Obama Education Watch: making the right people unhappy

Obama and Arne Duncan continue to push the idea of merit pay, much to the consternation of progressive policy magazines.

"One of the major developments in education policy this year has been the Obama administration's continued, focused attention on the issue of merit pay, despite a lack of strong evidence linking such programs to increased student achievement."

Awesome.

Yes, Mr President...

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event
Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Jane's Law wins again

One of my favorite libertarian writers is Megan McArdle, who coined Jane's Law in 2003:

"Jane's Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane."

This came to mind for two recent reasons:

- This NYT article notes many of the serious conservative policy types whose objections to the Democrat congressional plans have been drowned out by the Beck/Palinites. Sigh.

- The recent GOP hubbub over Obama's speech to children is more than a little bit overheated. I imagine that by making their objections known now, they may have forced the President's speech to be even more carefully devoid of political content.

As a conservative, I am happily pessimistic about the chances of the Republican party in the near-future (next 7 years or so.) As Clemenza would have said, "These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood."

How Conservatives Are Created...

No, I am not talking about the unborn child in this picture. I am talking about anyone who sees this picture. It's hard to support universal healthcare with this image in mind. Doesn't she know that the overhead powerlines are a much greater concern than jackhammers?

Ted Kennedy's desire for national health care

From Sen. Ted Kennedy's keynote 1980 convention speech:

"Finally, we cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair society. So I will continue to stand for a national health insurance. We must -- We must not surrender -- We must not surrender to the relentless medical inflation that can bankrupt almost anyone and that may soon break the budgets of government at every level. Let us insist on real controls over what doctors and hospitals can charge, and let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth.

The President, the Vice President, the members of Congress have a medical plan that meets their needs in full, and whenever senators and representatives catch a little cold, the Capitol physician will see them immediately, treat them promptly, fill a prescription on the spot. We do not get a bill even if we ask for it, and when do you think was the last time a member of Congress asked for a bill from the Federal Government? And I say again, as I have before, if health insurance is good enough for the President, the Vice President, the Congress of the United States, then it's good enough for you and every family in America."

Interesting how similar issues affect us now. Interesting also that here, Kennedy comes right out and says what today's Democrats are unwilling to.

When everyone gets a chance they should watch this outstanding Bill Moyers Journal on healthcare. A very good journal which gives many reasons why our health care is the best in certain areas, and substandard in others. It is based off the book Money-Driven medicine and details the growth of the medical industry and how this leads to higher costs.

It's about me not you...

Randall Terry hijacked the last eight weeks of Notre Dame's academic year last semester and now is aiming at town halls and the healthcare discussion.

Not every problem has a great solution.

Looking at the posts/comments on this blog is fantastic, I always get a real visceral response.

So, I'm going to throw this out there......

Is it possible that there is no way to fix the escalating cost of health care?

I believe you get what you pay for, plain and simple. Health care is expensive. That's probably not going to change. You may squeak out some 10% efficiency here and there.You may eek out some cost savings from reducing administrative costs, but in general health care is expensive. There is a whole lot of investment and research tied into everything. Who would guess that the people who invested in and did the research would like to earn money for there effort?

So the question is pretty simple. Do we want health care to be more affordable? And if so what is the cost of more affordable health care?

I hate to say it, but most likely if you have cheaper insurance your end of life care will be given at a cheaper cost. If you pay less for something you will probably get less...

Let's scrap health care reform. Let's just get insurance companies to provide the service they claim. We need to reform insurance companies, not health care. The US has the best health care in the world, and by the way it's expensive.

He was TOLD this so it's not his fault if it's wrong...

GRASSLEY: In countries that have government-run health care, just to give you an example, I’ve been told that the brain tumor that Sen. Kennedy has — because he’s 77 years old — would not be treated the way it’s treated in the United States. In other words, he would not get the care he gets here because of his age. In other words, they’d say ‘well he doesn’t have long to live even if he lived another four to five years.’ They’d say ‘well, we gotta spend money on people who can contribute more to economy.’ It’s a little like people saying when somebody gets to be 85 their life is worth less than when they were 35 and you pull the tubes on them.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that's the most ludicrous thing that I've heard," Ara Darzi, a surgeon and former minister of health of GREAT BRITAIN.

