Another conservative role model

Veronica Berlusconi gives Silvio the boot. Peter Popham, The Independent:

Days after attacking him publicly for acting the emperor with a harem of young girls, Silvio Berlusconi’s wife Veronica Lario has called time on her 16-year marriage and is seeking a divorce. “I want to bring down the curtain,” Ms Lario was quoted as saying in La Repubblica. “I am convinced that at this point it would not be dignified for me to stop here. The road of my marriage is marked, I cannot stay with a man who surrounds himself with minors.”

The Italian nation should jilt him, too.

Meredith Whitney on the banks

Senate Dems Lay Down Marker on Healthcare

This is good enough to quote in full.

Why We Must Act: Senate Democrats Make the Case for Health Reform
April 30, 2009
–Democratic Policy Committee
Byron L. Dorgan, Chairman

While Senate Republicans debate arcane parliamentary procedure, Senate Democrats have are focused on improving health care for all Americans. Democrats, like most Americans, want to ensure that those who like their current coverage can keep it, while ensuring that all American families have access to quality, affordable health care. Democrats know that for our economy to truly recover and prosper, we must help middle-class families and businesses cope with skyrocketing health care costs. Rather than becoming distracted by process, Senate Democrats are focused on the case for health reform, and they, like millions of Americans, know we must act.

Why We Must Act: Eight Years of Inaction Contributed to High Costs and a Rising Number of Uninsured

Skyrocketing health care costs are contributing to the current economic crisis, weighing heavily on family, business and government budgets. As highlighted in a report recently released at HealthReform.gov, “The Costs of Inaction,” inherited flaws in our health care system have led to higher health care costs, reduced access to care, and inconsistent quality of care throughout the country.[1]

High health care costs. In 2007, the United States spent approximately $2.2 trillion on health care, about $7,421 per person or 16.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid accounting for 4 percent of GDP.[2][3]

Rising health care costs are not only affecting federal health expenditures, they are also squeezing family budgets. Health insurance premiums have doubled in the past eight years and, when combined with increasing out-of-pocket costs like co-payments and deductibles, more Americans than ever struggle to afford the health care they need.[4] Increasing medical costs contribute to bankruptcies, foreclosures, and burden American businesses trying to remain competitive in the global economy. [5][6][7] In addition, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll found that, within the past year, high health care costs have led six in ten Americans to delay or skip medical care.[8]

Space: the final fun-teer

Websites devoted to space.

For example, Pulsar B1509 from Harvard’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory:

Warren Buffett: Obama Is On The Right Track

As noted here.

Something you wouldn’t know from most of the news coverage lately.