Why We Must Cut Entitlement Spending

Ignoring these numbers doesn't make them go away:

Consider America's fiscal situation, which is dire anyway you cut it. Federal spending on the poor has grown enormously, as Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution told the House Budget Committee in April. The ten largest "means tested" programs (Medicaid, food stamps, earned-income tax credits, etc.) spent $4,300 per poor person in 1980 (in constant 2011 dollars), and $13,000 in 2011. That's a three-fold increase in real, per capita terms. Add in the $209 billion spent by federal programs too "small" to make the Top Ten, and total poverty spending reached $835 billion last year, or $17,380 for each American living below the poverty line. Spending on entitlement programs that aren't means tested was even larger: Social Security cost $731 billion and Medicare $486 billion. And in a dozen years, the number of Medicare and Social Security recipients will have risen by 50%. In 2011 the federal government spent $3.6 trillion, of which it borrowed $1.3 trillion, or more than a third. The Obama Administration expects to borrow a slightly larger amount in 2012. As a result, the gross federal debt stood at $14.8 trillion in 2011, 98.7% of GDP, and will surpass 100% of GDP each year through 2017. "Simply put," writes the steely-eyed Yuval Levin, "we cannot afford to preserve our welfare state in anything like its present form."

Taxing the rich isn't going to make these numbers go away, either.

Typical Liberals--Unabashed and Brazen

Look what the Democrats are doing:

Last night, I posted about a mailing I received from the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund, showing my name and address and the names and addresses of a dozen of my neighbors and whether we'd voted in the last 2 elections. The letter says that "we're taking a new approach... seeing this mailing to you and your neighbors to publicize who does and does not vote." We're told this is a matter of "public record" and that "After the June 5th election" — the recall — "public records will tell everybody who voted and who didn't." I found that quite disgusting...

A group of “researchers” using a Harvard University return address (108 Littauer Center – I checked and Harvard has that center.) is sending out campaign contribution information showing one Republican donor (me) and multiple (blinded) Democratic donors.  This reeks of intimidation tactics, i.e. “we have your name, etc and we will spotlight you”.  They claim this is information from “my neighborhood” – I know I live in a very Republican neighborhood so these names could be pulled from anywhere, e.g. the big UVA Democrat areas several miles from here.

This is disgusting.

A couple of valid points from the comments:

This bothers conservatives much more for the same reason we generally don't display political bumper stickers. We all know that many liberals are emotional basket cases that will key your car, or flatten your tires for daring to express a contrary opinion in their world.

Consequently telling a bunch of them in your neighborhood that you support Republicans is de facto a threat. Use of this tactic is an admission that what I just said is true: liberals are often scary and violent.

To use such a tactic does not make much sense for Republicans. You can't threaten people that conservatives will physically harm you or your property for being a liberal. It just isn't true enough to be scary.

I think this tactic is a damning admission.

and

 "So liberals are confirmed psychopaths."

Whoever sent these flyers out thinks enough of them are so that it will scare people into submission. Otherwise there is no point.

I agree with their self-diagnosis. 

and best of all

"They are apparently studying how public disclosure is going to supress contributions. Interesting thesis"

Certainly it is.

Maybe the next study approved can be a study of the impact of secret filming of gay college students. 

Oh, that would be wrong.

Teacher of the Year

I've said it 8 zillion times:  it's always a cop, a teacher, or a preacher.  That's why it makes news in the first place:

 A Texas middle school band director accused of texting sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old student was named teacher of the year at his school a few days earlier, according to NBCDFW.com.

Hat tip to reader MikeAT.

Slapping a Student

I can understand it if a teacher loses their cool.  I don't excuse it, but I understand it. But to do something like this, premeditated?  Are you kidding me?

The family of a California high school student has failed to see the funny side of a teacher imitating a scene from the hit comedy "Bridesmaids" and allegedly trying to slap some sense into the girl.

Dionne Evans, a ninth grade student at Malibu High School, alleges that when she forgot to bring her homework to class on May 22 she was called to the front of the room and the unnamed teacher asked, "Did you see 'Bridesmaids'?"

The teacher then allegedly slapped the girl's face up to six times, TMZ.com reported.
It is believed the teacher was referring to a scene in the 2011 movie where one woman literally tries to slap some sense into another.

