"Unless we act dramatically and quickly, science tells us our climate and our way of life are literally in jeopardy. Denial of the science is malpractice. There are those who say we can't afford to act. But waiting is truly unaffordable. The costs of inaction are catastrophic."

Kerry was responding to a British reporter's question regarding the recently released UN report on the subject, which the BBC calls "the most comprehensive report to date of the impacts of climate change on the world."

What's truly sad is that this important report has thus far merited but a glancing mention in the U.S. media. Meanwhile, the people who most desperately need enlightenment on the most pressing issue of our times have instead embraced and taken comfort in a rather ignorant, foolish and frankly embarrassing lecture on the subject delivered by the late pulp fiction writer Michael Crichton at Caltech (of all places!) eleven years ago.

At $1.50 a trip, rail rapid transit is indeed a very good deal in the L.A. area, and the Blue Line is both a safe and reliable way to travel between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles. And from downtown, you can catch other trains to almost anywhere in L.A. County.

And if you're looking to avoid further hassle, I would also recommend that if possible, you might consider flying in and out of LGB-Long Beach Airport, in order to avoid the crowds and long lines at LAX. The airport has just finished an extensive renovation, and it's a beautiful mid-sized airport that's easy to navigate. You'll be out of there 15 minutes after you get off the plane. LGB serves as the primary west coast hub for JetBlue, and the airport is also served by Alaska Airlines (SkyWest) and American Airlines (U.S. Airways).

But my experience last week put a dent in my optimism. My son has bronchitis, and I took him into the GP (disclaimer: GPs are all but worthless to anyone with a good internet connection and a modicum of smarts). Now, we ain't rich, we are lucky to be able to rent in the neighborhood we do, but we're alright, have good to "great" insurance, and still, taking the kid to the doc and being diagnosed and getting meds, it was almost $200 bucks out of pocket that day.

First, no one actually can tell how many people signed up via the Medicaid expansion are actually attributed to Obamacare vs. how many people just newly sign up (or, re-sign up).  Since they don't separate the "new" sign ups from the "re" sign ups - all are considered "new" plans - where did he get the confidence that this is all due to Obamacare?  

Also - are under 26 year olds who have stayed on their parents' plans actually "newly insured"?  Can you be "newly insured" if you never lost coverage to begin with? (And yes, this one of the good benefits of the bill, but since prior to Obamacare even being signed into law, 34 states had already enacted laws that allowed policyholders to keep adult children on their plans, how is the author accounting for who is "newly insured" because of Obamacare and who would have been eligible anyway without it?)

And even using Sebelius' comment about 80-85% of those people who have signed up through the exchanges paying their premium - that would be about 5 million people.  How many of them are truly "newly insured" vs. "have a new insurance plan because their old plan got canceled"?

I'm curious as to why this author is more confident in his statement, than say, the Kaiser Family Foundation when it comes to statistics?

My problem with that is, while not every cop engages in unprovoked beatings of suspects, every cop knows about it, has witnessed it, and, has done nothing about it.