Thursday, June 26, 2008

Charter High Schools

June 26, 2008

Dear Senator Jansen;

I heard on the grapevine that an amendment was being introduced giving Charter high schools the ability to selectively recruit their students. I thought this would be a good opportunity to give you my thoughts on the issue.

Charter schools, especially the for-profit charters, have been financially viable because of the way Michigan pays the same tuition for low-cost elementary students as the far more costly high schools. I believe this is one reason why there are so few Charter high schools.

A second reason for Charter viability has been their ability to avoid responsibility for the extremely high cost special needs and at-risk students. There are exceptions of course, but my observation is that the public schools handle the vast majority of these kids and incur punishing costs since the Michigan formula again makes no distinction.

In both cases, the Charters win by segmenting the student market and picking off the most profitable parts. Ironically, this is presented as a good thing since it increases “competition” for the public schools. This is not competition; it is exploitation of a market loophole where one class of schools is required by law to take all students, while the other can selectively choose the most profitable ones.

If Charters are to provide competition, they must be made to play on an even field with the public schools. Any amendment to further skew the advantages they already have is bad public policy for Michigan, and I am strongly against it.


Sincerely

Snipe

FISA Cave, Part II

The collapse of the Democratic Party continued last night on the telecomm immunity and warrantless wiretapping issue with an 80 to 15 vote to invoke cloture.

Michigan's senator's both voted yes. If they vote no on the final bill, it's nothing but ass-covering since the cloture vote is the one that mattered. Both Levin and Stabinow voted against FISA last time around. I'd like to know why they reversed themselves.

Obama, McCain and Clinton skipped the vote.

Global Warming, Global Risks

The intelligence community (you know, the people we spend $40 billion a year supporting) issued a report yesterday on the security risks posed by the effects of global warming. The result were fairly obvious: if people become homeless, destitute and hungry because of climate change, they may get unruly. Shocking really, that starving people might cause trouble for the status quo.

Our own Ottawa County Congressman Pete Hoekstra was quoted on NPR apologizing to the intelligence community for having been forced (by the Democrats, of course) to waste their time thinking about the consequences of global warming. I mean, $40 billion can only go so far and they really should be concentrating on tapping American telephones so they can find Osama Bin Laden (golly, is he still at large?).

I'm glad Pete is so carefully focused on the past and doesn't want us to think about what might happen in the future. It's this backward-looking thinking that has made American the great country it is.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Defining Deviancy Down

When Patrick Moynihan defined the term back in 1993, he was concerned about increasing urban violence. Its relevance to national politics seems to increase every day as new examples of the lawlessness of the Bush Administration emerge. We are so conditioned to the perfidy of these people that things that once might of been shocking are now considered normal.

Today's revelation that the Department of Justice continuously broke the law in its hiring practices barely moved the needle. The Justice Department has been so debased that no one even expects it to follow the very laws it is supposed to uphold.

Illegal wire tapping? Government approved torture? Indefinite imprisonment without charges or evidence? Standard operating procedure.

We have been governed by criminals for the past 7 1/2 years, and no one seems to give a damn.

The Tragedy of Zimbabwe

I have business partners in South Africa and have been visiting Cape Town for nearly ten years now. Over that time the airport has gone from a shed with 747s parked on the tarmack to a sparkling facility highlighting the tourist attractions of the country.

Some years ago I met someone with a farm in neighboring Zimbabwe. This was a white person whose family had been farming for generations since well before Robert Mugabe liberated the country (then Rhodesia) from the colonial tyrants. It was a big farm that employed many black Africans and was one of many farms that made Zimbabwe one of the most productive countries on the continent. It exported vast quantities of grain and was truly the bread basket of Africa.

When I met this farmer, the tensions with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party were growing and I asked her why she stayed? She responded with a far off look that it was the most beautiful place in the world and that she couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Mugabe proceeded to expropriate all the white-owned farms and give the land to his political cronies. The black workers lost their jobs and homes, and the farms went barren since the new owners knew nothing about farming. Barely five years later, the country has effectively collapsed both politically and economically. I don't know what happened to the farmer I met.

How many times has love of country blinded people to growing tyranny, with the belief that such things cannot happen here?