Evans' family have filed a complaint with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. A spokesperson for the sheriff's Special Victims Unit confirmed to the Santa Monica Daily Press that they are investigating the incident.

The teacher has since written an apology to Evans but her family have hired an attorney and are reportedly considering a civil lawsuit against the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

Someone in this story needs some sense slapped into her, and it's probably not the kid.

The School Insurance Authority must love stories like this one.

Why I Don't Like High School Graduation Ceremonies

Every other year at my school we have to work at graduation.  I could easily whittle the list of responsibilities down such that we'd only need to work every third year, but that's something I can deal with another time.

I never work in the ceremony itself--I'd die.  We hold our graduations in Memorial Auditorium downtown, and I always get one of the jobs in the basement.  I work before and after the ceremony.  Before the ceremony, I'm getting the kids lined up, taking their pictures with their friends, making sure they're properly dressed, providing them with information, making sure they have their name cards for the reader to read as they walk across the stage--things like that.  The atmosphere is electric, it's like pre-game activities for the Super Bowl.  After the ceremony I'm also downstairs, handing out diplomas and saying final good-byes.  It's like being with the winning team after the Super Bowl.  I get the best of everything.  I'm actually looking forward to working our graduation this year.

Last night I attended my nephew's graduation, and all the things I hate about graduation ceremonies were on display.

His was held outside, on what appeared to be his Taj Mahal-of-a-school's soccer field.  The temperature was in the high 90s, and the bugs were having a field day.  Ugh.  I was thankful that shortly before starting, someone got on the speakers and said that they'll let us know when the kids were to start marching in, but that they wouldn't start the processional until all umbrellas (used as sun shields) were put away so everyone could see.  To my pleasant surprise, at the appointed time everyone put away their umbrellas.

That's where my glee ended.  Because as soon as the kids started walking down the center aisle to their seats up front, everyone stood up so they could see.  Of course, once everyone's standing, the view is no better than it is when everyone's sitting--in fact it's worse, because at least when everyone's sitting even the people in the distance can see the kids, who are standing/walking, over the heads of the seated crowd.  But once a few people stood up because seeing their kid is the most important thing on the planet, others had to, and then more, and pretty soon only the people lining the aisle could see.  Ugh.

Women, this one goes out special to you.  You know that high-pitched screaming thing you do?  It's like an icepick through my temples.  Do you not know how loud you are, how high-pitched that yell is, how little anyone around you wants to hear that?  Ugh.

And for all you people who bring air horns and vuvuzelas and such--yes, I know you want to cheer for your kid, and you want your kid to hear you cheer for him or her.  What you clearly don't consider, though, is that the kids are going across the stage at a rate of 10 per minute, one every 6 seconds.  While you're having a great old time, not only are the people next to you covering their ears to lessen the 120 db horns you're blowing, but the family of the child whose name is announced immediately after your kid's cannot hear their kid's name being announced because you're too busy acting low-class and selfishly trying to hog some limelight.  Ugh.

I'm not trying to be an old fuddy-duddy here, but I have to ask--when did graduation ceremonies become like English soccer matches?  When did "pomp and circumstance" give way to screaming and airhorns?  When did people stop demonstrating common courtesy to those around them?  I'm not asking for dourness or total solemnity here, but I am asking for people to be courteous to the couple thousand other people in attendance. Could you not simply clap for your kid when his/her name is called?  Do you really need to scream for several seconds, block other people's views with your signs--or my personal favorite, try to run up and hug your kid as they come off the stage, even though you've been asked not to because it gums up the works?  (OK, that last one didn't happen last night, but I've seen it before.)

My advice, suggestion and prayer:  act dignified during the ceremony, and have as much fun as you want to afterwards.

And that's just the adults.  Now it's on to the valedictorian speeches.

I joked with my sister before the ceremony started that I never work in the graduation ceremonies in part because I can't stand valedictorian speeches.  If I never again hear "Remember when we were freshman, and the school seemed so big, and then we were sophomores and juniors, and now we're seniors and we rule the school" one more time it will be too soon.  And how many valedictorians does one school need?  My school had one, and one salutatorian, but now schools have lots--my nephew's school had 6, although only 2 gave speeches.  Anyway, when the first one spoke and started with the "remember when we were freshmen" routine, my sister looked over at me and laughed.  She knew it was killing me!  Ugh.

