Seamus Fernandez...

...is a pharma analyst for Leerink Swann.

Representative Paul Ryan, Republican...

...from Wisconsin, wants to privatize Social Security, eliminate Medicare and Medicaid, cut taxes on the rich while raising taxes on everyone else, and keep defense spending constant. All this, he hopes, will erase the federal debt -- by 2063!

Well Congressman Ryan finally has an opponent, John Heckenlively (above). Not only does he have an unfortunate name, but his campaign slogan is "Give Congress Heck."

Heckenlively is unemployed and says, "I'm looking for a job." He plays "team trivia and drinks a lot of Coke."

Although Heckenlively has never won office, he was moved to run by the thought, "What, nobody is going to run?"

Discouraged? Don't be.

Heckenlively said unemployment benefits should be extended until the economy improves. He also supports the overall health care reform bill, he said. But ultimately he said the answer is eliminating the current health insurance industry and starting a universal single payer health care system, which would save hundreds of billions of dollars in administrative costs. He also said he believes government needs to spend within its means, but he said he recognized there are situations such as the current economic crisis, where the government may have to deficit spend to get out of the crisis.

That makes more sense than anything I've heard yet from Ryan.

I'd vote for Heckenlively.

Bob Herbert points out...

...a particularly disturbing statistic today:

As if there is not enough that has gone tragically wrong in this era of endless warfare, the military is facing an epidemic of suicides. In the year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, 160 active duty soldiers took their own lives — a record for the Army. The Marines set their own tragic record in 2009 with 52 suicides. And this past June, another record was set — 32 military suicides in just one month.

And offers up what might very well be the quote for the day:

But after nearly a decade, neither war has been won and there is no prospect of winning.

The song of the...

...day.

Hey Tea Partiers,...

...not to beat a dead horse, but Fareed Zacharia points out in the latest Newsweek (my emphasis):

The idea that the average American is overtaxed is a nice piece of populist pandering. In fact, federal taxes as a percentage of the economy are at their lowest level since the presidency of Harry Truman. Chuck Marr and Gillian Brunet of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have calculated that a family of four at the exact middle of the income spectrum will pay only 4.6 percent of its income in taxes. Remember, almost half of the country pays no income taxes at all. The top 3 percent of Americans contribute almost 50 percent of federal income taxes.

Just when I thought my opinion...

...of Joe Kernen couldn't get any lower, the CNBC host all but admitted this morning to being a Sarah Palin supporter.

The song of the...

...day features Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar, who died on Monday at age 73.