A Great Post Title

Is one that tells you all you need to know but leaves you itching to see if there is something more.

California and Cypress ..... you don't have to read any more to get the point.  But there is more at  Legal Insurrection ... 

I go off on a tangent however....

It made me think of Ontario and Cypress .... with something like 3 times the debt to GDP ratio and no hope of closing the gap under the current liberal government the Province of Ontario is poised to bring down the rest of Canada in the same way the failed socialist states of Europe are bringing down the EU. Their bonds are worthless and the economy will not sustain any taxation needed to repair the gap between what they owe and what they need to pay the debt.

And so the EU bureaucrats are forcing the national banks of Cypress (and any others they choose) to take money out of their customer accounts. THEFT to cover the debts incurred by government.

The big question today is "Will this allow the federal government to steal your savings?"

In the case of the state of California ... you can bet your ass that the Federal government inn the US will bail them out

Under the new federal budget there is an item which clears the way for them to do so.

From Budget2013:

The Government proposes to implement a ―bail-in regime for
systemically important banks. This regime will be designed to ensure that,
in the unlikely event that a systemically important bank depletes its
capital, the bank can be recapitalized and returned to viability through the
very rapid conversion of certain bank liabilities into regulatory capital.
This will reduce risks for taxpayers. The Government will consult
stakeholders on how best to implement a bail-in regime in Canada.
Implementation timelines will allow for a smooth transition for affected
institutions, investors and other market participants.

Easter

I'm at a loss to think of anything better to say about Easter than a post I made about five years ago.

I'm going to take a deep breath and relax a bit! I hope everyone else will as well.
It seems a good thing when a time is allowed for a little meditation and introspection and I usually find this happens for me around significant dates on the calender.

So Easter! The time of renewal, the remembering of sacrifice and resurrection and what those things mean in our lives.

I'm thinking about how others I know are struggling with what life is dealing them. Some with big and life changing issues to manage and some with less urgent and less intimidating things happening. Some with new opportunities and horizons some just dealing with the same old stuff.

For one and all I'll spend a bit of time reflecting on our world and our lives. 

Thinking back over past years of posting...

Happy Easter

OMMAG

Sending a Message to UN Parasites

Like most things that the UN involves itself in the  Convention on Combat Desertification spent 80% of the resources provided on the bureaucratic administration of the programs. The disposition of the remaining 20%  is mostly unaccounted for.

The important thing about our Canadian government getting out of this sort of boondoggle has little to do withe the $350,000 that Canadian Taxpayers have been contributing since 1995 (thanks to the Chretien Liberals). The fact is, that as a matter of principle Canadians should not be forced to feed the UN without question. Simply because past governments have been blindly willing to sign on to this sort of ill conceived initiative is no reason to keep doing it.

In reality this presents a larger opportunity for Canada and any other UN member states who are actually paying the freight for this organization, to take a sober look at the entire scope of participation in the activities of the UN.

The UN operates by extracting funding from productive member states to subsidize the participation of unproductive member states. The pool of money is managed (to use the term loosely) by an ever growing host of bureaucrats who come from the member states. Once the bureaucrats are established the principles of organizational behaviour take over.

Each and every one of the he subsidiary organs of the General Assembly are divided into boards, commissions, committees, councils, panels, working groups and "other" unspecified groups.

Each and every one of these groups employs bureaucrats and uses funds provided by member states and not one of these bureaucracies is held accountable for actual results beyond establishing a budget and spending money. Which brings us to the "programs" that receive what is left over after the 80% bureaucratic "skim". The end recipients of money and resources that find their way through  the UN filter may be local groups that actually use the resources or distribute goods and services to real people who may be the intended beneficiaries of the programs. Or not.


The bureaucratic self justification that is the main tool of  these UN organs is not impenetrable. All it takes is to cut off the funding and our Canadian Government has taken a step in the right direction by leaving ONE of the many such UN groups.

