Friday, March 12, 2004
ON LSD?
My thoughts on the Des Moines Register’s editorial on Iowa Child over at the Pork Forest.
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Thursday, March 11, 2004
HIS HIGHNESS, JOHN KERRY
My latest at the Spectator.
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MORE AT THE PORK FOREST
I have a little something more at the Pork Forest. Scroll down to see stuff by Chad, Don, and Cedar Pundit.
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EUPHEMISITIC HEADLINE OF THE CENTURY?
I was doing a bit of research yesterday at the Iowa Wesleyan College, and stumbled across the following headline in the school paper: “Score Not Representative of Effort By Wesleyan Against Second Ranked McKendree College.” McKendree’s football team had stomped Wesleyan 59-13.
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PROMISED JOBS
I found this article in the Des Moines Register to be rather humorous. On the one had, it reports about a bunch of money the state government gave to Trans Ova:
Trans Ova, a leader in cattle cloning and development of animal-based pharmaceuticals, last year was awarded $9 million from the Iowa Values Fund as part of a $15 million package of state economic development assistance. The northwest Iowa company has said it expects to create 235 jobs that pay an average hourly wage of $21.39.
On the other hand, it reports on the city of Norwalk, which has to give back $14,753 back to the state. The reason?
Norwalk city officials had received a state grant of $339,245 in March 1998 to grade and pave 1,500 feet of Wright Street. In return, city officials agreed 83 new jobs would be created at the business center within two years. Since then, peak employment at the business center has been 36 jobs, said Stuart Anderson, director of the DOT's Office of Systems Planning.
I wonder of the folks in charge of the Grow Iowa Government Values Fund considered the Norwalk matter before they sent out a press release about all the new jobs the GIV Fund will supposedly create? Yes, a rhetorical question, I know.
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Wednesday, March 10, 2004
VILSACK FOR VEEP?
According to an article in the Des Moines Register:
"If they want to replicate the Gore map, then someone from the Midwest or someone from the Southwest would make sense," said Vilsack, who has pledged not to seek a third term.
Permit me to translate: “Pick me, pick me! Oh, oh, oh, please pick me!”
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Tuesday, March 09, 2004
VISIT THE PORK FOREST
A new website dedicated to tracking the Iowa Child project, i.e. the “Iowa Pork Forest,” is now up and running. Here’s the introductory post, and here are posts by Jeff and Royce.
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Monday, March 08, 2004
$5 IS JUST TOO MUCH
A reader sent me the link to this piece about the debate among Washington State legislators over whether to charge Medicaid recipients a monthly premium in the neighborhood of $5-$15. My apologies to every other journalist out there, but the passage-of-the-year award is now a no-brainer:
Annette Hensley, 43, says if the Legislature imposes premiums she will do whatever it takes to pay them and keep her 14-year-old on Medicaid.
"It would put a big strain on us," said Hensley, whose family income is about $25,000 a year. "Something would have to go. I don't have cable, so probably the Internet. Maybe my cell phone."
Hmmm…having to make sacrifices for your kid. I believe there is a three-word phrase for that: being a parent.
Also, word of warning to Rebecca Cook of the Associated Press who wrote the article. I hope you are an established journalist because writing those kind of lines will probably keep you from going much farther in your profession. Better idea is to just omit them next time.
Of course, the liberals have their undies in a bunch:
The problem with premiums isn't just the expense, it's the hassle, said Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children's Alliance. The Department of Social and Health Service does most business by mail. Many poor families lack checking accounts, so they would have to pay by money order each month. There's no credit card payments, online bill-paying or direct withdrawal plans, making it easy for families to fall behind in their premiums.
Here we have the typical inability of the good-government types to think outside the box. Why not have online bill-paying for Medicare? Or just have these people stop by the county office and pay it there? Or maybe you could hook up a system where they could pay their premium at the Post Office? I’m sure if they sat down and thought hard, they could work out the logistics.
Of course, the main hurdle that must be jumped is the idea that poor folks don’t have to pay something for their health-care.
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IT’LL HURT THEIR SELF-ESTEEM!
That’s probably the main reason for the Des Moines Register editorial board’s opposition to a proposed law that would hold back Iowa third graders who can’t read at grade level. Because you can’t take their stated arguments that seriously:
The answer is not automatically forcing a third-grader - an 8- or 9-year-old child who has formed friendships with classmates and may have other problems that need to be addressed - to return to the same classroom the next year. A decision that drastic must be left to parents and educators who know the child.
The power should be left with teachers and parents! I wonder if the Register would take that position on the subject of, say, vouchers? I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t. After all, they want the federal government to mandate what we can save tax-free money for; they don’t want to leave that up to the individual.
So what, according to the Register, is the best way to help children read? Oh, like you couldn’t guess:
Everyone wants children to become good readers. It's the foundation of learning. The best way to do that is to provide the resources schools need to offer enough help to children. It's having well-funded Reading Recovery programs.
Yep, more spending! And guess what doesn’t help teachers teach kids to read:
It's not burdening teachers with so much mandatory testing that they don't have any time to work one on one with students who need assistance.
Given that this problem came about long before the No Child Left Behind Act become law, it’s a little unclear how testing contributed to 13% of Iowa third-graders not reading at grade level.
A disingenuous argument, more spending, and a swipe at a Bush policy. How do you spell predictable?
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CONSERVATIVES MUST VOTE THIS NOVEMBER
Jeff at Tusk and Talon has some thoughts on conservatives sitting out the fall election.
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