Category Archives: Society

Didya Vote?

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The polls have closed in the East so I figure it’s safe to tell you how I voted as opposed to telling you over and over how you ought to vote. We have to whisper, though.

I voted for the old white guy instead of the young black guy or the other old white guys or all the other guys.

I know, I know, I said I was going to vote for Paris Hilton. And I did engender a brief flurry of interest in the Pick Dick campaign. I thought about Jimmy Buffett but his running mate never made the news. I would have voted for his uncle but he was never really a candidate.

Down here by the southernmost point in these semi-United States our ballots had 14 bona fide offices contested plus six judges up for retention. We also decided on six amendments to the state constitution, numbered 1 through 8. It’s Florida. Go figure.

I didn’t count how many candidates there were in total but 13 people wanted my vote for President. We have now elected a Congress critter, a state attorney, a state representative, a Sheriff, a property appraiser, the superintendent of schools I wrote about earlier, the supervisor of elections, three county commissioners, and two members of the mosquito control board.

The Mosquito Control Board is a big deal here simply because mosquitoes are. Here, that is. The Board controls about a gazillion dollar budget but no longer flies the old fleet of DC3s at treetop level to scare the mosquitoes to death. Now they drive around spraying from little pickup trucks and fly helicopters lower than Homeland Security. I did not vote for the candidate who was in jail at the time of the election. Joan Lord-Papy was one of three votes I cast for an incumbent.

Mostly I took my own advice to “Throw Da Bums Out.” The other two office holders I voted for were Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) and Property Appraiser Ervin Higgs, a Democrat. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen ran a reasonably clean campaign (a serious rarity in South Florida politics where the Diaz-Balart brothers, Raul Martinez, and Joe Garcia alone refilled Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades with mud). She may also be the only Republican who retains a seat in Congress this year if my vote has anything to say about it.

Unfortunately, every Democrat running will be returned to office, too.

The negatives were huge on both sides of the State’s Attorney contest so I held my nose and voted for the challenger.

State Rep. Ron Saunders will continue as the Keys representative. It’s nice that he seems like another of the good guys because Republican challenger Ernie Hernandez withdrew from the race in September. Hernandez was a mystery. He did not talk to reporters, attend candidate forums, or gladhand anywhere. His name remained on the ballots printed before he withdrew. The Elections Office will not count votes for Hernandez.

The Sheriff’s Office was an open seat but one candidate has served in that department for 27 years, is currently a Captain there, and got the retiring Sheriff’s endorsement. That’s as close to incumbency as it gets. I voted for the DEA guy.

Two of the three County Commission seats were open so I voted for one Republican, one Democrat, and one NPA. I figure party politics has no business on a Town. City, or County board. The Democrat I chose, Heather Carruthers, runs a “we are not gay” guest house for women only. She got hammered unfairly for that in the campaign. She has also taken the lead in reining in Citizens Insurance, the insurer of last resort who carries my hurricane insurance here at great cost to me. She seems like one of the good guys.

I’ve had trouble finding anything about the judges on the ballot. The Florida bar said their lawyers “overwhelmingly recommend” retaining all those on the ballot. Here’s how they define “overwhelmingly”: A secret ballot was mailed in August to 62,779 lawyers residing and practicing in Florida (the Bar has more than 84,000 members–I don’t know what happened to the other 21,000-odd lawyers). 4,132 lawyers participated in the poll. Yeppers, I’m overwhelmed alright.

The anti-abortion crowd asked, How does Justice Wells vote on pro-life issues? The anti-abortion crowd is, as usual, off base. He’s not a U.S. Supreme Court Justice so his position prolly doesn’t matter. More important in all the retention choices is how closely to the law did the judges hew and how well did they manage their courtrooms.

The spouse of circuit judge candidate Tegan Slaton is Public Defender Rosemary Enright; that requires him to recuse himself from cases defended by the P.D.’s office. I hated to vote against Mr. Slaton because he was the better candidate on paper, but his inability to hear the majority of criminal and juvenile delinquency cases took him out of the running.

In addition to wanting term limits for elected officials, I disapprove of changing a constitution every time the wind blows. Two amendments are life-changing.