I am proud to be a Canadian with a government that will stand up to the parasites of the UN.

OMMAG

Rogue Backbenchers or Just Ridiculous Fools

It's a sad fact of politics that parties pretty much have to take whatever they get in terms of candidates and especially ones that are successfully elected.

The problem is that any fool can run for office and get elected. Witness the entire opposition in the House of Commons.

However, this is not solely a problem for the lefticles and libranos (although they hardly see it as a problem) ... but rather a common affliction suffered by all. The difference between the parties here in Canada is that the commie NDP just accept loons and losers like hippies accept crab lice and venereal disease. The Libs just try to pretend that it isn't moonbattery but genius.

But for conservatives such things ARE a problem.

Medicocre political hacks who manage to get elected are expected to make every effort to behave like adults and learn how to play on the TEAM. Those who can't manage this or refuse to, need to be taught a lesson. Those who will not learn need to be booted.

And so it goes for MP Mark Warawa who has decided that his personal agenda is more important than dealing with the business of governing this nation. Who's childishly petulant demand that he be allowed to waste our government's time making moral pronouncements is a right to which he is entitled. Who continues to behave like an attention seeking adolescent while the adults in the room have made it plain that he is out of line.

I feel no sympathy for this fool.

I also completely understand why his juvenile antics appeal so much to the clowns in opposition and to the slavering morons in the media. Mark Warawa is "one of theirs". He is an entitled and attention seeking clown who is out of his depth in serious matters and seeks to bring the discussion down to his own pathetic level of understanding. He panders to the unthinking and irresponsible for no other reason than to appear to be a person of import.

He is not a person of import.

OMMAG

Weblog of the YEAR!

Not just a blog but a Climate Blog.

 http://wattsupwiththat.com/

Debunking fake science and exposing climate frauds every day for years now......

Authoritative coverage of the reports the mainstream media DO NOT cover.

Great work by Anthony Watts and friends.....

OH YEAH ..... Small Dead Animals .... Is No1 Canadian ...

OMMAG

Catchy Blog Name

Stuff Black People Don't Like....    Stuff Black People Dont Like

In this post by SBPDL authored by the pseudonomic (pseudonymous?) Paul Kersey .... there is a lot of information about just who does what with firearms in America. No surprise that most crimes committed with firearms are committed by young black men on other young black men.  No surprise either that this occurs mostly in the urban shitholes where white people do not live ... because they don't have to.

White urban people mostly own guns to protect themselves from the people who are most likely to use them for committing crimes. (must make them racist eh?)

The upshot of all this seems to be that black people don't like white people to have guns and mostly support gun controls that will take away those legally owned firearms from the people least likely to use them for crimes.  (but that's NOT racist I suppose...)

The subject of his blog post is this article  from the WaPo............

Guns, Blacks, and Steel: The Washington Post Publishes the Truth About Black Gun Crime in America

Dan Keating, writing at The Washington Post, has published a powerful piece on gun deaths in America -- particularly by race (check here for a chart breaking down gun homicides by race in all 50 states). And the data shows white people primarily use guns for self-defense and fatal self-inflicted wounds (suicide), while black people use guns for criminal acts that lead to black-on-black gun violence/murder. [Gun deaths shaped by race in America, Washington Post, 3-22-13]:

After digging through all this I still don't feel better informed about what "Black People" don't like... but at least the story was entrtaining and informative in other ways.

BTW ... "Paul Kersey" is the name of the vigilanty character played to ridiculous extremes by Chuck Bronson.


OMMAG

Canadian Taxpayers Forced to Subsidize Anti- Israel Propaganda

It is not news to Canadians that the state funded CBC is unashamedly biased in its liberal / left view of the world. Never mind the blatant hatred expressed by CBC producers and on air staff for Canada's conservative citizens and in particular the politicians we support. The CBC has no problem with petty displays of intolerance and downright ignorance with regard to those who do not share their left wing views. And yet, feel entitled to demand the financial support of all Canadian taxpayers.

