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A tough pill to swallow: The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to table a bill that would have allowed employers to opt out of providing health care coverage for procedures or treatments they morally disagree with. One reason cited for the failure of the bill, which was proposed by Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, was its ambiguous language that gave employers latitude to deny coverage for anything they disagreed with. Another reason is probably that senators heard the bill referred to as the “Blunt Amendment” and assumed they were voting against medical marijuana again.
A Syria’s situation: The United Nations voted Thursday to condemn the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even as the regime ramps up attempts to quash a months-old rebellion in the country. Naturally, the measure was opposed by Russia, China and Cuba, those old bastions of progress. This marks the fourth time the council has approved measures decrying human rights violations in Syria since last March. Some would use this as further proof that the U.N. is little more than the Little League of Nations, but they’re super serious about this condemnation, for real. Well, you know what they say; fourth time’s the charm.
Davy Jones, rocker: Davy Jones, the front man for everyone’s favorite band The Monkees, died this week at the age of 66. While Jones and his mates are often regarded as a second-rate ripoff of The Beatles (right down to the notion that poor literacy is kewl), there’s no denying that The Monkees paved the road for all the commercially engineered pop groups that followed. OK, maybe that won’t make a daydream believer out of anyone, but there’s no denying Jones’ impact on the music industry. Rest in peace and soft rock on.
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A tough bill to swallow: Students have 2,000 reasons to rejoice after Arizona state Rep. John Kavanagh said Wednesday that he would not include House Bill 2675 on any future agendas. The bill would have made students pay $2,000 of tuition out of pocket, unless they were on a full athletic or merit-based scholarship. It appears Kavanagh finally realized that an education is not like a bicycle, and students won’t “appreciate it more” if they pay more for it themselves.
Potshot the sheriff: Arizona’s own Sheriff Joe Arpaio is back in the news for an independent investigation he is conducting into President Barack Obama’s citizenship status. On Thursday, Arpaio released preliminary findings, which included such bombshells as the fact that they haven’t found anything yet. Regardless, Sheriff Joe has vowed to view all the evidence to see if he draws the same conclusion that every other logical person has. And you have to admit that, despite all his flaws, he knows how to spot reliable evidence. After all, he’s been withholding it for years.
They take the “A” out of accountability: The Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate tried to strike club funding decisions on Wednesday because of allegations of inappropriate messages between appropriations board members. ASUA President James Allen said the measure was unnecessary because ASUA is not beholden to open meetings laws. Technically true, but don’t students have a right to know what goes into decisions that impact them? Every Skype or instant message written during ASUA meetings should become part of the official meeting, “totes,” “lols” and “OMGs” included. How else are we supposed to know why they decided to foist Mac Miller on the UA?
