Former President Bill Clinton campaigned in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District for Christie Vilsack a few days ago — this ad puts his tour in 30 seconds.
Clinton’s endorsement for Christie Vilsack, Iowa’s 4th Congressional District
October 19, 2012
Leave a Comment » | 
2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Politics | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, 4th Congressional District, Bill Clinton, Christie Vilsack, Iowa, Politics | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Quote of the moment: Harlan Ellison, the two most common elements
October 19, 2012
Harlan Ellison, in Austin, Texas for SXSW 2008, Wired Magazine image
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
Harlan Ellison, as noted by Wikiquote:
Introduction to Blast Off : Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities from the Golden Age of Space Toys (2001) by S. Mark Young, Steve Duin, Mike Richardson, p. 6; the quote on hydrogen and stupidity is said to have originated with an essay of his in the 1960s, and is often misattributed to Frank Zappa, who made similar remarks in The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989): “Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”
For years I’ve found this quote attributed to Albert Einstein, occasionally to Frank Zappa, sometimes to Wolfgang Pauli, once to Richard Feynman, and to several other nuclear or particle physicists or cosmologists or astronomers. I’ve tried to track it down without success that I considered close enough to wager on. Recently someone mentioned that he thought he recalled it being said first by Harlan Ellison, and of course, that checks out.
How many other nuggets of Ellison’s wisdom and insightful humor get attributed to other sources?
Zappa probably read Ellison. Einstein would have wished he’d said it, as would Feynman (who probably also read Ellison); but please remember to attribute it to Ellison next time you use it. Please be sure to quote him accurately, with “elements,” and not “things.”
You may have plenty of cause to use that quote in the next few weeks.
More:
4 Comments | Famous quotes, Quotes | Tagged: Common elements, Famous quotes, Harlan Ellison, Hydrogen, Quotes, Stupidity | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Romney tax cuts explained in graphic form
October 18, 2012From Cut-‘n’-Edge Cartoons, an explanation for just exactly how Mitt Romney’s tax cuts work in the economy:
Cut-n-Edge Cartoons
With this exception: This chart does not show the flow of funds from the rich to the Cayman Islands and Swiss banks.
More:
- Pres. Clinton explains Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut for the rich (video) (helmutzermin.wordpress.com)
- Pres. Clinton explains Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut for the rich (video) (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
- How Mitt Romney would raise taxes on poor Americans (washingtonpost.com)
- Obama: Romney ‘whiffed’ on tax cut explanation (seattletimes.com)
- Taking Note: Tax Policy Center Questions Romney Tax Plan (takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com)
- DNC site lampoons Romney tax plan (tv.msnbc.com)
- Cap of $25,000 on Deductions Would Cover 32% of Tax Cuts (bloomberg.com)
1 Comment | Elections, Political cartoons, Politics, Taxes | Tagged: 2012 Campaign, Cartoons, Cut-n-Edge Cartoons, Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Politics, Tax Cuts | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Clean Water Act at 40
October 18, 2012Today is the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
In this photo, an entry in the 2012 Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Photography Contest, can you tell the answer to Ben Franklin’s not-rhetorical question: “Is this a rising, or setting sun?”
Sun and ocean, entry in 2012 Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Photo Contest – click to contest site to see whether it is a rising or setting sun. Photo by Ramsay age 14,
and Kyle age 43
We’re in the home stretch for the 2012 elections. Are your congressional representatives among those who have pledged to cut funding for enforcement of the Clean Water Act? Are they among those who have pledged to kill EPA?
How would that affect beaches like the one pictured above, by Ramsay and Kyle?
Nancy Stoner wrote at an EPA blog:
I am proud to be at EPA in 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the nation’s foremost law for protecting our most irreplaceable resource. I often think about how a generation ago, the American people faced health and environmental threats in their waters that are almost unimaginable today.
Municipal and household wastes flowed untreated into our rivers, lakes and streams. Harmful chemicals were poured into the water from factories, chemical manufacturers, power plants and other facilities. Two-thirds of waterways were unsafe for swimming or fishing. Polluters weren’t held responsible. We lacked the science, technology and funding to address the problems.