To be fair, the second half of audio Grassley says a lot of good things and I am sure Grassley will post a correction in his biannual newsletter.

Because this blog's too quiet

The many health care reform plans in Congress are catching a lot of flak. Unsurprisingly, the media has focused on some of the more rabid and ridiculous claims from the conservative entertainment industrial complex.

I think the President and his supporters are being a little bit naive about the "death panels" claim, when the President himself was talking about the difficulties in having Medicare pay for end-of-life care:

THE PRESIDENT: Now, I actually think that the tougher issue around medical care — it’s a related one — is what you do around things like end-of-life care —

NYT: Yes, where it’s $20,000 for an extra week of life.

THE PRESIDENT: Exactly. And I just recently went through this. I mean, I’ve told this story, maybe not publicly, but when my grandmother got very ill during the campaign, she got cancer; it was determined to be terminal. And about two or three weeks after her diagnosis she fell, broke her hip. It was determined that she might have had a mild stroke, which is what had precipitated the fall.

So now she’s in the hospital, and the doctor says, Look, you’ve got about — maybe you have three months, maybe you have six months, maybe you have nine months to live. Because of the weakness of your heart, if you have an operation on your hip there are certain risks that — you know, your heart can’t take it. On the other hand, if you just sit there with your hip like this, you’re just going to waste away and your quality of life will be terrible.

And she elected to get the hip replacement and was fine for about two weeks after the hip replacement, and then suddenly just — you know, things fell apart.

I don’t know how much that hip replacement cost. I would have paid out of pocket for that hip replacement just because she’s my grandmother. Whether, sort of in the aggregate, society making those decisions to give my grandmother, or everybody else’s aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they’re terminally ill is a sustainable model, is a very difficult question. If somebody told me that my grandmother couldn’t have a hip replacement and she had to lie there in misery in the waning days of her life — that would be pretty upsetting.

NYT: And it’s going to be hard for people who don’t have the option of paying for it.

THE PRESIDENT: So that’s where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that’s also a huge driver of cost, right?

I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.

NYT: So how do you — how do we deal with it?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. It’s not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that’s part of what I suspect you’ll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now.

This is a pretty easy set of thoughts to twist out of shape, no? Obviously, "death panels" is unfair -- but why put it out there in the first place?

My sympathies are with the President, who's got a very tough nut to crack. Thankfully (for my long-term job prospects), it's pretty clear that it's the insurance industry that's going to take one for the team first. Doubtless, pharma will be next (although they appear to have negotiated with the crocodile) and then it'll be hospital employee salaries...

"First, we kill all the chemists"

Sarah Palin, channeling Michelle Bachmann, revs up the fear machine by describing how unwanted children and seniors will be put before a Big Brother Death Panel to determine societal worth. I don't know where she gets this from because it is my understanding that the "Death Panel" will be used to lower unemployment by getting rid of the jobless.

Merit pay watch: optimistic

This recent NPR story is good news -- Secretary of Education Arne Duncan went to face the NEA and tell them that "but to remove student performance from [teachers' job] evaluation is illogical." Click on the link to listen to angry teachers tell him that their job performance just can't be quantified.

Obviously, merit pay is something that is a very small blip on the Obama Administration radar. But if they can make this happen, it will make them that much more popular with independent voters and his credibility will be that much greater.

Sanford vs. Foley

I have to say that Bill Maher makes a good point.

Enjoy prison!

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A former engineer for Rockwell International and Boeing was convicted Thursday of economic espionage and acting as an agent of China, authorities said.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 73, was accused of stealing restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the space shuttle program and the Delta IV rocket.

Thanks, f%$%$#r. You and your #$#$# friends that are doing this -- you're making that much harder for honest Chinese nationals and Chinese-American folks to get hired at defense contractors and serious IP generators (pharma, high-tech) (i.e. good-paying jobs) in the US. Hope you enjoy your time rotting in the federal pen.

A backpedal too far?

