A conservative who veers to the left is "growing," "sensitive to complexities," "nuanced," and "puts public interest ahead of ideology."
A conservative must not "impose their views" on the rest of society," and is suspect as a candidate for public life if those views are formed by Christianity (but not Islam, Buddism or Judaism).
Choice is good if killing an unborn child, but bad if the child's mother wants him to attend an alternative, charter school.
Murders at Ft. Hood trial of Muslim doctor need to be on the 5th or 6th page of the newspaper; bullying of a gay teen deserves front page story.
Serial murders of women that go on for years are just a crime, but a murder of a homosexual is a hate crime.
Disinformation in marketing by a for-profit company needs congressional hearings; disinformation in inflation (3000%) of illegal abortion death statistics to get Roe v. Wade passed was necessary for the greater good.
A gay politician like Barney Frank who is crooked and lies, whose partners have loose lips, is lauded and applauded, but a gay politican who is Republican like Mark Foley is hounded out of office. If a gay Democrat harrasses a staff member, it's business as usual; if a gay Republican does it he's a pervert especially if he's been in the closet. The victim, apparently, matters not at all.
Liberals push condoms, not marriage and fatherhood, and are very critical of conservatives who push chastity as a solution to poverty.
Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle, Republican candidates who have never spent a penny of your tax dollars or declared a war lost while our soldiers are still in harm's way are kooks and radicals, but Harry Reid, Chris Coons and Nancy Pelosi, entrenched Democrats, are just fine and trustworthy.
If bank employees don't read all the documents in a foreclosure, they are evil tools of the fat cat bankers; if congressmen or the President don't read a healthcare or a banking bill of 2,000+ pages, well, that's just the cost of doing the government's business.
More to come.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Pot to Kettle--Arne Duncan to investigate "for profit" education
Don't you just love it? With most of the failing students in the U.S.A., including here in Columbus where drop-out rates are deflated and graduation rates are inflated (only include those who started 12th grade) and even our local Columbus Dispatch doesn't really investigate the figures, Arne Duncan, Obama's Secretary of Education decides that for-profit schools need to show they are worthy of taxpayer money,
And here's a press release aboutcollusion collaboration between Arne Duncan and the AFT and NEA, to restore the public image of teachers' unions. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, as the saying goes.
At least Arne Duncan sends his children to Arlington (VA) schools and not to private school like most legislators, the president, and government high level employees. Arlington's schools are perfectly fine, so he's not making any sacrifice, but could he make this attack against for-profit education if his daughter were in private school?
- "These schools and their investors benefit from billions of dollars in taxpayers subsidies, and in return, taxpayers have a right to know that all of these programs are providing solid preparation for a job," Press Release, Sept. 24
And here's a press release about
At least Arne Duncan sends his children to Arlington (VA) schools and not to private school like most legislators, the president, and government high level employees. Arlington's schools are perfectly fine, so he's not making any sacrifice, but could he make this attack against for-profit education if his daughter were in private school?
Monday, October 18, 2010
How to Nudge Consumers to Be Environmentally Friendly
It wasn't so long ago we were being urged to switch to plastic bags to save trees, and to use electric wall mounted hand dryers that blow fecal material around rest rooms to save the environment. Some of them can damage the ear drums--sound like jet planes taking off. The recycling instructions for paper and plastic are so complicated, I just don't bother any more. Now we're not supposed to use any bags at all, except those we bring with us. We Bruces use up most of our plastic bags--we have a cat, and we have paper, food and plastic garbage, books that need to be transported in the rain, and goods donated to worthy causes. Most plastic bags these days are so thin that we can only use half of what I bring home.
This summer at Lakeside, the association was selling reusable canvas bags for us to take to the farmers' market. Problem for me was they were made in China where they still use dirty coal.
Does peer pressure work? All your neighbors are . . . yada yada. I liked this response
This summer at Lakeside, the association was selling reusable canvas bags for us to take to the farmers' market. Problem for me was they were made in China where they still use dirty coal.
Does peer pressure work? All your neighbors are . . . yada yada. I liked this response
- "When George Binns, a retired engineer in Beverly, Mass., received an OPower report from his utility showing that he was using 64% more energy than his most efficient neighbors, he resolved to do exactly nothing. "I'm not a traveling man," he says. "I don't go on guilt trips.""
