Pearl Harbor Day, Plus 75

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. This will not be a typical looking back seventy-five years to the sneak attack upon the US, which ultimately brought us into World War II, but a look forward. Most of my generation remember Pearl Harbor from the stories we heard from those who were there. The previous generation lived it. The next generation? Who knows?

Many of us have seen, with nervous laughter,  Jay Leno's Man on the Street, or Watter's World, where young adults and college students are asked very simple questions about historical events that most of my generation learned in grade school. Those interviewed appear clueless, sometimes not able to locate the founding of our country or the Civil War within a century of when they actually happened.

"Remember the Alamo!"

"Remember the Maine!"

"Remember Pearl Harbor!"

Each of those sayings stirred the soul of a generation at one time or another. Some fade more quickly than others. The veterans who served at Pearl the day of the attack are fewer in number every year. Soon, the last of them will be gone. Who will remember Pearl Harbor? Even our own president famously showed his own ignorance of the day, when he referred to Japan "dropping the bomb" on Pearl Harbor. Only twice in human history has a piece of ordinance been significant enough to be referred to in the singular, Those were the two atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. "The Bomb" is atomic. The bombs (plural) used on Pearl were conventional, not atomic. Details!

I suppose we could jump on the bandwagon and blame our constantly declining public education. Despite the bleating on the Left, throwing more money at the problem is not the solution, after trying it for decades.

So, what are we left with? An annual documentary or two on public television? A declining number of human interest features as we watch a declining number of veterans return to Pearl for an anniversary remembrance? It's unfortunate, but people who can't name even three Founding Fathers can name a half a dozen Kardashians. 54-40 or fight? Tippecanoe and Tyler, too? "From which country did we declare our independence"??? Might as well be speaking Klingon! (No. A few might actually understand Klingon!)

I will remember Pearl Harbor as a significant turning point in American and world history for as long as I live.  The tragic loss of life and the motivation it provided to the US to enter the war and take leadership of an alliance against the axis of evil of its day, teaches us lessons that ought not be forgotten. Unless, of course, they're never learned in the first place.

Will this generation learn from the lessons of history? Or are they doomed to repeat them?

Magic Eight Ball says: Outlook not so good.

Lee Meyer: Science Teacher, Veteran, Educator: Rest in Peace

This is from the "We get too soon old and too late smart" department. About ten years too late. Several months back, I was reminded of something my high school chemistry teacher was fond of saying, a corny nerd joke, based on the atomic number of boron. He would finish an experiment or demonstration and then say to the class,
"Let us bore on", to which the whole class would dutifully remind him (if we were paying attention)
"That's element # 5, Mr. Meyer!"

For some reason, at the time, I just kept drawing a blank on the man's name. My high school yearbooks haven't been unpacked since my last move back to California, so there was no help there. Well, just a couple of minutes ago, that train of thought came back, prompted by an exchange on Twitter, and for just a split second, it was like seeing a light flash around the edge of a door, and I remembered his name: Lee Meyer.

I'd tried Googling "Science teacher" before, and "Stockton" and the name of the high school... all to no avail. Today, armed with his name, I Googled him and here's what I got:

H. Lee Meyer, 83, passed away peacefully in his home on Sunday, July 18, 2004 from complications related to a stroke. Mr. Meyer taught for Stockton Unified School District for 34 years, primarily at Stagg High where he was a popular and beloved chemistry teacher and Chairman of the Science Depart1ment. He also taught mathematics and science courses at Stockton and Franklin High and at Stockton's adult edu-cation schools. Beyond the classroom, Mr. Meyer served as an advocate for students and school employees as a public activist and president of the Stockton Teacher's Association. After he retired from teaching, he was elected to Stockton Unified School District's Board of Education and served as a dedicated and hard-working member and president. Lee was born in Oakland and raised here by third generation Stocktonians. He graduated from St. Mary's High School and later earned a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry at St. Mary's College in Moraga (1941). He earned his teaching credentials at the College of the Pacific in 1948. He was awarded several fellowships and pursued graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley, and Stanford University where he worked under Linus Pauling. He earned his Master of Science Degree at Oregon State University. Lee served as an Air Force Intelligence Officer in the Pacific arena in World War II and was recalled to military service during the Korean War. Eventually, he retired from reserve duty as a Lieutenant Colonel.

