New Haven Firefighters Finally Get Their Promotions

No thanks to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Hat tip: smokefire

NEW HAVEN — Frank Ricci, a firefighter whose name became synonymous with a six-year legal fight for a promotion he believed was improperly denied, received his lieutenant’s badge Thursday.

He was joined by 13 other members of the so-called New Haven 20.

In the audience, the lawyer who brought their case to the U.S. Supreme Court sat in the front row, wiping away tears as her clients walked by.

“The important thing to remember is 14 plaintiffs are getting their badges today, but it took 20 to make history,” Ricci said Thursday afternoon as he prepared to march into the packed auditorium at Wilbur Cross High School.

The Ricci case was the sixth Wise Latina decision to be flipped by the Supreme Court.

Worse Than The Public Option

This WSJ editorial explains why the Medicare “buy-in” is a terrible idea.

The public option—an insurance program open to everyone, financed by taxpayers and run like Medicare—is intended as a veiled substitute for “single-payer” Canada-style insurance. Under the cover of “choice” and “competition,” the entitlement would quickly squeeze out private insurance as people gravitated to “free” coverage and the government held down costs via price controls the way Medicare does now.

Mr. Reid’s buy-in simply cuts out the middle man. Why go to the trouble of creating a new plan like Medicare when Medicare itself is already handy? A buy-in is an old chestnut of single-payer advocate Pete Stark, and it’s the political strategy liberals have tried since the Great Society: Ratchet down the enrollment age for Medicare, boost the income limits to qualify for Medicaid, and soon health care for the entire middle class becomes a taxpayer commitment.

It is well worth a full read.