Good morning.

1. Considering the filibuster.
2. A question for the climate crowd.
3. Art and geometry (and physics). The first link is there because the (mini) version was a recent purchase.
4. Not misogynism, duh. It’s tragic when a woman dies, not so much when a guy does. That’s, oddly enough, not because women are hated or thought less of, in which case it wouldn’t, you know, be very tragic.
5. Well, it’s because some of us don’t think highly of the competence of people who go into those fields.
6. A succinct rebuttal to those who bristle at the use of the term socialist in non-exact casual ways.
7. Heh, “freedom whisperer.” That’s rich.
8. A joke I’ve used with my kids.
9. Defending Mr Huckabee vis a vis Islam.
10. Why only men as priests in Orthodoxy.
11. Of the dying canaries.

Where “cutting back” = “sticking our hands deeper into your pockets”
Ain’t it just like the government, when faced with a budget crisis, to look at more ways to tax the people? From E-Commerce,

With the state and local revenue shortfalls, I suspect we will see more state governments demanding Internet sales taxes. Since the original Ban on Internet sales taxes was to foster the growth of the Internet, that mission seems to be completed.

That may mean that we, as consumers, will eventually find everything more costly on the Internet, as Internet sales taxes are permitted and sought on more and more transactions.

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Man kills 4 – uses a high capacity knife
Maybe we should ban public access to kitchen knives? Don’t laugh.

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Got an iPhone? Watch this video
Password bypassed and into the phone in 6 minutes. Moral of the story: besides wiping your data, if your phone is stolen, have recovery backup systems built into your information-rich cyber accounts.

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Geek News of the Week
NASA releases images of man-made crater on comet.

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PSP-playing is dangerous to your health
At least when you’re in a subway station. Lucky for the reality-distracted gamer that a reality-based hero was around.

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On calling evil good
California SB48 – an excerpt (bold emphasis added),

51204.5.  Instruction in social sciences shall include the early
history of California and a study of the role and contributions of
both men and women,  black Americans, American Indians,
Mexicans, Asians, Pacific Island people, and other ethnic groups
  Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans,
Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender Americans, and members of other ethnic and cultural
groups,  to the economic, political, and social development of
California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis
on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.

Unrest in the Arab world. Autocrats killing their own people. Hezbollah working with Mexican drug cartels. And what’s the UN most concerned about? Israel. Right. Meryl Yourish has more.

Speaking of which, the Saudis tried to "stimulate" their economy in hopes of avoiding the same unrest plaguing other Arab nations. Doesn’t look like the citizens will be bought off that easily. (Pity that ours are so easily bought off.)

The inverted morals of the Left; killing babies is OK, but circumcising them once their born should be against the law. Even if you’re Jewish.

Worried about an oligarchy where the rich and powerful pay to have laws favorable to them? Then never mind the Koch brothers, it’s labor unions you should be worried about. (But the Left won’t worry about them, because they’re the right kind of money and power.)

The headline reads, "Gaza militants fire missile at Be’er Sheva for first time since Gaza war". Technically correct, but Qasams fall there virtually daily, but you wouldn’t know from our news media.

The Left is still pushing the meme that "right wing ‘hate’ groups" and their uncivil rhetoric caused the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Civility Watch: The uncivil discourse has not been just in Wisconsin. Nazi imagery and racial slurs have been used in protests around the country, most recently in Massachusetts, Washington, DC, and Colorado. And while fully documented, none were mentioned by the media. Think it may have something to do with the fact that the protests were all for liberal causes?

In order to find that the ObamaCare individual mandate is constitutional, a judge had to somehow equate action with inaction. The result was never in doubt, it’s just how to get there that is the issue for these liberal judges.

CNN’s Candy Crowley put on her rose-tinted glassed once Obama was elected. I mean people were burning Bush in effigy for the previous 8 years, and now people love us. Donald Rumsfeld disagrees, and Lori Ziganto has evidence to the contrary.

It’s official: The State Department supports expelling Libya from the UN Human Right Council. Where in the world were these guys when Libya was put on the UNHRC? Back in May, we just called the HRC "flawed", which may be last year’s biggest understatement. In fact, it’s the whole UN that is flawed.