I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences. - Her Honor, Judge (and soon-to-be-Justice) Sonia Sotomayor, 7/14/09

I think she went too far. Every person? Regardless of their background? I don't believe this statement is true -- do you?

A Rambling Basketball Diagram

Base System

I had a discussion this weekend about what activities were expected at "second base". I think this helpful chart certainly clears it up.

Friends of the A** End of Nowhere

President Obama has expressed admirable plans for green energy. Typically, they involve the generation of energy in remote areas (by solar or wind) and transmission into urban areas.

Unfortunately, it is in the production and transmission that these plans run into a phenomenon I like to call the "Friends of the A** End of Nowhere". Want to put a solar farm in the desert? FAN sez the desert environment is incredibly fragile and you'll harm it irreparably. Want to transmit that power to the city? FAN sez the route is right through a conservation area and wants you to go another less direct, more inefficient way. Want to research and generate wave energy on the coast of Oregon? No dice -- property owners, fishermen and environmentalists will call you rapacious foreign capitalists who want to industrialize the ocean.

Infrastructure progress in the United States proceeds at a glacial pace for a number of reasons, one of which is the ability of environmental and citizens' groups to use the courts to gum up the works for justice and due process. It is my sincere hope that President Obama will have a Nixon-to-China moment and be able to effect change positively for power generation during his terms in office.

Nope, not even close.

What was the wrongest part of the President's speech to the AMA? This whopper:

"To most Americans, you are the health care system. Americans - me included - just do what you recommend."

Um, no. No, Mr. President, we don't. Not even close. We don't do the things doctors recommend, we cherry-pick the treatments and we don't comply with prescription instructions.

Right-Wing Extremism

The Department of Homeland Security says right-wing extremism is on the rise throughout the country.

Remember all of the venom being spewed by right-wing pundits about this Homeland Security report? In the past two weeks we have had a doctor who performs abortions gunned down outside of his church (I find it very interesting that someone who claims to be pro-life murdered someone), and a lunatic open fire in the National Holocaust Museum. In no way can these stories be spun any other way. The DHS report was absolutely right. Because there is a liberal black dude in the oval office every idiot who is hateful will now turn ultra-hateful. I cannot understand why there was such fervor over the report when it is pretty obvious that violence from these types of groups was going to occur.

EPIC!

Literally Total Eclipse of the Heart

I'm in a silly mood. My friend sent this to me and I felt like sharing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

Cleveland Tourism Video

Props to the anonymous North Korean artist

I'm quite a fan of Communist propaganda, especially when it comes in poster form. It's usually bright and cheery and Uncle Sam typically plays a starring role as the villain.

This poster is especially lovely, since it appears that the head-only GI is being attacked by the North Korean version of the Care Bear Stare. Note that the baby nurse is emanating powerful rays from her medical satchel, while the child soldier is administering the (Democratic) People's Elbow. Not quite sure why the toddler sailor nor the baby airman are not attacking on their respective vehicles -- didn't get any heavy fuel oil in recently?

From Tom Ricks, who may interest you.

A bracing reminder of how to deal with life.

Just in case you need a little pep talk after your 3-day weekend.

Alabama Leprechaun

Happy Friday Taylorites!

Wolf T-Shirt

I love the internets! Check out the reviews for this fine product. I think I saw Jack wearing this at some point during his career at ND.

Don't let this happen to you...

This article is by a reporter for the New York Times -- it's long, but worth it. In summary, he's an economics reporter and he makes 120K/yr, but he made a couple of bad financial decisions and now he's up to his eyeballs in debt and he may lose his house. Remarkable.

This is in response to the superfluous cheese tray that was at our happy hour today. You can learn all about the Xzibit internet meme here.

Interesting interview

Those of you politically inclined may have already enjoyed this interview that Obama did with an economics correspondent of the New York Times, David Leonhardt.

Obama on credentialing: "So part of the function of a high-school degree or a community-college degree is credentialing, right? It allows employers in a quick way to sort through who’s got the skills and who doesn’t. But part of the problem that we’ve got right now is that what it means to have graduated from high school, what it means to have graduated from a two-year college or a four-year college is not always as clear as it was several years ago.