Fortunately, Constitutional amendments need 60% support to pass.

Number 1 asks to delete the provisions that allow the Legislature to prohibit ownership of real property by aliens who cannot become citizens. In 1926, that meant Chinese immigrants. 80 years later, alien means anyone who remains a citizen of some other country.

You already know what I think of Defense of Marriage amendments. I expect Number 2 to fail here in Monroe County but this is red state Florida and it has a lot of advertising oomph around the state. The amendment failed to get enough signatures to make it to the 2006 ballot but the supporters pushed it on this year. It’s a bad amendment because it segregates citizens and because it will cost a fortune to defend.

That’s the only citizen-sponsored amendment on the ballot–the others are housekeeping, put there by the Legislature and a tax commission to “clean up” language that governs how properties are assessed: a couple of current use tax exemptions, 15 cents on the property tax to pay for the air ambulance, and the penn(ies) on the sales tax for community colleges. I apologize, but I did vote for allowing assessments based on current use. I voted against all the others.

Back to the old white guy.

<sotto voce> Denny Crane </sotto voce>, of course.

Unfortunately, the election is over. We all lost.

I Am Not an Educator (or When Academia Trumped Teaching)

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I am not an educator. I am, however, a pretty good teacher. I know this for a number of reasons. My grandfather taught chemistry at Temple for about a million years. He was not an educator either but he was a tenured professor. My cousin teaches biology at Perdue. I taught computer apps and technology at Vermont colleges. My students learned the material I taught and learned how to expand on it. I got pretty good grades, too.

I am not an educator. I didn’t vote for one to be superintendent of schools either.

So, what’s the difference between a teacher and an educator?

Educators talk about “graduation rates” and “resources” and “administrative needs” and “professional leadership.” Teachers simply make sure every student learns.

An Educator should make the system work.
A Teacher does make the student work.

I didn’t vote for the incumbent Superintendent of Schools here in the Keys because he advertised proudly that he had raised graduation rates “to 84%.” The Monroe County schools make up a “State of Florida A Rated School District.” In a state where a quarter of the kids drop out of high school, that statistic means more kids stay the course here. Unfortunately, it also means he still isn’t teaching 410.5 kids what they need to know and that’s just wrong. (As of 11/3/08, all Florida Keys public schools have a total of 2,566 students enrolled in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.) I want to know what to do with the half a kid.

Our kids aren’t learning. Everybody knows it. And everybody points fingers. It’s the parents’ fault. No, it’s because the kids don’t eat breakfast. No, it’s because of television/Internet/cell phones. No, it’s because kids don’t get enough sleep.

Didya ever think it might maybe be the “educators” themselves?

Have you followed the trends in your school district? All of the techniques tried and discarded to improve test scores? Buzz words, all of them. Edu-speak designed not to improve teaching but to make education seem more professional. Professional? At the end of his term as president of Yale Kingman Brewster said, “Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession.” He may have been talking to British managers but academia should have listened.

I have lived through Critical Thinking, Emergent Literacy, No Child Left, Portfolio Assessment, and Whole Language. I watched in awe as my cousin learned that 3 plus 5 equals purple. I have taught in a college that believes in neither tests nor grades (I gave both anyway). I learned about Discovery Learning, Lifelong Learning, and Mastery Learning.

Don’t get me wrong. Parents do need to read to their kids and to set boundaries. Kids do need nutrition and sleep. Kids do watch too much television. And so on.

Kids need teachers who teach.

Put up your hand if you had one. You know whom I mean, the life-changing teacher who inspired you. The teacher you visited when you went back to your school. The teacher you talk about at cocktail parties.

Want a superintendent who will fix your schools? Vote for the one who will fire all the educators and hire some teachers.

Of course if that many kids do drop out of your school, they can become garbologists instead of ordinary trashmen. God knows we need more trashmen.

A couple of interesting links:

Eduspeak: Learning the Lingo
Choosing a School

Obama a Great Christian

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You will never hear the words “We want to enslave you” from a left-wing American politician although most left-wing politicians will have you believe their counterparts, the right-wing politicians, want to keep slaves.

