Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Battling Mush Curriculum

Dean Esmay points out a young man, by the name of Bryan Henderson, who seems to have evaded the dumbing down which is part and parcel of government funded education.  Henderson calls himself a Protest Warrior, which, means this.

"My name is Bryan Henderson and I am an 18 year old senior attending Princeton Senior High School. Better known as Templar_Crusader on the PW forum, I am the proud leader of the small but growing PHS chapter of ProtestWarrior.

Operation Tiger Claw was my first attempt at leading a protest against the apathy and leftism running rampant at my school. It all started on Friday, May 14th with a small act of conservative pride. My socialist history teacher was on another kick about how articulate Noam Chomsky was, when I finally reached my limit."

Read the rest of Bryan’s adventure here, complete with photos.  It’s quite interesting.

Dean was made aware of Henderson via SondraK.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/22 at 12:30 PM
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Revealing Quote

"See,’’ Mr. Bush said, “the role of government is to stand there and say, ‘We’re going to help you.’ The job of the federal government is to fund the providers who are actually making a difference."

The only difference between the two major political parties:  NONE.

The above quote was taken from this New York Times article, via PrestoPundit, via Jonah Goldberg, who got it from Andrew Sullivan.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/22 at 12:03 PM
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Real Estate - Bubble, Bust or Boon?

Greg Swann, a Realtor friend in the Phoenix market, has an interesting post up titled “Building wealth through real estate investment..." which makes for interesting reading, especially when you compare Greg’s thoughts with Edward Leamer’s, who is the Director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, and Brad DeLong’s, who disagrees with Leamer regarding a potential real estate bubble.

Links to Leamer’s and DeLong’s thoughts via Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/22 at 04:18 AM
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Going for the Two Fer

Driving drunk is a rather foolish endeavor, and the state(s), in their effort to curb this foolishness, keep lowering their definition of what is considered drunk driving.  Many states have lowered the threshold for drunk driving from a blood alcohol content of 0.10 to 0.08, but what else has been tucked away in these drunk driving law changes?

In Michigan, when they passed legislation lowering the threshold to 0.08, they tacked on another little gem which I call going for the two fer.  The details.

”...a change in state law allowing police to charge drivers with driving under the influence if any trace of drugs is found in their systems.

The zero-tolerance for drug-impaired motorists is the little-known provision of a high-profile change to drunken-driving laws that reduced the legal limit for intoxication from a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 to 0.08."

The most agregious portion of the above change in the law is what follows, though.

"Before the legislation, which started enforcement for the new drug and alcohol laws on Oct. 1, 2003, police had to prove drug impairment through poor driving or other benchmarks.

Now, if police find street drugs such as marijuana and cocaine, or even prescription pills, a driver can be sent to jail."

Do you grasp what the above means?  Guilt, without proof of impairment, though the state enforcers, of course, would never abuse the law, according to Sgt. Mark Bos of the Holland Police.

"We can’t just say that guy looks like a user and pull him over,” he said. “But if a person is acting funny after swerving and his eyes are red, that’s good enough."

“That’s good enough.” Says it all, doesn’t it?

“Drivers on drugs create traffic jam at police test lab."

Posted by John Venlet on 06/22 at 03:54 AM
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Could Be A Useful Tool

Stopped by The Daily Ablution, where Scott Burgess was waxing eloquent about a site called NationMaster.com. Though it sounds like some kind of online game, the site is actually, well, the site explains best itself.

"Welcome to NationMaster.com, a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease."

I surfed around a bit, built a graph, and have bookmarked the site for future use.  Pretty cool.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/22 at 02:44 AM
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Monday, June 21, 2004

The United States of the Medicated

Have you heard about this?

"President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration."

Words almost fail me, except for “I’ll self medicate, thank you very much.” And screen this (obscene gesture not viewable at this time).

“Bush to screen population for mental illness."

Thanks to Steve Brown for the heads up.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 03:43 PM
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Are You My Daddy? Double Speak

The state of Michigan wants to know more daddies, for the kids’ sake of course, but not really.

"Fewer Michigan children had men legally named as their fathers last year than in 2002, prompting the state to target the 28 largest birthing centers in an effort to identify more dads.

The idea is to ensure that children get both the emotional and financial support they need, said Marilyn Stephen, director of the state’s Office of Child Support."

Just looking out for the kids, right Ms. Stephen, or are there other considerations?

"It also helps the state’s bottom line by making sure single moms get child support rather than welfare, and by maintaining federal funds that require 90 percent paternity establishment for births to unmarried women."

Got to maintain those federal funds.

But that emotional support from dads, if they can be called that; men who wham, bam, thank you maam, I’ll see ya later; is important, right?

"Establishing paternity can help foster crucial bonding between men and their babies, Stephen said. And it lays the legal groundwork for the father to support his child financially.

“It’s important for the stability of the family,” Stephen said.

A supportive father is important, without question, but,

"Because Michigan dipped below the 90 percent rate required for full federal funding, it will lose at least part of the $30 million it received in 2002, Stephen said. It’s unclear exactly how much that will be because 2003 paternity-establishment numbers are not official until reviewed by the feds. But Stephen said it’s enough that state officials want to get started immediately on boosting them."

