Thursday, December 30, 2010

Epic comic battle...

Red Quill Books recently published the first in what will be a four-part comic book series based on The Communist Manifesto. Apparently it's selling well, including to college professors who plan to use it in their classrooms. It's important to have this historical perspective and, I guess, this is an easy way to do it. I'm not too worried about students, aside from those who live and die by locally grown food, buying into the old-school bourgeoisie vs. proletariat struggle.

Promotional videos for the comics are available on youtube. What's really interesting about this one, at least to me, is the use of the 'the whole world is watching' chant for the whole soundtrack, start to finish. Oh please. I doubt very much the proletariats violently filling the streets in Moscow, or wherever, were hoping that someone was going to post their struggles on youtube, or even on the old-school broadcast news, which is when that chant was first broadcast, during the antiwar demonstrations outside of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Well, maybe people who won't eat oranges in January will believe it.





Anyone who enjoys eating lettuce, oranges and even arugula all winter can watch this.





Just substitute "financial meltdown" for "war" and The Road to Serfdom is brought up-to-date. Right?





Yup.
I found the best idea yet for getting rid of the Christmas tree on Geeko System, a site always worth checking.


 

Nice.

It takes a lot of (snow) balls...

This is a picture taken the day after New York City was buried under 20 inches of snow on December 26, 2010.


Still a big mess 24 hours after the storm ended. In fact, still a big mess today, three days after it stopped snowing. According to the New York Post, there is a very good reason for why the city, including emergency services and public transportation, was paralyzed after the Boxer Day Storm. The plow guys, unionized public workers all, were ordered by their supervisors to purposely stall clean-up efforts to protest budget cuts made to their department by Mayor Bloomberg over the past couple of years. They

...were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file...

...used a variety of tactics to drag out the plowing process -- and pad overtime checks -- which included keeping plows slightly higher than the roadways and skipping over streets along their routes...

...they were told to keep their plows off most streets and to wait for orders before attacking the accumulating piles of snow.


What the Hell? If the job of (not) plowing out New York City had been provided by anyone besides public workers and supervisors, all protected by a powerful union, their ass would be grass. Right?

Pretty much everyone has already seen this video of the NYC tow truck pulling a city plow out of the snow on a side street, destroying a parked car in the process. Now it's been set to music. There's a bit of understandably coarse language. Be sure to catch the references to the 'supervisor' which are based on the only response the tow truck driver had for the witnesses who asked him, in essence, what the f**k? You mean call the same supervisor who told you to f**k up in the first place? Any chance he'll receive a pink slip? Yeah, right.





Take a walk around the City the day after the storm. Funny how a lot of the sidewalks are shoveled, by residents and business owners probably, but the street hasn't been touched.





Yup. Don't do your job, destroy private property, just cool out and enjoy yourself.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Education 24/7...

After seeing Waiting For Superman and visiting First Achievement's Amistad Academy, the interest I've always had in education, pushed aside while I worked 24/7 building my career in real estate, has rewakened big time.

And Lord knows there is plenty happening. It seems like the efforts to reform the public schools are becoming far more mainstream than they were even ten years ago. Charter schools are an important part of the educational system nearly two decades after the first one opened in Minnesota. Many school districts have open enrollment, allowing parents more choice in where their children are educated.

The teacher's unions are no longer the sacred cows they used to be, and the priorities of the whole educational establishment are finally being questioned. In earlier posts (here, here and here) I took a look at the courage of Michelle Rhee's efforts in Washington, DC and the tough stand Chris Christie has taken with the entrenched powers-that-be in NJ education, even while career politicians continue to place a higher priority on teacher's votes than on their performance.

Waiting For Superman has played an important role in focusing the attention of more and more people on our broken schools. Two other films about the problems with public education were released in 2010 as well. They are both available on demand from most cable companies and I finally took the time to watch them.

The first, The Cartel, goes into great detail about how the vast amount of money budgeted for education in New Jersey is spent. It was made before Governor Christie took office but it explains perfectly what he is trying to do ~ break down the destructive power of a gargantuan educational establishment. The Cartel doesn't have the emotional impact of Superman but it offers seemingly endless examples of corruption and dishonesty on the part of school officials who, historically, have been untouchable because they are 'working for the children.' As one of the parents says in the film, "they've been pimping our children for a very long time." Perfectly said.

