MEDICAL SCHOOL: No new money but UC told to allocate

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Michael Cohen of Gov. Jerry Browns Department of Finance

The Legislatures budget conference committee late Monday altered the funding mix for a school of medicine at UC Riverside, eliminating a $15 million augmentation but directing the UC system to allocate money to the school from its budget.

The compromise means the school will finally get the state money it has sought unsuccessfully since 2010. It effectively saves the state general fund $15 million. And most importantly, it has the support of the Brown administration, which did not include any money for the medical school in its January spending proposal or May revision.

That $15 million is within their existing appropriation rather than needing additional dollars, said Michael Cohen, the chief deputy director of Browns Department of Finance, said of UC during testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Conference Committee.

UC is in line to receive an additional $125 million next year under budget language approved by both houses and included in the governors budget.

Amid the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, UC Riverside officials and local supporters have tried to secure an ongoing state contribution to the medical school.

Those efforts included seeking a $15 million augmentation from a Legislature that was considering deep cuts in health and welfare programs, or having UC allocate money from its own diminished budget.

The dynamic changed this year. State and UC finances are significantly better. Also, the Riverside-areas legislative delegation is more politically diverse following the November election of two Democrats, state Sen. Richard Roth and Assemblyman Jose Medina, who campaigned on getting money for the school.

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MEDICAL SCHOOL: No new money but UC told to allocate

MEDICAL SCHOOL: $15 million in budget package

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SACRAMENTO The state spending plan crafted by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders includes $15 million for UC Riversides school of medicine, after budget writers told UC to allocate the money out of a $125 million increase designated for the system.

This weeks compromise means the medical school is poised to finally receive long-sought state assistance. The approach has the support of the Brown administration, which did not include any money for the school in its January spending proposal or May revision.

That $15 million is within their existing appropriation rather than needing additional dollars, Michael Cohen, the chief deputy director of Browns Department of Finance, said of UC during testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Conference Committee late Monday.

Supporters call the medical school vital to increasing the number of primary-care physicians in the underserved Inland region, particularly as the federal healthcare overhaul takes effect. Without a state financial commitment, they said, the school could not open as scheduled and would have trouble with its accreditation.

Education subcommittees in both houses of the Legislature last month approved $15 million augmentations for the medical school, over and above Browns proposed $125 million increase for UC. Lawmakers also have passed separate, non-budget legislation to appropriate the money.

The Legislatures budget conference committee took a different approach Monday.

The panel voted to allow the UC system to restructure its bond debt, a move that will generate $80 million annually for the next decade.

The system plans to target that money at its employee retirement obligations -- something that otherwise would have consumed the bulk of the extra $125 million for 2013-2014. And a separate budget bill earmarks $15 million of the $125 million for the school of medicine.

Patrick Lenz, UCs vice president for budget, said the system preferred the $15 million augmentation passed by the subcommittees but supports this weeks conference committee action.

State Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, the top Republican on the budget conference committee, voted for the compromise.

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MEDICAL SCHOOL: $15 million in budget package

DinosaurFriend plays Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty – Mission 18: Engine of Destruction – Video

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DinosaurFriend plays Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - Mission 18: Engine of Destruction
WELCOME TO DINOSAURFRIEND #39;S LET #39;S PLAY STARCRAFT II WINGS OF LIBERTY CAMPAIGN! After stealing the adjutant from Colonel Orlan, we totally go about stealing s...

By: TheDinosaurFriend

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DinosaurFriend plays Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - Mission 18: Engine of Destruction - Video

Liberty Baptist Seminary’s Enrollment of Homosexual Activist Called Into Question

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LYNCHBURG The enrollment of an openly homosexual student at a prominent Baptist theological seminary is being called into question by those who wonder why the institution is seemingly overlooking immoral behavior by those it will be sending out into the ministry.

As previously reported, The Atlantic recently published an essay written by Liberty University graduate Brandon Ambrosino, in which the former student outlined his personal experience of coming out as a homosexual on campus.

When people find out I underwent therapy at Jerry Falwells Christian college, they assume I went through something like gay reparative therapy. But that isnt what happened, he wrote in the piece, entitled Being Gay at Jerry Falwells University. I saw two counselors at Liberty and neither of them ever expressed an interest in curing me. Did they have an agenda? Yes. Their goal, which they were very honest about, was to help me to like myself, and to find peace with the real Brandon.

The essay went viral, receiving 27,000 Facebook likes. It also resulted in television news coverage as local ABC station WSET talked with Ambrosino about his experience, who noted that he is enrolled as a graduate student in Libertys seminary program.

However, the news is generating concern over why Liberty University, whose motto is Training Champions for Christ, is treating homosexuality at least for Ambrosino as a non-issue.

Dr. Paul Michael Raymond

Dr. Paul Michael Raymond of New Geneva Christian Leadership Academy and Reformed Bible Church in Appomatox told Christian News Network that he believes it is important for educational institutions and seminaries to require students to abide by a lifestyle statement. He said that all of his seminary students are required to agree to a covenant in regard to their moral behavior.

If a college or seminary is going to lift the banner of Christian, and put the title Christian anywhere in their [name] or in their curriculum, they must have a vetting system, which would vet the student or the candidate for seminary according to Biblical principles, he said. At the very least [Liberty] needs a covenantal document that exhibits at the very least the standards of Scripture as far as ethical behavior is concerned.

Even the law school has a covenant document [which states] that the student has to abide by certain covenant, Raymond continued, referring to Libertys legal studies program. Its interesting. They wouldnt allow [law school students] to drink during their law school tenure. Thats a good thing. But theyll allow a professing homosexual to take seminary courses? Its just insane. It doesnt even make any sense.

