’s talk about this again:

Sources: Danica Near NASCAR Deal

IndyCar Series and crossover media star Danica Patrick is nearing completion of a two-year contract with JR Motorsports, the NASCAR Nationwide Series operation owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., and a source close to the negotiations described the talks as being “in the final phase.”

A second source close to the situation confirmed the deal is moving forward, saying “talks are moving in a very positive direction and it would probably be a surprise if it didn’t happen.”

Hey, here’s an idea: let’s hold our breath this time!

Or, no, wait, maybe that’s not such a good idea. I think we’ve been talking about Danica jumping to NASCAR since…oh, sometime in 2005. Every couple months, every few weeks or so, the story pops right back up again.

And then a few weeks later, it pops back up again. And then again. And then again.

And we all dutifully write about it.

I’m starting to wonder just how much of this is PR on the Patrick camp’s part – keep teasing the media to keep her name in the news. And then, of course, the media bites at whatever bait they throw out because they figure people want to read it because Danica’s Danica and maybe people figure there’ll be a picture of her in the story.

Which, frequently, there is.

Well I’m drawing the line. I’ve written my last “Danica jumping to NASCAR” post unless (until) she actually signs with a NASCAR team. Until then, I stand on principle. Traffic be damned.

Republicans are such violent people.

Good thing Bill Clinton isn’t president anymore, or there’d be Democrats getting the vapors over this:

Thousands of opponents of the Democrats’ health care legislation are gathered outside the Capitol, for a noon news conference and rally led by Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, and the chants are already under way, echoing across the Mall.

“Kill the bill!” they are shouting. “Kill the bill!”

Come to think of it, the current president’s name does start with a “b.” Maybe these protesters are just too stupid to figure that out? Or, no, wait: they’re all racists, who don’t want to actually say such a foreign-sounding name!

They’re threatening the president! Somebody ought to file a complaint.

Picture gleefully swiped from Gateway Pundit.

Keep your coverage, and pay less for it!

The Congressional Budget Office hearts the Republican health care plan!

CBO: Republican health plan would reduce premiums, cut deficit

The Congressional Budget Office Wednesday night released its cost analysis of the Republican health care plan and found that it would reduce health care premiums and cut the deficit by $68 billion over ten years.

The Republican plan does not call for a government insurance plan but rather attempts to reform the system by creating high-risk insurance pools, allowing people to purchase health insurance policies across state lines and instituting medical malpractice reforms.

UPDATE – am I going to have to read this damned thing myself? Ezra Klein:

According to CBO, the GOP’s alternative will shave $68 billion off the deficit in the next 10 years. The Democrats, CBO says, will slice $104 billion off the deficit.

The Democratic bill, in other words, covers 12 times as many people and saves $36 billion more than the Republican plan.

But the Examiner reports:

The CBO put the price tag for the GOP plan at $61 billion, a fraction of the $1.05 trillion cost estimate it gave to the House bill that lawmakers are set to vote on this weekend. And the CBO found that the Republican provision to reform medical malpractice liability would result in $41 billion in savings and increase revenues by $13 billion by reducing the cost of private health insurance plans.

How does the Democrat plan “save more” than the Republican plan when the Democrat plan costs 17 times as much as the Republican plan?

Dammit, now I’m gonna hafta go read the dang CBO thing myself to figure this out. Like I don’t have enough to do already. I should just call Klein a big dumkopf and be done with it.

Via Memeorandum.