Then on October 18, 1972, the Clean Water Act became law.
In the 40 years since, the Clean Water Act has kept tens of billions of pounds of sewage, chemicals and trash out of our waterways. Urban waterways have gone from wastelands to centers of redevelopment and activity, and we have doubled the number of American waters that meet standards for swimming and fishing. We’ve developed incredible science and spurred countless innovations in technology.
But I realize that despite the progress, there is still much, much more work to be done. And there are many challenges to clean water.
Today one-third of America’s assessed waterways still don’t meet water quality standards. Our nation’s water infrastructure is in tremendous need of improvement – the American Society of Civil Engineers gave it a D-, the lowest grade given to any public infrastructure. The population will grow 55 percent from 2000 and 2050, which will put added strain on water resources. Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution is increasingly harming streams, rivers, lakes, bays and coastal waters. Climate change is predicted to bring warmer temperatures, sea level rise, stronger storms, more droughts and changes to water chemistry. And we face less conventional pollutants – so-called emerging contaminants – that we’ve only recently had the science to detect.
The absolute best path forward is partnership – among all levels of government, the private sector, non-profits and the public. It is only because of partnership that we made so much progress during the past 40 years, and it is partnership that will lead to more progress over the next 40 years.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has been part of protecting water and for working to ensure that this vital resource our families, communities and economy depends on is safeguarded for generations to come.
About the author: Nancy Stoner is the Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water
Tell us about your favorite stretch of clean water, in comments.
More:
- Miyoko Sakashita: Happy Birthday, Clean Water Act: Don’t Grow Complacent at 40 (huffingtonpost.com)
- Group to celebrate Clean Water Act signing (muskogeephoenix.com)
- Taking Note: Clean Water Act Turns 40 (takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Clean Water Act’s Essential Role in Restoring the Great Lakes (ecowatch.org)
- Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins: We Can’t Afford to Wait to Fix Our Water Problem (huffingtonpost.com)
- Cedar Rapids Marks 40th Anniversary of Clean Water Act with New Project (kcrg.com)
- Celebrating a Public Protections Milestone: The 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act | OMB Watch (savetheepa.org)
- 5 Wishes for the Clean Water Act on Its 40th Birthday (ecowatch.org)
1 Comment | Clean Water Act, EPA, pollution, Public health, Rachel Carson, Regulation | Tagged: Clean Water Act, environment, Environmental protection, EPA, Government Regulation, health, Rachel Carson, Regulation, Water | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
We stopped dreaming: Tyson reprise on science policy and spending
October 18, 2012A more melodic take on Neil de Grasse Tyson‘s “we stopped dreaming” statement:
“We went to the Moon, and we discovered Earth.”
Description from the YouTube site, by Evan Schuur:
The intention of this project is to stress the importance of advancing the space frontier and is focused on igniting scientific curiosity in the general public.
Sign the petition!: http://www.penny4nasa.org/petition
Follow @Penny4NASA1 and like on Facebook!Episode 1:
http://youtu.be/CbIZU8cQWXc
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. In no way do I benefit either financially or otherwise from this video.MUSIC: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/samskeyti-acoustic/id452812943?i=452813003
Credits
The Space Foundation http://www.spacefoundation.org/
NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
HDNET http://www.hd.net/
SpaceX http://www.spacex.com/
When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/nasa/nasa.html
Disneynature: Earth http://disney.go.com/disneynature/earth/
Planet Earth http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/planet-earth/
HOME Project http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject
User WolfEchoes http://www.youtube.com/user/WolfEchoes?ob=0
European Southern Observatory http://www.eso.org
Is NASA a handout, or an investment? What do you think?
If a politician tells you that he or she thinks we cannot afford NASA, doesn’t it strike you that the person does not really understand what the United States is all about? Doesn’t it make you wonder how they ever got to Congress, or why they should stay there?
