Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Constitution-class.

BONUS SHIP CLASS QUESTION: What classes of ship were Enterprise 1701, 1701-A, 1701-B (Generations), 1701-C (Next Generation episode Yesterday's Enterprise), 1701-D, and 1701-E (First Contact and beyond)? (The first two should be extremely easy!)

Today's question is:
In what language does Uhura mean “freedom”?

UC Raising Fees

I wrote here about the University of California system's raising fees 32%. The New York Times has interesting commentary from six different people with different views.

Who Benefits From Recycling

If recycling cans and bottles were such a great idea, wouldn't someone make some money at it? Instead, Californians pay extra--the CA Redemption Value--at the point of sale, and then pay extra for garbage service which requires a separate container for recyclable goods! Add to that, customers who just want to get their "deposit" refunded are finding fewer and fewer places to take their bottles and cans! The road to Hell is paved with good intentions:

For years California has courted a reputation as an eco-friendly, green-minded leader, but the state now finds its most basic program of recycling beverage bottles and cans mired in debt and litigation...

California's 23-year-old recycling program, managed by the Department of Conservation through fees charged to beverage buyers, has been hurt this year by recession, rising redemption rates and raids of its coffers to help ease the state's budget woes...

Shoppers remain entitled to their nickel or dime deposits for returning glass, plastic or aluminum beverage containers, but many consumers could be forced to drive farther, wait longer or comply with shorter center operating hours.

This would require more gasoline! But back to the story:

Exacerbating problems, the scrap value of aluminum cans has plummeted in the past year, and the market for other containers has struggled...

But state officials clearly are not trying to kill the program because both Schwarzenegger and the Democratic-controlled Legislature have tried to intervene, thus far unsuccessfully.

In California, the government can't even run a recycling program well.

The Issue That Refuses To Die

At the end of the first Terminator movie, the Terminator wouldn't die. It just kept going and going, refusing to give up on its mission of killing Sarah Connor. When it was nothing but a partial robotic skeleton, it pulled itself on the ground towards her, its sole purpose being her death.

How many times was Jason hit, only to keep coming back for more? Or Michael Meyers?

Such an issue exists in teacher education circles. It's teacher "dispositions", or ensuring teachers have the right political and cultural beliefs--that is, hard left social beliefs--before they're let into the classroom. I've written about this several times before. The first instance I found dates back to December 2005, with other important posts on the topic occurring in June 2006, October 2006, September 2007, and March 2008; each of those posts link to others on the topic. What that list shows, though, is that this is an ongoing issue.

Add November 2009 to the list, with this article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus.

In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U's College of Education and Human Development recommended that aspiring teachers there must repudiate the notion of "the American Dream" in order to obtain the recommendation for licensure required by the Minnesota Board of Teaching. Instead, teacher candidates must embrace -- and be prepared to teach our state's kids -- the task force's own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.

The task group is part of the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative, a multiyear project to change the way future teachers are trained at the U's flagship campus. The initiative is premised, in part, on the conviction that Minnesota teachers' lack of "cultural competence" contributes to the poor academic performance of the state's minority students.

To quote Ronald Reagan, "There you go again."

The first step toward "cultural competence," says the task group, is for future teachers to recognize -- and confess -- their own bigotry. Anyone familiar with the reeducation camps of China's Cultural Revolution will recognize the modus operandi.

The author of this piece is not mincing any words, and is entirely correct.

The goal of these exercises, in the task group's words, is to ensure that "future teachers will be able to discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression"...In particular, aspiring teachers must be able "to explain how institutional racism works in schools."

Who knew there were so many racists teaching in America's schools?

And what if students' ideological purity is tainted once they begin to do practice teaching in the public schools? The task group frames the danger this way: "How can we be sure that teaching supervisors are themselves developed and equipped in cultural competence outcomes in order to supervise beginning teachers around issues of race, class, culture, and gender?"

Its answer? "Requir[e] training/workshop for all supervisors. Perhaps a training session disguised as a thank you/recognition ceremony/reception at the beginning of the year?"

When teacher training requires a "disguise," you know something sinister is going on.

There's already a Marxist undercurrent in a lot of teacher education, and only some of it is disguised. It's so much easier to spot, though, when they're out in the open about their beliefs. As was said so long ago, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Lousy Customer Service

I took my skis into REI today to get them sharpened/waxed. This is a 30 minute operation, tops.

Today is Monday. They told me to come pick up the skis next Sunday.

While I was there, two employees were working with one woman regarding a new set of handlebars for her bicycle.

There's lots of room for efficiency improvement at the "fixit" counter at REI. Perhaps next year I'll just get waxed paper and use an iron and wax my own darned skis.

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Gene Roddenberry, of course.

Today's question is:
What class of starship was the original series' Enterprise?

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
KAR120C

And today we start Star Trek Week! But don't worry, the questions will be easy enough for non-Trek-fans to get.

Today's question is:
Who was the creator of Star Trek?

Swim Club Goes Bankrupt

Remember that Pennsylvania swim club that kicked out some day care kids last summer, ostensibly because they were black? You don't? Then go here to read the CNN story from July, and here and here for some follow-up and commentary.

Now giggle because that club has gone bankrupt.

Teacher Sent To Anger Management Classes

You'd better not turn your homework in late in this teacher's class:

Ellis, now a schoolteacher, denied all accusations against her, although she acknowledged in her Friday testimony that she touched another shopper's items on the conveyor belt.

She's denied all accusations against her, but accepted a plea bargain after her case went to a jury. What's the scoop?

Under the agreement -- reached after the jury received the case for deliberations -- Heather Ellis will plead guilty to disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. She will serve a year of unsupervised probation, attend an anger management course and serve four days in jail before the end of the year.

Uh oh. Disturbing the peace and resisting arrest? This is getting better. Let's read on.

Witnesses and police say Ellis cut in front of customers at a Wal-Mart in January 2007, pushed aside merchandise belonging to another customer to make room for hers on the conveyor belt and, after police were called to the scene, kicked one officer in the shin and split another's lip. The prosecution has also alleged the Ellis went "ballistic in a profane tirade" that continued when police officers arrived.

Like I said, you better not turn in your homework late in her class.

Culturally Responsive Math

Sigh.

I've addressed spittle like this before, specifically here and here, and you can read related posts in the Rethinking Schools link at left.

Note that the first link is published by Teachers College at Columbia University, which isn't exactly a place I'd be welcome. At all.

Wal*Mart Does Something I Don't Like

If I'm a fan of Wal*Mart for any reason other than low prices and convenience, it's the joy I get from watching some people, usually lefties, careen into the fever swamp at the mere mention of the store. But I've said before, my preference for shopping at Wal*Mart is strictly utilitarian--if another store were to come along and offer me a greater value or convenience for my money, I'd drop Wal*Mart like a hot potato.

Well, Wal*Mart is in the process of trying something I absolutely do not like. Here's the email I sent them today:

I am unhappy with the decision not to have plastic shopping bags at Wal*Mart. I reuse all my shopping bags; providing them is no more "wasteful" than is toilet paper, which is only used once.

Getting rid of the bags creates an avoidable inconvenience for many of us, and for a number or reasons. First, having to purchase shopping bags is just silly. Second, impromptu stops at Walmart will be curtailed because people won't have bags with them and won't want to buy more. Third, people will bring in all sorts of bags or boxes, some of which might not fit on the "lazy susan" bag tables that currently exist, slowing down the entire checkout process. Fourth, those of us who won't bring bags at all will slow down the works when checkers will have to put the groceries back into a shopping cart as they do at Sam's Club.

Jumping on the "green" bandwagon this way is a shallow, feel-good, look-what-a-good-corporate-citizen-I-am, cheap attempt to appeal to a vocal section of our public, at the expense of customer convenience. I encourage you to reconsider.

I received a reply stating that this change is an experiment that will occur only for 30 days and only in 3 stores in Northern California, "after which time we will evaluate the test results to determine the next steps." I hope the next step is to recognize that they've made a mistake and then correct it. After all, their stated goal is to have "zero waste", and Wal*Mart already has bins in which people who do not reuse the bags can toss the bags for recycling.