The North American Freedom Foundation (NAFF) defines slavery as “forced, unpaid service or work.” They include this caveat: “Due to its graphic content, this website is not suitable for children.”

That definition of slavery as the systematic exploitation of labor is incomplete. “Chattel slavery” refers to people who are the actual or apparent property of another person, company, or government. Let’s repeat that for emphasis: Chattel slaves are the apparent property of a government.

And we haven’t even thought about wage slavery, peonage, debt bondage, or indenture. Or the fact that slaves cannot refuse to work (“unemployment” as well as “workfare” programs). Slaves cannot leave home without explicit permission (meaning they need a passport). And so on.

Evidences of slavery predate the written history in Sumer where history itself began; man has enslaved other men on every continent and in every time that man has lived. It is so pervasive that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Period.

There is a moral absolute there.

Many religions (including the entire Judeo/Christian/Islamist hierarchy) hold that their systems of morality derive from the commands of God.

There is an opposing moral absolute in religion.

Slavery “was established by decree of Almighty God … it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation … it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.” Jefferson Davis said in 1850. “The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.” Baptist minister Rev. R. Furman said.

Huh. The Bible endorses slavery?

Well, yes. Our Bible indeed recognizes and regulates the practice of keeping slaves (see Colossians 4:1, Deuteronomy 15:12-15, Ephesians 6:9, and First Timothy 6:1-2).

Makes slavery the Christian thing to do, innit. Slave owners would agree. Slave owners must provide everything for their slaves: housing, education, medical care, protection, and love. They do what is best for their slaves.

It’s the Christian thing to do.

Are Americans slaves?

The government already supplies most education, some housing, police protection, and guards the borders against all ingress as well as our egress.

The government Senator Obama would lead wants to take over all the medical care and love, too.

It’s the Christian thing to do.

Senator Obama has one moral absolute: he would lead all Americans on the path of righteousness for its own sake. In his world that is the path of total care, from cradle to grave. His left wing policies would take the sweat of our brows, all of it, and “give” us back our guards, our housing, our medical care, our policing, and our schooling. And, of course, his government would love us totally.

Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard about the “tax cuts.” Anything that increases the national debt ain’t a tax cut.

Owing your soul to the Company Store is slavery, no matter how you gussy it up.

Barack Obama must be a great Christian to want to further enslave us that way.

After all, it’s the Christian thing to do.

The news is all Election all the time. Even I have written about it a couple of times. Conventional wisdom holds that voters don’t usually think about the election until after the World Series. This is not a usual year. The Phillies and Tampa Bay are in the World Series. Most peeps don’t even know Tampa Bay has a baseball team so there is nothing else to talk about.

This morning, Radio Guy asked TV News Guy, “Is there anything else going on out there?” There is. There’s a school shooting in maybe Arkansas with a couple of deaths. I couldn’t even find that on Google news. And a TV news anchor, severely beaten in what police think was a random attack, has died. Oh, that was in Arkansas.

Throw da bums out. Then we’ll have something worthwhile to talk about.

Do the Math

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Lordy Lordy™. Do the math, people.

Oh.

Wait.

It isn’t math. It’s simple arithmetic.

Under the subject line, A Bail Out Plan That Works, I’ve been subjected to about 14 repeats today alone of the following bright idea:

I’m against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in “We Deserve It Dividend.”

To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a “We Deserve It Dividend” …

It goes on from there.

I’m all for giving $700,000,000,000 to individual Americans in “We Deserve It” dividends (as long as it’s your money) but do the math, people.

85 billion dollare: $85,ØØØ,ØØØ,ØØØ
divided by 200 million peeps 2ØØ,ØØØ,ØØØ
= $425 per person


Maybe we should put the $85 million into our elementary schools instead of Wall Street.

And speaking of Wall Street, the yahoos in Congress blocked the bailout today (September 29, 2008).The DOW is down about 777 points, the largest one day point drop ever. Anybody want to guess how many Congress Critters are buying stock right now because they know, absolutely know, the market will soar when the package passes.Wouldn’t you? After all, we’re talking more than 10% right now for a few days “work.”