More:
Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson at the November 29, 2005 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council, in Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia photo)
- Goodnight, Moon; farewall, Neil Armstrong; goodbye dream – Oliphant, and Tyson (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson – We Stopped Dreaming (Episode 1) (ritholtz.com)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Says We Stopped Dreaming (YouTube) (itsabeautifulearth.com)
Leave a Comment » | Education, Leadership, Moon, NASA, Science, Space exploration, Space Race | Tagged: Apollo Project, Business, Education, Federal Budget, Leadership, NASA, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Politics, Space exploration | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
. . . and one test to rule them all . . .
October 18, 2012The fundamental problem with standardized testing is that kids don’t come “standard.” A teacher friend sent me this cartoon, summarizing the problem nicely:
If we use tests to cheat teachers out of a job, and to cheat students out of their futures, should we be surprised when students and teachers cheat on the tests? Is that a mark of their innate sanity, if they do?
I wonder who the cartoonist was, and what other gems may be lurking out there by the same person?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Daniel Rhee.
3 Comments | Cartoons, Education, Education assessment, Education quality, Education success, Testing | Tagged: Cartoons, Diversity, Education, Standardized Tests, tests | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Seats still open for “In Their Own Voices” teacher workshop on racism, at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
October 16, 2012E-mail from the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, with a training opportunity for teachers:
In Their Own Voices workshop
October 20-21, 2012
Arkansas Dept. of Education professional development workshop at Little Rock Central High School NHS
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site invites Arkansas educators and community advocates to participate in a two day workshop focusing on challenging racism prevalent in and out of the classroom and the community. This program, an approved ADE professional development workshop, will bring participants together for an open reflection and dialogue on the effects of racism and the diversity of our own self-understanding. The overarching goal for our In Their Own Voices workshop is to afford our participants an opportunity to identify their own biases and feel comfortable in their space to approach such issues as race, bullying, tolerance and other-isms in the classroom and the community. To apply, please click attachment below and send to Agnolia Gay at agnolia.gay@gmail.com
Move quickly! (That’s this weekend.) If anyone from Dallas is headed up, please let me know.
Related articles
- 55th anniversary of the Little Rock 9: Civil Rights festival (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- September 25, 1957: 55 years later (sairasays.wordpress.com)
- Brave Hearts: Remembering the Little Rock Nine, 1957 (life.time.com)
- Little Rock’s Central High School, monument to civil rights (timpanogos.wordpress.com) (Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub)
Little Rock Central High School, National Historical Site Visitors Center – (Photo credit: bigskyred)
1 Comment | Civil Rights, History, Little Rock Nine, professional development, Racism, Teaching, Teaching Resources | Tagged: Civil Rights, continuing education, Education, History, Little Rock Central High School, professional development, Racism, teacher training | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What about National Parks as an issue in the 2012 elections?
October 16, 2012National Parks really are a tiny part of the federal budget. Consequently, they get overlooked, and that could be bad.
How are your Congress and Senate candidates standing on these issues?
Romney’s “energy plan” calls for opening up the National Parks for oil and gas exploration and drilling, even the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania Bet that’s not mentioned by anyone in the debate tonight.
Which one is your favorite unit of the National Park System? What’s your favorite family story from visiting the parks? How are you going to vote in November?
Graphic from the National Parks Conservation Association:
From the National Parks Conservation Association
More:
- Park Advocate, blog from NPCA
- The view from Acadia: Invest in national parks and Maine jobs (bangordailynews.com)
- GOP Congressman Says Romney Would Sell National Parks (addictinginfo.org)
- OBAMA: My Administration Continues To Open Millions Of Acres For Oil And Gas Exploration (businessinsider.com)
Leave a Comment » | 2010 Elections, 2012 Campaigns, Conservation, Economics, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, Conservation, Economics, Federal Budget, Flight 93 National Memorial, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
12 million jobs — but not until when?
October 16, 2012Oy.
It’s extraordinary to consider with just three weeks until Election Day, but Mitt Romney’s central argument to voters has been exposed as a total fraud.
