The public option: 58 in favor 34 oppose 8 undecided
Obama: 52 favorable 43 unfavorable 5 unsure
Why is this? The public option helps sick people. Obama's just the president. (Turn it around Mr. President!)
By the way, all of Obama's slipping numbers lately are from Independents and Democrats. The Republicans already hated him as much as they could. Pundits who say that Obama's slipping numbers are a signal for him to move to the right are talking nonsense.
Small-Town Cops Shoot Up Courtroom
You've got to check out this AP story about the tiny town of Jericho, Arkansas. What do you do when you're a small-town police department that's unable to pay the loans on your police cruisers? Set up a permanent speed trap in the center of town and nab motorists who don't slow down to the town's depressed speed limit quickly enough for $150 each.
What do you do when the town's fire chief shows up in court to complain to the judge about the speed trap? Shoot him. Since the shooing, the police force has been disbanded, the city hall shut down, and the county sheriffs are looking for where all the cash from the traffic fines disappeared to.
Certainly there are a lot of well-trained professional officers out there, but some of them are just thugs with badges.
What do you do when the town's fire chief shows up in court to complain to the judge about the speed trap? Shoot him. Since the shooing, the police force has been disbanded, the city hall shut down, and the county sheriffs are looking for where all the cash from the traffic fines disappeared to.
Certainly there are a lot of well-trained professional officers out there, but some of them are just thugs with badges.
Town Hall Protesters Hate on Disabled Woman
Featured on Countdown tonight, a crowd of protesters heckled and booed a woman who was trying to frame her question by relating her medical and financial struggles. "The copay for one of my medications is $389 every two weeks" the woman said as idiots behind her shouted, "What's your question?"
Later one of the protesters said, "I don't know how a handicapped woman in a wheelchair has more rights than I do."
For a long time now the town hall protesters have shown a lack of civility and respect for honest discussion and the democratic process. Now they've reached a new low, revealing a depressing and infuriating lack of humanity. Clearly they don't give a shit about how much suffering their fellow Americans have to endure as long as their ideological purity is maintained. Anything the government might actually do to make life easier for its citizens is called as socialism or even tyranny.
Can we please stop listening to the stupid people now?
Later one of the protesters said, "I don't know how a handicapped woman in a wheelchair has more rights than I do."
For a long time now the town hall protesters have shown a lack of civility and respect for honest discussion and the democratic process. Now they've reached a new low, revealing a depressing and infuriating lack of humanity. Clearly they don't give a shit about how much suffering their fellow Americans have to endure as long as their ideological purity is maintained. Anything the government might actually do to make life easier for its citizens is called as socialism or even tyranny.
Can we please stop listening to the stupid people now?
Here Comes Science!
Just now via Pharyngula I learned about the new They Might Be Giants album, Science is Real. This looks awesome, I must have it for my students (and for me). Fun, catchy music about science and it includes a DVD with videos for all the songs.
Obama Should Stop Chasing Republican Votes
Next week President Obama plans to give a speech to a joint session of Congress on health care reform. 538.com's Nate Silver expects that this may be the biggest moment of Obama's presidency, barring some unforeseen crisis in the future. He may be right. Obama's political future may very well depend on how well he is able to gather votes to pass a health care bill.
The public option remains popular among the public. However, there has been some suggestions by David Axelrod and others that Obama's speech is likely to outline a plan for reform that does not necessarily include a public option. This would be a mistake, particularly if the final bill includes an individual mandate without a public option. This would be a terrible result, forcing people into private plans or co-ops that are unlikely to be large enough to have significant bargaining power with healthcare providers.
Obama's mistake from the beginning has been to seek a "bipartisan" solution to this legislative puzzle. Time and time again the Republicans have made it clear that they will not vote for any bill, no matter how many concessions it contains. We should be talking about compromise in the sense of getting together the progressive and the Blue Dog wings of the Democratic party. Progressives also have the option of running strong primary challengers against Blue Dogs in the next election, and that fact should not be left out of the negotiation process. Max Baucus has a 'gang of six' that includes three Democrats and three Republicans. The 'gang of six' should have included three liberals and three Blue Dogs, since these are the only two parties that matter right now.
The strength of the Blue Dog caucus because of triangulation. I blame Bill Clinton.
The best thing Obama could say at his speech next week is, "on the issue of health care reform, several Republicans and a few Democrats have not been negotiating in good faith. That's okay. We can get this thing done without them. And the voters can let them know what they think about that at the next election."
But it doesn't seem like Obama's ready to play hardball.
The public option remains popular among the public. However, there has been some suggestions by David Axelrod and others that Obama's speech is likely to outline a plan for reform that does not necessarily include a public option. This would be a mistake, particularly if the final bill includes an individual mandate without a public option. This would be a terrible result, forcing people into private plans or co-ops that are unlikely to be large enough to have significant bargaining power with healthcare providers.
