07:37 – The morning paper reports that state government plans to spend more than a billion dollars more next year than this year, part of which will go towards an across-the-board salary increase for teachers. That’s outrageous, considering that our public school teachers are already grossly overpaid. Many of them couldn’t get a job in a free market, and even they are paid at well above market rates. If you don’t believe that, just compare what they’re paid to what private school teachers are paid.
The solution is simple. Teachers are already contract employees, although like all things government, those contracts almost never lapse. Simply put them all on one-year contracts and require them to bid on specific teaching jobs at specific schools. Lowest bidder for each position wins. Those who don’t win a bid are unemployed, and cannot draw unemployment compensation. I suspect the average salary would end up being not much more than minimum wage, which is what public school teachers should be making. Most of the really good teachers would leave the public school system and go to work for private schools, which again is how it should be.
Eventually, public schools would die, as they should, and all students would attend whichever private schools they chose and could qualify for, as it should be. Public school buildings could be auctioned off to private businesses, and would continue to serve as schools. All students would be issued vouchers that could be used as they saw fit.
10:04 – I just ordered several more cases of bottles and caps, just under 7,000 total. I dithered about the shipping choices, but I eventually chose the free UPS ground rather than the $572.98 next-day option. If they ship today, UPS ground should get it here Thursday anyway. I’m off to build more science kit subassemblies.
“The morning paper reports that state government plans to spend more than a billion dollars more next year than this year, part of which will go towards an across-the-board salary increase for teachers. That’s outrageous, considering that our public school teachers are already grossly overpaid.”
That is indeed outrageous, considering also that there are fewer students, at least up here in New England, more administrators, and the end products are sadly still uneducated, except in stuff like self-esteem, political correctness and worship of the Goddess Diversity.
I agree; put all the teaching jobs out for bid, dump most of the admins in the bureaucracies, and drive the publik skool system out of our lives forever. What a disaster. And I’m so tired of hearing how wonderful public school teachers are and what tremendous and heroic sacrifices they make, as if they were holy saints or something. Akin to our mindless hero worship, now a bit tarnished, of police officers and professional athletes.
Pahtly sunny today and kinda windy. Fiddling with annoying lawnmower problem and working on raised beds again. Mrs. OFD is in a camper overlooking the Pacific Ocean today and collecting beach glass and hiking around. She’ll be home in Vermont tomorrow morning for three weeks. Son and DIL are now looking intensively for a place to rent in the Brentwood area of Kalifornia, the East Bay region. I checked it out via wiki and was not impressed. I thought they had it pretty good down in MA but that siren call of much more $ called them and now they’re panicking to find that the COL out there is twice what it is in central MA. A little research, sonny….or consulting the old buzzard here….but nope.
No one listens to me anyway here, except the missus has been showing many signs lately of improving greatly on that score; I’ve been a very bad influence, evidently. Now I have another three weeks straight to work on her, haha.
On Thursday (May 21) the Public School Teachers in our entire area (several school districts involved) are going on strike for more pay, smaller class sizes, you know the mantra.
Of course the students think it’s great, a day of no school. Well, not all of the students are happy, Thursday is a WA State required testing day for High School Juniors. This test is required for graduation. An accommodation has not been agreed to by the State. More wasted time and needless bureaucratic BS.
The demographic in our schools is changing. There is a flight to the Private and Religious Schools. Those schools are adding-on as fast as possible. The Public Schools are overburdened by illegal illiterate non-English speakers (many so-called Spanish speakers cannot even communicate in Spanish).
Voucher system, and eliminate stupid regulations. Include standardized tests at 3 or 4 grade levels, to ensure basic competence (say, grades 3, 6, 9 and 12). Kids who don’t pass those tests, don’t get promoted. Schools that produce kids who don’t pass those tests won’t have many parents handing them vouchers. Then let schools sink or swim on their own.
But: what do you do with the hard cases – the disruptive kids whose parents don’t care? You can’t actually expect a normal school to deal with them at all. So what do you do with them? Here, in extreme cases, kids are taken from home and sent to closed institutions. Dunno if it really helps them, but at least they aren’t screwing up the local schools for the other students. Of course, we have a lot fewer cases like this than the US does, with it’s huge inner city population.