I'm curious where the plastic bags are made, and where the reusable bags they're selling are made. I also note that paper bags, which Wal*Mart does not use, are made from a renewable resource.

Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Oshkosh.

Today's question is:
In the 1960s British cult TV series The Prisoner, what was the license plate number of Patrick McGoohan's character's car before McGoohan was whisked off to The Village to become Number Six?

I'll bet you can't wait for tomorrow's Theme Week to start!

Carnival of Education

This week's is here and includes my posts about our principal's stated purpose in visiting classrooms as well as my post about a local principal who was injured in a fight at school.

Climate Change

Page 1, above the fold of our school's newspaper, was an article showing that climate change hysteria is alive and well at the school at which I teach. Read the article online, see for yourself if you agree with the author. That author is what's known as a "true believer" in the Church of Global Warming. (For the sake of professionalism, considering that this is the school at which I teach, I'll reserve further comment on this student's article--but you might guess what I'd say.)

Now read this summary of the emails that were (illegally?) hacked from some prominent global warming enthusiasts/scientists in England. They don't sound very enthused with the data they're getting, do they?

And they can't be very happy that their charades have been exposed to public scrutiny, either.

I find it hilariously coincidental that the first article and these emails were released at about the same time. :-)

Update: One blogger refers to the Climate Research Unit email release as the biggest scientific scandal since Piltdown Man.

Update #2: This post compares what's in the emails with what those same scientists were contemporaneously saying publicly. It doesn't make the CRU scientists look very good.

Update #3: So what about all that consensus? There's some information in the CRU emails about that, too:

And, perhaps most reprehensibly, a long series of communications discussing how best to squeeze dissenting scientists out of the peer review process. How, in other words, to create a scientific climate in which anyone who disagrees with AGW can be written off as a crank, whose views do not have a scrap of authority.

Global warming adherents, your Church has been exposed as a sham.

Update #4, 11/22/09: Here's a pretty good summary of what's going on:

But, at least on this first look, it appears that the three scandals are:

* First, a real attempt by a small group of scientists to subvert the peer-review process and suppress dissenting voices. (For another look at this, by a respected climate scientist who was one of the targets, see these posts on Roger Pielke Sr.’s blog.) This is at best massively unethical.
* Second, a willingness to manipulate the data to make a political case. This is certainly misconduct and possibly scientific fraud. This, if it proves true, should make these scientists subject to strong disciplinary action, even termination of their tenured positions.
* Third, what gives every appearance of an actual conspiracy to prevent data from being released as required by the Freedom of Information Acts in the US and UK. If this is proven true, that is a federal crime.

These emails and the data associated, taken together, raise really important questions about the whole scientific structure of AGW. Is the data really valid? Has the data been effectively peer reviewed and have attempts to falsify been fairly treated? Is CO2-forced AGW really the best hypothesis?Until these questions are answered, the various attempts to “deal with the climate change crisis” have no acceptable scientific basis.

No acceptable scientific basis.

Update #5, 11/22/09: When in doubt, delete.

These emails appear to show that, when faced with a legitimate request under Britain's Freedom of Information Act, these global warming alarmists preferred to delete their emails with one another about the crucially important IPCC report--the main basis for the purported "consensus" in favor of anthropogenic global warming--rather than allow them to come to light. This is one of many instances in the East Anglia documents where the global warming alarmists act like a gang of co-conspirators rather than respectable scientists.

Update #6, 11/22/09: It just keeps getting better.

Al Gore's award-winning global warming film "An Inconvenient Truth," socked two years ago by a British court ruling that found several errors, is facing additional scrutiny with the release of a new documentary that seeks to rebut many of Gore's claims.

UC Students Protest a 32% Increase In Fees

TANSTAAFL. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

So when you're doing something on the government dime--something like working, or going to school--you must expect that money will be tight for you when money is tight for the government. Here in California that means furloughs for state workers, cuts in services, and a 32% fee hike at our University of California campuses.

I cannot determine from press coverage whether this is a tuition increase or a fee increase. The term "fee" is used, but the context seems as if it's tuition that's being raised. Whichever it is, the numbers being reported are an increase from about $7500/year to about $10,000/year.

Of course, there have been some protests, most notably at UCLA and Berkeley. And while I'm sympathetic to arguments on both sides of this issue, I cannot help but agree with this one:

First and foremost, the protests are about privileged kids demanding subsidies from working people. The UC system will continue to be heavily subsidized by taxpayers, and the students who attend are among the most naturally gifted, with the highest future earning potential, in the country. This is especially true at the system's flagship schools of Berkeley and UCLA, where the protests have been most intense. Narcissism and self-absorption are the norm on college campuses, but it really is pushing the limits to throw such a tantrum at the idea that you will be getting a smaller amount of free money taken out of the paychecks of strapped taxpayers, most of whom could never dream of the advantages and opportunities you enjoy.

On the other hand, California determined long ago that it was a valid state interest to have an affordable higher education system accessible to all. Accordingly, California has a 3-tiered higher education system: community/junior colleges, the 23-campus California State University system, and the 10-campus premier University of California system. Tuition in these systems, as throughout all of higher education, has risen faster than wages and inflation, taking them further out of reach for some students. Still, I highly doubt tuition covers the cost of education; the state is bringing in less money, and somehow the difference must be made up in increased costs to students, cuts in services, or both.

Additionally, many students get some kind of financial aid, so the increase in tuition is really just shifting money from one part of government (government funding of UC) to another (financial aid), with taxpayers continuing to foot the bill.

Still, 32% is rather steep. But let's face it, students are part of the problem here. How many stories have we heard about universities building new state-of-the-art gymnasium complexes, complete with rock walls and such, or new restaurant complexes complete with coffee shops and wi-fi, to attract students. New dorms with luxurious common areas, private baths, etc. In other words, yuppie-to-be accommodations. Someone has to pay for those non-academic expenses, and it shouldn't be the taxpayer.

And if this is fees and not tuition, let's not forget what some of those fees, those above-and-beyond-tuition expenses, cover: ASB membership, athletic program subsidies, student organizations and clubs (that a particular student may or may not ever use), etc.

There's plenty of fault here for this increase in fees, but not all of it rests on the shoulders of the UC Regents.

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Jimmie Walker played JJ Evans on Good Times from 1973-1979.

Today's question is:
In what Wisconsin city does the Experimental Aircraft Association hold its annual air show?


FYI, this Sunday will be the start of another Theme Week! (You'll either love it or you'll hate it.)

Funky College Admissions Essays

The tripe so many of the students write is bad enough, but could you imagine being given some of these topics on which to write?

Update: Link fixed now. Thanks!

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1997.

Today's question is:
What was the name of the comedian, and the character he played on the 70s sitcom Good Times, whose signature exclamation was “Dy-no-miiiiite!”?

Live By The Computer, Die By The Computer

Last night my son's mother, my son, and I went to one of the two high schools we're considering for him next year. It was Parent Information Night, and we were there to learn about their course offerings, their programs, and to see how the staff can present the school in its best light.

The presentation was dreadfully boring, and I understand why--all those staff members were there in the evening, not getting paid for it. I'm sure the thought process was something like, "I've got to be here, so I'm at least going to talk for a few minutes about my program/department." Some, of course, merely read their PowerPoint slides....

One of the things they touted was how technologically advanced the school is--after all, they have six interactive white boards! (Blah, give me an overhead and a whiteboard and I'll teach kids.) Several of the speakers mentioned technology and some of the courses built around it.

Of course there were several glitches, not only with the PowerPoint presentation, but also with the podium speaker system :-)

As I said, just give me an overhead and a whiteboard.

(PS Not to slam the event completely, I'm now much more comfortable with the school than I was going into that meeting, so in that regard they succeeded. But so many people got up and left during the "lecture"; I hope that tells the staff something for when they plan Parent Information Night next year.)

Taking Intellectual Property Rights Too Far

In this post, and in comments on the linked post, I argued that teachers "own" the lesson plans they create in order to teach students, and that I could find no compelling reason to forbid them from making a buck by selling those lesson plans.

