A Lesson For Moronic School Voucher Advocates

I happened to glance at my parents' local rag - The Worcester Telegram (owned by NYT!) - last weekend.

Apparently some new *charter school* in town had a disastrous start. In fact after much infighting and a good number of serious complaints they ended up voting out the school's founder after just the first year!

This all makes good copy PLUS it's fodder for the cadre of *institutional* charter school critics.

I mean not only are charter schools anti-union....they are also NEW. Novel ideas (a new Fenway Park?) don't stand a chance in ultra-conservative, illiberal Massachusetts.

One buffoon from the Telegram waxed curious about this particular failure:

On paper, the Spirit of Knowledge Charter School, whose mission is to "create value in the lives of students and others through high-standards academic learning," seems to represent great promise for the present and future of public education.

The school’s board of trustees is ethnically diverse, with white, black, Latino and Asian members.

Okay. Someone tell me WTBleep an *ethnically diverse* board has to do with optimal academic education?

So you see, these edu-innovations are still hamstrung by old, failed thinking.

There was a great moment in the Mass 3-way gubernatorial debate a couple of years ago when complete Moron Christy Mihos started trashing the $hit out of *charter schools* and extolling public schools. Opponent Kerry Healey delivered a staggering retort when she interrupted him, "Christy, CHRISTY....CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE PUBLIC SCHOOLS!". The audience erupted in applause.

Of course they will both be right eventually. Charter schools will fail just like forced busing, *magnet schools*, and every other government edu-innovation (oxymoron!).

Quite frankly, the *libertarian* and Republican voucher crowd drive me NUTS. There's absolutely no way you can tinker with the system and de-politicize it. They'll make laws that vouchers can only be spent at schools that are unionized; that have *diverse* staffs; that offer grotesquely expensive *special ed*; etc. I don't know. But whatever they do they'll most certainly screw it up royally as they are with some charter schools these days. We already, for all intents and purposes, have a voucher system for colleges and that has done nothing to eliminate poor schools/majors, rein in costs, or de-politicize admission.

Vouchers are what I'd call a typical Republican/conservative issue. It would never work in practice but that's not the point. The point is for it to serve as an issue that will contrast constituents from their only other political opponent. A pro-kids and anti-union marketing package - what could be better!

Our educational problems run deep and are structural. Simply smacking down unions a bit won't do anything other than, perhaps, defund the Republicans' opposition a bit.

Scumbag Duffers

Hah!

This reminded me of an excerpt from that great book on the first Depression I read 1.5 years ago:

At the end of November, Jackson accompanied the president on a fishing trip. Hopkins and Ickes - who at times had feuded bitterly - were also aboard the Potomac, sharing a cabin. The four prepared political strategy: specifically, an assault on the wealthy. Roosevelt caught a large mackerel early on, but it was Jackson who had the biggest catch of the trip, a barracuda of more than twenty-five pounds. If any of them considered the incongruity of planning a class war on a yacht, they did not mention it. (p345)

Are these guys public servants?

Or royalty?

From Hero To 'Old Coot'

I just saw that magazine cover on my parents' *mountain* of mail.

How old are we getting? I mean it wasn't that long ago, seemingly, that Harrison Ford was a studly hero.

I just read his Wiki and learned that he landed the Han Solo role by virtue of being George Lucas's carpenter.

And that he never would have been Indiana Jones had not Tom Selleck Moronically declined the role.

See also - You Know You're Old When...

Void Filled

I just snagged a 60 lb kettlebell. At $50 and a bit of an antique it wasn't as good of a deal as that last one...

But still it plugged the gap.

Now altogether I have 30, 45, 60, and 88 pound kettlebells.

Surprisingly, when I first picked this up from the dude's garage it felt light. But it's definitely 60 pounds because I threw it on his scale. I've gotten a whole lot stronger since starting with these weights in late December - and all with very little time and effort invested. So again I'd encourage anyone who has never messed with weights to at least give it a shot.

Currently I'm on the Craigslist prowl for a weight bench and some weights. I've never bench pressed in my life and am looking forward to giving it a shot.

Individual results may vary...

Other kettlebell posts:

Book Summary - The 4-Hour Body

Kettlebell Chronicles - Pavel

Kettlebell Score

Avuncular Impropriety

Are you a baby butt-pincher?

