Ninja Monkie Bacchanal

Ok, I have been on vacation for a bit now, so I have been trying to NOT pay attention to non-vacation things, but this caught my eye:

Debbie Brown used to process medical and dental forms for a living before a debilitating illness forced her into early disability retirement and left her in a simple, no-frills wheelchair—a rented wheelchair that has cost taxpayers about $1,200.

Brown says the public should be outraged about her wheelchair.

CNN went to the same company that charges Medicare for Brown’s chair, Apria Healthcare, and bought it for $349—about a fourth of what taxpayers’ have paid for Brown’s rented wheelchair.

Seriously...is this a surprise to anyone?

The CIA withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress during the Bush administration on direct orders from then-Vice President Dick Cheney, current CIA director Leon Panetta told members of Congress, a knowledgeable source confirmed to CNN.

The disclosure to the House and Senate intelligence committees about Cheney’s involvement by Panetta was first reported in the New York Times. Efforts to contact Cheney for reaction were unsuccessful late Saturday.

Is my favorite Linux Distro under attack? This guy seems to think so:

Over the past few years, Ubuntu has slowly emerged as the champion among Linux distros – having great application support, a huge and active community and having begun making major inroads in the netbook/laptop market through the deal with Dell, UNR / Easy-Peasy remix and through an announced effort to integrate with Moblin. The only other netbook competitor being the aged Windows XP, and other Linux distros. However, Ubuntu’s gains are now under attack on all fronts from some really big names in the computer industry.  Ubuntu runs the risk of being squeezed out of its current spot in the tech and linux world.

About time.

I think we need to face up to the fact that there will not be a viable public health care option anytime soon. Put I am eternally pessimistic when it comes to political things.

Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama’s goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.

Mr. Obama has pushed hard for a vigorous public option. But he has also said he won’t draw a “line in the sand” over this point.

I have no idea if this movie will suck. But this is a great poster. And you can watch a trailer here. It looks pretty funny at least.