No More Stupid Tests

I'm glad that the Wisco DPI has finally decided to dump these worthless tests. The next step is to get rid of Bu$hCo's No Child Left Untouched Act.

Finally

Brain dead ain't the half of it. Way to go Pete Stark, it's time Democrats started acting like Democrats.

''They're for the most part, I hate to say, brain dead, but they're just looking to raise money from insurance companies and promote a right-wing agenda that is not really very useful in this whole process,'' Stark told reporters on a conference call.

Boy, that's the truth. My emphases.

I Actually Thought This Would Happen

Back, when I was young, I believed this would be in effect when I reached 55, since I lived in a progressive, kind country. Well, I'm five years past 55 & I feel a bit embarrassed that I ever had that thought. This is the right idea, of course, & the ReThugs will scream socialism or something, since they just don't want one thing that actually makes the country better.

Edward M. Kennedy, R.i.P.

News here. Maybe now those stupid jokes will stop, but given the condition of the ReThug Party, I doubt it. I still believe that had he been nominated in 1980, our country would have been spared Reagan, Bu$hCo, & Bu$hCo II. & we would have single-payer, universal health care.

J.B. Van Hollen Is A Vacuous* Twit

This politician of the worst kind, ought to be impeached for not doing his job. If not, the good news is that he will be overwhelmingly defeated in the next election. Wisconsin needs to get rid of these backward thinkers & regain it once revered status as a great, progressive state.

*Asinine, devoid of intelligence, empty space, yeah, that's J.B. Van Hollen, & his protege Sean Duffy.

This Is Difficult

Even with my post yesterday, this is still tough to look at. Thanks again Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy.

Legacy

Dick "Dick" Cheney must be so proud.

One Less Ghoul

Good.

Farve Is A Viking

I've been, as usual, watching sports news this a.m. (look, it's either that or jewelry auctions since the Knife Show is only on certain nights) & it appears that Brett Favre is on a plane heading to the Twin Cities, MN, to sign a contract with the MN (ass)Vikings. While I detest the (ass)Vikings, I conditionally approve Favre's decision, especially if he wins this year's Super Bowl. This would certainly put a big, big exclamation point on a great career as well as a huge white pine up Ted Thompson's butt & Mike McCarthy's butt. As much as I hate the (ass)Vikings, I really haven't recovered (obviously) from the was Brett Favre was treated by the Packer's organization. Favre should have been resigned & resigned, just for what he did for the Packers & for the NFL. So, while I will not become an (ass)Viking's fan, I will be pulling for Brett Favre.

Jim Dickinson, R.I.P.

Obit here. I was, unfortunately, not aware of Mr. Dickinson himself, but I surely fell in love with the band his sons play in - North Mississippi Allstars.

North Mississippi Allstars - Shake (Live)

No Dimes To Spare

The rich are rich. & nobody talks about the right-wing's trickle down theory anymore. How come?

Saez suggests that the economic growth seen on paper during the Bush years was little more than an illusion for the vast majority of Americans, who saw their income grow much more slowly in the 2002-2007 period than they did during the Clinton years.

I'm no great fan of Bill Clinton, but he did, apparently, give a bit of a shit about regular folks. My emphasis.

Les Paul, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Talk About Your Unfunded Mandates

The sky is falling. & here I am, without a telescope.

Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Loonsville) Actually Has An Intelligent Offspring

I know it's hard to believe that Bachman & intelligence hardly belong in the same universe, but talk about having your son join one of Husseing X's socialist cadres, well....

Here's what Bachmann said about President Obama's plan to expand AmeriCorps, a program that puts young adults to work making the world a better place by teaching disadvantaged kids and helping the poor:

"[It's] under the guise of quote, volunteerism, but it's not volunteers at all," she said on the Sue Jeffers radio show in April. "It's paying people to do work on behalf of government. There are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people get trained in the philosophy the government puts forward and then they have to go work in these politically correct forums.

"As a parent, I would have a very, very difficult time seeing my children do this."

Sting, hell, that bites. It's right up there with Gov. Palin's unwed mother of a daughter. My emphases.

J.B. Van Hollen Supports Drunken Drivers?

It would be criminal not to speculate.

Palin, The Quitter

The people's representatives speaks & Palin, The Quitter, is now The Loser. No surprise.

Acronym Of The Year

The best acronym ever when describing what Wall Street & its minions did to the 99% who won't see their wages total a million dollars in their entire working lives. The acronym? Oh yeah - ...CAPM (pronounced “cap-em”)....