And that means that we’ve got to — in our education-reform agenda — we’ve got to focus not just on increasing graduation rates, but we’ve also got to make what’s learned in the high-school and college experience more robust and more effective."

Obama on competitiveness: "That’s why I don’t just want to see more college graduates; I also want to specifically see more math and science graduates, I specifically want to see more folks in engineering. I think part of the postbubble economy that I’m describing is one in which we are restoring a balance between making things and providing services, whether it’s marketing or catering to people or servicing folks in some way. Those are all good jobs, and we’re not going to return to an economy in which manufacturing is as large a percentage as it was back in the 1940s just because of automation and technological advance.

But the broader point is that if you look at who our long-term competition will be in the global economy — China, India, the E.U., Brazil, Korea — the countries that are producing the best-educated work force, whose education system emphasizes the sciences and mathematics, who can translate those technology backgrounds or those science backgrounds into technological applications, they are going to have a significant advantage in the economy. And I think that we’ve got to have enough of that in order to maintain our economic strength."

Obama also made an odd point about "nursing paying better" in context of traditionally male or female fields. Frankly (as the husband of a nurse), I find it difficult to imagine that nurses could get paid more than they are already.

Nevertheless, I found it to be a worthwhile interview and a good insight into the president's thinking.

Underreported Story...

President Obama's speech at the National Academy of Sciences got lots of press for a teleprompter but his comments about investment in science was missed completely.

I believe it is not in our character, the American character, to follow. It's our character to lead. And it is time for us to lead once again. So I'm here today to set this goal: We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.

This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history.

NOS 2009?

Sadly, I'm not going to the 2009 NOS (no time off) -- but who is?

Why didn't I think of this?

A liberal extremist at a "grass roots" tea party.

Easter Weekend

I was recently hijacked by the "Glenn Beck Wing" of the Republican Party this weekend, and they assured me that Obama's budget wouldn't allow you to donate to certain charities. Knowing that most of this Wing relies on random, non-factual e-mails, I tried to find the correct information myself. The only thing I could come with is the plan to cap tax write offs for folks making over 200G's a year. This cap would decrease the deductible amount of a charitable donation from 33% to 28%. Nowhere could I find anything about restricting which charitable organization you could donate to. If any other Taylorites can help me find info on this it would be greatly appreciative. Nothing would make me happier than having cited facts to prove that their claim was bogus.

Moving Election Day...

With my son in Florida for a couple of weeks, I got to stay at work particularly late this week, and thus got to enjoy real talk radio on my drive home. I figured 15 minutes of Michael Savage would induce the necessary angiogenesis to see significant growth the Hannity-generated tumor currently reside in my brain.

Savage nicely explained to me that the result of the November presidential election was caused by a protest within the republican party, a protest against the nomination of McCain which was viewed, by the republicans, as four more years of Bush. While we can argue that point, this post asks you to complete the following sentences...

Savage says “If a new election was held today... Obama ______% McCain ____%

I say “If a new election was held today... Obama ______% McCain ____%

Please fill in the blanks. I will provide you with Savage’s numbers as well as mine in a few days.

Echoing this talking point...
Yesterday, Boehner said he wishes the 2010 and 2012 elections were much sooner as the American people are not in synch with the direction Obama has taken the country.

Don't worry the first hundred days are the slowest!

An imagined conversation.

