The Hard Decisions Begin in Earnest, County by County

Save our Fairfax County Public Schools band and strings programs - The Petition Site

A vendor sent this notice over on email, urging that Fairfax County (Maryland?), staring a $176,000,000 deficit in the face, keep its band and orchestra programs publicly funded.

Many have expressed concern, dismay and questions over the Straw Man list suggesting the elimination of the Fairfax County Elementary Band And String program in the FY2011 Budget. The school system faces a $176 million deficit. Eliminating a program that serves 28,000 students is not acceptable. This will, in a short time decimate our secondary school bands and orchestras.

This is not an appeal to sign a petition, but an illustration of the quandry faced by counties everywhere.

A few thoughts:

1. Not picking on these folk in particular, but every county and every school board will be facing tough decisions beginning this next fiscal year. One bad thing about The Stimulus is that it allowed local leadership in some cases to paper over the problem for one more year, 'kicking the can down the road'(to quote Fred Thompson), and making the subsequent decisions even more painful. Yo' taahmm is UP, everybody. Gotta make some hard decisions.

2. I'm a musician by trade, but I'm a parent, and friend of other parents. If it comes down to keeping the chemistry, maths, history, and foreign languages curricula in place versus the school band and orchestra program, then band and orchestra have to go. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that, but it may!

3. The nasty little secret no one wants to discuss is that most public-school band and orchestra programs are dreadfully bad. I've seen a lot do more harm than good. Many don't deserve to survive. If they're good, they can likely survive outside the walls of the school.

4. If it's important to families and communities for children to learn music, and learn how to do it well, then this can be provided with much higher quality and less cost outside the walls of the public school. How much does it matter to you, mom and dad? Enough to write checks, volunteer, and quietly make certain your neighbors' kids from less affluent circumstances also have that opportunity? I see marching bands(don't get me started!) where the band-boosters have purchased semis and trailers to haul all that stuff around--upwards of 500k in capital investment in some of these programs! This really matters to these folk, and they pour out the money and time to make certain it happens. (And marching bands really suck as a music education approach.) Imagine a community youth orchestra with a 500k capital investment for gear and rehearsal space!

5. A two-word solution for music education in schools that doesn't cost tons of money: Choral Music. Every kid arrives at school with the instrument installed. You need a really good teacher, a really good piano(and pianist), and about 2k a year for music library purchases. For about 120-150k a year, every kid in the school can learn how to read music and how to sing. That's a lot more than is presently being accomplished.

These hard choices must be made. The money is not in the public coffers, and will not be there for years to come. Whining and demanding that non-existent tax revenues be spent on programs that don't deliver value for students is not the solution. Some very worthy programs, such as the Fairfax County elementary string orchestra, may have to reorganize outside the walls of the school.

Hard decisions will have to be made.

If we make them wisely, the culture will begin to recover.

And, after that, the economy will begin to function again.

Proof Positive: There's One Born Every Minute

P.T. Barnum was right!

The government of Argentina, that model of stability, prudence, and sobriety stretching back generation upon generation, has decided to rejoin the world, and settle up on its old sovereign debt defaults. The bondholders just have to take a 60% haircut, that's all.

Easy-peasy.

Then, they plan to issue NEW sovereign debt, at an attractive rate of interest.

And, there are money managers out there planning to buy in!

Could it be they know, when push comes to shove, they can now dump the resultant losses on the US Treasury and taxpayer?

In the great Latin American tradition of 'La Mordida', how much kickback money should we estimate will funnel its way back to those managers as they make those purchases with their clients' funds?

This should turn out well...it's a sure thing. Where do we sign up?

Argentina Legislation Aims to Settle Bond Dispute - WSJ.com

Tear Down This Wall

Twenty years ago, we watched in joy and wonder as the Berlin Wall was pulled down by the citizens of Berlin itself.

The Soviet Empire had been teetering for some time, but we could not see it from here.

Ronald Reagan knew better, and delivered the kick to the sternum that led to its inevitable collapse.

For those of you too young to remember, or too cynical to care, listen to 1:43 of a twenty-seven minute masterpiece, delivered by the last statesman to ever occupy the Presidency.

Words have meaning. Truth has power. Moral uprightness is a force of nature.

The cowards in our State Department wrung their hands at the audacity of Ronald Reagan for stating the simple truth.

They were wrong. They should have all been sacked. It was one of the few things Reagan left undone.

Moms and Dads, teach your children of this day, and how it came to be.

Full text and video here.

Speechwriter Tony Dolan's account of the crafting of the speech here, courtesy of Wall Street Journal.

God bless Ronald Reagan, and mercifully grant us more leaders like him.

The Health Care Bill and The Happy Meal

There are several pages in the 1500's that give HHS the power to require labelling of all manner of food.
Here follows an especially entertaining nugget.