Greg Sargent added, “Let’s recap what Kessler has discovered here. The plan that is central to Romney’s candidacy on the most important issue of this election — jobs — is a complete sham. This is every bit as bad — or worse — than Romney’s claim to have created 100,000 jobs at Bain, or his vow to cut spending by eliminating whole agencies without saying which ones, or his refusal to say how he’ll pay for his tax cuts.”
Obama’s budget NOW creates 12 million jobs in the next four years, according to projections. Romney? He stretches it out to ten years, but reduces the job creation, so it’s 2.5 times as long to get the same number of jobs. Say what? Romney’s plan reduces the number of jobs created by cutting the rate at which they are created.
Read more at Rachel Maddow’s blog, with links to the actual studies. Maddow links to Greg Sargent’s blog, The Plum Line, at The Washington Post. 12 million jobs, Mitt Romney, economy, Bain Capital
More:
- Four Pinocchios for Romney’s jobs plan claims
- Mitt Romney’s jobs plan math is as bogus as his tax plan math (dailykos.com)
- New ad won’t let Ohio and Virginia voters forget Romney’s 47% comments (dailykos.com)
- This debate is about the real track record (newstatesman.com)
- Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: What every voter needs to know about Mitt Romney’s super-secret tax plan (dailykos.com)
- Romney Loses His Advantage on the Economy (politicalwire.com)
- Greg Sargent: Mitt Romney’s Bush conundrum (washingtonpost.com)
Leave a Comment » | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Campaigns, Economics, Elections, Employment | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Economics, Employment, Greg Sargent, Job creation program, Jobs, Mitt Romney | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Date coincidences: Happenstance or omen?
October 16, 2012In the approximately 33 minutes Texas curriculum standards allow to teach the Declaration of Independence, I frequently slip in some biography to help students chunk the knowledge. Of course, biography for the Declaration includes Thomas Jefferson. If one talks of Jefferson, especially with limited time, one is obligated to relate the story of the friendship of Jefferson with John Adams, which descended into partisan squabbling by 1796, and outright enmity in the election of 1800. Then one relates how they were essentially tricked into resuming their friendship, and their correspondence (which makes good DBQs for pre-AP and AP classes), and the always touching story of their deaths, both on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Then a student asks about divine intervention in history. I explain that history is so rich, one can find coincidences on almost every day of the calendar. For two examples, consider the births of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, hours or minutes apart on February 12, 1809; the births of Mark Twain and Winston Churchill on the same date (November 30), and their love of whiskey and cigars.
These coincidences often seem eerie, or pre-ordained, and that is enough of a hook to get that chunk of history into the minds of students so they remember them, or to compare the lives or events involved, to sharpen their critical skills. (Ha! Then just try to dissuade high school students from the eerie or pre-ordained notion; coincidences? Not to the non-critical-thinking high schooler . . . or too many voters.)
So I was interested to find, and it made me smile, that Mahatma Gandhi and Groucho Marx share a birth date, October 2 (Gandhi in 1869, Marx in 1890). That date was also the birthday of the comic strip we know as “Peanuts,” in 1950. (Does a piece of literature, especially a comic strip, have a “birthday?”)
BLAHS Award, created by Mark Sackler at Millennium Conjectures
I learned that following a link to the blog of Mark Sackler, who shares the birthday — exactly with Charlie Brown, and the day with Marx and Gandhi.
Following the link over there, to the Millennium Conjectures™, I also learned Mr. Sackler awarded Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub a BLAHS Award, for having a funny name.
Hey, any attention is good attention, right?
I also found there some hope that, at least in some alternative universe, I might be getting a good night’s sleep.
I wonder whether there is any photograph of Groucho Marx and Mahatma Gandhi together. (Neither of them seemed to be using their given first name, you’ll note . . .)
More:
- Is there anything too weird, arcane or obscure, that it won’t have a site on the web? Groucho and Gandhi . . .
