Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- American_Way on Open thread 11/22
- American_Way on Open thread 11/22
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- satatom on Open thread 11/22
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- satatom on Open thread 11/22
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/22
Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Aug. 17, 2006 at 12:05 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
- Permalink
- Comments RSS
- Both comments and trackbacks are closed
24 Comments
After the statement he made at this week’s City Council meeting regarding the Habtemarian’s business at Mid Continent, is there anyone who STILL thinks George Kolb needs “a chance to get organized”?
Aliens abducted Terry Fox the other day. They gave him an anal probe and he left a $20 on the dresser as usual.
What a point to build our new terminal Mr.C. That would leave space for both Starbucks (what everybody wants) and the Habtemarian’s shoppe.
Today’s Bushism:
” The fundamental question is, Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy? I will be, but until I’m the president, it’s going to be hard for me to verfiy that I think I’ll be more effective”.Wayne Mi, June 28, 2000.
Pretty convincing stuff!!
Ah gster, Here is one that’s appropriate…
“Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.”–George w. Bush
discussing the Iraq war with Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, as quoted by Robertson
From the Salina blog, and of special interest here.Being a troll is actually ILLEGAL!!
It Might be Illegal to AnnoyAugust 16th, 2006by Greg StephensSince the subject of posting anonymously has come up here a few times, this might be a good time to explore the topic. Before starting let it be known that the intention of this blog is to inform and not criticize anyone for decisions thay have made in regard to this matter.
A couple months ago Kevin raised a question whether there was any significance why and who posted anonymously or used real names. When I started blogging I thought long and hard about this decision. Here are some thoughts that directed my decision. There is a difference between the two and it is like the difference between two tools such as a hammer and a saw. Both are effective and useful tools and each tool is used for a different purpose. I think blogging with or without a real name is the same. Anonymous blogging works better when, or if, one wants to act as a whistleblower, watchdog, or catalyst for change in a risky environment. Blogging with a name causes one to write in a more accountable manner…and likely elevates credibility of content because anyone can always go back and read what has been posted. Given that difference, the blogging world is largely a world of anonymity and most Salina Journal bloggers are also posting anonymously. ExMeadowlark aside, many here are NOT blogging as watchdogs; they are mostly posting to persuade, inform or express thoughts. In other words some might occassionally be trying to pound nails with a tool other than a hammer.
On another note of significance, since many bloggers feel anonymous blogging offers protection, it should be stated that blogging anonymously may actually be more risky and include more liability. According to C-Nets political correspondent Declan McCullagh, a federal law passed by the R’s and signed by President Bush in January states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here’s the relevant language:
“Whoever…utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet… without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person…who receives the communications…shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”Not everyone goes as far as Declan McCullagh in his interpretation of the legislation. And free speech advocates are ready to challenge the interpretation. But the bottom line is the freedom that blogging anonymously gives someone may also carry certain responsibilities and limits not imposed on those who disclose their identity. It’s just science, for every action there is a reaction. Blog On!
The “intent to annoy.”
Let that sink in, lest anyone doubt that George Bush and the GOP really are the fuckin’ fascists I’ve said they are.
CF is back, and so is his no-holds-barred analysis!
Hey, dude, I’m gonna be at ICT as planned. Let me know if anything has changed.
The thing is though, Trace and CF, conservatives are irritated by the TRUTH.
They’ll probably figure out a way to prosecute you for simply telling the truth.
Look at Joe Wilson.
Jakub Voboril got PERFECT scores on both the ACT and SAT tests! Kansas education really sucks, doesn’t it!
Wonder if this story will make National news?
As to the internet harassment statute:
The operative language here is “with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person…”. Nearly identical language to the Kansas statute on phone harassment, which bars, in relevant part, making any telephone call “with intent to abuse, threaten, or harass any person.” KSA 21-4113(a)(2).
Hardly a vast conspiracy to quash dissent. It’s a reflection of the interstate reach of internet communications. No surprise, however, the tinfoils are out in force. Who’d a thunk it.
I suppose you’d have no objection, then, to thousands of anonymous and threatening e-mails flooding your inbox? Please do not take that as any sort of threat; it is not written as same, nor do I have any inclination to do so. But that is exactly the kind of abuse this statute is designed to deter.
Conspiracy? FASCIST!!? ‘Cause of THIS??? Please. That tinfoil must be constricting the thought process.
You’re right, GMC. This by itself does not constitute fascism.
For that, you’d have to have a president installed in office by a sympathetic Supreme Court ruling that makes a mockery out of interpreting the 14th amendment AND the concept of stare decisis AND state law requiring mandatory full recounts AND the future President’s own brother as Governor of the State in question.
