The political process at work

Step 1: appoint blue-ribbon panel to make recommendations on when mammograms should be done.

 

Step 2: when panel makes recommendation to avoid unnecessary mammograms (saving money, time, and worry for millions of women a year), criticize finding, even though you are neither a doctor nor a statistician.

 

Step 3: do the exact opposite of what the blue-ribbon panel suggests.

 

From today's paper: "The Senate held the first vote on amending its health care legislation, agreeing to require insurance companies to provide free mammograms and other preventive services for women."