Strickland and Blackwell in 2006

Ted Strickland ran on a jobs creation platform and a "I'm not Bob Taft" plank. Our unemployment rate has soared since he took over, and he's also switched his ethics (a former Methodist pastor) to support additional gambling, which always hurts the poor more and hasn't done a thing to improve education. But I see he is going to speak on the economy at the Democratic convention. Our unemployment was extremely low (state-wide) in 2006, so I wasn't sure why that was such a big deal, but for Appalachian Ohio and inner city Cleveland I suppose it was higher (for those of you geographically-challenged, we don't have a lot of industry in Appalachia and NE Ohio now that liberals have killed coal and created rust belts) But they breathe clean air. And he couldn't really say, "don't vote for the black guy." Although someone in the MSM did refer to Kenneth Blackwell as "the Republican lawn jockey." Interesting that when Obama slips in the polls, it's racisim. When Strickland pulled ahead of Blackwell, it was just good grass roots organizing. And just who are the Democrats calling racist? Wouldn't it be their own party members, since Republicans hadn't planned to vote for Obama anyway? I'm just saying. . .

Obama at the library

The UAPL has 15 copies of Obama's Audacity, and 12 copies of his Dreams, and 8 copies (6 titles) of juvy-groovy pro-Obama books. The newest, #1 Obama-critical title, called Obama Nation, has one copy on-order with 9 requests. I don't know what the tipping point is for ordering second copies, but the standard appears to vary depending on the political slant of the title. There were always multiple copies (one had 16) of anti-Bush books available, but few copies of any alternative view. Same way with conservative Christian books in general. But I've blogged about that before (see my list). Librarians are so liberal, they fall off the cliff for whatever Democrat is running. If I want to read Obama Nation, I'll probably have to buy it. I think that's why they don't get many requests. We get tired of waiting and go to Barnes and Noble. They may be liberal, but they're not stupid.

Portable pensions--we need them

Yes, just ask your union rep who should control your pension. I'm sure they'll be impartial.

"SEIU Promotes Risky Pension Plans

Last month the Service Employees International Union sponsored “Take Back the Economy” rallies in 100 cities, supporting a largely Democratic economic agenda. Included in the union’s wish-list is support for “defined-benefit” pension plans, which SEIU advocates over “defined-contribution” plans for workers. The latter setup, which includes 401(k) plans, allows workers to make regular contributions toward their pension funds—contributions which can be carefully invested and transported from job to job. To the contrary, defined-benefit plans are usually managed by union officers who can steer funds to projects requiring union-only contracts—but not necessarily good investments. The SEIU National Industry Pension Fund, for instance, is underfunded by about 44 percent despite a well-funded plan for SEIU officers, reports Brian Johnson of the Alliance for Worker Freedom." Capital Research Center Newsletter

Kind of reminds me of the well-funded, congress on both sides of the aisle who didn't want to see sound changes in Social Security but had their own pension plan that closely resembled what Bush proposed for the rest of us. When the people have more, the politicans have less.

Can you save the environment by

Making jewelry from used skateboards

or

Chair seats from recycled organic t-shirts?

Paying $200 for a handbag made by West Bengal artisans

Or

$285 for eco-silver earrings?

Wearing an organic wool poncho trimmed with vegan silk

Or

Recycled glass necklaces from wine, beer, and water bottles?

Eating simply with organic pecan bars

Or

Raw cane candy?
Of course not, but it will sell a magazine. This is the newest item in my collection, Boho, Issue No. 1, Fall 2008. Complete with 1970s colors, today's spokesmodels, and canvas bags for shopping. Every marketing technique has been recycled and is guaranteed to go for the green.

Golden boy

You might think ADHD kids can't focus, but that's not necessarily so. Some focus almost exclusively on one particular thing to the detriment of social skills or academic learning. Michael Phelps, according to his mother, has ADHD and as a child was medicated. And this is just a guess, but once she found that swimming could grab his attention, and helped him channel that energy, they were off to the Olympics. Having exceptionally long arms and being very tall with big feet, probably didn't hurt. With 13 gold medals, he's won more gold than any athlete in Olympics history.