Raymond stated that the principles of Christianity cannot be compromised when it comes to enrollment, and that Liberty should not be an exception.

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Liberty Baptist Seminary’s Enrollment of Homosexual Activist Called Into Question

Liberty, MO-area LasikPlus Vision Center Opens to Better Serve Patients

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LIBERTY, Mo., June 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --In order to enhance the patient experience and allow for another convenient location, LasikPlus, a leading provider of laser vision correction is adding a second Kansas City-area vision center in the Fairway Eye Center located at 1528 NE 96th Street, Suite A in Liberty, Missouri.

Dr. Ellis and his staff will be conducting pre-operative examinations and post-operative care at the new location while still performing laser vision correction at the existing area Kansas City LasikPlus center in Leawood, KS.

According to Dr. Ellis, the space provides convenience and creates a comforting experience for patients. "I take pleasure in being part of the patient journey. Whether they are preparing for a laser vision correction treatment or coming in for a follow-up, it's exciting to see each patient's enthusiasm for their new vision."

Dr. Ellis has performed over 50,000 LASIK and PRK procedures, making him one of the most experienced LASIK surgeons in the Midwest. Dr. Ellis is well-known for his published research on corneal surgery and has lectured on LASIK surgery at various ophthalmology training programs. With his knowledge, the collaboration between ophthalmologists and optometrists within the LasikPlus exclusive network, and the sophisticated equipment utilized, Dr. Ellis at LasikPlus can transform the vision of his patients.

To learn more about LasikPlus, visit http://www.lasikplus.com or http://www.facebook.com/lasikplus.

About LCA-Vision/LasikPlusLCA-Vision Inc., a leading provider of laser vision correction services under the LasikPlus brand, operates 56 LasikPlus vision centers in the United States: 50 full-service LasikPlus fixed-site laser vision correction centers and six pre- and post-operative LasikPlus satellite centers. Since 1991, we have performed over 1.2 million laser vision correction procedures at our vision centers.

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Liberty, MO-area LasikPlus Vision Center Opens to Better Serve Patients

Libertarianism didn’t work after slavery, won’t work now

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Re "Libertarians have a clear creed, but also an Achilles' heel" (Viewpoints, June 10): Libertarianism and the coming national Juneteenth African-American freedom celebrations: Nearly 4 million African Americans were freed into a libertarian-like reunited nation in 1865. They were people for whom it had been illegal to learn to read or do arithmetic or learn civics or their rights. There was no national income tax or policy to provide them any help, after they went from being owned and kept ignorant by other humans, towards the goal of becoming knowledgeable citizens of that libertarian-like USA. They were on their own, with no help from the Congress, the president, or the state legislatures.

Libertarian-loved citizen programs of aid were completely inadequate to the desperate needs of millions of now fellow citizens. Today, a return to libertarian principles would stifle almost everyone's chances, except those with the right connections and those who already "have theirs" from the accident of birth.

-- Pete Martineau, Fair Oaks

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Libertarianism didn't work after slavery, won't work now

E. J. Dionne: The libertarian problem

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If you start there, taking a stand on the issues of the day is easy. All efforts to cut government functions - public schools, Medicare, environmental regulation, food stamps - should be supported. Anything that increases government (Obamacare, for example) should be opposed.

In his libertarian manifesto For a New Liberty, economist Murray Rothbard promised a nation characterized by "individual liberty, a peaceful foreign policy, minimal government and a free-market economy." The book concludes: "Liberty has never been fully tried in the modern world; libertarians now propose to fulfill the American dream and the world dream of liberty and prosperity for all mankind."

This is where Lind's question comes in. Rothbard freely acknowledges that "liberty has never been fully tried," at least by the libertarians' definition. In an essay in Salon, Lind asks: "If libertarians are correct in claiming that they understand how best to organize a modern society, how is it that not a single country in the world ... is organized along libertarian lines?" In other words, "Why are there no libertarian countries?"

The ideas of the center-left - based on welfare states conjoined with market economies - have been deployed all over the democratic world, most extensively in social-democratic Scandinavia. We also had deadly experiments with communism. Lind asks another question: "If socialism is discredited by the failure of communist regimes in the real world, why isn't libertarianism discredited by the absence of any libertarian regimes in the real world?"

The answer lies in a kind of circular logic: Libertarians can keep holding up their dream of perfection because, as a practical matter, it will never be tried. Even many who say they are libertarians reject the idea when it gets too close to home.

The strongest support for a broad antistatist libertarianism now comes from the tea party. Yet tea-party members, polls show, are older than the country as a whole. They say they want to shrink government in a big way but are uneasy about embracing this concept when reducing Social Security and Medicare comes up. Thus do the proposals to cut these programs being pushed by Republicans in Congress exempt current recipients. There's no way Republicans are going to attack their own base.

But this inconsistency (or hypocrisy) contains a truth: We had something close to a small-government libertarian utopia in the late 19th century, and we decided it didn't work. We realized that many would never be able to save enough for retirement and, later, that most of them would be unable to afford health insurance in old age. Smaller government meant that too many people were poor and that monopolies were formed too easily. And when the Depression engulfed us, government was helpless, largely handcuffed by this antigovernment ideology until Franklin Roosevelt came along.

In fact, as Lind points out, most countries that we typically see as "free" and prosperous have governments that consume around 40 percent of their gross domestic product. They are better off for it. "Libertarians," he wrote, "seem to have persuaded themselves that there is no significant trade-off between less government and more national insecurity, more crime, more illiteracy and more infant and maternal mortality. ..."

This matters to today's politics because too many politicians make decisions based on a utopian theory that never can or will be put into practice. They use this theory to avoid a candid conversation about the messy choices governance requires. And this is why we have gridlock.

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E. J. Dionne: The libertarian problem