Shackled Howie Hawkins appears in Syracuse City Court

Hawkins was arrested around 1 p.m. Wednesday by Syracuse police outside the office of National Government Services at 400 S. Salina St., which houses the care claims office of Wellpoint Inc., a large health insurer. Hawkins said he was trying to enter the building to deliver a letter to the CEO of Wellpoint Inc. demanding that the CEO’s salary be cut and put into healthcare. ...

Obama, in the Rose Garden, speaking to a gathering of physicians today:

Every one of you here today took an oath when you entered the medical profession. It was not an oath that you would spend a lot of time on the phone with insurance companies. (Laughter.) It was not an oath that you would have to turn away patients who you know could use your help. You did not devote your lives to be bean counters or paper pushers. You took an oath so that you could heal people. You did it so you could save lives.

"When, in countries that are called civilized, we see age going to the workhouse and youth to the gallows, something must be wrong in the system of government."
Thomas Paine, 1792 - The Rights of Man

I went to see the Thomas Paine exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. If you are in DC, you should go see it. It is a tiny exhibit, only one room.

Although Paine has his portrait painted several times, few of the oil paintings survive, an interesting data point.

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The Swiss arrest of Roman Polanski on his outstanding California sex charge is most curious. Why now, after 32 years? Presumably Polanski, who's been living in France all this time, has been to Switzerland many times before this. I'm not saying that Polanski deserves to get a pass on his bad behavior. But there are far bigger scoundrels and criminals loose in the world (hello Dick! Donald! Wolfie!).

So I'm suspicious. And wondering what the international politics of this are. Perhaps the Swiss are suddenly going all law-and-order on things related to the U.S. because of the recent UBS investigations.

Theories?