Rick Wagoner, CEO of GM: Hello?
Barack Obama, POTUS: Hello, Rick, this is Barack Obama.
RW: Yes, Mr. President! How are you?
POTUS: Well, Rick, not so good, actually.
RW: Really, Mr. President? Why?
POTUS: Well, Rick -- I'm sorry it's come down to this.
RW: Uh oh...
POTUS: Yup, I'm sorry, Rick. We, as an organization, have decided to move in a different direction...
RW: Yes?
POTUS (hurried): So, we're going to have to let you go.
RW: Well, I think we all knew it was going to happen sometime...
POTUS: But I'm sure that you'll receive a nice severance package. We've worked it out -- 2 weeks pay for every year you've worked at GM, so... that makes it somewhere around $500,000. Hey -- that's not too bad...
RW: Well, I guess I'm not buying that cottage in Maine this summer.
POTUS: Well, no, probably not. Well, Rick, you're a nice guy and I'm sure you can get a job somewhere.
RW: Uh, thanks, Mr. President. I think I'll take a couple of months off, you know, hang out with the kids, breathe a little bit.
POTUS: Hey, Rick?
RW: Yeah?
POTUS: How does it feel to have destroyed 90% of shareholder value in ten years?
RW: (silence)
POTUS: Well, Rick -- there will be a couple of guys to uh, help you pack up in a couple of hours... do leave the keys to the executive washroom in the center drawer of your desk, okay?
RW: (silence)
POTUS: Good luck -- I gotta go talk to Geithner -- that scamp, he's always in deep.

Bailout: South Park Edition

Why the heck not?

From an article in the Politico about Obama's PR troubles:

But the aide added that Obama is not going to whip out a PowerPoint presentation for a seminarlike explanation of what went wrong. “That’s not how this president communicates,” the aide said.

Why the heck not? Frankly, that's how information-dense summaries get presented in the real world. Is there something undignified and unpresidential about PP? Sure, it's clunky and maybe uncool (use KeyNote? avoid those stupid swishing sounds ?)

President Obama, the American people (or at least the voting public) aren't stupid. Try us.

Enough Politics!

I will break the trend of political banter with a disturbing/hilarious story of an Indiana woman who doesn't know that dropping a file in the recycling bin doesn't permanently delete it!

Also, if anyone wants to hear Bill-O read excerpts from his gripping mystery novel, Those Who Trespass, just click the link.

Obama: Future Rating.

Bush approval history.

Obama approval history, not really a history....

Assuming the economy turns around Obama may keep his high numbers, but my guess is he like Bush will slide over the next 8 years.

My prediction is he will fall to 38% by the end of his term. This economy isn't going to help him.

Your thoughts?

When will it END?

So we're 15-months into a recession... My question to everyone is when do you think we will emerge from this "crisis" (Two straight quarters of GDP growth) and which industry is going to be the leader in the recovery? I will post my thoughts tomorrow.

Oh Snap...(no not synaptosome-associated protein)

This Order is an important step in advancing the cause of science in America. But let’s be clear: promoting science isn’t just about providing resources – it is also about protecting free and open inquiry. It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda – and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology.

pl pll pir pscale ppf page

As a part of my new job, we (some of my colleagues and I) were sent over to the University of Illinois to train on their NMRs as backup instruments. You all will be pleased to know that we were asked to 1) describe the effect of line-broadening on signal-to-noise ratios, 2) talk about resolution, 3) perform a simulated homodecoupling experiment and 4) discuss d1 time as it related to finding the 13C frequency of quaternary carbons.*

They also do their own shimming, which is something I haven't done in 2 years. All Varian instruments, as opposed to the Bruker robotland that was my previous place of employment.

* I still remember Conrad's mini-lecture on d1 time clear as day.

Palin back on top?

Old School Conan

I am going to miss the edgy Conan when he moves to 11:30

Dear Joe: please do not smoke while pumping gas.

Jim's desire for Biden in August: "I would like to see Biden, because he is most likely to provide the best quips and gaffes. The man is a walking mouth w/o ears -- that would be awesome."

Joe Biden, this past week: "If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there’s still a 30 percent chance we’ll get it wrong."

Good God! Biden's mouth will walk him outside of the inner circle, I'll bet.

Signs you may be near a golf tournament.

Multiple huge yellow and black placards, on Torrey Pines Road near the Buick Invitational:

"TOMMY BAHAMA SAMPLE SALE"

Now that's change I can believe in!

President Obama should crisscross the country atop a magical redistributionist ponycorn that will crap infrastructure projects here, there, and everywhere, while rejiggering the tax code by whinnying its sweet ponycorn breath on recalcitrant legislators. The president and his ponycorn’s every move should be documented by a team of the nation’s finest photographers and memorialized by collectives of state-sponsored folk singers and playwrights. And in their wake should come a phalanx of America’s youth, scattering seeds for grand forests that will provide shade for future generations of Democratic voters. Also, beer should be free.

original quote here.

