White Country, Indiana

The Cosgray family has had it, by God. Unlike the rest of of us, they raised their children right (and I do mean right), teaching them "values." (My kids apparently missed out on that.)  Moreover, the Cosgrays, residents of White Country -- excuse me, County -- Indiana, also taught Alex, Tyler, Rachel, and little Nichole that "you don't rely on the government." It's said with a combination of smugness and reproach, as if they know that there are irresponsible parents out there who knowingly expose their innocent children to the dastardly clutches of an intrusive government.

Laura Cosgray organizes for the Tea Party, dreams of a senatorial candidate to the right of Richard Lugar (the apostate with an American Conservative Union lifetime score of 77), bakes snickerdoodles, and waits for Sam Cosgray to come home from his job with Caterpillar. The Cosgrays then -- say what? Did someone say that Sam works for Caterpillar? The company that has raked in 1.7 billion in defense contracts since 2000? The company that would have laid off even more than the 20,000 workers it did lay off if not for the stimulus? The company that has a collaborative arrangement with Mitsubishi, which has no doubt benefited greatly from official Japanese industrial policy?

Sounds to me like Sammy couldn't get out of bed without the government. In fact, he needs two governments just to brush his teeth in the morning. Or maybe it's one to brush his teeth and the other to wipe his snickerdoodle. The Cosgrays, it turns out, are pious frauds.

Judging from the admiring portrait on msnbc.com, White Country -- County -- is lousy with frauds, pious and otherwise. Seattle may be on the sinful left coast, a too-close-for-comfort 800 miles from Sodom Francisco, but better that than the fate of Indianapolis: It's 74 miles from White Country...

The Guitar Song, Jamey Johnson. One of the more ambitious country albums of this or any other year. Johnson puts his considerable honky tonk chops on display immediately (Chris Whitley's "Lonely at the Top"), then begins a trek through the folk and blues roots of country music, with occasional detours into introspective guitar workouts and intriguing reworkings of old favorites like "Mental Revenge" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down." Throughout, Johnson adopts a convincing proletarian persona; the result is an album that is both authentic and original. Highly recommended.

This one goes out to the Cosgrays:


Waylon has something to say about the Cosgrays, too:

Once More, Away From The Breech

The Seattle Times reports that up to 500,000 Washingtonians may lose prescription drug benefits due to Medicare cuts. Reader comments blame Obama and the Democrats, as if Medicare were a cherished Republican program.

But this story reflects the structural problems of the American health care "system" and of a political culture bolstered by voters who want services without taking the trouble to pay for them. America's health care system, which evolved (or devolved, depending on your perspective) without policy guidance, is widest open to those who need it least and closed to those who need it most. The Medicare story reflects an ongoing reality.


Other nations facing cost cuts spread the pain appropriately; we shift the cuts down to the people who can least afford them. This has zero to do with Obama or Bush and there's little that anyone left or right can do to about it in the absence of a concerted grass roots movement to change the way this country finances and delivers health care. Given the polarization here, such a movement is about as likely as Sarah Palin writing an honors thesis on Russian history. Once again we have met the enemy and he is us...