And finally, oh, that liberal media. A comparison of Tea Party protest coverage, and union protest coverage. Love that independent, unbiased media.

High School teacher Natalie Munro has, evidently, caused quite a stir recently with her blog posted rants about the many shortcomings of her students and her students’ parents. From the National Post, ‘Frightfully dim’: Teacher suspended for blog insulting students,

Although she didn’t name her school or any students, she used her real first name and initial and had a photo of herself. In a completely unsurprising turn of events, school officials found her out.

Parents, administrators and students alike weren’t too impressed with how she described her pupils:

• “A complete and utter jerk in all ways”
• “Although academically okay your child has no other redeeming qualities”
• “I hear the trash company is hiring”
• “I didn’t realize one person could have this many problems”
• “There’s no other way to say this, I hate your kid”
• “Rat-like”
• “Dresses like a streetwalker”
• “Frightfully dim”

Indeed, such candidly negative descriptions of one’s students seems to exemplify virtues contrary to what one would expect from a teacher. Although, I wonder if Munro’s crime was not so much that she has negative feelings about some of her students as that she committed those feelings to print (cyber-print, as it were). How many of Munro’s colleagues have similar feelings about some of their students? For that matter, how many students have negative feelings about some of their teachers? Yeah. You know what I’m talking about.

Could it be, however, that those criticizing Munro are over-simplifying the problem at hand? Consider what Susan Cairn stated on her blog Quiet,

I want to talk about Munro’s view of quiet and shy students. Here, according to her blog entry of January 21, 2010, is what she wished she could put on their report cards:

• “A kid that has no personality.”
• “She just sits there emotionless for an entire 90 minutes, staring into the abyss, never volunteering to speak or do anything.”
• “Shy isn’t cute in 11th grade; it’s annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having Mommy do it.”

Munro seemed to have no understanding of how tough a place the typical American high school can be for introverts — like an all-day cocktail party without any alcohol. She believed that these kids should suck it up and act like everyone else. And she was right, to a certain extent; we all need to fake it a little, extroverts too. I’ve met many introverted kids who are thriving and happy, and most of them have learned how to adopt an extroverted persona when need be.

It seems that what we have here is a classic example of the diversity of the human psyche. Contained within a typical classroom are students (and teachers) of various personality types, learning styles, and intelligence levels, who also bring with them the baggage of life – both the good and the bad. If this complexity exists, then it should be no surprise that it manifests itself in equally complex ways.  Thus, a “kid that has no personality” may indeed not have a personality, or he may have mental issues, or he may be extremely apathetic, or he may tend towards not publicly displaying emotion, or any combination of the above.

Is Munro unable to discern the simple fact that humans have differing personalities? It does seem difficult to comprehend that one who is used to seeing classrooms full of new students, each year, would be so myopic. In our own home school household we have seen this clear distinction in differing learning styles, as related to personality differences, with a total sampling of only 2!

If, in fact, Munro is an extrovert who has her blinders on with regards to the diversity of human personality traits, then it would be in her best interest to educate herself on this subject – to expand her horizons – indeed – maybe she should think outside the box.

Yet, before we dismiss Munro’s opinions of her students, and condemn her for having the audacity to express them, could it be she has thought outside the box and is now alerting us to another problem in our midst? Could it be that, within the walls of our public schools, there are students who are lazy, whiny, apathetic, and disrespectful?

From News.com.au,

“My students are out of control,” Ms Munroe, who has taught 10th, 11th and 12th grades, wrote in one post.

“They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying.”

And from Yahoo!News,

“They get angry when you ask them to think or be creative,” Munroe said of her students in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. “The students are not being held accountable.”

Munroe pointed out that she also said positive things, but she acknowledges that she did write some things out of frustration — and of a feeling that many kids today are being given a free pass at school and at home.

“Parents are more trying to be their kids’ friends and less trying to be their parent,” Munroe said, also noting students’ lack of patience. “They want everything right now. They want it yesterday.”

