There is a special spot in hell

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Phil Kadath

That awaits the arrival of Union bosses. Teacher’s Union bosses in particular get put to the bottom of the hierarchy in that special spot.

Washington state lost out on $13.2 million in new funding to help turn B students into A students. Blame belongs at the door of the teachers union.

The National Math and Science Initiative would have funded efforts at a handful of high schools to increase the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses in math, science and English.Two Seattle high schools, Franklin and West Seattle, would have received $114,000 the first year, with more money from the grant in later years.

But here’s where the road turned rocky. Grant makers wanted to pay the teachers directly, an appropriate way of maintaining accountability and paying for a job well done. But the Seattle Education Association smelled merit pay. The horror!

The union could have overcome its general opposition to merit pay to accept the grant. Steve Pulkkinen, the union’s negotiator over the grant, says teachers could have requested such a waiver but didn’t. According to Seattle School District officials, Franklin teachers did. And so the finger-pointing goes.

Remember this story for the next time someone lies to you and says that the unions care about student learning.

Posted in Academia and Other Nonsense | Leave a comment

Buying the Office

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Phil Kadath

It seems that Obama is ready to spend big bucks and the DNCC is ready to shower HRC in rose petals in order to get her to drop out now

She has ruled it out, but a prompt withdrawal from the contest for the Democratic nomination offers Sen. Hillary Clinton the prospect of major rewards.

One of the most inviting is the near certainty that the Obama campaign would agree to pay back the $11.4 million she has loaned her own bid, along with an estimated $10 million to $15 million in unpaid campaign expenses.

In addition, Democrats, both those who are loyal and those who are opposed to her campaign, say the odds of her winning a top leadership spot in the Senate would improve dramatically if she gracefully conceded now. The icing on the cake includes an improved political climate, giving Hillary and Bill Clinton the opportunity to heal the rift with the black political community.

“If she leaves the stage gracefully, as Gore did in 2000, she will be able to rebuild her political capital within the party fairly quickly, and over time most of her perceived and real sins will be long forgiven and/or forgotten,” said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic consultant and Obama supporter.

So, $25 Million or thereabouts, her choice of Senate Committee Chairs and lip service from “The Black Community” if she puts her tail between her legs and concedes to the Obaminee in short order.

I do love how the Democrat Party is all “Count Every Vote” and “The people’s voice needs to be heard” until the voices start saying things they don’t want to hear. Tens of millions of registered Democrats have decided they want HRC to be the nominee, and I’m not even talking about the people in Michigan and Florida that the party is going to ignore. Millions more still have yet to even cast a Primary Election vote.

I guess that some votes are more equal than others.

Also, don’t go thinking I’m defending her on this, but since when is stating factual statistics from a poll “racist”?

They truly are treating her like a Republican now.

Posted in Useful Idiots | 3 Comments

RNS Quote of the Day: 05/09/08

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Phil Kadath

More of the Left forcing their values upon the world

Barack Obama supporters often argue that a black U.S. president, such as Obama, will be welcomed by the world as a sign of American­ progress and inclusiveness, a signal to all nations that the U.S. is open to the talents and contributions of diverse peoples. But the idea that the rest of the world shares Americans’ faith in redemption through diversity is itself an unwitting exercise in American solipsism. The perception of the globe as a collection of integrated, post-racial states just speaks to Americans’ capacity to see the entire world as a reflection of our values and standards.

Abe Greenwald – Commentary Magazine

Which is of course the real danger of Obama getting elected to the office.

The rest of the world could give a shit less who is running this country, we’re the top dog and top dogs get hated on. So they will try to do more and more and more to please the rest of the planet, only accelerating our downfall.

Posted in Quote of the Day | Leave a comment

Not the first time this has been pulled

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Phil Kadath

The government agency that controls a burg’s water supply screams “Water Shortage! You must conserve water!”

The People if the burg listen to this message and do exactly that.

Shortly thereafter, the government agency that controls the burg’s water supply screams “You didn’t use enough water and we’re running short of money. We’re going to have to raise your rates to make up for the shortfall.”

I think these folks learned about it from Seattle Public Utilities.

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 2 Comments

The Soundboard: Dancing Your Ass Off

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Yesterday, Countertop posted up a video comparo between two different videos for the same track.