I never was.

But my inlaw BILs are - all three of them.

My daughter's 5 now and I think it's wholly inappropriate for them to be grabbing the Princess' little bum. In fact my blood boils at the mere thought of this - and I might be prone to some f-bombs and threats should I witness it again.

I mean, what would they think if I was grabbing their 8, 12, 17, and 20 year old daughters' rumps? I myself don't think it's EVER appropriate for a man to revel in the butt of another man's child. At the very least, there's definitely a cut-off point, an age when this activity must cease. But as a male WITH A CLUE I myself have never and would never even touch ANY other child in almost any fashion.

Men are simply not to be trusted in these matters. It's an all-risk, zero-reward situation. They can admire....without touching..

In fact, every once in a while parents, *moms*, will leave their daughter at my house for playdates with my daughter. But honestly, I would never leave my young kids at a house, alone, with a male. I wouldn't leave my kids with me! So I try to arrange this stuff only on days when my wife is home - AND I'm sure to advertise her presence.

What kills me is the sheer stupidity of these men. Only a complete Moron would open themselves up to *accusation*.

I don't really know what my plan should be. I could be pre-emptive and tell them all to stop. But then when they inevitably do it again due to a pronounced lack of self-control, I might go even more ape-$hit at the defiance.

Running Insanity?

I just read - Ultramarathon Man: Confessions Of An All-Night Runner - and did so in marathon-like fashion. It only took me two sittings to dash through all 279 pages.

The book is about some Californian whack-job who runs marathons on a daily basis. In fact he's actually run over 200 miles straight without stopping!

Do check out this one even if you, like me, don't even like DRIVING 26.2 miles; your library should have it.

I found it not only eye-opening, but very inspirational as well. It reminded me of that suicidal mountain climber I read about not long ago.

Obviously this guy is no 125 featherweight either. He's a chiseled gladiator and bears a definite resemblance to...

The guy's freakin' resting heart rate is in the 30s!

The Fastest Ben Crane Has Ever Moved

With the US Open starting today, pro-golfers are on the frontpage:

I, myself, CANNOT believe they actually did that!

Phil Mickelson might very well win this year because I can't watch the event. I'll be driving to and from Massachusetts with my kids to see my sister and her brood.

Mickelson has won three majors in his career - probably the only three in the past 15 years that I did not watch. Although a huge fan....I'm definitely not his good luck charm.

That video above has been live for only 3 days and has 500k hits.

Buying An eReader

Last week I updated my family's coefficient of technology by buying my first wife an iPad 2.

And just the other day I finally ordered a Kindle for us. Well that's mostly for me and the kids since my wife has the iPad and I won't let my clumsy kids near it.

It just hit my price point - $114 to buy the ad-riddled Wi-Fi model.

Essentially they give you $25 off the price if you agree to suffer ads ("promotions"!) on the screensaver.

I have no intention of *buying* any ebooks; I hope to take advantage of the old no-longer-copyrighted ones that can be accessed for free. See - Project Gutenberg. Here on Long Island we enjoy, and capitalize on, an enormous well-funded library network. Any book I need I simply order online and the deliver it promptly to my local branch.

Few humans collectively read more books than my son and I. So if anyone can use a *reader* it's the homeschooling Nut family.

The device should be here any day - I'll let y'all know how it goes.

And if any of y'all are going to buy one....please use my links to do so. The Prince jumps very high whenever he gets Amazon commissions. Thanks again to those of you who've been doing so.

I'd Rather They Were Stiffing Lawyers...

So I randomly played golf with a Long Island accountant a couple of weeks ago...

He bemoaned that 47% of his customers' bills this year were unpaid.

CaptiousNut - So who's not paying you? Small businesses or individuals?

Accountant - It's small businesses, individuals, celebrities, AND local governments.

Local governments? He said that he had a few *school districts* who were problematic.

As I already told y'all - the New York economy is about to fall off a cliff.

It could actualize fast too, say in a 1,500 point stock market drubbing.

When Japanese Tourists Blog...

You know some of you clowns have complained that I was posting too many pics and too many videos making my pages load too slowly...