Some may say, in response to the last two article quotes, “well, that’s not news”. Yes, it is not news that today’s students are “out of control”. Yet, it would be too easy to scapegoat the reason why: drugs, being coddled, lack of federal money, teacher’s unions, extrovert / introvert, parents, lack of parents, the myth of adolescence, learning styles, technology, affluence, etc. Rather than a single reason, could it be “all of the above”?

I think that with a problem rooted in complexity, the solution will reflect a similar complexity.

• Teachers need to exercise patience with problem students, learn how differing personality styles affect differing learning styles, and display a genuine interest in their students – among other things.
• Parents need to get involved in the lives of their children, not cater to their children, discipline their children, and love their children with a tough, yet gentle, love – among other things.
• Students need to grow up, exercise respect, study, work, and think – among other things.
• Society needs to stop blessing adolescent activities as normal, stop treating young adults as children, stop putting the notion of “self-esteem” on a pedestal, stop throwing money in the wrong direction, and start demanding results from students, parents, and teachers – among other things.

Good morning.

1. Who is angry at God, a cricket race.
2. Much recently was said about the strong liberal bias in (soft) Academia membership, another such bias noted.
3. Ms Palin and Libya.
4. From/about the high court … habeus and CA.
5. Conspiracy and the lone wolf, which is perhaps an insult to wolves.
6. Unusual ice cream. Fifteen years ago, on account of my eldest having an extended hospital stay after birth we had a quart or so of frozen breast milk in the freezer. We made hot chocolate. 
7. Budget naivte becomes partisan “hackery”. A month or so ago a study was cited (WSJ) that investigated some 50-100 nations over the last three decades and their methods and successes at attacking budget deficit. It was found that the successful attempts did not (statistically) raise taxes but instead focused on cutting spending. The most successful were those that included small tax cuts and aggressive spending cutting. Those that were not successful focused on raising taxes to address shortfalls. 
8. The West is beginning to notice Metropolitan Hilarion. 
9. Economics and education.
10. Qaddafi’s fundamental problem. More on Libya here.
11. Non-defense of human ontological dignity and a consequence.
12. Mr Rezko, not in the news.
13. Miracles.
14. Obamacare and consequences unfolding.

Today’s vote by the Virginia Senate makes me proud to be a Virginian:

With the backing of two Democrats and a tie-breaking vote cast by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Republicans in the Virginia Senate today won approval of an amended health bill that would require the state’s abortion clinics to be regulated like hospitals.

The 20-20 vote on Senate Bill 924, which now heads to Gov. Bob McDonnell, represents a significant victory for anti-abortion activists, who have been trying for years to restrict access to abortion in Virginia, only to have bills killed in the Democrat-controlled Senate Education and Health Committee. McDonnell has indicated he would sign the legislation.

Democratic lawmakers and women’s rights advocates decried legislation, which was altered on the floor of the House earlier in the week through an amendment tacked onto an unrelated bill by Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell and came to the Senate without being debated or discussed in committee.

They said it would effectively restrict a woman’s access to abortion services by forcing the state’s 21 clinics to meet standards set by the Board of Health regulating hospitals — standards that include things like expanded hallways, parking lots and elevators that most clinics could not afford.

Currently, first-trimester abortions are considered medical procedures that can be performed in physicians’ offices, similar to medical procedures such as colonoscopies, vision correction surgery, cosmetic surgeryand dental surgery. Abortions in the second trimester or later must be performed in a hospital setting.

The amended legislation would require that any medical office performing more than five first-trimester abortions per month be classified as a hospital and subject to regulations devised by the State Board of Health — a body that is appointed by the governor.

This is sensible legislation and reasonable in light of recent stories such as the massacre in Philadelphia last month. Hats off to the Senators who had the courage to stand up and do the right thing and protect the cause of life.

UPDATE: The Associated Press claims this is a tactic to force abortion clinics to close:

Virginia took a big step Thursday toward eliminating most of the state’s 21 abortion clinics, approving a bill that would likely make rules so strict the medical centers would be forced to close, Democrats and abortion rights supporters said.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican and Catholic, supports the measure and when he signs it into law, Virginia will become the first state to require clinics that provide first-trimester abortions to meet the same standards as hospitals. The requirements could include anything from expensive structural changes like widening hallways to increased training and mandatory equipment the clinics currently don’t have.

