My appreciation of Brian Dillon’s The Hypochondriacs is up at NPR. If you have health problems,chaussures air jordan, or worry that you have health problems, or both, you should read this book. People who never get sick might enjoy it,air jordan pas cher, too — if only for the opportunity to feel superior while jogging around the park in the [...]

“If I’m anything I’m a post- humanist.” John Banville talks with Anne K. Yoder. (See also.)

HLO interviews Miljenko Jergovic, author of the excellent Sarajevo Marlboro, who apparently also works as a journalist. (Via.)

Vladimir Nabokov famously instructed his wife Vera to destroy his final, unfinished novel, The Original of Laura, if he didn’t live to complete it. At his death, the draft consisted of a stack of notecards which he’d shuffled through, added to, and rewritten right up until the end. Vera, having once saved an early version [...]

The first installment of Chapters, the Girls Write Now reading series I’m curating, will feature the talented Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the new novel Wench. She’ll be introduced by my friend and fellow board member Tayari Jones, and after her guest reading, several of the girls will share their own work,Doudoune Moncler Pas Cher. The event is this [...]

Robert Pinsky is judging 3 Quarks Daily’s Arts & Literature Prize for blog entries written after February 21, 2009. First prize is $1000. Nominate your favorites.

Matthew Price calls Kermode’s new study of E.M,jordan pas cher. Forster “a disappointing mishmash of biography and criticism,” more flat than round.

Jay Atkinson visits Flannery O’Connor’s Milledgeville, quotes Harry Crews, makes me wonder how many of us found our way to her from his class. (See also.)

Winston Riley has posted a new teaser for his Walker Percy documentary. This one coincidentally relates to my recent post (and your comments) about the interconnectedness of stories and ideas. While Percy was laid up with tuberculosis,Doudoune Moncler, he read Thomas Mann and other “literature of the alienated self.” He also immersed himself in Heidegger, Kierkegaard, [...]

The formidable Ishmael Reed (Mumbo Jumbo) argues, in “Fade to White,” that responses to Precious (trailer above) break down along racial lines, with white viewers applauding its candor, and black viewers infuriated by its offensive, ham-handed stereotypes. This stratified response is no surprise, he says, because the film intentionally panders to white audiences: “In guilt-free [...]

J,air jordan femme. Keir Howard ponders the complicated influence of the Bible on modern medicine. (Eternal OUP disclosure.)

“[E]very shut-eye ain’t sleep, every goodbye ain’t gone.” Elizabeth Alexander on Lucille Clifton.

Last year I wrote a story about the secret history of Cracker Barrel,air jordan femme, Sodom and Gomorrah, and, possibly, the Illuminati. I did this for the Significant Objects project, which invites writers to infuse an otherwise worthless object with value through fiction. In so doing, I raised a little (very little) bit of money for Girls [...]

Yes,Moncler, says James Hynes,Doudoune Moncler Femme, Robert Stone belongs to the “great tradition of semi-mad,nike air jordan, oracular American writers railing [about sin], but even his grimmest books are infused with mordant wit.”

“What you can finally not say ‘no’ to”: Mark Vernon, spurred by reading of Iain McGilchrist, contemplates the essentially negative exchange between the hemispheres of the brain.

BY DEREK HUNTER

Until the next liberal campaign ad accusing Mitt Romney and/or Paul Ryan of seeking to put cigarettes out on the arms of senior citizens before throwing them in front of a 100-truck convoy,Doudoune Moncler, this campaign is going to focus on issues. But the clock is ticking as the edit bays at left-wing organizations are filled with eager staffers unencumbered by truth, so we’ll have to enjoy this respite while we can.

Even while we are immersed in this momentary policy discussion, Democrats can’t help but lie about Paul Ryan’s proposal save Medicare.

Let’s take a quick look at the problem first, then the proposed solution.

In 2008, then Senator Obama was asked in a debate about entitlement reform. Here was his answer:

He acknowledged the problem and pledged action in his first term. Since then he has done nothing. No proposals, no action, nothing. Seems that while everyone knows there is a coming financial disaster in entitlements, Democrats are only interested in mentioning the issue when Republicans dare propose solutions to it. It’s the Bizarro World version of leadership.

Medicare is facing an,according to the latest trustees report. But you’d think all is well if you only got your information from Democrats. They don’t talk about it; they defend the status quo. We, as a nation, are on the hook for more than double our entire economy and their solution is to pretend it’s not a problem.

But to maintain their position and protect their voters from reality, they have to lie about the problem. To protect their lie they have to attack any solution offered, because to discuss a solution would mean having to address the problem. They’d rather use the issue to lie to seniors in the hope of scaring them into voting for Democrats.

Case in point: Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She was on CNN yesterday discussing Ryan’s reform proposal. She lied and tried to claim Ryan’s plan to save Medicare would impact current Medicare recipients. Ever since he first proposed it, and in plain English,moncler doudoune, Ryan has pointed out that his plan would not impact anyone under 55 years old. Congresswoman Schultzknows this fact; she just doesn’t care. The truth doesn’t scare anyone into voting for Democrats,Doudoune Moncler, so forget it.

Thankfully, as you can see from the video, Wolf Blitzer wasn’t having any of it.

But even being confronted with a truth she already knew, she again claimed Ryan’s plan would "shred Medicare."

So would Ryan’s plan really leave seniors eating cat food while living in refrigerator boxes under a bridge near the Costco? Of course not.

What it would do is save a program that senior citizens rely upon while ensuring it doesn’t bankrupt the nation. Crazy, I know.

Jim Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute summed of how Ryan’s plan would:

1. No one over the age of 55 would be affected in any way.
2. Traditional Medicare fee-for-service would remain available for all. “Premium support” — that is, government funding of private insurance plans chosen by individuals — is an option for those who choose it. No senior would be forced out of the traditional Medicare program against his will.
3. Overall funding for Medicare under the Ryan-Wyden plan is scheduled to grow at the same rate as under President Obama&rsquo,jordan pas cher;s proposals. Is this "gutting Medicare" and "ending Medicare as we know it"? In reality, it’s the market giving seniors cheaper, higher quality choices they can take if they wish,Jordan Pas Cher, with the traditional program remaining an option.

The main difference, and Democrats' biggest problem with it, is it empowers seniors to make choices for themselves, not government. If they want to buy a private plan, they are free to do so. If they want to remain in traditional Medicare, they’re free to do that too. If that’s "ending Medicare as we know it,air jordan," so be it,jordan.

President Obamathat he wants "an America in which prosperity is shared." What he doesn’t say, ever, is “Here is my plan to save Medicare.” He’s more likely to ride out on stage at the convention on a unicorn than offer a serious one before the election.

Entitlements have long been called “The third rail of American politics.” To talk about changing them meant near-certain political death. Well, not talking about them means certain fiscal disaster in the not-too-distant future. One of the few politicians to pay more than lip service to this real and all too serious problem is Paul Ryan. He’s taken this risk knowingly and willingly. And been savagely attacked, lied about and demonized for it. Yet he continues to talk about it because it must be talked about.

While all Americans used to admire that sort of leadership, Democrats are more frightened than the seniors they’re trying to scare the life out of that that people might actually listen to Ryan.

When it comes to abortion, Democrats are all for freedom of choice. When it comes to Medicare, or any other government program they hold so dear, they adopt Henry Ford philosophy of toward the Model T: You can have it any color you want,air jordan pas cher, as long as it’s black.

But Ryan, to his credit,Air Jordan Femme, will not stop ",doudounes moncler;speaking truth to power," as the left likes to say, because he has the truth on his side.

To see Ryan’s plan in his own words, in plain English, watch this short video: