Pick up this week’s Reader for reading and looking

I made a brief return to The Reader this week, providing the illustration for the cover story about Fremont’s immigration proposal. It was great on two fronts — it’s nice to do something for The Reader again, and I love that I was able to contribute something on this topic. It’s clearly easy for people to get swept up in anti-immigrant fever, but it’s easy to overlook the costs associated with legislating your phobias. Pick up a copy or visit TheReader.com to read the story.

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Ben’s rules – Aug 4, 2009

from the Omaha Reader

ben nelson healthcare health care special interest democracy for america health insurance pharmaceutical campaign contributions

Michael Snider, the business owner who is featured in the Democracy for America commercial, spoke with the Huffington Post about a phone call he received from Senator Nelson regarding the commercial:

“I told him I didn’t understand. And he tried to explain it. He put his position out. He said if we went with a full public option — which he called a government plan — it would drive the price down and hurt private companies. I said, ‘you mean competition.’ And he replied that it would force people off the private plan and onto the government plan.”

“That happened twice,” Snider concluded. “He was telling me how bad a public option would be and when he was done I said, ‘So you don’t support a public option.’ He would reply, ‘That’s not what I say.'”