As I listened to the first valedictorian I texted one of my friends with whom I graduated almost 30 years ago, told him about it, and asked, was my speech as vapid?  His response:  I don't remember it, I was probably thinking about getting laid.  Reading that text was for me the most enjoyable part of the graduation exercise except for watching my nephew walk across the stage!

So I survived the ceremony last night, my nephew will soon be off to a Southern California UC campus, and the world will continue turning. No ugh for that, I guess.

Showing Class at the Last Rally

Today was the last rally of the school year and I saw something that showed a lot of class.  The senior class acknowledged a couple of teachers as well as one of our custodians.  When the custodian's name was called, the gym roared--you'd have thought the roof was going to come down.  And it was sincere, too, as everyone loves Henry.  He seemed overwhelmed by it all, almost not knowing what to say.

For me, that was the best part of the rally.  Nicely done.

West Point at the National Archives

This is a lot of information.

Different Schedules

Tomorrow night I get to go to my nephew's graduation.  I have 7 work days after he graduates before I'm done for the summer.  My own seniors don't graduate until next Thursday.

Whatever, my nephew didn't get Ski Week off in February.

The Decision Has Been Made

How am I getting to Friday Harbor?  Click here to find out!

More Evidence That It's A Spending Problem, Not a Taxation Problem, In California

This is so typical:

Legislation to provide nearly a billion dollars in middle-class college and university scholarships passed the Assembly on Wednesday, but lawmakers have not yet taken up a companion bill to provide funding.

In this state what matters is that your intentions are pure (and leftie), not that they make any sense.

Solving The Big Problems In Math And Physics

If you think math and physics are good only for building rockets and bridges and airplanes and computers, think again:

One of the more intriguing conundrums in fluid dynamics is the puzzling behaviour of bubbles in Guinness, the famous Irish stout.

As many drinkers will attest, the bubbles in Guinness appear to sink as the drink settles and the head forms. How can this be, given that bubbles are less dense than the surrounding fluid and so should rise?

Over the last ten years or so, physicists have begun to pick this problem apart. Most recently they've shown that it is not the bubbles that sink but the liquid, which circulates in a way that is downwards near the glass walls and upwards in the interior.  As long as the downward flow of the liquid is faster than the upward motion of the bubbles, they will appear to sink.

But that still leaves a puzzle: why does the liquid circulate in this way?

Today, a dedicated team of Irish mathematicians reveal the answer. Eugene Benilov, Cathal Cummins and William Lee at the University of Limerick say the final piece in this puzzle is the shape of the glass, which has a crucial influence over the circulatory patterns in the liquid.

So there you have it.

Harmless Joke, Or Cruel?

It's harmless if you're the teacher, cruel if you can use it to extort money from the school:

The mother of an 8-year-old Arizona girl who was presented with a "Catastrophe Award" for apparently having the most excuses for not having homework believes her child was humiliated by her teacher.

Christina Valdez said her daughter, Cassandra Garcia, came home one day from class at Desert Springs Academy in Tucson, Ariz., with the paper award.

The document, which looks like a colorful card, contained the following message: "You're Tops! Catastrophe Award.  Awarded to Cassandra Garcia. For Most Excuses for Not Having Homework"...

 "I think it's cruel and no child should be given an award like this. It's disturbing," she said, adding that she was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework"....

And that says it all.

What Does The CTA Do Right?

Nothing, in my opinion, and nothing in the opinion of this fellow, either:

Troy Senik’s “The Worst Union in America,” is a deadly accurate piece which appears in the Spring 2012 edition of City Journal. Not surprisingly, the author was referring to the California Teachers Association, the state affiliate of the National Education Association. It wasn’t too hard for Senik to make his case because the evidence is, well, overwhelming. With its ever ready cash on hand (forcibly taken from teachers who have no choice but to fork it over), CTA has stopped every meaningful education reform measure that has been proposed, ensured that meaningless reforms like small class size in early grades are mandated, protects underperforming and criminal teachers, bullies political opponents and encourages lawbreaking when it is to their political advantage.

