He did get some screen time - Will did.

Several cameos as an apparition, as a body laying there, on a voice mail that got replayed about four times..

And just about nothing else happened.

The only bright light was Kalinda.
An original.

I feel assaulted.

I was no fan of those writers for knocking Will off the show in the manner they did - by knocking him off. It was so pedestrian.

But this follow up show was absolutely mindbendingly atrocious.

40+ minutes down the drain.

This season like many started well then dragged a bit but the finale was great.

I am a little skeptical about a whole camp of cannibals but I'm sure the writers will figure out a great way to get them out of this.  The comic handled the issue better with it just being a house full of evil flesh eaters but we'll see.

Anyone else watching this show?   Good stuff.

The news that the insurance exchanges in Obamacare have exceeded their original enrollment projections -- the projections made before the bungled website rollout cost two months' of sign-up time and created a branding catastrophe for the entire program -- is sending reverberations of shock through Washington. One immediate conclusion is that the Republican war to strangle Obamacare in the crib has come to pieces. The plan assumed, correctly, that the new law would be most vulnerable in its nascent stage. Republicans hoped that a combination of legislative attacks, on-the-ground activism, and coordinated messaging could deprive the new insurance exchanges of the customers they needed to form a critical mass, either as a political constituency or as an actuarially stable mix of customers. They failed.
Obamacare's non-trainwreck also reveals something broader and deeper about American politics. The Obamacare wars pit two opposing camps who not only have different ideas about the role of government, but different kinds of ideas about the role of government.

The asymmetry has also colored our understanding of issues like Obamacare. I like analogies, so let me try a different one. Suppose a new barbecue restaurant opens up in town. Is it any good? On the one hand, you have traditional food critics. Imagine that you also have an equal-size group of meat-is-murder activists evaluating it. And whether or not you share their views on the ethics of meat, which you're entitled to do, it stands apart from the question of whether people who do eat meat will like it. The traditional food critics may or may not like the place. They will tell you if the chicken is too dry. If the owner bungles the paperwork and can't serve any food on opening night, they will probably be caustic. On the other hand, they'll also tell you if it's good.
The meat-is-murder activists, on the other hand, will predictably rip it to shreds. And, since the potential customer base for the restaurant does not include committed vegetarians, they will emphasize other reasons to shun the new animal death factory. The food is awful and overpriced. If the opening is delayed, maybe it will never open at all! Oh, it's open now? The owner is probably cooking the books!

 Medicare is tagged for "reform" with his re-cycled coupon program by 2024 for those now 55 and younger--but there is a choice, the coupon to buy private insurance or traditional Medicare, although the new tradition for the Medicare is likely to be as a refuge for the sickest population turned down by private insureres with resulting increases in premiums and cuts in benefits.  

Of course, ACA is to be repealed with no replacement,  although not that $700 billion that Republicans have chided Democrats for being used for ACA.  Those $billions are captured in the Ryan budget for other purposes.   No Medicaid expansion for those states that did so expand it; indeed, Medicaid and food stamps are to be "block grants" for state flexibility, which should work out well.

Expect that to keep increasing over the next week as anyone that has called today but couldn't get through will get added in after the last minute rush without any penalty. They took phone numbers and will finish the enrollment process over the next week.

WI has something called a "John Doe" investigation where prosecutors look at a number of people and try to make something stick. Kelly Rindfleisch went into the grinder apparently for not going outside the government building she worked in to send some emails and return calls on her own phone.

I must admit that this all does sound somewhat superficially amusing in a black comedy-sort of way, and indeed, some talking heads on ESPN were actually cracking wise about it initially, before the full extent of his injury was fully known and reported. Unfortunately, it turns out that this was indeed a potentially very serious injury for the 64-year-old Baylor, and in that regard, a little background is needed here. (I feel somewhat awkward, given my own news today, but here goes.)

Don Baylor was first diagnosed back in 2003 with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood's plasma cells that most often strikes people over age 50. One of the disease's side effects can be an overall weakening of one's bone structure and immune system.

Given that the median survival span for those afflicted is generally only three to fours years from date of first diagnosis, and perhaps five to seven years with aggressive treatment, that the man is even on the field and still coaching is in and of itself rather miraculous.

