Catching up on the past week: Charter schools, Santorum, birth control, Whitney
While I’ve been away, I (and y’all) missed a lot of opportunities to comment on a lot of topics. Here’s some quick making up for lost time:
CHARTER SCHOOLS AMENDMENT FAILS: Here’s hoping a second effort this week finds success. If not, the agents of the status quo — i.e., the educational establishment trying to protect its turf — may find the next option even less palatable than this one. I’ve been hearing for weeks now that one prominent Plan B involves setting up a state commission to review charter applications in tandem with local school boards; if a local board doesn’t follow that commission’s recommendation, the board could find itself receiving significantly less state education money. It would be wholly constitutional — the Legislature already attaches all sorts of strings to state money, and the final decision on an application on the charter would rest with the local board — and there are Democrats and Republicans alike pitching its merits. Only a simple majority (rather than a two-thirds majority for the amendment) would be necessary for passage. I consider it less attractive than the amendment. I’m guessing the amendment’s opponents will come to the same realization … if perhaps too late.
SANTORUM SWEEPS FEB. 7 CAUCUSES: I’m partial to anything that happens on Feb. 7, but I’m not sure Rick Santorum’s sweep of the caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota and the non-binding primary Missouri means a whole lot. Mitt Romney pulled a similar trick four years ago, and it didn’t blunt John McCain’s momentum. Those states’ delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer are not bound to follow the results of last week’s votes. Still, Romney has been a shaky front-runner throughout this race, as conservative voters have proven desperate for anyone else who’s viable. Santorum led the most recent major national poll of GOP voters; can he now prove that he’s a viable contender against President Obama? If not, Romney is still going to win the nomination.
BIRTH CONTROL MANDATE FLAP: American Catholic bishops were right to reject the “accommodation” offered by the Obama administration regarding the mandate for a broad range of religiously affiliated employers to pay for contraception, abortifacients and sterilization. Either the Obama administration doesn’t really understand how health insurance works — which would explain a lot — or it just doesn’t care. But forcing the insurers of these hospitals, colleges and other organizations to pick up the tab, rather than the organizations themselves, is a distinction without a difference. The insurer is going to make someone pay for that coverage via some type of new charge or increase in premiums. If it’s the employees themselves, they’re no better off. If not, it’s going to be the employers, which brings us back to square one. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or a free Pill. Obama can’t get off the hook for a major constitutional infringement (remind me what subject he taught at the University of Chicago law school?) this easily.
WHITNEY HOUSTON, R.I.P.: Surprised to see me mention this one? While I’m not a real R&B or pop aficionado, I am a child of the 1980s and ’90s — and Whitney Houston contributed to the soundtrack of that era as much as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana or any other performer. (OK, maybe not Michael, at least not on a sustained basis.) If you grew up in those years, it was sad to see Houston — someone who once sang about “learning to love yourself” as the “Greatest Love of All” — spiral into such self-destructive living and destroy a voice that was a gift to so many people. We don’t yet have a cause of death for her. But the first thought I had, and which surely many people had, was that it must have been one of the things that spawned so many demons in her for too many of her 48 years. I’m afraid that says enough to make her a cautionary tale for the children of today. Teach them well, indeed.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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163 comments Add your comment
Linda
February 13th, 2012
5:31 pm
Real@4:52, Health care is already a law.
Health care & health care insurance are 2 different things.
Health care insurance is a privilege, not a right, but anyone can buy insurance.
Employers have never been required to buy health insurance.
Employees at companies with more than 50 employees have no more rights to employer-provided health care insurance than employees at companies with less than 50 employees.
Employees have no more rights to employer-provided health care insurance than people who are not employees, that is, independent contractors, etc. (Where’s their coverage?)
IF employers want to offer health care benefits, the employers should have the right to decide on the scope of the plan & who pays for percentages & the employees should have the right to decide on any additional coverage.
Catholic & other religious universities, hospitals & schools are just as much a part of the mission of the religion as their churches & places of worship. Stewardship & outreach are being punished under Obama. (And you thought it was about football?) (Why did the Methodists start Emory?)
MarkV
February 13th, 2012
5:32 pm
Colonoscopy, mammograms, immunization, contraception – just a few of many preventive care activities. Who wants to draw a line, and force it on everybody else?