I know, let’s send them to Australia!
“The demographic in our schools is changing. There is a flight to the Private and Religious Schools. Those schools are adding-on as fast as possible. The Public Schools are overburdened by illegal illiterate non-English speakers (many so-called Spanish speakers cannot even communicate in Spanish).”
This here in spades.
Nearby elementary school has 7 kindergarten classes, 6 of which are some form of ESL.
Some of the district schools are 90+% non-white, despite the district as a whole being 40% white, 40% hispanic, 10% black, 10% asian/other. This demo is typical for the southern and western US.
As I look around at local business, all I see are hispanics with limited english language skills. I’m betting their immigration status is “ILLEGAL” too. However sending them home would destroy local small and medium businesses.
Educating and medicating their kids is an incredible financial burden locally. We feed them too, as my neighborhood school provides 3 meals a day free to all. The one my daughter attends has free meals for some, and subsidized for all. Breakfast is $1.20 and lunch is $1.75. Aftercare provides dinner for free. There was an announcement from the school that they would be providing 2 meals a day for any kid under 18 who comes in all summer long, since now those families are conditioned to rely on the schools to feed their kids.
I’m going to stop here, because I have stuff to do today, and I could rant about this all day long…..
nick
Expel them, put them on the streets. They’ll die young, whether from gang violence or being shot by cops. In fact, I favor returning to the death penalty for “minor” crimes, as the UK used to use it to keep the underclass suppressed and their numbers limited. I’d like to see public hangings every weekend, where they could dispose of the losers. Hanging even just 0.1% of the population would reduce violent crimes noticeably. Hanging 1% would make violent crime extremely rare. Hanging 10% would pretty much eliminate not just violent crime, but crimes against property as well. We’d all be better off if the population of the country was reduced, focusing first on violent offenders and later on those who commit crimes against property. And I’m talking about traditional common law crimes, not the made-up crimes that our politicians create.
It’s all coming to a head; the entire mess is unsustainable, from the skool systems to the finances and job market, LE organizations, military, etc. This can’t go on, and when something can’t go on, it stops.
A half-century of criminal “leadership,” stupidity, ignorance and malice aforethought are gonna put us down the toilet within our lifetimes. No matter how much fiat currency is printed, how much fracking and oil drilling gets done, and whether or not good ol’ Murkan technical ingenuity will go into play. It’s way too big and unwieldy now, a huge country of over 330 million people, with probably that last 30 million illegal immigrants. We’re looking to replicate China and India here when we really need to break up the Empire and get out of the business of Empire once and for all.
And at some point this is gonna mean losing all the dead weight gumming up the works.
This really pisses me off:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-19/irish-bakery-fined-after-refusing-gay-marriage-cake-order/6482280
If a business doesn’t want to manafacture a pro-gay “marriage” cake, or pro-Christian cake, or pro-atheist cake that’s their right.
I hope you’re wrong. I’m too old for this shit.
I’m also under no illusions about the value of trying to prepare to protect myself and my family and perhaps some close friends. All I can do, everything I have done, can only increase my chances, maybe by a lot but probably by only a little. If you’re right, we’re going to see both natural selection and forced selection operating big time. The whiners, metrosexuals, SJW’s, and those without useful skills will suffer attrition disproportionately, as will those who are unarmed and those who expect the government to come to their aid.
Certainly it’s their right, but what sane business person would turn down business from any of those?
There was a day when the Court System sent a lot of the bad influences off to Boot Camp, the great equalizer. Can’t be done today because it’s “not fair”.
In my Boot Camp Company we had 6 (out of 180) delinquent “volunteers”. They were pointed out on day 1. It was our job to work their butts off. Again, can’t be done today. 5 of the 6 saw the light and “graduated” with one going off to the Navy and Marine Brigg (he may still be there for all I know).
20% of all new classrooms being built are designed for the malcontents. Barred windows, desks bolted to the floor, restrained chairs, full video surveillance monitored by a Police Officer, panic buttons, and 2 “teachers” at all times. That is where our tax dollars are going.
These kids are lost and I could go for sending them to Australia, but the British Crown sent about half of my ancestors there and they created a pretty squared-away legacy. So leave Australia alone and pick another deserted island.