I watched an interview with her this morning, and she still maintains a web site for parents of ADHD children. I'm against medicating kids--Thomas Edison was ADHD, too--thank goodness no one medicated him. Maybe Mom or the teacher just need to take something. Michael's mother says he was diagnosed at 9 and went off medication at 11, and that he didn't use it in the summer or on week-ends. I'm not a doctor, but most medications need to be taken consistently. If they noticed any improvement in his behavior, I'm guessing it was the placebo effect. But the medication gurus are pushing their stimulants based on the Phelps case in their publications. Unfortunate.

Turning P-Green

As in pooper-scooper.
Politicians.
Pharisees.
Pile-on.
Peremptory.
Professionals.
Preaching.
Petroleum-free.
Products.
Planning.
Protection.
Pathological.
Program.
Pervasive.
Parade.
Pell-Mell.
Projects.
Plants.
Parrot.
Party-line.
Pedant.
Pestilence.
Pesticide-ban.
Positivism.
Profit.
Pick-pocket.
Pious.
Pitbull.
Performance.
Paranoia.
Productivity.
Passion.
Paternalism.
Problem.
Prove-it.
Purpose Driven Church.
Pantheism.
Perfidy.
Peddle-power.
Prius.
Procedures.
Protesters.
Packaging.
Palaver.
Peevish.
Panacea.
Pandora's box.
Paper work.
Pay load.

Rick Warren and the campaign

When I heard what Warren planned to do I told my husband that it appears he wants to be the next Billy Graham (he always met with presidents regardless of their faith). A friend of mine from high school, let's call him Dave since that's his name, sends a Bible study a few times a week via e-mail to various home boys and girls. Today he commented on Warren's work and prominence. Here's my take, revised from my e-mail to Dave.

Our home congregation (UALC, Columbus, OH) is a believing church and used Warren's Purpose Driven Life as a sermon series about 4 years ago. I read and liked it, for the most part. I compare it to a fad diet--works for awhile and then you yo-yo back to your previous weight. I think for believers it is icing on the cake--can remind them of some things more traditional Bible preachers either forget or don't emphasize. But for unbelievers it is really loaded with fat and empty calories and they could be misled with good feelings and great intentions, thinking it is of God.

I'm analytical--if I don't hear or read some version of "Did you know Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose from the grave and you can too" early in the sermon or book, then I look for what the speaker/writer is building on. Usually it is a version of good works (environmentalism, humanism, political activism, human relationships). Most people desperately want to believe in something, and when it isn't the saving work of Jesus, it tends to be some type of trendy prayer, or human effort (fight global warming), or multiple gods. However, I have to remember that just as there are multipe learning styles, so there are many methods through which God reaches people depending on their personalities and emotional make-up. I've heard plenty of well-intentioned, Biblical sermons that could drive a person into a long nap. Yes, God could reach you in your dreams, but probably not if you're snoring through the sermon. I love certain programs on Catholic radio and TV, but when it's a panel investigating the miracles of praying to Mary or a particular saint, I reach for the remote. It's not for me. Warren just doesn't fit the needs of many Christians; he's Jesus-lite.

Rick Warren has a huge church. I hope that after he draws them down the saw dust trail with the preaching, music and programming, there is a sound small group to disciple the new members or visitors with solid Bible teaching. I've heard there is--sort of bait and switch. The only problem I have with that method, and I've told my own pastors this, you never know when you're in that pulpit (or even conversation) whether this is your last or only chance to reach that person, and God has put him there that Sunday for you to witness to the Good News.

Lakeside 2008, Week 8

It's been a wonderful, music filled week. Last night was the Celtic Tenors, Matthew Gilsenan, James Nelson, and Daryl Simpson. If you ever have the chance to attend one of their concerts, do go! From here I think they went to Milwaukee. A lovely mix of traditional, Gaelic, American, opera, and pop. Handsome and elegantly dressed, too, which after a summer of seeing baggy shorts and flip flops was a treat.

Tonight is Phil Dirt and the Dozers, always a favorite just about anywhere in Ohio. For them, I don't expect a fashion show. They formed in 1981 in Columbus, and they do perform all over the country, but Ohio is their home where they take us back to the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This photo is a bit dated; here's the bio info on the current group. Their drummer died last year. A really fabulous young guy joined them in 2006 whose wife is university faculty in Columbus.

On Tuesday we enjoyed tremendously the piano duets of husband and wife Pierre van der Westhuizen and Sophia Grobler, both from South Africa and who serve on the faculty of Heidelberg College when not touring.