Here's the preview:





A few weeks ago, while I was researching Chris Christie, I ran across a youtube video showing New Jersey teachers misbehaving during, I guess, the cocktail hour of a union conference they were attending. At the time, I didn't feel it was fair to post it. After watching The Cartel, I've changed my mind. National Review added some fun graphics but the teacher's quotes are all too real.





The next film, The Lottery, is about the lotteries held every year to place children at the coveted Harlem Success Academy Charter Schools. The film is similar to Waiting For Superman as it follows the stories of four children who would all benefit greatly by leaving behind their substandard neighborhood schools and attending one of the charter schools. The focus, though, is very local, specifically Harlem, where schools have been in trouble for decades. The film does a great job showing the push-back from the entrenched educational establishment when written-in-stone power is questioned. The 27 year old filmmaker, Madeleine Sackler, discusses why she was inspired to make the film. The preview:





The founder of the Harlem Success Academy schools is Eva Moskowitz, yet another education reformer who showed amazing courage against vicious attacks from the educational establishment when she pushed for more accountability from them as chairwoman of education while serving on the New York City Council. Now, in a way, she has gotten her revenge by opening seven highly successful charter schools that do not to conform to the same union rules traditional schools have to follow.

Of course, that has only made the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) increase their efforts to bully Ms. Moskowitz, including the hiring of outsiders posing as neighborhood parents and, read this twice, Acorn, to carry signs and scream ugly slogans at the parents and children arriving for the first day of school at Harlem Success Academy. This is repulsive:





How is screaming ugly words at children who are entering the school of their dreams different from this?





All three films are worth making an effort to see. And there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in the fight for more school choice and reform.

An obvious answer to finding places at functioning schools for the children who come up short at charter school lotteries is to issue publicly-funded vouchers for use at established private schools. Vouchers, though, remain a sort of invisible alternative, rarely, if ever, mentioned by school reform organizations. The Foundation For Educational Choice includes vouchers, along with other alternatives, as a viable and valid choice. The site offers a lot of meaty information and research for getting up to speed on education reform.

The week starting January 20 has been designated National School Choice Week with events being held around the country promoting, um, school choice. A lot of the events revolve around showing The Cartel. Reason Magazine is holding a panel discussion in their Washington, DC office, with food and drink (of course) as well. It's not too late to organize a viewing of one of the films or to find a local speaker and book a room at the nearest library.

DoneWaiting.org is an organizing tool started by Education Reform Now, with the hope of taking advantage of the motivating force of Waiting For Superman to get more people involved in the reform movement. Both organizations support publicly-funded charter schools and push for improving traditional public schools.

Michelle Rhee has gotten her new effort off the ground. Student's First focuses on improving public education rather than promoting choice. Probably worthwhile if it shakes up the unions. In the few weeks since its start nearly $700,000 in donations has been raised, another testament to impact of Waiting For Superman, which featured Ms. Rhee's struggles in Washington, DC.

Hmmm, maybe it's time to get involved?

Monday, December 27, 2010

The morning after...

My backyard...



view from my office...


off the front porch...


and the weather for the day.



Sunday, December 26, 2010

Well, it's snowing, that's for sure...

We are hunkered down for the rest of the day. The snow is blowing sideways, probably have a little past an inch with lots more coming. The backyard...


from my office window...



up towards the horses (who are wisely staying in the barn)...


and out front.



I love it.

My backyard...

this morning, the day after Christmas.


A big snow is headed for the Northeast today.


My green backyard is history.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas

If one googles "pretty christmas lights" dozens of youtube videos of behemothic, computer-directed residential Christmas light displays come up, all sychronized with various techno versions of holiday songs. They all start looking the same after awhile. I like this one though ~ noir Christmas light display video:




This is my favorite though, simple and to the point:





I don't know if this old Nat King Cole tune is a Christmas song or not, but it feels like one to even to my own heathen self.




Instapundit turned me on to PomplamooseMusic a couple of years ago. I love her voice and the videos are charming. They and their friends put together a series of music videos celebrating the season. Here's Silent Night...




O Come, O Come Emmanuel...



And now it's time to open up your gifts...Merry Christmas, Gayle



And Tacy...




And Merry Christmas to me.




At Christmas play, and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
Thomas Tusser, 1580


Our Christmas Eve...

Really, Christmas is in the heart, no matter what it looks like in reality.



There ya go, dear.

Friday, December 24, 2010

It's Christmas...!

I love Annie Lennox's voice. She put a Christmas album out last month. It's good but I love this version of Winter Wonderland by the Eurythmics. The video is good too.