WTF is wrong with these people?

As one leading Democrat put it: "Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter."

That Democrat was then-Sen. Tom Daschle in 1998. The same Tom Daschle, we've since learned, who failed to pay more than $100,000 in back taxes for perks he received as one of Washington's most relentless influence-peddlers -- that is, until he realized he might receive a job in the Obama administration spending the money most Americans conscientiously send to Washington.

Article

Needed debate topic.

Resolved: Barack Obama is no better in verbally dealing with the press than George W. Bush.

Discuss.

Superbowl

Predictions in the comments. No predictions on the number of references to the Steelers 6 (!!!!one!OMG!) Superbowl appearances, please.

Thanks, Mr. President!

Thanks, Mr. President!

Tomorrow, I will post my responses to two questions -- I encourage all of you to do the same, if so interested.

1. What do you want President Obama to accomplish?
2. What do you think President Obama will be able to accomplish?

Victory in Pittsburgh

Championship Weekend

PHI @ ARI (that's just weird to write)
BAL @ PIT

Change you can believe in.

Well, I don't know if I believe it, but I like what I'm hearing.

"Science -- $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, $2 billion more for the NIH, hundreds of millions for high energy physics, satellite development, construction grants, the U.S. geological survey, NASA climate change programs and more."

More for NSF than NIH -- someone recognizes that the funding priorities haven't been quite right for a while.

Tebow, Country, Notre Dame

The incessant media fawning over Tim Tebow of Gainsville actually has me hating a guy who I should root for. I am just curious to see everyone's thoughts on Tim Tebow.

NFL: Division Weekend

BAL v TEN
ARI v CAR
SD v PIT
PHI v NYG

Test yourself!

Okay...I never ever post anything, but I thought this was fun. See if you'd make it as a copy editor for the Cincinnati Enquirer. There is no answer key...figure it out yourself!

Porn Bailout

I once jokingly stated to my brother that when the porno industry needs a bailout this country is really in trouble. This article states that one champion of free speech, and a douchebag are indeed asking for government assistance. Hopefully this will not be foreshadowing of greater financial trouble for the nation, but rather a nation that has embraced free internet pornography.

Bill O'Reilly is....

Needed something to laugh at after getting punched in the stomach by a man named Colt.

And so it begins...

ATL @ ARI
IND @ SD
BAL @ MIA
PHI @ MIN

My favorite wrestler / Week 17

Growing up, my favorite wrestler was 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan, who I'm pleased to read is the oldest active wrestler in WWE. Wow.

In other news, NFL Week 17 is in the comments. Rich is taking Duggan's trademark 2X4 to my chances to win this year.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all. Hope that you are spending time with your family and friends.

Week 16 (cont.)

CIN @ CLE
PIT @ TEN
SF @ STL
SD @ TB
NO @ DET
MIA @ KC
ARI @ NE
BUF @ DEN
NYJ @ SEA
HOU @ OAK
ATL @ MIN
PHI @ WAS
CAR @ NYG

Mon, Dec 22
GB @ CHI

Week 16

IND @ JAC THU 8:15 pm
BAL @ DAL SAT 8:15 pm

Maybe I was wrong.

The incoming Obama administration has appointed Arne Duncan to be the Secretary of Education. He apparently is a data-driven reformer and a merit pay supporter, but not a complete enemy of the unions. We shall see -- ObamaEducationReformAbandonment Watch rolls on.

Who Throws a Shoe?

Honestly?

A (sad) prediction.

A prediction, for the record: Governor Blagojevich will not go to prison for his alleged crimes. He will either settle or be acquitted.

NFL Week 15 (cont.)

Sun, Dec 14
TEN @ HOU
SEA @ STL
DET @ IND
GB @ JAC
TB @ ATL
BUF @ NYJ
SF @ MIA
SD @ KC
WAS @ CIN
MIN @ ARI
PIT @ BAL
NE @ OAK
DEN @ CAR
NYG @ DAL

Mon, Dec 15
CLE @ PHI

Week 15

NO @ CHI, 8:15 pm.