While abortion providers must be licensed in Virginia, the clinics resemble dentists’ offices and are considered physicians offices, similar to those that provide plastic and corrective eye surgeries, colonoscopies and a host of other medical procedures.

Democrats and abortion rights supporters said the change would put an estimated 17 of the state’s 21 clinics out of business. Most of the clinics also provide birth control, cancer screenings and other women’s health services.

“This is not about safety for women. This is about ideology, and this is about politics,” said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. “The women of the commonwealth are going to be the ones left to suffer.”

Abortion rights supporters warned of legal challenges while supporters heralded it as a way to make the procedures safer.

“It is not about banning abortions,” said Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Winchester. “It is simply caring for women who are about to have an invasive surgical procedure and creating an environment for them where they have the opportunity to do that in a place that is safe.”

No other state requires clinics that provide early abortions to meet hospital standards.

For years, abortion advocates have claimed that they want to make abortions safe. But as opponents of this bill have revealed what they really want is for abortion to be available on demand at any time. Their concern for the health of the woman ends when reasonable regulations to insure a woman’s health are introduced. Once again the hypocrisy of abortion advocates is in plain view for all to see.

The government of Canada decides who lives and who dies.

LONDON, Ont. — The Ontario parents of a dying baby boy say they will not give their consent to have him removed from life-support, despite a court’s order, as they try to hold out so he can be transferred to a hospital closer to home.

Baby Joseph Maraachli had been scheduled to be taken off life-support Monday morning.

The 13-month-old child, who is in a vegetative state, has been at the London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario since last fall. His parents have said they want to bring him home to die surrounded by family, not in a hospital.

Father Moe Maraachli said Monday that, on the advice of the family’s new lawyer, he and his wife, Sana Nader, are not consenting to have Joseph’s breathing tube removed, despite the ruling of a Superior Court judge last week and a January decision of the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario.

Call it what you want — "Consent and Capacity Board", "Death Panel" — it is the logical result of what happens when the government is running your healthcare.

Good morning.

1. Public sector unions … across the pond.
2. For the Palin fans.
3. Well, I’m a Cassian fan … but I’d note he got his eight (not seven) sins from Evagrius.
4. A liberal talks about his Obama disillusionment.
5. Heh. And also on the ligher side, do watch this.
6. Snow rececession not warming … will you see this noted by the anthro-warming brainwashed crowd?
7. Tunisia.
8. Oddly enough the left notes (every?) use of violence tinged rhetoric they can find (why?) … but gives their own side a pass. Even those on their own side who use that rhetoric after just recently blaming the AZ violence on the same.
9. A question … my question is why does anything believe a word Mr Obama says ever.
10. A lawyer (and non-DOMA supporter) questions the wisdom of Mr Obama’s passive aggressive tactics.
11. And for those who approve of the tactic … consider it on the other foot.
12. The effect of unions “to make it harder to find work” … consider we are in a recession in which unemployment is the largest remaining issue.
13. Ya think?
14. Regulators and mission creep.

A question for those who support unions … now that the “right to work” issue is front burner (perhaps shot down) in Indiana … this brings up the question of what justification not having right to work might be. That is, by what justification do closed shop union states and areas rationalize that stance. In a non-right to work state, you can’t work for the public schools (for example) without joining the union. You <em>must</em> pay union dues (60% of which typically go to PACs contributing to Democrats). How do you justify that? 

And up front, please let’s dismiss any notion that “the union is working/negotiating for you so you must contribute” as a rational argument. It isn’t. Following that as an argument would mean that you must provide payment to anyone for any unsolicited action claimed to be done on your behalf. Obviously that isn’t reasonable and for the same reason the above argument is fallacious. 

So … why is “right to work” not an unalienable right for workers? 

Let’s have some blood flowing in the streets, shall we?

Sometimes it’s necessary to get out on the streets and "get a little bloody," a Massachusetts Democrat said Tuesday in reference to labor battles in Wisconsin.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) fired up a group of union members in Boston with a speech urging them to work down in the trenches to fend off limits to workers’ rights like those proposed in Wisconsin.

"I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going," Capuano said, according to the Dorchester Reporter. "Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary."

