Yesterday the wife got a call from the folks from the County.

Nick’s funding has arrived, so they’re going to call our preferred therapy provider to get the ball rolling. We also received a letter from Nick’s new Early Childhood teacher at his school, so it’s kinda funny how things are all coming together at the same time.

Can I just say how much of a relief it is to know that things are finally falling into place?

thias over at Pundit Nation wrote a great article on the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
(WMC) trade association’s opposition to Wisconsin Senate Bill 178, which would mandate that insurance companies in Wisconsin provide coverage for treatment and therapy for children with autism. I know that as the parent of an autistic child I’m incredibly biased in my support of SB178, but I simply cannot understand how anyone with any sense of compassion, empathy, or decency could be opposed to providing increased coverage for children affected by autism and other related disorders.

Depending on the severity of their case, children affected by autism and related spectrum disorders can have varying levels of ability to function, and likewise their potential for improvement is equally varied. For children like my son Nick - who’s fortunate to have a very mild case of autism - the potential for significant and lasting improvement is tremendous, so long as intervention is done as early as possible. My wife, Nick, and I have waited just over twelve months for the therapy Nick needs, and that’s even given the fact that I’m a state employee, and therefore have pretty darn good health insurance. We’ve had to jump through innumerable hoops when it comes to applying for Medicaid, and then came the waiting.

I’ve written more than once about my frustrations when it came to our wait for Nick’s therapy, and I can only hope lawmakers in Madison -regardless of political affiliation - will come together and do the right thing in passing SB178 into law. Providing more resources for diagnosis, intervention, research and therapy for children affected by autism and related spectrum disorders is the right thing to do, not just from a moral standpoint, but from a dollars and cents standpoint. I know the WMC is arguing it would be too expensive for insurance companies in Wisconsin to have to provide coverage for autism and related spectrum disorders - and the therapy is expensive, running into the tens of thousands of dollars per year - but when I hear that argument I’m reminded of the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Any money spent now on autism intervention and therapy is going to prevent even more money being spent in the future to help take care of individuals who may not be able to function in society because they didn’t have the opportunity for a timely intervention and therapy.

If there’s one thing I hate above all else about living in an apartment, it’s my noisy neighbors. The upstairs neighbors are great people, but they sound like a herd of elephants doing professional wrestling on our ceiling. As if that’s not bad enough, one of the neighbors with whom we share a bedroom wall snores so loud he sounds like a bobcat trapped in a burlap sack. I’m a pretty sound sleeper, but one night last week he was snoring loud enough to wake me up out of a dead sleep.

Like I mentioned, I like my neighbors, but I can’t wait until we can buy a house so that we don’t have to worry about noisy neighbors snoring too loud or doing professional wrestling on our ceiling.

A couple of weeks ago I came across an article on Time.com that asked the question, “Is Fred Thompson the G.O.P.’s Savior?” Now I know certain segments of the media have been falling all over themselves in an attempt to anoint Fred Thompson as the second coming of Ronald Reagan because of how dismally uninspiring the Republican Party’s presidential candidates are, but I’ve seen or heard nothing from Fred Thompson that would lead me to believe he can solve all that ails the Republican Party in the lead-up to the 2008 election.

Sure, he’s got solid conservative credentials - notwithstanding his work on behalf of an abortion rights group - and he does have a certain charisma, folksiness, and sense of humor when he speaks, but I don’t believe that puts him ahead of any other Republican in the race. Thompson’s “virtual” campaign has already hit some bumps, from the small hit he took for his aforementioned lobbying on behalf of an abortion rights group to disappointing fund raising numbers and staff defections. Thompson’s campaign is reported to have raised a little over $3 million in June, a figure that certainly doesn’t seem in line with that you’d expect to see from the GOP’s “savior.”

The problem with many of the the Republicans vying for the White House aren’t the skeletons in their closets or their shortcomings as candidates - their problems can be traced directly to the fact that they’re Republicans. The political climate here in America being what it is, I don’t think any one Republican candidate can cure all that ails the GOP, and 2008 promises to be another bad year for Republican candidates all across America, from the presidential field on down. Republicans will have a hard time winning much of anything in 2008, Fred Thompson or not.

From time to time, I’ve been known to lurk around on the more conservative blogs out there in the Cheddarsphere, and while I find those folks to be generally decent (albeit misguided) folks, there are some folks who just can’t seem to pass up the opportunity to make broad, sweeping (and often negative) generalizations when it comes to liberals. Take mickey over at Badger Blogger. In an thread discussing the eight finalists for the Milwaukee Police Chief position, mickey decided to drop this bomb: “The LEFT of which Tommy the Tank Engine is a sworn member, has no interest in stopping crime.” Now putting aside mickey’s need to resort to name calling - which seems to be a common thing among some conservatives - it seems more than a little dubious to say that the left has no interest in stopping crime.

I’m proud of the fact that I’m a liberal, and while I may disagree with conservative folks on a lot of issues, I’d like to think there are some issues - both locally and nationally - that folks of all political affiliations can get behind, and stopping crime is one of those issues. Without getting into too many specifics, I’m a member of the law enforcement/criminal justice community, and as such I take my job seriously. Protecting the community is the number one priority of my job, and I don’t ever let my political beliefs get in the way of doing my job. Each and every member of our community - and our larger society - have a vested interest in stopping crime, because putting an end to criminal behavior benefits everyone, regardless of political affiliation. I take pride in doing my job - and doing it well, and I know plenty of “sworn members” of the left who take pride in the work they do to protect the community and fight crime as members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities.