When it comes to reporting on international news however there is a special sort of journalistic malfeasance that this taxpayer funded media outlet is prone to.

In matters of Israel and middle east security the CBC regularly distorts and even fabricates reporting to put the state of Israel in a bad light. The current PR expedition be US president Obama has provided a perfect example of the bias and outright ignorance of the CBC news staff and its producers.

False Claims of Vandalism in Israel ...

In the reporting of the POTUS visit the CBC aired video of a street lined with posters showing Obamas face painted over with red X's. The problem is that the CBC claimed this was from the location of their on the scene report (Jerusalem) and they claimed that this vandalism was perpetrated by Israelis.

Both of these claims by the CBC are patently false.

The pictures used were from a street in the West Bank and there is no evidence to support the assertion that the vandalism was perpetrated by anyone other than the Palestinian Arabs of Ramallah.

**Further investigation shows these posters to be signs put up in Ramallah by the Arabs.**

Yes it is a small and petty thing. But that is what the CBC represents to  Canada and the world.

The problem is that we are forced to fund this propaganda through a $1.4 billion annual tax subsidy.

OMMAG

$18 Million Northern Building is FUBAR

I'm guessing this is a "LEEDS" qualified project that all the politicians and bureaucrats love so much. But aside from phony baloney environment certifications the fundamental problem in this story is that the Federal Government Agency is trying to shift the focus from what happened under their supervision to theoretical discussions about thermal gain due to architectural design.


 From the insufferable Globe & Mail: (with my edits to cut out a load of crap)

"A real Northern mystery has settled on the RCMP’s new $18-million Iqaluit headquarters, which is sinking into the permafrost for reasons that almost no one wants to talk about." More than two years have passed since part of the three-storey detachment office began to crack and settle ... yet only one person connected to the project will offer a full explanation – and he says it’s sabotage.

Bill Watt of Arctic Foundations of Canada Inc. (AFC) said the passive foundational cooling system he installed to keep the ground solid was deliberately damaged. He installed cooling system into the foundation in 2006.

“Somebody sabotaged two of them,” said Mr. Watt, whose Winnipeg company has installed flat-loop thermosyphon systems in projects all across Northern Canada, including eight other buildings in Iqaluit. “Someone opened the valves, and injected water into the pipes” – which then froze and prevented that part of the system from drawing heat away from the ground, he said.

The finished building opened in April, 2010. ....Seven months later, Mr. Watt was told that part of his cooling system had failed, and that the building was settling.


The RCMP referred all questions about its Iqaluit headquarters to Public Works and Government Services Canada, which developed the project. FSC Architects & Engineers and Almiq Contracting Ltd., which together designed and built the structure, said they were contractually barred from talking about it.
Tom Corrigan, a spokesman for Public Works: “It would be premature to speculate on the cause,” he said – even though the problem was discovered more than two years ago.

Mr. Watt said the thermosyphons at the building “functioned perfectly for about four years.” They were installed at least a year before work began above ground, to let the foundation – which also included concrete footings and a special gravel pad – establish itself in the permafrost. AFC monitored the ground temperatures remotely for two years, and saw nothing in the data to indicate any trouble.

Mr. Watt said that after the second year of monitoring, he was told that Public Works would keep tabs on ground temperatures from that point on. But when he heard about the damaged thermosyphons in November, 2010, he looked at Public Works’ ground temperature log and found no records for eight of the previous 12 months.

When he inspected the system, he said, he found that caps on two valves on an outdoor radiator cluster had been removed, and two of the pipes were flooded. “The water came up the pipe more than five feet above ground level,” he said. “There’s no way that can happen naturally.” He believes only a small pump could have put that much fluid in the system. He said the RCMP later got him to change the valve caps so that they could only be opened with a secure Allen key.