Monday evening was the Lakeside Symphony Candlelight Showcase of homes although we didn't attend. It's a fundraiser. Several Lakeside homeowners host a small group of musicians and guests. People (180 homes this year) also light up their homes with Christmas lights and decorations. It's a festive time!

I skipped Kathy Mattea on Saturday, a CW singer and shill for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." At Lakeside we like our social activism from the pulpit (smile). My husband said there was nothing in her concert about her politics, but you never know when you might have a Dixie Chix eruption.

Is McCain an Obama mole?

Barack "Born-alive" Obama voted against protection for born alive babies when he was an Illinois senator, despite the fact that the bill did not interfere with "a woman's right to choose" and posed no threat to Roe v. Wade. Imagine. Gasping, struggling, reaching and tiny--turn your back and pitch her. Most people wouldn't treat a dog that way. But oddly enough, as the DNC scrambles to enfold its own lefty Catholics into the party tent, John McCain is waffling on abortion in his selection of a VP in an attempt to gather up disaffected Hillaryites and nervous-about-race Democrats, most of whom are pro-abortion. So McCain is dumping on conservatives again; why should we believe him on anything else he's said? I always suspected he was just a middle of the road, fence-sitting Democrat, but now he's starting to look like an Obama secret ops guy.

Politicians are one sick bunch. A pox on all their campaigns and bimbo eruptions.

Isn't it puzzling that unborn babies have worth and value if they are "wanted," but not if they are "unwanted?" Some editor slipped up in this AP story. Usually they call the unborn baby, a fetus.

Horrified onlookers in New York City's Bronx borough lifted a 5-ton school bus off a pregnant woman who was pinned underneath. Doctors performed an emergency Caesarean section and saved her baby, a 3-pound, 6-ounce boy. The mother died shortly after his birth.

Casual Friday

says the Well Dressed Librarian is not the day to wear your flip flops--that's for running to the store. And don't wear socks, or pick at your toes; wash your feet, get a pedicure, etc. Toe jewelry won't help dirty toes. This guy knows his stuff. Better yet, IMO, don't wear them in public.

Misleading us on military deaths

Perhaps you've seen it. The e-mail that's circulating comparing the number of military deaths during the Clinton years compared to the Bush years. Pitch it. Someone in the process of forwarding, or just having an agenda of his own, has reworked the numbers. Lowered the Bush years numbers and increased the Clinton years numbers. Look at the Congressional Research Service link for the original document, American War and Military Operations Casualties:
Lists and Statistics. However, it is still surprising, and our media continue to mislead us. Table 4 and Table 5 gives the numbers of U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths, 1980-2006 (as of Nov 22, 2007, and these numbers are constantly revised based on new information if the cause of death was unclear).

The numbers are startling. Military deaths have been much higher during non-conflict, non-war years, like comparing 2001-2006 (Bush) with 1981-1986 (Reagan). Deaths were much, much higher in the 80s and the military was also larger. It's the cause of death--homicide, suicide, accidents, and illnesses that bumps up the deaths of yesterday's U.S. military, whether Carter, Reagan or Clinton were Presidents. I was shocked looking at these tables. Homicide was almost halved during the Reagan years, but is still much lower now. Remember all the suicide stories we've been treated to during the dinner hour? 269 in 1986 and 192 in 2006. In 1985, deaths from accidents were 1476, and in 2005 deaths from accidents were 644. Another table I looked at showed the amputation ratio per injury, and that was way down.

What this report shows is a military that's safer, healthier, better cared for, better trained and more highly motivated to defend their country and support their Commander in Chief. It also shows that our news sources, and both presidential campaigns, continue to paint this war with a brush dipped in careless abandon and wild hyperbole. Even so, read the real document, and ignore the stats in the e-mail.

HT to Murray who pointed me to this interesting document.

Genealogy class

We've been having a great genealogy class at Lakeside this week, and I've been checking out some sites. Our instructor said what started as a puddle (genealogy sites and information on the internet) is now an ocean. I came across this quote (without attribution) in the Columbine Genealogical and Historical Society Newsletter (Littleton, CO), 2nd quarter 2007:

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- "WOW"-- What a Ride!"

And even then, it isn't all there. Not even close. I didn't see our Lakeside archives and newsletter among the Ottawa County Ohio resources nor the Brethren Heritage Center among the Montgomery County Ohio resources.