Bloodlands -- new book on Stalin and Hitler
To the victor go the archives (or history telling), but I don't think I'll read this one. The review is stunning enough. I was surprised to learn that Germany only had a small population of Jews--about 400,000. Most of the Jews the Nazis killed were in territories controlled by the Soviet Union, however, Joseph Stalin had started what Hitler tried to finish.
National Socialism and Russian Communism were flip sides of the same coin of Karl Marx, who is alive and well in American politics of 2010. Hitler wanted to control all of Europe; Stalin all the world. When the war was over and Russia was our ally so we could defeat the Germans, FDR handed the countries Stalin had helped to decimate back to him. When we were in Estonia in 2006, the saddest thing we saw was a small museum about the Soviet occupation of Estonia. Those poor people. They kept waiting for the Americans. They were so sure they would come.
The display of strength on October 2 at the Washington Mall of the U.S. Communists was stunning. Perhaps there aren't enough people alive today who remember Russia in the 1930s and 1940s and what Communism really is.
National Socialism and Russian Communism were flip sides of the same coin of Karl Marx, who is alive and well in American politics of 2010. Hitler wanted to control all of Europe; Stalin all the world. When the war was over and Russia was our ally so we could defeat the Germans, FDR handed the countries Stalin had helped to decimate back to him. When we were in Estonia in 2006, the saddest thing we saw was a small museum about the Soviet occupation of Estonia. Those poor people. They kept waiting for the Americans. They were so sure they would come.
The display of strength on October 2 at the Washington Mall of the U.S. Communists was stunning. Perhaps there aren't enough people alive today who remember Russia in the 1930s and 1940s and what Communism really is.
- "Among his other goals in "Bloodlands," Mr. Snyder attempts to put the Holocaust in context—to restore it, in a sense, to the history of the wider European conflict. This is a task that no historian can attempt without risking controversy. Yet far from minimizing Jewish suffering, "Bloodlands" gives a fuller picture of the Nazi killing machine. Auschwitz, which wasn't purely a "death camp," lives on in our memory due in large part to those who lived to tell the tale. Through his access to Eastern European sources, Mr. Snyder also takes the reader to places like Babi Yar, Treblinka and Belzec. These were Nazi mass-murder sites that left virtually no survivors.
Yet Mr. Snyder's book does make it clear that Hitler's "Final Solution," the purge of European Jewry, was not a fully original idea. A decade before, Stalin had set out to annihilate the Ukrainian peasant class, whose "national" sentiments he perceived as a threat to his Soviet utopia. The collectivization of agriculture was the weapon of choice. Implemented savagely, collectivization brought famine. In the spring of 1933 people in Ukraine were dying at a rate of 10,000 per day.
Stalin then turned on other target groups in the Soviet Union, starting with the kulaks—supposedly richer farmers, whom Stalin said needed to be "liquidated as a class"—and various ethnic minorities. In the late 1930s, Mr. Snyder argues, "the most persecuted" national group in Europe wasn't—as many of us would assume—Jews in Nazi Germany, a relatively small community of 400,000 whose numbers declined after the imposition of race laws forced many into emigration at a time when this was still possible. According to Mr. Snyder, the hardest hit at that time were the 600,000 or so Poles living within the Soviet Union."
I find it distressing that loyal party Democrats don't see who is absconding with their party. The crowd wasn't huge on October 2, but it was blantantly anarchist and communist; Democrats, particularly Jewish Democrats, need to give each other a kick in the pants, then kick out the Communists, George Soros, MoveOn dot org from their leadership.
Maureen Dowd and Ann Coulter
I've never cared much for Ann Coulter. She's a true sister under the skin of Maureen Dowd, who is so sarcastic, full of hyperbole, and nasty, she's really hard to read. Ann's not that bad, but close. I'll bet they go out drinking together and yuk it up over their silly fans.
Tony's Ready to Move the Party
My site meter rolled over to 385,000 yesterday primarily because I wrote about a HGTV program which featured Tony Chau of Las Vegas buying and remodeling a home in Hollywood. That entry is getting about 35 hits a day. I think most people are looking for an easy way to make millions on the internet, and Tony apparently did that. I don't know if HGTV even uses real names--after all, it is a "reality" show.
Collecting My Thoughts: Tony's Ready to Move the Party from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with the purchase of a Hollywood Hills Vacation Home
Collecting My Thoughts: Tony's Ready to Move the Party from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with the purchase of a Hollywood Hills Vacation Home
What are some practical principles for using social media?