(NOTE: You can buy these tools at Canadian Tire)



Mr. Corrigan also said that Public Works will decide how to fix the warming problem by the end of March, and plans to do any necessary remedial work by the fall. But Mr. Watt said the building could sink further unless an active cooling system is installed to relieve the damaged pipe before the spring melt. 

Just what you'd expect from an ass covering bureaucrat.

HTs to SDA ....

OMMAG

Very Important Milestones in Education

CHESTNUT HILL, MA—According to an alarming new report published Wednesday by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, third-graders in China are beginning to lag behind U.S. high school students in math and science.
The study, based on exam scores from thousands of students in 63 participating countries, confirmed that in mathematical and scientific literacy, American students from the ages of 14 to 18 have now actually pulled slightly ahead of their 8-year-old Chinese counterparts.
“This is certainly a wake-up call for China,” said Dr. Michael Fornasier, an IEA senior fellow and coauthor of the report. “The test results unfortunately indicate that education standards in China have slipped to the extent that pre-teens are struggling to rank among even the average American high school student.”

Thanks to the Lumberjacks?

Conspiracy ... In Theory

Incompetence or  Genius?

What drives the US geo-political strategy these days? Is it simply the outcome of of a bunch of self serving knobs left in charge of the office? Or, is it a deep and devious conspiracy of the sort the Russians have always dreamt about pulling off?

Well ... I have often thought that it would be a good idea to turn the tables on the likes of the Soviet Union and their Marxist Axis Pals. Since Russia and Friends spent the better part of the last century instigating grief and confusion around the globe in their efforts to one up or simply discredit the USA, why not?

According to the marxists of the world, it was the US after all that was responsible for all the world's problems. So why not make it so? If the axis states depended on fomenting trouble in order to have something to blame on America then what difference would it make if the US actually did this for them?

What good would it do? Well the Russians .... have a theory:

In short it boils down to the fact that the current version of the USA is under the supposed guidance of a cabal of Marxist Democrats who are using the strategies of the American marxists Cloward &Piven along with Saul Alynski's acolyte, Obama.

The Russians see this as a deliberate attempt to completely destabilize the world so the USA can act as the "Last Man Standing" and clean up at the expense of .... everyone. It only makes sense from a Russian POV .... since until the time where they went broke trying to do it .... this was exactly their goal.

The Russian (Marxist) arrogance was such that they actually believed they would be the ones to survive a global political and economic meltdown. At, least until Ronald Reagan called their bluff and took the pot committed commies to the cleaners. This was a lesson learned well in Moscow and to this day the Russian powers understand the USA to be the strongest player in the global power game. The only thing they seem to be confused about is whether or not there is an American strategy to play the anarchist strategy to the end.

So, what do you think? Could it be that this bunch of clowns in Washington are actually master geo-political game players? Or is it simply a matter of a cultural misconception on the part of the Russians?

I'm guessing that the Russians just can't imagine that this administration could possibly be so incompetent.

OMMAG 
With Hat Tips to PJ Media and Spengler via Flares into Darkness

Climate Science on Sunday

The recent favorite pictogram used by global warming (climate change) alarmists is a graphic generated by some  scientists named Marcott, Shakun, Clark and Mix. What makes the hysterical doomsayers so happy about this work is that it appears to replicate the results of Mann etal in the prediction of global warming based on CO2 in our environment.

The Marcott "Trick" by McIntyre via Watts

The problem for all these so called scientists is that from the very beginning the predictions were based on a combination of wishful (for the paranoid fear mongering crowd) thinking, fabricated data and the wilful ignoring (and hiding) of data that was contrary to the desired model.

Because these newcomers chose to ignore the inconvenient facts around the Mann and friends fraud they opened themselves up to the same sort of examination.

Well .... it did not take long to discovers the flaw in their efforts.
Step One - Anything that looks like Mann etal is probably no better. If it walks and talks like a duck!

Step Two - Look for the manipulation used in the data. We already know that it took deliberate manipulation of the actual data used by the first bunch to get what they wanted, so it follows that any similar results came from the same sort of "work".