This, however, is a different facet of that topic:

Some Harvard professors are taking very seriously their "intellectual property rights" and have claimed copyright to the ideas that they spread in their classrooms. What prompted this was a website in which students posted their notes to help other students.

The professors have cracked down. It might have been enough to legislate against this behavior in particular. Instead, they wrapped their objection in the great fallacy of our age: the professor owns his ideas and they may not be spread without his permission...

Another approach is the one taken by Harvard and, most explicitly, by the University of Texas, which has suggested that professors make the following contract with students:

My lectures are protected by state common law and federal copyright law. They are my own original expression and I record them at the same time that I deliver them in order to secure protection. Whereas you are authorized to take notes in class thereby creating a derivative work from my lecture, the authorization extends only to making one set of notes for your own personal use and no other use. You are not authorized to record my lectures, to provide your notes to anyone else or to make any commercial use of them without express prior permission from me.

You can make "no other use" of what you learn? Really? That sort of smashes the whole point of education, doesn't it?

That's absurd, as it would rule out sharing your notes in a study group! I can see not wanting students to videotape your lectures and post them on the internet--I can understand a variety of reasons, not all of them academic, for prohibiting that. But part of education is sharing your knowledge, and the UT/Harvard statement above in effect prohibits students from sharing of the very knowledge they paid for!

I can see copyrighting your lecture notes if you hand them out, or any other documents you create, if you really want to go that far. But seriously, not being able to share your knowledge? No way.

Why College Financial Aid Might Be A Bad Idea

From the Hartford (CT) Courant:

Not long ago I got into it with the YouTube investment wizard and U.S. Senate candidate Peter Schiff over college loans and the ever-increasing price of tuition.

The impish Schiff — who predicted the current economic collapse — hit me with a simple explanation to a question I cannot find an answer for: It's the government's fault for handing out so much money through loans and grants.

No government bailout, Schiffian logic goes, no inflated tuition.

While it's not that easy, there's a significant amount of truth to what he says. Schools know that most students are going to get some kind of government financial aid, so they raise tuition--why not? They get the money!

In what areas of the economy have prices been rising significantly higher than the inflation rate for several years? Health care and higher education. In which two areas of the economy is government heavily involved, skewing the market? Health care and higher education.

The correlation is not coincidental.

More Regulation--So You Can Subsidize Internet Access For Others

From the Wall Street Journal:

Federal regulators are considering whether the government should take greater control of the Internet and ask consumers to pay higher phone charges in order to provide all Americans with cheaper access to broadband Internet service.

Do you think internet access is a "utility" that everyone deserves to have, even if they can't afford it? Should the US government charge you more for phone use so that someone in Alturas, or Appalachia, can have cheaper broadband?

This is what happens when you don't enforce limits on your government. "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves", according to Edward R. Murrow.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Alexis de Tocqueville was from France.

Today's question is:
In what year did Princess Diana die?

Another "Bad Teacher" Story

First off, unless you intend to ask someone out on a date, you have no business asking them their sexual orientation. And since you shouldn't be asking your students out, you shouldn't take them outside the class and ask if they're gay.

Second, you shouldn't get into a verbal altercation with a student that would cause you to threaten him physically.

Third, you shouldn't offer to pay another student to kill the first student.

Of course, all of this is just alleged at this point. If it turns out to be true, then termination is not the only appropriate consequence.

Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Article I.

Today's question is:
From which country was the the author of the book Democracy In America?

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Jenny.

Today's question is:
Which article of the US Constitution deals with the Congress?

Teachers Selling Lesson Plans

Is it ethical for teachers to sell the lesson plans they create? Do school districts own the work teachers create under contract?

I fall on the side of the teachers in this debate. Besides the practical considerations (prove I didn't write this lesson plan at home last weekend), I can find no compelling reason for school districts to lay claim to my intellectual efforts.

Update, 11/20/09: My contract doesn't address the issue at all, but here are two statements I found in district policies:

Use of district computers, computer networks, and Internet services does not create any expectation of privacy. Work produced by any employee on a district computer shall be the property of the district.

District computers may not be used for personal commercial purposes, including offering or providing goods or services.

So as long as I don't use district equipment to create my lesson plans, or use district computers to advertise that they are for sale, I'm safe.

Now I just have to be creative enough to create lesson plans that people would want to buy.

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question, the last in Titanic Week, is:
2009. Millvina Dean died on May 31, 2009, in Southampton.

Today's question is:
Whose phone number was 867-5309?

Young Conservative Activist Speaks At College

From the LA Times:

Giles credits the Young America's Foundation -- the group that put on the conference -- with inspiring much of her political action.

Two years ago, she said, she was just a laid-back surfer kid from Miami when a friend got her to attend a foundation event in Washington, D.C. That, she said, was where she converted to conservatism.

In her lecture Friday about how to take down liberal organizations and expose what she called media corruption, Giles sought to stir others to action. "Above all, attack, attack, attack," she said, quoting Republican consultant Roger Stone. "Never defend"...

According to spokesman Jason Mattera, the foundation aims to groom high school and college students to be future leaders by exposing them to the conservative philosophies that he said were missing from many classrooms.

Is it just me, or is she exceedingly attractive? But I digress.

I recently skimmed Goldwater's 1964 book Conscience of a Conservative again. Honestly, I don't know how anyone could read that book and not be a conservative. I wonder if those college students read it, or if they read only the modern Coulter/Levin/Beck/Ingraham/Goldberg books? Not that those books are necessarily bad, but they lack the intellectual underpinnings of Goldwater's seminal work.

Can Anyone But The Most Rabidly Partisan Take This Woman Seriously?

Yes, I'm talking about Nancy Pelosi.

Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
RMS Carpathia.

Today's question, the last for Titanic Week, is:
In what year did the last Titanic survivor die?

Can't Get An Aspirin At School, Can Get An Abortion

As a parent, I don't want my child leaving school for any reason without my (or his mother's) consent.

A proposal to allow students in the San Juan Unified School District to be excused from school without parental consent for "confidential medical services" has stirred up a debate that's been playing out throughout the state.

The Pacific Justice Institute – a conservative legal nonprofit – is expected to square off against Planned Parenthood and the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law on the question of whether students in grades seven to 12 can leave campus for medical services that generally include abortions, acquiring birth control and treatment for sexual assault, drug and mental health issues.

I can't give a child an aspirin for a headache, the child cannot make an informed decision about whether or not an aspirin is ok, but the child can make an informed decision about whether or not they should leave school to have an abortion? I just don't understand that logic.

San Juan trustees are considering changing their policy to bring San Juan into compliance with the state Education Code, said Trent Allen, district spokesman. The proposed policy change was recommended by attendance staff members after a routine review of district policies, Allen said.

But Pacific Justice Institute lawyers argue the word "may" in a section of the Education Code on parental notification gives school districts the option to decide whether students can leave campus without parental permission. A letter to the school board from the law group says local districts have the power to have the final say on the decision.

But Sharla Smith of the California Department of Education said state Education and Family codes are clear – "a minor is allowed to get confidential medical care from age 12 and above."

I don't agree with that, but it is the law--kids can get confidential health care. But I don't see where it says that they can take school time to get that health care.

What if the child is hurt in an accident on the way to get "confidential health care". Who is responsible, the state? the school? The child was supposed to be in school!

We cannot simultaneously hold parents responsible for their child's actions, and allow the state and its agencies to actively assist the child in sneaking around behind their parents' backs.

Update, 11/18/09: The school board voted 3-2 last night to keep its current policy.

Science Fair Projects

I'm not sure which of these projects is my favorite, #2 or #10.

How do you experiment, measure, and conclude #10?

OK, I've decided. #10 is my favorite; I like #2 mostly because of the conclusion.

Budget Deficits

The Wall Street Journal Online reports:

The federal government kicked off fiscal year 2010 by posting its widest-ever October budget deficit, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The $176.36 billion gap is more than $20 billion wider than the shortfall recorded in October 2008, driven up by lower tax receipts, stimulus-related revenue reductions and consistently high government outlays.