I love Doris Day too. Always have; always will. And I'm not being ironic. Here's her version of Sleigh Bells. For some reason, she's just skating around rather than singing in the video. I guess that's an old school thing.



Billy Idol's version of Jingle Bell Rock is a little more upbeat with an element of goofy.



And finally, a little light show for Santa:

Thursday, December 23, 2010

For the English only crowd...

I have enough problem with English, there's no hope for me learning another language. Hopefully I'll be able to get an app like this for my Droid X:



Maligayang pasko at manigong bagong taon!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Getting in the mood...

Pretty silly, but the neighbor is pretty smart:

Net Neutrality...

refers to a set of regulations that the FCC has proposed for the internet. Up until now the internet has been regulation-free, governed only by its users ~ the free market. A hearing introducing and voting on those regulations is being held in Washington, DC today.  

Reason Magazine is all over this. For their definition of net neutrality, the effect of imposing price controls and what imposing seemingly 'fair' regulations now may lead to in the future, watch this:




Wikipedia offers an overview of what net neutrality means, and the arguments for and against it.

I believe it boils down to a choice between regulation by consumers (the market) or regulation by politicians. Up until now, the internet has been regulated by the market to great success with very little downside. Putting the power to regulate anything into the hands of bureaucrats is like asking a pedophile to care take for your child. He, like the bureaucrats, will have a difficult time drawing lines for himself.

As Robert McDowell writes in The Wall Street Journal,

To date, the FCC hasn't ruled out increasing its power further by using the phone monopoly laws, directly or indirectly regulating rates someday, or expanding its reach deeper into mobile broadband services. The most expansive regulatory regimes frequently started out modest and innocuous before incrementally growing into heavy-handed behemoths.

The Cato Institute has written extensively on net neutrality here, here and, for a full policy paper, here. Cato's Julian Sanchez argues against the ACLU's support for regulation of the internet by the government.

Back to Reason TV for the three main reasons against political regulation of the internet:




In a related news story in today's Washington Post, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is supporting extending the current "Social Responsibility Law," which places certain bans on broadcast media, to the internet in order to protect Venezuelans against online crimes. And those crimes are?

 'messages that "disrespect public authorities...or are aimed at creating "anxiety" in the population.'

Just saying.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Delightful...

how sweet is this for anyone who adores Mr. Hayek?



And here's the man himself, speaking in 1977, as though he were alive now and making the arguments that need to be made today.



Quite thrilling to see him in action.

Dedicated to Andrea and HT to instapundit
Last night 60 Minutes ran an excellent piece on the budget crisis many states are facing. No surprise, a lot of air time was given to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as he is not only speaking the harsh truth about his state's finances ~ virtually non-existent ~ but is actively trying to turn things around by making courageous decisions as well. Witness his controversial decision to bag a construction project, building a train tunnel between New Jersey to Manhattan, that would have provided 6,000 construction jobs along with who knows how many paper pushers carrying around clipboards and looking busy.

It's around 13 minutes long but well worth watching if you haven't seen it, especially the interview with the financial forecaster who predicted the 2008 crash long before anyone else saw it coming, and now believes we're headed for another disaster because of the upside-down state budgets.



One thing that isn't mentioned in the 60 Minutes report is the reason why state employee and teacher pensions, among other similiar budget items, have gotten so out of control. The old career-politicians-beefing-up-their-constituency-with-taxpayer-money obsession. In short, politicians-money-votes.



When Governor Christie decided not to proceed with the tunnel project, he broke that cycle, at least for himself.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

It's been a good week...

First the trillion plus dollar spending bill was, at least temporarily, thrown out, a major victory for anyone who wants to downsize the federal government.

Then the ban on allowing gays to serve in the military was repealed, another major victory, this time for social liberals.

Rarely do we libertarians celebrate even one decision made by our lawmakers, much less two in one week.

The DADT policy was unrealistic and, more importantly, beyond disrespectful to a whole lot of people who were willing to join our all-volunteer military force and serve to the best of their abilities. It's worth reviewing why it needed to be repealed:



The ban was repealed in the Senate by a vote of 65-31, with just seven of the votes coming from Republicans. The 31 Republicans who voted against repealing the ban were just following what they believe their political base wants, good old-fashioned social conservatism. They were probably mistaking this for this:


While all Tea Party activists are advocating for bringing down the cost of the federal government, the majority of Tea Party supporters also want the reach of the government pulled back to the boundries defined by the Constitution. Somewhere in that mix are the libertarians, who make up a good 50% of the movement, and are social liberals who want the government out of our wallets and our bedrooms.

