structural issues

[wombat_socho]

badger2305 is unhappy with Rush Limbaugh on account of this LA Times article, and is encouraging his friends to join him in writing the EIB affiliate in Des Moines to express that unhappiness. Which is fine; I twitted him about not waiting for the return of the Fairness Doctrine, which was snarky of me, but actually it does amuse me to see the Left adopting tactics that have been used in the past by the Religious Right. As for the cause of his anger, Rush gave a rebuttal to the Rainey article today and posted it to his website for the benefit of folks like badger2305. I remain amused, as does El Rushbo, who has frequently been rather giddy since the election.

It would be pretty stupid of the Democrats to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine, which isn't to say they wouldn't anyway, but if they were smart, they'd use tactics like this instead. While it's possible grassroots/astroturf boycotts might only have effects at the margins (i.e. on talk stations that aren't drawing well anyway) the downside would be less risky than making the FCC the arbiter of political balance on the radio and TV again.


phoenixalpha linked this story from the WaPo about a medical mission to impoverished Wise County, Virginia. I've been thinking about this the last couple of days...the only reason these missions happen is because doctors, nurses and techs volunteer their time; people contribute money to the foundation that funds these missions; drug companies donate pharmaceuticals. Would the good people of Wise County be better off with a couple of USPHS clinics nearby? It all comes down to funding. Who's going to pay, since many of the people in the article can't?
Something that probably won't happen is a change in the student loan/Pell Grant program so that it only funds things like medical, nursing, engineering, and other scientific/technical degrees that may not necessarily pay all that well but are needed by the military, the USPHS, and other parts of the government. God knows we're ass-deep in lawyers and humanities majors; can we subsidize something more useful to society instead? More Navy corpsmen or Army medics/techs serving on the home front? I'm not sure what the right solution to problems like Wise County's is, but I don't think government health insurance is the answer. A lot of the folks in the article are already on Medicaid or Medicare.