A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

The Evansville Courier-Press has a column by Martin Schram for the Scripps Howard News Service entitled Diminished coverage. It’s 3:40 a.m. and my 18 month old daughter has been crying for the last half hour, so maybe it’s just my muddled, sleep-deprived head, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around why the press is calling Obama’s statement that “we now have spent $400 billion and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted” was a gaffe. The Schram column just says “Wasted?” He does not try to explain how U.S. foreign policy has used those lives well. If someone would explain how those lives were used to achieve a benefit commensurate with the cost, perhaps I could be persuaded that Obama was somehow incorrect in his statement. Instead, all I get is some sort of semi-articulated (from Schram and elsewhere) notion that Obama has somehow belittled the dead servicemen and women through this statement.

Noting that the Iraq War has been wasteful of American lives does nothing to diminish the sacrifice of those who sacrificed their lives. Seems to me that it makes the sacrifice that much more indicative of their love for their country. In any event, the situation reminds me a bit of The Charge of the Light Brigade:

1.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
“Charge for the guns!” he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

2.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

4.

Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

DSC_0001.JPG

Originally uploaded by amasson.

The lighting isn’t very good, but this is a picture of my son and I digging out this morning. The snow is probably about 2/3 up the lamp post in the background, and that ivy covered post next to it is our mailbox.

SB 6 – Disclosure of cell phone location information. Rep. Ford:

Requires a commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) provider to disclose to a law enforcement officer the automatic location identification of a subscriber upon request if an emergency situation exists that involves the immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to any person, including a situation in which there is a credible report of an unexplained missing person. Requires a law enforcement officer to provide a copy of a valid warrant or subpoena to the CMRS provider within 48 hours of receiving the location information. Provides immunity from civil liability for good faith disclosures of information by CMRS providers.

Looks like the process cleaned this one up a little bit. Back on December 19, 2006, I complained a little bit about the introduced version of the bill because it required disclosure to law enforcement officials in “emergency” situations without defining emergencies. In committee, the bill was amended to specify emergencies that involved an immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury.

Passed 45 to 1 (Rep. Drozda was the one nay vote.)

Technorati Tags: SB6-2007, Big Brother

HB 1426 – Economic incentives accountability. Rep. Austin. Requires the Indiana economic development corporation to report semiannually on certain tax credits, loans, and grants provided by the state and on the level of compliance by recipients with representations made to obtain the benefits.

The report has to include at least the following:

(A) Tax credits applied in the state.
(B) Loans made in the state.
(C) Grants given in the state.

Also, with respect to each recipient of a tax credit, loan, or grant:
(A) The name and address of the recipient.
(B) The amount of the tax credit, loan, or grant.
(C) The purpose of the tax credit, loan, or grant.
(D) Representations of the following made by the recipient at the time of application for the tax credit, loan, or grant:
(i) Numbers of employees to be hired, retained, or trained.
(ii) Average wage or compensation that will be provided to employees to be hired, retained, or trained.
(iii) Other benefits to be provided to employees to be hired, retained, or trained.

And, finally, the extent to which the credit, loan, or grant recipient complied with those representations.

I have mixed feelings about this bill. On the one hand, it’s a good idea to make sure that businesses aren’t coming around with their hands out for economic development packages, promising the moon to get them, and then turning around and renegging on their promises. On the other hand, another layer of bureaucracy is created. Nobody in the House had mixed feelings, apparently – Passed the House 95 to 0.

Technorati Tags: HB1426-2007, taxes

HB 1391 – Certified Surgical Technologists. Rep. Reske. Prohibits an individual from professing to be a certified technical surigical technologist or use the initials “CST” unless the individual holds and maintains the Certified Surgical Technologist Credential administered by the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (NBSTSA).

I don’t know how big a problem this was, but I suppose I’d be happy if I owned stock in the NBSTSA.

Passed the House 94 to 0.

Technorati Tags: HB1391-2007, licensure

House Bill 1378 Insurance coverage exclusion for intoxication. Rep. Van Haaften.

With respect to an insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical expenses, prohibits an insurance exclusion for losses contracted in consequence of the insured’s being intoxicated or under the influence of a narcotic.

Passed the House 90 to 5. (Voting nay were Reps Bell, Borror, Hinkle, Micon, and Turner.)

Technorati Tags: HB1378-2007, insurance

House Bill 1304 Academic standards tested on ISTEP. Rep. Cheatham.

Requires the department of education to provide each school that administers ISTEP tests with information concerning which state academic standards will be tested and the number of questions that will be asked concerning each standard. Requires the department to develop guidelines and the state board of education to adopt rules that describe the statistical analysis methods used to determine: (1) whether a school corporation or school fails to meet a target ISTEP score or improvement rate, and (2) whether the margin by which the school corporation or school failed to meet the target ISTEP scores or improvement rates falls outside normal random statistical variation from the target scores or improvement rates.

Why don’t we just give out the answers?

O.k., I’m being glib. I actually think we’re probably putting way too much importance on a test and not enough on the things that are purportedly being tested. At a previous job, I recall my boss telling me that the bureaucrats involved with our department were not very good at measuring productivity, rather they could merely measure the indicia of productivity.

This bill passed the House 63 to 32.

Technorati Tags: hb1304-2007, education