How Can This Merit A Lawsuit?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp. may be next on the target list of a consumer-health group that this week sued the operator of the KFC fried chicken restaurant chain for frying foods in oils high in harmful trans fat.

It's one thing if they're lying about what's in their products, but other than that, why is it litigable for a company to fry food "in oils high in harmful trans fat"? And did I just invent another new word in that last sentence?

What exactly are Starbucks and KFC doing wrong? Don't like their products, don't buy them.

F'ing trial lawyers. F'ing Center for Science In The Public Interest. I hope the judge smacks them down for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

Teach For America Continues To Attract Recruits

By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer

It's the strongest job market in years for new college graduates, with salaries and perks rising accordingly. But one of the country's hottest recruiters this spring promised low wages, exhausting labor and only a brief break before the work begins.

Teach for America is surging in popularity. At sites around the country, the 17-year-old nonprofit has begun training about 2,400 recent graduates for two-year teaching stints in disadvantaged schools, nearly triple the figure in 2000. Nearly 19,000 college seniors applied — and more than four in five were turned down. At Notre Dame, Spelman, Dartmouth and Yale, more than 10 percent of seniors applied...

TFA recruits, trains and helps get the new teachers alternative certification, then schools pay their salaries.

The organization says it has proved the model can work. Now it is trying to build a critical mass of alumni who — even if they move onto other fields like law or politics — share the experience of having taught in low-income areas and may use those experiences to influence education policy...

Some critics note fewer than one-third stay in the classroom following their two-year stints. But TFA says about two-thirds have remained directly involved in education — if not as teachers, then in research, policy and in many cases starting charter schools. TFA counts 10 alumni in elective office, including Natasha Kamrani, recently elected to Houston's school board. The goal is 100 alumni in public office by 2010...

The challenge is both quantity and quality. TFA spends about $12,000 on each corps member per year, and about $4,000 of that goes into recruiting applicants, then evaluating whom to hire through a rigorous interview process. Program officials say they could find teaching slots for more than the 17 percent of applicants accepted last year, but they want to pick only candidates who will succeed. Even so, about 15 percent fail to complete their two-year commitment...

The program's rapid growth has made it a bigger target for some critics, who worry TFA is geared more toward the experience of the teachers than that of their students. Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford education professor, has argued that the failure of TFA teachers to go through regular certification hurts their effectiveness.

Some principals, meanwhile, have concluded bringing in TFA teachers isn't worth it, because most leave after two years.

The cost seems rather high. To compare, Project Pipeline, an alternative credential program through which I got my credential, currently costs about $7800 for the two-year program. The article quoted above states that TFA spends $12,000 per year on each recruit, but a quick search of the TFA website didn't turn up the cost that each recruit must pay in order to be in the program, although there is a section called "Financial Aid and Transitional Expenses".

One question that critics often bring up, given how many TFA alumni stay in teaching: is this program geared more for the experience of the teachers or for their students? The question in response would be: if they do good work while they're there for two years, does it really matter?

The American Left

Other potential license plate statements can be seen over at Right Wing Nation.

Target vs. Wal*Mart vs. Unions

EIA has another great post showing the hypocricy of unions. It's too good not to post all 8 sentences.

The union-funded Economic Policy Institute has a simple solution to win higher wages for Wal-Mart employees. All the corporate giant has to do is cut its profit margin from 3.6% to 2.9%!

This could catch on. Now if unions would only cut their dues 50% it would mean hundreds of extra dollars in the paychecks of wage-earners -- dollars that would otherwise go to funding the Economic Policy Institute's pointless studies.

Meanwhile, we wait patiently for the national union campaign to boycott non-union Target Stores (4.7% profit margin). "A survey by the UFCW found that starting wages are similar in Targets and Wal-Marts -- possibly higher overall at Wal-Marts – and that Target benefits packages are often harder to qualify for and less comprehensive," reported CorpWatch last April.

So why not target Target? Maybe it's because Target gave only $181,000 to Republicans while Wal-Mart gave $1,355,000 (source: BuyBlue.org).

The second paragraph is, of course, my favorite.

I wonder--how effective is BuyBlue, anyway?

Anti-Affirmative Action Article

John at Discriminations (see blogroll at left) was stunned and amazed to find one (and apparently only one) article in favor of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative in the Detroit News. In his post on the subject, two quotes caught my eye.

The first quote comes from the Detroit News column:

Affirmative action simply chooses another portion of the population as a victim of discrimination, and it bases that bias on the very factors that civil rights advocates wish to avoid. It moves a different segment of society to the back of the bus. (boldface mine--Darren)

Powerful.

The second quote is John's:

Without double standards, it sometimes appears, liberals would have no standards at all.

Of course I agree. And now I'll go grab an iced tea and wait for the outraged liberals to start howling at the moon.