Obama's new taxes

A blogger at Soballiance (Ohio conservative bloggers) responded to Obama’s man in Ohio, Aaron Pickrell (governor's staff), who attempted to explain Obama’s windfall tax plan in a mailing. I agree with the blogger . This is no plan. This is a tax on us, especially retirees and anyone who drives a car or truck or uses merchandise that is transported on a road or through the air, or who has a home or business that needs heat, or uses anything made of plastic or rubber, etc.

First, taxing a company is not an energy plan. You'd have to be a plain fool to think otherwise. Second, do you think that taxing a successful company will make them want to provide more product or less product. Third, at what level does profit become a wind-fall? Will Obama try to use a percentage of revenue, or just some arbitrary number? If percentage, what rate? Coca-cola, Pepsi, Wal-mart and many other companies have a higher profit margin than nearly all of the oil companies. Moreover, will Obama pay this windfall tax on the profits he made on selling his books? Or how about the professional athletes who make tens of millions for playing a few games a year, or endorsing products? Will they be taxed too? If it's by number (some arbitrary dollar amount), do you think that would provide an incentive to earn more money or less money? I don't know if you know this, but oil companies employ a whole lot of people. So with higher taxes or lower profits, that's less money to employ workers. Not to mention that a majority of Exxon (in particular) stock is owned by pension funds and individuals through mutual funds and 401(k)'s. So Obama's "windfall" profit tax is actually a tax on working class Americans.

And it seems the left isn't happy with oil money, no matter what--whether costs are up or down, ours or Iraq's, according to an editorial in today's WSJ

Among the antiwar faithful, every improvement in Iraq is still bad news, even if -- or especially if -- it's good news for the U.S. So it is with the political eruption over Iraq's budget surplus.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Iraqi government generated some $96 billion in revenues since 2005, when Baghdad started managing its own budget, with about 94% coming from crude oil exports. Now Democrats and a few Republicans are complaining that Iraq is "pocketing huge profits" without spending enough on reconstruction. The GAO figures the surplus could run as high as $50 billion this year, though the real figure will be far lower once parliament resolves ongoing budget negotiations. The Iraq surplus

If the economy improves, it's bad news for Democrats; if the price of oil goes down, it's bad news for Democrats. What's good for the nation is bad for Democrats. So guess who's throwing a monkey wrench into the works and then promises to fix it?

Eating with Michael Phelps

Our eleven gold medals swimmer, Michael Phelps, eats. A lot. Like 8,000-10,000 calories a day. But he also swims about five hours a day, and doesn't seem to do much except watch TV and play with his dog, if the show I saw on NBC is accurate. I guess that puts a lie to you can't exercise it off.



The current recommendation for overweight and obese women is 30 minutes of moderate physical activity several days a week, or 150 minutes per week. Unfortunately, new research says that if you want to lose weight, that won't do it. "Overweight and obese women need to exercise at least 275 minutes per week and reduce energy intake to sustain a weight loss of more than 10% over two years, according to a new report in Archives of Internal Medicine. Story here.

To celebrate with Michael, for lunch I had corn on the cob, chips dipped in home made zucchini relish (My Mother's Market, 7610 Ransom Rd., Sandusky, Ohio 44870) and a brownie with cream cheese frosting.

Bad, bad blogger chick.

Naked Ladies in Lakeside

Today our Naked Ladies have opened. It's a sign of mid-August in Lakeside. This isn't the view from my window (which has mini-blinds and part of our TV antenna tower in view) and is by Alexandra Rauh. I have some photos of ours, but this is so much better!

Finding the Aaronsohns

When my cousin Gayle sent her weekly e-letter this week, she noted the Gutenberg site, a digital collection of literature that predates the web, at least I remember reading it in the early 90s when everything on the net was text. She provided the link so I clicked over and started to browse, finding the Aaronsohns, first Alexander's memoir in 1916 of being a Jew born in Palestine conscripted into the Turkish military, then through Google a recent book about Sarah, his sister who was a spy against the Turks in Palestine, and then finally through a blogger, an account of a popular Israeli children's book about Sarah.

Title: With the Turks in Palestine; Author: Alexander Aaronsohn; Written in 1916 From the introduction which this week has a familiar ring as we watch what's happening in Georgia:

"While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and dreams of liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little country the soul of which is torn to pieces—a little country that is so remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard.

It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw Abraham build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and loveliness,—a land of promise never to be attained,—the country that gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit. Palestine!"

Then when I googled the author and worked through bunches of wikis and reviews all using the same information, I came across a review of a book by Hillel Halkin.

