The Votes, Some Fine Print, in The House Health Care Bill
Here's a USA Today story that has a full list of how various representatives voted on the health care reform bill. Also included, a handy-dandy list of the main differences between House and Senate versions, a prediction that the whole thing faces an uphill battle in the upper chamber (thank god): COST House: $1.2 trillion over 10 years.Senate: $829 billion over 10 years. MAJOR TAXES & FEES House: 5.4% income tax surcharge on annual incomes above $500,000 for individuals and $1 m

New at Reason: Steve Chapman on the Dangers of Cold War Nostalgia
The West's unequivocal victory in the Cold War brought joy, writes Steve Chapman, but it also created something else: a void in our lives. If upholding freedom and democracy against a global enemy was not our purpose, what was?

On Second Thought, Don't Show Me the Note
At Calculated Risk, guest blogger albrt has an analysis of court decisions regarding Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., the tracking service that has drawn controversy over its role as a front end for mortgage debts that have been sliced up and securitized. Among

Houses Passes Health Care Bill
Health care reform bill H.R. 3962 passes the House of Representatives by a vote of 220 to 215. Among Republicans, only Anh "Joseph" Cao votes for the bill. As always, the actual shape of the bill remains shrouded in moment-to-moment mystery. The San Francisco Chronicle's Carolyn Lochhead notes that moderates have suc

After Ayn Rand Week, the Healing Begins
How little you have to do to get into the feature well of a slick magazine these days. Thomas Mallon's takedown of Ayn Rand in The New Yorker is not online, but it is so phoned-in and lacking in protein that even this synopsis of the article feels padded. There's 1943-vintage prissy caviling about Rand's writing style. ("It is, in fact, badly executed on every level of language, plot, and characterization.") There's 1957-vintage hyperventilating about the author-as-dictator. ("[T]he narrative voice of this implaca