Still sick . . .

though getting better. I'll outsource to Jonathan Chait. It's long -- and I know the Intertubes has made it impossible for anyone to concentrate on a single essay for more than 35 seconds -- but it's a good explanation of what's going on with the Republican Doomsday Machine over the Affordable Care Act.

Said lengthiness is also the problem that has been a burr under my saddle for as long as I've been in this racket. It is just impossible to explain to people -- by which I mean not only your local parking lot attendant, steamfitter or divorce lawyer but also those people who style themselves journalists -- how the market for health care and health insurance works and what exactly we need to do to fix it. I just can't make it short and simple and also true. Especially with the entire population irretrievably lost in delusional faith in a non-existent entity called the "Free Market."

Anyway, we're at a hinge of history now folks. Chait may be a bit less optimistic than I, but I'm not in the prediction game.