The Economist Is Three Weeks Behind Me

Almost 3 weeks ago I wrote the following:

If you drive a high-mpg vehicle, you don't get dinged with high gas taxes. However, if everybody drove high-mpg vehicles, we'd use less gas--which means the states and feds would get less gas tax revenue. Problem is, the roads would still need maintenance, so the taxes would have to be increased!

If everyone does it, there's no economic benefit to conservation.

Maybe someone at The Economist reads this blog :-) because here's what they reported in last week's edition:

And just as cars are growing more fuel-efficient, Americans are driving less. In 2010 they drove just under three trillion miles—less than they did in 2006. While better fuel-efficiency is good news for Americans’ wallets and less driving good for the country’s air, for its highways and mass-transit systems, it is something of a disaster.

That is because federal funds, mostly derived from fuel-tax revenue, account for 22% of all highway funding and 17% of mass-transit funding nationally (with the rest coming from state and local governments)...

But as that trend has slowed, the HTF (Highway Trust Fund, which is funded by federal gas tax monies) has suffered: monies paid into the HTF fell by around one-seventh from 2007 to 2010. From 2005 to 2009 every state received more from the fund than they paid in. Between 2008 and 2010 Congress transferred $34.5 billion in general revenues into the HTF—the first time it had ever received such an infusion. Earlier this year the Congressional Budget Office forecast that the HTF will be unable to fund highway maintenance by 2013.

So, what's the fair (don't you love that word??), or reasonable, or practical, way to fund highway maintenance?

Another Blow For "Equality" Mislands, Strikes Common Sense Instead

Joanne has the story: Boys are competing — and winning — on girls’ swim teams in Massachusetts, reports the New York Times...State law requires equal access to athletic opportunities and some schools have cut boys’ swim teams.

Fremont

As I said in a previous post I went to Fremont yesterday. After I got out of the army I lived for a few years in Fremont, and yesterday reminded me of what a nice place it is.

One thing that struck me right away was the racial and ethnic diversity. I live in a fairly white working-class suburb of Sacramento, and teach in a fairly white well-to-do part of town. I went to a mall and instantly noticed the large percentage of Asians and Middle Easterners there. I've been told that Fremont has the largest community of Afghanis outside of Afghanistan, and I saw good evidence of that!

Anyone who's ever attended 4th grade in California, or has been the parent of a 4th grader, knows that we study the Spanish missions in California History class. My son was born just a couple miles from Mission San Jose in Fremont:


Shortly after WWII, one of my grandfathers platted the streets in the Mission San Jose area and in a few other towns that later merged into the city of Fremont. I like driving by the street in the Irvington area that he named after himself :)

I went to Fremont to visit a friend and see his baby daughter, and while waiting for him to get home from work I dropped by Fry's Electronics. Hadn't seen a Nissan Leaf before....

It was a nice day trip. The baby was beautiful, the dinner was delicious, and the company couldn't have been better.

Give Me Shelter

Yesterday I went back to the Bay Area (specifically, Fremont) to visit a friend, and meet his wife and baby, before they move back to Washington State. I took the Central Valley route, south on I-5 and west on I-580 over the Altamont Pass. No, I had no Rolling Stones playing at the time.

On the crests of the foothills at Altamont are almost 5000 wind turbines. Not one of them was turning that I could see. It was a semi-cloudy November day in the Bay Area and even if the wind was light, not one windmill was turning.

How reliable is that?

Settled Science?

Einstein posited special relativity over a century ago, and it has been "settled science" for about that long. What if it's wrong?

One of the most staggering results in physics – that neutrinos may go faster than light – has not gone away with two further weeks of observations. The researchers behind the jaw-dropping finding are now confident enough in the result that they are submitting it to a peer-reviewed journal.

"The measurement seems robust," says Luca Stanco of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Padua, Italy. "We have received many criticisms, and most of them have been washed out"...

Theorists have been struggling to reconcile the September result with the laws of physics. Einstein's theory of special relativity posits that nothing can travel faster than light, and many physicists believe the result could disappear in a puff of particles.

One of my favorite quotes is, "When the facts contradict your expectations, believe the facts." If this result holds up, we go back to the drawing board.

Rhodes Scholars

This year's list has come out and includes a graduate of the school at which I teach! There was a family of girls with her last name, though, so I don't recall if I had this particular one or not (but I think I did!). She's now the 3rd Rhodes Scholar with whom I've been acquainted, after a West Point classmate of mine as well as one in the class after ours.