Treasury's monthly budget statement shows receipts were $135.33 billion in October, down 18% from a year earlier and at the lowest level since October 2002. Meanwhile, outlays were $311.69 billion, down 3% from a year earlier and at their second-highest monthly level on record.

The October deficit figure is wider than the Congressional Budget Office's estimate for a $175 billion deficit in the month and wider than the $165.9 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires...

The staggering number has had U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pledging to rein in the deficit as the nation's economy recovers.

Hot Air offers some insightful commentary:

What better way to kick off Barack Obama’s first full budget year as President than with a deficit that exceeded the White House’s own projections as well as analysts’ expectations? The federal government busted the budget worse than last October by $20 billion with a deficit of $176.36 billion for the month. That used to be considered a decent deficit target … for an entire year.

Of course, to lefties, this is all George Bush's fault.

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Edward Smith.

Today's question is:
What ship rescued the Titanic survivors?

Carnival of Education

This week's is here, and includes my post about the myriad languages spoken at my school.

Classroom Visits By The Principal

At our staff meeting today, our principal discussed what he's looking for when he visits classrooms. He was very insistent that he's not there to "evaluate" teachers.

Why not? What's the big deal? Even if he pops in on a bad day, it's still a bad day! One would think he wouldn't base his entire judgement of a teacher's abilities on one short visit, and until he does so, I'll trust him not to. So I thought it was odd that he kept reiterating that he wasn't in our classes to "evaluate" us.

But he did tell us what he's looking at, and looking for. He's not watching the teachers, he's watching the students. He wants to see how engaged they are in learning, how much time they're given to talk amongst themselves about what they've learned (instead of just hearing everything from the teacher), and how they're conducting that talking.

I guess it can't hurt.

Eminent Domain Decision Eminently Stupid

It's bad enough that 5 members of the Supreme Court could somehow be convinced that the "public use" requirement in the constitution's "eminent domain" authority meant that land could be condemned and given to a private developer; the "public use" would be the increased tax revenue, available to the public coffers.

It's bad enough they made a decision so atrocious. What's worse is what we now learn:

Pfizer, Inc., announced today that the company will be closing its former research and development headquarters in New London, Conn. This was a project that involved massive corporate welfare and led to the abuse of eminent domain that ultimately bulldozed the home of Susette Kelo and her neighbors in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London.

This was the same bogus development plan that five justices of the U.S. Supreme Court refused to question when the property owners of New London pleaded to have their homes spared from the wrecking ball. Justices mentioned that there was a plan in place, and that so long as lawmakers who are looking to use eminent domain for someone's private gain had a plan, the courts would wash their hands. Now, more than four years after the redevelopment scheme passed constitutional muster-allowing government to take land from one private owner only to hand that land over to another private party who happens to have more political influence-the plant that had been the magnet for the development is closing its doors and the very land where Susette Kelo's home once stood remains barren to all but feral cats, seagulls and weeds.

Here's more, from the Washington Examiner:

Susette Kelo's little, pink house in New London, Conn. -- like the houses of all her neighbors -- is now a pile of rubble, overgrown with weeds. But Pfizer, the company that called for the demolition in order to build a new research and development plant, announced Monday it is packing up and leaving town in order to cut costs after its merger with fellow drug-giant Wyeth.

New London now has a wasteland where a neighborhood once stood, and no jobs or business to show for it. It's another travesty of central planning.

Central planning. Those of you who look to government to fix all our problems, note: government can take away your house if you're not politically connected enough. Put another way, a government that can give you anything is strong enough to take away everything.

Remember that when you're contemplating putting government in charge of your health care.

Previous posts about Kelo here, here, and here, among others.

Navy Times Reports: USNA Subbed Mids To Look More Diverse

Back in my day, the saying went "excellence is the standard, performance is the criterion". If this report from the Navy Times is true, then the Naval Academy seems to value appearances and so-called diversity more than excellence:

Naval Academy leaders removed two midshipmen from a color guard that performed at the World Series last week because they were white men, and replaced them with a non-white man and a white woman so the academy could present a more “diverse” profile, according to several sources, a move that has reportedly angered mids and alumni.

As it turned out, the color guard still ended up all white because the male replacement forgot parts of his uniform.

Two white, male members of the color guard learned Oct. 28 they were being replaced with a white woman, Midshipman 2nd Class Hannah Allaire, and a non-white man, Midshipman 2nd Class Zishan Hameed, on orders of the school’s administration, according to an internal e-mail message provided to Navy Times by an academy professor. With a national television audience, Naval Academy leadership worried the color guard it planned to send wasn’t diverse enough, the e-mail said.

However, after the color guard arrived in New York for the game Oct. 29, Hameed, whose family is from Pakistan, realized he had left his dress shoes and cover in Annapolis. Midshipman 1st Class Aaron Stroud regained his place and served as a rifleman for the presentation of the colors. Allaire carried the other rifle and the four original members marched with the flags.

What's worse, the report gives the impression that Naval Academy spokesmen are lying:

Academy officials actually sent an eight-person color guard to the baseball game, (Naval Academy Commandant) Klunder said, but the full squad couldn’t perform after Hameed forgot part of his uniform, because color guards need an even number of members. So it wasn’t that the academy administration yanked members of the color guard because they were white men, it’s that Hameed’s “uniform inventory problem,” as Klunder called it, meant that only six mids could march, instead of eight.

But a Naval Academy press release on the morning of the game said six mids were presenting the colors at the World Series, and identified them all by name. Stroud and the other white male mid who had been cut went to the game, according to the e-mail obtained by Navy Times — fortunate, because Stroud was needed to take Hameed’s place — but they never expected to be able to march that night.

This looks bad no matter how you slice it.

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
His/Her Majesty's Hospital Ship and Royal Mail Ship (or Steamer).

Today's question is:
Who was the Titanic's captain?

Veteran's Day

I've just returned home from Applebee's, which offered free entrees today to all veterans. I had a great meal with fellow blogger, fellow conservative, fellow father, fellow teacher, and fellow veteran Mr. Chanman.

We planned to meet at 3:00; after all, that would be well after lunch and well before dinner. Smart guys, us. When we got there, though, the lobby was packed and people were waiting outside. Many were old men in their VFW regalia, or wearing other indications of their service. I saw veterans of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam there. If any were vets of our more recent wars they didn't wear any identifying clothing.

The promotion Applebee's had was a win-win. They got scores of customers today that they wouldn't have, we veterans felt welcomed in a restaurant that gave us a free entree, and I'm willing to bet the food servers were well-tipped.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
HMHS Britannic, the sister ship to the RMS Titanic.

Today's question is:
What do “HMHS” and “RMS” stand for?

Campus Protests

Most college protests are lame. Of course, most of the protesters are lefties, so lameness is to be expected, but that's a different story.

This protest is lame, too, although the subject matter is deadly serious. You've got to love the stifling of free speech in this case because it might offend somebody. And apparently it did offend somebody--I'll give the students credit for getting under the skin of their Marxist professors and administrators.

The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago. Let's not forget that the Wall was there to keep people in, not out; let's not forget the guard towers, the concertina wire, the drab concrete.

And then there are the gulags.

Ed Schools

Most of them teach pablum, or worse. Joanne quotes E.D. Hirsch with a statement with which I can only concur:

He attacks the education school as “theological institutes where heresy is viewed as an evil that its members have a civic duty to suppress. The anti-curriculum movement’s sense of righteousness, of being in possession of ethical rectitude and privileged truth, often have a religious flavor. Pro-curriculum heretics are to be seen as fallen souls who want to impose soul-deadening burdens on children and discourage lively, child-friendly teaching. Subject-matter-oriented people are by definition authoritarian, undemocratic and right-wing. ”

It's not just the anti-curriculum heresies that must be banished from those schools, as my own experience bears out.

Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Britannic and Olympic.

Today's question is:
What was the name of the largest ship sunk in World War I?

REPOST: Freedom Is A Little Piece Of Broken Concrete

In honor of the celebrations of the tumbling of the Berlin Wall some 20 years ago, I repost this post from April of 2008. As of this moment the original has 16 comments.