The current issue of Christian Research Journal has a thoughtful article by Douglas Groothuis, "Understanding Social Media," in which he analyses the benefits and dangers of Facebook and other social media like MySpace and LinkedIn. He writes on a blog (which I don't think he classifies as "social"):
Today's WSJ has a front page article about Facebook Apps (Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc.) and the sharing of users' identifying information. I don't use the apps, but I am "overexposed" in the sense that Facebook is so easy to upload what I'm reading and comments are easy, that I spend way too much time on it.
So my new Facebook/Internet rules are
1. Do not log on before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m.
2. Commit to finish my hobby blog--then sell the hobby (a collection of over 100 first issue journals and magazines dating from the early 1970s).
3. Always be polite and kind in commenting on posts I don't agree with.
4. Rely more on face to face interaction rather than faceless social media.
5. Promote more artists, authors and small businesses that I like.
If this is successful, I'll add more, like no logging on before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. But cutting back on social media is probably like dieting. Don't buy that gorgeous dress in a smaller size as incentive, or it will hang forever in your closet.
- "things like Facebook and Myspace, although that’s declining in influence, have dangers, and part of that is what you are saying, overexposure, not being careful, not exercising confidentiality, there’s the danger of gossip, rumors, and so on, and also the general tendency to simply be very superficial and very quick to speak. Scripture says not to be quick to speak, but to be quick to listen, and slow to judge. And the Book of Proverbs repeatedly says that a wise man or a wise woman holds his or her peace but a fool proclaims his folly. . . "
Today's WSJ has a front page article about Facebook Apps (Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc.) and the sharing of users' identifying information. I don't use the apps, but I am "overexposed" in the sense that Facebook is so easy to upload what I'm reading and comments are easy, that I spend way too much time on it.
So my new Facebook/Internet rules are
1. Do not log on before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m.
2. Commit to finish my hobby blog--then sell the hobby (a collection of over 100 first issue journals and magazines dating from the early 1970s).
3. Always be polite and kind in commenting on posts I don't agree with.
4. Rely more on face to face interaction rather than faceless social media.
5. Promote more artists, authors and small businesses that I like.
If this is successful, I'll add more, like no logging on before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. But cutting back on social media is probably like dieting. Don't buy that gorgeous dress in a smaller size as incentive, or it will hang forever in your closet.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Hype of ARRA: shovel ready jobs created and saved
Now that even the President as admitted (New York Times) that there never were "shovel ready" projects, the hype and tripe we were fed the past 2 years sound even worse. Plus the subtle message is that the government was doing nothing before Obama descended from the lofty heights of white guilt to save us, despite the fact that President Bush was the biggest spender on social programs in all the history of the U.S., only to be outdone by the raging trillion dollar deficits of Obama!
The above quote came from the National Eye Institute where I was researching the number of Americans at risk for glaucoma over the age of 40. When I tried to check on how much of ARRA for the NIH (over $10 billion) has been spent, I found "spin doctors" from left wing think tanks and golly gee-whiz writers for government agencies all saying the same thing about saved or created.
Look folks, the health research industry (mainly universities) lives on government grants--this was a huge infusion for NIH, but I seriously doubt hiring a temp researcher or newly minted doctor on a project started 5-10 years ago really "created" anything. The time and effort to solicit and process the grant proposals, plus the special quasi-government companies that sprang up to do all this probably ate up 50% of it. All these jobs are temporary--a bit more glamorous than FDR's CCC camps of the 1930s, but from them we at least got some parks and roads.
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act is an extraordinary response to a crisis unlike any since the Great Depression, and includes measures to modernize our nation's infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need."
The above quote came from the National Eye Institute where I was researching the number of Americans at risk for glaucoma over the age of 40. When I tried to check on how much of ARRA for the NIH (over $10 billion) has been spent, I found "spin doctors" from left wing think tanks and golly gee-whiz writers for government agencies all saying the same thing about saved or created.
Look folks, the health research industry (mainly universities) lives on government grants--this was a huge infusion for NIH, but I seriously doubt hiring a temp researcher or newly minted doctor on a project started 5-10 years ago really "created" anything. The time and effort to solicit and process the grant proposals, plus the special quasi-government companies that sprang up to do all this probably ate up 50% of it. All these jobs are temporary--a bit more glamorous than FDR's CCC camps of the 1930s, but from them we at least got some parks and roads.
