Suspected Gunman

Mark Steyn is a must read on Islamic terror issues. He also wrote a great book called America Alone that I would highly recommend. And he is very funny. The following is an excerpt from his latest article that you can read at:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ideology-mumbai-gunman-2242227-muslim-terrorists

There was a photograph that appeared in many of the British papers, taken by a Reuters man and captioned by the news agency as follows: "A suspected gunman walks outside the premises of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or Victoria Terminus railway station." The photo of the "suspected gunman" showed a man holding a gun. We don't know much about him – he might be Muslim or Episcopalian, he might be an impoverished uneducated victim of Western colonialist economic oppression or a former vice-president of Lehman Brothers embarking on an exciting midlife career change – but one thing we ought to be able to say for certain is that a man pointing a gun is not a "suspected gunman" but a gunman. "This kind of silly political correctness infects reporters and news services worldwide," wrote John Hinderaker of Powerline. "They think they're being scrupulous – the man hasn't been convicted of being a gunman yet! – when, in fact, they're just being foolish. But the irrational conviction that nothing can be known unless it has been determined by a court and jury isn't just silly, it's dangerous."

Compassion for Victims, not Terrorists

As I write this, a terrorist attack in India is ongoing. Hundreds have been killed or wounded. The Indian government has captured some of the terrorists. Undoubtedly the terrorists have valuable information that could save lives in the future if the information leads to the capture or killing of some of their co-terrorists.

So the Indian government has two choices. They could show compassion to these alleged terrorists, give them three meals a day, a Koran, cable TV etc... or they could show compassion to future, would be victims of terrorists by extracting information from these thugs via calm persuasion or, if necessary, torture.

I know, this is an ugly choice. But it is the choice.

And my choice would be to show compassion to future terrorist victims by using whatever means necessary to extract info from the terrorists in order to capture their support network that will otherwise plot to kill more innocents.

MPS Incentives

The Milwaukee Public School system has apparently been offering Ipods as an incentive to children so they will sign up for and attend school breakfast programs. See Charlie Sykes for more detail.

Hunger has always been a sufficient incentive to get me to eat. Apparently many MPS students are not hungry enough to accept a free meal. Why not leave it at that?

Speaking of incentives, there is obviously some unknown incentive driving MPS to spend money trying to get well fed children to accept a free meal before school. My guess is that MPS is somehow rewarded financially for increasing the size of this program.

Consultants to Run From

Note to Racine area elected officials. Beware of the following consultants:

1) Nebraska deep sea fishermen
2) North Dakota orange growers
3) Saudi Arabian brewers
4) Michigan economic development officials

Private Accountability

Teachers union president Pete Knotek argued, in a November 19th JT commentary, that school vouchers divert tax dollars to "unaccountable private schools."

I don't think Pete Knotek understands private sector accountability. Private schools are accountable to their customers, namely students and their parents. If the parents are not satisfied, they will send their children to a different school. An unaccountable private school is one without students.

Public sector accountability is another matter entirely. The public school system is accountable to politicians, not parents, as it is politicians that control the purse strings. A public school system could produce abysmal educational results and continue to attract enormous sums of tax dollars, so long as political relationships are nurtured. Where is the accountabilty for educational results in the public sector?

Students Expelled

It has come to my attention that two students were expelled recently from a local private school for stealing a test from a teacher.

No doubt this is a very sad and difficult time for these children and their parents, but I am going to look at this from the bright side.

For the expelled students, they are learning a painful and necessary lesson. There are consequences for criminal behavior. You will not always get a second chance.

For the rest of the students, there is also a lesson. You are expendable. Bad behavior will not be tolerated. An education in a private school in not a right. You are expected to behave properly and respectfully and if you don't, we will replace you will someone else.

Isn't that a bit like real life?

New Species Identified

Local blogger and scientist, Kay, of BlueRacine.blogspot.com has identified a new species. This new species Kay calls a "potential." This amazing new creature lives its entire life, approximately nine months, as a parasite inside of female homo sapiens. The "potential", also known as humanus potentialus, is the only species that is capable of morphing into another species. The "potential" will change into the species of its host, the homo sapien, upon passage through the hosts vagina. The symbiotic relationship between the "potential" and female homo sapian is quite remarkable as apparently the homo sapien is the only species that does not reproduce but instead allows the humanus potentialus to morph into a homo sapien. As of this writing, Kay has yet to identify how the "potential" reproduces or how the "potential" arrives in its host homo sapien.

The stork story is far less complicated. I'm sticking with that.

