"Get Those Test Scores Up Or I'll Kill You"

Of course, it had to have happened in Texas, where the drive to destroy public education began via high-stakes testing. A principal has threatened 'I will kill you all and kill myself.' if TAKS science scores don't improve.

Now I'm not the least big surprised an administrator would do something this stupid; stupid administrators give me plenty to write about. And if you've read my blog you know I believe the entire purpose of NCLB is to destroy public education. What better way than to place insane pressures on administrators until they snap?

What really shocks me about this story is the comments made about the Houston Chronicle story. While most are outraged, many feel this is totally appropriate in order to get those lazy and incompetent teachers to do their jobs.

Here are some choice tidbits:

ConservativeVoice wrote:
This is what public school brings you.

mamby pampy teachers...crying. thats so funny compared to how they treat students.

paulinindy wrote:
finally someone thats deadly seriour about educating our kids.

The National Education Association's finest!

I don't know nubian, maybe the district should let the principal follow through with his threat. Then maybe the new science teachers will have the perfect example of Darwinism.

I don't know if the individual was making a real threat or not, but if he or she was, maybe the teachers got the message. Shape up or ship out.

finally some much needed discipline in our school systems

sounds to me like the teachers are nothing but a bunch of babies who cant be serious when they think he really meant he was actually gonna kill them then himself. he was not joking about the serious nature of the TAKS tests but used the "killing" as a way of getting his point across. some people have no common sense. that is who is teaching our kids! what a disgrace! bunch of whiny babies!

oh yes, and I am sure he was serious, please, we need to get rid of all of these whiney teachers and get some that have some balls.

The only question I have is whether or not the grades improved.

sounds to me like these teachers need to get off their lazy whiny pansies and teach the children! thats probably why they had low test scores...too much talking amongst each other and not teaching!

I'm sure that somewhere people from the Business Roundtable, the Fordham Foundation, the Broad Foundation and many other "compassionate conservative" groups are having a good chuckle at not only the havoc they've sewn, but the clowns who have swallowed their lies.

BTW, all comments were copied and pasted directly from the Houston Chronicle article.

Don't Cry For Me

Someone obviously had too much free time on their hands, but dang, I wish I'd have thought of it first.

I Thought These Summed Things Up Nicely

I've written before about how I feel we're purposely being shafted by the oil companies, while oilmen Bush and Cheney stand by and doing nothing. I thought this cartoon by Mark Cohen summed it up nicely.

The Exxon cartoon is by John Sherffius.









Now the economy is in the tank and Bush seems even more clueless.


This video shows how much Bush and co. care about what we think.



Remember, a poor and uneducated population equals low wages and docile workers. The real plan of the Bush owners

'Cuz You Had A Bad Day

I hate that American Idol exit song from last year, but it seems appropriate for this picture.

It's Spring Break, so I refuse to take anything too seriously.

Maybe Some of The Right-Wingers Can Explain This To Me

I've written numerous times about how the oil companies are screwing us consumers and in a post called Bend Over and Take It a right winger made the snide comment that I obviously hadn't learned any economics while I was in ed. school.

So maybe that right winger can come back and see how my grasp of it is.

Let's start with supply and demand shall we?

But oil slipped after the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report. EIA said crude stocks rose by 3.2 million barrels last week, higher than the 2.4 million barrel increase expected by analysts, according to a Dow Jones poll. Gasoline supplies, attracting more attention as traders anticipate the upcoming summer driving season, rose by 2.3 million barrels. Analysts were expecting a gain of 400,000 barrels. EIA said gas stocks are now above average for this time of year.

That was the 7th week in a row US crude and gasoline supplies have risen.

So apparently, supply and demand is not the answer.

How about the economics of it all? Let's see, it's now costing me $60 a month more to fill my vehicle up with gas. That's $60 I'm not spending anywhere else. But where does that $60 go? Into the bank accounts of Exxon, Shell and other companies, which are experiencing record profits and getting a nice tax break on it all, which their president has pledge to protect.

But the effects don't end there. Not only am I putting an additional $60 a month into oil company profits, I'm also having to pay more for everything I buy, since EVERYTHING we purchase has to be produced and transported using gasoline, oil and diesel.

I wonder what it is costing me total every month? $75? $100?

Is it any wonder the rest of our economy is going down the crapper into what may be the worst recession since the Great Depression?

Explain it for me some of you right wingers.

The Best Dilbert Strip Ever Written

You married guys know what he's talking about.

My Wii Quest Appears To Be Over

Like 50 million other people I've been trying to find a Wii. The local Wal-Mart seems to have them occasionly, but the problem for me is they get them in on a weekday in the morning when I can't go so I had to resort to using the internet.

If you're searching for one check out WiiTracker. It checks all the major sources, lists when they have them in stock, and has a timer that tells you how long its been that they've had them in stock.

I would watch out for the bundle deals. To me (an admitted old fart) they seem to come with games I'm not interested in.

Now to work on my Wii boxing skills.

Failing Charter Schools

The school choice is well funded and has the ear of the media. After all when Bill Gates and Eli Broad call reporters $60 million can buy you alot of attention, so its no big surprise that stories about how often charters fail don't get much attention.

This past week in Texas News 8 in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area obtained information with this telling statistic about charter schools:

According to the Texas Education Agency, one out of every six is a failure.