Halkin in a reworked and stunning new edition of The Liar, [which had been serialized] "A Strange Death" (Public Affairs, 400 pages, $26). He tells the story as he learned it, starting with the day in 1970 that he and his wife, Marcia, arrived in the town of Zichron Ya'akov in northern Israel. . . the story of a Jewish spy ring that aided the British against the Turks in Palestine during World War I. It was an incredible conspiracy, led by a beautiful woman, Sarah Aaronsohn.

And Miriam Shaviv writes that he is on sacred ground because

Of-course, no matter how original, provoking and sophisticated Halkin's book is, for an entire generation of Israeli kids, the only book which will ever really count on the subject is Sarah Giborat Nili ('Sarah the Heroine of Nili), Dvorah Omer's heart-breaking account of the affair for children. I first learned Hebrew by reading an abridged version in easy language, and still remember getting upset over Avshalom Feinberg's death. I hope Halkin knows he's treading on hallowed ground!

Then I found another book (via Google) about the Aarohnsons just published last year, called The Aarohnson Saga, which covers his post-war Zionist activities and death.

Isn't the internet fun! You could go to Gutenberg.org every day, pick an author you've never read, and then take a peek at how she or he has fared over time.

There are also digitized sheet music and audio books, so I also stopped to listen while looking around, although Jane Austen wasn't within my theme of WWI spies.

Hanging Chad outcome again?

The Democrats created the hanging chad fiasco in Florida in 2000 by claiming their own registered voters were confused and officials would need to guess at intentions in a recount. And a recount of the recount of the intentions.

Lawyers flocked;
voters mocked;
Democrats squawked.

Now their state rules and their own inaction could mess them up in trying to elect Obama. If McCain wins Florida, no problem. But if Obama wins and the Democrats haven't gotten their certification of electors to the governor by Sept.1, I'm sure we'll see another Supreme Court trying to decide their intent instead of their acts. Tallahassee Democrat explains.

HT Taxman

Update: What's happening with the challenges to Obama's birth certificate?

I ignored the Edwards rumors when I first heard them (no one would be THAT low, I thought), so decided to take a look at the Obama constitutional residency requirements. Some of the rumors are quite wild and salacious. Seems Daily Kos actually posted a fake COLB (certificate of live birth) to squelch the rumors, but if it is fake, it only inflamed things. Obama could settle this. Just present his original birth certificate (although to whom I have no idea). I'm in a genealogy class this week. People do this all the time. His would have to be requested by him (privacy laws) since you can't just get the documents of living people, which would be the first question I'd ask Kos. Lots of birth certificates have errors. When the grave marker was to be prepared for my sister, it was discovered her birth certificate didn't match the name she'd used all her life. My father's read: Baby Boy, with no first name. It was never filled in by the doctor who delivered him. Maybe Obama did this while on his Hawaiian vacation this week. McCain was also born outside the continental U.S. but both his parents were citizens. If only one parent is a natural born citizen, then there are additional guidelines, like length of residency of the parent. And Hawaii wasn't a state during part of this period of his mother's required residency. At least I think that's the drift. I doubt that illegitimacy is the issue, or a middle name of Muhammed, speculation I've also seen at blogs. These days, Hussein isn't exactly a winner, and no one cares if your parents were legally married in 1961. At least it doesn't matter if born in 2008.

Lakeside 2008, what's happening in week 8

It seems that all we've done lately is eat! The Society of Old Salts had its regatta and dinner at the pavilion this past Saturday. My husband wasn't the oldest, but he sure was the most gutsy. The regatta rules allow anyone--from the ones sailing for 30-40 years to the instructors to the athletic teen-helpers to enter. You could almost photocopy the winners list from year to year. My husband entered doubles with an 18 year old college freshman from Bloomington, Illinois. They met in class last summer. I was standing with her parents as we watched them stranded in "irons" when the clip that holds the halyard broke. That put them last in that event, even though they weren't last in the other two races. But as another more experienced sailor said, "You beat everyone who didn't even try."

Then the same group gathered at someone's cottage last evening for more food and fun. Friday afternoon there was a reception at the Rhein Center with yummy treats. Yesterday after church at the Pavilion we ate breakfast at The Patio; tonight the artists/instructors from the Rhein Center are gathering at Juliann's home for a pot-luck; tomorrow night we're have Jim and Marian the Librarian over for dessert; Thursday there's a fund raiser at the hotel that's a dinner--I think it's for new park furniture; then there's the ice cream shops and snack outlets, and on and on. My jeans are getting tight.