JT Endorses Consideration of School Vouchers

The Racine Journal Times (http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/11/16/opinion/doc491f47151d55e097979090.txt) has endorsed the idea of considering school vouchers.

Wow! I never thought I would see the day. Now they haven't actually endorsed vouchers and there is no way that the Democrats in charge will actually implement the idea, but still, the JT took a step in the right direction.

The next step obviously is for the JT to render an opinion on the subject.

The Leftist Imposition

"Don't impose your beliefs on me!!!"

You will invariably get some version of the above argument if you ever discuss the abortion question with a liberal, so be prepared for it.

Never mind that I was not imposing anything on anybody. Rather, I was trying to sort out their beliefs on just what is that mass of matter inside a pregnant woman. I pleaded for scientific evidence or any evidence whatsoever that the material was something other than a human life. They (liberals over at Blueracine.blogspot.com) had no evidence to offer but they nonetheless insisted that I stop imposing my beliefs on them.

Anyway, imposing beliefs or values is what active citizens and governments do. Advocating for universal health care is an attempt to impose beliefs/values on others. So is lowering or raising the tax rate. So is installing a stop sign.

So the next time a liberal insists that you stop imposing your values or beliefs on them, realize that what they are actually saying is that they should impose the laws and you should obey them.

The More Things Change...

President elect Obama and the Dems appear to be pushing for a massive bailout of the auto industry. I thought huge corporations, driven as they are by greed, are the problem. Besides, cars contribute to global warming. Wouldn't we all be better off if big government stopped rewarding their big money friends who are intent on destroying the environment? I was hoping for change.

JT's Forced Argument

The Journal Times is right that, regarding opposition to proposed smoking bans, that "the only argument that could stand up is the one which asserts a private property right; that the owner of an establishment should have the right to set rules." But alas, "no right is absolute" they conclude and thus they are comfortable doing away with one more.

A little further on in the commentary: "Here individual rights again come into play. There is no right of a tobacco user to FORCE (my emphasis) his use upon everyone else. There is not necessarily an ability to avoid it because in many cases, for example, when one is traveling, eating in a restaurant or tavern is a necessity."

Don't be fooled by the Journal Times' misuse of the word "force". A person invited by an owner of a private business to smoke is not forcing anyone to inhale the second hand smoke. Anyone who is inhaling the smoke is doing so voluntarily, as nobody is forcing them into the establishment.

The only use of force going on here is government forcing more rules on private businesses. And that "right" of our government to the use of force appears more and more absolute with every passing day.

You can read the JT's commentary at: http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/11/12/opinion/doc491a1c5e116a5792698637.txt

On Gay Marriage

The voters of California recently voted to keep the meaning of marriage intact, that is, as a union between one man and one woman. Gays in California and elsewhere are upset. I have been following the controversy and I must say that I am saddened but not surprised by the quality of arguments coming from those who wished to change the definition of marriage.

Read more at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-protests9-2008nov09,0,7790800.story

As I see it, in this country, marriage has been understood to mean a union between one man and one woman. And the question today is whether the institution should be redefined to include men marrying men and women marrying women.

Or to put it another way, do we wish to change marriage from a union between men and women to an institution based on a persons sexual orientation. Because if marriage is changed in such a way to include those with a same sex orientation, we would remove any rational argument to exclude other orientations.

Certainly some people would claim to be oriented toward both men and women and others no doubt would push the envelope even further, seeking to enter into some bizzare entanglements with multiple partners, inanimate objects etc... On what rational basis could those unions be denied if we have changed marriage to an orientation based institution?

And let us not forget that we have laws pertaining to children, divorce, inheritance etc... that could be made infinitely more complicated than they are today. How would our current laws resolve a divorce and custody issues if one person wishes to dissolve a marriage between several partners? Do the remaining members of the union remain married? What happens to the children?

Now some of you no doubt think I am getting a bit ridiculous and that marriage should be between two people only. But if we have changed to an orientation based system of marriage, do we then discriminate against the bisexuals that wish to marry both men and women? Aren't we all about ending discrimination?

Changing the definition of marriage would have far reaching consequences that we can't even fathom right now. I have not heard of any convincing arguments that address any of the issues that I have brought up. In California, some of the protesters would consider me a hateful bigot.

Hatred for gays is by no means the only reason why a person might vote to keep marriage the way it is. Certainly changing marriage could lead to profound changes in society and it is not too dificult to imagine that some of those changes would not be good.

The advocates of gay marriage have not made a convincing enough case to change an institution thousand of years in the making.