That's it! Two simple bits of critical thinking and a little analysis and our intrepid Doctor Stephen McIntyre spots the trick.

Instead of changing their data, Marcott  and company used different dates in their published paper than what was actually recorded.

Of course the news media that purports itself to be expert in the fields of science and research have not and likely will not bother to perform even the most rudimentary examination. I doubt if they will even mention the fact that Steve McIntyre actually did.

In related news, the "whistle blower" scientist who has been a thorn in the side of the political esablishment in California has been forced to sue his employer in self defense.
 Dr. James Enstrom  has been a vocal critic of the destructive policies initated by California politicians and regulators such as CARB . His employer, UCLA told Enstrom he was being terminated because his research failed to accord with the department’s “mission.”

The mission of UCLA apparently is NOT the discovery and publication of truth or facts.
Just another case of environmental activism at work.


OMMAG

Tarsier

Tar -See-ay
http://youtu.be/6Jz0JcQYtqo

From Small Dead Animals

But Glenn Beck Is The Crazy One

In a 1990 dissertation while she was at Oxford;

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice praised the 1979-1980 British peacekeeping operation that led to the rule of Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe, as "a model and a masterpiece in the evolution of international peacekeeping"...

Liberals! Consistently wrong about everything .... and don't give a sh!t what it costs.

OMMAG

Name the Weasel

Eh?

OMMAG

You Know What This Means?

This .... is the fact that the little lunatic state of Nork gave official notice today that they are withdrawing from the armistice of 1953. 

This means that the freakshow military dictatorship is on its own and officially at war with:
South Korea, USA, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Ethiopia, Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Greece, France, Colombia, Belgium, South Africa, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, India, Luxembourg.

In addition, the rest of the NATO members, the Commonwealth nations and by extension every nation that has agreed to subsequent military agreements with any of these member states are affected.

The original signatories  to the armistice included; the Norks, actually the Nork Army and on behalf of  the Chinese Peoples Army. The USA signed on behalf of the United Nations Command.
The treaty, in effect created the republic of South Korea and of course this is the primary beneficiary of the armistice agreement.

Still waiting to hear any official response to this situation from any one other than the UN who believe that the Armistice is still in force regardless of what the Norks say.  A sort of "Move along ... nothing to see here." approach to the situation. Never mind the facts to the contrary.
That and some vague threat to establish an "Official Commission" of human rights to investigate the Norks. Whatever that has to do with a defacto declaration of war.

I imagine that South Korea probably has something to say about that.

AND BTW ...

Thanks to: Chicago Boyz for reminding us!

OMMAG

Lefty Tools Face Forced Diet

Loly Rico

Because Canada has cut off the fast track to the gravy train there are fewer "refugees" to justify the existance of immigration "consultants", lawyers and and lefty activists. A nice bonus this last year was the closing of the Syrian office, helping to reduce the total numbers by about 26% from the previous years.

One great benefit is the fact that this is going to help put a nail in the coffin of the fake refugee industry.  Fraudsters, con-artists and criminals who prey on those who might otherwise remain safely within the legal process of immigration. So, all in all we have reduced crime and fraud in an area that needs to be cleaned up and saved our country a whack of money in the process.

This is a WIN in my books.

I have news for you Loly... lower 'fugee numbers means the policy of making it tough on the frauds and criminals is the right policy. Any reduction in your activity is just proof of the part you and your ilk play in cheating Canadians of wealth and security. And, you had better believe that WE are sick and tired of your getting fat at our expense. Get used to the diet program.


OMMAG

The Trouble with Lists

Is that the people who make them desperately need to understand what they are making lists OF!

