Agreed, although it's in plain view. My problem is students secretly charging their phones and forgetting them. Then they get stolen and the parents want to blame me. I'm really over the entire cell phone hype.

From: notifications@intensedebatemail.com
To: trublutopaz@msn.com
Subject: http://thesumofthingsaccording2me.blogspot.com/ - New comment on: Appropriate....

Just to add insult to injury, my son was having a great deal of problem handling the pain after coming home from the hospital after a one night stay. When he called the surgeon, my son was told to "handle it." which is really easy to say if you aren't the subject of the pain. This is a kid who had no problems after knee surgery, so to imply he was weak was off base. Today, the head nurse from the hospital called for follow up. I mentioned his problem dealing with pain. She said that I should have brought him back to the ER for an injection to help him deal with the pain. I told her the doctor said not to do that. Then she told me "that's because it cuts into what they are paid if there are follow ups in the ER." I'm furious. Furious that my son had to go through hours of agony. Furious that I was alone helping him deal with it all night long. Furious that the new Obamacare mandates are putting money before patient care and that this will become a growing issue.

United Health. It was Baylor Hospital that wanted the $5000 up front for surgery. Adding insult to injury, they released him today-basically shoved him out the door after one night in the hospital-and he's not able to get up to even go to the bathroom. He's six foot four! It's like they got their money up front and so to hell with waiting to see if the patient is able to function. And this wasn't minor surgery, but a three and half hour rebuilding of his ankle. This is a nightmare. And as most twenty somethings who are insured find themselves having to take out loans or borrow money to get emergency treatment, this story is going to get uglier. These were the actual words of the business manager to my son "We can postpone your surgery until you get the money." So how long is that for the average twenty four year old? A month? Three? Six months? A Year.

Brazile will never ever ever ever ever admit this president's policies are anything but golden. At least not publicly. But as with all well compensated professionals, what they say in public is often very different than what they choose to do privately. I really want to invest in concierge medical care, because I expect limousine liberals like Brazile to flock to them in droves once they discover they won't be able to keep their providers and that it will not cost less to use those they can access.

So you've been to Texas how many times? You've observed elections there how many times? You actually know current election law in Texas? No, you don't have answers for any of these questions because you're just another New York guy attempting to impose your misguided liberalism on others. Freedom means having the ability to disagree. If we all have to vote like you, that's not freedom.

It is not a coincidence that Holder's announcement coincides with Wendy Davis' visit to Washington. The Democrats desperately need someone to go up against Ted Cruz, who is proving to be a major thorn in their side. They want to embarrass Cruz and prevent a possible presidential run. Davis on the other hand, is a paid creature of Planned Parenthood, which stands to lose millions in referrals when the new Texas abortion policy is put in place. Never mind that the policy mirrors existing policies in 42 other states and is more lax than several EU anchor nations. This also plays into diffusing the still unanswered questions on Fast and Furious and pushes off an attempt in action on the Zimmerman trial-which is likely to show up as another legal faux pas on the part of the DOJ. Face it, Holder is doing what he can to allow Democrats to steal Texas votes by negating the votes of legal voters. There are free ID's available, all you have to do is register before the election. Evidently even that is too much for Democrats base voters.

It's ironic how toxic some of the attitudes are toward southern states in this regard. Remember, since the 1960's this region has been under addition scrutiny to insure that there was parity in access to voting. "Safe" districts have been created under penalty of law for specific minority groups essentially creating political ghettos where sometime generations of families control the political fortunes of one group or another. What's interesting is that as more minorities achieve education, better jobs, higher incomes they almost immediately move out of these neighborhoods and into suburbs. My suburb is far more diverse than the ethnically isolated areas of South Dallas or West Dallas. Whereas those regions , represented by long term politicians who look like the residents flounder in continuing economic malaise, the more diverse suburbs continue to grow. And while minorities in the suburbs may still continue to vote for county, state or Federal candidates that reflect their views, they are still in a minority and the likelihood of the overall politics of the suburbs changing are slim. It appears that liberals by and large want to insure that minorities are elected in spite of their views rather than because of them. I will tell you in the last election for mayor in mainly Anglo McKinney TX, both candidates were African American. The one elected was the one that best reflected the goal of the residents. That's what should be happening nationwide, but really do you think an Anglo or Hispanic could ever be elected in a largely African American city? At that point we can really start to have a discussion about race.

We are talking severely disabled kids. I can handle the kids who have learning differences like ADD, dyslexia, vision and hearing issues. But the kids now being mainstreamed are very low, severely disabled. In one case the student, a six foot plus male, had been in a mental institution and had fits where he would throw furniture and verbally threaten to hit other students and teachers. And he was just one of nine SpEd students in that class of thirty. We've had students who did not speak, talk or write. We've had students who start hitting themselves if you do not immediately drop everything to attend to their needs. And on top of this these students are out of class at least one day a week for special excursions designed to improve their social issues or work programs. None of the students in this situation will ever live or work outside a sheltered situation. Yet regular classroom teachers are expected to somehow teach these students, each with their own education plan, while teaching twenty regular ed students. Who is getting shortchanged here?

The fake protests at Walmart were organized by unions. The news isn't prying too closely, but that their are far fewer protests and that the protesters "spokesmen" seem strangely articulate for the average Walmart employee would indicate this is a union organized protest using Thanksgiving as a wedge issue. I just wish some enterprising reporter would ask those protesters if they are familiar with what happened at Hostess.

Here's is what will happen to many workers. They will become contract labor. Their designations will change from people receiving W2's to those receiving 1099's. As independent contractors, employers can have you work at will. In addition to your regular taxes, as a contractor you will have to pay self-employment taxes normally paid for by employers. This will also put the costly burden on the now independent contractors to select and pay for their own insurance. No more paid vacations, you are an independent contractor. No more sick pay, no more safety net provided by employers. The total burden of the mandates from Obama will now become the responsibility of those who work. This will force a push for unionization, but it will come to nothing because the lesson of Hostess will demonstrate that you can only push so far. Remember, most of their unions accepted contracts because they would have gotten part of the company in exchange. Only the bakers insisted on more. Now some other company, probably Grupo Bimbo, will buy the Hostess brand and move operations to Mexico. If you don't think this is what will happen, then you are naive. Restaurants have the biggest business failure rate of all types of businesses. They run on thin margins. And this is also true for fastfood. My son's a manager at ChikFilA. His owner operator is concerned and will cut hours for all except management employees who will have to work extra hours to fill in the gap. Those of you used to rapid service will see service slow. You will also see prices rise across the board because the basic lesson of economics has never been learned by the Obama administration. That lesson is this-every penalty, every tax, every fee imposed by government on business is paid BY THE CONSUMER as higher prices. If the business cannot expand pricing, it has to cut staffing. That means fewer jobs, not more, which means more people on the dole, not less. Congratulations liberals, this is what you voted for. Those phony Walmart protests were not many real workers, but an attempt to organize unions. There are many who would be overjoyed to find $12.00 an hour jobs.