These views may explain why the author is the president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network.  He's clearly a brilliant and perceptive guy, linking (just above the picture, about 2/3 down) to my humble blog :-)

OK, Larry and I are predisposed not to like the CTA.  Fair enough.  But I challenge anyone here (especially the u-bots!) to tell me where Larry's wrong with the points he brings up in his article.  Do share with us not only where Larry is mistaken, but give us your unvarnished "truth".  I defy you.

What To Do When The Friend of My Friend Is My Avowed Enemy

Diane Ravitch--what's she going to do?

Hat tip to Stephen Sawchuk at Teacher Beat for reporting on the $550,000 grant the National Education Association Foundation received for labor-management collaboration from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. NEA’s charity arm previously received $358,000 from the Gates Foundation...

 Time to get out the popcorn again as we await the response of Matt Damon’s mom. And let’s not forget 2010 NEA Friend of Education Diane Ravitch, who had this to say about Gates and his “Billionaire Boys’ Club” in an opinion piece posted – where else? – on the NEA web site...

So, are they only Evil Corporate Puppetmasters when they give money to someone else, or is the NEA leadership a bunch of sell-outs? Let the debate begin.

You remember Diane Ravitch, don't you?

Well, given the bat-guano craziness of her arguments, I'm sure she'll find some way to justify it.

Interesting Correlation

I'll have to run the numbers to see if these percentage differences are statistically significant or not, but either way I don't see them as practically significant.  Still, it's funny to give this information to the adherents of the Church of Global Warming:

Are global warming skeptics anti-science? Or just ignorant about science?

Maybe neither. A study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change finds that people who are not that worried about the effects of global warming tend to have a slightly higher level of scientific knowledge than those who are worried, as determined by their answers to questions like:

"Electrons are smaller than atoms -- true or false?”
"How long does it take the Earth to go around the Sun? One day, one month, or one year?"
“Lasers work by focusing sound waves -- true or false?”

The quiz, containing 22 questions about both science and statistics, was given to 1,540 representative Americans. Respondents who were relatively less worried about global warming got 57 percent of them right, on average, just barely outscoring those whose who saw global warming as a bigger threat. They got 56 percent of the questions correct.

"As respondents’ science literacy scores increased, their concern with climate change decreased," the paper, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, notes.

Huh.  You don't say.  Hmmm, very interesting.

Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT, was one skeptical scientist who signed the letter (titled No Need to Panic About Global Warming). He said that the finding that skeptics know as much or more about science surprised him "not at all."

"MIT alumni are among my most receptive audiences," he added.

I'm Not This Bright

While I accept your high praise and hosannas regarding my getting accepted into grad school, I'm just not as bright as this guy:

A German 16-year-old has become the first person to solve a mathematical problem posed by Sir Isaac Newton more than 300 years ago.

Shouryya Ray worked out how to calculate exactly the path of a projectile under gravity and subject to air resistance, The (London) Sunday Times reported...

Newton posed the problem, relating to the movement of projectiles through the air, in the 17th century. Mathematicians had only been able to offer partial solutions until now.

My senior project at West Point involved shooting a projectile at an airplane moving at constant speed and altitude.  I did the computer programming in what I called "blocks", so that one block could be removed and another inserted as the program got more complicated.  I envisioned adding diving and climbing aircraft, as well as accounting for air resistance.  It would have been a "partial solution", but hopefully one good enough to bring down enemy aircraft.

I had no idea until I read the linked article that an exact answer was even possible.

Why Taxing The Rich Isn't Enough

The "rich" may have more than you and/or I do, but there aren't enough of them.  You could confiscate every American billionaire's wealth and not put a dent in our national debt.  Heck, I'm fairly sure you could even cover one year's deficit with all that money, and then what would you do next year when the rich didn't have anything to covet anymore?

Yes, covet.  It's class warfare, nothing more and nothing less.  Here is some interesting information about taxing the rich:

We continually hear that "The Rich" got richer thanks to the tax cuts enacted in 2001 George W. Bush's first term. If that’s the case, why is it that in the wake of these lower tax rates (set to expire at the end of this year) the top 1% of income earners now pay roughly 40% of the income taxes collected. As you can see by the chart below from the non-partisan Tax Foundation, that’s double the share they paid back in the early 1980s.