It'll be interesting to see if the career politicians on the Republican side of the aisle will be able to truely understand what limiting government really means.

It's not Lefse...

Gnocchi (gnocchi's?) are little potato dumplings Italian-style. There's an art to making them. This guy fell short.



Mario Batali, of course, does it best.


HT Boing Boing again

Blast From the Past...

So last century.



HT Boing Boing

Still shopping for Christmas?

Boing Boing, a hard-to-describe website that is worth checking every day, has a great list of books recommended by the BB staff. Some of the highlights:

Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue With His Century ~ Volume One

Mark Thomas Presents The People's Manifesto

Impressive: Printmaking, Letterpress and Graphic Design

And on and on. It's impossible to keep track of books new to the market and not so new to the market ~ seeing someone else's recommendations always uncovers a couple of gems.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Looking backward...

I remember seeing this video when it first came out at the beginning of this year, when we were headed, against our will, to the passing of Obama's healthcare bill. I felt the tone of the video fit the moment:



Watching it again now is a bit thrilling. A lot has happened during the last nine months. Of course, the road ahead of us, for we freedom-loving, small government types, is long and full of bumps. Bring it on.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Just a thought...

I've been reading Jonah Goldberg since his first blog, covering the daily events of whatever daycare his mother, Lucianne Goldberg, had enrolled him in. He continued writing what he dubbed The G-File during the Clinton presidency and beyond, always entertaining, whether or not I agreed with his Conservative views. Serving as one of the founding editors of National Review Online, The G-File seemed to disappear for awhile. I googled "Jonah Goldberg" and "prison" based on a rumor I had heard but all that came up were advertisements for workout equipment.

Anyway, Mr. Goldberg is back to writing The Goldberg File again, published every Thursday, similar to and just as irreverent as the old one. It's available only by email; you can sign up for it here. Today's entry discusses the necessity of taboos and prejudice against certain behaviors if we were ever successful in limiting government's reach into our daily lives. He uses, as one example, his discrimination against all drug addicts when he is hiring a babysitter for his daughter.

Goldberg points out the belief on the Left that we should be non-judgemental regarding all behaviors and all people (unless, of course, it has to do with eating cheeseburgers, Sarah Palin or Nativity scenes) does not allow for a more free society:

Indeed, if the Left wants to adopt the mantle of libertarianism [as they define themselves on social issues], they need to understand that if government gets less involved in our lives, civil society must get more involved. That means more taboos, more stigma, more discrimination properly understood. That's the difference between spontaneous order and childish chaos.

I've come to the same conclusion concerning the word discriminate, especially given the widely accepted use of the word as always referring to racial prejudice.

In a truly free society, people need to be free to discriminate. I don't mean in the racial sense, I mean in the prudential sense. We all discriminate -- i.e., make choices based on experience, data, and intelligence -- in every facet of our lives [my emphasis]. The man who doesn't discriminate literally cannot tell shit from shinola (lighten up, it's the G-File). And in a minarchist state, the regulation of social norms must of necessity be left up to society. That means employers, landlords, would-be fathers-in-law (!), neighbors, etc., can judge people by what criteria they find relevant.

In fact, one of my big pet peeves is when someone can't show prejudice in the face of appalling behavior. Take a stand. Don't be a wimp. Lordy.



Which brings me to a related topic ~ people who believe our political system would work better if politicians were non-partisan. This just begs the question WTF? I mean, really.

Equally WTF, there is now a group of people who believe people shouldn't label themselves according to their political beliefs, like, you know, libertarian, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Socialist or Republican. They've come up with a wonderfully neutral name for their organization: No Labels.

While I believe it's old-school to vote party line for the sake of voting party line, I also believe labels matter. It's pretty obvious, when reading through the site, that the No Label people are pretty enamoured of big government; they just want everyone to put labels aside and work together to come up with (big government) solutions. *No surprise, they believe in public financing of campaigns. Some of the stuff on the No Labels site is ridiculous:

We live in the time of the movement [what movement is that?] -- where views and opinions of our citizens can be aggregated and collected and heard as one voice through social media and online organizing technology.

There is a new movement afoot -- one that represents the majority of Americans left out of the current political debate--it's called No Labels.  

