redstatewannabe's blog

Neat article at NRO by Mark Hemingway, who showed up to observe local liberals drafting their Democratic Party platform.  He accidently ends up working in the healthcare group, and making some headway with conservative arguments.

He concludes:

Would they have listened to me if they knew I was a writer for the flagship publication of modern American conservatism? Judging from the majority of emails and letters to the editor I get from liberal readers, the answer too often is no.

So I don’t know whether my time as a make-believe Democrat is encouraging or amounts to a lament. But I do know that it’s a shame that we often have to lie about where we’re coming from in order to talk honestly to each other about where we think the country should be headed.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is fighting against the ethanol mandates.  You can argue about his motives, and about the policy itself.  But I'd like to focus on this line from a NY Times article:

LHT Inc., an infrastructure company, said it never would have spent tens of millions of dollars developing delivery pipes for ethanol without the mandated increases. “How do we get our money back?” an executive asked.

I personally hate the ethanol subsidies and usage mandates, but do feel for this exec.  He made a business decision based on the mandates, and invested huge dollars.  Should Congress reduce the mandate, LHT gets screwed. 

I know, I know, "live by the (gov't) sword, die by the (gov't) sword".  Still, gov't needs to remember that their actions don't exist in a vacuum.  People and businesses make decisions based on new laws and regs.  And once these mandates and subsidies and programs and tax credits get started, people will wail if they are taken away.  I think better not to start these things at all.

How often do we see this in the report of a traffic fatality:

Coile said Black was also issued tickets for driving under suspension, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Usually unreported, but generally understood:

All those are petty traffic offenses.

It is a painful pattern to watch.  Guy gets arrested for DUI, and is hammered with that draconian punishment of having his driving priviledges suspended.  Yeah, big deal.  The punishment for driving without a license is a PETTY TRAFFIC OFFENSE.  So he just keeps driving.  And, often, repeats the drinking and driving that got him in trouble in the first place.  The guy that killed the Elsworthy girls didn't have a valid license, as I recall.

This needs to be tightened up - seriously tightened up.  If you are caught driving on a suspended license, I think some jail time is in order.  That's a bit gentler than taking the car - my other idea.  These people have a blatant disregard for the law - let's get them off the road one way or the other.

Traded for another big-time starter

Best record in the National League, and bunch of guys going to the All-Star game, Kerry Wood has 22 saves, and Soriano should be back from the DL soon.

How many cars will be turned over and burned in Wrigleyville when the Cubs win the World Series?

OK, IP has already stated he doesn't much care for soccer, so I will hope for info from other readers here.

Is there a good place in town to watch a soccer game, a place where the serious fans show up (and where I can get lunch at the same time)?  I have tried Guidos and Buffalo Wild Wings, and each had the radio on and TV volume down.  I want to go somewhere tomorrow to watch Russia v Spain and really enjoy myself.  Any ideas?

Let's hear it - what do you want the President to do when elected?  No name calling, just issues - be specific.  (Ignore the politics of it, and the restrictions imposed by Congress - let's just assume the Pres is King and can make it happen.)

Withdraw from Iraq?

Cap and trade regs?

Open up the US for drilling?

Nationalize the oil business?

Make the tax rates permanent?

Soc Sec, health care, education, immigration, roads and bridges,...

The editors at NRO wrote a bit about McCain's recent speech, and his cap-and-trade policy proposal.  They were not impressed.  Their piece concludes:

The scariest sentence in the speech was: “If the efforts to negotiate an international solution that includes China and India do not succeed, we still have an obligation to act.” This is posturing in the place of thought. It puts us in the worst possible negotiating position, and confirms that Sen. McCain is not engaging practically with the costs and benefits of his own policy. It indicates a foolish willingness to sacrifice trillions of dollars on the altar of fashionable, though uniformed, opinion and political expediency.

Once you leave reason behind, there is no logical stopping point, and his Democratic opponent will always be willing to one-up him. Sen. Clinton’s reaction to his speech (literally before it was even delivered) was: “Senator McCain’s proposal simply does not go far enough…”

Consider this the Maroons at State discussion thread.  I have the radio on, and the DVR set.

totally personal question - but I know there are some technology "geeks" (and I mean that in the kindest of ways) that may be able to help me.

I want to get a Slingbox so I can watch TV anywhere in my home with my new laptop.  My initial plan is just to get the old Slingbox Tuner version, which connects to the coax cable.  It won't interfere with my kids watching on the digital box, and would be convenient to the home network connection.