Whatever.

I'll tell you what, the popular Pioneer Woman's homeschool blog is far worse. I can't even scroll through the posts with the Page Down key they are so riddled with pictures, many of which are redundant. Check out this recent post from there...

I counted 40 freakin' images!

How about considering a *slideshow* instead???

Laugh Your Weiner Off

The funniest pic though....Brian Scalabrine!

Best Visual Metaphor Ever...

...for Social Security, Medicare, legacy national debt and the overall generational theft occurring these days.

During the high five she's no doubt yelling, "I PAID IN..."

Modern English?

I was recently informed by a government high school english teacher that their students must submit all written essays through the internet these days.

Why?

Well the website they use is - TurnItIn.com - and it checks papers for plagiarism against some sort of large database.

And yet these dumb kids all know this and many STILL try to hand in unoriginal work!

How much does it cost these schools?

Well I couldn't find out. The website is deliberately silent on the matter but I'm wagering it costs a whole lot of money. The silence (or my blindness?) reminded me of the difficult time I had trying to to find out how much the BANKRUPT town of Hull, Massachusetts was spending on solar-powered trash compactors. Of course it's a rational deception on the part of any entity whose fundamental business strategy is ripping off taxpayers!

Anyways in this new Web 2.0 Information Age one has to admire the people who came up with this ingenious super-high profit business idea. I mean the site almost compels school districts - the ones with means anyway - to pay for its services. Then, over time it stores all papers that were submitted and checks new work against its own database for plagiarism.

Although there might be a problem down the road with this ironclad business plan:

Anything you write for school is automatically copyrighted; you do not need to apply for one. When you submit your work to Turnitin, Turnitin saves a copy to its database to compare against future submissions in order to stop students from plagiarizing other students’ work. Since you don’t know that Turnitin is saving a copy of your paper, and it doesn’t ask for or acquire your consent, its a potential violation of your rights.


Saving a copy of your paper is copyright infringement because Turnitin is using your paper for its own economic gain without compensating you. The copyright laws state that portions of original work may be quoted, but only if allowed by the author or for "fair use" (discussions). By making a hefty profit through subscriptions to its expensive service (which can cost thousands of dollars a year), Turnitin uses your work in a way that was not originally intended. What makes Turnitin so "effective"—the reason it is preferred over all other such sites—is that it checks students’ papers against each other. But this means that its profit is coming directly from students’ work.


Turnitin argues that its enterprise is "fair use." However, it goes no further than to say, "When students claim that Turnitin violates the law or engages in ‘commercial exploitation’ of their copyrights, that claim is simply not based on fact." This oversimplified response fails to answer the charges against it, and is probably the reason there are already multiple lawsuits filed against Turnitin.

Hah!

The DELICIOUS IRONY of the plagiarism police committing massive copyright infringement!!!

I just have to embed this classic tune in a post titled Modern English. Enjoy, reminisce:

OM(Bleepin')G!

This IS NOT a joke. It's pulled directly from the Tweeter's website!!!!

Protecting Children On the Internet


In early 2007 my office did a study that found that over 85% of registered sex offenders in New York City live less than five blocks from schools, and 670 sex offenders live within just two blocks. Some offenders are even closer, permanently residing less than 500 feet away from unwitting parents, educators and children.


Along with several colleagues in Congress, we introduced & passed the KIDS (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators) Act of 2007, a bill to require sex offenders to register their e-mail and instant message addresses with the National Sex Offender Registry. The “Kids Act’ implemented one of my six recommendations to keep a closer eye on sex offenders both near school grounds and online. I also proposed stricter GPS tracking of sex offenders, tougher enforcement of registration laws and more public disclosure of sex offender data.


Sadly, the Internet is the predator's venue of choice today. We need to update our strategies and our laws to stop these offenders who are a mere click away from our children.


To read the text of the KIDS (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators) Act of 2007 click here.

For those of y'all who live under an even bigger rock than moi....this is the ostensibly married NY Congressman who was busted Tweeting and sending via FaceBook pictures of his Weiner to young girls.

You just can't make this stuff up!

Extortionary Church Taxes

We just signed up my son for CCD (Catholic church school) for next year.

Guess how much they are CHARGING for the classes plus the *first communion* fee...