Conan is a talented dude....

Conan O'Brien - Blue Moon (Live on Conan 01.04.2008)
Uploaded by nono_the_bean

"The Late Shift 2"

If no one gets my obscure HBO movie reference, "The Late Shift" is a movie about the tumultuous time after the retirement of Johnny Carson and who would take over the Tonight Show; Jay Leno or David Letterman? The movie goes on to show how NBC and Leno joined forces to oust Letterman from the Tonight Show post. It would appear that NBC and Leno are at it again with this recent NYT article. Leno was supposed to retire at the end of this year giving he post to Conan O'Brien while Jimmy Fallon would take over Conan's show. But it appears that Leno will still be doing his show on NBC, only one hour earlier. Maybe Conan should start looking at some offers from other networks.

Bad chemistry naming contest!

Enjoy the picture, which (I kid you not) is from an article highlighting Hollywood's newfound accuracy in TV science. Get this, from the pictured TV producer: "In some ways, it's much easier to make shit up. When you have to make it real, you're holding yourself to a much higher standard."

Well, that IS a much higher standard. Hoooooly crap that thing is a disaster. Personally, I like the seeming hypervalent iodine carbene.

So what should you name a structure like this? The term "Texas carbon" or "Nobel-prize winning structure" doesn't exactly cover it. I suggest "WTF structure", but I'm open to suggestions.

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fire (ing of hand guns)...

The Bush administration on Friday struck down federal regulations banning loaded guns in most national forests, a move that was widely seen as a parting shot on behalf of the National Rifle Association. The decision shoots down a 1981 wildlife refuge and a 1983 national park regulation signed by President Ronald Reagan requiring firearms to be unloaded and placed somewhere not easily accessible, such as in a car trunk, when visiting federal parks.

"We are pleased that the Interior Department recognizes the right of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families while enjoying America's national parks and wildlife refuges," said Chris Cox, the National Rifle Association's chief lobbyist.

Thank God. I haven't taken Hayden to any National Parks yet because I just haven't felt safe.

Week 14 (cont.)

JAC @ CHI
MIN @ DET
CIN @ IND
PHI @ NYG
CLE @ TEN
ATL @ NO
HOU @ GB
MIA @ BUF
NYJ @ SF
NE @ SEA
KC @ DEN
STL @ ARI
DAL @ PIT
WAS @ BAL

Mon, Dec 08

TB @ CAR

Hopes dashed.

My hopes that the Black Friday Walmart trampling case were untrue were dashed:

"Mulvey said yesterday that Damour's cause of death was "positional asphyxiation" consistent with having pressure applied to his chest.

"He was trampled to death," Mulvey said."

That's just frickin' terrible. Sigh.

Can't resist.

My daughter is an avid consumer of media. I think she likes the taste of C&E News.

NFL Week 13 (cont.)

SF @ BUF
BAL @ CIN
NO @ TB
NYG @ WAS
MIA @ STL
IND @ CLE
CAR @ GB
ATL @ SD
DEN @ NYJ
PIT @ NE
KC @ OAK
CHI @ MIN

Mon, Dec 01
JAC @ HOU

Black Friday

I sincerely hope that this is not true:

"A male worker at a New York Wal-Mart was killed Friday when anxious shoppers trampled him in their rush for Black Friday bargains, witnesses say."

There's a woman saying she miscarried because she was pushed down in the crowd. I'm guessing that this will be tops on the evening news, competing with the Mumbai attacks -- I'll reserve judgment until tonight.

UPDATE: This is why I really, really, really dislike the media. No sooner than I posted this, WABC has a report that the guy died of an apparent heart attack (no trampling, I guess) and the lady's baby is fine. Way to go, NY Daily News!

NFL Week 13

TEN @ DET
SEA @ DAL
ARI @ PHI

Engagement

Ok, so as most of you probably know, my girlfriend and I got engaged this past weekend. And while this is a rather transparent attempt to notify people, it is also a way for me to get a head count of Taylorites that may want to attend the wedding. It is likely going to be in South Bend in Spring of 2010.

