Could we possibly be any more transparent, Nate? I'm happy to hear you understand the complex legal issues of proper notification (two hours even under emergency situations), whether or not the situation was indeed emergency, and whether or not the provision was budgetary, much less how Justice Prosser is likely to rule on them.

@Nate - Of course this was inevitable because the meeting was illegal. You treat Prosser like a hero, like you know how he will rule. I predict that he will be very careful before ruling on this one because he knows all eyes are on him.

Now, the question is do they try again to pass this or wait for Supreme Court ruling? They saw what happened the first time they tried to pass it. I'd expect the same response. However, if the Supreme Court rules that the meeting was legal, and the bill becomes law, the decision will come right before July 12 adding fuel to the fire. If they want to temper the flames before the recall elections, they'd be wise to drop this issue.

@The prosser-cuter...Do you know something the rest of us don't know?

Oh Prosser, you beat me to the punch too many times.

Good question, Dave. I've found from my travels all across the net that even at sites where the Left will use stronger language than they do here, it's the Righties who stoop the lowest.

@free to speak...No victim mentality here, just fact.

It's only fact in your mind and others that think exactly like you. You have been told by others and convinced yourself for so long it has, to you, become fact. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and work harder if you feel like you are being so abused. Your a smart man, open your own business and treat your employee's like kings and queens so they can live the good life. Have your wife start her own charter school and produce the finest kids around. Use your wealth of knowledge and show us all how things should be done. Prove to us that your way is the only way to do things. Just let me know how long I have to wait cause the dems plans never have an end, they need more people to be victims and we all know it.

You have an extreme case of victim mentality, but convinced yourself otherwise and back it up by constantly talking in circles.

@Mark S...Sorry, I am not going to start any more new businesses. For thirty years I worked in multinationals and had a number of my own enterprises. I semi-retired 5 years ago and have done some light consulting work. Now I am fully retired to research and writing. As far as unions go, I have set across the negotiating table from them and fully understand how the process works. Unfortunately, I have seen the ugly underbelly of both corporate management and unions. I resigned and took my retirement when my last company president wouldn't take action over a manager abusing her employees. I just got tired of the game and decided to pull the plug. As far as charter schools are concerned, just a bad idea and a waste of money. Also charter schools go against American traditions and long held democratic values.

Don't worry Lyle, I know your silly little story. You have seen and done it all and we are so very blessed that you 'research' and write and write and write and write. Keep up the good work.

I don't know, Mark. Some of us prefer actual experience to unsupported opinion.

And some of us prefer to learn on our own instead of playing follow the leader. I understand that takes a little more work than most union members are willing to put forth. Maybe you too can do research and writing!!!

It's always interesting to see who is doing the teaching. There is certainly a lot of 'learned' behavior here.

Where do you think I learned my 'behavior' from, Mark? You make a lot of assumptions about how much work Lyle and I are willing to do or where we got our experience. You tell Lyle to open his own business and work harder, as if that's something he's never done before and then dismiss him when he recounts his work history.

What have you got, except maybe listening to a lot of Mark Belling?

He won't look at a Weekly Standard article. Would we read the NY Times?

@The prosser-cuter...Thanks for the link. Unfortunately what he is describing is all to true in academic settings. In fact, one can cite these kinds of abuses within all major institutions and bureaucracies. It's not limited to the public sector, it also occurs in the private sector also.

@The prosser-cuter...Wow, there are a boatload of private businesses that have huge bureaucracies that treat they customers unbelievably poorly; starting with insurance companies, healthcare providers, banking, large law firms, utilities, single service providers, etc. Many of these firms treat their employees as nothing more than chattel. Traditionally private firms keep their employees on a short leash and most employees fear for their jobs, so they put up with deplorable working conditions.

While one can cite exceptions in the competitive private sector, according to the professor, this is de rigueur behavior at the university level; exceptions are not the rule. Could someone please point me to a competitive private industry where this type a behavior is the norm.

Doctors deserve to be paid well. The responsibilities of their jobs are huge. But how much is well enough? The people who take care of us when we're sick deserve the same, right down to the CNA who empties your bedpan. But I think we're losing too much to excess administrative costs and pure profit.

How do we fix that?

@Dave M . . . Doctors will probably tell you that the high cost of an office visit is because of high overhead. The only overhead I can think of is the extra clerical staff to fill out all the insurance forms.

I've never had a colonoscopy, so I wouldn't know if anything has changed. Whenever my doctor suggests one I grin and say that being uninsured has caused me many sacrifices but this is one I don't regret. Does a healthy adult with no risk factors really need one?

I've often wondered why forty years ago a week in the hospital didn't bankrupt you, but now it does. It isn't all lining the pockets of the administrators, although I suspect an awful lot of the increase is to make up for bad debt -- those who don't pay at all and insurance plans that remunerate at a low level. Another factor would be the purchase of expensive technology that gets passed on to the cost of a hospital bed.

But seriously, I think a lot of it is going to excess administrative costs and profit in the insurance industry. Take that away -- single payer and universal coverage -- and you save money.

Friends in medicine tell me that patients cancel routine and necessary tests and procedures. Many on meds reduce their intake or have just stop due to cost. Why? Insurance companies. I worked for one during the time Clinton was trying to introduce the idea of universal healthcare (the tried and true system used 'round the world). The medical and pharma industries were against it at the time, but now they support Pres. Obama's ideas (remember Big Pharma alone was willing to invest $2billion). Why? because they're not being paid by the insurance companies.

Consider the amount of time it takes to get a claim paid; and how much you still have to pay. I pay $500/month for insurance with a $9,000 family deductible. I broke my leg; insurance paid nothing and I struggle to pay the bills because I'm paying $500/month for insurance. That's a cracked up system and pure profit for the ins. co. Meanwhile the doctor waits to be paid.

It's classic. The middle man always has his paw out, and in this case, the insurance industry has grown so much in the past 15 years that it's squeezing the life out of suppliers and receivers. People talked about Obama "death panels," but insurance companies are far worse. Someone with a GED and 3 month's training deciding how much chemo or what kind of pain meds you should have.

Consider how businesses could hire more people if they weren't responsible for paying a large portion of employees' health insurance! And everyone would get equal care.