Earlier tonight, Greg Borowski over at All Politics Watch posted an interesting entry about polls showing Tommy Thompson continuing to trail his opponents in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Saturday’s Iowa Republican Party straw poll looms over Thompson’s campaign like a black cloud, because Governor Thompson has made it abundantly clear the straw poll is a “make or break” event for his campaign. Thompson has said he needs to finish first or second in order to be able to continue his campaign, and the polling I’ve seen shows Thompson finishing well out of the top three.

Tommy Thompson’s based his whole campaign around Iowa, and while he’s got a low-key, down to earth speaking style that could really resonate with Iowans, he suffers from being the less charismatic than Mike Huckabee, who has a really similar style of speaking. Those the same conservatives who would probably support Thompson for his down to earth speaking style and personality are instead flocking to Mike Huckabee, who has that “aw shucks” thing down pat, with the main difference between him and Tommy Thompson being that Huckabee doesn’t seem like as much of a boob as Tommy Thompson. I think it’s safe to say Tommy Thompson won’t finish in the top four in the Iowa straw poll, and I expect to see him drop from the race shortly after the results are announced.

The boy has discovered a new favorite show…SpongeBob Squarepants. He giggles and giggles throughout the entire show, but especially so any time SpongeBob laughs.

Yesterday this blog had its highest number of visitors ever…until today. I know fifty visitors in one day isn’t much, but that’s fully one hundred eyes that have read this blog. Heady stuff, right there.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures? Watching Dr. Phil when I happen to come home from work a little early. I love trying to impersonate Dr. Phil for my mother in law, though I don’t know how much she appreciates my attempts.

Every time I hear Senator Sam Brownback’s name mentioned, I always think of Brokeback Mountain. I suppose it’s the similarity between the two…or could it be something else?

It’s official - Barry Bonds is baseball’s all-time home run king. With one swing of his bat, Barry Bonds crushed a pitch from Mike Bacsik of the Nationals 435 feet deep into the stands at AT&T Park to surpass Hank Aaron’s record of 755 career home runs. I’ll make no secret of the fact that I hate that Barry Bonds was the one to break the record, because there’s never been a player less deserving of breaking a record than Barry Bonds. His use of performance enhancing substances will forever cloud this record - at least until it’s broken by someone like Alex Rodriguez. Even without his use of performance enhancing substances, Barry Bonds would have been recognized as one of the best players of this generation - if not the best, which is why it’s so disappointing that he chose to raise his game through better chemistry. I know some Barry Bonds apologists will argue it’s never been proven Bonds has used performance enhancing substances, and while that’s true, I simply refuse to believe Bonds magically bulked up naturally, without the help of any illegal or illicit substances.

Bonds before and after steroids

What really pains me the most about Bonds breaking the record is that he broke Hank Aaron’s record. Hank Aaron has been an ambassador for baseball, both during his career and after, and he left a significant mark on Milwaukee, both as a baseball player and as a person. Hank Aaron really is one of the “good guys,” and so I think it’s a terrible shame that his record was broken by a recalcitrant, self-centered cheat.

I won’t be celebrating for Barry Bonds, and I can only hope he’ll finally retire after this season, so his record will be within the reach of someone like Alex Rodriguez.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a supporter of Pat Jursik for the 8th District’s County Supervisor seat, and I think I’ve made it abundantly clear I dislike Chris Kujawa’s brand of politics. Today was election day here in the 8th District, and I’m pleased that despite a barrage of user-submitted stories in favor of Kujawa on SouthMilwaukeeNOW.com, preliminary results of today’s election have Pat Jursik winning the County Board seat for the 8th District. The vote wasn’t nearly as close as I expected, with Jursik taking 3,104 votes to 2,622 for Kujawa.

Jursik can’t get too comfortable though, because her newly-won seat will be up for re-election in April of 2008. I anticipate we’ll see Chris Kujawa run again, since he doesn’t strike me as the type to take no for an answer, and I’ve already decided I’m going make the Jursik re-election campaign my first foray into the sordid world of campaign volunteering.

I happened to be watching the news tonight, and I heard a story about a 13 year-old boy who was shot outside the home of Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West. Curious for more information, I surfed on over to WISN.com, where I found a little more on the story. Apparently the dispute was gang related, and according to the report, the boy who was shot allegedly flashed gang symbols at a 14-year-old friend of Supervisor West’s daughter, who then pulled out a gun and shot the 13-year-old in the back. The 13 year-old victim is recovering in the hospital, but he’s going to be paralyzed for life from the waist down.

Supervisor West’s home has apparently been vandalized since the incident, and she says her family has received death threats as well. This is a sad story all the way around, but what really gets my goat is the fact that the shooter apparently can’t (or won’t) be tried as an adult, so he’s going to get a slap on the wrist for his actions. I know I should probably show a little mercy considering the shooter’s only 14 years old, but I’m a firm believer that if he was grown up enough to have a gun and use it, he should be grown up enough to face the consequences as a grown up.