(This is almost completely an encore post — one that should get more circulation. From four years ago, in 2007. I have not updated years or ages — sharpen your math skills, and do it as you go.)
Some people can’t let go of the past, and like the greedy chimpanzee who grasps the rice in the jar, and then is trapped when he cannot pull out his fist nor will he give up his prize to save his freedom, they trap themselves out of a good life.
Cover of 1996 album of songs, "Pete." Seeger, born May 3, 1919, is 88 years old now.
If the Chinese did this to us, we’d declare war. When Gray Davis proposed much smaller cuts in California, Californians recalled him from office.
But it’s Rick Perry and the Republicans. Can anyone think of a good reason to treat them better?
Recall petition on Rick Perry, anyone?
Here’s the reaction from Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa:
A message from Superintendent of Schools Michael Hinojosa
First Budget Numbers Look Grim
The Texas Legislature convened this week and provided the first look at how the state’s budget crunch could impact public education. Unfortunately, things do not look good, and that is putting it mildly.
In fact, the scenario that was presented is even worse than was initially projected. Prior to this week’s legislative session, budget analysts had predicted that public education statewide would undergo cuts of approximately $5 billion during the next biennium. The number just presented to the Texas House of Representatives is closer to $9.8 billion.
Right now, various programs that have been fully or partially funded through state grants such as prekindergarten, summer school, teacher performance incentives, and technology infrastructure are not included in the new budget. In addition, current estimates place cuts to Dallas ISD at a staggering $180-$200 million during the next two years. Because 85 percent of the district’s budget goes to personnel, this means that we will have to look at reducing payroll.
Please note that this memorandum is not written to cause a panic. It is important, however, for you to understand that the state’s budget outlook is anything but rosy and funding for education will likely be reduced. It is too early to speculate where cuts in payroll will need to take place, but everything will likely be on the table.
Next week, the Senate will present its version of the budget, and it will likely be similar. At this point, the House version does not include tapping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund, which is still an option to lawmakers. It may be a couple of months before a clearer picture will emerge of how public education will be impacted by the budget.
Please know that I will make every effort to keep you informed throughout the budget process. I also can assure you that our trustees and I will do everything we can to impress upon lawmakers the important work that you do for the children of the Dallas Independent School District.
Thank you for your continued work on behalf of Dallas ISD students.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Political activists who oppose working to stop or slow greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow global warming find themselves in awkward positions recently.
NOAA graphic: Indicators of global warming: “Seven of these indicators would be expected to increase in a warming world, and observations show that they are, in fact, increasing. Three would be expected to decrease and they are, in fact, decreasing.”
Somebody stole hundreds of e-mails from one of the climate research clusters in England, and the anti-action activists claimed that the messages would reveal wrong-doing on the part of scientists, perhaps even criminal action. Instead, five separate investigations discovered no wrong-doing on the parts of scientists, but a lot of hard work gone for too little action because of the anti-science shenanigans of the anti-action crew. The science showing global warming remains untouched, with no significant body of research showing contrary.
One of the loudest voices against claims of global warming, Christopher Monckton, was unmasked as a blowhard and a fraud. Scientists organized to refute the hoax claims of the anti-action activists.
So, the anti-action activists are sore. They don’t take criticism well, and they especially don’t like anyone who points out their errors.
Sadly, they didn’t learn from the their past hoaxes. So if even a lowly high school teacher should point out an error of history, they resort to making false claims and censorship against the teacher. They have no data to back their case, nothing but invective to rebut with.
And so it was that a rather new site, hauntingthelibrary, took my comment noting where they could find the data to disabuse their wild claims, stripped it out, and substituted words I did not and would not write.
The movement against the science of global warming is rotten to its core. (Seriously — most sites would be happy to note the pingback from this blog; the blogger had to act to block the pingback from showing up. What are they so afraid of?)
Legend says that Galileo, backing out of the audience with the Pope in which he was put under house arrest after having “recanted” any claim that the Earth orbits the Sun, said quietly, “Still, it moves.” Even the Pope’s powers through the Inquisition could not stop the Earth orbiting the Sun. No matter how powerful the denial propaganda machines, no matter how many anti-science bloggers they recruit, the Earth keeps on stubbornly warming up.
hauntingthelibrary resorted to a variation of the “Al Gore is Fat” fallacy, claiming that a turn for the better in the pestilence of bark beetles, in a small area of British Columbia, means that Gore was wrong when he properly cited the two-decades of damage from the insects as evidence of the sorts of problems global warming can cause. In short, bark beetle infestations devastate forests; cold winters have traditionally limited bark beetle populations and damage; winters with too few days below freezing allowed and maybe encouraged an explosion in the bark beetle populations, and enabled their spread across North America to previously untouched forests, where they destroy vast tracts of forest. In British Columbia, the beetles appear to have eaten all the thick-barked pine trees, and so they are dying because the thin-barked, younger pine trees they must now infest do not protect them as well from the cold, though the cold isn’t as cold as it used to be. It’s a minor victory for trees and humanity against the bark beetle infestation. hauntingthelibrary claims this minor victory means Gore predicted erroneously. Of course, Gore’s prediction was made over a decade ago, and he’s been more than right for the past ten years — a one year contrary data point is not a trend. Check it out for yourself, though — don’t take my word, unverified.
Photo by W. W. MacFarlane – NPR caption: “Many dead trees appear gray and red on the high-mountain slopes of Union Pass Bridger in Teton National Forest in Wyoming”
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Or, until that account is unsuspended by the forces supporting Donald Trump: Follow @FillmoreWhite, the account of the Millard Fillmore White House Library
We've been soaking in the Bathtub for several months, long enough that some of the links we've used have gone to the Great Internet in the Sky.
If you find a dead link, please leave a comment to that post, and tell us what link has expired.
Thanks!
Retired teacher of law, economics, history, AP government, psychology and science. Former speechwriter, press guy and legislative aide in U.S. Senate. Former Department of Education. Former airline real estate, telecom towers, Big 6 (that old!) consultant. Lab and field research in air pollution control.
My blog, Millard Fillmore's Bathtub, is a continuing experiment to test how to use blogs to improve and speed up learning processes for students, perhaps by making some of the courses actually interesting. It is a blog for teachers, to see if we can use blogs. It is for people interested in social studies and social studies education, to see if we can learn to get it right. It's a blog for science fans, to promote good science and good science policy. It's a blog for people interested in good government and how to achieve it.
BS in Mass Communication, University of Utah
Graduate study in Rhetoric and Speech Communication, University of Arizona
JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 