Kyle Wingfield
February 13th, 2012
5:33 pm
yuzeyurbrane @ 5:03: Let’s face it yuze, you’re incapable of accepting an argument without leaping to an extreme position not advocated by the person making the argument.
Kyle Wingfield
February 13th, 2012
5:37 pm
Debbie @ 4:42: Actually, it’s not their choice. The mandate is not a condition of receiving federal dollars, but rather a condition of employing a certain number of people in this country. So, they don’t have the choice of continuing to do their work without federal dollars and thereby avoiding the mandate.
Dusty
February 13th, 2012
5:40 pm
Richard,
Santorum wants to be your president not your doctor.
We’ve already tried the doctor “bit” with the malpractice of “SawBones” Obama. The “patients” are about to die from such care.
I am ready to revoke his “license” for the health of this country. But. then again, I like to take care of myself. Independence! It is lovely!!
Linda
February 13th, 2012
5:44 pm
Colonoscopies, mammograms & immunizations prevent diseases.
Contraception & abortion prevent children, as does abstention.
The Catholic religion condemns contraception & abortion, & religion is protected under the 1st amendment. It Catholic employees want to pay $9 per month, they are FREE & have every right to do so.
Michael H. Smith
February 13th, 2012
5:51 pm
Independence is a wonderful thing when you can afford it Dusty. Most of us who can’t afford it individually will have to depend on co-opting our health care and insurance coverage needs as a group.
Unfortunately in this State the people who should be taking the right steps to make this co-opting of individuals as in a group a reality,just aren’t representing the interests of those who are not independently wealthy.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 13th, 2012
5:52 pm
Some day America will be found kaput in the bathtub, with bottles of birth control pills, food stamps and welfare checks throwed all around.
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
5:53 pm
The bishops of the Catholic Church will not give up their attempt to control the vaginas and uteri of their female adherents, even if they are no use to the bishops.
One wonders if the bishops’ little blue pill prescriptions are paid for so they can continue their ministering to America’s youth. I’m sure that Benedict XVI would be in favor.
Liberals eat their children
February 13th, 2012
5:54 pm
Democrats
February 13th, 2012
5:28 pm
Obama had homosexual affairs with many different men while married to Michelle Obama. Barrack Obama and his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are both lifetime members of a all Gay Mens Club and Bath House in Chicago called “Mans Country”
Here’s a list of some of the Gay men Obama had affairs with.:
1. Larry Sinclair
2. Donald Young
3. Bill Frist
4. Reggie Love
5. Gov.Deval Patrick
6. Arther Davis
7. Rahm Emanuel
Democrats
February 13th, 2012
5:28 pm
Obama had homosexual affairs with many different men while married to Michelle Obama. Barrack Obama and his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are both lifetime members of a all Gay Mens Club and Bath House in Chicago called “Mans Country”
Here’s a list of some of the Gay men Obama had affairs with.:
1. Larry Sinclair
2. Donald Young
3. Bill Frist
4. Reggie Love
5. Gov.Deval Patrick
6. Arther Davis
7. Rahm Emanuel
Democrats
February 13th, 2012
5:28 pm
Obama had homosexual affairs with many different men while married to Michelle Obama. Barrack Obama and his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are both lifetime members of a all Gay Mens Club and Bath House in Chicago called “Mans Country”
Here’s a list of some of the Gay men Obama had affairs with.:
1. Larry Sinclair
2. Donald Young
3. Bill Frist
4. Reggie Love
5. Gov.Deval Patrick
6. Arther Davis
7. Rahm Emanuel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Of1eroIgs&feature=related
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
5:54 pm
Now now, Curly. Whitney made more $$ in a minute than you do in a month.
MarkV
February 13th, 2012
5:55 pm
Contraception prevents unwanted pregnancies and medical and societal problems associated with them, and reduces health care costs. The percentage of women using contraception shows that we have gone far beyond the medieval (and catholic) opinion regarding sex.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:00 pm
GodHatesTrash, Superstar: One wonders if the bishops’ little blue pill prescriptions are paid for so they can continue their ministering to America’s youth.
——————-
Is that what they do when they’re not supporting Obozo’s health care power grab?
Obozocare: Perverted.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:00 pm
Whitney made more $$ in a minute than you do in a month.
—————-
Hope she enjoyed it.