I don't know, it seems to me a majority of voters, which is the group of Americans that count when it comes to political change, had quite an impact on the last election. They gave themselves a label, used social media and online technology to be heard, all to great effect. I have a feeling the No Labels people are taking a stand against, dare I say it, the Tea Party folks, without, um, naming names.

Reminds me of a song.

A lovely morning...

The view off my front porch this morning:



Nice, but this is way better...                      

Good Bye!!

to the $1.3 trillion spending bill, at least for now. It was the usual huge, pork-filled kind of bill, generated by the old-school we-will-spend-your-money-to-keep-ourselves-in-office kind of thinking, that lead to...



It means that the revolt against big government that so impacted this year's elections was and is real and meaningful. Whomever thought on Capital Hill ~ whether it was Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell ~ that we weren't paying attention was wrong. The Christian Science Monitor agrees.

Of course, keeping an eye on career politicians to make sure they haven't slipped some over-reaching, expensive whatever into the next bill that comes along is like making sure your two-year-old doesn't pinch his baby sister as soon as you turn your back.
  
The newly elected Representatives had better pack their big boy pants and be ready for battle, including the one (hopefully) over rewriting of the spending bill. I'm hoping this is what C-Span looks like beginning in January:





We've got plenty of help keeping an a watch on the 2011 Congress: Washington Watch follows bills from start to finish, including all the dirty details; Taxpayers for Common Sense is a middle-of-the-road organization that wants more transparency when the government spends our money; Taxpayers Against Earmarks breaks down earmarks state-by-state, very useful for keeping track of one's own represetative; and, of course, the Cato Institute's Downsizing Government site offersthe well-researched policy and institutional information necessary for understanding the intentions of politicians and all things government.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Let's see...

should I post about the Tax Bill ~ 3 years of unemployment money?? up to 55% estate tax?? ~ or watch this:





I know, it's total avoidance behavior. Here is the list of the 270 films shown in the video.

Pretty amazing list.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Our house Saturday night...

grey and gloomy despite the Christmas lights.


This was my brother's house on Saturday night, probably looks about the same now.


At least his roof didn't collapse.


Sunday, December 12, 2010

Please refer all questions to my attorney...

Our annual hunt for a Christmas tree ended successfully yesterday. As usual, we headed straight for the back of the cut-your-own lot where all the trees are $25 and, just as importantly, big and beautiful. The owner of the lot helped us tie the tree to the top of Will's car.



We cut down a tree for Christmas every year. Yup, every year. If we lived in Ecuador, that would probably mean we'd be facing a very long prison sentence because that country's Constitution grants inalienable rights to nature. In other words, in Ecuador trees have the same rights you are protected by here in the US. 

In case you're mortified that trees in the United States remain an unprotected class, don't worry, the Community Enviromental Legal Defense Fund is working hard to "change the status of ecosystems from being regarded as property under the law to being recognized as rights-bearing entities." Read that last bit out loud and very slowly. To date, the CELDF has helped a dozen communities IN THE UNITED STATES pass tree-rights laws.

It probably won't be too long before tree rights activists will be flinging buckets of sap at anyone leaving a Christmas tree farm.


Not to digress, but giving constitutional rights to trees is a fabulous way to take property rights away from people. While the  Trees Have Rights Too people  avoid any mention of what exactly would happen to our property rights if their beliefs became reality, it's clear that, in their view, I wouldn't be able to even sneeze at a tree in my own yard.

Unless you believe that trees are their own, um, person...or whatever, a couple of hours of reading will dispel any notion you have that communal ownership of anything is better for trees or anything else. Or you can watch this:






This is more fun to watch and shows in a cute but graphic way what happens when several farmers raise their
sheep on a commonly-owned meadow:





So, back to Christmas trees. Is it an environmental loss, so to speak, to cut down a tree? All trees have a positive impact on the environment but, importantly, are a renewable resource. Unlike people on the fringe (equal rights for trees people, maybe?), The Nature Conservancy understands the positive role private property plays in caring for the environment and, more importantly, knows what it takes to keep forests healthy. 

Saturday, December 11, 2010

My Connecticut backyard this morning...

You call this snow?



This is a real snow storm ~ it's why Minnesotans are so strong.






UPDATE: The Metrodome collapsed! I don't know who took the video but it shows the whole collapse from start to finish.





In this documentary of contemporary life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesotans show what they're made of...

here is a clip of the film:

It's not about President Obama...