- Birthdays, Coincidences, and Divination (samirchopra.com)
- Today’s Birthday: JULIUS HENRY “GROUCHO” MARX (1890) (euzicasa.wordpress.com)
- Great heads of the 20th Century: Groucho Marx’s marijuana diet (dangerousminds.net)
- Adams vs. Jefferson: The Birth of Negative Campaigning in the U.S. (mentalfloss.com)
- Ryan’s Distortion of America’s Founding (consortiumnews.com)
2 Comments | Blogs, History, Humor, Life | Tagged: blogging, Groucho Marx, History, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Sackler, Millennium Conjectures | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Bagley, on what terrifies the Taliban
October 15, 2012Here’s the editorial cartoon that should win the Pulitzer for Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune, this year:
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, October 2012
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Perhaps Bagley has a few he could enter in the Ranan Lurie UN cartoon judging, too.
More:
- The Taliban Is Afraid Of Teenage Girls (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
- Taliban threaten journalists over Malala Yousafzai coverage (guardian.co.uk)
- You: Pakistan’s choice (japantimes.co.jp)
- Why the Taliban Fears Teenage Girls (slate.com)
- Girl Shot by Taliban Flown to U.K. for Treatment (newsfeed.time.com)
- VIDEO: Girl shot by Taliban reaches UK (bbc.co.uk)
- Rapper Slams Taliban Over Girls Shooting (news.newamericamedia.org)
1 Comment | Cartoons, Education, foreign affairs, Political cartoons, Politics, Religion, Terrorism | Tagged: Education, foreign affairs, Pat Bagley, Politics, Religion, Salt Lake Tribune, Terrorism, What terrifies the Taliban | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What if Mitt Romney were Latino? Or gay? Or a woman?
October 15, 2012Would things really be easier for him in the election?
Here’s Rosie Perez, thinking through the possibilities. From Actually.org.
Mitt thinks he’d have a better chance of become president if he was Latino. In the first video of the Actually… series Rosie Perez explains why it will take more than being Latino for Mitt to win the election.
When lies go unchecked, we all lose. Actually.org spreads the truth, because the truth matters—even in politics. Our team calls ’em like they see ’em, and we hope you’ll support the truth by sharing Actually.org videos before Election Day.
Actually… is a partnership between American Bridge and JCER. Schlep Labs is a project of JCER. Actually… was produced by Amy Rubin at Barnacle Studios
http://blog.barnacle.is
More:
- Rosie Perez Rolls Her Eyes and Tells Romney ‘If You Were a Gay Latina This Election Would be in the Bag’ (colorlines.com)
- Rosie Pérez to Mitt: “Your policies suck” (salon.com)
- Rosie Perez On Whether Romney Would Have It Easier If He Was Latino (buzzfeed.com)
- Romney Says it Would be Helpful to be Latino (politicalwire.com)
- Rosie Perez takes aim at Romney in Web video satire (thehill.com)
- Comedian-driven super PAC ad hits Romney on Latino policies (leanforward.msnbc.com)
Leave a Comment » | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Politics | Tagged: 2012 Campaign, 2012 Elections, Actually.org, Politics, Rosie Perez | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Here’s a fine kettle of apples you’ve gotten us into . . . cheapskate
October 14, 2012
Apples are an all-American success story-each of us eats more than 19 pounds of them annually. Photo credit: Wikipedia
Noticed any increase in food prices yet?
Here in Texas, all meat prices are up, but especially beef. Beef ranchers in Texas sold off their herds because they couldn’t feed them during the drought, except with very expensive imported hay. That held prices down for a while, but now there is a lot less beef to be bought. Prices rise.
Drought also hammered corn crops this year, and last year. To keep corn markets growing, corn state legislators had gone whole hog into using corn for alcohol to be added to gasoline. That demand didn’t drop with the crop decreases, however, and we’ve been hearing for months how corn-into-alcohol pressures food markets.
Lucio Machado picks Golden Delicious apples in a Washington orchard. Goodfruit.com
Drought hammers our fruit crops, too. Comes now news from Washington state about the added wrinkle: Washington’s apple crops bend the tree boughs — who will pick them?
Two key problems: First, the crackdowns on immigrant workers reduced supply dramatically. Second, citizens or documented workers find higher pay in the turnaround in construction.
Result: Apples may stay in the trees, boosting apple prices to consumers.