That’s why we need space access. We need a frontier to send the malcontents, as well as the self motivated.
No more frontier, no more pressure relief valve.
nick
and people become more and more self absorbed and inwardly focused. This is the reason we have “stare rape” and “micro aggressions”; because people don’t have enough real oppression and violence in their lives, they make up drama.
“I hope you’re wrong. I’m too old for this shit.”
You and me both. WTF? Why didn’t everything go to hell when we were 25? But I hope I’m wrong, too; it just doesn’t look good, and I’m speaking from just my very limited mathematical skillz; do the numbers. We can’t keep this up.
“…what sane business person would turn down business from any of those?”
It’s kinda stupid. Is some sporting goods store gonna stop selling baseball gloves or golf clubs to atheists, Catholics or LGBTs? Then why would a florist or baker? Unless to make some kind of big public point and get kudos for resisting whatever? Resist some other way, homes, sell them the fucking cake or flowers and make a buck; don’t be stupid.
“There was a day when the Court System sent a lot of the bad influences off to Boot Camp…”
Yup, I remember them days; a Marine acquaintance of ours, after I got back, had gotten that same choice: prison or two years in the Corps. Naturally he went straight to ‘Nam; came back with a Purple Heart and used it to open beer bottles. From a libertarian perspective, this is all wrong, however. The choice is to be imprisoned by the State in its industrialized slave labor system that nets profits for corporations, or volunteer for its slave-warrior battalions and get sent to get mangled or killed. Then there’s idiots like me who volunteer anyway. At seventeen.
“That is where our tax dollars are going.”
Very nice. Schools as prisons. Not a huge stretch for the State, however.
“So leave Australia alone and pick another deserted island.”
Bingo. Antarctica.
“We need a frontier to send the malcontents, as well as the self motivated.”
See above.
“This is the reason we have “stare rape” and “micro aggressions”; because people don’t have enough real oppression and violence in their lives, they make up drama.”
It’s also a lot of new fodder for the grievance whores and pimps. Everything is a hate crime now; used to be if you looked at a fugly person and commented on them or insulted them, that was the hate crime. Now if you DON’T look at them, it’s a crime. Or if they don’t like your facial expression. And of course, just being Caucasian is a crime; you can’t help it, you’re a walking fucking hate crime.
“The white race is the cancer of human history.”
Quiz: what person said that?
Today’s posts are grim and depressing. I’m driving to the dam bypass and jumping.
Maybe I’ll hang on to watch all the elites, celebutards, and libs squeal and squirm when their ivory towers come crumbling down. They’ll be the first screaming for the cops after dissing them as killer pigs.
“Certainly it’s their right, but what sane business person would turn down business from any of those?”
Suppose a creationist college asked you to write some labs, tutorials and lectures on biology for them. Of course, you’d have to ditch all this evolution stuff.
You wouldn’t? “…what sane business person would turn down business from any of those?”
“Suppose a creationist college asked you to write some labs, tutorials and lectures on biology for them. Of course, you’d have to ditch all this evolution stuff.”
Nope. Dr. Bob would explain to the dimwits that evolution is part of the biology package and if they can’t hack that, then no contract. Obviously he’s not gonna ditch that and if the bozos can’t deal with modern science, then hasta la vista, baby!
“All these Cortanas are coming to put artificial intelligence in all your things…”
Oh yeah, baby, put some of that in my thing…
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/cortana-for-all-microsofts-plan-to-put-voice-recognition-behind-anything/
And M$ marches on.
Yeah, exactly. I’m happy to sell them one of my cakes, but they don’t get to stand over my shoulder while I bake it. In reality, that’s the way it works. I sell lots of science kits to creationist home schoolers. They know going in that it’s secular and they choose to use it anyway. Creationists aren’t stupid. Most of them realize that learning creationist “science” isn’t going to get their kids into good colleges.
