Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

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Joe Wilson and the Downing Street Memo

Even one prominent career State Department official and notorious, embittered critic of President Bush's foreign policy has noted that some of the hullabaloo surrounding the Downing Street Memo is overblown: ...on Thursday, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson admitted that "we all believed" Saddam had WMD. "I believe the threat to the United States posed by Saddam's weapons of mass destruction -- which we all believed he had -- could have been dealt with using something less violent than the invasion, conquest and occupation of Iraq," Wilson said in a response to a question from Cybercast News Service following a Democrat-sponsored hearing on the matter. Wilson's comment, that "we all believed" Saddam had WMD, appeared to … [Read more...]

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“Dump Dick Durbin”

In light of the senior Senator from Illinois's outrageous and vile remarks about our military, this has got to be the most aptly-named blog of the day. After today's lame "apology" attempt, Dick Durbin has shown he is a man without honor. The second-highest ranking Democrat in the United States Senate making whiny, weasely remarks like this: ...I do not even know if the interrogator involved here was an American soldier. I didn't say that at any point. To suggest that I am criticizing American servicemen, I am not. I don't know who is responsible for this.... And this: To suggest that this is somehow an insult to the men and women serving in the uniform, nothing could be further from the truth. But it is no credit to them or … [Read more...]

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One-Way Teacher Exchange Program

Stories like this from the Washington Times - an account of Virginia school districts hiring more foreign nationals as teachers - points to some bigger issues going on in education today. Questions that need to be asked (and hopefully explored in future posts): Are our schools of education adequately preparing teachers for the profession? What incentives could be introduced to overcome shortages in hiring educators qualified to teach math, science, foreign language, or special education? What do we do about the single salary schedule, that pays all teachers in a district according to the same rate (by advanced degrees and seniority)? Is offering teachers "performance bonuses" even feasible, and how would you measure that? The … [Read more...]

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Outrages and More

Some of you may have noticed the dearth of extensive writing and posting here of late. Let's just call it "outrage fatigue." Everything from the Michael Jackson verdict to the obnoxious posturing over the Gitmo affair and more has caused my blood to boil in recent days. But frankly, I haven't had much to add to the conversation, and I haven't wanted to dwell on it anyways. Just in case you were wondering.... Meanwhile today, the news reports emerged from the Terri Schiavo autopsy. Her death by dehydration has not stifled the debate.... … [Read more...]

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Wet and Wild Weekend for Baseball

Excited by the prospect of an early Friday game likely to end by sundown, Joshua was planning to be at Coors Field this afternoon for the game between the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies. Knowing my deep dedication as a Tigers fan, he invited me along to today's game. I was thankful he thought of me but am tied up at work and have a 5:30 appointment besides, so I had to decline. Besides, I have tickets to attend the Saturday (with my friend Steve) and Sunday (with the lovely Mrs. Virtus) games. But the skies had opened and the rains had come earlier today, pushing back the starting time from 3:05 to 4:00. I hope Joshua found another companion to go to the game with - and if he did, I hope the contest speeds along enough so he can … [Read more...]

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JeffCo Commissioners Facing the Challenges

When you see an elected politician roll up his sleeves and take up the challenge of a difficult but important campaign promise, it sure can restore some of your faith in the system and in the judgment of your fellow citizens. That's exactly how I feel as the new slate of Jefferson County commissioners has tackled and confronted the waste and corruption that have been plaguing some departments of government. The Denver Post explored the story in depth on Sunday and followed up with a laudable editorial in today's edition. Sunday's story revealed many glaring problems with the way our county government has run in recent years, including this dandy: Among Jefferson County employees, Bob Roark is the king of plastic. Over the last … [Read more...]

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Blog Freedom News: The China Edition

In a story that may be of interest to some of my readers and friends in the Internet community (if they aren't already well aware of it), Cybercast News is reporting that the Chinese government plans a crackdown on blogs this summer. The Chinese government says a system has been developed to monitor sites in real time, searching each one for a registration number. Those not registered would face penalties, including fines of up to one million yuan (about $121,000). The ministry said almost 75 percent of all website already have been registered. The regulations were needed, it said, because of sex, violence, superstitions and "other harmful information" available online. Of course, it's not like anything like this would happen in … [Read more...]

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Message to Chad the Elder: Sit Down

I'm sure the boys at Fraters are aware of the old Irish saying, but under the current circumstances it bears repeating: "When everyone says you're drunk, you'd better sit down." When the best defense of your state's honor is giving the correct spelling of lutefisk, it's time to take a seat, Peeps. Perhaps reviewing some of the great moments in Minnesota history will remind the inebriates of the terrible insecurity driving them to waste their time trying to disparage the beautiful state of Colorado. Here are the highlights - a chronology of events that nearly every Minnesota school boy can recite with pride: 1805 - Zebulon Pike explores Minnesota, yawns, gets ripped off purchasing 155,000 acres of land for 60 gallons of whiskey (still … [Read more...]