Here's my question - will the pending conversion from analog to digital broadcasting have any effect (or is it affect?) on the Slingbox tuning whatever comes thru my cable?

Any wisdom would be appreciated.  Thanks.

So, we have this big task force formed to plan for the future of Unit 4 schools.  And here is what we get from the NG story:

But perhaps the biggest dilemma facing them is how to change negative perceptions of the school district....

"I believe the challenge of misperceptions is huge," said Imani Bazzell, who is active on several school committees, including its equity committee.

"The biggest challenge is separating perceptions from reality," she said. "You counter rumor, you counter innuendo, you counter misperceptions with facts."

There it is.  We don't have actual problems in our schools.  It's just that there are so many stupid parents (the customers) making uninformed decisions.  We need better PR, not better discipline or responsiveness or security or safety.

If this is the consensus of the task force and the board, nothing will be changed.  Pitiful.

UPDATE:  As of 2:30 pm, it is apparent that this is not the consensus of the task force and board - and that is a good thing.  There is still hope.

Liam Julian writes a piece about NCLB today at NRO. One startling bit of info:

A new study, The Proficiency Illusion, shows among other things that some state tests are simply getting even easier from one year to the next.

and

Take Illinois for example. Between 2003 and 2006, Illinois’s proficiency cut scores on its state math tests plummeted, i.e., the 2003 assessment was significantly more difficult than the 2006 assessment. Thus, even if student test scores remained the same over that three-year period, the tests would show increases of 8 percentile points in grade 5 and a whopping 27 percentile points in grade 8. And sure enough, over the past three years Illinois has reported similar gains: 10 points for fifth graders and 25 points for eighth graders. (Illinois publicly lowered its grade-8 math cut score.)

In reading, declines in test rigor have occurred, too. Because of the downgrade of proficiency, even if Illinois students actually performed no worse or no better over the past three years on the state assessment, the test scores would show gains of 17-percentile points in third grade and 14 percentile points in eighth grade.

Julian concludes with:

America is awash in achievement “data,” yet the truth about our educational performance is far from transparent and trustworthy. It may be smoke and mirrors. Gains (and perhaps slippages) may be illusory. Comparisons may be misleading. Apparent problems may be nonexistent or, at least, misstated. The testing infrastructure on which so many school reform efforts rest, and in which so much confidence has been vested, is unreliable — at best.

When federal dollars are on the line, would it be surprising to think that states, especially Illinois, would be willing to "cheat".

So, are Unit #4 schools improving, or not???

A piece by Victor Davis Hanson today at NRO about education - one quote I particularly like:

We should first scrap the popular therapeutic curriculum that in the scarce hours of the school day crams in sermons on race, class, gender, drugs, sex, self-esteem, or environmentalism. These are well-intentioned efforts to make a kinder and gentler generation more sensitive to our nation’s supposed past and present sins. But they only squeeze out far more important subjects.

He also discusses teacher qualifications and tenure.  I know, I know, basic right-wing stuff, but I just like to see it in print every now and again.

Neat article on Rick Ankiel:

Right after that first game, La Russa called Ankiel's return the Cardinals' greatest joy in baseball "short of winning the World Series." This, from a manager (as chronicled in George Will's classic "Men at Work") not given to happy talk. La Russa is the ultimate baseball logician, driven by numbers and stats. He may be more machine than man, but he confessed at the postgame news conference: "I'm fighting my butt off to keep it together."

Great personal story.

Side note:  watch out Cubs :-)

WDWS just reported Blago is going to line-item veto out all the member initiatives (yeah!), some more expenditure items, and then add back his universal healthcare initiative (boo!).

Not sure how he can do that, but I am sure we will hear all the details soon.

UPDATE and BUMP by IP:  From the State Journal-Register:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich will veto $500 million in "pork" from the fiscal year 2008 budget passed last week by the General Assembly and use that savings to expand health care to help 500,000 people.

The governor said he will use his "executive authority" to institue programs that would expand the Family Care program, provide up to $1,000 grants to families who can't afford to buy health insurance, and expand breast cancer screening programs. The inititiatives would help a total of 500,000 people, he said.

The governor was flanked by Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, who said he agrees with Blagojevich's plans and won't call any veto override motion in the Senate. The formal veto will be filed later this week, Blagojevich said.