The son of the late Norma Arment Meyer and Herbert Leland Meyer, Sr., Lee Meyer is survived by his wife of 57 years, Catherine Ann Witherow Meyer; his sister, Miriam Scriven, and his six children, Catherine Meyer-Johnson, her husband Craig Johnson, and granddaughters, Abigail and Emily; Patrick Meyer; Christopher Meyer; Lois Meyer, her husband Robert Widerspan, grandchildren, Marjorie and Benjamin; Nancy Smith and granddaughters, Sarah and Melissa, all of Santa Cruz, CA; and Stephen Meyer, his wife Julie Fenton Meyer and grandsons, Andrew and Paul of Sand- point, Idaho. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial bench to honor Mr. Meyer's many years of teaching, help, and inspiration to students will be placed in front of his former chemistry classroom at Stagg High School.

He was a good man. A bit of a liberal if I recall correctly, but a great teacher and an inspiration to thousands of students.

Mr. Meyer? When I get the chance, I'm going to 'bore on' over to your old classroom and take a look at that bench. Maybe I'll see you there?
Rest in peace.

H/T San Joaquin County CA Obituary Project

"KiRKWOOD"

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Political Indoctrination in Public Schools

Over at the Scott Carp Dream blog, I saw this picture, which appears to have been taken in a school classroom. Public school, I would imagine, since the message has a decidedly propagandistic bent, at least at the end.

Rosa sat... so that Martin could walk.
Martin walked...so Obama could run.
Obama ran…so our children could fly.

Once you've finished gagging or taking your insulin, ask yourself: When was the last time a public school teacher told you that anyone had become a politician or had taken a political office so that your children "could fly"? Maybe a coupon entitling them to a free TSA pat down, but, given the economic blunders of the last five years, our children will be lucky if they can find a bus going where they need to go, much less fly!

So, not being the propagandist as our "purveyors of pap in lieu of learning" in our public schools, and recognizing that the battle for civil rights began long before Ms. Parks took her courageous stand, I thought I'd take a shot at it myself:

Abe stood...so that Rosa could sit.
Rosa sat... so that Martin could walk.
Martin walked...so Obama could run.
Obama ran…so your new masters* can get cheap Chinese chains.

*What??? That's not any worse than Tail Gunner Joe Biden's remarks about chains, is it? In fact, it is less racist than Joe's because I believe that our new masters will not discriminate on account of race. All races will face the same misery equally.


Update: When you think of Obama enabling your children "to fly", just remember that one of his first acts as president was to eliminate funding for a voucher system that enabled poor black children in Washington D.C. to escape the decaying public school system and attend private schools, much like Obama's own daughters, only far less pricey, and actually receive a proper education. This was, of course, payback to Obama's friends and political supporters in the teachers' unions.

Wonder how high those kids tossed back into crummy public schools are flying today?

The Bamboozler-in-Chief's SOTU Tonight

Given Mr. Obama's penchant for recycling old speeches and old campaign promises, look for at least one reference to spending money on education, or at least on his fellow travelers in the teacher's union, as an "investment in the future". When he gets to this point, remind yourself that money spent is not always an "investment". Every time someone want to sell some big ticket item to my dear sainted mother, they would couch the expense in terms of "an investment". I remember one time, she told me she thought she was going to "invest" in new drapes. Now, I don't know about you, but of all the drapes, curtains and window coverings I have ever purchased, not one has ever produced a dividend over and above covering the windows I purchased them for.

The US Department of Education is one of the ugliest set of drapes you have ever seen. With a price tag of over 100 Billion dollars a year, hung upon the curtain rod of ever declining and failing test scores, if this were something you had to stare at every day, you would get rid of them in a heartbeat. Possibly burn them.

When Obama stands up once again, to tell you he wants to spend money we do not have, for full employment of his friends at the teachers' union, who obediently kick back a portion of those "investments" as contributions to the Democrat Party, because it is an "investment" in our country's future and necessary to turn the economy around, remember that every dime we spend on education, will take an entire generation to find itself into the workplace. Consider the billions upon billions spent since 1980 on the Department of Education: Did the generation that was supposed to benefit from that "investment" find themselves trained and prepared for the jobs of the late 20th and early 21st. centuries?

