Couldn’t Help But Notice (110707)
Old Media’s selective outrage over censorship has never been more apparent than with its kid-glove treatment of BizzyBlog Internet Wall of Shame member Google. Matthew Vadum has more on that:
More evidence of the company’s thinly-veiled, warm and fuzzy politically correct authoritarianism keeps popping up.
Now Google Video has suppressed a video of a speech that Spencer, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), made at Dartmouth College. Spencer, whose family comes from the Muslim world, sees his work as “calling attention to the roots and goals of jihad violence.†He carefully explains his belief that “Islam is not a monolith,†and says that he has “never†characterized all Muslims “as terrorist or given to violence.â€
Giddy Google Shareholders beware: The company has openly embraced the economic and ideological sellout known as “Corporate Social Responsibility,” for which it and equity holders will, eventually, pay dearly. Just ask Ford, which looked untouchable in the late 1990s, what happens when you go too far down that road.
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Utah’s school voucher attempt has failed badly:
Most of the opposition’s $4.4 million came from the National Education Association and state teachers’ unions from Florida to Alaska. Voucher supporters countered with more than $4 million, nearly three-quarters of that from (Voucher supporter Overstock.com chief executive Patrick) Byrne and his family. Byrne says vouchers are the only way America’s “broken” public education system can stay competitive with other industrialized nations.
So much for “choice.”
Those who cheer the defeat are apparently OK with the status quo, which is to throw more money at failed schools. Kansas City was the lab for blank-check education, and it totally failed.
Parents who care, and who can, should be seriously considering private schools and home schooling. They can’t afford to wait for a national answer.
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This juxtaposition of what I saw this morning at Drudge matches my reaction (link to underlying article is here):
These people do focus groups to decide where to take a vacation (halfway through link; “It got so bad that even Clinton’s vacation plans were determined by Dick Morris’s polls.”). Less than a week ago, they were telling the press how much they consult with each other. As the ad says …..
The AP’s Nedra Pickler Pickler continues to play the victim card for Mrs. Clinton, characterizing the pretty mild criticisms of her rivals as “caustic.” Nedra, I’ve seen caustic, and what you describe in the article as caustic isn’t even in the neighborhood of caustic.
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In local elections:
- Incumbent and irretrievably tainted Ernie Fletcher’s selfish insistence on running for re-election, regardless of the consequences, cost the GOP what should have been a safe governorship in Kentucky.
- Hamilton County’s jail tax-sales tax went down 56-44. As stated in a post during the petition drive, it belonged on the ballot regardless of the outcome.
- Cincinnati’s school levy failed, as it should have; the system’s spending per student is nearly the highest in Ohio, for no good reason.
Thanks for calling attention to Utah’s school voucher attempt.
John Stossel has an interesting take on the vouncher issue.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2007/11/07/with_government_money_come_strings?page=full&comments=true
“.. Once vouchers are widespread, we can expect the education establishment …to find ways to turn the program to its advantage.” Bureaucracies have a powerful survival mechanisms.
“f vouchers contain this potential danger, what can be done to help get kids out of dismal government schools? A better alternative is a tax credit for any parent who pays for private schooling or anyone else who helps put child through non-government schools.”
My opinion is still fluid, leaning pro-voucher. It’s worth reading.
Comment by Cornfed — November 7, 2007 @ 9:16 pm
#1, that’s a thoughtful piece.
I know that the current system has little chance of making the grade.
Here’s an idea that requires processing:
- Every newborn citizen gets $51,400 put into an escrow account. It gets credited with 2% “real” interest every year (above inflation).
- That money can only be used for purchasing education at $5k per year in today’s dollars. Parents who want what they would perceive to be better would have to pay more to get it.
- Using the assumptions noted, that $51,400 would get someone through 12 years of schooling. If a kid gets through faster, they can use the leftovers for college (watch a whole bunch of kids all of a sudden become high achievers).
- Phase out public schools over the 18 years involved. Public schools would have to figure out how to get by on 5K per kid as those paying with escrow money come into the system.
Market competition would force schools to figure out how to deliver suitable education for 5K, or whatever the right number is, per year. Regardless, it can be done on some number that is way less than the 10K or so that is typically spent now, especially if you exclude extracurriculars, which are already moving to pay for play anyway.
Comment by TBlumer — November 7, 2007 @ 9:42 pm