If Jones won't call any votes on veto override, than essentially Blagojevich can do whatever he wants.  The House can override him all day long, but if the Senate doesn't vote, then the veto is sustained.  I wonder if Jones' members will allow him to block all veto override votes?

ANOTHER UPDATE by IP:  More from CapFax Blog:

The governor can’t just take $500 million from other parts of the budget and spend it on healthcare. He has a 2 percent transfer authority in this budget, but the transfers have to be germane.

Again, we have a press release that wasn’t accompanied by any official language - which is his usual modus operandus. Until we see that actual language, I gotta figure this is pure posturing.

Two questions from me:

• I wonder how the Senate Democrats can allow Emil Jones to do this?
• I wonder if Blago will veto all of the pork except that allocated to the Senate Democrats, in an effort to get them to back Emil?

IP mentioned the mcleancountypundit blog on here a while back.  I have been checking it mainly for stories about their new coliseum.  It is a cool building, it will probably provide a foundation for some decent development in its vicinity, it allows Bloomington to have an indoor football team play during the summer (what does C-U have when school is out?), and it has cost the city over $300,000 in May.   They projected a loss of $1.6 million for the fiscal year ending April 08, but this start puts that estimate in doubt.  Capital projects and city staffing will likely suffer.

Mayors, councilmen, take heed. 

Side note:  looks like Sammy Hagar will be playing on Oct. 27 :-)

Hott4hill on Youtube.

UPDATE:  Embedded by IP:

Bush got out his veto pen again, killing a bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research:

Announcing his veto to a roomful of supporters, Bush said, "If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers for the first time in our history to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. I made it clear to Congress and to the American people that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line."

He vetoed similar embryonic stem cell legislation last July.

And, while we're at it:

Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have broken with Bush _ and the GOP's social conservatives _ in backing the expansion of federal funding for such research. At the Republican debate on May 3, Giuliani said he supported such an expansion with limits, "as long as we're not creating life in order to destroy it, as long as we're not having human cloning."

Jonah Goldberg today writes a nice article about one of the key "drawbacks" of nationalized health care:

Britain still subscribes to a system where health care is for the most part socialized. When the bureaucrat-priesthood of the National Health Service decides that a certain behavior is unacceptable, the consequences potentially involve more than scolding. For example, in 2005, Britain’s health service started refusing certain surgeries for fat people. An official behind  the decision conceded that one of the considerations was cost. Fat people would benefit from the surgery less, and so they deserved it less. As Tony Harrison, a British health-care expert, explained to the Toronto Sun at the time, “Rationing is a reality when funding is limited.”   But it’s impossible to distinguish such cost-cutting judgments from moral ones. The reasoning is obvious: Fat people, smokers and — soon — drinkers deserve less health care because they bring their problems on themselves. In short, they deserve it. This is a perfectly logical perspective, and if I were in charge of everybody’s health care, I would probably resort to similar logic. (emphasis mine)

But I’m not in charge of everybody’s health care. Nor should anyone else be....

There is scarcity in health care - there are only so many doctors, hospitals, etc.  Are we comfortable giving gov't so much control over something so important?

(Hint:  If you are, vote for Hillary.)

Newsmax.com reporting:

Mary Matalin, former counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, is joining likely presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s team and will serve as an unpaid adviser.

That pretty much settles it, doesn't it?  He can't lose now :-)

I attended the study session last night.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Doesn't look like Mahomet will require keg permits, at least not initially.
• A rep from a local gas station requested that the village codify a mandatory carding policy.  This would give all his employees selling beer "an out" if pressured by a customer ('sorry, its the village law, we card everyone').  I think the village will probably do this.
• There seemed to be some desire to create 2 levels of restaurant licenses, to give smaller restaurants a break in the annual fee.
• Bar closing times 2am, package sales allowed pretty early in mornings, and no special Sunday sales restrictions.

The biggest issue seemed to be the "Class A" (bar) liquor license.  There were at least a couple folks in the crowd who thought maybe "0" would be the right number of these licenses to make available.  The village trustees also expressed that they had heard from numerous citizens that their biggest concern was "Main Street turning into a row of bars".  But, on the flip side, there was implication by some trustees that there are at least a couple annexation agreements that would bring some existing bars into the village.  It seemed like some of the trustees were reluctant to do anything that might jeopardize this occurrence.

The study session will be continued on Monday night after a "Big, Small, All" presentation, and should start around 6:30pm.