A MUST READ . . .

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/addicted_to_nonsense_20091129/

I'M HEADIN' FOR BORDERS RIGHT NOW!

Found this in my inbox from Borders this morning.

ALREADY??? Jeez, didn't the thing go on sale last week?

Sarah, Sarah, I implore you, PLEASE STFU!!!

PREACHING TO THE CHOIR, BUT . . .

Listened to a great show this morning on KPFA.org. Doug Henwood's Behind the News show had Monty Neil (sp?) of fairtest.org talking about the RTTT b.s. and the greater charter school scam. Wish I could provide a link to it, but I was home schooled and we only had a TRS 80 to use! Worth the search, though.

RUNNING A SCHOOL LIKE A BUSINESS?

The rush to privatize everything in this country continues. Every day, some Business Roundtable lunatic or U.S. Chamber of Commerce douche bag screams in the media that business practices should be applied to schools to make them more ‘efficient’. Yeah, like that’s the answer to the ‘problem’ of public schools. When I hear these loons, several words come to mind: Enron, General Motors, Lehman Brothers, and on and on.

Once again, I was confronted with ‘the business model’ in action. I made the mistake of going to the Lowe’s down in Hog Lick Corners last Tuesday. I was in search of a pendant light for my dining room. You know, getting the new place ready for the holidays. Normally, I avoid the big-box stores. I am always amazed at the policy of absolutely no eye contact, and their ability stay at least 30 feet back from their customers. But, oh well . . . anyway.

I started by searching their website, so I knew they had just what I was looking for. I found what I wanted on their shelves and proceeded to the checkout line. Eschewing their wonderful SELF CHECK OUT registers, which NEVER WORK, I actually found a cash register with an actual, live human being working at it! I couldn’t believe my luck. Heck, I’ll be out of this store and back home to install my new festive holiday lighting thingy. WRONG! The light cord (sold separately) rang up without a hitch. Then came the blown glass fixture (on CLEARANCE for $10.98). Of course, there was no bar code on the thing. This brought the entire transaction to a complete halt! I politely told Hortencia, the clerk, that the glass shade was ON CLEARANCE FOR $10.98! That didn’t work. She did not believe me. She called up an ‘expert’ in the lighting dept. She asked Skippy to do a price check. I made it known to Hortencia that I was in somewhat of a hurry, and I would like to get back home! Again I told Hortencia that I was positive the glass was ON CLEARANCE FOR $10.98! Still no response, just that far-off, ‘I hope my date tonight with Zach is gonna be fun’ look in her eyes. After about three minutes of waiting, I just said @$%& it, and left. Hortencia, having another out-of-body experience, didn’t blink an eye. Apparently this is the normal way of doing business at Lowe’s. I’m never going back.

YEAH, LET’S RUN PUBLIC SCHOOLS LIKE BUSINESSES. THAT’S THE TICKET, ARNE!

WHY IS MY PAYCHECK LESS THIS MONTH?

I figured, “Hey, why try to re-invent the wheel, right?” I came across this on Huffington Post yesterday. It is basically the snarky, smart-ass essay I’ve had in rough-draft form for about eight months now. Well played, Mr. Danzinger!

I AM SHOCKED, I TELL YOU, JUST SHOCKED!

This came from the NEA Morning Update thing

Study Shows Merit Pay In Texas Did Not Boost Student Achievement.

The Dallas Morning News (11/4, Stutz) reports that "for the $300 million spent on merit pay for teachers over the last three years, Texas was hoping for a big boost in student achievement. But it didn't happen with the now-defunct" Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG), "according to experts hired by the state." Researchers from Texas A&M University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Missouri studied "flaws in the way the program was designed and did not conclude whether merit pay for teachers in general is a good idea." However, they did say, "There is no systematic evidence that TEEG had an impact on student achievement gains" in Texas. The Dallas Morning News notes that TEEG, "which provided incentive pay for teachers at about 1,000 campuses a year in lower-income neighborhoods, was discontinued by the Legislature after the 2008-09 school year because of design problems."

IF THEY WANT TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT PUNISHING TEACHERS FOR THE DISMAL SCORES OF THEIR STUDENTS, WHO DON'T REALLY GIVE A RIP ABOUT THE TESTS, THEN IT IS TIME TO TIE TEST SCORES WITH THE LITTLE DARLINS' GPA AND GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS! PERIOD! THIS, OF COURSE, WILL NEVER HAPPEN!

WE WILL MISS YOU, MR. BUFFALO

Damn! Norton Buffalo is gone! We here at the Camp are grieving again! Buffalo was just such a killer harmonica player and musician. I have a bunch of stuff of his on VINYL!!! And it's still PLAYABLE!!! Got one on the turntable now, sipping on a glass of 2006 Sebastiani Zinfandel to pay my respects. I grabbed this from the sonomanews.com.

Sonoma Valley lost one of its favorite sons on Friday, Oct. 30, when music legend and harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo passed away after a brief bout with cancer. According to Michael Hinton, a friend and music associate since 1973, Buffalo was surrounded by family and friends when he slipped into a coma and passed away, with his wife, Lisa Flores, by his side.

Born in Oakland on Sept. 28, 1951, Buffalo spent a good portion of his life living in Sonoma Valley, where he wrote and recorded his first album for Capitol Records in the mid-1970s, "Loving in the Valley of the Moon." Buffalo was a music legend in Sonoma Valley and in the world beyond, spending 32 years as the harmonica player for the Steve Miller Band, his own band, the Knockouts, and with a wide range of musicians, including Roy Rogers, Bonnie Raitt, members of the Grateful Dead, Doobie Brothers and Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. Buffalo also acted and was the harmonica player for Bette Midler in the film "The Rose."



NORTON BUFFALO, Rest in Peace!