President Obama is not the focus of this blog. I guess it's a bit difficult to figure out what exactly the theme of So...Now What? actually is, but it's not a vehicle for running over the President whenever possible. Our governments, at all levels, are out-of-control, beyond the possibility of effective management, and the President is only part of that problem. That's really the reason I began posting; I had to find a way to release the screaming demons in my head who howl in pain everytime I turn on the news. (Yes, they are all small government type demons.)

That said, WTF? When's the last time a world leader and President of the United States asked, at least what felt like, his much older big brother to come to his defense? With the largeness, in all ways, of Bill Clinton standing slightly in front of the President, it looked like Wally had been called out to rescue that undersized dweeb The Beaver from the meanies bullying him. In my too-many-years-to-count, I've never seen a moment like it. How does one stand next to his older, and far more popular big brother, and still look tough or, at the very least, as though one is still in charge? One doesn't.


Probably for the best, Obama names Clinton to Presidential post. Iowahawk does The Onion one better and writes about the transfer of power from Barack Obama to Bill Clinton. Highlight:

Let's face it, it's obvious I'm in way over my head here," explained Obama. "Anyone paying attention knows I am a disaster waiting to happen, and who can blame them? I mean, just look at the stock market. That's why I think it's in the best interest of the country that I hand over the reins to people who, whatever their ethical shortcomings, at least have a faint clue about what they're doing. Come on, man. I've got a 401-k, too."

Hmmm.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Congressman Anthony Weiner's brain is dead...

Megyn Kelly, during her afternoon show on Fox News, asked Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) to explain his position on whether or not to extend the moratorium on estate taxes. This is what I took away from the interview:





The original interview comes to the same conclusion, but is way more painful to watch:





Can you say arrogant?

The rioting UK students are correct...




Oh, sorry, wrong video.




As I write this, thousands of university students in the UK are rioting in the streets of London, protesting the successful vote in Parliament for an increase in what they will have to pay towards their education. For the last few years, students have had to pay about $5000(US) annually for their college education, with the Government picking up the rest. As part of a large plan to cut the size and cost of Government before it goes broke, students will be asked to pay closer to $14,000(US).

If these poor kids were receiving a worthwhile education they'd understand that if the government tuition subsidies stay in place, in twenty years they will be footing the university bill for someone else...and probably rioting in the streets in protest. Looks to me like these kids haven't even been exposed to basic economic theory. Why should they pay anything at all for an education that falls so short?

The best sign I saw while I watched the video: F**K FEES ~ Free Education Now. I must say; well said. The mollycoddled students are not alone in their despair.



A couple of months ago a detailed austerity package was introduced in the House of Commons to deal with the UK's $173(US) billion deficit, the largest in Europe, which is saying a lot (Greece? Ireland? Portugal?). The interest payments alone on that debt are a monstrous $68 billion a year.

Government agency budgets are being cut by 19%, serious cuts to welfare programs will save $28(US) billion, the age required for retirement pensions will gradually be raised and, shockingly, the Queen's budget will be shaved by 14% next year. (How ever will she be able to afford that wedding?)

I wonder if our own politicians would have the same kind of courage when it comes to making the tough cuts?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

This is fun, and cool too...

The same animators who made the now classic Wallace and Gromit stop-motion films used new technology to show the adventures of tiny 0.35 inch Dot. The pull-back shot at the end demostrates the true size of Dot and her demons.




The Cell Scope, serving as the lens for the film, is a new tectnology which will allow NGO's to make a diagnosis in Third World countries, even when there is no access to a medical clinic. Using the scope to magnify a smear of blood, and transmitting the image with a camera phone via the nearest cell tower (80% percent of the world's population lives near a tower), treatment can be offered on the spot.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Best film of the week...

A intimate look behind the scenes of the true California aristocracy:



The California Pension Reform group doesn't stop at making reality shows of the rich and famous (at the expense of California taxpayers).

They name names.

Let's hear it for the Freedom of Information Act and a little inspired initiative.

HT to Maggie's Farm

This has possibilities...

Filmmaker George Lukas is figuring out a way to bring back oldie-but-goodie deceased actors to act in future films. Sounds interesting. Hmmm.



Why limit it to actors?




Good news for the politician who died during her campaign for a seat on the California State Senate, and won!

Sorry.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Just when you think it can't get any worse...