Culture and a Lack of Achievement

When I mentioned that culture, and not just race, causes the achievement gap, I'm accused of being a racist. When Bill Cosby says it, he's a race traitor or just plain wrong. What happens when a young black woman says it?

Bad Argument For Homeschooling

There are plenty of good reasons for homeschooling. My personal thought is that if school districts wanted to get in on the action, they'd have downloadable lessons available for homeschoolers, home/hospital students, expellees, etc.

Of all the reasons I've heard for homeschooling, though, this one is among the worst: a teacher might molest your kid. Granted, there have been plenty of stories in the news about teachers (often women, it seems) doing the dirty with their students, but what is the probability that it will happen to your kid? And how does that probability relate to getting struck by lightning, or of dying in a car accident?

Sounds like hyperbolic hysteria to me.

School Newspaper Endorses Incumbent Politician's Opponent

Some might ask if a high school newspaper should be "endorsing" political candidates at all. I'd agree that they should focus on their school, but there's no reason for them not to go beyond the campus.

When one school paper endorsed an incumbent's opponent, however, the incumbent got a little--how should I say?--pissy. And I'm sure the students learned a valuable lesson in the process =)

Web Site Devoted to the Deviant Minds of High Schools and College Students

A humorous Web site created seven years ago by two childhood friends during their freshman year in college is no joke. On the contrary, it has grown into a million-dollar small business.

CollegeHumor.com, the Web site catering to the deviant minds of high schoolers, college kids and bored office workers alike with funny and sometimes lewd photographs, videos and columns, was launched in 1999 by childhood friends and then-college-freshmen Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen. The teens spent non-classroom hours updating the site, getting the word out about their venture and negotiating advertisement deals. Abramson settled into his role as business manager and Van Veen took the post as editor of the site’s content, which is mostly user-generated.

I haven't visited it yet, but if I find the time....

Safety In Compton's Schools

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) - Photographs and testimony in a racial discrimination lawsuit appear to show that on-duty school police officers slept in their squad cars.

The lawsuit was filed by a white former officer and two Latino officers who claim the Compton Unified School District disciplined them but ignored dereliction of duty by black officers. Mark Shiva, Victor Ayala and Sergio Reynoso also allege they were subjected to racial slurs, ridiculed and retaliated against after they made complaints against black colleagues.

In this one story we get police, schools, race, and lawsuits. All we need now is one of the cops (or a teacher, for that matter) having sex with a student.

This Doesn't Bode Well For New School

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Archaeologists say they have discovered the remains of 80 bodies at the construction site for a new high school.

The city began using the hillside location near downtown as a cemetery in the 1860s. Officials reviewed records before construction began in 2003 on the $208 million performing arts high school and concluded the cemetery had been relocated.

Workers, however, have found empty caskets, partial remains and intact skeletons.

Sounds like French classes were held on that site =)

A "Leftist" Blog?

http://www.leftist.org/haightspeech/

Looks like it would be leftie, doesn't it? In this case, looks would be deceiving.

So, Am I A Liberal? Words of wisdom:

We also need to clean up the voter rolls and keep them clean, and we need to ensure that the people who vote are actually entitled to do so. (I have to show photo ID when I buy beer; why don't I have to do the same thing when I'm voting? What possible justification is there for treating the foundational process of our democracy more lightly than getting hammered on Saturday night?)

Given their almost hysterical opposition to things like photo ID voting requirements, I don't think that the sort of comprehensive voting system cleanup I want to see is what liberals want. But I'd be happy to be wrong. Democracy only works when the side that loses is confident that their support was counted accurately and fairly.

This Is Controversial? Apparently some lefties (DQTP) don't like the trailer for United 93.

For years, conservatives complaining about media they found objectionable were met by liberals with the (absolutely correct) rejoinder that "if you don't like it, don't watch it." Well, turnabout is fair play. Now the left has met a piece of media they find objectionable, and they should be met with the same response. Perhaps with the additional admonition to grow the hell up.

Sometimes Being Offensive Is Ok

I'm saddened by the failure of most American newspapers to reprint the editorial comics that triggered the so-called "Cartoon Jihad" among Muslims. The typical excuse rendered by the papers is that reprinting the comics would be 'offensive' to Muslim sensibilities. This treats not giving offense as a kind of ethical primary or commandment -- "Thou Shalt Not Give Offense". The obvious rejoinder to this is the observation that the papers are engaging in a double-standard, being willing to print items that offend some groups and not others. But there is a deeper question as well: since when is it always wrong to offend people?

A Very Good Question

A number of blogs have been buzzing about the recent exchange between Paul Mirengoff and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) on the topic of FISA and the NSA intercept program. The Bush administration argues that the post-9/11 congressional authorization of force provides statutory authority under FISA for the intercept program. Democrats disagree. This is therefore in part a dispute over the intent of the legislature when it passed the authorization of force. Mirengoff asks the obvious question: if the intent of Congress has been misinterpreted, why not pass a clarifying resolution? That would seem to settle the issue one way or the other. Durbin's reaction to this idea can be compared to that of a Frenchman to a bar of soap, or perhaps a vampire to a clove of garlic.

