Near to Perfect - The Red Cottage in S. Dennis Mass.

One of my favorite Cape Cod restaurants is the Red Cottage, in South Dennis. First, there is the beautiful old Cape style building itself, but inside you'll find a fascinating cast of characters and absolutely delicious food.

About the "cast" - this place is frequented by a wide assortment of quirky, interesting people, locals, vacationers, commercial fishermen, and retirees. The place feels like a mélange of Thorton Wilder's "Our Town" crossed with the folks from "Prairie Home Companion."

The staff are friendly, funny, attentive without being intrusive, and remember their regulars, and if you go often they will also know your order from visit to visit.

All this said, the real reason to go is the delicious, fresh and classic diner food. Breakfast is truly amazing, with all sorts of interesting specials, (awesome pumpkin pancakes for example) great baked goods, and lots of coffee refills spiced with a smattering of local gossip. (If you sit at the counter.)

On my last visit I have the 1/2 lb Lobster roll, which was very meaty, and delicious. it came with a reasonable portion of excellent french fries, and a cranberry cole slaw that was also delicious. The waitress commented that for her it made two meals, and I can easily see why.

My partner opted for the "Pilgrim Breakfast", poached eggs, a side of baked beans, and meltingly tender bone in ham. It was delicious. Interesting people, great food, and a very reasonable price make is one of my favorites on Cape Cod.






-Will H. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:36 Old Bass River Rd, South Dennis, MA 02660

New Heights in Political Surrealism - McCain tweets Snooki!

This week the extremely white John McCain tweeted the extremely orange Snooki, the Jersey Shore flavor of last summer, in support of keeping America's tanning beds tax free. (I'm not making this up!)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38439.html

This courageous tweet should go a long way toward ensuring McCain's reelection in Arizona, where they really, really love both tanning beds and white people.

Photo: John McCain is rendered temporarily speechless by the sheer orange-ness of Snooki's cleavage, while Cyndi McCain gazes reverently at her newly interwebz savvy twatter.

-Will H.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lies! Lies! Lies!

The healthcare lies and distortions from the PAC's are reaching a shrieking crescendo. I just saw a breathtakingly disingenuous ad paid for by "Future Fund." I counted four outright lies and three gross distortions in the ad.

It turns "future fund" is a front for a hedge fund invested in companies that make diagnostic imaging technology. (This sector of the medical economy generates billions of dollars in unnecessary billings to insurance annually. The health care bill tightens fraud controls on this sector significantly.)

Clearly they are an unbiased source of information!

The Race to the Bottom...

I can't help but wonder, if the health insurers are free to sell across state lines, what is to prevent them from all moving to the states with the laxest regulation, as the credit card companies and banks all did when Reagan and Clinton de-regulated them? Do you ever wonder why all the credit card companies are located in South Dakota, and all the banks in Delaware? It ain't the weather, that's for sure...

The "sell across state lines" premise falsely assumes that health insurers compete by trying to offer a better or cheaper product to consumers. This is fundamentally untrue, due to the virtual monopolies they hold. The way health insurers compete is by trying to spend as little as possible on claims, though denying claims and excluding the sick from their coverage pools. Freeing them to sell across state lines will just allow them to do that more aggressively, and make the denial of claims and rejection of people with pre-existing conditions far worse.