Odd things our government does
Did you know that African Americans are at a higher risk for glaucoma than whites, Asians or Hispanics? And did you know the government includes them in Medicare for glaucoma screening at age 50, but not the rest of us, even though anyone can get glaucoma, and in numbers, more whites are affected than blacks? Oh well. I was listening to a public service announcement on the radio this morning and almost couldn't believe my ears. So I looked it up--several times.
Also on the page where I was reading about this, ophthalmologist was misspelled. So I searched through the documents until I found a contact link--almost everything was phone numbers, even though I was using the web--until I finally found something, so I wrote:
Also on the page where I was reading about this, ophthalmologist was misspelled. So I searched through the documents until I found a contact link--almost everything was phone numbers, even though I was using the web--until I finally found something, so I wrote:
- You have misspelled ophthalmologist at a page on glaucoma screening
https://www.cms.gov/GlaucomaScreening/
The phth only appears in a few words in English, but on a government web site, it should be spelled correctly.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
106 ways to show love
A guy named Vince writes an advice and review column for romance writers and readers. This one is pretty good--106 ways to show (not tell) people (your characters in a story) are falling in love. There's a few (26-28) I don't care for and I think he meant have patience instead of have patients, but it's a very good list about showing love. My husband of 50 years would get an A if this were a test.
Catching up on this and that
I found some narrow leg, boot cut Chico's jeans at the Discovery Shop for $7.50 yesterday. Very comfortable, but I'd never pay $70.00 for them new, and these look like they've never been worn or washed. A tad long, so I wear my boot scooting heels with them.
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My husband had a few spots removed by the dermatologist--one about which I've been nagging him for a long time. However, they were not dangerous or even suspicious so the procedure was "cosmetic" and will not be covered by insurance.
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A friend went to the ER with symptoms similar to a heart attack, but it wasn't, it was his gallbladder, and he will have surgery sometime soon. But in the process of testing him for everything, a dangerous condition very rare, and unknown to him, was found and will be treated with medication (but not cured or removed). So perhaps the incident was a God thing?
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While at the Discovery Shop I found a review journal for $3, hard cover, on a topic a friend needs. I've never seen a title like this as a used book, and I've only known for 5 days that she could benefit from this very narrow field of knowledge. Another God thing?
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My husband has just made a young bride and groom very happy with the gift of a fabulous watercolor of the old Abigail Tea Room in Lakeside, Ohio. They've had the spot picked out to hang it for some time (married in April), but had been busy. He was just about to put it in a show in which case it wouldn't have been available. Aother God thing?
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I'm having the best time volunteering as a conversation partner with a young woman who needs practice with English. She's been in the U.S. for over 6 years and her children all speak English. It's such fun to talk to her and to practice works like Mass a chu setts and Penn syl van i a. She says she likes me as her partner because I speak distinctly and she can understand me. Also, I love to explain things, like the fact that a C has no sound of its own. Cat is kat; century is sen shur i.
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Tomorrow our Lytham Road Traditional service communities of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (we have 9 communities based on worship style) are having a brunch at 9:30. I've decided to make peach cobbler--I have a peach that needs to be used up, and a large can of peach pie filling. Yum.
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When I was in Mt. Morris last Saturday I had a chance to visit the home we lived in from 1951-1958. Although I was 18+ when my parents moved, it did seem smaller. My mother worked so hard to remodel it and make it lovely for us, so what fun to see some of her handi-work still there--like this bookshelf unit disguising the radiator in the living room.
----------------
Although I went to the cemetery last week and visited some of "the old folks at home with Jesus,"--great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, grandparents, sister, cousins--I also found some live ones in the parking lot of the Mexican restaurant. I met my 2nd cousin Sharlein, whom I probably only saw a few times when she was a little girl, her son Bryan, my 2nd cousin once removed, and his wife and adorable baby daughter, 2nd cousin twice removed. So I've added a few names to my Family Tree Maker 2008 (which I hate--liked the older 7.0 version). Also found on Facebook my first cousins once removed Lorrie and Jodie (grand daughters of my Uncle John), although I haven't made a connection yet. Also I've been friended on Facebook by a high school girl friend of my son, Kristina, who is a dead ringer for my daughter and reconnected with her step-father Dermot of whom I'd lost track in his world travels.
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We're half way through October and the colors are brilliant and the rains gentle--a perfect color combination or red, yellow, orange, burgundy and green.