Alf Vader
February 13th, 2012
6:04 pm
Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. . . Just because you were hired to replace that hack Jim Wooten doesn’t mean you should lapse into his schizophrenic “Weekend Free-for-all” column style. Pick a topic and write about it.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:06 pm
Obozo’s chief of staff doesn’t know how many votes it takes in the Senate to pass budget bills.
Funny we haven’t heard about this in the news.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/feb/13/jack-lew/white-house-chief-staff-jack-lew-says-budget-requi/
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
6:06 pm
In many countries in the world, Catholic women are amongst the most ignorant of the populace.
Here in the USA (thanks in some measure to the the fact that most dim-bulb women here are evangelical Protestants), it is just the opposite. The vast majority of Catholic women are decently educated and smart enough not to pay attention to the bleating of a bunch of old men in burkas about birth control.
I wish the priests would put as much energy into making sure that kids aren’t molested as they do with this medieval misogynist silliness about condemning birth control.
Dusty
February 13th, 2012
6:08 pm
GodHatesTrash,Superstar 5:53
————-
More trash!
I hate it when the bigots show up.
Ruins the party.
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
6:13 pm
Hmmm – it figures that ol’ Dr. Bill Frist is gayer than Elton John’s chihuahua…
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
6:17 pm
Dusty, I’m glad you’re here, sweetie. Reading the posts by Kyle’s Kavalcade of Krazy Konservative Kretins is like watching holy rollers play with snakes – the stupid never stops!
Old timer
February 13th, 2012
6:19 pm
I paid for my own “preventative care” and my children’s also. Since when did all this become a “right”.
Do what??????
February 13th, 2012
6:21 pm
Oh goody, the AJC race troll showed up just in time to vomit all over Kyle’s blog. Yippee!!!!!!!
MarkV
February 13th, 2012
6:22 pm
Old timer @6:19 pm
You think people have no right to have insurance that pays for preventive care?
Liberals eat their children
February 13th, 2012
6:22 pm
Obama is spending this Country into bankruptcy and it is part of his agenda to transform American. Obama is a muslim communist just like his African father.
Linda
February 13th, 2012
6:23 pm
The percentage of women using contraceptives shows that contraceptives are both free & so cheap that women can afford to pay for them out of their own pockets.
There is nothing Medieval about religion. The US came about as a result of religious freedom & here we are, over 200 yrs. later, still fighting & dying for our religious freedom, except this time, it’s from our own govt.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 13th, 2012
6:23 pm
According to Charol Shakeshaft, the researcher of a little-remembered 2004 study prepared for the U.S. Department of Education, “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.”
So what class do you teach, trashman?
Do what??????
February 13th, 2012
6:23 pm
“Reading the posts by Kyle’s Kavalcade of Krazy Konservative Kretins”
Everyone’s IQ drops an average of 10 points just by reading Trash’s filth.
Kyle Wingfield
February 13th, 2012
6:23 pm
Old timer @ 6:19: Bingo. There’s a reason it’s called a “benefit”: It’s part of the compensation offered by the employer to secure a good and loyal work force, not a “right” to which the employees are entitled.
Do what??????
February 13th, 2012
6:24 pm
“So what class do you teach, trashman?”
I doubt Trash has ever set foot inside a classroom.
Old timer
February 13th, 2012
6:24 pm
I do not mean to sound mean. My insurance has a deductible. Once I meet that they begin to pay for things. I look for the least expensive place to purchase prescriptions. I compare costs as much as I can. I do know unwanted pregnancies are a terrible problem. Birth control can be found very cheaply. Health clinic s are in every county.
Old timer
February 13th, 2012
6:25 pm
And I do believe it is not a right..I pay Molly for my care and also pay for one of my two adult daughters who cannot afford it.
Do what??????
February 13th, 2012
6:26 pm
“I do not mean to sound mean.”
Never apologize for anything when it comes to schooling left wingers on common sense.
Do what??????
February 13th, 2012
6:27 pm
“it figures that ol’ Dr. Bill Frist is gayer than Elton John’s chihuahua…
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!!!!!
“Kyle’s Kavalcade of Krazy Konservative Kretins”
If ever there were a pathetic little hypocrite, Trash is it.
Old timer
February 13th, 2012
6:27 pm
Thanks Kyle…..best wishes with the new baby…..
