Critics of the various health care reform proposals currently before Congress have focused on a variety of flaws, from the extraordinarily high costs to the stealthy nature by which some of them seek to bring about a single A. BARTON
HINKLE
payer system. But not enough obloquy has been heaped on the most pernicious proposal of all: the mandate requiring every American to buy insurance.

Call me Ishmael. 2:48 PM December 17th from web Have decided to go see watery part of world. Wish me luck! 4:09 PM December 17th from web Rooming for night at Spouter Inn. Nice place. Popular, too. Needs better lighting tho. 6:21 PM December 17th from web Dumplings for supper!

A. BARTON HINKLE If you see a lot of people walking around in neck braces in the next few days, don’t be surprised. Most of them probably got whiplash trying to process the hoopla surrounding So nia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. From all the celebratory hullaballoo, one might conclude that the most important aspect of the nomination is that it breaks down barriers. And it certainly was heartwarming to see the nation’s first black president standing beside the woman who will almost certainly be come the nation’s first (or, perhaps, second—see below) Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Gotta love progress. Sotomayor’s life history (raised by a single mom, inspired by Nancy Drew) also is heartwarming in its own right. As Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza said, it “personifies the American dream for so many Latinos in this country.“