Screen roll...

CLE credits in Brookfield Wisc. yesterday -- insurance and talk of hyperinflation to come -- took me again past Ten Chimneys, the seasonal home and garden of Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. The countryside, even cold and dark with clouds, can't help showing its color and autumnal glory.

Miscellaneous:
my odometer rolled zeroes on the trip home, somewhere between Tomah and Osseo. Here's to another 200,000 -- it came from public auction in Florida with less than 50,000 miles, previously a NASA fleet car.

Meanwhile here's a screen roll of columns worth reading this Friday:

Eugene Robinson -- I'm going to guess he very much stands by these Rush quotes. No showboating, just select game summary of the record. Hadn't heard the Halfrican American one; that's true huh?

Roger Cohen -- best when he's not attempting strong humor, but breezy ripe observations in an area he obviously knows. Not telling, just invites you to see.

Paul Krugman -- An airiness here too, as if someone finally opened a window, in a room of stuffy research. Positive, if the style must be so conclusory.

The motivation for the AHIP report seems to have been the decision by the Finance Committee to weaken the penalties for individuals who don’t sign up for insurance, even as it retains regulations requiring that insurers offer the same policies to everyone, regardless of medical history. The industry worries that some people will game the system, remaining uninsured as long as they’re healthy, then signing up when they get sick.

This is, believe it or not, a valid concern. Many health-care economists believe that a strong individual mandate, requiring that almost everyone sign up, will be needed to make health reform work. And the Finance Committee probably did weaken the mandate too much.
...
As I said, the individual mandate probably should be stronger than it is in the Finance Committee’s bill. But there’s a reason the mandate was weakened: fear that too many people would balk at the cost of insurance, even with the subsidies provided to lower-income individuals and families. So why not address that cost?

David Brooks -- on the power given to overworked government employees, especially if increases are coming. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow... if you share his concern.