The city of Raleigh is looking into a lawsuit over the change in direction taken by WCPSS.
I resonate with the city; I do. I think that our schools should use every tool in the toolbox to make all schools as strong as possible for all kids. And I think that maintaining economic diversity, when possible, is just such a tool.
Math is great; don’t let anyone tell ya differently. 
When kids say “When am I EVER gonna use this in real life?” you can now say “When it comes to keepin’ your house”.
I’ve always said that math, the kinda math that we teach in high school–not Mathematics that we teach in college Math degree courses– is more of an exercise in thinking than really providing deep insightful understanding into the science, indeed art, of mathematics. In much the same way we would never expect a football player to encounter a line of old auto tires and have to step through ’em in a game, I never would expect someoone to encounter the need to demonstrate that triangle A is congruous to triangle B in real life.
But the ability to get from here to there is a skill that is most useful in life; even to the point of getting and keeping a home.
Hope Mills, N.C. — Wildlife officers on Tuesday captured an alligator that has been swimming in Hope Mills Lake for the past two weeks.
Though even gators, it seems, have the sense God gave a dog:
“He was a wild gator. He was moving and evading us pretty good,” Lt. Brent Spivey of the Wildlife Resources Commission said.
And while I typically rail against Democrats, you have to give ’em credit for their wiley ways:
“We tried several techniques that didn’t work. So we decided to try to snag him with a small hook,” wildlife biologist Tom Padgett said.
Thank God for government.
Awhile ago, Neil Boortz offered a challenge to his listeners; Define Greed.
See, Boortz is a Libertarian [good on him!] and the general feeling amongst Libertarians is that greed is used as a descriptor to generalize capitalists. That is; Capitalists are “greedy”.
More and more with this “financial-overhaul” business. 
The more Congress acts to “protect me” the more I feel exposed. We have seen some examples here and here of the damage Washington has done to me even as they work to protect me. As they change the rules on the banks, making it harder for them to adjust to changing realities, those costs are simply passed on to everyone. I see my costs go up.
I’m afraid they did it again….
For years I’ve argued that the minimum wage was a wrong minded philosophy. 
This has gone back for at least 14-20 years. For much of that time, my arguments were more along the line of “There are many people in this world how aren’t WORTH the minimum wage.” Parallel to that argument, I would challenge people I knew who supported the idea with finding 10 jobs [I lived in Seattle at the time] that actually DIDN’T pay the minimum wage.
The point is; I’ve long opposed the idea that businesses should have t pay people more than they’re worth.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Employment, Minimum Wage, Unemployment
I have always said the market will drive us to conserve.
I still say that.
Nothing is going to get me to buy compact fluorescent bulb fast than when they are priced at $0.26 American!
Go market!
Oh yeah, check out who’s funding the price.
UPDATE:
Okay, so this kinda takes the fun out of it:
Progress Energy said today its energy-efficiency program to promote CFL bulbs in this state has resulted in the sale of 1 million of the low-energy bulbs since January.
The Raleigh power company’s Residential Lighting Program pays hardware stores and other retailers in the Progress Energy service area to offer shoppers compact fluorescent light bulbs at an average discount of $1.50.
Progress expects to sell 5 million bulbs in the first two years of the program. Bulb sales are expected to increase next year as more stores participate in the discounts.
Progress introduced the program to comply with a 2007 state law requiring greater use of energy efficiency programs and clean fuels.
Jeez.
Tagged Environment, Free Market, Home Depot, Progress Energy
I, for one, am happy that BP put aside $20 billion into an escrow account. I’m afraid that they’ll file for bankruptcy and we’ll lose any ability to get them to pay for anything.
Michelle Bachmann isn’t so happy with that turn of events:
The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund.
Posted in Diplomacy, Elections 2010, House of Representatives
Tagged Abuse of Power, BP, Michelle Bachmann, Minnesota
For years we have heard about the horrible labor conditions of third world countries. 
That people are being forced to work long hours in slave labor conditions for wages that are drastically lower than corporations can pay in America.
We never hear, of course, that these laborers voluntarily put down their farming tools and made their way to the cities to find this work. This work, that they hope, will transform their lives from one back-breaking agricultural labor to one of living the middle class dream.
Posted in Economics, Politics: International
Tagged China, Communism, Employment, Free Market, Socialism
If you needed a reminder that Obama hasn’t ever managed anything, this should serve as an illuminating example:
Clinton said in a television interview in Ecuador on June 8 that President Barack Obama had ordered the Justice Department to challenge the Arizona law because he did not believe states should set immigration policies, which could differ.
“President Obama has spoken out against the law because he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy,” she said according to a transcript posted on the State Department website.
The big deal?
The Good Govn’a of Arizona has this to say:
“If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation.”
And she’s right.
Management 101.
Posted in Diplomacy, Immigration, Politics: International, Politics: National
Tagged Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Politics