Kudos all around!

Pathetic

The person who created this poster is teaching future math teachers. It's enough to make you weep for the future.

Professors at 2 CSU Campuses "Occupy"

One of the two or three Republicans in San Francisco makes several good points:

This is absurd, and not just because a bunch of educated middle-aged teachers are carrying on like they are bad-ass street rebels. (back in my younger days, I would have bust a gut laughing at any of my high school teachers or college professors joining any kind of "movement"). These teachers are one of the reasons why the public universities are in so much trouble, both because of the high cost of employing them, and the low quality of their pedagogy. Yet, clueless students upset about tuition increases are no doubt thrilled to receive this show of solidarity. Uh, guys, these teachers are not your friends. Secretly, they want tuition to go up, so their salaries go up as well.


Not only that, they are feeding you a steady diet of nonsense, especially those hip professors who use Michael Moore movies as a teaching tool and keep a Nader For President bumpersticker on their office door. They've been telling you about how Republicans and "big business" are evil, but all of these cuts you are protesting - not to mention virtually every other problem in the formerly Golden State - are coming from Democrats in government. Wall Street isn't raising your tuition; Democrats are.


And not only that, the Democrats - who control virtually every lever of power in the state - haven't lifted a finger trying to cut the real expenses driving the state into a hole: public employee pensions, redistributionist welfare payments, and unchecked illegal immigration. No, it's always students. That's partly because kids are always good for some dramatic "student strike" headlines, but also because there's always another group of students coming along once the previous bunch has graduated. If anyone ever manages to realize they are nothing more than human shields for some retired bureaucrat's pension, they're already long gone. (boldface mine--Darren)

Where do you disagree?

How Bad Is The President?

Instapundit links and quotes:

Related: Nick Gillespie: Shepard Fairey’s Occupy Hope or, The Pseudo-Spectacle of Outsiderdom and OWS’s Critical Lack of Imagination.

In general, I find this sort of appeal to the Establishment depressing, but especially in this case. If the Occupy movement, like Fairey, sees Obama as a “potential ally” then what does it say about the way that the president has in fact governed? Like Sen. John McCain, Candidate Obama cast a vote in favor of bailing out the big banks and financial institutions while running for president. He then upped the ante and has shown absolutely zero ability to conjure up an economic recovery plan that does not rely on fixes that were rusted-out by the time Richard Nixon took that final flight to San Clemente back in the 1970s.

Obama’s record on civil liberties and foreign interventions is indistinguishable from George W. Bush’s, whose exit calendar from Iraq he is fulfilling. Except that Obama has managed to lower the bar when it comes to killing American citizens and committing American resources without even the fig leaf of congressional approval. Who wants to support the Solyndra-style crony capitalism, or bizarre gun-running operations such as Fast and Furious? What part of record numbers of deportations of poor Mexicans and raids of legal-under-state-law medical marijuana dispensaries in California does Fairey and Occupants not understand? . . . But for god’s sake, who the hell is Fairey kidding? Obama as Guy Fawkes, a minority Catholic plotting to blow up the government who is only remembered in contemporary America because of a graphic novel and rotten movie that was a stupid anti-Thatcher allegory? Obama isn’t the solution, in part or in whole. Every bit as much as George W. Bush, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, you name it, he’s the problem.

All of it.

Nick Gillespie (and Instapundit) is a libertarian, and is inclined not to like a statist like Obama. Still, if you disagree with the quote above, rather than just saying someone's a big ole poopyhead, state where you disagree with Gillespie.

A Bit Too Dramatic?

The pedophilia scandal regarding one Penn State coach lessens the value of a Penn State diploma?

The human tragedy that's become the Penn State University child molestation scandal is forcing some high school students to think twice about attending the college — and to question whether a PSU diploma still has value.

"Several students I work with are expressing reluctance in attending PSU because of the scandal," says Naomi Steinberg, an independent college advisor in Boca Raton, Florida.

I don't see how the scandal affects the academic performance of Penn State graduates, but that's just me.

Would It Be OK If She Weren't Using District Equipment?

I say yes, but don't have confidence that courts would agree with me--we've got to hold teachers to the "halo/angel" standard:

Hot for teacher? She's got a business plan for that, apparently.