Beware! When Obama and his fellow Democrats speak of "investing" in the future, they think along the lines of balancing your risk from Enron with this up and coming new company called "Solyndra".

Caveat emptor.


Cross posted at LCR.

White House: “Repugnant and Cowardly”

...to use children as props in a political discussion.

Oh, wait! They were talking about the NRA, not DJ Barry! But, which side of their mouth were they talking out of? The most common bleat is that the NRA "attacked" Obama's daughters. So, just in case you are one of the two people on the planet who did not see it before, here it is again:


Now, I always though I knew what the word "attack" meant. Refresh my memory...did anyone call Obama's daughters "stupid", or "ugly"...or did they call them anything at all? Seems to me, the NRA only pointed out some inconvenient truths about their father!*

Why does the White House find it repugnant and cowardly for the NRA to compare the safety of the schools the children of the president attend with those of the rest of America, but not find it cowardly and repugnant when the president surrounds himself with children as political props for his press conferences? (Nice politically correct gender/ethnic mix there, too!)

The NRA should have perhaps gone a little farther in their ad than they did. Sidwell Friends is indeed a school for the children of elitists. Had Obama elected to send his daughters to the failing DC public schools (more about them later), they still would have received Secret Service protection. No one is denying them that. But, I have been lead to believe that beyond that, Sidwell Friends has their own "Resource Officers" armed to protect the offspring of the rich and powerful.

Obama is an elitist, even more so, considering that when he took office, there was a voucher program in Washington D.C., a scholarship set up to get poor and underprivileged black children of of the failing DC public schools and into better private ones. (Not a good as Sidwell Friends, but then, what is?) Obama, in a nod to his public school union buddies defunded the voucher program for poor black children in the district, while his own children attend the finest school around, funded with the tax dollars that pay his salary.

Repugnant and cowardly? To use children constantly as political props? To deny poor children the chance to get out of failing schools, just to pay off a political constituency? Yes and yes.

As is often said, if you want to know what a liberal is guilty of, just look at what he accuses his opponent of doing. And Jay Carney knows his boss better than anyone.







*This is not a new technique for Democrats. When Governor Jerry Brown was running for re-election back in the '70s, he debated Evelle Younger, who at one point in the debate, turned aside to Governor Moonbeam's parents who were seated in the auditorium, and said to his mom, "With all due respect to you, Mrs. Brown, your son is a lousy governor." The next day, on a KFBK radio interview, Brown complained that Younger "attacked my mother" during the debate.

"If it Bleeds, it Leads..."

Boy, 13, Busted For Illegal Marker Possession


Ever vigilant in keeping the world safe from Sharpies

DECEMBER 22--A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday for using a permanent marker while in class at his Oklahoma City middle school, a violation of an obscure city ordinance.

According to an Oklahoma City Police Department report, the boy was spotted “in possession of a permanent marker” by Roosevelt Middle School teacher DeLynn Woodside. The 50-year-old educator told cop Miguel Campos that the student was “writing on a piece of paper, which caused it to bleed over onto the desk.”

May I see a show of hands: How many 13 year olds are well versed on all the ordinances of the localities in which they reside? Anyone? Anyone at all??

His 50 year old teacher, with less sense than God gave geese, had the kid arrested for accidentally marking up his desk. Wow! Oklahoma City can certainly sleep safe tonight!

Whatever happened to "first offense"? Presumption of innocence?? Kids make mistakes??? Teachers who actually know how to teach???? Ms. Broadside, er, Woodside, could have taken the moment to instruct her student about the cost of carelessness. I suppose she could have informed her principal (I almost wrote "principle". None of those involved here! ) and had the kid's parents informed of the cost of the cleanup (if any) and asked them to pay for it. No. She calls the cops.

Now if the kid were an habitual offender or did this on purpose, that might have been an appropriate response. (No, not really, but I'm trying to get her the benefit of the doubt.) But, there is no indication that that was the case. So she wastes valuable police and court resources (and perhaps some of her own nonproductive classroom time) to escalate this matter far beyond its reasonable consequences.

Another case of Zero tolerance run amok resulting from an abundance of zero common sense.