But I am interested in opposing points of view. Bring em on.

The Other Others

It has recently come to my attention that Racine Unified has a curriculum unit entitled "Accepting others makes life better."

Oh really, we should just accept everyone and life will be better. Hmmmm, how about child pornographers. Will the lives of Racine Unified students be better if they learned to accept child pornographers? Obviously not.

So which "others" should we accept to make our lives better? Now we already know that Unified has taught that the acceptance of a certain liberal black presidential candidate would make their lives better. And I'm quite certain that the "others" to be accepted include minorities, women, Muslims, gays etc....

But I am also curious about the other "others." You know, the ones not mentioned during the "Acceptance of others makes life better" unit. Are the students also being taught that accepting Christians or conservatives will make their lives better?

Somehow I doubt it.

By the way, I learned of this curriculum unit at Racine Post: http://news.racinepost.com/2008/11/racine-unified-no-policies-violated-in.html

Just Wondering

Can we have unity and diversity simultaneously?

Change Has Come ... In News Reporting

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the most significant news event on Tuesday was the election. Yet AP business story on the large drop in the stock market on Wednesday started like so: "A case of postelection nerves sent Wall Street plunging Wednesday as investors, LOOKING PAST BARACK OBAMA'S PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY, (caps are my emphasis) returned to their fears of a deep and protracted recession.

So we must all accept as fact that the slide in the stock market was not a reaction to the election and that the millions of investors who dumped stocks were all looking past the election results.

As for me, I think the stock market slide was due to the unexpected news of Guam's 2.4% decline in housing starts.

Election Reaction

I am saddened but not suprised by the election of Barack Obama. We have chosen charisma over character. We voted for undefined change and we will get it. Some change can be good, some terrible. Soon we will find out what kind of change we will get.

On a positive note, Obama is probably the only politician capable of leading the kind of change I think we need to see in the education department. He could shine a light on the horrible performance of urban public school systems and he could shame Democrats into supporting school choice. This would allow large numbers of poor and black students to access education options outside the public school system. There is no reason to believe that he will, but I can hope, can't I?

The Denis Promise

My most recent post questions the wisdom of the Racine Promise idea that would offer free college tuition to graduates of Racine public schools. The program, in addition to offering free tuition, promises to increase jobs, the housing market, disposable income, population, and businesses while generating economic growth in the surrounding communities. This plan does not go far enough.

Consider the Denis Promise: Everything in Racine will be free. We can even call it Free Racine. Yes, I will freely give my blog name for the benifit of everyone.

When everything is free in Racine, you can be sure that our local population will boom as never before. The housing market would boom as people flock to Racine to scoop up our vacant buildings. New housing would then spring up made from free materials and built with free labor. Jobs would be free for the taking though most would probably prefer the vast amounts of free time made available by all the free products and services which would free us from the need to work.

The Denis Promise has been successfully implemented in the past. Check out the USSR Promise web site for details.

Racine Promise Questions

Some city officials are exploring the idea of offering free college tuition to graduates of Racine high schools. The program would be modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise. More detail is available at the Racine Post.

The grant proposal seeking to explore this program suggests that the program would transform RUSD such that all children would be prepared for a post secondary education. It would increase the incentives to finish high school and college, it would result in more disposable income for racine families, it would attract people and businesses to Racine, improve the local housing market and would improve the regional economy.

A few thoughts in no particular order:

Do we really want to look to Michigan for economic development and population retention  ideas? The economy of Michigan is tanking and people are fleeing to other states.

The Kalamakoo web site touting the program mentions nothing about who is paying for the program.

The program in Kalamazoo is for public school students only. Would Racine graduates of St. Catherines be discriminated against by this program?

Random Election Thoughts

The union guy showing up at your house to steal your McCain signs today (see Racine Post, Real Debate, Caledonia Unplugged) may soon show up at your house to oversee your vote for unionization once the Obama administration does away with secret ballots.

A youngish girl showed up at my store asking for me to give her an item that I am selling for $10. I told her that giving away product destroys businesses. She said I should give it to her because she is poor. I told her she should consider getting a job. Nobody is hiring, gas prices to high were among her excuses. I hope she isn't old enough to vote.

My non-white wife was accused, via the phone, of the racism that Obama has to deal with when she called to discuss a long overdue bill with a customer. Bring on the healing!

I was listening to a Chicago radio program yesterday wherein many callers and the hosts thought that rioting and violence would likely occur at Grant Park on Tuesday, regardless of the outcome of the election. I am glad not to be politically aligned with large numbers of people promising violence.