How about $195 !!!

Okay - the teachers are volunteers and they simply use the extant school buildings. So what exactly is the money for?

As I've mentioned before (I think).... in 30+ years and at nearly 10 different parishes, the Catholic Church has NEVER ONCE asked me for my *time*, only money.

The Groupon Pyramid Scam

Now I already Marginalized Groupon - See 30% Off Nothing - but that was from the standpoint of a customer.

I had no idea what the precise business model was.

You can read about the highly complicated and somewhat shady business model here - Why Groupon Is Poised To Collapse.

When the history of *financial innovation* is written....99% of it will be cross-posted in the *high crimes* files. Seriously - name the last financial innovation that wasn't a pure scam designed to enrich the architects and enslave or hoodwink the masses. The credit card? The 30-year mortgage? Securitized student loans? C'mon!

Movie Rec - True Grit

Jeff Bridges was positively awesome; the little girl was okay; Matt Damon (was it really him?) was surprisingly weak; and the ending was flat-out weird.

Overall I'd have to say in this sucky-movie age....True Grit is slightly worth watching.

Pillaging Little Brats

Recently my son had a friend over - a *playdate* arranged by the two working moms that I had to oversee.

With about 10 minutes left in it, the visiting boy announced to me that he was hungry. I told him his mother, caretaker, or nanny would be here very soon. I'm not comfortable feeding other kids nor am I comfortable having other parents feed mine unless it's absolutely necessary. There's also the issue of allergies and spoiling dinnertime appetites and whatnot.

Unsatisfied with my response, the 7 year old continued to announce his *need* and demanded food.

Again I told him he was leaving in a minute and whoever comes....they'll get him something to eat.

Undaunted, he proceeded to go into my kitchen and start opening and rooting around in the cabinets.

Are you kidding me? Of course I slammed them shut and all but physically booted his hiney out of the kitchen. In fact I felt like depositing him on the curb.

Not long after that episode, one of my daughter's sweetest 4 year-old friends pulled the exact same stunt. She had an uncanny eye for the precise cabinet that housed the food too. I had to shut the door on her as well.

So what is this? My own kids have NEVER done such a thing. I can't well permit their bedwetting jabronis to have free rein in my house, now can I?

Note that both of these children are *nannied* and caretakers (one of whom is actually VERY GOOD) can't or shouldn't exactly smack these little devils. Of course it could be also that these kids come from homes with more liberal food policies too.

But get what happened this weekend during my daughter's birthday barbecue...

My wife comes across another 4 year old rooting through the cabinets of our kitchen. His father came in close behind him and explained to my wife that his son was *hungry*. Instead of scooping his deprived(?) and bold(!) son up (or politely asking) he proceeded to help the child by opening the cabinets for him. THEN this guy went over to the refrigerator and they starting foraging there! Meanwhile we had a massive spread of food set out already. Believe me, no one has EVER starved at our parties - but many have been invited once only to never be invited again.

Oh yeah, and this 4 year old - and I mean he JUST turned 4 - spent 5 hours at this party playing his Nintendo DS. And we received a frantic email early the next morning from his mother because the little bugger had left his DS at our house and was already *flipping out*. Church was going to tough for them that Sunday morning...

Cartoons For Edu-Morons

That was made and sent to me by a fellow homeschool *dad* from Boston.

Seeing it just now, I think I'd like to try my own hand at making one of those XtraNormal clips...

Radical Unschooler Success Story

Alright I came across this interesting book at that homeschooling convention:

Here's a bit of the author:

Now not only did I read - Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar....I also enjoyed 20 minutes of one-on-one conversation with Mr. Bach at the bar.

The guy has an interesting story. He came from a broken home and after threatening to kill his stepfather he was actually kicked out of the house and had to subsist by himself on $100 per month at a local motel. Despite plenty of brains, the guy absolutely HATED school and I don't think even came close to graduating government high school.

However, he was far from a lazy Moron. James Bach jumped head first into the computing revolution back in the early 80s. In fact he eventually became (supposedly) the world's most respected *product tester* at Apple. And now he travels worldwide as a high-paid consultant in that field.