H/T Memeorandum

The End of My Academic Career

This post will be autobiographical in part, so all you news junkies feel free to skip over it, if you will. I generally chart the End of My Academic Career to coincide with my family's move to California. I had just concluded the seventh grade in southern Indiana and was doing rather well in school. I was a B+ student, had done well in science and on what passes for a "final exam" in math, I scored a perfect 100%. Didn't miss a single question. (Redundancy is a sort of closed captioning for liberals.)

And with the freshness and naïveté that comes with youth, I expected the next grade would automatically be more challenging and fitted to my learning needs by educational professionals. Welcome to California!

My eighth grade math class in California started out with a proficiency test. The teacher wanted to see how much we knew. I distinctly remember one of the questions on the test, because it was marked "wrong" when I got my test back. Here's the question and the reasoning for my answer:

What is 16 divided by 3?

We hadn't been given any explicit instructions on the test, so I only took it out to two decimals. 16 divided by 3 = 5.33 Right?
The math teacher herself couldn't be expected to grade all those tests. I mean, after all, there must have been thirty of us! So, that was delegated to one of my peers, who was handed an answer sheet, with the instruction to mark as incorrect any answer that didn't match. (The "correct" answer was "five remainder one".) That year, I didn't have any homework that I did not finish in class.

Second was the problem of science class. Here I knew I was in the wrong place. I mentioned to the Powers That Be that I had already taken the science course they appeared to be presenting, the year before. So, there was a question of what to do with me during that period. The second step off my ladder to academic excellence was in their solution: Art class.

Not just any art class, though. I was placed in a "School Service Art" class. In addition to teaching us to draw and paint and sculpt...we decorated the gym for dances. Many an hour while my contemporaries were slaving over their texts, my classmates and I were roaming the halls between our classroom and the gym taking our "school service" to heart! Add to this, the fact that this was the only academic class that combined students from both the eight and ninth grade, and here I was learning the basics of the California school system with a bunch of older kids and, let's face it, one didn't take "School Service Art" if one were on the honors track to Stanford!

I say this, not to lay blame on anyone for what was to become the shipwreck of my serious academic career. The responsibility for that lay squarely upon my young shoulders. Though I had never had my feet so firmly planted on the path of least resistance, I could have brought it to my math teacher's attention that the person grading the tests ought to be at least as smart as the one taking them. But I was "the new kid" in a strange school and trying to fit in. So I did. But, I lost some of that "gung ho" attitude I'd had towards learning.

I think of this experience sometimes when I hear older people defending the public school system. They remember their own experience and being removed from the reality of what it has become, defend what they experienced, as if it were the same thing.
Unfortunately, the schools have deteriorated even from my day, and one could say they were lacking then.

One small instance: My older siblings and I are separated by three and five years. When my sister went to high school, Latin was a required subject. (She also took French.) A couple years and half a continent later, when my brother went to high school, Latin was an elective. By the time I got to high school, it was a rarity. Today, I doubt there are few if any Latin classes in public high schools. And please don't tell me if they are absent from private schools, because I am depressed enough already!

My parents trusted the schools to do the right thing for me and I suppose, I did too. And there were no outward signs that my academic career had been side tracked. I didn't turn out so terribly bad, but I was certainly different than I would have been, had I remained more disciplined in my studies.

No regrets, but I remember when I was a very small child, single digit of age, when I thought to myself that along with above average intelligence came the obligation to do important stuff like cure cancer.
I never did that.

Jerry Brown Panders (More Than Usual*) for Votes

So what's new? Jerry Brown has been making a big deal over saying he will not raise taxes...without voter approval. What he has not said is that he won't further bankrupt the state. Here's what he has to say about paying for illegals to go to school:



"We have enough wealth..." We? You got a mouse in your pocket, Jerry? The state is broke. We don't have enough wealth to meet the obligations we already have without taking on more. This is pandering, plain and simple.

More at the Blog Prof

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything

*Updated headline

Lap Dancers Smarter on Average Than Obama Administration

Okay! I just made that one up to make the Obama administration feel better about the source of their failures! But, the Independent UK has a study that one in four lap dancers has a college degree.

The first academic research project into lap dancing has found that, rather than being uneducated young women who have been coerced into the industry, one in four dancers has a degree and has been attracted by the money.

