Month: April 2002

California teachers’ union power-grab II

— Previously we mentioned the attempt by the teachers’ union to control curriculum by making it part of their collective bargaining agreement; here’s another bill aimed at increasing teacher power and harming educational quality, from the Sacramento Bee, about the only place in this state that actually covers the legislature: California’s largest teachers union is … Continue reading “California teachers’ union power-grab II”

— Previously we mentioned the attempt by the teachers’ union to control curriculum by making it part of their collective bargaining agreement; here’s another bill aimed at increasing teacher power and harming educational quality, from the Sacramento Bee, about the only place in this state that actually covers the legislature:

California’s largest teachers union is pushing to dismantle the state’s system for testing students, ranking schools and enforcing accountability — linchpins in the multibillion-dollar academic reforms of recent years.


Legislation sponsored by the California Teachers Association would create a new state testing program, controlled by teachers, and would kill plans to require high school students to pass an exit examination before receiving a diploma.
AB 2347 marks a frontal assault on the policies of Gov. Gray Davis, who recently announced his opposition to the CTA’s attempt to expand collective bargaining to include academic issues, such as textbook selection.

This bill provides further evidence of the union’s toxic agenda.

Stop killing with killing

— Sgt. Stryker addresses the bumper-sticker slogan of Searls’ idol in this brilliant essay: Let’s take the phrase “Killing does not justify killing”. What does it mean? More importantly, what are the consequences of this belief and is it morally acceptable? Dr. Frank was impressed by this as well.

— Sgt. Stryker addresses the bumper-sticker slogan of Searls’ idol in this brilliant essay:

Let’s take the phrase “Killing does not justify killing”. What does it mean? More importantly, what are the consequences of this belief and is it morally acceptable?

Dr. Frank was impressed by this as well.

California’s smartest Republican

— Jim Brulte discusses the Republican death wish: Brulte gave other reasons for the California GOP’s problems. Large numbers of new citizens are urban, working-class minorities, who tend to lean toward the Democratic Party. He also said the state Republican Party has been too loosely structured. Brulte was part of an effort to change the … Continue reading “California’s smartest Republican”

— Jim Brulte discusses the Republican death wish:

Brulte gave other reasons for the California GOP’s problems. Large numbers of new citizens are urban, working-class minorities, who tend to lean toward the Democratic Party. He also said the state Republican Party has been too loosely structured. Brulte was part of an effort to change the state GOP hierarchy and make its staff more professional. The move created friction between conservatives and moderates.


“It’s clear to me we had a ‘brand’ problem,” said Brulte, who was here meeting with congressional lawmakers and Bush administration officials. “The perception of Republicans nationwide wasn’t very good. And like other states, we suffered from that.”

While he’s mainly talking about the national party, the hardcore inside the state have damaged the party as well. Shutting down Free Republic would help.

Thought for the day

— “Most people are reasonable, most of the time; for the rest, you need Master Bomb.” — me.

— “Most people are reasonable, most of the time; for the rest, you need Master Bomb.” — me.

Geek PAC

— Is the Geek PAC going to be a reality? Here’s the story from NewsForge: The American Open Technology Consortium, the geek lobbying organization that began getting media attention last week, has raised nearly $30,000 in pledges without really asking for them yet, and organizers are thinking about splitting the group in two [to] comply … Continue reading “Geek PAC”

— Is the Geek PAC going to be a reality? Here’s the story from NewsForge:

The American Open Technology Consortium, the geek lobbying organization that began getting media attention last week, has raised nearly $30,000 in pledges without really asking for them yet, and organizers are thinking about splitting the group in two [to] comply with U.S. political action committee rules.

I have my doubts, although it would be nice for more geeks to get involved in actual politics instead of just stewing in their old-hat ’60s pseudo-politics all the time. The first problem with this PAC will be raising money, since open socialism is primarily the tool of individuals and not organizations (except for IBM, the prime mover behind Linux.) And secondly they’ll have to make concrete and practical decisions on concrete and actual issues, something that no other Geek PAC (EFF, for example) has ever been able to do well.

Paternity fraud bill

— Here’s a note from Dianna Thompson of the ACFC about Rod Wright’s bill: Seventy-five Paternity Fraud victims and their families flooded the chambers of the California State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 to plead for passage of AB 2240, the “California Paternity Justice Act of 2002.” The victims came from hundreds … Continue reading “Paternity fraud bill”

— Here’s a note from Dianna Thompson of the ACFC about Rod Wright’s bill:

Seventy-five Paternity Fraud victims and their families flooded the
chambers of the California State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee on
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 to plead for passage of AB 2240, the “California
Paternity Justice Act of 2002.”


The victims came from hundreds of miles around to voice their outrage over
the state of California’s complicity in a fraud which victimizes hundreds
of thousands of Americans each year. In particularly moving testimony, the
young daughter of a now-impoverished paternity fraud victim asked the
committee to pass the bill which would allow her and her family to get
their lives back.


Despite some lengthy questioning from a couple of the Assembly members,
the bill emerged from the hearing alive and well. The committee decided it
needed more time to study the bill, and postponed the hearing for two weeks.

The hostility of chair Ellen Corbett is the chief obstacle to the passage of this bill, and she needs for some constituents to pay her a visit.

