New contract for GRPS support staff

New contract for GRPS support staff
"While Grand Rapids Public Schools teachers wait for a contract deal for this school year, three other employee groups have a tentative deal for next school year.
The three unions represent support staff.
The deal gives those employees a one-half percent pay increase plus any built-in 'step' raises based on seniority"

Report: Mich. graduates low percentage of blacks, Hispanics

Report: Mich. graduates low percentage of blacks, Hispanics
"A new report says Michigan high schools have graduation rates well below the national average for black and Hispanic students."

Joe Soucheray - TwinCities.com

Joe Soucheray - TwinCities.com: "I am waiting for the day when Big Educators are dragged before congressional committees and treated like oil company executives, who in turn are treated like the Cosa Nostra. Let the Big Deans and the Big Chancellors sit under the hot lights. It would be delightful to see, say, the presidents of all the Big Ten schools summoned to Washington and grilled about why they should be allowed to raise tuition year after year while also accumulating untold wealth in their endowment accounts.
Year after year those higher-education costs go up and the only response from politicians has been to figure out a way to redistribute more wealth so that tax credits go to the people who can't afford to go to college"

Why We Went to Iraq

Why We Went to Iraq
"Of all that has been written about the play of things in Iraq, nothing that I have seen approximates the truth of what our ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, recently said of this war: 'In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came.'"

Ed McMahon fighting foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home

Ed McMahon fighting foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home
"McMahon, 85, has been unable to work as a pitchman for various products since he broke his neck 18 months ago, said his spokesman, Howard Bragman.
'There are plenty of people affected by the weak economy, bad housing market or bad health,'"

'Carbon Belch Day' promotes un-green actions | Green Tech - CNET News.com

'Carbon Belch Day' promotes un-green actions Green Tech - CNET News.com: "Smoke cigars, do a partial load of laundry, drink bottled water, and feel no shame. That's what a campaign against a carbon trading bill is urging.
The latest parody of the proliferation of 'green' social-networking sites and eco-friendly events comes via 'Carbon Belch Day,' a campaign from the conservative Grassfire.org alliance that encourages people to pollute as much as possible on June 12."

French screen icon Bardot fined for anti-Muslim remarks

French screen icon Bardot fined for anti-Muslim remarks
France's 1960s screen icon Brigitte Bardot received a 15,000-euro (23,000 dollar) fine on Tuesday for inciting hatred against Muslims.
In December 2006, the film star-turned-animal rights activist wrote a letter to France's then interior minister, current President Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing that Muslims should stun animals before slaughtering them during the Aid al-Kabir holiday.
She outraged anti-racist groups by saying: "I've had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, (and) destroying our country by imposing their ways."
Bardot, now 73 and suffering from arthritis, was absent from Tuesday's court hearing in Paris. She wrote to the court saying: "I'm sickened by how (these organisations) are harassing me."
She added: "I will not shut up until stunning is carried out" on animals before their ritual slaughter.
Bardot already has four convictions on similar charges. In 2004 she was fined 5,000 euros for inciting racial hatred in her book "Un Cri Dans le Silence" (A Cry in the Silence).
France is home to Europe's largest Muslim community, estimated at five million people.

Dumb luck?

The Corner on National Review Online: "Iraq and the General War on Terror [Victor Davis Hanson]

How odd (or to be expected) that suddenly intelligence agencies, analysts, journalists, and terrorists themselves are attesting that al-Qaeda is in near ruins, that ideologically radical Islam is losing its appeal, and that terrorist incidents against Americans at home and abroad outside the war zones are at an all-time low—and yet few associate the radical change in fortune in Iraq as a contributory cause to our success."

Going green means having green to spend

Going green means having green to spend
"The dirty secret of the environmental movement is how indifferent it can be to the poor.

Consider the widespread ban on DDT. As environmental groups celebrated the recovery of bald eagles, parents in poor countries buried 20 million children who died from the ensuing malaria outbreak.