Check.Check.Check.Check.
We’re as close to fascism as we’ve ever been since the founding of this country.
See this article, “Supreme Court to Democracy: Drop Dead” for more.
Dec. 14, 2000 | Tuesday, Dec. 12, is a day that will live in American infamy long after the tainted election of George W. Bush has faded from memory. With their rash, divisive decision to dispense with the risky and inconvenient workings of democracy and simply award the presidency to their fellow Republican, five right-wing justices dragged the Supreme Court down to perhaps its most ignominious point since the Dred Scott decision.
The court was the last American civic institution to have preserved an aura of impartiality, to be regarded as above the gutter of partisanship and self-interest. The reality, of course, is that no court, no judge, no human being, is completely free of those entanglements. Yet the court has generally acted wisely in avoiding judgments that would inevitably and utterly besmirch it. With one reckless and partisan ruling, it squandered its most precious possession: its reputation. It may take years, even decades, to repair the damage done by the Scalia-Rehnquist court’s decision to cancel the election and crown the winner.
It’s hard not to conclude, now that this whole sorry saga is over, that the fix was in from the beginning. Not the crude, “vast right-wing conspiracy” fix of Hillary Clinton’s imagination, but a de facto fix. Why shouldn’t one think the game was rigged, when five Republican-appointed justices — one of whose son works for the law firm of the lawyer representing Bush, another of whose wife is recruiting staff for the Bush admininstration and two of whom have made clear their desire to retire under a Republican administration — trashed their entire judicial philosophy to ram through, with only the most cramped of legal justifications, a last-second victory for a Republican who lost the national popular vote and, when the votes in Florida are actually counted, is likely to have lost the Florida one as well?
Perfect justice does not exist. But this was judicial folly, politically explosive and judicially threadbare. This was the court stepping in and awarding victory to one side before the game was over. Even those of us who don’t often agree with the court’s conservative majority expected better.
more . . .
And I wonder if we will get a thread on this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/ap_on_go_pr_wh/warrantless_surveillance
It may be time when the Democrats retake the House to pursue impeachment of some Supreme Court justices.
And he goes to a CATHOLIC school. Where teenage boys don’t get hazed by their peers for being academically oriented and productive. Where there’s a high expectation that students be involved in community service and other extracurricular activities that mold character.
Maybe vouchers for socioeconomically-disadvantaged students can help them succeed by exposing them to a different world, where they can learn this idea of making contributions, and striving for excellence. They may not be leaders at the start, but with time and a fundamentally different learning environment, they can be.
We also need to think about eventually developing a public university that can attract and challenge people like Jakub, so that they don’t have to go out of state to receive a 21st-century leadership-skills-cultivating education. If Jakub lived in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Washington, or California, he’d have excellent public university options.
I think the interpretations will be important – also any ancillary documents from Congressional hearings etc. I definitely agree with GMC about email SPAM and suspect that is the real target of the legislation.
to the Capn:
When the issue you like wins, it’s justice. When the other side wins, it’s activism, or a “fix.”
I won’t rehash the rationale of Bush v. Gore here. It’s ancient history. Get over it.
And reserve the term “fascist” for the real thing. It’s been thrown around so much, by so many, against so many, that it’s lost it’s meaning and impact. Just another useless pejorative label.
Well, you can tell me to get over it all you want, but I’m telling you, I’ll never get over it.
George W. Bush was never elected to office in 2000. Period.
I love the way you conservatives think that the only thing we’re mad about is that we “lost.”
What we’re mad about is that the most important ideal of Americanism–the ideal of DEMOCRACY–was trumped by power.
The issue is not whether Gore won or lost. The issue is whether democracy was carried out.
The fact that you care more about the former than you do about the latter speaks volumes about the right-wing facists.
Jakub Voboril?
Interesting name, our resident racist should check this out.
I just about forgot what it was like with CF shootin from the hip.(ricoche’ noises in background)
Free fire zone, fire at will CF.Surely you don’t “intend to annoy”?
Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself “Lillian, you should have remained a virgin.”– Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)
I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: “No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.”– Eleanor Roosevelt
Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.– Mark Twain
The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.– George Burns
Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.– Victor Borge
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.– Mark Twain
By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.– Socrates
I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.– Groucho Marx
My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.– Jimmy Durante
I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.– Zsa Zsa Gabor
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.– Alex Levine
My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.– Rodney Dangerfield
Money can’t buy you happiness .. but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.– Spike Milligan
I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon.Then it’s time for my nap.– Bob Hope
I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.– W.C. Fields
We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.– Will Rogers
Don’t worry about avoiding temptation… as you grow older, it will avoid you.– Winston Churchill
Maybe it’s true that life begins at fifty … but everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.– Phyllis Diller
By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere.– Billy Crystal
The cardiologist’s diet: If it tastes good, spit it out.