In another state with a long running charter program, Ohio, the charters are even worse, with traditional public schools outperformed charter schools on all 28 state achievement tests with an average difference in proficiency levels of nearly 26 percentage points.. In fact, 58% of all Ohio charter schools have been rated deficient, compared to only 10% of regular public schools.



But yet politicians, mostly Republican, continue to clamor for more charter schools. And as always, the evil teachers' unions are to blame.

Nose Hair Trimmer of the Gods

Sometimes, in the mornings before I've had my coffee, I have some REALLY weird thoughts. But as Dave Barry always says, "Wouldn't that be a great name for a band?"

We won't discuss what I was doing but all I want to know is, how come hair grows everywhere but the top of my head?

I've Been Flamingoed

A local religious school, that my neighbor's daughter attends, has figured out a unique way to raise money. First they load someone's yard up with pink flamingos, then charge them $25 to remove them and plant them in someone else's yard.

The money will go for a trip to Washington, D.C.

Just A Laugh For Today

Let's Take Care of What's Really Important

As teachers we've listened to years of political hacks telling us how important standardized tests were, how schools needed their feet held to the fire and how if it wasn't measured it wouldn't improved.

Well, Texas politicians and school officials have proven that tests are not really that important. Seems there was a little problem in scheduling. Texas primaries were scheduled on the same day as TAKS testing in the schools, and since a large number of polling places are in schools school officials and the governor decided to reschedule the mostly pointless primaries.

Just kidding of course. Instead they moved the all important, schools have to be accountable through standardized test, TAKS test to a day later.


Via the Corsicana Daily Sun.

Teacher Loses Award For Refusing To Miss 2 Days of School

It sounds like something from a cheesy Hollywood movie or TV show, but an East Texas teacher is missing out on a prestigious award because he refuses to miss 2 days of school to attend a mandatory "conference".

Via the Lufkin Daily News comes this story about high school Math instructor Bill Newell. Mr. Newell was, in effect, selected as one of the 10 best teachers in the state of Texas by the University of Texas.

The award came with a catch:

Newell learned that, in order to receive the award, he had to attend the conference.

"They didn't say anything about that in their application," he said. "I thought it was a no-win situation. If I didn't go, I wouldn't get the award. If I did go, I didn't think it would be fair to my students. My students depend on me to be here every day. They always say to me, 'What will we do if you're not here?' I get that all the time, because they're so used to seeing me all the time."

Not wanting to miss his classes, Newell explained the situation to award administrators to no avail.

Mr. Newell will also have to forfeit a $2250 cash award for his refusal to miss 2 days of work.

It sounds like some people at the University of Texas has their priorities a little messed up, doesn't it?

More Holiday Laughs

Merry Christmas To All

Here's a few classic moments from my favorite Christmas movie.

A Sign Your Computer Is REALLY Messed Up

Another Big-Hearted Corporate Policy We Can All Look Forward To

Say you're injured in a crash that is not your fault. Luckily, you have health insurance provided in part through your employer, and although you're permanently injured you're fortunate enough to receive a settlement from the other driver's insurance company that will pay for your longterm care.

Unfortunately for you, your employer's deal with the health insurance provider allows them to sue you to recover the cost of your medical care after the insurance, and the so called "conservative" federal judges, who are just as pro-corporation as the rest of the Republicans, have backed them up with rulings allowing them to do so.

Think it couldn't happen to you? Well, it happened to this woman, courtesy of everyone's favorite mega-discounter.

A collision with a tractor-trailer seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved.

After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Deborah Shank's care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Deborah's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores.

Two years ago, the retail giant's health plan sued the Shanks for the $470,000 it had spent on her medical care. A federal judge ruled last year in Wal-Mart's favor, backed by an appeals-court decision in August. Now, Deborah's family has to rely on Medicaid and her Social Security payments to keep up her round-the-clock care.

To add a little salt to your wounds, you'll also be responsible for all legal fees incurred getting the settlement.

It's a wonderful world. Remember, this is also the country where Bush's Supreme Court ruled cities can seize your property for the sole purpose of turning it over to some corporations.

For My Frozen Colleagues To The North

Ice storms seem to have taken control of some parts of the country, even reaching into Oklahoma just north of us and home to Ms. Cornelius of A Shrewdness of Apes. Here in Texas its been hot, some days reaching 80 degrees.

So here's a little song and video for all you frozen Yankees.

Thanks For The Memories, And The Toxic Poisons In Our Children's Toy

A big Xmas thank you to all those corporations with hearts of gold. Turns out they've been flooding the US with toys containing dangerous levels of lead and other toxic chemicals. In a recent study:

Only 20 percent of the toys and other products had no trace of lead or harmful chemicals, according to the results being released Wednesday by the Michigan-based Ecology Center along with the national Center for Health, Environment and Justice and groups in eight other states.

For more information you can visit the The Consumer Action Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys.

Looks like many of these companies are interested in being "green", just not in the right way.

My 50, 000th Visitor

Sometime today I officially passed the 50, 000 visitor mark, according to my sitemeter stats. This may not be a big number for some of the big name sites, but I feel like it is significant.

Checking back through my visits I found my 50, 000 visitor was from all places, the offical Government of Ireland website.

Hmmm, I wondered if a government was monitoring my site. I just didn't think it was the government of Ireland.

Oh well, to my 50, 000th and all of my other visitors, thanks for stopping in and please leave a comment or two to let me know who you are.