I--Growing up in Cold War Sacramento

I lived just down the street from McClellan Air Force Base; I remember watching from my front yard once as an AWACS came in for a landing, looking like it might touch down right at the end of my street. McClellan was a major logistical base; aircraft were repaired there. It was just north of downtown.

Mather Air Force Base, just east of downtown, was a Strategic Air Command base. There were bombers there, and most assuredly nuclear weapons.

In downtown, and just northeast of downtown in Roseville, were major railroad repair depots. My father worked at the Southern Pacific yard downtown.

East of downtown, in Folsom, was the Folsom Dam, which included a power generation station. Southeast of downtown was the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant.

South Sacramento held the Sacramento Army Depot.

In West Sacramento is a deepwater port, capable of supporting ocean-going vessels. And Sacramento itself is the capital of what was at the time the 7th largest economy in the world.

Sacramento was an inviting target indeed. We went to school every day knowing, in the back of our minds, that there were Soviet nuclear missiles targeted at us.

II--The Soviet wheat harvest

I believe it was during my first trip to Germany, in the summer of 1974, or perhaps it was my second in 75, when I heard on the radio about a bad wheat harvest in the Soviet Union. The President had decided to sell American wheat to the Russians. I remember thinking, at only 9 or 10 years old: "Let them die." Why would we help the enemy? Détenté or not, they were the enemy. Why not finish them off?

III--The Hawk battery tactical site

In the summer of 1985, the summer after my sophomore year at West Point, I was sent to an active duty air defense artillery unit based in Schweinfurt, West Germany. Each day I rode the troop bus from our battery headquarters out to our "tac(tical) site" near Massbach, West Germany.

B Battery was "on the leading edge of freedom's frontier, guarding the skies of NATO Europe." The thought was that before the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact invaded with ground forces, they'd soften us up with air attacks; our battery's mission was to destroy the attacking aircraft with Hawk missiles. There was only one problem, though--we were within range of ground artillery. The Reds would take us out before the first aircraft flew overhead, before we could ever get a shot off.

Germany in the summer can be rainy or hazy, but one day the weather was exceptionally clear. I climbed to the top of one of our radar towers, and in the far distance I could see a thin strip of dirt winding its way through the trees.

It was the East German border. A fence and probably a minefield, not to keep us out, but to keep them in. A thin strip of dirt--freedom on one side, tyranny on the other.

IV--NORAD

Only a couple months later I was an exchange cadet at the Air Force Academy. The 6 of us from West Point, along with the exchange cadets and midshipmen from the Coast Guard and Naval Academies, were taken on a tour of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex south of Colorado Springs.

Cheyenne Mountain was partially hollowed, and an entire base built inside. In it was housed the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which tracked everything in orbit around earth--down to and including flecks of paint that had come off rockets. They also monitored our satellites which spied on the Communists.

Like the Greenbrier facility in West Virginia, only not a secret, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex could be sealed off from the outside world with a huge steel door--in the event of a nuclear war. I stood in the control room, I saw the phone that connected the commander directly to the President. I touched the phone myself.

If a launch was detected anywhere in the world, the staff in the control room had about 20 seconds to analyze the flight dynamics and determine if it constituted a threat to the United States or its allies. Fortunately, there never was such a threat; if there had been, the commander would have picked up the phone and told the President. This would have put into play a lengthy series of steps culminating in the launch of nuclear missiles from our triad of forces--ground-launched ICBM's, air launched missiles and bombs like those at Mather, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

It was called MAD, mutually-assured destruction. You fire at us, we'll fire back at you. Our missiles will pass each other over the North Pole. You don't fire at me, and I won't fire at you. Deal?

It was an insane policy, but it worked.

V--Tienanman Square

I was on a rotation to the National Training Center, outside of Barstow, CA, when we got the news. There had been rallies and protests in Beijing since April, but by early June the Communist leadership had had enough. The Chinese sent troops into Tienanman Square to end the protest once and for all.

We were very isolated out in the desert, not even having non-military radios. The only news we got was from the observer-controllers who were evaluating us. All we knew was that the Chicoms had sent the army into Beijing. They began shooting. We heard reports, later proven to be inaccurate, that some military units were firing on others in defense of the protesters. We wondered about a civil war in a nuclear power.

Those reports were wrong. No military units mutinied. It was a massacre. Only weeks later, when we finally returned home to Fort Carson, did we see the iconic picture of White Shirt Guy standing in front of a tank. Tanks are very effective anti-personnel weapons. But one man, a man craving liberty, can be brave enough to stop a line of tanks.

For a little while.

VI--The Wall comes down

Late 1989 was a surreal time. All across Eastern Europe, protests against Communist rule occurred. Why then? It's hard to say. The borders were becoming more porous, and more people were escaping to the West. President Reagan was fueling an arms race, one he knew would bankrupt the Soviets--and governments began to collapse under their own weight and that of their citizens who yearned to breathe free. Gorbachev promised even more democratic reforms, more perestroika. All the lines were converging.

It all happened so quickly. First, East German strongman Honecker resigned in October. On November 7th his entire cabinet resigned. The Communist Party dismissed the ruling Politburo in response to huge anti-government protests. Two days later, on November 9th, the East German government opened it's border and The Wall. Other Eastern European governments also faced huge protests, and within weeks they fell.

The entire Warsaw Pact had collapsed without a shot being fired. The world order that had existed since before I was born evaporated in less time than it took to get a visa.

At that time, most people in the world had never heard of Nicolai Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator. Most had no idea how bad life was in Romania. I had only read his name so couldn't pronounce it (it's chow-shes-coo), and I had only the faintest idea how bad it was there. I remember telling a friend of mine, "I'll believe this is real when that Co-ses-co guy in Romania falls." A few days before Christmas I got a phone call early in the morning; my friend said, "Turn on your tv." And there was Ceausescu, under arrest in his own country.

VII--The Baltic Republics

It seemed that in late 1989 the entire Eastern bloc was protesting communist rule. The biggest underdogs, though, were the Baltic Republics.

Unlike the Warsaw Pact countries, which were theoretically independent but in reality answered to Moscow, the formerly independent countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia had been absorbed into the Soviet Union itself. Special attention was paid to these three Soviet republics by the press. While the world marveled at the sight of people from both east and west standing atop the Berlin Wall, or striking it with picks and sledgehammers, news reports continued to show non-violent protests in the streets of these three small lands.

I didn't understand how fast everything was changing, I couldn't believe it was real. I thought I was going far out on a limb when, in the fall of '89, I bravely predicted that "the Baltic Republics will be free within a decade." There might not be a fight, but no way was Moscow going to slice off parts of its own country, not any time soon.

In December, Lithuania abolished the Communist Party. In March of 1990, it declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Latvia and Estonia followed only two months later.

VIII--The Quinones family

A retired sergeant major died, and I was tasked to be the widow's Casualty Assistance Officer. I was to escort her to the funeral, and later help her with the myriad activities that no one wants to plan for--dealing with insurance companies, getting all the household bills put in her name, having the deed to the house placed in her name, getting a new military I.D. card, and meeting with lawyers, among others.

One of her sons was a major in the Berlin Brigade, the US garrison that had been stationed in Berlin since the end of World War II. He appreciated the efforts I'd expended on behalf of his mother and family, and before returning to Berlin after the funeral asked if there was anything he might do for me. I'd already told him that I would be leaving the army soon, so no, there was nothing, but thank you. And then, with my usual sprightly manner and a smile, I said, "You know, sir? I would like a piece of The Wall." That was just me being funny, fending off the discomfort of talking about getting out of the army.

A few weeks later I received one of those bubble-wrap envelopes in the mail. It was from Major Quinones, and inside the envelope, inside the ziplock baggie, and inside the paper towel--was a little piece of broken concrete. The enclosed letter said he'd gone to The Wall himself to get it for me.

IX--Dénouement

I've seen freedom born--in Vilnius, in Riga, in Tallinn, in Moscow and Tirana, and more recently in Kabul and Baghdad. I've seen the looks on the faces of people as they took their first breaths of free air, their first tastes of genuine liberty. It's a wondrous sight, an honor to watch. Because you see, freedom isn't an abstraction, not to me. Freedom is something real, it's concrete--it's that little piece of broken concrete sitting on my shelf.