Friday, June 20, 2008

FISA Cave

In a truly despicable Democratic capitulation, the House voted to give the Bush Administration everything they wanted on the expansion of warrantless spying and immunity for the law-breaking telcos.

In the words of GOP Senator Kit Bond:
"I think the White House got a better deal than they even had hoped to get"
The White House immediately endorsed the proposal.

Of the Michigan Democratic delegation, Conyers, Dingell, Kilpatrick and Levin all voted no. So what's the the problem with Bart Stupak and Dale Kildee? Is this why we go to all the trouble to elect Democrats so they can vote the Bush line?

The problem with the Democratic Party is that there is no Party, and this is why we continue to lose even when we are in the majority. One, one Republican voted against this bill. 105 Democrats supported it. This brings me back to the question of why do I give a shit about the Democratic Party if this is what they give back.

Fuck 'em; Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel and the whole lot.

And never mind that Barack Obama just fell in line with Democratic Leadership and endorsed this travesty. I expected better of him.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Dear Nancy

Dear Congresswoman Pelosi;

Now is not the time to capitulate on the FISA legislation.

Just when Democrats are starting to feel proud of their Party's ability to fight, you are preparing to cut us off at the knees. This decision will cause maybe a million committed Progressives to wonder what is the point of supporting a Democratic Party that does not give a damn about justice, the law or the Constitution.

Please do not allow this so called "compromise" to go forward.

Sincerely,

Snipe

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

War Crimes

Michigan's senior senator, Carl Levin has been holding hearings into the U.S. Government's use of torture - and the authorization of this at the highest levels of the Bush Administration. In Levin's own words:
"How on Earth did we get to the point where a United States government lawyer would say that . . . torture is subject to perception?"

Having clearly established that the torture policy was not in fact the responsibility of some poor National Guard recruits, it's time to go beyond hearings and start indicting these bastards for war crimes.

How about it, Senator Levin? Enough talk, it's time for accountability.

How Other People Live

I'm fortunate that my work sometimes takes me to other countries where I get to reflect on what's happening in America from another perspective. It's always a good thing to get out of the country, especially during times like these where the politics is overwhelming and 80% of the population thinks the country is on the wrong track.

So I found myself earlier this month in the German speaking part of Switzerland. The town dated from the 15th Century with Roman ruins from the 2nd. It was painfully beautiful but what struck me the most was how agriculture was everywhere. Towns may have grown up around the farms, but unlike the U.S., the farms are still there and so are the cows and the crops. There are schools and factories - but there will still be crops in view. This is typical of much of Europe, where people really value knowing where their food is coming from, and haven't surrendered everything to the factory farms that produce nearly all the food in the U.S..

The other impressive thing was a train system that served almost every town. Gasoline is almost twice as expensive as in the U.S. but people have access to modern, efficient public transportation so they don't have to use their cars to do everything. Don't get me wrong, Europeans love their cars and drive a lot - but they also take the trains if they are going into the city or commuting.

The beauty of the system is that service is frequent and there are connections from the locals to high-speed intercity trains including the awesome TGV Bullet Trains. I am convinced that if Americans knew what good train service was like, they would flock to it. Unfortunately, it has been utterly destroyed in the U.S. and I would venture that 90% of Americans have never been on a train in their life.

On the downside, the beer is not as good as what is being brewed now in Michigan. It's time for Michigan to start exporting beer to Europe.

Fifth Third Tanks

Back in February I posted that it was time to fire Fifth Third Bank's CEO, Kevin Kabat. The bank had just fired 50 people and announced that it was paying Kabat $10 million for his fine work.

Today 5/3 announced that it was cutting its dividend and raising $1 billion in new capital to offset losses in its loan portfolio. The stock, which was selling for $43 a year ago is now offered at $10.50. And what happens to Kabat? He get promoted to Chairman. This is what happens in modern corporations (or the Bush Administration); you screw up completely, fuck your employees and your shareholders and then get a promotion (or a medal).

Old Kent Bank was a great Grand Rapids institution before Fifth Third bought it and ran it into the ground. The executives made out like bandits and the community ends up with a piece of garbage.