Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

The Evening Telegraph has Dental school crisis: Kerr to intervene, Health Minister Andy Kerr today pledged his urgent intervention in the over-subscription crisis at Dundee University’s dental school.

Visiting Angus, Mr Kerr said he would be speaking to the country’s chief dental officer, Ray Watkins, who yesterday met with the dean of the university’s School of Dentistry to discuss the problem which has led to would-be students being offered £2000 to delay the start of their dental course for a year.

The situation has arisen after a surge in demand for dental school places led to a rise in applications for the soon to start academic year of 40%, and a course acceptance jump of 30%.

Following the city meeting, Mr Watkins said he would be reporting his findings to Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald, and Mr Kerr said today he too would be looking at the issue, but not solely in the context of the immediate-term Dundee debacle.

“We need to reflect on the conversations we had yesterday and I will be speaking to the chief dental officer,” said Mr Kerr.

“The key issue is what to do about the over-subscription, but this is not just about university places.

“These are complicated things and we need to work through all the implications, as well as the funding issues,” added Mr Kerr.

“It is in our interests that we have dentistry students trained here in Scotland but let us work it through and we will deal with the situation.

“We don’t want to go into this not knowing the consequences, and that’s why I want to respond properly once I have gone through this.

“I will be dealing with it as a matter of urgency of course, but we need to look at the whole situation,” Mr Kerr said.

Flap previously had University Pays Dental Students to Stay Away.

No real solutions here.

The health bureaucrats have agreed to talk.

How about some privitization? Or Educational Vouchers so that these students could be accomodated at other schools in the U.K.?

Nahhhh……this solution is too simple.

Technorati Tags: dentistry, dental, socialized dentistry, Dundee University

Thanks Chris for the name use.

LOL……

The ASSociated Press has Sheehan Glad Bush Didn’t Meet With Her.

A woman who led an anti-war protest for nearly a month near President Bush’s ranch said Tuesday that she’s glad Bush never showed up to discuss her son’s death in Iraq, saying the president’s absence “galvanized the peace movement.”

Cindy Sheehan’s comments came as war protesters packed up their campsite near the ranch and prepared to leave Tuesday for a three-week bus tour.

“I look back on it, and I am very, very, very grateful he did not meet with me, because we have sparked and galvanized the peace movement,” Sheehan told The Associated Press. “If he’d met with me, then I would have gone home, and it would have ended there.”

Yeah, right!

She would have created a scene, called him a LIAR and made an even bigger ASS out of herself.

After leaving Crawford, protesters will spread their message on a three-week “Bring Them Home Now Tour” with stops in 25 states. Buses on three routes will meet in Washington, D.C., for a Sept. 24 anti-war march.

Sheehan will leave the tour next week to spend time with her family, including her mother who recently suffered a stroke, which caused Sheehan to miss a week of the protest. She plans to attend the march in the nation’s capital, hoping to reunite with people who converged on the Texas roadside that came to be known as “Camp Casey.”

“When I first started here, I was sitting in the ditch thinking, `What the heck did I do? Texas in August, the chiggers, fire ants, rattlesnakes, uncomfortable accommodations’ _ but I’m going to be sad leaving here,” Sheehan said. “I hope people will say that the Camp Casey movement sparked a peace movement that ended the war in Iraq.”

Not a chance Cindy. The anti-war leftie fringe will continue with or without you.

You are a legend in your own mind.

Flap continues to wonder: Why was not one Democrat elected anti-war official present themselves in Crawford to lend Cindy moral support? Where was Howard Dean?

HUMMMMMMM……..

Michelle Malkin has MEANWHILE, BACK IN CRAWFORD II.

Via Lucianne.com, Cindy “Support the Troops, Not the War” Sheehan will be protesting a Blue Angels air show in Brunswick, Maine, next month.

Bashing the Blue Angels is a staple of the moonbat Left.

Via Red State Rant, Mrs. Sheehan is also taking shots at Gold Star Moms who support their sons and daughters who support their president and the mission.

Eric Pfeiffer is still reporting live from Camp Casey. So is Andrew Marcus.

Then it’s on to the anti-war bus tour. Wonder if there’s a seat reserved for Baghdad Jane?

Technorati Tags: Cindy Sheehan, President Bush, George Bush, Howard Dean

Justin Levine over at Calblog has The Coming Legal Superstorm Against Bloggers – Exhibit 10.