A 35-year-old California high school teacher is in hot water this week after her ex-husband reportedly revealed she was allegedly running "several" porn sites, including MySluttyTeacher.com, from her district-issue laptop, Fox 40 in Stockton reports.

Darren's opinion: with very few extreme exceptions, what a teacher does in his/her off-duty hours is no business of the school district, especially if that conduct is legal.

This Will Win The Hearts And Minds

This reminds me of video I've seen out of Northern Ireland, where grown adults of one religion (Catholic or protestant) would be raising hell and blowing whistles because children of the opposite religion walked through their neighborhood to get to school.

They were caught in the middle of madness.

Some grade school students were forced to walk a gauntlet of screaming “Occupy Wall Street” protesters just to get to school on Thursday.

It was a wild day in lower Manhattan for most everyone involved, including elementary school children who had to brave the mayhem just to get to class on the other side of Wall Street.

In the middle of thousands of protestors yelling and chanting — some kicking and screaming – CBS 2’s Emily Smith found little school kids trying to get to class. Nervous parents led them through the barriers on Wall Street. The NYPD helped funnel the children, anything to ease their fears while some protestors chanted “follow those kids!”

“These guys are terrorists, yelling at little kids,” one father said.

When you have to harass children, you've lost the battle. Pack it up and go home, losers.

Paying For Grades

With some of the stories I hear, this just doesn't surprise me anymore:

In a story traditionally reserved for high school urban legends, Florida math teacher Jeff Spires was suspended over allegations that the veteran educator was actually allowing students to pay for their grades on quizzes and tests.

Mr. Spires, a teacher at Charlotte County High School in Charlotte County, Florida since 2002, was suspended without pay on October 14 and resigned two weeks later after several students came forward with pay-for-grade scheme allegations.

With Apologies To Carl's Jr Restaurants....

Don't bother me, I'm Kindling.

Teacher Suspended For Showing Jon Stewart Clips

Here's what happened:

A high school government and law teacher in Eureka, Illinois, is coming under fire for showing his students three segments of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." Rhett Felix, a first-year teacher at Eureka High School, reportedly showed segments that made fun of Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and allegations of his sexual harassment. The segments, from the October 31 and November 2 episodes, feature Stewart making multiple sexual euphemisms about Cain's pizza chain. Cain served as the chairman and CEO of Godfather Pizza from 1986 to 1996. When parents were made aware of what their kids had seen in the classroom, they started complaining about bleeped obscenities and sexual content being shown in the classroom as well as the teacher's perceived liberal bias. Monday night, the Eureka-based District 140 school board held a two-hour executive session to discuss the complaints against Felix. Even Eureka Mayor Scott Punke criticized how the situation was handled, advocating for Felix to be suspended pending an investigation. One of the parents, Thomas Enterline, called the content of the videos "deplorable" and said he "didn't find any humor in what he saw." School Superintendent Randy Crump suspended Felix on Tuesday and announced that he would be given a new teaching assignment upon his return to the classroom. Felix, who is on paid leave, is expected to return to the classroom November 28.

I think the penalty is a bit harsh, especially for a rookie teacher. The appropriate penalty is a stern talking to, at least the first time.

I'm Ticked. This Is *Not* Cool.

My Kindle Fire shipped two days ago and was supposed to arrive today. You can probably see where this post is heading.

Had it been shipped via UPS, I could have tracked that package every step along the way--out of this facility, into this facility, and I'd even know if they'd attempted delivery yet. Sadly, though, it was shipped via USPS, the post office, and as of last night, a day and a half after shipping, this is all the tracking page said:

November 15, 2011 06:50:31 AM CA Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

Loads of information there, no?

We had a staff meeting at work today, and I left at about the time my mailman usually arrives at my house. As I pulled up to my house, though, I saw the mail truck parked a few houses beyond mine. I drove up and talked to him because I didn't want him to drive away without delivery. What did he have for me? Nothing. No Kindle, no yellow slip, no nothing. Uh, what does "2 day shipment" mean if it doesn't arrive in 2 days?

Here's what the package tracking information currently says:

November 17, 2011 01:30:24 AM Hayward CA Departure Scan
November 16, 2011 11:43:16 PM Hayward CA Arrival Scan
November 15, 2011 06:50:31 AM CA Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

What has it been doing the last 15 hours? Why has it not been delivered?