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I've started Condoleeza Rice's new autobiography, Extraordinary, ordinary people. Only into it by 2 chapters, but it promises to be a great read. I like her writing style--spare but descriptive. The account of racism, prejudice and Jim Crow laws (put in place by Democratic "progressives") she writes about in the 1950s south is harsh, but she doesn't portray herself or her family as victims, and she isn't a whiner. Of her parents she says, "Every night I begin my prayers saying, "Lord, I can never thank you enough for the parents you gave me." Amen, sister!
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Tried 3 new (to me) restaurants when I visited Mt. Morris last week. La Vigna is on Daysville Road near Oregon, and over the last 65+ years I've been down that road to "the farm" I've seen a lot of establishments in that location. Very good Italian food. Then my classmates from high school met for lunch at the Pinecricker Inn in Polo--before everyone slipped away we took photos on an unseasonably hot day. A Pinecricker is someone who lived in the area of Pine Creek, near the White Pines State Park. My father grew up in that area and attended Polo High School.
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My husband had a few spots removed by the dermatologist--one about which I've been nagging him for a long time. However, they were not dangerous or even suspicious so the procedure was "cosmetic" and will not be covered by insurance.
---------------
A friend went to the ER with symptoms similar to a heart attack, but it wasn't, it was his gallbladder, and he will have surgery sometime soon. But in the process of testing him for everything, a dangerous condition very rare, and unknown to him, was found and will be treated with medication (but not cured or removed). So perhaps the incident was a God thing?
--------------
While at the Discovery Shop I found a review journal for $3, hard cover, on a topic a friend needs. I've never seen a title like this as a used book, and I've only known for 5 days that she could benefit from this very narrow field of knowledge. Another God thing?
-------------
My husband has just made a young bride and groom very happy with the gift of a fabulous watercolor of the old Abigail Tea Room in Lakeside, Ohio. They've had the spot picked out to hang it for some time (married in April), but had been busy. He was just about to put it in a show in which case it wouldn't have been available. Aother God thing?
-------------
I'm having the best time volunteering as a conversation partner with a young woman who needs practice with English. She's been in the U.S. for over 6 years and her children all speak English. It's such fun to talk to her and to practice works like Mass a chu setts and Penn syl van i a. She says she likes me as her partner because I speak distinctly and she can understand me. Also, I love to explain things, like the fact that a C has no sound of its own. Cat is kat; century is sen shur i.
-------------
Tomorrow our Lytham Road Traditional service communities of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (we have 9 communities based on worship style) are having a brunch at 9:30. I've decided to make peach cobbler--I have a peach that needs to be used up, and a large can of peach pie filling. Yum.
-------------
When I was in Mt. Morris last Saturday I had a chance to visit the home we lived in from 1951-1958. Although I was 18+ when my parents moved, it did seem smaller. My mother worked so hard to remodel it and make it lovely for us, so what fun to see some of her handi-work still there--like this bookshelf unit disguising the radiator in the living room.
----------------
Although I went to the cemetery last week and visited some of "the old folks at home with Jesus,"--great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, grandparents, sister, cousins--I also found some live ones in the parking lot of the Mexican restaurant. I met my 2nd cousin Sharlein, whom I probably only saw a few times when she was a little girl, her son Bryan, my 2nd cousin once removed, and his wife and adorable baby daughter, 2nd cousin twice removed. So I've added a few names to my Family Tree Maker 2008 (which I hate--liked the older 7.0 version). Also found on Facebook my first cousins once removed Lorrie and Jodie (grand daughters of my Uncle John), although I haven't made a connection yet. Also I've been friended on Facebook by a high school girl friend of my son, Kristina, who is a dead ringer for my daughter and reconnected with her step-father Dermot of whom I'd lost track in his world travels.
---------------
We're half way through October and the colors are brilliant and the rains gentle--a perfect color combination or red, yellow, orange, burgundy and green.
---------------
I've started Condoleeza Rice's new autobiography, Extraordinary, ordinary people. Only into it by 2 chapters, but it promises to be a great read. I like her writing style--spare but descriptive. The account of racism, prejudice and Jim Crow laws (put in place by Democratic "progressives") she writes about in the 1950s south is harsh, but she doesn't portray herself or her family as victims, and she isn't a whiner. Of her parents she says, "Every night I begin my prayers saying, "Lord, I can never thank you enough for the parents you gave me." Amen, sister!