Really, do targets on a map even come close to this?

Technology tracks truancy
In Anaheim, the school district is using GPS technology to keep track of habitually truant students.

“The idea is for this not to feel like a punishment, but an intervention to help them develop better habits and get to school,” said Miller Sylvan, regional director for AIM Truancy Solutions.

Things sure have change from when I was in school! Back then there wasn’t a feel-good “let’s not make this a punishment” mentality regarding school truancy – if you weren’t at school when you were supposed to be, then the next time you were, you also found yourself sitting in the Vice Principal’s office.

Not all parents were supportive.

“I feel like they come at us too hard, and making kids carry around something that tracks them seems extreme,” said Raphael Garcia, whose 6th grader has six unexcused absences.

…

“This makes us seem like common criminals,” Garcia said.

…

Juan Cruz’s mom, Cristina, said she supports the program and hopes it helps her son get to school – and stay there.

“I understand that he’s been missing class. He’s one of six children, and we can’t always keep an eye on him,” she said in Spanish. “I think this is a good idea that will help him.”

So much for expecting the parents to be in control of their children.

I guess it takes a government to run our lives.

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You’ve lived worked long enough, there, buddy
A survey suggests that an aging workforce, bolstered by those who put off their retirement, will end up hogging jobs.

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So long, bookstores, we hardly knew you
Al Mohler comments on the impending demise of the brick and mortar bookstore.

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Concealed Carry on Campus in Texas
Ever notice how virtually all mass shootings take place in so-called “gun-free” zones.

Good morning.

1. Good links (for thinking as it were) from Brandon.
2. Well, if government should find happiness for its people … looks like the way to prosperity in concert with non-individual honor/shame society is the goal, eh?
3. Currents not driven by dynamo.
4. Getting pretty close to the spread of democracy theme of Mr Bush.
5. Talking Jersey. Here too.
6. And … the Democrats holding the line against budget cuts.
7. Not the biggest drinkers, just the most lethal.
8. Huh? 
9. Union and cporporate influence on politics.
10. A pointed question for Fox News.
11. A missionary.
12. Violence and threats in Wisconsin.
13. Perhaps THE interesting question asked about Wisconsin.
14. Pizza, saving a life.

I host an pretty-much-monthly podcast called Shire Network News, and if you’ve wondered what I sound like, you can find out here. It’s a right-of-center podcast that tries to use humor and satire to make its point. Much of the commentary in this episode is about the latest turmoil in the Middle East (well, more turmoil than is typical, at least). Show notes are at the link as well as ways to listen to the individual show or subscribe to the podcast itself.

Good morning.

1. LOTR from another point-of-view. Yikes.
2. Urban deconstruction.
3. The man-who-needs-to-buy-a-saddle noted. A co-conspiratorial advice.
4. “higher productivity is not the answer” (to employment) … which, taken to its logical conclusion, is a call for a return to subsistence farming, after all employment was almost 100% then.
5. Zapow!
6. Cooi. A liberal against the teachers union in Wisconsin (or perhaps he’s just confused as to whom the “people” are in this case, i.e., the taxpayers).
7. Intervention?
8. Ms Arendt got excommunicated by the intellectual elite for suggestions of Jewish complicity with the Nazi genocide, I guess she just chose the wrong audience.
9. Economics is a kernel, not the whole picture. Reductionism isn’t normally all that helpful in describing the human experience.
10. Libya.
11. Commit to memory.

Back to the routine. So … whaddeyemiss?

1. Brandon notes a series of discussions on the ethics of lying here, here and here.
2. Some common ground betwixt Atheists and Theists regarding the existence of God.
3. An evangelical view of how to go about seeking God … missing the whole fasting, rejection of the passions, and prayer thing, which as Lent approaches is a thing which stands out.
4. Not, I think the innovation he suspects as it’s likely that Stalin or Hitler beat him to it.
5. Comparing Al Jazeera and the UN.
6. Time to panic? But hey, at least the President is unserious about the problem.
7. Sorrow.
8. Words from Iraq.
9. Self referential words from Mr Krugman.
10. Time to step away slowly.
11. Putting Wisconsin unions in perspective.