Wholly apart from the foolish denial that we need to do something about global warming, the added policy flaws of shutting off immigration flow on the chuckle-headed and wrong assumption that immigration hurts the economy, and the continued denial of our too-modest economic recovery, will now cost you money directly at the supermarket.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
PASCO, Wash.—Washington state is enjoying the second-biggest apple crop in its history, but farmers warn they may have to leave up to one-quarter of their bounty to rot, because there aren’t enough pickers.
“I’m down 40% from the labor I need,” said Steve Nunley, manager of a 3,000-acre apple orchard for Pride Packing Co. in Wapato, Wash. Mr. Nunley said he has 200 pickers right now, but needs close to 400. He has increased pay to $24 for every 1,000-pound bin of Gala apples they pick, compared with $18 last year. Even so, he expects to have to let tons of fruit fall unpicked this season.
Washington’s bumper crop, forecast at 109 million boxes of Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith and other varieties, comes as drought and poor growing conditions have led to dismal harvests in parts of the U.S. Michigan lost much of its apple crop this year, and poor conditions have depressed the yields in New York state and North Carolina.
And:
But Washington’s farmers can’t fully cash in on their good fortune. The national crackdown on illegal immigration has shrunk the pool of potential farm workers in the state, while at the same time, the modest economic rebound has given immigrants more opportunities than before in construction, landscaping and restaurants.
* * * * *
Not far away, outside a church in Pasco, a migrant from Mexico’s Michoacán state, 47-year-old José Carranza, said he planned to skip the fruit harvest this year. Mr. Carranza believes he can do better in construction work, which is picking up.
How bad is it, really? Take a look at several other pieces on this issue, recently:
- Yakima Herald-Republic, October 11, 2012: “Stellar apple crop not all good news”
- AP via CBS, October 3, 2012: “Warm spring, late freeze, crimps Massachusetts apple crop”
- The Oregonian, October 4, 2012: “Picker shortage threatens apple crop”
- The Daily News (Batavia, New York), September 22, 2012: “Fewer farm workers locally due to light apple crop”–The record hot spring followed by bitter cold temperatures in late April killed many of the buds that later produce apples. The apple crop in Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota was largely destroyed by the spring weather. However, Washington State, the nation’s top apple-producer, has a bumper crop this year.Jerome Pawlak, owner of Save-A-Lot grocery stores in Albion and Holley, said some farmers have already called him to say they won’t be bringing in crews this year to cash checks, go shopping and use the Western Union service to wire money home.
“There will definitely be an economic impact on all of our community,” Pawlak said about the smaller farm labor force this harvest. “It’s definitely being felt here.”
- KIRO-TV, Seattle: “Apple producers in need of pickers at orchards”
- The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania), “Adams County apples in high demand,” September 22, 2012
- KUOW-FM 94.7 (Seattle), “U.S. apple processors paying double for fruit, September 28, 2012
How much additional will you be paying for goods this year because of GOP “we-can’t-afford-to-be-great-anymore” policies, or racist immigration policies? Will your modest tax cuts offset that expense?
Perhaps we should pay a bit more in federal money to help fix the real problems, and stop pretending that the price of everything is the same as the cost.
You know the aphorisms: A conservative economist is a person who can tell you price of any item or service, but doesn’t know the value of education, parenting, or good social structure, and ignores the costs of doing nothing.
And the Tom Magliozzi Law (of the Car Guys): The cheapskate always pays more.
Studies from the Federal Reserve indicates immigrants boost our economy greatly; making life tough for immigrants, or hoping they’ll “self-deport,” damages our economy.
How’s that applesauce?
