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Moving in the Right Direction

Posted by daddontsk8 on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 12:39:50 PM
The State of Arizona is out of money. They are so out of money, they don't have any more financial gimmicks to use to close the state's budget deficit. So, according to The Arizona Republic, the state legislature wants to sell some of the state's properties. The plan includes selling the buildings, but then leasing them back.

"In total, the list comprises 32 properties that, if built from the ground up,
come with a combined replacement value in excess of $1 billion.

The properties were chosen based on attractiveness to investors, buildings the state
would be unlikely to walk away from, such as prisons or other facilities that
provide essential government services"
The government would then use the proceeds for the sale to fund general operations. This is not unlike a family taking a mortgage on their home to buy groceries.

But...I think Arizona might just be on the right track. [More]
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The marijuana Wars - California versus the Feds?

Posted by daddontsk8 on Friday, July 24, 2009 11:43:40 AM
The State of California is the epicenter of the battle between state sovereignty and federal authority, but I think something else is going on here. In the "publicly announced" War on Drugs, the citizens of Oakland, California legitimized the business of selling marijuana through the passage of a measure to tax weed. Yesterday a conglomeration of federal agencies and local and state vassal authorities launched a crackdown on marijuana growers in the Fresno, California area. Operation SOS netted plants valued at $1.2 billion.

Are the federal authorities challenging the will of the people or the sovereignty of the state? Or is something else afoot?
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Representative Democracy in a Small City

Posted by daddontsk8 on Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:15:47 PM
There are two types of elected representation that most effectively will represent citizens in a representative democracy. One method is the American system of single-member districts. The other is proportional representation systems common in Europe. A third type which takes the worst of both systems, is a system of multi-member or at-large districts. The City of Rowlett, Texas has this type of system.

So you might be asking why this type of system is so bad. Let me try to explain through recent history:
 
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Detroit Schools On the Verge of Rennaissance?

Posted by daddontsk8 on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 5:40:48 PM
In an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, Detroit Schools on the Brink, the specter of financial bankruptcy is unleashed. The article describes worried parents, how only one in four students that start high school in the district graduate in four years, and how the bankruptcy could hinder the school district's ability to float bonds.

With 100 empty schools, the district doesn't need to float bonds, it needs to sell assets.

That aside, the real opportunity for the Detroit Public School System is the bankruptcy.
 
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Those Crazy Republicans

Posted by daddontsk8 on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 9:30:54 AM
The Washington Post has a fine piece of journalism in their paper this morning.  Columnist Dana Milbank took up space in the paper to report on the fact that the Republican National Committee developed a communication strategy and then ACTED on it.

Mr. Milbank went through an RNC strategy memo and demonstrated how RNC Chairman Michael Steele delivered a speech using the language recommended by that strategy memo. 

It's crazy...having a plan and sticking to it. Crazy!
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The Public Doesn't Want Its Benefits Taxed

Posted by daddontsk8 on Friday, July 17, 2009 11:25:50 AM

I had the opportunity to work on a quick opinion poll about taxation of dental benefits. Our survey is one of several public opinion polls trying to understand the impact of taxation on health benefits. Compared to other surveys published in the same time frame, around July 4th, our survey was not as strong as other surveys in terms of public distaste for having their health benefits taxed.

Read more here

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In the Health Care Reform debate what happens to your dental benefits?

Posted by daddontsk8 on Thursday, July 16, 2009 12:39:22 PM

The current "Tri-Committee" bill that is currently in the mark-up phase in the various House committees has a provision that mandates coverage in a "qualified health plan." The qualified health plan is required in the current language of the bill to include minimum prentive health benefits AND oral and vision care benefits for children. The current language, which is unlikely to be changed prior to being introduced in the House, would require the dental and vision benefit to be offered as part of a comprehensive health plan.  Most dental benefits in this country are offered as stand-alone plans with a premium separate from that of the medical premium.  The House language will effectively eliminate stand-alone dental and vision plans in the marketplace.

So, if enacted as written, the Health Care Reform legislation will so alter the dental insurance market to effectively destroy it. Discount dental and vision plans would not even be allowed in the definitioin of a "qualified health care plan."

BTW, children, for the purposes of this bill includes all dependents aged 21 and younger.

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The War on Drugs - A States' Rights Issue

Posted by daddontsk8 on Thursday, July 16, 2009 9:30:09 AM
Calif tax officials: Legal pot would rake in $1.4B

Follow the money! There's money in pot. This California proposal could generate a lot of money. It is this tax revenue that will provide the momentum for the legalization of pot. The states in the direst of financial situations; California, Washington, Oregon, New York, Michigan, and maybe Florida, will be the first to legalize. But the federal government will balk.

Could drug legalization become the next states' rights fight?

The motivations for the two parties is in direct conflict.
Read more...
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Why can't we learn from the past? Why Health Care Reform is doomed to fail

Posted by daddontsk8 on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:51:51 PM

There is one question that the Health Care Reform debate fails to bring up – what will happen when EVERYONE has health insurance?  Simple economics would suggest that prices for medical care will go up dramatically as more people seek out medical services.

But we all know that the engineers of Health Care Reform will not let prices increase.  The crafters of HCR will impose price controls on medical services through reimbursement rates. So what happens when demand (and price pressures) go up, but supply remains unchanged?

We only have to look at the gas shortages of the 1970s to predict what will happen to health care.
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Look what's happening in Texas

Posted by daddontsk8 on Sunday, July 05, 2009 4:09:04 PM
Reposted from my main blog:
According to the Dallas Morning News, "Schools get credit for kids predicted to pass TAKS."
From my perspective, this is just further evidence that the public school system isn't really for the benefit of the public or for educating.

I mean no offense to teachers everywhere by my disgust for government-run education. There are wonderful teachers and there are good schools within the system, but there are also bad teachers and outright dangerous schools. My disgust is with the system that stifles creativity, discourages many, and teaches in a uniform manner that leaves the challenged kids behind, and leads the exceptional to boredom.

Government-run schools exist for one purpose, their own survival. So I guess it shouldn't suprise me that they will be pulling the wool over the people's eyes, but it sure makes me angry.

I don't know why it is so hard to create a system where education dollars can follow the kids. Let the schools compete for those dollars based on the merits of the school, the quality of the teachers and the results achieved by the kids. If I thought there was enough outrage in my district to do something about this I would run for office, but I fear that most parents just want to live in blissful ignorance and not rock the boat.
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