Prayer and Prisons

Lots of interesting policy news in the paper this morning.

The Florida Senate approved a bill that will allow students (not teachers or parents) to organize "inspirational messages" (prayers) at school assemblies and sporting events. I have no idea how this will be constitutional. It seems like the Florida legislature is in the business of keeping the courts and the ACLU busy. Not that I am against prayer but how in the world will this be monitored?


Privatizing prisons has hit a snag. Watch out when you speak your mind. Sometimes it will get you removed from your committee chairmanship. Republican Senator Mike Fasano was stripped of his chair person's position on the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations committee. He was on MSNBC on Tuesday speaking his mind and lo and behold he was removed by Senate President Mike Haridopolos on Wednesday. To watch the clip go here:

http://video.app.msn.com/watch/video/undercrowded-florida-prisons-present-strange-challenge/6bqelzi

It's my own personal opinion that I would hate to be imprisoned in a private facility. Why would they ever want to parole anyone if a business is making money off of people's imprisonment? Seriously scary thought.

In other more promising news Oxycodone sales fell 97% in 2011. This is both a result of legislative changes and police crackdowns on clinics. For anyone who told their story on this issue you should be proud of being a part of this important social change.

In a follow-up to the post I wrote about the debates about adding restricted foods to the food stamps program, I wanted to tell you a story about Ruby, my 7 year old daughter. Many of you have heard me tell stories about her before. To preface this I must say that she is one bright little kid who can hold her own in any conversation with any adult.

We were at the dinner table (salmon, veggies, and brown rice!) and were talking about our days as we always do. I was telling her about this bill. When I ran down the list of things they wanted to prohibit. She shrieked..."pretzels, popcorn. Those are healthy snacks. Ice cream? It's made from milk. Popsicles? There are totally healthy Popsicles made entirely from fruit. What are they thinking?" It was so cute and completely accurate. Why would they put those items on the list. About 10 minutes after dinner she came running back into the kitchen where I was cleaning up. She asked, "So we can't buy those things at the store anymore?" I said, "no honey, the bill has not become law yet." She asked, "will no one be able to buy those things?" Again I said, "no honey it's just if you are poor and using your food stamp money to grocery shop." She ran back to her room. I figured I had answered everything she would want or need to know about the bill. But here she came again. She ran into the kitchen (this is the reason little kids don't usually have weight issues..they run everywhere) and asked, "mommy are we poor?" Rob looked at me like how were we going to answer this one. I said, "no honey, we aren't poor."  My sweet Buddhist like husband went on to explain to her how meaningless money is and gave her an international comparison speech about how income differs depending on where you live in the world. I launched into a discussion of median income and relative versus absolute poverty definitions. She looked a little overwhelmed at this point. So we both bent down and gave her a big hug. I said, "are you happy, healthy and loved?" She said yes. And I said, "then you don't need to worry about whether you are rich or poor."

There are times when I totally understand how the number one predictor of kid's success in school and life is how educated their parents are. Between the two of us we have 7 college degrees. My sweet children have just a little bit of pressure on them to excel academically! Here she is doing a little light reading one night...