More:
- Food prices to rise from drought (cbsnews.com)
- Southeast growers trying to capitalize on high commodity prices (southeastfarmpress.com)
- USGC Projects a Strong China Crop: Good News for Drought-Impacted Global Markets (prweb.com)
- How the Midwest Drought is Affecting a Still-Recovering Texas (stateimpact.npr.org)
- Ranchers see increase in grass thefts amid drought (ktvb.com)
- Drought (elispiritweaver.wordpress.com)
- Area corn crops flourish despite nation’s drought (amarillo.com)
- In Washington State, Picker Shortage Threatens Apple Boom (npr.org)
- Apple ‘shortage’ unlikely despite damage to nation’s crop (lifeinc.today.com)
- How ’bout them apples? (toledoblade.com)
7 Comments | Agriculture, Climate change, climate_change, Economics, Farming, Global warming, History, Immigration, Politics | Tagged: Apples, Climate change, drought, Economics, Farming, History, Immigration, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
School House Rock update: Reforms on “I’m Only A Bill,” the story of making laws
October 12, 2012Remember the old School House Rock? Disney finally put all of the old episodes out on DVD and Blu-Ray. Short songs with animation explaining grammar (“Conjunction Junction”), or math, or history, or economics.
Schoolhouse Rock! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of the most popular was a later production that explained how a bill becomes law in the U.S. Congress, “I’m Just A Bill.” You may remember how it was parodied by The Simpsons, too, and others.
It’s been updated by Fiore, now including the influence of the “American Legislative Exchange Council,” or ALEC, a Koch-brothers funded frat for conservative state legislators:
Maybe not suitable for elementary school classrooms; probably too violent for high schools, too.
More:
- Conjunction Junction What’s Your Function? (4flewin.wordpress.com)
- Wikipedia listing, with information on parodies, too
Leave a Comment » | animation, Cartoons, Government, Legislation, Legislatures, Politics | Tagged: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, animation, Cartoons, Education, Government, How A Bill Becomes Law, Legislation, Politics, School House Rock | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Powerful teacher unions make good schools
October 12, 2012From a column by Washington Post writer Matt Miller, “Romney vs. teachers unions: The inconvenient truth”:
That reality is this: The top performing school systems in the world have strong teachers unions at the heart of their education establishment. This fact is rarely discussed (or even noted) in reform circles. Yet anyone who’s intellectually honest and cares about improving our schools has to acknowledge it. The United States is an outlier in having such deeply adversarial, dysfunctional labor-management relations in schooling.
Why is this?
My hypothesis runs as follows: The chief educational strategy of top-performing nations such as Finland, Singapore and South Korea is to recruit talent from the top third of the academic cohort into the teaching profession and to train them in selective, prestigious institutions to succeed on the job. In the United States, by contrast, we recruit teachers mostly from the middle and (especially for poor schools) bottom third and train them mostly in open-enrollment institutions that by all accounts do shoddy work.
As a result, American reformers and superintendents have developed a fetish for evaluating teachers and dismissing poor performers, because there are, in fact, too many. Unions dig in to protect their members because . . . that’s what unions do.
When you talk to senior officials in Finland, Singapore and South Korea, it’s as if they’re on another planet. The question of how they deal with low-performing teachers is basically a non-issue, because they just don’t have many of them. Why would they when their whole system is set up to recruit, train and retain outstanding talent for the profession? [emphasis added here]
Whose approach sounds more effective to you?
Miller suggests, among other things, raising starting pay for teachers — $65,000 to $150,000 — and greatly boosting the rigor of training for teachers.
Any such hopes for effective reform could not occur under the “austerity budgets” proposed in Utah, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and the U.S. Congress.
More:
- Teacher: Am I Playing in the Band on the Titanic? (dianeravitch.net)
- Twigg considers teacher debt plan (bbc.co.uk)
- How Are Teachers in Finland Evaluated? (dianeravitch.net)
- More Idaho teachers leave profession (ktvb.com)
- Naked Capitalism on Charter Schools (seniorsforademocraticsociety.wordpress.com)
- Want to Fix Education? Fix the Economy for the Students and Teachers (crooksandliars.com)
- Teachers union files grievance over pilot program (KOB.com)
- Chicago Teacher Strike Ends (dianeravitch.net)
3 Comments | Education, Education assessment, Education quality, Education reform, Labor and unions, Public education, Quality, Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Teaching | Tagged: Education, Education reform, Labor and unions, Quality, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 