Still convinced the “wealthy” (whatever that means) don’t pay their fair share? It turns out that the U.S. has the most progressive personal income tax rates of any country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to the Tax Foundation, “the top 10% of U.S. taxpayers pay a larger share of the income tax burden than do their counterparts in any other industrialized country, including traditionally ‘high-tax’ countries such as France, Italy, and Sweden.” (1) Moreover, the Tax Foundation calculates that even if you took as much as half the annual income “from every person making between one and ten million dollars,” you’d only reduce the federal deficit by 1%.

We don't have a taxation/income problem in this country as much as we have a spending problem.

My Alma Mater

From the major Sacramento newspaper:

About 15 students could face disciplinary action after school officials say they were caught red-handed executing a senior prank.

The students are suspected of spray-painting exterior walls and dumping dirt and debris in the driveway of Foothill High School, 5000 McCloud Drive, in the Twin Rivers Unified School District.

As one commenter at that link said:

A "prank" is something like putting a giant hat on a statue. Something harmless and hopefully a bit funny. Destruction of property is not a prank.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/05/foothill-high-students-suspected-of-senior-prank-vandalism.html#storylink=cpy

A "prank" is something like putting a giant hat on a statue. Something harmless and hopefully a bit funny. Destruction of property is not a prank.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/05/foothill-high-students-suspected-of-senior-prank-vandalism.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/05/foothill-high-students-suspected-of-senior-prank-vandalism.html#storylink=cpy

How I've Spent Memorial Day

I grew up in North Highlands, the suburban town outside the gates of McClellan Air Force Base.  It was never the nicest of areas, was never going to make any magazine's list of "best towns to live in", but it was home.

McClellan was closed by BRAC some time in the 90's and is now a business park.  No one's going to confuse North Highlands with Beverly Hills, but the town looks nicer than I remember from my childhood--the houses are painted and the lawns watered and better maintained now.  And for that I'm glad.

I went back to North Highlands this morning to watch the Memorial Day parade.  My son marched in it as part of his high school JROTC program's color guard, and of course I had to go take video (he's the rifle bearer on the left side of the rank, next to the California flag).  The judges awarded them 1st place in the parade in their category.

People from North Highlands and beyond lined the 1-mile route down Watt Avenue to watch the Ben Ali riders, beauty pageant winners, VFW officials, police and fire vehicles, and various military units, and so many others, march in a this parade dedicated to fallen service members.

May those service members rest in peace and honor.

No One Ever Taxed Themselves Into Prosperity

Illinois is showing what happens when you try:

Sixteen months ago, Democrats pushed through the largest income tax increase in Illinois history, an unpopular decision that was billed as a crucial step to put state government on the road to financial recovery.

Yet last week lawmakers made deep cuts in health care for the poor, and this week they face tough votes to raise the cigarette tax, strip away public worker pension benefits and slice spending on social services. Despite all that, the giant pile of unpaid bills that has loomed over state government for years is expected to keep growing.

So why didn't the roughly $7 billion more a year the state is collecting from that income tax hike fix Illinois' money problems?

Pension payments continue to increase dramatically each year. The same is true for health care costs as more people seek coverage during a down economy. And that stack of bills keeps rolling over from one year to the next partly because lawmakers declined to go along with Gov.Pat Quinn's request to use some of the income tax windfall to borrow to pay it off.

Tax increases are just throwing good money after bad unless they're accompanied by significant spending cuts, entitlement reforms, and adult budgeting.

We in California are an inclined plane wrapped helically around a pointed cylinder--we're screwed.

This Bodes Well For My Masters Program

In 1960, the average undergraduate grade awarded in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota was 2.27 on a four-point scale.  In other words, the average letter grade at the University of Minnesota in the early 1960s was about a C+, and that was consistent with average grades at other colleges and universities in that era.  In fact, that average grade of C+ (2.30-2.35 on a 4-point scale) had been pretty stable at America's colleges going all the way back to the 1920s (see chart above from GradeInflation.com, a website maintained by Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke University professor who has tirelessly crusaded for several decades against "grade inflation" at U.S. universities).

 

By 2006, the average GPA at public universities in the U.S. had risen to 3.01 and at private universities to 3.30.  That means that the average GPA at public universities in 2006 was equivalent to a letter grade of B, and at private universities a B+, and it's likely that grades and GPAs have continued to inflate over the last six years...