#44 Most Powerful People in Sports

Sports Illustrated online edition .... could you explain just what the hell you mean?
What  Crock of Shit this is:

Barack Obama

U.S. President

POTUS might be the ultimate global power player, but he also wields significant influence in the Republic of Sports. One relevant riff -- on his NCAA tourney picks, on his desire for a college football playoff, on his concern over permitting the sons that he doesn't have to play football -- and the sports world takes notice. Plus, the 51-year-old can shoot the J.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/main/photos/1303/50-most-powerful-people-in-sports//44/#ixzz2N9xddXxf

Closed Mind?

Well yeah! Besides the obvious failure of all so called progressive policies to do anything but cause harm to our society, there is nothing quite so obvious of the iron trap of ideology that modern liberals have clamped onto the vestiges of their brains.

The modern left are empty of all reason and all morality. And man without reason or morality is nothing but decaying flesh.

Anyway ... The Intelligent Sultan

Update .... The reason there are so many useless conservatives is that there are so many ... Uninformed and Misguided Conservatives 

Better known as RINOs to most .... I think they're just too stupid to know how stupid they really are. For the sake of brevity I'll just say that Daniel Greenfield had it absolutely right when he scolds all the dummies who back Rand Paul's idiot conspiracy mania. And for all the dummies out there who call themselves "Libertarian" .... being a libertarian requires the capacity for critical and rational thought. When you follow freakshow conspiracy propaganda like the Pauls you have failed that requirement.

There is no point in stopping there because there are dyed in the wool RINOs like McCain and Graham who think their own agenda is morally superior to the freakshow of fake Libertarianism. They are not and they do themselves and their party no favours by criticizing the Pauls for the wrong reasons.
Rand and Ron are both useful idiots to the left who work to undermine the strength of  their enemies.  Their enemies ARE true conservatives and the heart and soul of America. They have no use for things that makes America or Americans strong and seek to foment discontent and division.

Not that McCain or his fellow RINO travelers are much better. It is only a matter of degree between actively facilitating the efforts of the left to destroy our society and merely caving in to the bastards.

Let's not forget also that we in Canada have  our own versions of this moral and ideological perversion in the body of Fake Conservatives .... Red Tories and CINO frauds who infest our political body like cancer. They, just like their American counterparts are perfectly prepared to abet the criminals of the left in their efforts to destroy our freedoms and steal out wealth.


OMMAG

Librano Pocket Lining

Well .... it's not really a surprise that yet another left wing politician is found lining his pockets with taxpayer money.
Also no surprise that the first step is to set up a round of shrill Canada bashing and blaming those of us who actually give a shit about our nation for the problems they have in fact manufactured. Of course they also will pretend to be the "Saviours" and the only true defenders of "Canadian" values.

Turns out today that Bob The Boob Rae .... the guy who tanked the Ontario Economy as an NDP first minister back in the 90s.... has been talking up a storm as an advocate for first nations complaints.

Not that being an advocate for first nations complaints is necessarily anything more than a job or an avocation. The problem my friends is that Bob Rae is currently a sitting federal MP. He sits in the LIbrano benches and was appointed the interim LIberal leader in the wake of Count Ignatief's disapppearing ass.

So now we have a sitting MP who is the titular leader of a political party setting up an advocacy on behalf of people who are not his constituents. In addition he has involved himself with the most pathetic of the band of parasites seeking to perpetuate their own access to the public trough.
Hoping to take on an air of legitimacy through auspices of the greatest fraud in our time ... that being the UN and its agencies. Notice lately how the various minions of the UN have been very busy bashing just about everything Canadian?
Bob Rae + Uncle Mo Strong + UN + Grievance mongering parasites = you are getting screwed + It's about to get worse.

Unless of course there is an adult in the house with the sense to cut them off from the feedbag.

Birds of a feather ....... working against the interests of Canadians who actually contribute to our society. They care nothing for what are true Canadian Values in spite of all the pretense. They simply are the opportunistic raiders of our gardens and any offal they can glean from the waste pile of our fortunes that are stolen by governments.

Watch them screech and posture in the knowledge that they have been observed positioning themselves for a feast at the manger of our tax dollars.

