In his comments about the health legislation the other day, Doc made a very good point: the recent health care bill really doesn’t reform health care, it reforms health insurance. In particular, the bill does very little to directly address the spiraling costs of health care. Obviously that should be the next step [...]

1) The New York Times webpage has some very nice information about the bill here and here. You should check those out to see how the law is changing and how it might effect you.

Last night, I went to a legal history lecture. Its not something I normally do, and a topic I know very little about, but it came with a free dinner. Anyway, the talk was about inheritance law, and went through a number of important legal cases that were precedent setting for the circumstances [...]

I just got my census form. Its 10 questions. With the possible exception of race, I think all the information is also reported in my taxes. Moreover, the census people knew who I was already, because they were able to send me a census form.
The census has spent a fortune [...]

I was reading an article recently that described how US students are falling behind their peers in other countries in terms of educational achievement. Lots of people are decrying this as a terrible thing, and there was a lot of inflammatory rhetoric. I would very much like to see the US increase its [...]

Okay, we talked before about the Texas curriculum fiasco. To reiterate my basic belief, and my primary problem with what those people are doing: curriculum ought to be set by teachers based on the needs and interests of their students, not on the political whims of elected officials.
But after reading some of the specific [...]

There once was a guy from Japan
Who’s limerick’s just wouldn’t scan
When told they were short
He’d never retort
–
(If Mike goes long enough without giving me positive examples of good leftfielder posts, eventually my posts devolve into things like this…)

I learned from a student recently that the FBI can listen to you through your cellphone, even if your cellphone is off! I don’t have much to say about this, except that I find it incredibly creepy. Sure, the FBI probably isn’t listening to what I say - its not like I ever [...]

Can anybody explain to me why it is that people can receive retirement benefits from social security, even if they’re still working? Wages go up over the course of a career, such that older workers tend to have higher wages than their younger counterparts. So, people who have higher salaries are additionally receiving [...]