Vermont is the best state in the Union.

Looks like Vermount is going to have singe payer healthcare and is doing so to save money.

Reminder why it will save money:


http://imgur.com/Kkx1O

A good thing has happened.

I am hopefully not going to make a habit of linking the Wall Street Journal, it was the newspaper of choice for capitalists even before Murdoch took over and added in some Fox News populist lies for good measure. Nonetheless this is a special occasion, for the WSJ is angry with Obama. Not angry in their dismissive faux manner they usually are with Obama because they've got to keep shifting the overton window ever rightwards. No, this is straight up real anger. They're angry because something good has happened.

Elizabeth Warren has been appointed to oversee the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency. It does longer term she almost certainly wont lead it but given continuing GOP tactics to block any and all appointments and legislation that is in any way positive for America that wasn't likely anyway. Hopefully under her wise hand will built into something capable of doing some good.

A good example of why I like Elizabeth Warren so much is this lecture she gave a few years ago:


And I'm putting this mea culpa at the bottom of the page under the video so maybe you wont have your perception of me as infallible pierced: I strongly believed that after her capable overseership of the TARP program she'd never get any higher in government. I am glad Obama has done a rare good thing and proven me wrong.

Nelson Mandela: Cool Guy.

Nelson Mandela angrily addressed a UK cabinet meeting in 2003 strongly opposing Tony Blair's decision to invade iraq. Nice to know some leaders aren't totally awful.

Protesters force Blair to run away and hide.

War criminal and sycophant to imperialists Tony Blair called off a big signing event in London yesterday because he was afraid of protesters. Sure it isn't much of a victory but at least it made him aware just unpopular he is and prevented him from strutting around wherever he wants to go. Fun fact Blair no longer lives in Britain, so you can tell he left a pretty popular legacy here.

However he did give the topic of yesterday's favoured liveblog Sunrise a quote that shows what hes all about:

Mr Blair earlier told ITV it was "not as if we need" to do signings to sell copies of his memoirs.

Deeply unpopular with the people of the country you lead? Not a problem, dudes just in it to get paid.

Tory Justice Minister says Tough on Crime doesn't work.

While its likely the UK will follow the US's path of a prison industrial complex the current Justice Minister, whose remit over prisons does not cover who actually gets charged or arrested, thats the Home Secretary's remit, Ken Clarke has suggested that prisons are expensive and pointless and reform should be more of a goal. Clarke is very much to the left of the Conservative party and during New Labour's height in the late 90s it was suggested he might defect so its not especially surprising hes saying this stuff (although of course New Labour was dead keen on building prisons and letting private companies run them) but it also makes it questionable how much support he'll get from the rest of the party which is generally more in favour of being tough on criminals, lock em up and so on.

Still its vaguely hopeful I suppose.

Bystander effect may not exist.

The Bystander effect is believed to be something that causes humans to be less likely to intervene and help someone in distress the more people are witnesses an event. Its a generally accepted psychological phenomena but recently a scientist has cast doubt on the theory:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8761745.stm

So we might be almost as good as Orangutans!