Some selected user comments from the New York Times and Washington Post on yesterday’s news that Harry Reid will include a public option–with a provision for states to opt out–in the final health care bill This whole debate tells me that the next thing that needs to be reformed are the rules of the Senate. [...]

Unless states can mandate that all individuals and employers purchase insurance in-state in addition to whatever coverage they may have through another state I just don’t see how opt-out does anything but prevent insurance sales on your own state exchange.

Which is why I don’t think supporters of the PO have much to worry about as concerns Opt-Out. It seems to just be a sop thrown to more conservative states who don’t want to get tinged with accusations of collaboration with socialism (or something). From a mechanical standpoint I just don’t see how you enforce this.

The blog Business Pundit runs a regular feature called This Week’s Weird Jobs, in which it posts unusual items culled from help wanteds across the country, some of which offer pay not always commensurate with the task advertised. A sampling:

Sacramento: Foster care for my cat

I am in the Navy and I need someone to take my cat in for 6 months while I am gone for training. She really has a problem with children and spazzy people. She is a pretty chill cat. It just takes an adjustment period for her. I clip her nails and she doesn’t scratch on stuff. I don’t guarantee that she will let you clip her nails, but you can try.

Seen on Craigslist, San Francisco Bay Area in May, 2008: Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend (inner sunset / UCSF) I’ve been trying to think of ways to spice up my life. I’m 35 years old, happily married with two kids and I have a good job in insurance. But somethings missing. I [...]

McDonald’s is closing in Iceland because the collapse of the country’s currency has doubled the cost of importing the ingredients the fast-food chain uses.

Around the world, though, the Golden Arches is still a golden goose. September sales were up 5% as “consumers sought low-cost meals,” according to Forbes.

But we don’t need a quarterly report to tell us that McDonald’s is still going strong in the U.S. We know that from this post from the blog Weather Sealed:

…just how far away can you get from our world of generic convenience? And how would you figure that out?

The latest Auto-Tune the News was released recently, this one dealing in part with health care. Perhaps you haven’t yet seen this feature, in which different news events are set to song and…well…it’s kind of hard to explain. Just watch… Tune in on Twitter, too.

Saturday was International Day of Climate Action. From the New York Times: On Saturday, (activists) tried something new with the goal of prodding countries to get serious about reaching an international climate accord: a synchronized burst of more than 4,300 demonstrations, from the Himalayas to the Great Barrier Reef, all centered on the number 350. [...]

A little guerilla musical theater from the Billionaires for Wealthcare YouTube channel. Performed in the middle of an AHIP convention meeting. That’s AHIP as in America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry lobbying group. Thanks to our sister site EconomyStory.org for scouting this out.

The journal Health Affairs has posted another in a series of health policy briefs designed to summarize the key issues in the debate. Calling any of these policy analyses “brief” may be pushing it, but if you have the time and patience to wade through them, they can help clarify the various issues in play. [...]

Images courtesy of the recession. Click on each to see it full size. And for more pictures, see our galleries #1 and #2 and our post on Slate’s Shoot the Recession Project.