I think it’s pretty clear why if you look at what’s happened over the last generation in American health insurance. Private insurance plans have basically failed us, and we need to have competition between a new nonprofit public health insurance plan that puts patients first and not private insurance companies.
I’ve argued that the public insurance plan really achieves three critical goals. It serves as a backup for people who want to have a good plan that’s available in all parts of the country and that provides them with a broad choice of providers. It provides a benchmark for the private insurance plans, encouraging them to improve the delivery and cost effectiveness of care and keep their premiums down. And it offers, finally, a cost control backstop because public health insurance in the United States has actually done a better job than private plans of keeping costs down over time, and it could do a much better job in the future if it were given the authority to innovate in the payment for, and delivery of, care.
Mural
Going up at Easy Street Records in Seattle. (Via their Twitter feed.)
This is all so strange …
also: the cover art comes up in this Q&A on Billboard.com.
Tell me about the artwork that Tom Tomorrow made for “Backspacer.”
Vedder: … We just happened to be talking at the time this came around, and we thought, “We’ll give it a shot and we’ll remain friends if it doesn’t work.” What he did was phenomenal. He put so much thought into it, to the point where we had so many conversations about each drawing, that I said, “Look, I just need a week to write lyrics” (laughs). At the same time, it was invigorating. Certain ideas came from him as far as the overall scope: the randomness, but also the detail. It’s really a cool piece of art.
More on the Mayor
I’ll be appearing at the Brooklyn Book Festival to read from and sign copies of my new kid’s book on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in the Children’s Area tent.
Also in case you missed the earlier post, there are new sample pages up on the Very Silly Mayor site. And of course, the book can be ordered here (and is already shipping, well ahead of schedule). I went with a very small publisher on this one and they did a great job — the book turned out beautifully. But because they are small, every copy sold has a real and direct impact on their lives and on mine, much moreso than with any other book I’ve ever put out. They did right by me and I’m hoping to not lose them money in return. So if you have kids, or know anyone who does, please consider picking it up …
And: tell your friends! There’s no marketing budget for this — word of mouth is all we’ve got …
New cartoon
Part of the family
There’s a great article in Tuesday’s New York Times about my collaboration with Pearl Jam (already online here). One small error at the beginning though: I didn’t contact Eddie after I lost all the VVM papers because I wanted a poster gig — I contacted him because I was contacting everyone I knew in cities where I’d lost a paper, encouraging them to write letters to the editor.
What I actually said to the writer was that I’d known Eddie a long time, but never in my wildest dreams expected to be tapped for an album cover — at most, I kind of hoped that maybe someday I might get to do a poster for the band, but it wasn’t something I was ever going to bug him about.
Apart from that small nit, though, I really can’t complain ..!
… adding: this seems like good news — apparently the rest of my old papers are now free to reinstate the strip at their own discretion.
Lately Mr. Perkins has gotten some good news: last week “This Modern World†returned to The Village Voice. Andy Van De Voorde, the executive associate editor of Village Voice Media, said it would be up to the discretion of each paper in the chain whether to reinstate the strip, and so far no others have.
Sounds like a good time to contact the editors, if you live in one of the affected cities (which I am deliberately not listing, to avoid astroturfing — much better if the letters they get are from real readers aware of the situation) … and you Village Voice readers, don’t forget to send your thanks…
… also: having a pen name can admittedly be confusing, and the article does get my name(s) right — but in the photo captions, I am referred to as “Don” Perkins.
Still: major article on the front of the arts section, huge picture of my art — I can live with it if people call me Don for awhile.