Tuesday, February 27, 2007

It's Official

Febuary 19, 2007

Its official, I hate to travel. At lease I hate to travel the way I have been traveling… on business. This hatred has manifested itself over the last couple of months but really took off in the last couple of weeks when I have been traveling at least one day each week. It feels kind of silly writing this right now since I have sitting in first class on my way to Miami, but even getting upgraded doesn’t make the time I spend away from my family worth it. I miss my wife and my son terribly. I know many of you are wondering what kind of nonsense I am speaking and wish you had the opportunity to travel. I did too, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.

I’m sure things will be different once things settle down a bit at work, but I have no idea where that will be. It would also be different if my family could travel with me. In summer that may be possible but since my son is in school and my lovely wife must stay at home with him that will have to wait. But even in summer it might not be worth it because I generally only travel no more than three days at a time and mostly just overnight. So it usually would not be worth the hassle. So for now I will just stare out the window at the puffy white clouds and think of the smiles of my wife and son until I can see them in earnest soon.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Perry Sticks it to Young Girls

Rick Perry, Texas Governor, and staunch conservative shocked most folks when he signed an executive order forcing Texas girls to be vaccinated for the human papillomavirus (HPV) before entering the sixth grade. HPV is the sexually transmitted virus that is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Initial reaction has been controversial at best. Criticism is coming for the religious sector stating that giving the vaccine to girls will tell them that it is O.K. to have unprotected sex. People who just hate Perry point out that the maker of the vaccine, Merck, was a contributor to Perry’s campaign. Parent rights advocates point out that the state is removing their right to decided how to medically care for their children.

I want to go on record saying I didn’t vote for Perry and I don’t usually like his policies and unless this is your first time reading you know that I am not exactly a liberal either. All this aside I somewhat agree with Perry but I have a few qualifications (you knew I would). But let me address the critics first.

The religious right’s argument that getting a shot will cause young girls to run out and have sex is the same old argument against the pill and condoms. Do I really need to go into why this is wrong? Even if you buy this argument it is not really applicable here because apparently the vaccine is most affective if taken before the subject becomes sexually active. Despite what most fathers would love to believe, some day their daughters are going to have sex.

As for Merck’s “contribution” to Perry’s campaign… it was $6,000. Not even a drop on a drop in a bucket of water. Perry’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars; I hardly think six thousand is going to make him feel obligated.

Perhaps the most compelling criticism is from parents who believe that the government isn’t very good at raising children and should leave important decisions up to them. I tend to fall in this camp but I also know that this can’t be absolute. Otherwise we would have parents keeping children home from school without bothering to educate them at home just because some yahoo who never finished the 4th grade was able to make a baby and figures “hell, I’m doing all right”.

On a less cynical note, the state has the right to protect its investment. In other words, it can require it’s citizens to perform certain tasks that will help protect them from becoming a social and financial burden to the state at some point in the future. This is the basis behind tax funded education. The problem with this is that I could not find anywhere that said that the state will pay for the vaccine. Perhaps that is to come and if so, then I’m all for it. At the minimum the state needs to assist those that can not afford to take the vaccine just as they do today on other vaccinations.

In the end, I think this is the right move. If nothing else, it will encourage more insurance companies to cover the vaccine or it will make it easier and cheaper for those that can’t get access to the vaccine to get one.