Dancers took home an average of £232 a shift after paying commission and fees to the club, with most working between two and four shifts a week – giving them annual incomes of between £24,000 and £48,000 a year.

That's $37,000 to $74,450 USD. Not surprisingly, three out of four surveyed said they were "happy" or "Very happy" at work. One such lady is Amber:

Amber gave up a career as a financial journalist seven years ago, and now earns around £40,000 a year ($62K USD) working as a stripper in pubs in London's East End.

The 32-year-old, who has three A-levels and a journalism degree, said: "I had always been fascinated by the idea of being a stripper. I was disillusioned about the work I was doing. I think many people who have worked hard at school and university get out into the real world and find it's not what they expected. Someone I knew had a partner who worked as a stripper, so I went to see her perform at a pub in the East End.

"I think it's everyone's dream to be self-employed, to not have a boss and to work as much or as little as you want. In journalism, it didn't matter how many hours of overtime I put in, I still got paid the same. Now I can work really hard one week and earn good money, and then I can have a week when I don't work so hard and don't earn so much.

One might even begin to wonder who's being exploited here? The obviously smart women or the poor saps who pay them?

H/T Memeorandum

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything

Posters Removed from California Classrooms

This was emailed to me by a friend. It says something about "tolerance" in the public schools, though maybe not the message you expected.

It is found at citizenlink.org/

Cross posted at Lady Cincinnatus, Left Coast Rebel

Tiny Guns Violate School's No Weapons Policy

The tiny guns that were carried by the soldiers decorating an 8 year old's hat, that he decorated as part of a school assignment!
Proving once again that "zero tolerance" generally means zero common sense.

Next time, kid, consider plastic ghillie suits! Heh.

More at Riehl World View
Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Lady Cincinnatus

More on the Arizona Mural Controversy: Proof That Arizonians Are Racist

by Chris W. My Thoughts on Freedom

You would have thought that Arizona raised the Confederate flag over the state capitol today.

In the biggest non-story of the day, the left is all aflutter with the news that in Prescott, AZ artists were asked to lighten the faces of children on a mural on the Miller Valley Elementary School. This story is such big news that it is at the top of Memeorandum. Actually it is a slow news day and this is really the best the left can muster to rant about.

Not ones to take the explanation by the school's principal, Jeff Lane that the committee who commissioned the mural wanted the artists to "make [the children] look happier and more excited, fix the scale of the faces and remove some shadowing that made the faces darker than they are." the nutroots on the left are crying racism even though the one of the artists even admitted that the requested changes would "make the mural more accurately depict the photos of the Miller Valley School models."

You see, the progressives are not happy with Arizona's stand on illegal immigration and are enraged that we will not back down to their rhetoric and lies. So what is a radical to do? Rule 5 says ridicule is man's most potent weapon and rule 13 says pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it and if you don't think this is what they are trying to do, read here and here and here and here.

It is much ado about nothing if you ask me.

Via Memeorandum

(Editor's Note) Chris W. is an Arizona resident and a level-headed libertarian concerned with the problem illegal immigration poses in his state. He blogs at My Thoughts on Freedom.

"It’s Not Fascist When We do it…"

Jim Treacher has a nice take on UC decision to ask incoming students for a DNA sample:

Reminder: The city of San Francisco is boycotting the state of Arizona for reserving the right to ask people for a driver’s license. That’s the worst thing since Hitler. But asking for a sample of your genetic code is fine. It’s voluntary! And confidential! And, and, hey, it’s for your own good!

Some of the reasoning behind this questionable invasion of privacy?

...the test results will help students make decisions about their diet and lifestyle.

Once the DNA sample is sent in and tested, it will show the student’s ability to tolerate alcohol, absorb folic acid and metabolize lactose.

"Show the student’s ability to tolerate alcohol"? Hmmm. One good frat party could do that!

Sounds like the nanny state run amok. We don't want to merely advise you as to what you should and shouldn't eat or drink, but we want to be able to tell you the exact quantities as well.

What would the legal ramifications be, if any, if a student were shown to have genetically, a low tolerance for alcohol and then went binge drinking anyway? Would the school, having known this, be in any way culpable for what could happen?
Or if there is a rape on campus, any chance that DNA samples could be matched with the school's data base? Would the responsibility to keep their students safe override their promise to keep the results confidential?
Could the school be accused morally of sheltering a rapist or other criminal if they refused to share their results?

