In the News

Single parents cost taxpayers $112 Billion

Oh, my... Where to go with this one?

Has it occurred to anyone that, perhaps, the issue isn't as black and white as how many parents are in the home? Maybe there are things that can be done that would assist single parents in handling both their familial and financial responsibilities on their own, instead of relying on direct government assistance. Things like flexible work schedules, good, steady jobs with sick leave and medical coverage, perhaps on-site daycare, and even strengthening community ties so that parents don't feel like they're in it alone. The bonus of this would be that it would also assist two parent households in keeping their heads above water, as well. Something which you may have noticed is becoming increasingly difficult for many families.


Tomorrow is a very important anniversary, but I'm not sure that means there should be guns on campus. I do believe that more needs to be done to keep students safe on campus, but I think the answer may be more in prevention and the availability and accessibility of mental health services, and less in the opening up of a wild west atmosphere. It also seems like Virginia Tech is still failing in the mental health services area.


California shut down the salmon fishing season and declares a state of emergency because of the impact to the economy. While I could get all kinds of started on this, I think I'll just comment that maybe we need to figure out ways to make money that don't involve slaughter. Also, I would think that, much like farmers and ranchers, fishermen should understand that there's a significant degree to which they have no control over how much they'll make in any given year. They have no control over what their catch will be, and they have no control (really) over what the market price will be for the catch they have. So doesn't that make it an awful lot like a crap shoot in any given year?

Personally, I think that if we're going to subsidize a food commodity, maybe it shouldn't be chinook salmon?


One of the women that we met on Saturday is a firefighter. So, of course, I thought of her when this came over the wire. That's not her station, but I do know it's one of the stations my dad services. He's one of the mechanics that keeps Sacramento city firefighters rolling. This seems to me like it's a very unusual set of circumstances and I'm interested to find out what the investigation reveals.


By the way, none of this is what I intended to rant on about this morning. That's still coming.