Union Thugs Beat Another Guy

The article doesn't say whether or not the subject of this story is a union member, an agency fee payer (SEIU represents state workers, and he's a state worker), or what. Shoddy reporting, although it's possible the reporter doesn't understand issues involving forced unionism (then they shouldn't be reporting on it!).

Ken Hamidi is a state worker at the California Franchise Tax Board. Last night he walked into a union hall in Sacramento for an SEIU local 1000 meeting...

"Three, four people jumped at me, wrestled with me, then did all that," said Hamidi. "I was covered in blood and then over to the emergency room."

Photos of Hamidi in the hospital show him bloodied from the brawl. So why did this happen? Besides being a state worker, Hamidi says he's an unpaid reporter for a cable access show and a vocal critic of the SEIU. He calls the state workers' union corrupt.

"This is a union hall that is leased and is being furnished and equipped and everything with our money," said Hamidi.

"Our money". So he is affiliated with the union somehow. Let's read on.

Hamidi says he came to the hall to expose how he says SEIU union leaders are spending tens of thousands of dollars on a political race, he claims, they have no right to do. After he and a photographer walked in to the meeting, it didn't take long for Hamidi to be right out the door and on his way to the hospital.

We called SEIU union leaders to get their side of the story, but they refused to comment.

Ah, those hardworking, downtrodden union members, fighting "the man" in their effort to get only what's due them. What crap.

Via a link at NewsAlert, here's the police report on the beating of Ken Gladney at the hands of SEIU henchmen.

The police report is unambiguous about what happened on August 6th in St. Louis. The White House, through SEIU, did indeed ‘punch back twice as hard.’ What is ambiguous, however, is why prosecutors haven’t pursued the charges against SEIU. As you will learn, there is a lot to suggest that Bob McCulloch, the St. Louis DA, is trying to cover-up SEIU’s crime. Stay tuned as the truth comes out.

Long Day Today

It was such a long day today, I may not get to make up for it until Wednesday, a holiday.

My prep period is 4th period; I spent that entire period in a meeting, and that meeting went a few minutes into lunch.

I usually stay after school on Mondays, either to plan out my lessons for the week (and put assignments online) or to supervise our after-school tutoring program; today was thankfully the former. Still, in addition to working on my lessons I helped a student who didn't understand some recent material, and then worked with my student teacher to explain the most effective way to teach tomorrow's lesson.

I got to school at 7:30 and left at 4:30.

Oh, woe is me, and I'm sure some of you, especially you non-teachers, would be happy to point out the long (uncompensated) hours you put in at work. I know, I've been there. This isn't about the hours, though. It's about the non-stop hours. You see, I can't take a coffee break. I can't take a personal phone call. I can't extend my lunch by 10 or 15 minutes. I can't sit back and relax for 5 or 10 minutes, or go chit-chat with someone. Teaching is about as close an occupation as there is to acting, and as a teacher you're always on stage.

So yes, it was a long day today.

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
The White Star Line, also known as The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets. It later became part of Cunard, which became part of Carnival Corporation.

Today's question is:
What were the Titanic's sister ships?

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Denarius.

This week's theme is Titanic, and here's the first question:
What was the name of the passenger line that owned the Titanic?

Are You Surprised?

I'm not.

California State University officials may have followed federal guidelines in reporting that stimulus money saved an inordinate number of campus jobs, but someone in the university system should have objected to reporting the numbers because "they don't make sense," California's stimulus watchdog official said Friday.

CSU reported late last week that federal stimulus dollars let them retain about 26,000 full-time-equivalent positions. That's more than half of CSU's work force, and it's more jobs than the state of Texas and 44 other states reported saving with stimulus money.

A CSU spokeswoman told The Bee earlier this week that the system reported the jobs in strict accordance with federal guidelines, but confirmed that half the system's work force would not have been laid off if not for stimulus dollars.

Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
India.

Today's question is:
From which Roman bronze coin comes the “d” symbol which was used well into the 20th century to represent British pence (e.g., 2s 6d meant “2 shillings, 6 pence”)?

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for a very deep Theme Week! (Have I given enough clues yet as to the theme?)

The American Body Politic Was Civil Until Racists Rose Up Against Barack Obama.

There truly are people who believe that. Others say it, knowing it to be a lie but hoping it will further their political ends.

Others know better.

Teachers Need To Know Something

I've been fortunate that at the three schools at which I've worked, most of the teachers have been pretty bright. Yes, there have been (and are) a few dim bulbs out there, but even they can be effective teachers if they mostly know their subject matter and have other attributes that can encourage students to learn.

But I've always worked at secondary schools, at which teachers mostly have a degree in the field in which they teach. I don't have much experience with elementary teachers, who, in California, can get a degree in "liberal studies" or some other mishmash and then get a teaching credential.

So it was with some interest that I read this opinion piece:

When I first started teaching in Philadelphia public high schools nearly 40 years ago, there was a ubiquitous joke: If you can't do, then teach. Over the years, the joke has been insightfully amended: If you can't teach, then teach teachers ("Teaching the teachers," last Friday).

"Students in troubled schools typically have the least-qualified teachers," you say. And how true that is - until recently. Last year at Overbrook High School, we had a large group of new teachers come in under the Teach for America program. These were bright, well-educated, enthusiastic young rookies who were immediately successful and are even better this year.

So, what's going on here? These young teachers had degrees in something real - history, English, math, science, etc. - instead of the usual degrees in secondary education. In other words, they actually were smart and knew something - and their students soon realized and respected that. There remains, nonetheless, this stubbornly held belief in college education departments, as well as in each new Philadelphia School District administration, that good teaching is some magical product that percolates from constantly updated "data" and can be imparted to teachers by way of professors, mentors, experts, and constantly rotating nomenclature. What an expensive and distracting myth that has been.

I would state that content knowledge is a necessary, but not sufficient, precondition for good teaching. That, plus overall general intelligence, makes for an even better teacher. Experience counts, too.

Accurate, Insensitive, or Stupid?

I guess the three are not mutually exclusive, but I can see all sides of this issue and have a hard time choosing amongst them. I do know, though, that if the the docent had been white, his actions would have been described as "racist".

During a lesson on the Civil War, tour guide Ian Campbell, who is himself black, made black students pretend to be slaves in front of their white classmates...

One parent said Campbell took his enthusiasm too far when he picked three black elementary school children out of a group of mostly white students to play the role of cotton picking slaves during a his hands-on history lesson. The parent said the students were also made to wear bags used to gather cotton around their necks.

Campbell said, "I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct"...

Although Campbell defends his decision, he said in the future he will take a different approach.

"I'm going to start asking for volunteers instead of calling people from the audience. I think that would make it a lot easier that way if someone is afraid of public speaking or getting up in front of peers it wouldn't embarrass them," Campbell said.

I disagree with the quote from the local NAACP president, quoted at the link.

My Crush, With Eyeliner

I've written before about the "professional crush" I have on Michelle Rhee, the Chancellor (superintendent) of the Washington, DC Public Schools. Well, now it's gotta stay professional:

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has gotten engaged to Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
The Sandwich Islands.

Today's question is:
In what country is the Taj Mahal?

And mark your calendars this Sunday, when we begin a new Theme Week! Near, far, wherever you are, you'll be interested in the upcoming Theme Week!

Parent Conferences

I was in the counseling office today, and our secretary there remarked how I've been lucky lately--she's scheduling plenty of parent conferences, but none of them involved me and/or my students.

That doesn't mean I don't communicate with parents--I answer plenty of emails, and I have so much information available online. But it was funny the secretary made her comment today, because I had a meeting with a parent and student scheduled for right after school. The parent scheduled it with me directly, not through the counseling office, because I was the only teacher that needed to be involved.

My Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Watch this video of Senator Roland Burris (Idiot-IL) and then see if you like my proposed constitutional amendment:

"Any candidate for elected national office shall, in addition to the requirements identified in Articles I and II of this Constitution, be required to pass a written test about the Constitution. The tests and the answers each candidate provides for each question shall be released to the public no later than 60 days prior to the general election. Congress shall make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out this provision."

Then we need the laws governing the testing:

1. Test questions shall not be released, either to the public or to candidates, in advance.
2. Tests will be written by the Attorney General, and will be approved by both the majority and minority leaders in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The test must be approved by February 1st of each calendar year.
3. Tests shall be different each year, no more than 10 of the 25 questions can be the same in two consecutive years, and no more than 12 of the questions can be the same in any three consecutive years.
4. The test should be written at what is generally understood to be the level of an undergraduate constitutional law course.
5. Candidates will take the test at a location that will allow for the administration to be viewed by the public. Candidates will give the public 5 days' notice of the time and location they will take the test.
6. No resource materials are allowed by the candidate during the administration of the test.
7. No specific score is required for passing. The judgement of the voters will determine if a particular candidate is knowledgeable enough to represent them.

I know you can't legislate away stupid politicians, but wouldn't it be nice if a few of them were at least cognizant of the Constitution?

The Innocence Project, Chicago-Style Politics, the White House, and Unfriendly Press

I've written before about the Innocence Project, and the attempted stifling of its work by Cook County (Illinois) prosecutors. In a nutshell, the Innocence Project works to free prisoners it finds have been wrongly convicted; recently, Cook County prosecutors have subpoenaed not only the Project's records but also the academic grades of the students involved in the Project's work.

Cook County is home to Chicago; why should we expect anything less than thuggish behavior from its politicians--especially when one of those politicians occupies the White House?

The Cook County prosecutors' actions are certainly shameful. But they may be excused for thinking that attacks on media critics are, in today's political era, business as usual. Indeed, they need look no farther than the White House, whose occupant has sometimes styled himself the nation's chief media critic.

It is, after all, the Obama administration that declared that its critics at Fox News Channel are not real journalists, and that Fox is not a "legitimate news organization." In doing so—as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs admitted with a reference to "brushback pitches" in baseball—the White House's goal was just the same as that of the prosecutors in the president's native city: To chill criticism, and to get journalists to think twice before stepping up to the plate...

The lesson from the White House is clear: "Real" journalists are those who aren't too critical of it. But America is not Cook County, and it's doubtful that Americans will tolerate the Chicago Way when it comes to journalism.

Let us hope.

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Ecuador.

Today's question is:
What name did Captain (James) Cook give to what we today call the Hawaiian Islands?

Get Your Money Back Before It's Too Late

November 15th is the deadline to request your money back from the California Teachers Association. This year the rebate is about 35%, which is the amount the state and national teachers unions admit to spending on activities not related to representation or collective bargaining (e.g., politics). To get this money back, though, you must resign from the union and request the money back. See this post for an overview and this page from the California Teachers Empowerment Network web site for more specifics. Sample letters are included at the 2nd link.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
“A hundred and ten cornets”.

Today's question is:
The Galapagos Islands are a part of which country?

Carnival of Education

This week's is posted here and includes my post about the myriad tasks teachers perform in addition to actual teaching.

V

Just finished watching the series premiere of the new TV series called V, and my son and I were very impressed. We are apparently not the only ones:

Think about how easily this idea could have gone south. Apply too little creative thought, and this souped-up updating of NBC's much-loved 1983 miniseriescould easily have become the same cheesy, tacky rehash mess that NBC made of Knight Rider. Overthink the project, and you risk bleeding all the fun out of it and creating an overly dark lump like Bionic Woman.

Tonight, writer Scott Peters, whose The 4400 was one of TV's best recent alien-invasion dramas, hits all the right chords. He adds just enough modern media twists and political/sleeper-cell parallels to contemporize the story without drowning it in paranoia. The clothes and hair have changed, no doubt for the better, but the essentials are all in place – including, we can only hope, the visitors' legendary fondness for hamsters.

What he and ABC have landed on is a show in which the effects are good but not dominant, the characters are strong, and the story is (as it was) crystal clear. Space visitors have landed, and it's up to a few hardy souls to save a gullible world.

I never saw the original series, so I have no frame of reference with which to compare this update. Still, I liked the new Bionic Woman and I loved Sci Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica, so perhaps I'm easy to please, but that doesn't take away at all from how much I enjoyed the first hour. Still, I am warned:

As with those Americans looking up at Anna's lovely face on that hovering spaceship HDTV, it would be unwise to be too easily seduced. V opens incredibly well. But so did the original miniseries, only to peter out as an open-ended show. Embrace the show, but keep your eyes open.

Update: To some people, the show is political commentary:

Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: "Why don't you show some respect?!" The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: "Embracing change is never easy."

So, does that sound like anyone you know? Oh, wait -- did I mention the leader is secretly a totalitarian space lizard who's come here to eat us?

Welcome to ABC's "V," the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season. Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it's also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors.

Regarding V, I would like this cigar to be just a cigar.

Honor At Harvard

My, how times have changed:

Most Americans, however, might be hard-pressed to guess another Harvard distinction: the highest number of Medal of Honor recipients outside the service academies...

Harvard's prominence among Medal of Honor recipients is a recent discovery. It grew out of a reference by a speaker during a 2005 commissioning ceremony. The reference intrigued Paul Mawn '63, a retired Navy captain. With a little research, he unearthed the names of all 10—the most of any university outside the United States Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Altogether the Harvard list shows eight Army soldiers and two Marines. It includes the father-and-son recipients Teddy Roosevelt (for San Juan Hill) and Teddy Roosevelt II (for D-Day). Others range from the Army's Leonard Wood, who was awarded the medal for carrying dispatches through Apache territory in the 1880s, to Marine Sherrod Skinner, who threw himself on a grenade in October 1952 during the Korean War, saving the lives of two comrades.

Recognizing the valor of alumni like these men might seem easy. At many college campuses these days, however, questions about what history to honor and how to honor it often come wrapped in current controversies. It's no different at Harvard, where the ceremony for soldiers and Marines past inevitably draws comparisons to Harvard's modern relationship with a United States military that defends the freedoms which make the university's work possible.

In particular, this means the Reserve Officer Training Corps. ROTC was chucked off campus at the height of the Vietnam War and remains officially unrecognized today...

For more than 12 generations, Harvard has been well represented in the uniform of our nation. Let us commend the school for the decision to recognize those members of its family who have earned our nation's highest honor in this service. And let us hope for the day the university finds it within itself to recognize those Harvard men and women who, inspired by this example, now step forward to follow these heroes into that long Crimson line.

From the Wall Street Journal Online.

You Lie!

As if hoping to avoid the outcome, the White House issued a statement after the GOP win in Virginia saying the president was not watching election returns and would not be making any remarks on the results.

link

Principal Injured In Food Fight

A high school principal spent Thursday and Friday at home resting after suffering a head injury breaking up a food fight Wednesday in his campus cafeteria...

"The principal intervened and tried to stop some of the major fighting, and was pushed and fell and was hurt," (district board president) Leland said.

Commenters on the article quoted above add more interesting grist for the mill:

There is a total cover up going on here by the WUSD!
The food fight was staged to draw in the campus security and administration so some pre-planned racially and gang based jumps/fights could occur outside on the quad. It was hispanics vs asians. Go to YouTube and type in RCHS fights and you will find multiple videos taken of these pre-arranged fights. The WUSD is in serious trouble and in fact actively covering up these problems. These things have been going on for years there and especially since the new RCHS opened. There have been almost weekly staged and video recorded fights, food fights and fire alarms pulled.
The fact is that the kids are smarter then the administration and RCHS and other schools in the district are totally unsafe as a result. Is it any wonder why private and charter schools are thriving and the WUSD can't get their test scores up or get out of State mandated Program Improvement status? The complete lack of effective leadership in the WUSD is reason #1

I wonder how close to true this comment is?

Some commenters are taking a "kids will be kids" approach, but if such fights are a common occurrence, then the attitude of this commenter seems more in line with my views:

Our prisons are full of "kids will be kids" who received no discipline while growing up.