So his story buttresses the theory that traditional schooling is not at all necessary for success EVEN in the world of high tech. Bach proudly declared himself *ammunition* for those of us homeschoolers attending his talk in Ohio.

This guy definitely falls in the mold of *radical unschooler* as far as I can tell. And I'm definitely not a full-fledged fan of that philosophy - see my prior post.

Nonetheless Bach's story is compelling; his writing tight; and most importantly he puts forth arguments and reasoning that 99% of the lumpen masses have never been exposed to.

As additional testament to the quality of this book I want to admit that it actually took me 4-5 days to read it - about twice the time it should have. I continually had to stop and chew on little brain morsels...

Pop-In Hell

Recall there was that one instance where Jerry complained that he couldn't get any work done because people kept *popping in* his apartment.

That pretty much describes our plight.

For example, yesterday members of my wife's family popped in an astounding five separate times, unannounced, throughout the course of the day. In fact the last one followed a jarring 10:15pm phone call (we were in bed!) and occurred at around 11pm. It involved 10 car door slams and a bellowing cell phone call made right outside our bedrooms - again we were trying to sleep. And believe me, none of these urgent visits are half as important as the cushion Kramer wanted to borrow!

Heck at 6pm I was complaining to my wife over a rare dinner together about this very issue - for the umpteenth time - when, on cue, her brother burst in screaming "HELLO!" to interrupt our meal AND the work the kids were doing.

This happens all the time. My homeschooled kids are doing *work* off and on all day long, ALL WEEK LONG, ALL YEAR LONG. We squeeze their workbooks, reading, computer time in between activities, parks, and down time. But I have trouble getting everything accomplished when people keep dropping in and lingering until who knows when. And I'm not even counting the quiet family time that the four of us need for marital health OR the hours I should be putting into my website either - nor am I broaching how nasty a few of them are to me.

You see not a single member of my wife's family has a *hobby*. I mean they have NOTHING in the way of personal passions outside of color TV (sports and news), booze, food, shopping, and moving old furniture back and forth across Long Island. Nor have I ever seen one of them reading a book. So they spend weekends figuring out elaborate ways to get involved in each other's lives.

(For example - Once my BIL, called his mother, my MIL, who asked her daughter, my first wife, to ask me(!), if we had any *Tums* and if I could bring one to my teenage nephew who was 15 minutes away, at work, and had an upset stomach. Needless to say I refused to indulge this inanity insanity!)

Each one of them probably has no clue that collectively we get bombarded all day long with pop-ins. But knowing them for 13 years now I'm quite sure none of them would care anyway. And I doubt any of them care that stuff like this is causing serious problems in my marriage. In their minds, they conveniently all think I'm the one who's out-of-whack...

A guy I knew from my trading days, an older guy, told me that his otherwise decent marriage was destroyed single-handedly by his old school Brooklyn Italian inlaws. He said every weekend the extended family spent sitting around eating, drinking, and watching TV. Unfortunately he couldn't extricate his wife from that cycle. So his poor daughter ended up being raised by divorced parents.

Silicon Valley - Eventually Will Fall Into Its Own Pit

You have to love this story - Apple Store Employee Seeks To Plant Union Seed:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Apple Inc store employee has started a union in a rare move at a company known for its near-fanatical following and cutting-edge mystique.


Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices in the company's glass-and-steel retail showrooms.


While unions are strong in industries like trucking and autos, they are largely unheard of in Silicon Valley companies, which pride themselves on being quick-footed and having the flexibility to hire and fire.


The would-be Apple union's website is sparse, but states: "At Apple, our most important resource, our soul, is our people. Our Time Has Come."

Hah! Take that Steve Jobs!

The *most important resource* at Apple IS NOT those amazing products that sell themselves....it's the $14 per hour multi-pierced geeks that work in Apple Stores!

I would love nothing more than to see a successful unionization effort at Apple - and at Microsoft, Google, among Warren Buffett's staff, etc.

There's no legitimate reason all those *entrepreneurs* enthusiastically vote with the socialist faction...

Except of course for their overriding hatred of Christianity.

It certainly doesn't help that Republicans are only half-hearted free marketeers but still...

All these Morons are mentally trapped in *binary* - just the way the organized political parties want it.