--------------
Tried 3 new (to me) restaurants when I visited Mt. Morris last week. La Vigna is on Daysville Road near Oregon, and over the last 65+ years I've been down that road to "the farm" I've seen a lot of establishments in that location. Very good Italian food. Then my classmates from high school met for lunch at the Pinecricker Inn in Polo--before everyone slipped away we took photos on an unseasonably hot day. A Pinecricker is someone who lived in the area of Pine Creek, near the White Pines State Park. My father grew up in that area and attended Polo High School.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Crime and fatherless homes are directly related
Heather McDonald in City Journal reports on what has happened in Chicago since the September 2009 death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert, when his attack was caught on video and spread across the internet. The federal government and social workers responded as they've learned to do with a $40 million dollar federal grant for "at risk males." But that's not what they need. They need married fathers. Since Albert’s death, 78 more youth under the age of 19 have been killed in Chicago, overwhelmingly in black-on-black shootings.
- In every American city, the disproportionate black-illegitimacy rate is matched only by the disproportionate black crime rate. In Chicago, blacks, at least 35 percent of the population, commit 76 percent of all homicides; whites, about 28 percent of the population, commit 4 percent. In New York City, blacks, 24 percent of the population, commit 80 percent of all shootings; whites, 35 percent of the population, commit less than 2 percent of all shootings. The black illegitimacy rate in New York is over 78 percent; the white illegitimacy rate in the city is 7 percent. The national rate of homicide commission for black males between the ages of 14 and 17 is ten times higher than that of “whites,” into which category the federal government puts the vast majority of Hispanics.
White House claims it met stimulus goal of 70% spent by Sept. 30
But no one knows how, unless they really goosed it that last month, because they weren't even close. For now, "if they said, it happend" is the rule of this administration. Here's one agency that didn't get its spent--Department of Homeland Security, one that you would think (if you thought like a conservative) would have no problem.
- "•The Department of Homeland Security has spent less than $500 million of its $2.8 billion allocation. When the stimulus bill was passed, the CBO estimated that Homeland Security would spend more than $1 billion by now. The slow spending comes from nearly every part of the agency. For example, Customs and Border Protection has paid out less than $50 million, even though it was authorized to spend $680 million to modernize ports of entry and deploy other border technology. That program was halted briefly last fall as news media and members of Congress questioned the plan to modernize little-used border stations in Montana and North Dakota instead of busy crossings along the southwest border." Link
Tony's Ready to Move the Party from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with the purchase of a Hollywood Hills Vacation Home
I love to watch HGTV--programs are "reality shows" just a tad unreal if you've ever owned, remodeled or purchased a house, but they are fast paced, well-produced, and the advertising is appropriate for the programming. Some times I yell at the set--especially when a young woman is buying a home and planning to be a landlord to her boyfriend of 3 years. Oh lordy lady, how dumb can you get? If you break up, you may not be able to move him out of the house without legal action.
But last night they had the story of Tony Chau of Las Vegas on House Hunters buying a second home in Hollywood. He is a Vietnamese immigrant (name sounds Chinese to me, but there are Chinese families living in Vietnam, called Hoa ), but came to the USA at age 10 and is now 26 and a millionaire. He has some sort of marketing company on the internet. He was house hunting with his decorator who has done several houses for him. What he ended up with was fabulous--and we heard several times during the program how much he likes to party. Well, maybe so, but I do like success stories about immigrants because they are visible, physical evidence that America is still the land of opportunity and dreams if you want to work hard and have a marketable skill.
Tony's Ready to Move the Party from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with the purchase of a Hollywood Hills Vacation Home : House Hunters : Home & Garden Television
But last night they had the story of Tony Chau of Las Vegas on House Hunters buying a second home in Hollywood. He is a Vietnamese immigrant (name sounds Chinese to me, but there are Chinese families living in Vietnam, called Hoa ), but came to the USA at age 10 and is now 26 and a millionaire. He has some sort of marketing company on the internet. He was house hunting with his decorator who has done several houses for him. What he ended up with was fabulous--and we heard several times during the program how much he likes to party. Well, maybe so, but I do like success stories about immigrants because they are visible, physical evidence that America is still the land of opportunity and dreams if you want to work hard and have a marketable skill.
Tony's Ready to Move the Party from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with the purchase of a Hollywood Hills Vacation Home : House Hunters : Home & Garden Television
What dreams are made of--or fairy tales
Oh wow! A drastic one-year reduction in drop outs in the Columbus Public Schools "defies the odds for an urban school district." Well, why not--the Columbus Dispatch Jennifer Smith Richards didn't peek under the book covers. I'm sure it makes Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris look fabulous.
