NPR story: Public vs. Private School Report Spurs Controversy

tag: Things Conservatives don't want you to know.

Public schools perform favorably with private schools when students' income and socio-economic status are taken into account, according to a new report from the U.S. Education Department. The findings counter a popularly held notion, that private schools outperform public schools.

But the report has generated controversy due to what some call its overly low-key release, on a Friday evening. That spurred critics to charge that the Bush administration, long a supporter of private alternatives to public schools, was playing politics by burying data it doesn't like.

People get wrongly convicted. Putting the wrong person in jail is one of those things, like an air crash, that is bound to happen once in a while. And horrific as it is, it can't justify shutting down the whole system. So unless an innocent prisoner can marshal the financial and political resources (not that these are necessarily enough) to fight the injustice that keeps them behind bars, behind bars they stay.

Except in North Carolina, at least if Governor Easley signs the North Carolina Innocence Commission into law.

One year ago Friday, the House narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement in the wee hours of the morning. Casting a deciding vote in favor of the agreement was Congressman Robin Hayes. Hayes' yes vote gave President Bush's free trade agenda a much needed push and propelled CAFTA to a 217-215 victory.

When the traditional 15-minute voting period expired on the controversial CAFTA free trade agreement at 11:17 p.m., the no votes outnumbered the yes votes by 180 to 175, with dozens of members still undeclared. House Republican leaders kept the voting open another 47 minutes, furiously rounding up holdouts in their own party, twisting arms and making deals, according to Robin Hayes.

You just about had me completely reeled in. Just the other day, right here on BlueNC I told Anglico that I was ready to declare my intentions to support you. I pledged my undying love in a political sort of way. Then you did something that snapped the line and I'm once again wondering which candidate will gain my support in '08.

By now you know that I'm very loyal, so I'm sure you're wondering what you could have possibly done to lose me. It's very simple. It was something you said in your last letter to me.

I know that some folks here tend to visit Ogre's site and try to "discuss" issues. I've given up trying to talk sense with the idiot. His positions are without merit, his arguments without fact, but little did I know how immoral he was. From his blog today:

Ohio Gays Oppose Free Speech

Sorry, faggots, in this country, at least so far, we've got freedom of speech. If I Ken Blackwell or I want to tell you that what you're doing is against God's law, we have a right to do that and zero obligation to "shut up." In fact, in a free country, you telling me to "shut up" is much more offensive and dangerous than me telling you that you've made a bad choice.

While this is mostly a local issue, the decisions have implications for taxpayers throughout the state. I just read in the N&O that UNC CH has picked an Executive Director for the Carolina North development, his name is John P. Evans.

I don't know much about Mr. Evans, so i will pluck heavily from the N&O, or you can go read the whole story yourself.

A few weeks ago, I was lamenting the fact that the media seems to be under a false impression that just because gas prices were historically low during the 90's, that the current price level must some how magically drop to the mid $1 range in the near future. This obviously flawed logic was leading the "journalists" to conclude that now is the best time to start a long commute/ buy a gas guzzling SUV, since the prices of far out houses and Hummers have taken a nose dive. Because who wants 10 miles to a gallon when a gallon is going to cost over $3?

Being able to final get back on the site for the first time since emerging from my two week bar studying cocoon, I figured that I will lead with this little nugget that I found this morning:

According to the poll, 65 percent say they feel less confident that life for their children's generation will be better than it was for them. In December 2001, the last time this question was asked, respondents — by a 49-42 percent margin — said they were confident life would be better for their children.

So after 9-11, Americans were in doubt about the country, and now after

OK, OK, so they didn't exactly call it the "Art Pope" bill, but I'm almost positive house members had him in mind when the new bill was pushed through on Wednesday. This comes from the Charlotte Observer/Associated Press.

Lawmakers took another strike against "527" groups in North Carolina, agreeing Wednesday to require the politically active organizations or individuals to reveal more information about how much money they give or spend.

A bill heading to Gov. Mike Easley would require groups or individuals that spend more than $10,000 in an election year on commercials, mailers or phone banks that identify a candidate to report their expenses to the State Board of Elections. Donors who contribute more than $1,000 also would be identified.

More below the fold...

If you track the rhetoric of government haters at the John Locke Foundation, you know that one of the things they hate most is planning. Just ask their "expert" from Houses R Us, an objective group of homebuilders who think nothing should stand in the way of them throwing up more houses wherever they want. These folks are fundamentally opposed to smart growth because it costs more than stupid growth. Imagine that! Well, hold on to your hat, because stupid-growth advocates are also hot and bothered about transporation planning. Consider John Hood's silly column today.

Foolish or dishonest advocates of transit argue that there is a huge pent-up demand for bus or rail just waiting to be tapped if only those skinflint conservatives would get out of the way. More sensible advocates realize that building transit must be only part of a far-larger agenda of transforming the way most of us live, work, shop, and recreate.

What Hood doesn't understand - on purpose I assume - is that no "responsible advocate" has a far-larger agenda of transforming jack shit. "Responsible advocates" understand that the path we're on is leading over a cliff. From global warming to dependence of foreign oil to the massive loss of productivity resulting from poor transportation systems, the costs of our current development model are unsustainable. And we can't wait until the the problem is acutely destructive before we act.