I understand why the Democrats wouldn't want to put such a clarifying resolution up for a vote. It would require them to take a clear stand on the underlying issue of whether this kind of surveillance is desirable or not. If they vote to deny the authority, they look like they're more concerned about the alleged civil rights of terrorists than they are about the security of law-abiding Americans. That plays right into the Republican electoral strategy for the mid-term elections. Being perceived as siding with terrorists equals the political kiss of death. But if they vote to support the authority, they'd be validating the Bush administration's position, acknowledging that the NSA intercept program was always legal under existing law. That would make them look like feckless, unprincipled opportunists who spent months attacking the President for something they wound up admitting was never a problem. It would also infuriate their left-wing activist base, which is already pretty torqued with them for failing to halt the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The end result would also be very politically damaging.

His guess as to why Republicans don't just push for it, as they've done in both houses of Congress with "cut and run" votes regarding Iraq?

The Republicans are spineless political idiots. (Always a good guess.)

Taken as a whole, he sure doesn't sound like a leftist to me.

Don't Play Like A Champion Today

Apparently, in Connecticut a football coach could be suspended a game if he beats an opposing team by more than 50 points. Leave it to a coach to call it like he sees it:

It's the most asinine, insane thing I've ever heard of in my life.

I'm not a fan of running up the score, but neither am I a fan of making running up the score against the rules. Lessons about sportsmanship can be learned from both good examples and bad.

Via Joanne Jacobs (see blogroll at left), where one comment in particular made a lot of sense to me:

Were I coaching a team that was leading by such a wide margin, I would leave the first-string players in and tell them to just stand there, do nothing and let the other team score until the difference was under 50 points. Then go back to playing for real. If the lead goes over 50, back to standing around.

The policy is that good players are not allowed to play to the best of their ability -- so follow the policy exactly. Don't sugar-coat it, don't disguise the impact, and don't pretend that it's anything other than what it is.

Posted by Kyle Haight at June 15, 2006 12:22 PM

Math On The Simpsons

The Simpsons was my brother's favorite show. I didn't watch it much but always got a good laugh out of it when I did.

Perhaps if I'd watched it more, I'd have noticed that there was a lot of math in that show--and some of the people involved in making the show had math backgrounds. Just today I learned about a plethora of web sites on the subject, several of which are catalogued here.

Carnival of Education

This week's is guest-hosted here.

Memorizing Pi

I don't know the value of doing this, but hey, I don't hold the record.

Va. Teen Sets Record for Pi Recitation

By Associated Press

Tue Jun 13, 2:10 PM

ROANOKE, Va. - The third time was the charm for 15-year-old Gaurav Raja, who succeeded in setting the North American record for reciting digits of pi.

Gaurav on Monday recited 10,980 digits, breaking the North American and U.S. record of 10,625, which had stood for 27 years. During an after-school session, he recited about two numbers per second for one hour, 14 minutes and 28 seconds.

The achievement ranks him ninth in the world. The world record is 42,195.

Here's A School Where Visible Underwear Isn't Tolerated

At my school we still have a few holdouts, students who still haven't figured out that hanging pants down below your butt so everyone can see your underwear went out of style a few years ago. They still get busted at our school when they do that, and that's ok, but apparently the punishment isn't enough to deter the action in the first place. I'm all about deterrence; I'm tired of seeing boys' underwear. The girls tell me they are, too.

Here's a school, though, where even a picture of a student's underwear isn't tolerated. They cut the page out of the yearbook. Sound extreme? Maybe not:

School officials ripped a page out of hundreds of students' yearbooks because it contained a photograph that showed a student's underwear.

The picture on page 224 showed a female student wearing a skirt and sitting on a desk during a play; a bit of her underwear could be seen.

"The picture was questionable," said school superintendent H. Gordon Pethick. "It's the best way I can describe it."

Do NOT Read Student Comments About Each Aloud To The Class

Teacher Reads Mean Paper on Students Aloud

By Associated Press

TRENTON, Ohio - A teacher in southwest Ohio has been fired for reading students' nasty comments about classmates out loud.

Granted, he was reading about what students thought their classmates might be doing 20 years from now. But when the comments are nasty and/or hurtful, display some judgement.

I'm not convinced such an offense merits losing his job, though. Does every teacher mistake require firing? Sex with students, yes. One bad call (in 15 years of teaching), no.

Is Welfare "Christian"?

Right Wing Nation is on a roll today, in this post discussing why welfare and other forms of socialism are not truly Christian at all.

Happy Birthday

In addition to being Flag Day, it's also the US Army's birthday!

The Army dates back to 1775 (not 1776), when Congress raised the beginnings of the Continental Army.

Thanks to Right Wing Nation for pointing this out.