OMMAG

Trudeau's Friend ....

They say Uncle Fidel is still alive somehow .... so I'm sure that ...

This ...   Comes as a bit of  a let down for both the wanna be leader of the LPC and somehow future Prime Minister and his favorite "Uncle"....

Meanwhile .... the Commie LOvers at the Toronto Star think he's the greatest guy ever ...
"He loved to play the fool.That way, his adversaries would more readily underestimate him — and, time and again, they did just that.... "

Apparently a slobbering love affair with a low life thug produces sweet memories for some......

OMMAG

French Interior Minister ....

Echoing GW Bush

Or as I prefer to call it .... the uncanny ability of  lefty politicians to speak from BOTH of their @ssholes at once.

OMMAG

Web Skim News

Make that 10,000 Breitbarts

Australia is Like a Giagantic BC .... a battle of Twits.

Royal Messaging ... National Health not First Choice ... when you have a choice...

National Council of Churches... Death by Irrelevancy ... The end game of political correctness.

Gun salesman of the year ..... Natch

The Worst Thing? .... Or How a 2% cut in spending scares government parasites.

That oughtadoit.............


OMMAG

Education Fail

I have two children who went through the public school system. Both seem to realize what a farce most of that exercise was, but one seems to be able to get over it and make the best of it all in a positive way. It's not that there was any difference in how each was raised or taught but rather a matter of how they were affected by the experience.

In my own experience we had a fair share of not very smart or good teachers, but that was balanced by some really bright and competent teachers. It seems that my kids got about the same balance in terms of who was doing the teaching. I guess that among the people I grew up with and went to school with, there were about the same proportion of us that really got something out of the experience versus those who did not. However the big difference today seems to be the size of the gap between those who graduated with real learning skills and confidence versus those with virtually none. And it looks like it boils down to the fundamentals of learning versus the touchy feely progressive view of education.

Since the public education system abandoned the old methods of teaching basic skills with fundamental of competence being required of all students in math, language, history, geography what has been the benefit of the redirection towards behavioural modification and self realization?

I always believed that we ignore the past at our peril. In fact this was something that we were taught well before advancing to secondary or post secondary education.The use of wrote learning methods may have caused some distress for delicate personalities but it damned well worked for just about everyone. In addition this system clearly identified where problems existed and provided for quick remedial action where it was needed. Yes, there was stigma associated with the failing, but at least they got a chance to do something about it if the desire was there. It also gave some incentive for slackards, lagards and underachievers to do better and prove themselves. The best part was that those who did excel were honoured and respected. That in itself was a pretty good lesson for the rest of the students. Sure, there were a few who felt intimidated by the success of others and made their displeasure known by their antics directed toward the "smart" kids. But that was usually handled well enough by the inherent fairness of the system and the even handed exercise of official intervention from teachers and the admin office. Even the most dysfunctional kids from the worst homes had a chance to excel at something. And, everyone learned to have a sense of proportion.

This seems to have all gone away thanks to the intrusion of political correctness and the efforts to build false self esteem that modern educators seem to love so well.

Now, when a student is failing ... it is not failing anymore... just an opportunity for a feel good exercise by the teachers to repair the and bolster the ego of a damaged child. Does the child get any incentive to actually do better?
Nope. Rather the whole cycle gets repeated tirelessly until the system manages to "promote" a dysfunctional child (successfully by their terms) or manages to undermine the will and confidence of the average student to the point where they give up trying to do better.

Of course the results run the gamut of possible outcomes, but the overall redirection of focus in our schools is responsible for a proportionate decline in the quality and competence of students being graduated. This is the exact opposite of the objectives claimed by progressive educators. In fact, you would be hard pressed to have achieved a worse result for our society by deliberate plan.

I could go on .... but that is about where things are for me and my efforts to undo the harm this ugly joke of public education has done to my kids.

OMMAG

Just Because It's Friday