Mickey Kaus, world famous blogger, now with Newsweek, always cuts to the chase. Responding to a story about teacher layoffs in Los Angeles in the LA Times, Kaus points out how the teachers' union just plain doesn't work, including for many of its' members. The students? Forget it. It's well worth reading the whole article, if your heart can take it.

Kaus writes:

The Trouble With Unions, Part XXVIII: If you ask members of a labor union to choose democratically how to lay people off in bad times, chances are they will say "by seniority." Seniority avoids invidious comparisons of how well various workers are doing their jobs. It curbs managerial favoritism. It's also a terrible way to run an organization. Here's what happened in the L.A. school system, as reported in an effective (i.e. heartbreaking) the LA Times:

Because seniority is largely unrelated to performance, the district has laid off hundreds of its most promising math and English teachers. About 190 ranked in the top fifth in raising scores and more than 400 ranked in the top 40%.


Schools in some of the city's poorest areas were disproportionately hurt by the layoffs. Nearly one in 10 teachers in South Los Angeles schools was laid off, nearly twice the rate in other areas. Sixteen schools lost at least a fourth of their teachers, all but one of them in South or Central Los Angeles.


Far fewer teachers would be laid off if the district were to base the cuts on performance rather than seniority. The least experienced teachers also are the lowest-paid, so more must be laid off to meet budgetary targets. An estimated 25% more teachers would have kept their jobs if L.A. Unified had based its cuts on teachers' records in improving test scores. 


Those are the numbers. Here are some consequences when a recently revived school in a Latino neighborhood tried to fill the slots of the laid-off teachers with higher-seniority union members:

Many of the candidates were elementary teachers whose positions had been eliminated to save money. Under the rules, they had enough seniority to avoid a layoff but had to be placed elsewhere.


Many had little interest in teaching challenging middle school kids in a poor community, Stevens said. Of those who did accept jobs at [the John H. Leichty Middle School], some left in tears within days or called in sick every day, teachers recalled ...


Many classrooms had as many as 10 subs over the year ...


"I got these calls saying, 'Your class is falling apart,'" said Judy Kerber, a laid-off Liechty teacher also in the top fifth of middle school instructors districtwide. "This amazing group of kids just fell apart."


More fights broke out on campus, drug use increased and youngsters became more unruly in class, several students and teachers recalled.


"I'd visit them and see that books were destroyed, their classroom was vandalized," Gascon said. "I could lecture them … but I understand how they feel. They feel like they've been abandoned."


Over to you, Diane Ravitch...

P.S.: If a union-enforced seniority principle is a terrible way to run schools, what makes us think it isn't it also a terrible way to run hospital nursing staffs or water and power departments—or auto factories? ... [via Newsalert] 10:42 a.m.

Kaus, co-King of blogging along with Glen Reynolds, opposed Barbara Boxer during the Democratic primary this year (he didn't win but should have). He was serious in intent during his run against Senator Boxer, but he did it with a smile.

Senator Boxer refused to debate Mr. Kaus. He decided to proceed with the debate anyway.


The Kaus for Senate commercials were cute, fast-paced and packed in a lot of message, including his thoughts on the teacher's unions.


Sunday, December 5, 2010

It's all garbage...

One would think that the failures of the Los Angeles education system, especially, of course, in inner city neighborhoods, would push fixing the schools to the absolute top of the priority list kept by whomever calls the shots in the City's government and in Sacramento. Especially given the notoriety the movie Waiting For Superman has brought to the LA public schools.

But that would be a silly conclusion, especially if some of the citizens in Los Angeles are undisciplined when it comes to correctly separating various kinds of trash. Talk about a real bummer, mixing plastic bottles with leftover vegetables.

Fortunately Los Angeles has 'recycling ambassadors' who roam the city with their clipboards keeping track of who does and who doesn't follow the rules. The really cool thing? The really smart people who make these rules set as a goal that 70% of, ah, I guess, people throwing away garbage, would do it according to the rules. The really great thing is that 65% are ALREADY doing it. Wow.

Good job, guys.



Maybe the recycling ambassadors could do equally well for the schools.


California ranks near the bottom of all states in the number of students reaching their educational goals, Rogers noted – and not just among students of color. California students generally have lower test scores than students across the nation. Notably, white students in California also perform well below white students in almost all other states.

At least California has proper recycling down pat. And speaking of garbage, check out the very entertaining Last Night's Garbage, a rambling and literary diary of New York City garbage-of-the-day, at least as the author runs across it during his daily travels.