Exhibit 10 in The Coming Legal Superstorm Against Bloggers can be found here. [Hat-tip: Instapundit]

Notable comments and links related to the case here and here.

Exhibit 9 here.

And Justene Adamec over at Calblog has Being Sued Over Comments.

Justin notes below that a blogger has been sued over comments. The news is filtering aroung the blogosphere. Longtime readers will remember that Infotel threatened suit twice and tried a backdoor petition in Montreal because of comments on this post. I think Seobook has a winnable position but he’s got to stand firm. If only I could practice in PA.

Justin and Justene let us know in the Bear Flag League if we can help Seobook.

These assaults on a free press must be defeated every time they arise.

The rights of the blogosphere must be aggressively defended.

Probably so…..

The ASSociated Press has Bush, Schwarzenegger won’t meet on president’s California trip.

On his two-day swing through Southern California, President Bush’s agenda included a stop Monday in Rancho Cucamonga to discuss Medicare and an address Tuesday to veterans in San Diego.

Conspicuously absent is a meeting with the state’s most prominent Republican political figure, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A shame that the California Governor cannot meet with the President of the United States, but Alan Hoffenbloom has it right.

“President Bush is in California for specific reasons that do not involve Governor Schwarzenegger, and the governor is involved in a special election that has nothing to do with the president,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican strategist who now publishes the influential California Target Book. “Both are having political problems now, so other than cordiality, there’s really no reason for them to be together.”

No protests for the lefties….. just think they could have a 2 for 1 event.

Now, is Cindy Sheehan coming back to California where Bush is hanging out?

Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, President Bush, Alan Hoffenbloom, Cindy Sheehan

The Meathead, Rob Reiner, wants to tax the rich for pre-school. The Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton has Pols Pass Up a Pot of Gold as Rob Reiner Takes the Initiative.

There’s a gleaming pot of gold within easy grasp of the governor and Legislature that would help them balance the state’s deficit-ridden books. But it’s looking like the governor’s friend, filmmaker Rob Reiner, will beat the pols to the pot.

This is about using it or losing it.

t is an income tax increase on the wealthiest Californians — individuals earning more than $400,000; couples making above $800,000. That’s the top 1%. Their tax rate would be hiked from the current 9.3% to 11%, where Govs. Pete Wilson and Ronald Reagan also raised it for a while to erase deficits. It would generate $2.3 billion annually.

Reiner doesn’t want to use the new money to staunch budget-bleeding. He is targeting it for another worthy cause: voluntary preschool for all 4-year-olds.

The California state budget continues unbalanced and was only balanced last year by taxpayers voting bonded indebtedness (Proposition 57, March 2004) to help Governor Schwarzenegger balance the books.

Now, leftie Rob Reiner comes along with another tax increase and redistribution of income scheme.

Tax the rich and make them pay for an eductional worthy cause. This sounds great and his initiative may pass but who ultimatley pays the bill…….. yep, all Californians not just the rich in the new 11% bracket.

Under Reiner’s initiative, beginning in 2010, every 4-year-old would be eligible for free half-day preschool, in a public or private institution that met quality standards. Starting in fall 2006, kids in the lowest-performing school districts would be eligible.

But if everybody’s going to benefit, why tax just the rich?

“It’s a revenue stream that hasn’t been tapped,” Reiner says. “It’s accessible….

“This is such a minor tax for people in my bracket that it’s not even something you’d notice.”

Redistribution envy.

And who will pay for the California deficit when the Governor and Legislature do not have this accessible stream of taxes?

All of us – Meathead!

Schwarzenegger is promising to protect people against tax increases. “The choice is simple: Pass Prop. 76 or face higher taxes,” the governor writes in a ballot pamphlet argument for his spending cap initiative that would reduce school funding guarantees.

But the people favor raising income taxes — at least on rich people — for schools.

The problem is, ballot-box budgeting is not good government. It reduces the flexibility of elected representatives to deal with state problems, to choose priorities.

If voters fail to approve Proposition 76 this November income and other state taxes will increase. There will be few alternatives to balance the state budget.

Flap supposes Reiner’s initiative will be another such tax.

Ho Hum.

Technorati Tags: Rob Reiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Proposition 76, preschool