Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Bad Ideas Back Home
A couple news stories from back home in Texas caught my eye:
Governor "Slick" Rick Perry signed an executive order requiring female students to be immunized against HPV starting in 2008. Forget the morality implications some fringe critics are arguing; everything about this stinks. The requirement is for Merck's Gardasil, and there are some high-level connections between former Perry staffers and Merck lobbyists. Merck stands to make a very tidy sum from this at $360/dose. There's also the possibility that a state requirement for the vaccine would place Gardasil on the list of vaccines which are protected by federal law from major liability suits. It looks like a nice return on investment for only a few $6000 contributions to Perry's campaigns
Particularly galling about Perry's action is the lack of legislative input. Texas traditionally has a very weak governor, and though gubernatorial powers have increased somewhat in the past two decades, this flies in the face of the state's grand tradition. Furthermore, the "need" for this vaccination in a school is dubious, at best. The primary reason vaccinations are required for things like measles, whooping cough, etc. is that they are highly communicable in a school setting. One infected kid could take down a whole school if there were no immunizations. HPV is sexually transmitted. While getting immunized may well be a good idea for all females, Perry's executive order acts as social engineering, not public health. It's just a bad idea on all fronts.
The other story is this proposal by Rep. Wayne Smith to fine parents who skip parent-teacher meetings. Aside from the whole libertarian arguments that I'd normally make, giving any sort of criminal justice powers to school boards frightens the crap out of me. I rarely trust school boards or administrators to be competent; giving them powers that are potentially rife for abuse would worry me immensely. What's really sad about this case is that Smith purports to be a Republican ... even more evidence of the "mom-ification" of daddy party.
While the lack of parental involvement in a number of schools is well-documented, there's really little that can be done about it from an authoritarian approach. Government at all levels should steer clear of the social engineering business.
Governor "Slick" Rick Perry signed an executive order requiring female students to be immunized against HPV starting in 2008. Forget the morality implications some fringe critics are arguing; everything about this stinks. The requirement is for Merck's Gardasil, and there are some high-level connections between former Perry staffers and Merck lobbyists. Merck stands to make a very tidy sum from this at $360/dose. There's also the possibility that a state requirement for the vaccine would place Gardasil on the list of vaccines which are protected by federal law from major liability suits. It looks like a nice return on investment for only a few $6000 contributions to Perry's campaigns
Particularly galling about Perry's action is the lack of legislative input. Texas traditionally has a very weak governor, and though gubernatorial powers have increased somewhat in the past two decades, this flies in the face of the state's grand tradition. Furthermore, the "need" for this vaccination in a school is dubious, at best. The primary reason vaccinations are required for things like measles, whooping cough, etc. is that they are highly communicable in a school setting. One infected kid could take down a whole school if there were no immunizations. HPV is sexually transmitted. While getting immunized may well be a good idea for all females, Perry's executive order acts as social engineering, not public health. It's just a bad idea on all fronts.
The other story is this proposal by Rep. Wayne Smith to fine parents who skip parent-teacher meetings. Aside from the whole libertarian arguments that I'd normally make, giving any sort of criminal justice powers to school boards frightens the crap out of me. I rarely trust school boards or administrators to be competent; giving them powers that are potentially rife for abuse would worry me immensely. What's really sad about this case is that Smith purports to be a Republican ... even more evidence of the "mom-ification" of daddy party.
While the lack of parental involvement in a number of schools is well-documented, there's really little that can be done about it from an authoritarian approach. Government at all levels should steer clear of the social engineering business.
Hilarious Regulatory Side Effects, Part 73
Most local school districts have closed their doors for the past few days due to the cold weather. But there's not much snow on the ground, nor are the roads icy. In the past, schools would have at most a 2-3 hour delay before resuming a regular schedule. While I'm not at all phased by the closures (being a good Texan who thinks that anything below 50°F is ungodly), my wife was mystified by the apparent change in policy.
Well, it turns out that the closures aren't so much a change in school district policies as they are a change in fuel regulations. It appears that the new low-sulfur formula likes to become really viscous under 15°F, as paraffin starts dropping out of the mix and messing with the engine. It's not so much that they want to keep the kids home, they simply can't get them there!
First the tortilla riots, now the waxy school bus engines ... I'll be keeping an eye out for more unintended consequences of environmental regulation.
Well, it turns out that the closures aren't so much a change in school district policies as they are a change in fuel regulations. It appears that the new low-sulfur formula likes to become really viscous under 15°F, as paraffin starts dropping out of the mix and messing with the engine. It's not so much that they want to keep the kids home, they simply can't get them there!
First the tortilla riots, now the waxy school bus engines ... I'll be keeping an eye out for more unintended consequences of environmental regulation.
Back, again?
Well, I'm more than a little inconsistent, aren't I? I'm going to see if I can give this one last go ... if it works, I'll keep this bad boy up. If not, I'll just trash it.