@OFD
Thought I would respond to your quiz. I did have to “google” it, but I recognized her name. It’s an interesting quote. I think that most people realize that we are all imperfect and have all done both ‘good’ things and ‘bad’ things. Since societies are comprised of people, consequently societies/civilizations also do both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things. Of course this applies to ALL societies/civilizations, not just ours.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag#Criticism
Criticism
Sontag drew criticism for writing in 1967 in the Partisan Review that,
If America is the culmination of Western white civilization, as everyone from the Left to the Right declares, then there must be something terribly wrong with Western white civilization. This is a painful truth; few of us want to go that far. … The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine ballets, et al., don’t redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. ***The white race is the cancer of human history; it is the white race and it alone—its ideologies and inventions—which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself.***[22]
According to journalist Mark M. Goldblatt, Sontag later recanted this statement, saying that “it slandered cancer patients”,[23] though according to Eliot Weinberger, “She came to regret that last phrase, and wrote a whole book against the use of illness as metaphor”.[24]
In a 1970 article titled America as a Gun Culture, the noted historian Richard Hofstadter wrote:
Modern critics of our culture who, like Susan Sontag, seem to know nothing of American history, who regard the white race as a “cancer” and assert that the United States was “founded on a genocide,” may fantasize that the Indians fought according to the rules of the Geneva Convention. But in the tragic conflict of which they were to be the chief victims, they were capable of striking terrible blows.[25]
I still do a little computer support for some home schoolers, by the time their kids’ are about 8 they are so tech savy that I sometimes learn from them 😉
Anyway, to my point, I have found for the most part that the folks you would classify as “creationist home schoolers” are far more accepting on other views and will engage in a civil discussion. They know how to co-exist. I have had a few of the “evolutionary” types and have found that to a person they refuse to listen to alternative views or engage in civil discussion. Might explain why I am often busy when I get a “support” call.
” I have had a few of the “evolutionary” types and have found that to a person they refuse to listen to alternative views or engage in civil discussion.”
Because they know The Truth and it is to them Holy Writ itself and never to be questioned or dissented from, period. They have their own little priesthood and brook no back talk. Much like, in other fields, climate science, the whole PC thing, and the Lincoln acolytes. (and on the literary end, the Stratfordian Shakespeare scholars). They may well have the truth, or some truth, on their side, but their attitude and arrogance are genuine turn-offs for lots of people, whose natural inclination if they have any wit or gumption at all, is to resist.
On the Hofstadter quote: “But in the tragic conflict of which they were to be the chief victims, they were capable of striking terrible blows.[25]”
Those few of us here in Nova Anglia who still give a shit about our regional history know full well of what he speaks; King Philip’s (Metacomet’s) War cut a mean and ugly swatch through the local population here nearly 350 years ago and was the highest per capita KIA of any of our wars. There are extant houses in Lancaster, MA, from whence Mary Rowlandson and her children were taken into brutal captivity, that still sport musket ball holes, ax scars and scorch marks. There was one theory a while back that memories of this period twenty years later may have contributed to the Salem witch hysteria.
http://www.1000words-a-day.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/junkins.jpg
Since it seems like we will always be imperfect beings, and will always do both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things, and thus our societies/civilizations likewise — we should always try to do more ‘good’ things than ‘bad’ things, and most importantly to learn from both our mistakes and the mistakes of all others.
In other words, ‘world history’ is a very important subject, and we should take it very seriously, and study it carefully. Maybe then there is hope that we might survive as a species.
And to re-/para-phrase Mark Twain …
What usually gets us into the most trouble is not what we don’t know.
It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/738123-what-gets-us-into-trouble-is-not-what-we-don-t
Speak for yourself. I’m a perfect idiot and I defy anyone to prove otherwise.
Hey, I’m a perfect numbskull!
No one needs to prove or disprove it; my life story is evidence aplenty.
I always enjoy humor in good taste. I think the important point is that you both probably learn from your mistakes (as do I). Sometimes I have to make them several times though, before I finally learn my lesson. But …
“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.” ~ Sam Levenson ~
Rule Three: “There are no Mistakes, Only Lessons: Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials and errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work”
~ Chérie Carter-Scott ~
http://cgfewston.me/2014/12/19/if-life-is-a-game-these-are-the-rules-1998-by-cherie-carter-scott-the-power-of-integrity-forgiveness-and-compassion/
Here’s the rest of her ten rules …
http://blog.zerodean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/10-rules-for-being-human-cherie-carter-scott.gif
The Ten Rules For Being Human:
1. You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. Lessons are repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. “There” is no better than “here.”
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All the answers lie inside of you.