Parental Corner-Cutting

Ironically, I've never seen that motion picture.

This past spring was tough on me. My kids each had 5-6 outside-the-house activities that they had to be chauffeured to and from. See my pathetic, uncharacteristic recent blog output:

And it's not like I've been neglecting this space to work on other endeavors (e.g. HomeschoolDad.com)....I just haven't been able to do anything recently.

As I've already mentioned, I'm cutting back big time on my little golf hobby.

But I've also caved-in to my wife and permitted her hire a maid ($100 for 4-5 hours of cleaning, every other week). Note the house is still dirty!

One of the other things I've done is start feeding the kids simpler meals. In the past I would never serve them say store-bought meatballs and jarred sauce for dinner. But these are the type of hacks, er shortcuts, I'm experimenting with these days. I'm just too swamped.

Yeah their diet has become a little unhealthier, and in this day and age I know scores of people who are going the other way, devoting serious time, energy, and money(!) to make sure their kids only consume the most spiritually and chemically pure foods.

Whatever. The human body is pretty darn resilient so my kids will survive.

Not to mention the majority of these *healthy eaters* in my circles are otherwise Morons. Recently I had to suffer some 225 lb parent's screed on organic food and environmentalism.

I felt like telling them to forget about Earth and focus on the orb in their mirror!

"For The Kids", Teachers' Unions

The story:

"As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned.

Free-spending United Federation of Teachers brass last year spent nearly $1.4 million for the UFT's 50th anniversary gala at the Hilton - complete with a movie, a book and a paperweight.

Records show they:

Ponied up $514,000 to 16 separate caterers.

Dropped $278,417 on the annual Teachers Union Day ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Bought $6,100 in gift baskets from a lower East Side candy store - and plowed $179,000 into training retreats at a Connecticut resort boasting golf, scuba diving and aqua aerobics.

In one amazing feat of spending, they shelled out $114,870 for annual "coffee supplies" at their five offices across the city - paying the Coffee Distributing Corp. on Long Island $324,000 over three years, records show.

And while most New Yorkers spend hours trying to find a parking space, the UFT rents 25 slots in Brooklyn's Renaissance Plaza Garage for members at an average annual cost of $75,000 over three years.

"I'm not going to apologize for spending money to service our members," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew."

After The Bond Market Crashes...

Have any of y'all seen this:



???

I was watching it a week or so ago late at night but had to turn it off - a little too intense for right before sleep. The Road sports a very high IMDB rating - 7.4.

I haven't gotten around to the ending yet but it reminded me of that 28 Days motion picture.

I Love You, But...

I'm a real fan of this guy so I'll leave his name out of searchable text.

I just heard that he was engaged a year or two ago but the wedding fell apart at the last minute.

Apparently, or so I was told, the young lady refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

Personally I don't blame her. I don't think I would ever sign one either.

And that's not because I'm overly-romantic (ask my wife!) or because I'm naive either.

It's just that when you take vows in front of your friends, family, and God....it just has to mean something.

Heck if that doesn't mean anything, then I don't know what on this *overheated* planet would!

$hit is going to happen in life; you'll never be able to take sufficient pre-emptive action - sometimes  you just have to roll with the punches...

Have To Pull For The Mavs...

The Dallas Mavericks won last night, taking a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals heading back to Miami.

Last week, at Alfe's in Wildwood, NJ I was dining with my golf jabronis. Nobody there thought Dallas had a chance in the series - except for moi. In fact they looked at me like I was crazy when I said that Dallas would win in 6 games. (The series was tied 1-1 at the time.)

Whatever, it's not over by any stretch.

But I'm sure as heck rooting for Dallas - a pretty respectable bunch for the NBA in 2011. Yeah Jason Kidd smacked his wife around, allegedly, ten years ago....but who knows how crazed she (or he) really is?

I just don't see how anyone with an ounce of sportsmanship could root for Lebron. What he did last year was an outright act of anti-competitive collusion.

In fact, I'm surprised Congress didn't start investigating!

Mark Cuban, despite being an intellectually incontinent buffoon, is also a most deserving guy, IMO.

I've written a handful of posts on Cuban - start here - at the end of that post is a link to most of them. I even enjoyed reading them myself just now.