Now we see another crisis looming from the fight against global warming. Food riots are breaking out in poor countries as motorists in wealthy countries burn grains and oils in gas tanks"

Cancer patient Linda O'Boyle dies after NHS ends free care over top up - Telegraph

Cancer patient Linda O'Boyle dies after NHS ends free care over top up - Telegraph
"A woman who was refused free NHS cancer treatment after she paid for extra drugs has died, reigniting the debate over whether patients should be allowed to 'top up' their care.
Linda O'Boyle and her husband Brian, both retired health workers, decided to pay for treatment in addition to that available on the NHS in order to prolong her life.
Mrs O'Boyle was told that meant she was considered a private patient and so had to pay for all her treatment.
Government guidelines currently ban patients from mixing public and private care."

Getting Oil From A Stone

Getting Oil From A Stone
"Exxon Mobil's CEO says his energy company's 'corporate social responsibility' is to produce more energy. While Congress wants to tax oil profits, he wants to spend them to find more oil. What a concept."

A Bleak Future

A Bleak Future
: "Politics: Imagine an America where the government decides what profits are acceptable. Imagine our country with the oil industry nationalized. Impossible? Not with Democrats in control of Washington.
One California Democrat, saying out loud what many on her side of the aisle have been thinking for some time, has threatened to seize the oil industry.
'This liberal will be all about socializing, uh, uh . . . would be about . . . basically taking over and the government running all of your companies,' Rep. Maxine Waters told oil executives on May 22 during yet another show-trial congressional hearing."

Op-ed column: U.S. must tap its own oil resources or face even greater energy crisis

Op-ed column: U.S. must tap its own oil resources or face even greater energy crisis: "A great oil discovery was made in Alaska during the mid-1960s. It would prove to be the largest oil field in North America. But in order to exploit that oil, a pipeline 800 miles long had to be constructed over difficult terrain. A consortium of energy companies planned to build this $8 billion pipeline. But because sections of pipeline rights-of-way would pass through federal lands, the project required congressional approval. Congress, neither the House nor the Senate, would not approve the project. After all, didn’t the nation have excess producing capacity? And what about the environment — how could the pipeline be constructed across frozen ground, hundreds of streams, including the great Yukon River?"

American Preaching in a vacuum

American Preaching in a vacuum: "Holier-than-thou AAR constantly rails on corporate greed and dishonesty, yet it was a poster child for both even before it broadcast its first mindless assault on the vast right-wing conspiracy. Its backers lied to investors when they claimed they had $30 million in venture capital when they only had $6 million. Five weeks after the network's debut, its chairman and co-founder, Evan Montvel-Cohen, was forced out. Only later was it disclosed that to help get Air America off the ground, he looted the nonprofit organization where he was director of development out of $875,000 in taxpayer funds that were supposed to be spent helping children and the elderly in the Bronx."

Mother who defied the killers is gunned down

Mother who defied the killers is gunned down
Five weeks ago Leila Hussein told The Observer the chilling story of how her husband had killed their 17-year-old daughter over her friendship with a British soldier in Basra. Now Leila, who had been in hiding, has been murdered - gunned down in cold blood. Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies report on the final act of a brutal tragedy"

Man admits 'having sex' with 1,000 cars

Man admits 'having sex' with 1,000 cars
"Edward Smith, who lives with his current 'girlfriend' – a white Volkswagen Beetle named Vanilla, insisted that he was not 'sick' and had no desire to change his ways."

Detroit mayor vetoes funds for lawyers trying to remove him

Detroit mayor vetoes funds for lawyers trying to remove him
"Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has vetoed $250,000 set aside by the City Council to pay for lawyers to try to remove him from office amid a text-messaging sex scandal."

RWDB – J.F. Beck: JOHN QUIGGIN'S FAVOURITE UNRELIABLE SOURCE

RWDB – J.F. Beck: JOHN QUIGGIN'S FAVOURITE UNRELIABLE SOURCE: "Lambert says Eritrea's anti-malaria program produced dramatic results by switching away from DDT. In reality, Eritrea produced dramatic results while greatly increasing DDT use."

