Our current healthcare system is broken. It is too expensive and it provides incentives for people to make poor decisions on their own healthcare spending.
Things could be worse…we could be like Canada.
UPDATE: 7/31/2007 2:10
Paramaphil disagrees.
Yesterday I linked to the story about the Utah County woman thrown in jail when confronted by an officer about not watering her lawn. The whole situation spiraled out of control when the woman refused to give the officer her name and he went off on a power trip. In the comments section of that post Dignin asked the question: “…is there a law that says you must identify yourself to an officer, or get arrested?”
You’d think it would be ok to remain silent but the Supreme Court, in Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, upheld a state law that required citizens to identify themselves to the authoritites when they have reason to believe a law has been broken.
A great website that everyone should spend some time looking at is FlexYourRights.org. Take the quiz they have on their site to see how knowledgible you are your about your civil rights. Too many people think they only need their constitutional rights if they get caught breaking the law. The truth is that when we exercise those rights even when we are innocent of any legal wrongdoing we are keeping ourselves and our society more secure from overbearing cops and malicious growth of government police powers in general. Check out their site and learn how to correctly deal with situations when The Man gets you down.
Here’s a link to the great video produced by Flex Your Rights. Everyone should show this to their kids.
Apparently an elderly woman in Utah County was cited by an officer for not watering her lawn. When she protested the cop called for backup and they tossed her in jail. And I thought Davis County was bad…
Nice bunch you guys have up there in Utah County under the all seeing “Y”.
Mark Shurtleff wrote today about the unanimous Supreme Court decision contradicting his legal advice to the State Board of Education. I don’t begrudge Mr. Shurtleff his chance to publicly defend his actions but for him to come out criticizing those who didn’t follow his obviously flawed legal arguments is pretty lame. The board saw that he was wrong, their lawyers saw that he was wrong, most Utahns thought he was wrong and a unanimous Utah Supreme Court finally put him in his place. It is hard to see how Mr. Shurtleff doesn’t deserve some of the unhappiness he claims to have encountered from his constituents.
UPDATE: 07/06/2007 10:30 AM
Rep. Craig Frank laud’s the AG’s attempt to defend his actions and almost accuses voucher opponents of lying to get petition signatures for the referendum:
I don’t think I’ve spoken with a single individual who signed the petition (or would have signed it) that is[n’t] seriously reconsidering their actions and their vote. You see, many of them feel they were “coerced” or “lied to.”
Pretty lame stuff. I’m sure glad most Utahns aren’t really as dumb as many Republicans assume we are. The vast majority of the people who signed the petition knew what they were asking for. When most Utahns vote against the voucher plan in November they’ll also be aware of what they are doing. Republican patronizing aside…we’re smart enough not to be fooled by PCE and their sponsored politicians into doing something that could potentially be as bad for our state as this voucher bill could be.
Tyler at Davis County Watch and the anonymous UtahRattler are up in arms about a proposed increase in property taxes for Davis County schools to be discussed at the August 7th Board of Education meeting.
The proposed tax increase is approximately $17 on a $190k house (median value of a home in Davis County). If this tax increase takes place county schools will receive 2 to 1 matching funds offered by the state. In other words for every one dollar the board raises in new property taxes the state will provide the district with 2 more dollars.
TheRattler contends that it is “duplicitous” for the state to require districts to fund their full share of the district budget before expecting the state to provide additional dollars for schools.
Essentially this, ‘you raise taxes by X, and we’ll give you $2 for every dollar you collect’ scheme, seems to be a way (attempt) for politicians (legislators) and bureaucrats (school board and district) to wash their hands of responsibility for the tax increase. If citizens complain to one, it points at the other. This allows a for circular blame game with all taxing parties ducking responsibility. This also lets our purportedly ‘conservative’ legislature claim they didn’t raise taxes and oppose tax increases while, at the same time, they put out big incentives for local authorities to raise your taxes.
I don’t understand why a self proclaimed conservative would rail against such obviously sensible fiscal policy. The district needs the state tax dollars to fund our educational needs but they’ve been told by the state that they aren’t entitled to that money unless they are already funding their fair share of the costs through district property taxes. This makes a lot of sense from a fiscally conservative standpoint. State tax dollars shouldn’t be going to districts that aren’t shouldering their share of the financial burden.
According to school board member Bill Moore (from a quote in the Clipper article linked above):
“One of the messages we keep hearing from our legislators over and over when we ask them for more funding is, ‘You are not fully utilizing the funding opportunities that are yours now. So we need to step up to the plate.”
I’m amazed at the excellent job our public schools are doing at fulfilling their purpose in the face of massive under-funding. Too many “conservatives” think we should try to educate our kids on the cheap. It makes no sense to oppose increased investment in a system which has shown such impressive returns in the past, especially as costs are increasing and we are faced with huge projected future enrollments. All citizens benefit from an effective and adequately funded school system. If we are going to have that benefit we’re going have to pay our fair share. There’s nothing “duplicitous” about that.
I’m not quite as bitter this year as I sit down to write my Independence Day post as I was last year and I’m not sure why. Its not like I have more hope this year for a less intrusive government than I had last year. We’re faced with a government that is out of control in its efforts to control more and more aspects of our daily lives. We have only socialized medicine, more nanny government, and fewer liberties to look forward to over the next few years no matter which party is in charge. Yet even in the face of all this…I’m in a great mood.
I do have one more kid this year…maybe thats it…or maybe it is that 22.5″ Weber Charcoal Kettle Grill I got for Father’s Day this year 
I’ve used it at least a dozen times already. Life is so much better when you have well grilled beef on your plate regularly.
Happy Independence Day everyone! Thanks for visiting my blog from time to time. It sure is fun to be able to communicate with the world so easily…even when I don’t often have many interesting things to say!
Now…go fire up your grill and put some meat on it. Here’s what I recommend:
Jeremy’s Original Tri Tip (Santa Maria) Roast Recipe
Ingredients:
2 to 2.5 lb Tri Tip Roast (Go to Sam’s Club or Costco…they almost always have this inexpensive but delicious cut of beef)
Your Favorite Beef Rub (Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and black pepper will work if you don’t have your own recipe for a good beef rub…I’d add some extra garlic powder though)
Grilling instructions:
Apply the rub generously all over the roast then let the roast sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
If you have some oak wood chips (or mesquite) go ahead and throw them on the hot coals to add that excellent smokey flavor!
Cook the roast over medium high to high indirect heat for 25-30 minutes turning once (or until internal temp reaches 125-130 degrees) then cook over high direct heat for 3-5 minutes per side to properly sear the roast.
Allow the meat to rest for 15 minutes under a tent of foil then slice thinly against the grain. The outer portions of the roast will be medium to medium well for those who don’t like that much moo in their beef. The inner section of the roast will be perfect.
Serve with home made baked macaroni and cheese or in sandwiches. This is my favorite food to grill. It is very easy (I’ve never had it not turn out) and it is absolutely delicious.
Happy Independence Day!!!