However, the drop is because of social promotion**. No one fails in elementary school in CPS. Also, a student isn't a "drop out" if he transfers--he's not tracked, and he may never return to school. In some schools serving low-income one parent families, moving on is a family tradition. That probably takes care of quite a few right there.
So that dumps unprepared students into the high school where there is no social promotion. But not to worry--instead of social promotion, they just don't flunk anyone. A student can remain a 9th grader for four years***, passing into Algebra II with DD or FF earned in Algebra I. The graduation rate is figured on students who actually enter the senior year--and since a 4th year 9th grader isn't technically senior, he doesn't graduate and isn't counted. Tricky business, isn't it.
So why is someone who flunked Algebra I taking Algebra II sitting in class with your kid who is good at math? First, because CPS doesn't have honors classes--that would be "tracking." Tsk, tsk. Second, our last 2 governors (Republican an...d Democrat) believed every child should be in a college prep curriculum. This has decimated the track for vocational education. As the current generation of people in the trades retire, more jobs will be sent out of state because many of the Ohio h.s. graduates who do make it are flunking in college after 1 semester.
The Columbus Dispatch could do some investigative reporting so the people will be informed, vote out the politicians who put this system in place and then blame the administrators, who blame the classroom teacher for a kid who'se been lost since third grade.
Every school district in the state calculates drop outs and graduation rates differently. Your mileage will differ with your school and the years your child attended. If you live in Columbus I think home schooling, a private or public charter school, or a church school would be a good alternative if you can afford it.
Teachers are extremely well paid--that's no longer a problem. The problem is they are well paid prisoners in their own system with their hands tied. It's the children who suffer, then our cities, and then our state, because what state can remain competitive in a system like this?
City schools see big cut in dropouts | The Columbus Dispatch
** Social promotion is the practice of passing students along from grade to grade with their peers even if the students have not satisfied academic requirements or met performance standards at key grades. It is called "social" promotion because it is often carried out in the perceived interest of a student's social and psychological well-being. Most schools won't admit the extent of this practice, according to what I've read.
***Repeating a class or "retention" is considered a negative experience, so the poor kid is just moved to the next level of difficulty, but not promoted a grade. Make-up classes are offered, but not required, and may be computer classes, which would require more discipline and effort than a regular class.
However, the drop is because of social promotion**. No one fails in elementary school in CPS. Also, a student isn't a "drop out" if he transfers--he's not tracked, and he may never return to school. In some schools serving low-income one parent families, moving on is a family tradition. That probably takes care of quite a few right there.
So that dumps unprepared students into the high school where there is no social promotion. But not to worry--instead of social promotion, they just don't flunk anyone. A student can remain a 9th grader for four years***, passing into Algebra II with DD or FF earned in Algebra I. The graduation rate is figured on students who actually enter the senior year--and since a 4th year 9th grader isn't technically senior, he doesn't graduate and isn't counted. Tricky business, isn't it.
So why is someone who flunked Algebra I taking Algebra II sitting in class with your kid who is good at math? First, because CPS doesn't have honors classes--that would be "tracking." Tsk, tsk. Second, our last 2 governors (Republican an...d Democrat) believed every child should be in a college prep curriculum. This has decimated the track for vocational education. As the current generation of people in the trades retire, more jobs will be sent out of state because many of the Ohio h.s. graduates who do make it are flunking in college after 1 semester.
The Columbus Dispatch could do some investigative reporting so the people will be informed, vote out the politicians who put this system in place and then blame the administrators, who blame the classroom teacher for a kid who'se been lost since third grade.
Every school district in the state calculates drop outs and graduation rates differently. Your mileage will differ with your school and the years your child attended. If you live in Columbus I think home schooling, a private or public charter school, or a church school would be a good alternative if you can afford it.
Teachers are extremely well paid--that's no longer a problem. The problem is they are well paid prisoners in their own system with their hands tied. It's the children who suffer, then our cities, and then our state, because what state can remain competitive in a system like this?
City schools see big cut in dropouts | The Columbus Dispatch
** Social promotion is the practice of passing students along from grade to grade with their peers even if the students have not satisfied academic requirements or met performance standards at key grades. It is called "social" promotion because it is often carried out in the perceived interest of a student's social and psychological well-being. Most schools won't admit the extent of this practice, according to what I've read.
