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My email to Sen. Feinstein on healthcare public option 

My email to Senator Feinstein, asking her to support a public option for healthcare. (Links added for this post.)

Senator Feinstein,

I was dismayed to hear your name being lumped together with Republicans and a handful of Democrats who are trying to scuttle any health care bill that includes a viable public option. As you are no doubt aware, the recent high price tags cited by the CBO do not take into account any price savings that a public option would generate by negotiating lower drug prices, doctor fees, and hospital costs, and forcing private insurers to be more competitive. As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich recently put it, "projecting the future costs of universal health care without including the public option is like predicting the number of people who will get sunburns this summer if nobody is allowed to buy sun lotion." I also believe, as do many experts, that a strong public option, unhampered by restrictions inserted at the behest of the insurance industry, is the surest way to bring down the spiraling costs that are eating up the budget of every family, every business and every state in The Union.

I understand how comments can be misinterpreted, and how often nuanced positions can be blown into a for-or-against bullet point, and so I hope you can set the record straight on your position by answering a simple question: Do you support immediate implementation of a public health-care option, undiluted by being broken into co-operatives and unfettered by restrictions as to its ability to negotiate for lower prices from drug companies and health-care providers? If not, what are your reasons for withholding your support?

Thank you, and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Dr. Bradley Rhodes
Alameda, CA 94501

Update 6/24/2009: TPM just received a clarification from Feinstein's office on her position.

Update 7/21/2009: Here are the responses from Senators Feinstein and Boxer. The key paragraphs from Sen. Feinstein:

One of the many proposals being considered to reform our system is to create a health care plan that is publically operated. Please know that I am reviewing all health care reform options and I will keep your comments in mind as the Senate continues to work to improve health care for all Americans.

The key paragraph from Sen. Boxer:

I was pleased to be an original co-sponsor of S.Res.156, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that health care reform legislation should include the establishment of a federally backed insurance pool.

Introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), S.Res.156 says that any reform of the nation's health care system should give consumers a choice of an affordable, federally backed option to introduce competition in the health insurance market and contain health care costs. I support this approach.

Adding irony to injury for Kodachrome 

Reporting on Kodak's retiring of their famed Kodachrome film, NPR's All Things Considered, Melissa Block interviewed photographer Steve McCurry (emphasis mine):

I'm looking at one of your most iconic images, this is the photo of a young Afghan girl... she's wearing a brick-red head scarf and there's a green background and her eyes are just popping off the screen...

I think that just about says it all. You can also view an online gallery of what some of the great photos taken with Kodachrome look like after they've been scanned, digitized, and re-rendered on whatever computer monitor you happen to have. Such vivid colors!

PVI buys E Ink for ~$215 Million 

Taiwanese display company Prime View International announced today it will be purchasing E Ink for about $215. PVI has been a long-time partner of E Ink, and supplies the backplane for the Amazon Kindle and Sony's eReader, which use E Ink's ink technology.