While not planning on doing any binge drinking or committing any crimes, I'm not sure I'd want the school to have my DNA just the same!

Moonbat Educator: California is "Occupied Mexico"

Just in case you were afraid that your tax dollars might be going to waste on teachers' salaries, just listen to Ron Gochez, a history teacher in the "Occupied territories of Mexico" (California) who wants to "change the paradigm of the whole discussion".
Hmmm. Seems to me that a very wise man once said that liberals want to change the "paradigm" whenever the facts aren't on their side!

Listen to this turkey: Your tax dollars at work!


Guys like this are educating our children and filling their skulls full of mush with this "Occupied territories" cr@p. Have you thought about running for your local school board lately?

H/T Gateway Pundit

Cross posted at Say Anything

"Waiting for Superman"

This looks good!

H/T Jonah Goldberg

"Crash the Tea Party" -Update

Thinking of disguising himself as someone who loves his country.

Remember last week, we looked at the effort of one individual to foment distrust and hatred for the "Tea Patries" by encouraging liberals to basically go out and be themselves, but pretend they were tea partiers while doing so?

"Whenever possible, we will act on behalf of the Tea Party in ways which exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV interviews, etc.) to further distance them from mainstream America and damage the public's opinion of them. We will also use the inside information we have gained in order to disrupt and derail their plans."

Well, good news for liberals! Jason Levin, the man behind the website, is going to have more time on his hands to pursue his weaselly, deceptive brand of liberal politics (but then, I repeat myself!).
Much more.

It seems that Jason is on administrative leave from the school where he teaches (a good teacher's union member no doubt!) while he is being investigated for possible misuse of school resources to further his political vendetta against conservatives.

An Oregon teacher who announced his intention to "dismantle and demolish the Tea Party" has been placed on administrative leave until his school district finishes its investigation into whether his political activity crossed the line.

The state's Teacher Standards & Practices Commission is also conducting an investigation into Jason Levin, a media teacher at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton.

Whacked out liberal teacher hates conservatives? Dog bites man- pictures at eleven!

...The school district is defending Levin's right to free speech, but it's investigating whether he used district computers to spread his political message or worked on his "Crash the Tea Party" Web site during school hours.

Okay. That's a "No, no". The school's policy is very explicit on this point. (In Levin's defense, maybe he can't read! )

"The Beavertown School District rules involving teacher use of the district's electronic system clearly state: The district's electronic communications system shall be used for educational purposes consistent with the district's mission, priorities and beliefs. Educational purposes do not include commercial use, use for personal financial gain or political advocacy."

"Political advocacy" I don't know. My recent experience with liberals is that they have trouble with words of one syllable or less! He very well just couldn't comprehend the meaning of the words!

Levin has said he would seek to embarrass Tea Partiers by attending their rallies dressed as Adolf Hitler, carrying signs bearing racist, sexist and anti-gay epithets and acting as offensively as possible -- anything short of throwing punches. In a recent interview with Talking Points Memo, Levin said of his plans, "Our goal is that whenever a Tea Partier says 'Barack Obama was not born in America,' we're going be right there next to them saying, 'Yeah, in fact he wasn't born on Earth! He's an alien!'"

What is it with the Left's fascination with Hitler? So, the guy is an obnoxious @ssclown who squandered an opportunity to educate young minds in favor of lying, deceit and libels on a strictly partisan basis. So? Right now he only appears like any number of pathetic Internet trolls who cannot win an argument based on facts, logic or intellect and therefore fall back on dishonesty and deceit. Maybe a little stupider than most Internet trolls (if such a thing is even possible!), but just as dishonest! Nothing new there! But, wait! There's more!

In a now deleted post on his "Crash the Tea Party" Web site, he called on his supporters to collect the Social Security numbers -- among other personal identifying information -- about as many Tea Party supporters as possible at the numerous rallies that took place on Thursday, Tax Day.

"Some other thoughts are to ask people at the rally to sign a petition renouncing socialism. See just how much info you can get from these folks (name address, DOB, Social Security #). The more data we can mine from the Tea Partiers, the more mayhem we can cause with it!!!!" he wrote.