***Repeating a class or "retention" is considered a negative experience, so the poor kid is just moved to the next level of difficulty, but not promoted a grade. Make-up classes are offered, but not required, and may be computer classes, which would require more discipline and effort than a regular class.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Dueling books about Obama's father and surrogate father
Which is it? Is he a hack Marxist because of Barack Obama, Sr. who hated the British colonial system in Kenya so he became a Communist or because his white grandfather Stanley Dunham introduced him to a buddy-dad in Hawaii also a Communist party member, Frank Marshall Davis who coached him to hate all things American? Which ever, the books of Dinesh D'Souza and Paul Kengor came out on the same day.
The American Spectator : Obama's Surrogate Anti-Colonial Father
The American Spectator : Obama's Surrogate Anti-Colonial Father
More insanity from Chris "leg tingle" Matthews
Is this man crazy? Open mouth spew garbage?
"CHRIS MATTHEWS: Okay let’s talk about what the message to a lot of the people was. The message coming out of the Tea Party people, and lot of them are good people, is every man for himself, basically. “No more taxes, no more government, no more everything. No more safety net. No more health care for everybody. Everybody just get out there, make your buck, save it, screw the government, move on.” Right?"
Not once has a Tea Party ever said every man for himself. It's always been help your neighbor--don't ask the government to take your money to do it for you!
The miners were fortunate enough to have a strong leader, someone along the lines of our own founders! A man with a vision, charisma, and a goal--to get his men out alive. Plus it was 75% American technology and 25% Chilean guts that got them out!
Gracious goodness God almighty, please someone give that man a clue, or else he'll cost even more American jobs--his own!
"CHRIS MATTHEWS: Okay let’s talk about what the message to a lot of the people was. The message coming out of the Tea Party people, and lot of them are good people, is every man for himself, basically. “No more taxes, no more government, no more everything. No more safety net. No more health care for everybody. Everybody just get out there, make your buck, save it, screw the government, move on.” Right?"
Not once has a Tea Party ever said every man for himself. It's always been help your neighbor--don't ask the government to take your money to do it for you!
The miners were fortunate enough to have a strong leader, someone along the lines of our own founders! A man with a vision, charisma, and a goal--to get his men out alive. Plus it was 75% American technology and 25% Chilean guts that got them out!
Gracious goodness God almighty, please someone give that man a clue, or else he'll cost even more American jobs--his own!
Trucks Encircle ABC, CBS, NBC, Challenge ‘Liberal’ Media to ‘Tell The Truth’
"Four billboard trucks bearing the message “Stop the Liberal Bias, Tell the Truth!” began circling the Manhattan headquarters of ABC, CBS, NBC, and the New York Times on Friday. The trucks will do so for eight hours every weekday for the next four weeks as part of a campaign run by the Media Research Center, a watchdog group that analyzes the media for liberal bias."
Trucks Encircle ABC, CBS, NBC, Challenge ‘Liberal’ Media to ‘Tell The Truth’ | CNSnews.com
From Breitbart.com
I'm guessing someone will get them on EPA violations for polluting the air more than the media does.
Trucks Encircle ABC, CBS, NBC, Challenge ‘Liberal’ Media to ‘Tell The Truth’ | CNSnews.com
From Breitbart.com
I'm guessing someone will get them on EPA violations for polluting the air more than the media does.
Obama White House vs Chamber of Commerce
I've never donated to the Chamber of Commerce, but I will now. Obama's attacks (can you prove they aren't taking foreign money) is just one more way to try to destroy our economy since he knows most new jobs come from small business, and they tend to be Chamber members. And does he include the Black Chamber of Commerce in this smear?
Obama White House vs Chamber of Commerce – A New Low of Fear & Smear » Right Pundits
Copy of the Chamber's response at NYT.
Those libs and dems who are "deeply troubled" that the Chamber has foreign members, didn't care a twitting twitter over the foreign money that poured into Obama's 2008 campaign against Hillary.
Obama White House vs Chamber of Commerce – A New Low of Fear & Smear » Right Pundits
Copy of the Chamber's response at NYT.
Those libs and dems who are "deeply troubled" that the Chamber has foreign members, didn't care a twitting twitter over the foreign money that poured into Obama's 2008 campaign against Hillary.
Cole's survivors angry over case
"The 10th anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole on Tuesday conjured up painful memories for the families of the 17 Navy sailors who died in the terrorist attack, but it also revealed simmering anger at the Obama administration over the lack of concrete progress in bringing an alleged perpetrator to justice."
Cole's survivors angry over case | POLITICO 44
Cole's survivors angry over case | POLITICO 44
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