Linda
February 13th, 2012
6:28 pm
If someone is self-employed, does he or she have a right to insurance that pays for preventative care? Sure! As long as he or she pays for it.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:28 pm
MarkV: You think people have no right to have insurance that pays for preventive care?
———————–
Correct.
Only Obamaggots believe such tripe.
If you want preventive care, purchase and pay for a policy that provides it, or go and get some and pay for it. Don’t pass laws that require some other person to pay your expenses. That’s what parasites do.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:33 pm
By the way, academic and government studies have demonstrated that preventive care isn’t cost effective.
Don’t fear facts.
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
6:34 pm
Now now, little Linda – such hyperbole! Fighting and dying? Oh pleeze! Whinin’ and cryin’, that’s all we ever get from you.
Now run along.
MarkV
February 13th, 2012
6:34 pm
Kyle Wingfield @6:23 pm
Kyle, according to what you have written, there should be no rules about what the employers health insurance plans should contain. No requirement regarding pre-existing conditions, about paying for mammograms, immunization, whatever. It is all up to the employer, and if you do not like it, find another employer. Right?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:37 pm
It is all up to the employer, and if you do not like it, find another employer. Right?
————————–
That’s why conservatives propose de-linking health insurance and employment. So that people are free to choose whatever policy makes sense for them.
Hey MarkV, remember when Democrats were for choice?
Hypocrite.
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
February 13th, 2012
6:38 pm
Golly – it seems that thanks to me all of Kyle’s Kavalcade have got their panties in a wad – look at all the whinin’ and poutin’ and moanin’! A bunch of babies crying their eyes out.
Poor things!
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
6:48 pm
I think I heard a mosquito buzzing around…anyone else hear it?
saywhat?
February 13th, 2012
7:00 pm
There are consequences to being out of touch with the rest of America when it comes to elections. So try to regain a little dignity, suck it up, and stop crying amongst yourselves, Republicans (or continue if you want, nobody cares). The REAL America is getting exactly what they voted for, and will get four more years it of it after November 2012. Praise be!
Linda
February 13th, 2012
7:04 pm
Does the stay-at-home wife of an employee have the same rights to preventative care as the stay-at-home x-wife of an employee?
Does the fed. govt. have the right to tell a religion that their faith & opinions are Medieval?
Does the fed. govt. have the right to tell a religion what to believe & what is moral?
Since freedom of religion is addressed in the very first amendment, what is more important, our right to freedom of religion or women’s rights to FREE birth control pills?
MarkV
February 13th, 2012
7:35 pm
One more time: The Constitution guarantees a free exercise of religion.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…
The government’s regulation does not prohibit any exercise of religion.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 13th, 2012
7:39 pm
Obozocare does prohibit the free exercise of religion when they require Catholics to violate their beliefs regarding contraception and killing the unborn.
Linda
February 13th, 2012
7:53 pm
If a religion believes in life, that life is precious, that life begins at contraception, that preventing life with artificial birth control is morally wrong & that abortions are murder AND the fed. govt. mandates that religion to provide &/or pay for artificial birth control & abortion medicine to its employees, then the fed. govt. is PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF of that religion.
ragnar danneskjold
February 13th, 2012
7:59 pm
Welcome back, Kyle, trust mother and child are doing well. I think the Catholic-abortion kerfuffle has legs, ultimately going to be seen as an attempt to make leftist law superior to Constitutional prohibitions. Not many see that yet, but the electoral season is young.
ragnar danneskjold
February 13th, 2012
8:01 pm
Derr MarkV @ 7:35, agreed, “The government’s regulation does not prohibit any exercise of religion.” The government’s regulation requires the religion to amend its beliefs to conform to the leftist rite of abortion.
MarkV
February 13th, 2012
8:09 pm
The government does not force anybody to prevent life by using contraceptives.
The fed. govt. does not have the right to tell a religion that their faith & opinions are Medieval. It also does not do it. Many people believe it, however, and prove it by their actions, and that includes Catholic women.
Paying for something is not a prohibition to exercise religion. Most of us are forced to pay for things that we consider immoral and against our beliefs. Can a pacifist refuse to pay the part of his/her taxes used for war? Can a person believing that the capital punishment is immoral refuse to pay the part of taxes used to execute people?