America, The (Not) So Beautiful

Sure, let's bomb Iran, after all, we have everything else fixed. I know, I know, we have the best of everything in this country, the best. Hell, if I'd known it was this easy I'd have smashed a few windshields & then set up some therapy sessions with the jail staff.

A public defender who specializes in juvenile mental health issues, said Eric had been arrested more than 20 times near his South Los Angeles home. Dr. Trupin worried that if Eric is released and arrested again, he will be charged as an adult and enter the Los Angeles County jail, the nation’s largest residential mental institution, with 1,400 mentally ill inmates.

In the 1960s and ’70s, the increasing availability of antipsychotic medications coincided with a national movement to close public mental hospitals. Many private hospitals barred psychotic patients, including juveniles. By the 1980s, juvenile justice systems had become the primary providers of residential psychiatric care for mentally ill youths.

But as cutbacks have worsened, the debate has intensified over what constitutes adequate mental health care. Often juvenile justice systems have very little to go on when attempting a diagnosis.

*****

School records often do not arrive with arrested youths, nor do files often come from other corrections institutions. The lack of information is particularly problematic when psychiatrists try to prescribe medications. Joseph Parks, medical director for the Missouri Department of Mental Health and a national expert on pharmaceutical drug use in corrections facilities, said many juvenile offenders are prescribed multiple psychiatric drugs as they move from mental health clinics to detention halls to juvenile prisons.

A decade ago, it was rare to find juvenile offenders on two psychotropic drugs at once, Dr. Parks said. Now, many take three or four at a time, often for nonprescribed uses like helping the youths sleep.

“If you just give a kid a pill, the prison administration doesn’t have to do anything differently,” he said. “The staff doesn’t have to do anything differently. The guards don’t have to get more training.”

Census studies of child mental health professionals show chronic shortages. A 2006 study estimated that for every 100,000 youths, there were fewer than nine child psychiatrists. Dr. Penn of Texas said the state youth prison system there recently instituted a system of telepsychiatry sessions, conducting videoconferences between mental health professionals and youths being detained hundreds of miles away.

Inadequate mental health services increases recidivism. In a February report on psychiatric services at the Ohio River Valley center, Dr. Cheryl Wills, an independent mental health expert, found that officials were unnecessarily extending incarceration for youths who acted out because of their mental illnesses.

My emphases. Stop & ponder that a county jail is the largest mental institution in the country. Hell, who cares, let's start another war, it's easier.

One Sad Result Of Globalisation

This has happened all over the place, including a town near me. Some people made millions by shutting this paper mill down. It wasn't the workers.

Bill Bridgeo, Augusta’s city manager, said that the loss of all those well-paying jobs has hardly been offset by many minimum-wage jobs at the nearby mall called the Marketplace at Augusta.

My emphasis.

Green Day In New Orleans

& my my dreamy man-crush Brad Pitt was there.

Green Day - Working Class Hero Live

Harold Hector, R.I.P.

Viet Nam Hero.

Man

A person would think that this old saw would have been retired long ago. One would be wrong. These ReThugs just don't care about the truth or the country.

OK, I Can Compromise

The owner of the coffee shop I frequent, The Black Cat, rejected nude baristas awhile back. I now offer this compromise -

or this:

I could live with that. Hey, I'd look forward to the male baristas shirtless as well.

Why I Love Some Computer Wonder-Boys

Here's a great rationale for why taxing the rich is no vice. At least this rich guy has a brain that works in terms of the country as a whole, rather than just his narrow self interests. In fact, it is in his self interest to pay higher taxes, just as it is in all of our best interests to pay taxes. It keeps my gravel road graded now & then.

Not Enough Socialism

Banks get help, investment houses get help, in other words, the rich got bailed out. Wisconsin's dairy farmer, however, can just suck hind-tit. Because of our completely stupid economy, we kill perfectly good dairy cows while importing dairy products. What the hell? I know that the consumption of dairy products is down, due to a more health conscious population, but forcing the small dairy farmer into bankruptcy or suicide are not great solutions. If nothing else, government at all levels probably needs to provide money to move the dairy farmers to the production of other food products. What's so weird about farmers is why so many are goof-ball right-wingers? It's mindboggleing to watch them vote against their own best interests election after election. Farmers have actually benefited from "socialism" over the years, the problem is that it wasn't enough socialism.

Full disclosure: As a Wisco resident, I have been pissed at farmers for years because of their blasted machinery on the highways of the state. Those orange triangles tick me off. Farmers also do their fair bit of pollution, particularly with non-point pollution. Their crappy (sorry, ed.) runoff has killed a lot of trout over the years. Examples are here. & here. & here. & here.

Flying Geese & Oxygen

Interesting. Yes, yes, I know it's science.