I love politics. It is so enriching.

Congress wants to make sure nobody on Wall Street gets rewarded for this mess. Do you suppose we could take away Congress’ parachutes and severance?

Lordy Lordy™.

America’s Best Colleges?

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“It’s so much easier to suggest solutions when you don’t know too much about the problem,” Malcolm S. Forbes said a few years ago.

Hana R. Alberts, Michael Noer and David M. Ewalt, writing for Forbes Magazine, have published “an alternative” to the quality report that U.S. News & World Report has long issued about American higher education.

It is not the best ranking system I have seen.

Darn it. It could have been.

Malcolm S. Forbes died young, about 18 years ago. As an interesting (to me) aside, he was born on my grandfather’s birthday, August 19, but the same year my parents were born. As far as I know, my family and his had nothing else in common although I did read his magazine. Mr. Forbes published Forbes Magazine which his father founded and his son now runs.

He was graduated from Princeton University, active in politics and community, and strong-willed about his magazine which he grew large.

Despite the shallowness of the college report, I suspect the aphorism rags to rags in three generations will not apply to the Capitalist Tool Forbeses.

The Center for College Affordability and Productivity’s big idea seems worthwhile at first glance. Ranking the profs, career success, costs, graduation rates, and student recognition are all pretty good tests. Too bad their methodology fell apart at the starting gate. The group of mostly college students at CCAP gathered data from 7 million student evaluations of courses and instructors in a non-scientific, online, “inmates rating the asylum” poll site. That’s a quarter of the grade. Another quarter comes from Who’s Who listings. I have a Who’s Who listing along with a few million other Americans, so I’m pretty sure that’s not a great qualifier. Maybe they should use Wikipedia listings.

I find it interesting that Cal Tech is ahead of Harvard and that my mom’s alma mater, Swarthmore, is well ahead of Yale. Not to mention the fact that Dartmouth offers free tuition but is way down on the list.

OTOH, ya gotta ask yourself How does one really choose a school? I ended up at Stevens Institute of Technology almost by accident. I looked for schools that had belly button design. Webb didn’t accept me. Stevens did. Forbes ranked them number as either 127 or 565. Stevens is a Top-10 engineering school.

I taught in Vermont Colleges for several years. I even survived student rankings. With that caveat, I never thought that students should be allowed to design a curriculum even when I was a student and I have always believed that student ranking of teachers is too much Entertainment Tonight and too little NASA Tech Briefs.

Come on. Students go to school for one of four reasons: get out of the draft, get out of the house, get out of having to work for a living, OR TO LEARN SOMETHING. I can accept a student’s appraisal of courses or teachers after, say, long enough in the workplace to apply what was learned in school and to judge whether it helped her or hurt him.

Let me pose that as a question: Who do you want removing your appendix? The surgeon who has done it a few hundred times or the pre-med student who has read Appendectomies for Dummies?

At least Forbes recognized that “the sort of student who will thrive at Williams might drown at Caltech, to say nothing of West Point.”

That said, Forbes also believes that “these rankings reflect, in a very real way, the quality and cost of an undergraduate education at a wide range of American colleges and universities. And when families have to make a decision with a six-figure price tag and lifelong impact, we think they deserve all the information they can get.”

Pfui. I reckon that when families have to make that six-figure decision, they deserve better information than this. Here are the top 10 questions I would want answered plus a couple of extras:

Personal Questions
• Does the curriculum match what I need to learn?
• Do the instructors teach in a way that matches my learning style?
• Is the program rigor too much (or too little) for me?
• Does campus life help or hinder my growth?
• Will I find help from other alums in my chosen field?

Statistical Questions
• How much will it actually cost, net?
• What kind of job will I get upon graduation?
• Does my education stick me in a single track or can I branch out into whatever interests me as I grow?
• How much do employers and peers respect my school?
• How many freshmen wash out? How many graduate

Then, much lower on the list, come two questions CCAP asked:
• How many Nobel Prizes and MacArthur Genius Grants has the faculty accrued?
• How many Rhodes and Fulbright scholars come from the undergrad program?