Double speak.

“State ups efforts to identify dads."

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 03:28 PM
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It's The Festival's Fault

B93, one of the local radio stations, held it’s annual Birthday Bash this past weekend here in West Michigan.  The bash drew about 80,000 people, and from the little I read about it, it was a good time.  Unfortunately, after the bash, there was an accident.  A drunk driving accident, apparently, in which three individuals were killed, including the driver.  Let’s read what is known about the driver.

"The driver of a car that crashed after Saturday’s B-93 Birthday Bash, killing three people including himself, got his license back last month after a half-dozen alcohol-related convictions, records show."

A slow learner, evidently.  But that information isn’t what caught my eye in the article. It was the words uttered by the father of one of the young girls, age 22, who was also killed while riding in the vehicle.

"The father of one of Lawless’ passengers said his daughter—Rebecca Styf, 22, Hudsonville—is not a drinker, but he wants answers about the driver’s blood-alcohol level.

“If it was over the limit, then something should change” with the festival, the father said."

Now, I’m certain that the father of the young lady is devastated by her death, and I sympathize with him, thinking of my young daughters ages 17 and 21, but he is blaming the wrong culprit.  His daughter was riding with a drunk.

What’s really interesting about the above, though, is the fact that Fox Festival, which drew about 40,000 people to the same site a day after the fatal crash, disallowed alcohol.

"They agreed fest organizers made a good decision in keeping alcohol out of the event, a response to a fatal crash after following a concert at the fairgrounds Saturday."

Maybe all festival’s and beer tents should be outlawed, since the blame is no longer placed where it belongs, at an individual’s feet.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 03:03 PM
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Yeah, Let Em All Vote, They'll Feel Like They're Part of the Team

The Mercury News, which has a most onerous registration system to read their pieces, is reporting that San Francisco is considering letting non-citizens vote in school board elections, as the first step in letting anybody, and everybody, vote in any municipal election.

"In a push to get more immigrants involved in their children’s education, San Francisco officials are considering asking voters in November to give parents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in school board elections."

...

""The idea here is not so radical,’’ said Matt Gonzalez, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and author of the proposal. “Ultimately, we’d like non-citizen voting in all municipal elections. This is a starting place.’’

Yeah, that’s the ticket, sign em all up.

“S.F. may give non-citizens school board voting rights."

Via Drudge.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 12:08 PM
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"My Name...Jose Jimenez"

After reading the spurious reasoning of the Supreme Court, as to why I must supply my name to the police, if I have done nothing wrong, and am questioned, for whatever reason, I may tell them, if I am queried, “My Name...Jose Jimenez."

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 09:01 AM
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Kim du Toit - American

Kim du Toit is moved to speak on being an American after reading Billy Beck’s post “Not Me.".  Kim’s piece is titled “Not Leaving."

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 02:54 AM
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A Filipino Delicacy

Do you know what balut is?  J. Bowen does, now, but I’m not certain if he has ever partook of one.  I’ve had a couple, or three, in my days wandering around the Phillipines.

"BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can’t see how gross it is. It’s meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can’t imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially-formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one
without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called ‘soup’, the vile,pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus… “

I can’t say I miss having them available to me.

Thanks to J. Bowen, at No Watermelons Allowed for providing the link to this piece, at Chem Blog.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 02:33 AM
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A Piece of Paper

What qualifies an individual to perform a certain job or task?  Is it attendance at a four year school, where a Bachelor’s degree may be awarded?  Is it testable knowledge, in the form of a multiple choice and essay exam, which is then graded on a pass or fail basis, with a license either awarded or denied?  Or is it demonstratable proficiency and knowledge, demonstrated on the job, performing in a capacity where one’s skills are utilized in the profession which the job holder performs?

I think it should be the latter of the three, mentioned above, but for Thomas B. Griffith, the qualification is going to hinge on a piece of paper.

“Judicial Nominee Practiced Law Without License in Utah."

I’m certain he’ll be strung up.

Via Drudge.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/21 at 02:12 AM
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Saturday, June 19, 2004

John Kerry, "But it's not their fault"

Eugene Volokh points out a comment Kerry made the other day, that I wish I could say boggles the mind, but it doesn’t, it simply highlights the prevalent negative attitude towards personal responsibility.

"Talking about education yesterday, Mr. Kerry also told the largely black crowd at the day care center that there are more blacks in prison than in college.
“That’s unacceptable,” he said. “But it’s not their fault.”
Rather than the inmates, the former Boston prosecutor blamed poverty, poor schools, a dearth of after-school programs and “all of us as adults not doing what we need to do."

The above Kerry quote was lifted from this Washington Times story.

Eugene also provides a link to an earlier post of his, where he shares some lyrics from an Oingo Boingo song with the repeating lyric “Only a lad," which is closely related to the type of egregious comment made by Kerry, posted above.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/19 at 09:16 AM
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Neal Boortz Reveiws the Libertarian Party Convention

Neal’s analysis is summed up below.

“Libertarians!  You blew it."

Read the balance of Neal’s impressions at the link above.

Via Townhall.com.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/19 at 09:09 AM
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