Now, both of them are far more creative and entertaining than anything I could have thought of, but I chose the upper one for its extensive use of differentiating choreography. That, and all the way through the video I was worried about that girl’s pants, since she looks to have actually danced her ass off. Professor Booty would have been calling her an ambulance to take her to the hospital for emergency ass restoration surgery.

No one who can move like that should have only that slight about of twin cheeks.

So, feeling lazy, and having the videos for Boomershoot still on the server (until this weekend), I’m going to go with the posting of videos this week. And since I was still having trouble on Thursday remembering what day of the week it was after my Boomershoot holiday, I’ll be posting multiple tracks of people dancing their asses off.

We’ll start with a older favorite: Shiny Disco Balls by Who Da Funk

Next up, you’ve probably heard this track somewhere before. Or maybe you heard the White Strips cover it, but I’m not sure you’ve hear the Party Ben remix

Walking with a Ghost – Tegan and Sara

Original studio version, and a nice live and acoustic version can be found here.

And lastly, I’ll leave you with the original viral vid that makes the women in the passenger seat of your Mistubishi dance very strangely

Days Go By – Dirty Vegas

I’ll be back with a bit of a surprise next week. Until then, Enjoy!

Posted in Kewel! | 1 Comment

Let the whining begin

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Washington State in general, and King County and Seattle residents in particular, excel at NIMBYism.

So the site selection for the new City of Seattle jail should prove to be quite comedic

Seattle officials Tuesday announced four possible sites for a new jail that would hold misdemeanor offenders when the King County Jail runs out of space.

The potential locations are all on industrial or commercial land outside of downtown:
• 11762 Aurora Ave. N. — currently a golf driving range and pro shop.
• 1600 W. Armory Way — a group of small warehouses south of Seattle’s Interbay Golf Course.
• 7200 West Marginal Way S.W. — a patch of mostly vacant land near the First Avenue South Bridge.
• 9501 Myers Way S. — part of a former gravel pit adjacent to the city’s new firefighter-training facility.

City officials recognize that putting a new jail in any neighborhood is likely to be controversial.

“I’m already starting to hear from some of my neighbors,” said City Councilmember Tim Burgess, who lives in Queen Anne, which is close to the Interbay site.

“There are going to be a lot of complaints, and many of them will be fear-driven,” said Burgess, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee. “But when we look at the facts, I think we can all understand the need for a jail, and we can understand that they can be safely run in our communities.”

City officials said they intend to seek plenty of public input before making a final decision. Burgess expects the process to take about nine months.

Nine months? He’ll be lucky if they get to take a vote before 2010.

Since it seems that both the county and the city of Seattle like to stuff their crap in the south end whenever possible south end residents will demand the jail be up north for once at the Aurora Ave. N. location. But at only 7.2 acres, it is the smallest site. Also, it is in the middle of a dense commercial and residential area.

I’d lay money that the Armory Way site was only thrown in for comic relief. That location rests between two of Seattle’s richest neighborhoods, Magnolia and Queen Anne. Actual Seattle City Council and King County Council members live there. They won’t let this happen since it would mean the cancellation of their invitations to the best shindigs.

The West Marginal location is 10.5 acres, which is the beginning of a reasonable size for the site. I like this one because it is just south of the shipping and industrial center of Seattle. Not a residence for at least a half-a-mile. Also, the ICE guys and gals would find this location very convenient, though I’m sure that this fact will count against it.

So I’m putting my money on the Meyers Way location. It is plenty large enough, the Seattle Fire Dept. guys would be right next door and the Mounted Patrol HQ isn’t too far away either. But it does have plenty of residences around, so maybe I’ll be proven wrong.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment

Security Theater: UK Edition

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Surprise! You not only have to have laws and jails, but you also need police officers to lower your crime rates

Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.

Use of CCTV images for court evidence has so far been very poor, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, the officer in charge of the Metropolitan police unit. “CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure,” Neville told the Security Document World Conference in London. “Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court. It’s been an utter fiasco: only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV. There’s no fear of CCTV. Why don’t people fear it? [They think] the cameras are not working.”

More training was needed for officers, he said. Often they do not want to find CCTV images “because it’s hard work”. Sometimes the police did not bother inquiring beyond local councils to find out whether CCTV cameras monitored a particular street incident.
“CCTV operators need feedback. If you call them back, they feel valued and are more helpful. We want to develop a career path for CCTV [police] inquirers.”

“Because it’s hard work”, really? Is that the best excuse the guy can offer as to why CCTV images aren’t checked more often?