Page 1514:

‘‘(v) MENU VARIABILITY AND COMBINATION MEALS.—The Secretary shall establish by regulation standards for determining and disclosing the nutrient content for standard menu items that come in different flavors, varieties, or combinations, but which are listed as a single menu item, such as soft  drinks, ice cream, pizza, doughnuts, or children’s combination meals, through means determined by the Secretary, including ranges, averages, or other methods.


Call your Member of Congress...

Health Care Bill: Secretary of HHS, Doctors and Pharmaceutical Companies

Page 128 (Italics mine)

SEC. 239. PROTECTION OF PHYSICIAN PRESCRIBER INFORMATION

(a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall conduct a study on the use of physician prescriber information in sales and marketing practices of pharmaceutical manufacturers.

(b) REPORT.—Based on the study conducted under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on actions needed to be taken by the Congress or the Secretary to protect providers from biased marketing and sales practices.




So, what constitutes 'biased marketing and sales practices'?

By this language, anything the Secretary of Health and Human Services decides...

Of Course We Won't Ration Care!

From page 25 going into 26.

Look at the final clause. Italics mine. Miss Nancy surely doesn't want this noticed...

Looks like rationing to me!

(2) INSUFFICIENTFUNDS.—If the Secretary estimates for any fiscal year that the aggregate amounts available for payment of expenses of the high-risk pool will be less than the amount of the expenses, the Secretary shall make such adjustments as are necessary to eliminate such deficit, including reducing benefits, increasing premiums, or establishing waiting lists. 

Dramatic Reading 1: House Health Care Bill

From page 25 of the House Health Care bill:

(7) TREATMENT AS CREDITABLE COVERAGE.— 

Coverage under the program shall be treated, for 2
purposes of applying the definition of ‘‘creditable 3
coverage’’ under the provisions of title XXVII of the 4
Public Health Service Act, part 6 of subtitle B of 5
title I of Employee Retirement Income Security Act 6
of 1974, and chapter 100 of the Internal Revenue 7
Code of 1986 (and any other provision of law that 8
references such provisions) in the same manner as 9
if it were coverage under a State health benefits risk 10
pool described in section 2701(c)(1)(G) of the Public 11
Health Service Act. 12

That's one paragraph from 1190 pages.

Call your Member of Congress.

Feeding At The Trough

The feeding frenzy is now underway in earnest...expect language to be inserted that will allow illegal immigrants to belly up to the bar for Obama's Free Lunch.

The Hispanic Caucus met with the Prez to remind him of his promises to open the coffers to illegals, including, of course, free health care.

Well, not exactly free.  The citizens get to pay for it.

"I think that he got our message," Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., head of the Hispanic Caucus, said afterward.  House leaders said that, in keeping with the Hispanic Caucus' demands, there was not likely to be any prohibition added to the House bill against illegal immigrants shopping in the exchange.

Here's the AP story.  


I called my Congressman's office(Tanner, TN-8), and the staffer claimed she didn't know how he planned to vote. I was incredulous, she was indignant, claiming he hadn't decided.


Right.


He's a slimeball, and will vote for it, 'cuz Miss Nancy tells him so.  He voted for the TARP, for the stimulus, for whatever Miss Nancy wants.



Call your Member of Congress.  Freedom is at stake.

Goldman Knew The Crash Was Coming...And Helped Drive The World Over The Cliff

The insiders at Goldman knew the crash was coming. 


And saw it as an opportunity to make money hand-over-fist, and leave the taxpayer to bear the brunt of the losses, even as many of them were also losing their homes and jobs.


In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.

Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies.

Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk. 

(Those are just the opening paragraphs--the really bad stuff is buried down the article.)

All in a day's work. Crack dealer, investment banker, both selling poisonous products with high profit margins, and insulating themselves from having to see what their stuff does to the customer.


Problem is, this sort of behavior totally erodes any sense of trust in a culture.

It's difficult to have a culture once trust is eroded. Much less an economy.

But, then again, if they cared about the culture, they wouldn't have been selling this stuff in the first place, would they?

Culture shapes economy.

Frank Rich and The G.O.P. Stalinists Invading Upstate New York

Ah, the YewNork Times!  Ya' just GOTTA love 'em.

Frank Rich, one time drama critic and current Obama Kool-Aid sipper goes to great lengths to tell America to be very afraid of Mr. Hoffman and those who support him.  Further, he thinks that Hoffman's victory will be wonderful for the Democrats next year.

Methinks the folks-in-charge of both parties might be sweating a bit, 'cuz the spin has already begun, before the election even takes place!

Remember, those of us who just don't idly by and take what is shoveled in our direction are just ignorant bubbas, racists...

Stalinists!

How come they get to call names, and it's journalism?

We point out the facts on the public record, speak up, and we're Stalinists.

I think we've got them on the run, personally...

Op-Ed Columnist - The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York - NYTimes.com