Back in a Bit

I’m signing off for a few days so that Barbara and I can visit old friends from our days in Marion, MA who now winter on Florida's west coast. It happens that we will be staying near the center of damage from one the hurricanes from years past, Englewood and if we get a chance to see how rebuilding is progressing, I’ll post something about it when we return.

I’m attaching a link to a Bloomberg article that I found very interesting. We are all caught up in the No Child Left Behind program; that’s not to say we all support it, but we have a great stake in it. It seems that California is being sued by some students who did not pass the assessment tests and who are being denied a full fledged state diploma as a result. The suit alleges that poor Latino and African American student are at a great disadvantage in the program since many of the failed students are being taught by teachers who are not certified in the subject tested.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_us&refer=us&sid=aanUfFKRHyqU

The newest thing that the president is eyeing is a test to measure the nation’s colleges and universities. I can’t wait for scores of the brainiacs at MIT and Cal Tech on the music appreciation test and for the calculus and astrophysics results from the fine arts majors across the country. We’ll have to mandate unfunded remediation programs everywhere. This is another clear example of the federal government being on your side with a regulation that you absolutely crave.

Several things arise from the accidental shooting in Texas on Saturday. First, it’s not healthy to stand in the way of what Dick Cheney is aiming at, and, second, if you have to get shot, it’s good to be in the party of high government officials and their entourage of medical support people and transportation equipment. Not everyone – even rich guys – travel with a posse of SUVs, ambulances, and helicopters in case you happen to have heart palpitations or get filled with bird shot. And, third, a question, are we in the hands of the gang that can’t shoot straight?

Those of us the Washington area dug our way out from under a very big snow storm yesterday. When it ended, we had about fourteen inches in the back yard – about average for the region. It was a wet heavy snow that brought down trees and limbs everywhere and caused power outages throughout the area. I was thoroughly beat when I finished shoveling.

But in talking with friends and relatives in Southern Massachusetts, the worst part of the storm and our stomping grounds for nine years before moving back to Virginia, there was some disappointment in the observations. “We only got about fourteen inches.” “We thought is was going to be a real storm.” “Can’t compare with ’78.” I guess the New Englanders are just tougher than we are and that we’ve gone soft since returning to the Sunny South.

Back in a few!

Blog on!

Wild Bill