Give ignorance a chance

— In the interest of starting a constructive dialog between war blogers and the anti-life HTML technician bloggers allied with the Prince of Darkness, I dropped the following note on the Doc (of what?) Searls Weblog I’ve got a real dilemma on my hands – jeneane talks about the warbloggers [sic] unwillingness to see the … Continue reading “Give ignorance a chance”

— In the interest of starting a constructive dialog between war blogers and the anti-life HTML technician bloggers allied with the Prince of Darkness, I dropped the following note on the Doc (of what?) Searls Weblog

I’ve got a real dilemma on my hands – jeneane talks about the warbloggers [sic] unwillingness to see the other side, and Doc says that being pro-war is being pro-killing and death. My dilemma, of course, is that I can’t decide which of these remarks is more stupid, vapid, self-serving, and asinine.

In favor of “seeing the other side,” it would help me if jeneane or someone else who feels that way would kindly explain the side that believes that bombing the WTC and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 was a Good Thing. I haven’t heard a persuasive argument for that point of view, but I don’t deny that there might be one in some parallel universe. Factually, even people who have a hard-on against Western Civilization admit that the attack created backlash and didn’t help their cause.

In favor of “pro-war is pro-death” we have the fact that war is seen by its proponents as appropriate in some circumstances and inappropriate in others, where the ultimate goal is bringing peace and protecting life. Being pro-war because you think the just war brings peace and security is certainly no more contradictory than selling a magazine promoting free software; it’s a means to an end. And don’t talk to me about Gandhi, because he was very clear about the fact that his tactics only worked because the British were fundamentally moral and decent. You can’t shame somebody who has no conscience.


Since I’ve been logging my thoughts on the Web since 1994, I’ve enjoyed seeing the work of newbie bloggers who’ve come online in the last 5 years; but let’s not get too arrogant about our points of view or pedigrees, OK?

See the next article for the links to what I was commenting on.

Devastation in the Jenin refugee camp

— People who are cluck-clucking over the brutality of the Israelis in the Jenin Refugee Camp and Breeding Ground for Suicide Bombers should read Sgt. Stryker’s Daily Briefing for a different (and more plausible) take on what really happend in Jenin: Omar and other “engineers” made hundreds of explosive devices and carefully chose their locations. … Continue reading “Devastation in the Jenin refugee camp”

— People who are cluck-clucking over the brutality of the Israelis in the Jenin Refugee Camp and Breeding Ground for Suicide Bombers should read Sgt. Stryker’s Daily Briefing for a different (and more plausible) take on what really happend in Jenin:

Omar and other “engineers” made hundreds of explosive devices and carefully chose their locations.


“We had more than 50 houses booby-trapped around the camp. We chose old and empty buildings and the houses of men who were wanted by Israel because we knew the soldiers would search for them,” he said.


“We cut off lengths of mains water pipes and packed them with explosives and nails. Then we placed them about four metres apart throughout the houses — in cupboards, under sinks, in sofas.”


The fighters hoped to disable the Israeli army’s tanks with much more powerful bombs placed inside rubbish bins on the street. More explosives were hidden inside the cars of Jenin’s most wanted men.


Connected by wires, the bombs were set off remotely, triggered by the current from a car battery.


According to Omar, everyone in the camp, including the children, knew where the explosives were located so that there was no danger of civilians being injured. It was the one weakness in the plan.


“We were betrayed by the spies among us,” he says. The wires to more than a third of the bombs were cut by soldiers accompanied by collaborators. “If it hadn’t been for the spies, the soldiers would never have been able to enter the camp. Once they penetrated the camp, it was much harder to defend.”

It was a setup, in other words.

Knees jerking in Washington

— Mass hysteria comes to Washington, DC this weekend, with an old-fashioned little peace march: The main demands at the White House demonstration will be “FREE PALESTINE! No new war on Iraq!”, “Stop the attacks on Arab and Muslim people! Defend civil liberties!”, and “Money for Jobs, Education, Healthcare and Housing, Not Racist War!” Top … Continue reading “Knees jerking in Washington”

— Mass hysteria comes to Washington, DC this weekend, with an old-fashioned little peace march:

The main demands at the White House demonstration will be “FREE PALESTINE! No new war on Iraq!”, “Stop the attacks on Arab and Muslim people! Defend civil liberties!”, and “Money for Jobs, Education, Healthcare and Housing, Not Racist War!”

Top speakers will include convicted cop-killer and hardcore racist Free Mumia (with purchase of equal or greater value) and pro-terrorist Fadia Rafeedi. Like Juan Gato, I wish I’d a got a ticket to DC for all the fun and games. I’ve been dying to hear all about the connection between Arafat-hunting and AIDS, for example. But they explain it all:

Bush and the global corporations he represents are busy bombing Afghanistan, supporting Israeli war against the Palestinians and planning to bomb Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines, Peru, Indonesia, Iran, and elsewhere while millions of people are dying from the preventable disease of HIV/AIDS. Greedy corporations like Merck, GlaxoWellcome, and Dupont are racking up billions of dollars in profits from AIDS while 8,000 people from developing countries die each day!

So there you have it – Bush spreads AIDS in the Third World. I’m shocked, but not surprised; but how did Sullivan catch it?

The Bush Doctrine

— The president reiterated the Bush Doctrine as he prepared to meet with Crown Prince Abdullah at the ranch next week: “In the Middle East, where acts of terror have triggered mounting violence, all parties have a choice to make,” the president said. “Every leader, every state must choose between two separate paths: the path … Continue reading “The Bush Doctrine”

— The president reiterated the Bush Doctrine as he prepared to meet with Crown Prince Abdullah at the ranch next week:

“In the Middle East, where acts of terror have triggered mounting violence, all parties have a choice to make,” the president said. “Every leader, every state must choose between two separate paths: the path of peace or the path of terror.”

Given the Saudis’ role in greasing the skids of Wahabbist terrorism for lo these many years, that’s going to be an interesting meeting, even without pork ribs and hound dogs.