Can I get a witness?

With recent stories like stocks hitting the highest levels in five years or a quarter of a million new jobs in February one has to wonder where the heck the friggin "the economy is going well" stories are in the MSM. Consumer spending went up almost a full percent in January, for example, and manufacturing is steaming along as well (read it here). It's time to ask why this good news isn't getting reported. Bad economic news sure seemed like something worthy of the front page, didn't it.

I don't think I am being idealistic to expect the press to report the news, am I? The New York Times had a positive story...on page three...of the business section. Are you kidding me?

The economy is good, MSM - REPORT IT!

The Cartoon Riots explained

Please, please, read The 42nd Floor: Holey Toontown Site Destroyed to get a full explanation of the latest Toon rioting. The blog is from one of my former students.

HA!

Be sure to read the trackback, too.

Can Dem's take the House - probably not

This article - RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Will Republican Retirements Swing the House? by Jay Cost - comes from the annoying clever mind of Jay Cost, who brought us the great Horse Race Blog from the 04 election. He is a student of polling and politics and has some great insight onto the House races this year. He puts some facts to what I just assumed - the GOP will keep the house. With so few truly contested seats, the hill to climb for a sweeping change election like 94 is just too high. As Cost says, there isn't the equivalent of Dem's retiring in conservative districts, like in 94, and most of those GOP folks retiring were from pretty darn republican districts.

Anyway, interesting read, take a look.

Delay wins

Any thoughts on the Delay win in the primary from those who live in his district?

RMR

Streisand gets a "D" for spelling

Saw this on Drudge, got to love it. Babs apparently sent out an internet rant in which she blasts W as a "C" student...with a ton of spelling errors in the memo.

HA!

Education - compete or get out of the game

We've had a few tangential comments on the education system of late, so I thought a post on the issue might be in order. I'll get the ball rolling with a few ideas and articles.

First off, the whole issue operates under a cloud of myths. For example, that schools don't have enough money. The average pulic school in America spends $10,000 per student per year, when you add up the total dollars spent. I think that I could spend a quarter million a year on a classroom (if you figure 25 kids a room) a heck of a lot better than it is being spent now (and that doesn't include capital costs, either). John Stossel has a great article about the issue here. There is plenty of money - the problem is that it is spent VERY poorly. Some of this is caused by over-regulation, but more so because schools are run by the people that brought you the Post Office and the DMV. The system is unionized and antequated, so it's incapable of spending money well.

I think a big solution to this is competition. You can read Mr. Stossel's thoughts on this as well here. He makes the great point that competition even improved the Post Office, which now makes overnight deliveries, offers more services, and is more customer frienldy in a post Fed-ex and UPS world. Competition will address most of the system's problems by doing what it always does - killing off those who fail to change, adapt, and compete in the marketplace. I have taught at a private high school and teach now at a private university, both of which were significantly more expensive to attend than their public counterparts. How does a place like that attract students? The answer is: QUALITY. Students get a better classroom experience, a better campus lifestyle, and a better degree if they come to my school, and they are willing to pay for it. The possibility of teaching in that environment also attracts good teachers. This set-up would improve the situation in K-12 schools even more if parents had portability for their educational dollar and could spend it where they chose to spend it. Schools would have to fight to attract students, and the result would be innovation, improved customer service, and a better product. I know this because THAT IS WHAT ALWAYS HAPPENS when competition goes up in an economic system.

What's stopping competition and other improvements in our schools? TEACHER UNIONS. They don't want to compete, they don't want rising standards, and they pretty much want to teach in the 1960's forever, if you look at their reaction to most innovative policy proposals in recent decades. Mr. Stossel weighs in here. An overly unionized system limits productivity, it discourages excellence, and it lowers overall pay for teachers by not rewarding them based on merit. Look at the Union's political activities for the evidence - they want more money all the time but are not willing to change to earn it.

Anyway, the ball is now swiftly rolling. Any comments?

Katrina retraction

Bet this doesn't get page one news -

WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials. The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.

So Bush heard that some water might go over the top, but not the breaches that happened, in advance, which is I believe what he has always said. Then, later, he says "Hey Brownie, what about these breaches on the news?" and Brown says "We're looking into that, but as far as I know, no breaches". Again, Bush right, partisan media wrong.

Also, did you see the bit on Blanco yesterday? She had not one friggin' clue what was happening...which is also against the meme that the MSM is pushing. My favorite is that now that Brown is criticizing the administration, he is suddenly credible. The idea that the head of FEMA has to call the president to get anything done is ridiculous on its face. Bush saying "we're here to help, whatever you need" on a tape is him doing exactly what we want him to do - delegate to people who are supposed to be competent - the mayor, the governor, both of which know the infrastructure and local planning (or should have) and the director of FEMA, who coordinates the federal response. If he had micromanaged the entire thing, just see what a disaster it would have really been - bringing to mind reports of President Johnson directing helicopters into land on the roof of the Saigon embassy from the oval office over the phone during the evacuation, just a BAD IDEA and not the way to run anything. I was, like, seven, when he was president, but I can picture Jimmy Carter handling something like this, with his "hands on everything" approach, and it isn't pretty.

Mike Brown saying - we should have been in there earlier - is laughable. SO GO, MIKE!!!! Who's stopping you? Was the president saying "Whoa, there, Brownie, don't go in?" Hmmmm I THINK NOT. What stops FEMA from doing anything it wants? Logistics is basically the only obstacle, they have complete control as far as what they are responsible for (which in Brown's defense isn't everything). Notice how quickly the military got crap done when they showed up. The mayor and the governor deserve a lot of blame, but this Brown guy is really starting to rile me.

Where's the beef?

Hey democrats, what are you FOR? I am again struck this week by a whole lot of dem's and lib's being against anything the prez is for but with no positive agenda. Here is yet another list of core conservative and republican principles, this time by the Republican Study Committee, the conservatives in the house. Is it my ten? Maybe not exactly, but the point is - THEY AT LEAST HAVE TEN!

RSC TOP TEN

1. Make the Tax Cuts Permanent, including the repeal of the marriage-tax penalty and the death tax and pass fundamental tax reform.

2. Pass Budget Process Reform, which includes budgeting for emergencies with a rainy day fund, instituting a sunset commission for federal programs, instituting a constitutional line-item veto, and making the budget resolution carry the force of law.

3. Pass another Deficit Reduction Bill in the form of budget reconciliation, to reign in autopilot spending, which has risen from 25% of all federal spending in 1963 to 54% today, and is expected to reach nearly 60% in 2014.

4. Pass Ethics Reform that requires transparency and earmark reform that permits Members of Congress to strike earmarks on the House floor.

5. Pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, to ensure that marriage, the union of a woman and a man as husband and wife, is not redefined by activist judges.

6. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to put our fiscal house in order.

7. Offset all emergency supplemental spending with spending reductions and offset all new programs with simultaneous, equivalent reductions in, or eliminations of, existing programs.

8. Defend the Sanctity of Human Life, which includes banning all human cloning, passing the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, promoting ethical adult stem cell research, and preventing federal funding for destructive embryonic stem cell research.

9. Pass Protections for Religious Freedom, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, and religious expression in the public square.

10. Pass legislation that stops the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund and allows Americans to own a Personal Social Security Account.