And why is there no discipline at this school? Partly because there's no discipline at home--because a bunch of mamby-pamby adults have decided that disciplining children is somehow damaging or abusive to them, so it must not be done (outside of the dreaded "time out"). We have a society of people who will protect their own children from any consequence of their actions. We have school districts for whom the coveted ADA (average daily attendance) dollar, not the safety or education of children, is the primary concern.

You couldn't pay me enough to be a school administrator. Too much responsibility and not enough authority. The job is not worth a donk on the head.

FoxNews Democrats

Democratic pundit Bob Beckel has been under contract with Fox News for six years. And in the midst of the White House war against the cable network, some of his liberal friends think that’s six years too many.

They invited him to lunch the other day for an intervention: Why is Beckel — a true-blue Democrat who worked for Robert F. Kennedy and ran Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign — giving comfort to the enemy?

Beckel’s response: “I talk to more persuadable voters in a month than anybody on MSNBC and CNN talks to in a year.”

link

Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Ur, located in what is today Iraq.

Today's question is:
What immediately followed the 76 trombones which led the big parade?

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
The Dead Sea.

Today's question is:
Abraham, recognized as a patriarch in each of the three major Western monotheistic religions, was born in which city?

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
The Rhine. While the Danube did serve as a limit of the Empire, it separated Rome from more than just Germanic tribes.

Today's question is:
Into what body of water does the Jordan River empty?

Working On The Weekend

I know teachers who go into school to work on the weekend. While I grant that that's better than bringing work home with you, it's still something I can't bring myself to do. I'll stay after school to get work done, but won't give up my weekends.

What do other teachers think?

Environmental Heresies

The man who helped usher in the environmental movement in the 1960s and '70s has been rethinking his positions on cities, nuclear power, genetic modification and geo-engineering. This talk at the US State Department is a foretaste of his major new book, sure to provoke widespread debate.

http://www.ted.com/talks/stewart_brand_proclaims_4_environmental_heresies.html

Poor Frank Rich, He Just Can't Help Himself

Frank Rich is a rabid leftie. Whether it's nature or nurture that made him that way, I cannot say, but he's definitely cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Take yesterday's NYT opinion piece (please!), for example. Republicans who are conservative are Stalinists, according to Rich; he just can't understand why conservative Republicans wouldn't support a RINO for congress. After all, she's a moderate (your opinion may vary). Even though he states "one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly", there are plenty of "statistical measures" that show her as out of the mainstream of the Republican Party.

Scozzafava suspended her campaign yesterday because she was coming in 3rd place, behind both the Conservative Party candidate and the Democrat. At that time she freed her supporters to vote for whichever candidate they deemed best. I cannot find where I read that, and FoxNews reported something a little different:

Scozzafava's team pulled the plug on the campaign after viewing the Siena poll, sources told Fox News, adding that there was no pressure from the National Republican Congressional Committee or the Republican National Committee.

Ken Spain, a spokesman for the NRCC, said Scozzafava will now release her supporters to vote for (Conservative Party candidate) Hoffman.

Guess what's being reported today!

Since announcing the suspension of my campaign, I have thought long and hard about what is best for the people of this District, and how to answer your questions. This is not a decision that I have made lightly.

You know me, and throughout my career, I have been always been an independent voice for the people I represent. I have stood for our honest principles, and a truthful discussion of the issues, even when it cost me personally and politically. Since beginning my campaign, I have told you that this election is not about me; it's about the people of this District.

It is in this spirit that I am writing to let you know I am supporting (Democrat) Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same.

That, Frank Rich, is why Republicans and other conservatives couldn't support her. She's not a Republican or a conservative at all. She just wore the label so she could get elected in a strongly-Republican district. I'm glad she was exposed.

I hope the national Republican Party is watching.

And Frank Rich is a fool.

Update, 11/2/09: Talk about a sore loser (and she didn't even lose, she quit)--Scozzafava is doing robo-calls for Owens, the Democrat. The Republicans dodged a bullet this time.

Lefties are saying that Scozzafava shows there no room in the GOP for a moderate. I say it shows there's no room in the GOP for a Democrat. BTW, how welcome is Joe Lieberman, the Democrats' 2000 vice presidential candidate, in the Democratic Party?

High-tax California Not Worth It?

From an opinion piece in the LA Times, hardly a conservative mouthpiece:

In America's federal system, some states, such as California, offer residents a "package deal" that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. These alternatives, of course, define the basic argument between liberals and conservatives over what it means to get the size and scope of government right.

It's not surprising, then, that there's an intense debate over which model is more admirable and sustainable. What is surprising is the growing evidence that the low-benefit/low-tax package not only succeeds on its own terms but also according to the criteria used to defend its opposite. In other words, the superior public goods that supposedly justify the high taxes just aren't being delivered.

Before you dismiss the piece as conservative propaganda, I might suggest that you read the whole thing and then consider the closing paragraph:

You wouldn't know it from putting up with California's transportation and educational systems, but there actually is a principled, plausible argument to be made for the high-benefit/high-tax model. For the sake of both California and their own political ideals, its advocates ought to be leading the charge against every excess and inefficiency that deprives taxpayers of good value for their dollars. That won't happen until they stand up to their coalition partners by breaking their Faustian political bargain with California's self-serving governmental-industrial complex.

Some might ask: why do you stay in California? Why not just leave? While the question may be a good one, many who would ask such a question aren't truly interested in hearing the answer; rather, they try to use my staying as a foil against me personally. For starters, I don't think I should have to leave; rather, we here in California should clean up this mess. Second, I have personal/family reasons for staying.

But let's talk about the third reason. I benefit from this mess. About 1/4 of all union members in this state are teachers, and the CTA and its local unions have extorted some very nice retirement benefits for me--guaranteed by California taxpayers. (California teachers pay into a state teachers retirement system, not social security.) A few years ago Governor Schwarzenegger tried to reform public employee pay in a special election initiative and that initiative was soundly defeated by those very same taxpayers. Any economist will tell you that rational people will act in their own self-interest, and that is exactly what I am doing.

So while I might fantasize about moving back to Colorado, I'm staying right here. California will continue taking too much of my money today; I just hope I make it back with a cushy retirement.

UC Berkeley Athletics Suck Money Like A Vampire

OK, last night was Halloween so I had to find a way to throw that in there, but the quip isn't far from the truth:

But to the consternation of some faculty members at Berkeley, the university's sports program is running multimillion-dollar deficits -- on top of the annual institutional subsidies -- that are requiring the university to make short-term loans to the sports program. Not only that, but Cal officials revealed that the central administration in 2007 forgave $31 million in previous loans to the athletics department to cover annual deficits.

There's probably never a good time for professors to find out that their athletics programs are draining university funds. But it's hard to imagine a worse time for such revelations at Berkeley, given that faculty and staff members are being furloughed and students are being shut out of enrolling.

This might seem simple enough, what with massive budget cuts here in California, but the story above goes on to tell how difficult it was for professors to get even the most basic information on sports funding out of the public university--often a sign of some kind of cover-up.

And I don't mean just to point fingers at Cal, although that's where the professors did their work. This is no doubt systemic throughout the NCAA:

The fundamental premise of the faculty critique is one that could be leveled at most colleges that play Division I sports: that the athletics department, as an "auxiliary enterprise," in higher education lingo, is supposed to support itself, with the revenues it produces through ticket sales, television deals and fund raising adding up to more than its costs. The problem is that according to a National Collegiate Athletic Association study released this month, virtually none do. Only 25 Division I sports programs turned a profit in 2008 counting only their "generated revenues," the study found, and only 18 had shown a profit consistently for five years.

The vast majority of universities therefore subsidize their sports programs financially in various ways; the median Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) public university provides $8.5 million a year in institutional funds (a combination of direct support, indirect support like waived utility costs and student fees), while the median private institution provides nearly $12.5 million in such funds.

What should be done? I have no problem with extracurricular activities that are self-supporting, but these programs are not self-supporting. What do I, as a California taxpayer, get for subsidizing the athletic programs at the 20+ CSU's and the 10 UC campuses? Should universities focus more on academics?