Obama's mistake from the beginning has been to seek a "bipartisan" solution to this legislative puzzle. Time and time again the Republicans have made it clear that they will not vote for any bill, no matter how many concessions it contains. We should be talking about compromise in the sense of getting together the progressive and the Blue Dog wings of the Democratic party. Progressives also have the option of running strong primary challengers against Blue Dogs in the next election, and that fact should not be left out of the negotiation process. Max Baucus has a 'gang of six' that includes three Democrats and three Republicans. The 'gang of six' should have included three liberals and three Blue Dogs, since these are the only two parties that matter right now.
The strength of the Blue Dog caucus because of triangulation. I blame Bill Clinton.
The best thing Obama could say at his speech next week is, "on the issue of health care reform, several Republicans and a few Democrats have not been negotiating in good faith. That's okay. We can get this thing done without them. And the voters can let them know what they think about that at the next election."
But it doesn't seem like Obama's ready to play hardball.
Jessica's Law
In 2005 Florida passed the Jessica Lunsford Act after the brutal rape and murder of a white girl by 47-year-old John Couey. Despite the fact that existing law was sufficient to give John Couey the death penalty in this case, legislatures around the country have decided that existing laws against sex offenders were not stringent enough, and many states have passed the JLA or versions of it.
What the Act primarily does is enforce lifelong monitoring for sex offenders and assign mandatory minimum sentences for lewd and lascivious acts against children under 12 and for sexual battery and rape against young children. I have two problems with this law. First, 'sex offender' may be too broadly defined, including acts such as urinating outside or consenual sex with a minor in some cases. It seems unfair to me to condemn a homeless person to a lifetime of electronic monitoring because they don't own a home with a bathroom to pee in.
Second, mandatory minimum sentences tie judges' hands. The whole point of having the system of judges, juries and trials is that not every circumstance can be adequately anticipated by legislation, hence judges have (or should have, they increasingly have less) the power to interpret the law in the light of the facts of any particular case.
In any event, the upshot of all of this is that, in order to take a job where I'll be tutoring through the public school system, I have to go downtown on a weekday during a very narrow range of business hours (8:30-12 and 2-4, Monday through Friday) and pay over 80 bucks to get fingerprinted and run a criminal background check.
John Couey wasn't a certified teacher, he never applied to work at a day care or tutoring company or as a teacher's aide. He worked at a freaking truck stop and grabbed a child out of her own home at 3am and because of that I have to pay 80 freaking bucks? I'm a broke young professional just out of college who is working hard to scrape together rent on a part-time teacher's pay. We have a shortage of good teachers in this state. Why am I and every other educator in this state penalized for the actions of one monster? Next time the FL legislature decides to throw a hissy fit over sex offenders, could they at least pay for the fingerprints themselves?
What the Act primarily does is enforce lifelong monitoring for sex offenders and assign mandatory minimum sentences for lewd and lascivious acts against children under 12 and for sexual battery and rape against young children. I have two problems with this law. First, 'sex offender' may be too broadly defined, including acts such as urinating outside or consenual sex with a minor in some cases. It seems unfair to me to condemn a homeless person to a lifetime of electronic monitoring because they don't own a home with a bathroom to pee in.
Second, mandatory minimum sentences tie judges' hands. The whole point of having the system of judges, juries and trials is that not every circumstance can be adequately anticipated by legislation, hence judges have (or should have, they increasingly have less) the power to interpret the law in the light of the facts of any particular case.
In any event, the upshot of all of this is that, in order to take a job where I'll be tutoring through the public school system, I have to go downtown on a weekday during a very narrow range of business hours (8:30-12 and 2-4, Monday through Friday) and pay over 80 bucks to get fingerprinted and run a criminal background check.
John Couey wasn't a certified teacher, he never applied to work at a day care or tutoring company or as a teacher's aide. He worked at a freaking truck stop and grabbed a child out of her own home at 3am and because of that I have to pay 80 freaking bucks? I'm a broke young professional just out of college who is working hard to scrape together rent on a part-time teacher's pay. We have a shortage of good teachers in this state. Why am I and every other educator in this state penalized for the actions of one monster? Next time the FL legislature decides to throw a hissy fit over sex offenders, could they at least pay for the fingerprints themselves?
Personal News
Now that I've taken a job with a company that does tutoring through federal NCLB funds, I've got three jobs. I'm a part-time teacher, part-time freelance tutor and part-time tutor through a company. My calendar for the next few weeks and months is rapidly filling up, which is not making my girlfriend entirely happy. On the other hand, soon I won't have to be in a perpetual state of fear over paying for rent and groceries.
Meanwhile, at the school my first week went well (I lectured on the scientific method and skepticism) and my second week is looking good (I bought new math books for two of my middle-schoolers. I started using Google Calendar which should help me and my girlfriend keep track of each other's schedules, particularly because mine is so variable. Who knows when I'll find time to sit down and play a game of D&D again?
Meanwhile, at the school my first week went well (I lectured on the scientific method and skepticism) and my second week is looking good (I bought new math books for two of my middle-schoolers. I started using Google Calendar which should help me and my girlfriend keep track of each other's schedules, particularly because mine is so variable. Who knows when I'll find time to sit down and play a game of D&D again?
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