And that no one wants to call the CCTV managers and that they supposedly have no career path is a reasonable reason as to why the CCTV folks aren’t helpful?

It is more likely that they aren’t helpful because no one in the department has ever been fired for not being helpful.

But despite these two lamest of the lame excuses, this was the stand out line:

If criminals see that CCTV works, they are less likely to commit crimes.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville – Metropolitan Police

Wrong, DCI Neville, they are more likely to buy a hooded sweatshirt.

In all seriousness, I do worry that it is something pumped into the water there that makes this guy think he’s rational.

Found via GunPundit and the Schneier on Security blog

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | 1 Comment

The French are going nuclear in Idaho

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Phil Kadath

But trust me, this is a good thing

A uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls will be one of the largest construction projects in the state’s history, and it could create 1,000 jobs for the five years it takes to complete it.

Construction on Areva Inc.’s $2 billion facility could begin as early as 2011, once the French-backed company obtains a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The facility, which was announced Tuesday, would produce fuel for nuclear power plants. Operating the plant could employ 250 highly paid workers as early as 2014.

Areva came to Idaho after the Legislature capped the company’s property tax value at $400 million and eliminated sales tax on its equipment. Areva selected Idaho over sites in Washington state, Ohio, Texas and New Mexico.

The nuclear power industry was born at the Idaho National Laboratory in the early 1950s, and since then, Idaho has housed nuclear facilities for the Navy and the Department of Energy.

Washington State loses out again. It seems like the only thing unable to leave this state is me.

But I’m steadily wearing the wife’s resistance down.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | Leave a comment

Sadly, Yet Again

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Washingtonians are shown just how compliant a sociopath can be when presented with a court issued piece of paper

It took Baerbel Roznowski three years to build up the courage to finally end things with the controlling man she’d been dating for many years, according to her children.

The 66-year-old woman tried to break off the relationship amicably but finally realized she would have to sell her Federal Way home and move to California to escape, her daughters said.

“She believed that was the only way she could get away from him,” said daughter Janet Loh of Redondo Beach, Calif.

On Saturday morning, Federal Way police served Roznowski’s boyfriend with papers notifying him of an upcoming hearing on an anti-harassment order while he was at Roznowski’s home in the 2000 block of Southwest 353rd Place.

Within a few hours, Roznowski was stabbed to death and the 68-year-old man was in custody for investigation of murder.

The guy was actually at her house when the police served him with the papers. They told him to leave the premises, but it looks as though the guy came back right after he’d made sure the police had left and killed her for, what I’m sure in his mind was a grave insult.

Lethal injection is too nice for this grade of asshole. Personally, I wish we could choose the method of execution, because Washington still has options including the stretching of necks.

Posted in Evil walks the earth | 2 Comments

Either they bet on the wrong horse

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Or they’re lazy. I have no other guesses as to why they weren’t ready to vote

Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary’s Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.

The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn’t get one but came to the precinct anyway.

“One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, ‘I don’t want to go do that,'” Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.

One newly married woman said she was told she couldn’t vote because her driver’s license name didn’t match the one on her voter registration record, said Myrna Perez of the Brennan Center Justice at New York University’s law school, coordinator of the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hot line. Another woman said she was turned away from casting her first-ever ballot because she had only a college-issued ID card and an out-of-state driver’s license, Perez said.

“These laws are confusing. People don’t know how they’re supposed to be applied,” she said.

There is absolutely nothing “confusing” about the law: Have a current government issued photo ID or you don’t get to vote.

No wonder these people vote Democrat.

I don’t know how things work in Indiana, but when the case involving the Washington State school teachers and the unions forcing them to contribute to the union’s chosen political candidates via their union dues, every one in Washington knew when that decision came down. News for days.

I heard about the Indiana Voter ID ruling while I was at Boomershoot. Orofino isn’t exactly BumFuck, Egypt, but it is just down the road.

This Voter ID law went all the way to the SCOTUS and made national news for three days afterwards. I will not believe that there was some sort of statewide media blackout on this case, especially not during the week after it came out. Seeing as how all it takes is a trip to the DMV and about an hour to get an ID, either these people live under really big rocks (no TV, no radio, no newspaper and no internet) and they’re just plain ignorant or they deliberately tried to game the system.

And no, I won’t be surprised if these same people bitch about this law again come November.

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | 2 Comments