Odd notes
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I'm hitting the road in a couple of days: road trip out west for family reasons. I may or may not post anything while I'm gone for a couple of reasons. First, I may not write anything. Second, I'm not sure my daughter will have time to play guest editor to cut and paste my e-mails. Its sort of up in the air at the moment. By way of follow-up, since the Beckham deal went through, it will be interesting to see what happens to the British obsession with the Beckham family when they move to Madrid. (Yeah, I know, its a strange thing for a Yank to speculate on, but these things fascinate me...)by Cziltang 
Posted: Wednesday, June 18 2003 11:59:46 PM

Semi-random thoughts
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Its been a while since I posted anything. Its been a truly frantic time at work. Some very bizarre internal re-organization and the beginnings of the implementation of SB 123 have pretty much eaten up most of my time. That and everyone from the chief rat on down has been sick here at home. On the SB123 front, this is going to be one of the most interesting times in my career. No one, from the Kansas Sentencing Commission representatives to the KDOC folks to the rest of us who may or may not be involved seems to have the slightest idea of how this is all going to actually work. Or at least if they do (and I suspect this may actually be the case) they aren't letting on. (My personal speculation is that the powers that be really do pretty much know what is going to happen and how, but aren't giving out the details yet because they know that the answers aren't going to be quite what people are expecting.) On a different note, if you are interested in the media circus that is the British obsession with speculation about the Royal Family, now is an especially interesting time. (I am, of course, referring to the NEW royal family, David and Victoria Beckham, not the House of Windsor.) The current (idle or not) speculation about Beckham's potential transfer to Spanish football makes anything we have over here pale in comparison.by Cziltang 
Posted: Saturday, June 14 2003 06:25:00 PM

Conservative vs. Liberal
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Steven Den Beste at USS Clueless had an interesting article a couple of days ago in which he discussed his belief that 'conservative' and 'liberal' are not on opposite ends of a linear political spectrum but are, in fact, on different axes entirely. I encourage you to read it, as besides being fascinating, it provides a framework that can explain why most of the people who call themselves 'liberal' today are so unlike what I thought being a liberal was all about when I was younger. It also reminded me of an idea I had several years ago when I was reading about Lyndon LaRouche. At the time I thought maybe the political continuum was not linear, but shaped like a figure 8, with socialists and fascists next to each other on one loop and anarchists on the opposite extreme of the other loop. Den Beste's article is, as usual, more precise, more complete and all around just better thinking. Go read it. Now. by Cziltang 
Posted: Wednesday, June 04 2003 09:50:01 PM

Back again
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On the one hand, there really hasn't been too much going on in my world that is of note. On the other hand, everything is, or rather isn't, happening at once. In any business that depends on government funding, the budget cycle of the government entity providing the funding is of utmost importance to the 'fundees'. As a 'fundee,' in a state where the fiscal year begins on July 1, this is the time of watchful waiting. At one point this spring it looked like I was going to loose 4 employees, now it looks like we might get by with only 1. But, its only June 4, and nothing is official until its official. Things could still change, although it seems less likely with each passing day. Still, it is a very tense time. No wonder my blood pressure is up. The passage of Senate Bill 123 here in Kansas now appears to be one of the most progressive, radical pieces of legislation that has come along in my lifetime. Although passed for mostly the wrong reasons (i.e. money, rather than what's the right thing to do) it more or less codifies the principle that substance abuse treatment should be a rather long and involved process and that it is not reasonable to expect that drug addicts, even ones who are really trying to quit using drugs, are going to slip up occasionally and relapse and that this is normal, should be expected, and should not be sufficient grounds in and of itself to warrant prison if it happens once or twice in an 18 month probation. This is, I think, correct, but is such a departure from the primarily punishment orientation of the general population of Kansas (although, strangely enough, not necessarily the Kansas Department of Corrections, which as a whole is amazingly forward thinking) as to defy belief. That this legislation passed with $4+ million earmarked for paying for treatment for criminals in a budget year that saw truly crippling cutbacks in a number of areas is truly astounding.by Cziltang 
Posted: Wednesday, June 04 2003 06:29:44 PM