Here’s an interesting story from the LA Times. A private group set up a competition, and PAID KIDS TO LEARN ALGEBRA. Wichita is getting an additional $28 million of the new pie. How about if 1/28 of this is paid to socioeconomically-disadvantaged students who meet specific learning benchmarks in math that are well above what has traditionally been expected of them?
The story can be found at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-feldmann15aug15,0,7615144.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Cash for GradesA Santa Ana school trades the green stuff for good algebra scores.By Scott Feldmann, SCOTT FELDMANN is a partner with the law firm of Crowell & Moring.August 15, 2006
WHY DO WE eliminate incentives from our public education system? We all agree that educating our children is important, but we fail to use the most proven performance-enhancement tool of the marketplace — cold, hard cash.
Incentives matter in life. How many of us would put forth our best if we never got a tangible reward? Instead of expecting our children to wait years for the payoff for a good education, we should deliver one sooner. Cash awards reinforce the link between learning now and earning more later.
I’m a partner in a law firm that tried a modest experiment in 2004 at Santa Ana’s Sierra Intermediate School, which educates the very poorest students in one of the richest counties in the nation. Eighty-five percent of the children at Sierra Intermediate qualify for free lunches. The typical student is present for only two-thirds of the school year. These children, more than most, need incentives to stay the course and get educated.
In our experiment, we reinforced the importance of striving for excellence with cash prizes for eighth-graders studying algebra. Our modest first-year budget was $2,500. Of that, $700 went for a first-class study guide for each student, and the remaining $1,800 went toward prizes, based on students’ scores on a special test. First place earned $250; second, $225; third, $200, and so on to 15th place, which earned $25.
We designed the test to produce a bell curve, trying to avoid ties. The school administered the program and formed a public-private partnership with us. We awarded 17 prizes (despite the bell curve, there was a tie for 15th place). And when it came time for the state’s standardized algebra exam, our eighth-graders improved on the results of Sierra Intermediate’s previous eighth-graders — the number who scored “advanced” or “proficient” increased from 13 to 31 in one year.
Our prize structure reflected the reality of our global economy, with the better educated receiving an ever-greater share of the pie. When I graduated from high school in 1978, college graduates could expect to earn only 19% more in their lifetime than high school graduates. Now, college graduates earn 73% more, and that figure is rising.
On awards night, there was an aura of excitement in the hot, packed room. Parents began ooohing and aaahing as the prize level rose. The winners were understandably proud, without showboating.
One thank-you letter was especially touching. “I won $140, and I’m very thankful for it. I really needed the money because my family was having some economic problems.” (Of course, money motivates in different ways. After one of our pitches for the program, one young man’s hand had shot up quickly. “Does the money go to us or our parents?” he asked sharply. “To you” was the reply — which was just what he wanted to hear.)
For those of us involved in the program, the promise inherent in every child was inspiring. Last year, we expanded the incentives. With the help of a kindhearted client, we added a program in U.S. history for about 340 Sierra Intermediate students and repeated the algebra competition.
Lawyers from the firm met with the kids and talked about the types of jobs that education could deliver. Several of the students were amazed to learn there were jobs that would pay you when you were sick. Others were surprised that they could get paid for three weeks of vacation a year.
It’s true that our incentives go only to top-performing students. But that’s where they are needed most. Last year, the top winner out of about 90 students correctly answered 48 of 53 questions on what was a difficult algebra exam. That boy should be encouraged to stay on track and to keep on trying, to not quit at 16 to help support his family. Merit can take him far, and it would be a waste if low expectations — whether his or society’s — got in the way.
We plan to keep the competition, and the incentives, going. Time will tell whether this approach bears fruit, but the worst that has happened is that dozens of kids got a pat on the head, and some real money. As the girl who won $140 wrote, “I think this type of stuff encourages us to do our best.”
Interesting article, heartlander. The old behavioral psychologists would say this is the way to do it.
But, there will be detractors – “Aren’t you just bribing those children to do what they should be doing anyway?” For me, if my employer did not bribe me with a paycheck every once in a while, I wouldn’t be showing up.
Compensation always drives the organization.
hehehe. And my Dad said b school would never do me any good…..