How incompetent is the postal service?

Update, 11/18/11: According to the tracking information, it reached my city post office last night at quarter to 7. Good job, screw-ups.

Will This Affect The Teachers At All?

From last winter's Madison, Wisconsin brouhaha:

Seven doctors received a reprimand from a state board Wednesday for how they kept medical records after issuing controversial sick notes to demonstrators during the protests against Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining law.

"The board action today holds these physicians accountable for their very public actions," said a statement from Sujatha Kailas, a physician and chairman of the Medical Examining Board.

Another two doctors received administrative warnings, a lesser form of discipline, according to the board.

In February, teachers from several districts called in sick so they could descend on the Capitol during work days to protest Walker's bill to curtail collective bargaining for most public employees. At the protests, some teachers secured doctors' notes to excuse them from work.

Do the school districts now have to honor these notes?

Saving Energy

For reasons I'll keep entirely to myself, I volunteered to attend a meeting of district Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 teachers today. One of our excellent retired teachers covered my classes today so I didn't feel too bad about going.

The meeting was held at a former elementary school abutting the district office "campus". The site is now a central enrollment facility, which to my way of thinking makes it a "district" site, with all the perks that connotes.

Wrong.

Our meeting was held in what had been the multi-purpose room. It was cold there. I don't mean slightly chilly, I mean I was actually shivering at times. I expected it to be temperate there--district people get to work in comfort!--but no, it was 63 degrees in that room. And it took quite some time before we were able to get even the slightest amount of heat in there.

The cold, of course, explains why I had to have an extra bagel, as a guy needs to stay warm somehow.

Libs, Show Me How To Close The Racial Achievement Gap

It's often hinted, sometimes not so subtly, that the racial achievement gap persists because of those of us on the Right.

Well, Chicago isn't known as a Republican stronghold. Surely they have fixed the problem, no? No. And don't call me Shirley:

After 16 years of school reform, Chicago’s “racial gaps in achievement have steadily increased,” according to a study by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. White and Asian students are making more progress than Latinos; blacks are “falling behind all other groups.”

Some initiatives, such as closing underperforming schools, may have hurt students, Jean-Claude Brizard, the new superintendent, told the Chicago Tribune.

Occupy (Insert City Here) and Press Coverage

Who are the extremists, the Tea Party or the Occupy crowd? To listen to the news you'd think it was the Tea Party--after all, someone showed up to a Tea Party rally with a firearm! But how much violence occurred at Tea Party rallies? How much tuberculosis? How many Tea Party rallies were conducted outside the law--no permits, staying in parks after closing time, etc?

The Occupy crowd is violent. People were never raped at Tea Party rallies, cops never fired into Tea Party rallies, tear gas never had to be deployed at Tea Party rallies, and Tea Partiers were never arrested with hand grenades. As Instapundit said, "All the media myths about the Tea Party seem to have come true with regard to the Occupy movement, but the press doesn’t seem to care all that much."

Let's talk more about violence at these idiots and their press enablers:

JAMES TARANTO ON MEDIA INCITEMENT AND OBAMAVILLE VIOLENCE:

In covering the Tea Party, of course, the Times emphasized its supposed extremism and violence. Brisbane doesn’t even mention these themes his column on Obamaville, even though there has been a good bit of violence there, whereas Tea Party violence was a figment of left-wing imaginations. That tells you something about the agenda of the Times and other like-minded news outlets.

The media helped create and now helps sustain the Obamaville monster, but that doesn’t mean they can control it. In recent days videos have surfaced from Oakland, Calif., and Portland, Ore., showing Obamavillians attacking local news crews attempting to report on the going-on.

The Portland video is especially creepy. It shows an angry white man–his face obscured part of the time by a pink scarf–shouting obscenities at a newsman, and declaring: “We are the 99%, you’re the 1%. . . . We don’t want you in our society.” The distinction between demonization and dehumanization is a very fine one, and media figures who have encouraged this foul and dangerous movement will have a lot to answer for if it continues to escalate.

But they’ll probably just blame the Tea Party or something.

Want to see the clear folly of their ideals? Bounce this idea off of them:

How would they view Occupy Planned Parenthood?

We've tolerated these adolescents for too long now. It's high time the police cleared them out, whenever and wherever they're breaking the law.

It would be wonderful if the press would quit covering for them, but then again, a pet unicorn would be wonderful, too.