An Additional Note

On the Dylan story below:

I understand why someone might have called the cops. But I cannot fathom why the cops felt the need - and the right - to put him in a police car and take him back to his hotel to ascertain his identity. WTF, America?

Dylan's Inspiration

I've wondered in the past just how someone like Bob Dylan, who's been world-famous since he was 20, is able to write the kinds of songs that Dylan writes. Obviously, he writes some abstract songs, or songs that are based on his personal experiences as a world-famous rock star, but he also writes (and has always written) songs that seem to be grounded in experiences that he hasn't had in almost 50 years - the experiences of an anonymous wanderer.

Turns out he sometimes is an anonymous wanderer. I think that we probably underestimate how easy it can be to become anonymous, especially if you run counter to expectation - who would think that scruffy-looking white guy is a rock star? He probably couldn't go unrecognized in (supposedly anonymous and aloof) Manhattan, but he sure can on the backstreets of Long Branch, NJ.

Does Health Care Reform Stand a Chance?

Yesterday morning, news from TPM had me feeling very grim. After months of Blue Dog wankery, Republican obstructionism, and Democratic ineffectuality, reports that town halls were being hijacked by crowds of Teabaggers (organized by well-funded Republican operatives, of course), whose concerns were of course being taken very seriously by the media had me ready to give up entirely. And health care isn't just a political concern for me - last fall, with a 6 week old baby plus a four year old, our family went off health insurance for 4 months (COBRA was simply too expensive, and SCHIP takes forever to get enrolled). My family needs the public plan.

But this makes me feel much, much better. A Daily Kos diarist from Indiana reports from a town hall held there in which the Good Guys showed up in force, organizers were prepared for and prevented disruption, and the meeting proceeded in a democratic, rather than mobocratic, spirit. Combine that with the fact that, if you scratch a teabagger, you'll find a birther, and I start to feel a bit of hope that August will not kill the dream of worthwhile health care reform in America.