Coach Baylor was bent down on his left knee to take Guerrero's throw, which went wide right and caused him to lunge for the ball, whereupon he twisted his right ankle and knee in a very awkward position. He had trouble arising, and when Angels trainers attempted to help him up, his right leg suddenly buckled and his femur apparently fractured at that moment.

He's presently at UC-Irvine Medical Center, where he'll undergo surgery tomorrow to place pins in his thigh, and it is expected that he'll probably miss the rest of the season because the recovery time for otherwise healthy people is projected for four to six months following surgery. With someone with his disease, who knows how long his recovery will take.

Angels players, coaches, staff and fans are understandably distraught tonight over what happened to their beloved hitting coach, whose personal connection to the franchise dates back to his playing days in the late 1970s. Signed by the team as a free agent in 1977, Baylor is one of only two Angels players to ever win the American League's Most Valuable Player award (1979), when he led the team to its first AL West Division title. (The other MVP was Vladimir Guerrero in 2004.) Given the serious health challenges he's faced, Don Baylor is a true profile in courage.

Best wishes to Coach Baylor from this Dodger fan for a speedy and full recovery, and I hope that he'll soon be back doing what he very much loves to do.

v. 318

SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 1 - From the concert stage to the ball park, San Francisco Symphony Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye (pictured above left with his agent) has announced that he'll be trading his tuxedo for the black and orange to pursue his longtime dream of playing professional baseball with the two-time World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

Inouye, who has long demonstrated his on-field skills on the SF Symphony's world champion intra-orchestra softball team, the Symphomaniacs, is a lifelong Giants fan. He came to the attention of Giants' scouts at a November 2013 Symphomaniacs softball game against the Mets of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Inouye was voted game MVP, hitting two home runs, including one inside the park, and batting .336/.408/.549 for the tour.

Faced with uncertainty at some key positions to start the season with nagging injuries to second baseman Marco Scutaro and center fielder Angel Pagan, Giants General Manager Brian Sabean decided to look to some non-traditional places for extra depth. After the Orchestra finished its recent tour in Europe, Inouye reported to AT&T Park where the team was wrapping up its exhibition season, and worked out for the coaching staff. After hitting an opposite-field ball into McCovey Cove and nearly reaching the Coke bottle in right center field in batting practice, Inouye and his agent met with Sabean, and a deal was made. The terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but it's said to be a one-year deal slightly above the Major League minimum. Inouye will join the team today for the second game of the team's four-game opening series against the Diamondbacks.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy refused to speculate about whether Inouye would earn a spot in the starting lineup. "He's just a great team player with really great fundamentals, especially breath control. He's out there working hard every day, and he's shown that in the orchestra, too," said Bochy. Teammate Buster Posey said "I played the trumpet for a week in junior high and was no good. This guy (Inouye) can hit home runs and some pretty amazing high notes, too. He's really multi-talented. We're all glad he's here, and I'm just glad he's not a catcher."

Symphony fans can still root, root, root for the principal trumpeter in special return appearances as soloist with the SFS in Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto, April 24-26 and an all-Bach family concert May 1-4.

For the past 40 years, our campaign finance jurisprudence has focused on the need to preserve authority for the Government to combat corruption, without at thesame time compromising the political responsiveness atthe heart of the democratic process, or allowing the Government to favor some participants in that process overothers. As Edmund Burke explained in his famous speechto the electors of Bristol, a representative owes constituents the exercise of his "mature judgment," but judgment informed by "the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents." The Speeches of the Right Hon. EdmundBurke 129-130 (J. Burke ed. 1867). Constituents have the right to support candidates who share their views and concerns. Representatives are not to follow constituent orders, but can be expected to be cognizant of and responsive to those concerns. Such responsiveness is key to thevery concept of self-governance through elected officials.

The Government has a strong interest, no less critical toour democratic system, in combatting corruption and its appearance. We have, however, held that this interest must be limited to a specific kind of corruption--quid pro quo corruption--in order to ensure that the Government's efforts do not have the effect of restricting the FirstAmendment right of citizens to choose who shall governthem. For the reasons set forth, we conclude that the aggregate limits on contributions do not further the only governmental interest this Court accepted as legitimate in Buckley. They instead intrude without justification on a citizen's ability to exercise "the most fundamental First Amendment activities." Buckley, 424 U. S., at 14.

The judgment of the District Court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.

v. 319
v. 318