 

"Conclusion: Across a wide range of schools, As represent 43% of all letter grades, an increase of 28 percentage points since 1960 and 12 percentage points since 1988. Ds and Fs total typically less than 10% of all letter grades. Private colleges and universities give, on average, significantly more As and Bs combined than public institutions with equal student selectivity. Southern schools grade more harshly than those in other regions, and science and engineering-focused schools grade more stringently than those emphasizing the liberal arts. It is likely that at many selective and highly selective schools, undergraduate GPAs are now so saturated at the high end that they have little use as a motivator of students and as an evaluation tool for graduate and professional schools and employers."

By Professor Mark Perry

Planning Another Trip

In addition to the big secret trip in July, I'm currently making plans to go visit a friend of mine who is currently "wintering" on his boat in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, WA.

Getting from Sacramento to Seattle is easy; getting from Seattle to Friday Harbor is not so easy.

The easiest, most enjoyable, most convenient, and most expensive option is to take a Kenmore Air floatplane.  That would cost more than the entire Southwest Airlines flight.

The next possibility is an airporter shuttle, which would take me from the airport to Friday Harbor by ferry.  The only inconvenience with this conveyance is that to get back to Seattle airport I'd have to meet the shuttle in Friday Harbor at 5:45 am.  Ugh.

There's a ferry from Seattle to Friday Harbor, but the time it runs each day won't jibe with any flights either coming or going.

I *could* rent a car and drive to a car ferry, which runs a couple times a day, but that's a bit ridiculous, too. I hate renting cars.

So it comes down to convenient/expensive or inconvenient/affordable.  Suggestions?

Update, 5/30/12:   I looked at just about every combination of shuttles, ferries, car rentals, and flights I could find.  Shuttles and ferries were actually the hardest to arrange, and it would have taken all day long, with several waits of several hours, before the end of one leg of the trip would become the beginning of the next.  I don't want to travel all darned day.

So I leave Sacramento at a reasonable hour and fly to Seattle.  After 1:20 of wait time I'm picked up by the float plane's shuttle, by which conveyance I'm taken to the float plane.  We land on Friday Harbor, where my friend's boat is docked.

Four days later I meet the float plane at the dock in the afternoon and fly back to Seattle.  A bit of a wait at Sea-Tac this time, but I'll survive.  I get home not too late at night.

I'm limited to 24 lb of luggage on the float plane!

I definitely went with convenient/expensive.  I'm getting too old to tolerate inconvenient.

What Are The Ramifications For High School Counselors and Disciplinarians?

From Science Daily:

People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence (EI) tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others. This is the finding of a paper published in the journal Legal and Criminological Psychology on18 May 2012...

Professor Porter says: "Taken together, these findings suggest that features of emotional intelligence, and the decision-making processes they lead to, may have the paradoxical effect of impairing people's ability to detect deceit.

It's Official

Dear Mr. Miller:

Your application for admission to the University of Idaho and supporting credentials have been reviewed. We are pleased to inform you that you have been granted admission to the M.A.T. program in Mathematics.

Your formal acceptance letter will be mailed shortly.

Congratulations and welcome to the UI.
University of Idaho

Stupid Suspension Shenanigans

In some schools this would get an award, but in one New York school it gets you suspended:

Cyber-bullying and bullying in general has no doubt become a hot button topic amongst teens, which is why Jessica Barba, a freshman at Longwood High school decided to make the issue the focus of one of her school projects on persuasive promotion. Instead, the project got her in some hot water and led to her suspension from school.

"When they told me i was suspended i just started hysterically crying," said Jessica.

Barba wrote, edited and starred in an anti-bullying video project by playing a fictitious character, Hailey Bennett, and even created a fake Facebook page. The Bennet character was tormented and cyber-bullied in the video. In the end, the character commits suicide.

"I wanted to influence kids to do the right thing and not bully," said Jessica.

Barba added there were several posts on the fake Facebook page and video indicated the Bennett character and all the events taking place were not real. A local parent, however, became alarmed after seeing the Facebook page and contacted school officials, leading to Barba's one week suspension.

Now, Barba and her parents will have to face a hearing before school administrators to determine when she'll be allowed back.

I'm still trying to understand exactly what it was she did wrong, besides provide an opportunity for school officials to show how stupid they are.