Leave congratulations and "RSVP's" in the comments! Thanks!

NFL Week 12 (cont.)

PHI @ BAL
NE @ MIA
NYJ @ TEN
CHI @ STL
BUF @ KC
HOU @ CLE
SF @ DAL
MIN @ JAC
TB @ DET
OAK @ DEN
CAR @ ATL
NYG @ ARI
WAS @ SEA
IND @ SD

Mon, Nov 24
GB @ NO

Open Thread: Bailout Edition

Just want to hear everyone's thoughts on the proposed auto industry bailout.

One Nut Hitler

No wonder he had such issues. You have got to love the headline here.

I think I got this one right.

From my Obama analysis post of August 31:

"Prediction: his calls for teacher pay/education reform will be the first to get traded away."

From today's appointment of Obama's education policy chief: "The appointment of Darling-Hammond, a teacher quality expert who opposes merit pay and is more critical than supportive of NCLB, signals that Obama wishes to avoid a fight with the unions."

I love being a pessimist: you're either pleasantly surprised or being proven correct.

Sinbad for Sec. of State

"Hey Putin, did you know black people do this and white people do that?"

Week 12

CIN @ PIT 8:15 ET

Week 11 (cont.)

Sun, Nov 16

PHI @ CIN
BAL @ NYG
DEN @ ATL
OAK @ MIA
HOU @ IND
NO @ KC
CHI @ GB
MIN @ TB
DET @ CAR
STL @ SF
ARI @ SEA
TEN @ JAC
SD @ PIT
DAL @ WAS

Mon, Nov 17
CLE @ BUF

Resistant To Base

Jeff found this gem on youtube.

Week 11

NYJ @ NE, Thursday, 8:15 ET

Economists versus scientists

Scientists often get a bad rap for being socially inept. One economist (and former Secretary of the Treasury) is much, much more socially inept than any scientist than I've ever met. Enjoy the following on Larry Summers, former President of Harvard and possible future SecTreas:

Summers was doing a meeting with a friend of mine at a hedge fund where they both worked, and he was drinking a diet Coke as he talked. I mean that literally: as he talked. Coke was pouring out of his mouth and onto his shirt, and Summers showed no outward recognition that this was happening. Needless to say, to my friend this was fascinating to the point of seriously distracting from the substance of the meeting.

After the meeting, my friend emailed a colleague to say: I just finished a meeting with Larry, and he left with his shirt covered in diet Coke. The colleague emailed back: the last time I had a meeting with Larry, he left with cheese in his nose.

NFL Week 10 (cont.)

Sun, Nov 09
NO @ ATL
TEN @ CHI
JAC @ DET
BAL @ HOU
SEA @ MIA
GB @ MIN
BUF @ NE
STL @ NYJ
CAR @ OAK
IND @ PIT
KC @ SD
NYG @ PHI

Mon, Nov 10
SF @ ARI

Best. Drink. Ever.

This ones for you Bruce!

Brady Quinn Sez:

We should all tune in tonight to watch everyone's favorite gay bashing Notre Dame alumn.

Week 10.

DEN @ CLE 8:15 ET.

Historic.

Election night open thread.

I Didn't Vote For Obama Today

From TPMBlog November 4 2008...

I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President.


Hayden joined me this morning, I didn't think of giving him the pen, but I showed him my vote, put it in the machine, and told him, "Today is a great day!"

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

I'm 40 pages into "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and I'm impressed with his ability to write. The book is well written.

I've not got really into the meat of the book, but my first impressions are mixed.

On one hand I see his concern for the average American, and his disgust with the political machine. On the other, I see his philosphy of government intervention and where he wants to take the nation....

More to come.....

P.S. Thanks for the book, Rich.

Obligatory pre-election night post.

JCT: Obama: 374, McCain: 164. Obama: 55%, McCain: 43%.
RET: Obama: 337, McCain: 200.
MJS: Obama: 311, McCain: 227.
BJM: Obama: 353, McCain: 185, Obama winning IN, VA, NC

E-mail me your (UPDATED) electoral maps at jimtung -at- gmail dot com and I'll put them up.