This week I'm taking a Writers Workshop with Patricia Mote 9:30-11:30, M-F and Genealogy Basics with Detra 3:30 M-T at the Fountain Inn. She's an instructor with the LDS and has loads of experience. So I won't be able to take Rusti's class on art restoration for the 3rd time because there is a scheduling conflict, or the pastels class which are also at 9:30. This week is the 10th Annual Interfaith Week with seminars at 10:30 and 1:30 on prayer in the various traditions.

If your city were dying?

The Forbes top ten list of dying cities includes four in Ohio and two in Michigan. The first half of the decade, they were growing and the unemployment rate was extremely low. Since the mortgage melt down and the high gas prices, these cities, all linked to automotive jobs, have suffered not only job loss, but population loss. If they were your city and you the mayor, you probably wouldn't discourage business by promising them a "windfall profit tax," would you? If there was an oil, natural gas or coal cache in your city park, you'd most likely vote to drill, aesthetics be damned. All politics are local and you'd be out of a job by special election if you acted so stupid. But Obama wants to put the whole nation on that list. Drive out the successful energy companies, the folks who will also invest in alternative technologies, because they make too much money (i.e., they are too successful) and because you are beholden up to your unusual ears to the e-fundie-mentalists. Forbid the one effort that will ease the gasoline crisis and restore businesses and workers that depend on it. Dear Readers, and those of you like Sununu who skip the good parts, don't believe for a minute the nonsense about the number of years it takes. Ask any speculator how fast the prices would fall if drilling next week in ANWR were announced. Not a drop would need to flow before you'd see the pump price dip to reasonable. Barack Obama is so committed to weakening the economy so it will be "fair" for everyone, he can't be truthful about how far down his plan will bring us.

Ohio Update: Four boys and one girl were born in Toledo hospitals Friday and Saturday, all apparently to married parents, going by the names. Congratulations to these new parents who are giving their little ones a good start. There are no guarantees, of course, but children of married parents have a much better chance of NOT growing up in poverty.

Jill and Timothy Thuston, Maumee, boy, Saturday.
Sandra and Edward House, Toledo, boy, Saturday.
Amy and Larry Ward, Sylvania, boy, Saturday.
Bonita and Dwayne Moreheard, Toledo, boy, Saturday.
Megan and Tray Boze, Toledo, girl, Friday.

Just change the rules

I haven’t talked to anyone, conservative, liberal or libertarian, who has been happy with NCLB. Never fear, if you don’t like the outcome, someone will suggest just changing the rules. From OSUToday:

Up to three-quarters of U.S. schools deemed failing based on achievement test scores would receive passing grades if evaluated using a less biased measure, a new study suggests. OSU researchers developed a new method of measuring school quality based on schools' actual impact on learning. The impact measure more accurately gauges what is going on in the classroom, which is the way schools really should be evaluated if we're trying to determine their effectiveness, said Douglas Downey, co-author of the study and OSU professor of sociology. Read full story

Having school administrators be held accountable for the performance of children is not a new idea. It’s just become quite unpopular because it’s GWB’s pet program (The Bush administration has spent more money on education than any previous administration, and with no more success, because the federal government shouldn‘t be reaching into the the classroom to tweak education). Schools always take the credit when Worthington or Upper Arlington’s children do well in the national tests (suburbs of Columbus with many business and faculty families). No one wants the other award. Failure or Falling Behind. We all know the foremost reasons for success are genes and home life. Good schools and committed teachers can take that combination and run with it. Even then, some won’t succeed; and a few missing one or two will, surprising everyone. Married parents are a huge factor in school success because marriage determines the income, neighborhood and consistency that children need to do well in school.

Sociologists and educators will continue to sop up grants in an effort to make it something else. Like blaming the president, or you and me. Or past wrongs. Or lead paint. Or the neighborhood. They should spend their time studying the children who make it despite all odds. Then work from that instead of studying failure and building one more schoolhouse of cards. Oh, they’ve done that already? There are schools that succeed with minority and low income children from single parent homes? Vouchers? School choice? Parental involvement? Uniforms? Discipline? High expectations? Well, golly.

Another view: NCLBlog
A Baltimore teacher More Humbly did I teach