More School Idiocy

On the heels of this story of a nurse who almost let an asthmatic student die because he didn't have a signed form comes this story of high quality dental care in school:

A Framingham mother is demanding answers after her son’s tooth was pulled at school by a teacher’s aide. What made the matter worse was the tooth wasn’t even loose.

Mother Sabrina Grant said her 10-year-old autistic son Chris Quirk went to the Wilson Elementary School one day last week with a loose tooth. When he came home, Grant said a different molar had been pulled out without parental permission by a teacher’s aide.

“When I realized he got off the bus it was the wrong tooth they had pulled out, it was even worse,” said Grant.

She said she received an email from his fourth-grade teacher saying the loose tooth had been a distraction.

You know what else is a distraction?  A criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit.

How Fares California?

Not well, judging from one story and a related anecdote.  First, the overview:

The euro zone isn't the only economy reeling from "failed states." The United States has several of its own — most notably California and Illinois.

According to the CIA's world factbook, California's economy is the ninth largest in the world with a gross state product of $1.9 trillion. Illinois' economy is the world's 23rd largest economy with a gross state product of nearly $630 billion.

These are impressive figures, to be sure, but both states have seen their global position slip in recent years — and further erosion is likely thanks to poor fiscal stewardship and anti-competitive tax increases.

Both California and Illinois are hoping that tax hikes will bridge gaping deficits created by politicians' failure to rein in government growth — including expanded entitlements and exorbitant public sector pensions.

Does any of this sound familiar? It should. This is precisely the sort of unchecked public sector growth that has landed Greece in its current predicament — a worsening crisis that has pushed the entire euro zone to the brink of collapse.

California is not only shedding jobs, it's shedding companies:

The backbone of a new social website with free online classifieds is looking to not only leave Palm Springs, but leave California altogether.

SquawkBoard.com offers "neighborhood bulletin boards" for neighborhoods throughout the United States, so where the company moves to is really wide open, said spokeswoman Faith Jackson.

"California's tax hike will place a strain on SquawkBoard's growing company and is seeking to save various taxes by moving out of the state," she said.

Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking to raise taxes and establish across-the-board cuts as a way to shore up the state's $16 billion budget gap.  Sales and income taxes are first on his list, with hopes of raising enough money to prevent more cuts to education.

Will our friends on the left figure this out before the last company to leave turns out the lights?

Red Meat

I have the May 2012 issue of California Educator, mouthpiece rag of the California Teachers Association, and it's full of--I know what you thought I was going to say!--it's full of all the leftie tripe you'd expect from a labor union.

What amazes me, though, is the total lack of intellectual effort that goes into it.  It's nothing but vapid thoughts augmented by angry words, without a shred of logic, of reason, if intelligence added.  So instead of taking the magazine apart piece by piece, I'm going to direct your attention to only one item, a 2-page poster you can "post...in your classroom, worksite, or wherever you think it important to share our opposition to the Corporate Power Grab."  To find this poster, click here to get to the digital version of the magazine and then scroll through the pages until you get to pp 21-22.

Go look at the poster.  Look at in in detail, then come back.  I'll wait.  :-)

Great, welcome back.  I only have one question for you--what is this poster about?  "It's about the Corporate Power Grab Initiative", you might say.  But what is that? Its actual name, mentioned in the smallest font on the poster, is the "Stop Special Interest Money Now Act".  What does this act do?  Why does CTA oppose it?  What makes it so heinous that I should hang up this poster in my classroom--where I don't have very many students of voting age?

This poster doesn't tell us anything.  I look on the pages immediately before and immediately after the poster, hoping in vain that there will be some explanation there about what exactly this act says and why it's so bad.  But there's nothing.

I'll bet I could ask every teacher at my school about this poster, and not one of them would be able to tell me about the act in question, but most of them will vote against it because the CTA tells them to.

That poster is the intellectual equivalent of a temper tantrum.  It's nothing more than red meat, designed to inspire a thoughtless feeding frenzy.

And it's directed at college-educated people, who will no doubt devour it--at least the CTA thinks and hopes they'll devour it.  If that isn't a sad commentary on both teachers and their union, I don't know what is.

Update, 5/28/12:  Is it even legal to post such things in a classroom?