10. You will forget all of this at birth.
N.b. especially #8 and #10.
Actually, they’re all really good rules.
Perhaps rule #11 is that “reality” as we think of it doesn’t exist. We only exist in the memory of the super-computer called “The Matrix”. Or some people call it “God”. We are all creations of and only exist in the “mind” of God ?? But then who or what created “The Matrix” ??? God !! But then who or what created God ???
I DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER !!!
I’ve been busy, so will read today’s posts later, but some of them look depressing. So, to paraphrase Paul Harvey, wash your eyes out with this:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153041900651337&id=116548701336&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fvideo.php&_rdr
Hope the link works for all. Note the dedication to open source. In a small part, this is why I am a proud Linux supporter.
” But then who or what created God ???”
The Church’s (and my) position: God is uncreated. No one created Him. He always was, always is, and always shall be. His time is different from ours, which we only figured out mere thousands of years ago. It is an imperfect model. His is perfect.
Nice link, Mr. Jim B: a bit of good news is always welcome. Which is why I still read the weekly Christian Science Monitor.
For those of you who, like me, don’t have a facebook account — here’s a direct link …
http://uproxx.com/technology/2015/01/easton-lachappelle-luminary/
Meet Easton LaChappelle, The 19-Year-Old Luminary Building A Cheaper, Better Prosthetic Limb
Thanks, Sam. I don’t have a Facebook account, but for some reason the link worked for me. Not sure why, so that’s why I posted a caution. I was away from my desktop, and have a better feel for these things there. Always try links before posting. All’s well that ends well.
RBT wrote:
“I’m happy to sell them one of my cakes, but they don’t get to stand over my shoulder while I bake it.”
I think you’re missing the point. Putting it another way, would you produce a cake to their order with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” on it?
I like those rules. I’d modify number 7: others aren’t mirrors of you, but it does help to keep in mind that others are also people, with needs and desires similar to yours.
I’ve always found it helpful, when dealing with a difficult person, to imagine what the person was like at the age of 6. It’s still the same person today, just with more facades on top. If you can figure out what drove that difficult 6-year-old, you can deal with the person that kid turned into.
As for the white race being the only one that ever went out and conquered, hmmm, he apparently missed most of his history lessons. Heck, even the Bible is full of stories of warfare and genocide – and it’s a stretch to imagine the people described are white. Those innocent tribal cultures in Africa or North America spent plenty of time killing each other. This seems to be part and parcel of human nature.
No, you’re missing the point, which is that no one should be forced to do business with anyone, but a business that turns down sales because it disapproves of the lifestyle or beliefs of the customer is a poorly run business. I don’t have any litmus test for kit buyers, and any bakery that does have one deserves to go out of business.
The motorcycle gang incident in Waco? The truth creeps out
Multiple sources have told The Aging Rebel that all of the dead were killed by police.
This supposedly because one of the bikers drew a gun. Or some officer thought he saw a gun, anyway…
Of course, the inevitable police reply: “Thank goodness the officers were here and took the action that they needed to take to save numerous lives.”
I’ve seen that info elsewhere; it seems like one of the bikers may have pulled a handgun out and right then at least four SWAT officers opened up with selective-fire weapons. This story gets kinda strange; almost like a set-up and police ambush. Word is that it’s not over, either, not by a long shot.
But again, it’s a distraction from the country teetering on the cliff edge and our rulers shoving for all they’re worth behind it.
“Retired San Antonio detective arrested in Waco Twin Peaks brawl has ties to Bandidos”
http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Retired-San-Antonio-detective-arrested-in-Waco-6274647.php#photo-8010574
The first picture alone is worth the visit.
As I just commented elsewhere: why aren’t any videos coming out? Every time there’s a crisis there are douchebags with phones out, not helping but taking lots of video. Why aren’t they coming out? Or are they being posted, but being taken down? They support the police story so they aren’t news? They refute the police story so they aren’t publicized?
The douchebags probably post all that stuff on their FaceCrack accounts but nowhere else. Sometimes it gets picked up elsewhere but more often not, it seems. Or they email them back and forth to other douchebags.
In Waco there were multiple sets of douchebags, some of them in official gummit thug costumes, while the others were wearing their own thug costumes.