Chances dim for climate-change legislation - May. 30, 2008

Chances dim for climate-change legislation - May. 30, 2008: "An influential coalition of Fortune 500 companies and environmental groups that was formed to support climate-change legislation has splintered over the Lieberman-Warner bill that is headed next week to the Senate floor."

President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat

President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat: "First, some ask why Iraq is different from other countries or regimes that also have terrible weapons. While there are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone -- because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place. Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people. This same tyrant has tried to dominate the Middle East, has invaded and brutally occupied a small neighbor, has struck other nations without warning, and holds an unrelenting hostility toward the United States.
By its past and present actions, by its technological capabilities, by the merciless nature of its regime, Iraq is unique. As a former chief weapons inspector of the U.N. has said, 'The fundamental problem with Iraq remains the nature of the regime, itself. Saddam Hussein is a homicidal dictator who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction.'"

YouTube - World's Most Dangerous Airports

YouTube - World's Most Dangerous Airports

Shred of the Month - May 2008: Bicycles

Shred of the Month - May 2008: Bicycles

Civilization Comes First

Civilization Comes First:
"None the less I'm a strong supporter of MCain. Despite my very Libertarianish tendencies.
Make it harder for you to vote for McCain? You have no idea how hard it is for me to vote for the crap the GOP serves up to me. But you know there is a fookin' war on and my pet issues can wait until our civilization is properly secured."

Best of the Web Today - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today - WSJ.com: "I really believe that she just always thought 'This is mine' [laughter, hoots]. 'I'm Bill's wife. I'm white. And this is mine. And I jus' gotta get up. And step into the plate.' And then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama.' And she said: 'Oh, damn! Where did you come from!?!?!' [Crowd going nuts, Pfleger screaming]. 'I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show.' [Sobs.] She wasn't the only one crying! There was a whole lotta white people cryin'!"

Global Warming Skeptics Plot 'Carbon Belch Day'

Global Warming Skeptics Plot 'Carbon Belch Day'
"Conservative grassroots group Grassfire.org wants people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12 by 'hosting a barbecue, going for a drive, watching television, leaving a few lights on, or even smoking a few cigars.'
The point: the group wants to 'help Americans break free from the 'carbon footprint guilt' being imposed by Climate Alarmists.'"

McClellan's Mess

McClellan's Mess: "We're no longer surprised when a longtime confidant of a president comes out with a tell-all book. It's almost de rigueur. What's sad, however, is when so much of what the book tells is, in fact, false."

Sales of Spam rise as consumers trim food costs - Yahoo! News

Sales of Spam rise as consumers trim food costs - Yahoo! News: "The price of Spam is up too, with the average 12 oz. can costing about $2.62. That's an increase of 17 cents, or nearly 7 percent, from the same time last year."

When facts get in the way | STANDPOINT.ONLINE

When facts get in the way STANDPOINT.ONLINE: "British newspaper writing is famously more vigorous and readable than its American equivalent. But this comes at a price: there’s a good chance that anything you read in a British newspaper isn’t true.

When I worked as a leader writer for an American ­paper I was embarrassed when I was told that it was official policy not to trust any item in any British paper except the FT."

Dr. Helen: "Senator Biden Wants to Give Your Ex-Wife a Free Attorney..."

Dr. Helen: "Senator Biden Wants to Give Your Ex-Wife a Free Attorney...": "'Senator Biden Wants to Give Your Ex-Wife a Free Attorney...'"

Best of the Web Today - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today - WSJ.com: "The trouble is that MAD depends on a series of assumptions about the nuclear adversaries in question, not all of which would necessarily apply in a confrontation between Iran and Israel or the U.S. One key assumption is that the actors are rational--meaning, among other things, not suicidal. Given that Iran is ruled by religious revolutionaries who have been known to use suicide as a tactic, this cannot be taken for granted."