Mayhem??? You mean like identity theft? Invading peoples' privacy by peeking into their financial records, like good liberals did to Michael Steele when he was a candidate in Virginia? Maybe taking steps to cause them financial troubles? Oh, yeah! This guy is a peach! He would never dream of throwing a punch at you (probably because he is a coward and too afraid you might punch back!) But he has no problem skulking in the dark, causing "mayhem" in your life by stealing your Social Security number! What a guy!

I'm thinking: "Teacher of the Year!"

The state agency is investigating whether this is a hint at identity theft, and whether it is appropriate behavior for a public school teacher. It also will investigate charges that Levin used school computers during school hours to work on his Web site. Levin teaches 6th, 7th and 8th graders about computers and technology.

Mr. Levin (no relation to Mark!): Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame and your time off work (unpaid, I would hope!). But, after an appropriate investigation, you are found guilty of the charges brought against you, it would not hurt my heart to know that you were unemployed or even sharing a cell with someone equal to you in moral character. Maybe you could learn a new trade commensurate with your morality? Or you could just make license plates!

H/T Left Coast Rebel
Cross posted at Say Anything

Who's In Need of An Education?

Apostrophobia strikes a liberal every twelve seconds.

H/T IMAO

The Keen Business Sense of Barack Hussein Obama

Barack as business man. That's a scary thought, isn't it? If Barack had to actually go out and earn a living by the sweat of his brow, disconnected from the government teat? How would he do as a banker???

To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer-subsidies that go to banks for student loans.

That's right. Weaselly, but right! With the government putting itself in charge of student loans, the money will no longer go to the bank, it will go straight down the rat hole!

And let's tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only ten percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after twenty years – and forgiven after ten years if they choose a career in public service.

Aside from being the Bureaucrat Employment Act of 2010, is it really a good idea to tell everyone that borrows from you, that if they don't pay you back in ten or twenty years that it's "no harm, no foul"? So the taxpayer subsidies that he hinted were a bad thing at the beginning of his speech are still there, there's just not some nasty bank in the way, insisting that people who take out loans should pay them back! Oh, yeah! That's change we can believe in!
Obama and the Democrats are big on asking how much any tax break is going to "cost", anybody figure out what the cost to the taxpayer is going to be in forgiving these loans? Anybody?? Beuller? Beuller??

That's not to say that banks don't write off a certain percentage of student loans. They build that into the interest rates as a cost of doing business. What Obama has done, aside from usurping authority over making these loans, is to remove the profit incentive from the process. Meanwhile, telling the people who receive the money that it's "Okay if you don't pay it all back"!

That's the spirit that built our country! /sarcasm

Sleep tight, America! The President who spends money like a drunken sailor to eliminate debt has got a handle on student loans!

We are so screwed!

Cross posted at Say Anything

University of California Raises Tuition 32%...

...students protest, occupying buildings.
Just a couple of months ago, we noted that Barack Obama compared his health care proposals to the current relationship between public and private colleges.

They argue that these private companies can't fairly compete with the government. And they'd be right if taxpayers were subsidizing this public insurance option. But they won't be. I've insisted that like any private insurance company, the public insurance option would have to be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects. But by avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits and excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers, and would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better, the same way public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and universities.

Now, University of California Regents have raised tuition costs 32% while at the same time admitting few students each year to the UC system. Can you say "rationing"?

Despite raucous student protests at UCLA that poured onto the streets of Westwood, the University of California Board of Regents Thursday approved a 32 percent fee increase that will push UC annual tuition above $10,000 for the first time.

Tuition at the 10 UC campuses will increase by $585 in the spring, then another $1,344 next fall. Along with a $900 registration fee, the hikes will bring annual in-state UC tuition to $10,302, not including campus fees, housing and books.

Can anyone imagine that if the UC Regents were to assume responsibility for every private college in the state as well, that somehow they could somehow both reduce costs and provide a better education to the state's college students? Or would prices go up and enrollment be restricted at those schools, too?

Welcome to Obamacare, Education Division!

Update: Kevin over at Say Anything had this graphic of the rapid increase of college tuition:


Cross posted at Say Anything