The Real Baby Killers

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…and is anyone really surprised that the health care industry lawyers found a way to kill kids, at least for a few more years?

The authors of the law say they meant to ban all forms of discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions like asthma, diabetes, birth defects, orthopedic problems, leukemia, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease. The goal, they say, was to provide those youngsters with access to insurance and to a full range of benefits once they are in a health plan.

To insurance companies, the language of the law is not so clear.

Insurers agree that if they provide insurance for a child, they must cover pre-existing conditions. But, they say, the law does not require them to write insurance for the child and it does not guarantee the “availability of coverage” for all until 2014.

Yup, that free market sure does take care of everybody, doesn’t it?

Rush

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A fundraiser is under way to buy Rush Limbaugh a ticket to Costa Rica where he claimed he’d spend the rest of his days if the Health care bills passed. If (as expected) Rush decides that America’s still pretty ok, the funds raised will be donated to Planned Parenthood.

Frightened Rabbit

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At the Mohawk. Not only do they rock your face off in a live show (something i was a bit surprised by given the sound of their albums),  they also say  ‘fuck’  often and the way it’s meant to be spoken – with a Scottish accent.

SXSW at Mellow Johnny’s

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One way for an already kickass bike shop to become more so? Hold free concerts. With free beer.

Comfort

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We raced at Comfort this weekend, and to say it did not go well is a magnificent understatement. Here’s how I remember it at least.

Ok, here we go wade. One minute, timers, running…30 seconds… we’re going to roll, off clip in, sprint for the first turn, cut it on the inside, and then just hang on. And here we go…holy crap that worked! I’m in 4th! Well now 5th, well now 6th ok, shut up and keep place, don’t mess this up. Here we go, first technical section. And crap. Wow, you screwed that up horribly…so much for that, look there goes my entire field. Fantastic. Ok calm down we’ll catch back up on the climbs…and here we go, we’re climbing. And climbing, and jesus did I take a wrong turn? I’m stuck in some repeating climbing loop that never goes downhill. Ok , no it’s cool there’s some down…oh wow, more climbing, awesome. Look 500 feet up the side of that hill – more riders… wow that’s my group. Ok not going to catch them, lets just finish this thing. And we’re climbing again. Oh look a solid wall of rock, nope not going to ride that. Ok, cool just got passed by a junior girl who started 30 minutes after me…yeah this is not going well. And we’re climbing…ok the end is near. The end of me, not this race. Liz, I’m sorry for leaving the toilet seat up. Mom, dad – love you. God is that you? You’re black, that’s rad! Oh wait, no that’s just the course marshal. Holy crap it’s the finish…there’s my car… there’s beer in that car. Wonderful little beers, I’m going to finish this wretched ride for you…

Teach Them Children Good

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The Texas State Board of Education meets today to continue politicizing, I mean editing our states text book guidelines, which as one of the largest text-book purchasers in the country go on to impact other states curricula.

Since the last meeting, board member and former chair Don McLeroy — the most aggressive amender of curriculum and a self-proclaimed “religious fanatic” who believes education is “too important not to politicize” — narrowly lost the Republican primary to lobbyist Thomas Ratliff, a moderate who campaigned on a platform of depoliticizing the board. But don’t expect McLeroy, who will serve the remainder of this year, to limp out like a lame duck. Asked whether the election results would affect his plans for the social studies curriculum, he said, “Gosh no. I had some tremendous opposition, and a lot of people working against me, and I still almost won. The fact that I would change would be silly.

“The people who write about there being a tilt to the right in the curriculum never write about the tilt to the left, because they just don’t see it,” McLeroy said. “The reason why there’s so many more amendments to the social studies curriculum than to other subjects is because the balance was lacking. The populists, the progressives, the Great Society, all that stuff is from the left. … This country was founded on conservative, limited-government principles.”

The Texas Tribune has a annotated copy of the last round of amendments – including McLeroy’s attempt to replace Hip-hop as a cultural value with country music – viewable in a fancy data application here.

Update: Not surprisingly, things yesterday continued on a predictable path.

SXSW

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South by Southwest for the cheap. Lots of new venues this year -plan your sick days now.

Beer

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The full quote is, “I’ve spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I squandered.”

Cheers to the end of a hellish week.

Methane

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If you don’t believe climate change is real, just because Fox News and Sarah Palin told you it’s snowing out, now might be an excellent time to reevaluate your position (i.e. remove your head from your ass).

The amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the amount coming out of the entire world’s oceans,” said Shakhova, a researcher at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center. “Subsea permafrost is losing its ability to be an impermeable cap.”

Methane is a greenhouse gas more than 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It is released from previously frozen soils in two ways. When the organic material—which contains carbon—stored in permafrost thaws, it begins to decompose and, under oxygen-free conditions, gradually release methane.

More…

Enlist Today

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From the Imperial Propaganda Department