Fox News reports: BROCKTON, Mass. — A 6-year-old boy is getting a lesson on the meaning of sexual harassment long before he'll be able to spell it. The first-grader was suspended for three days for sexual harassment after he put two fingers inside a classmate's waistband, school officials told his mother, Berthena Dorinvil. The boy told her he only touched the girl's shirt after the girl touched him. Experts say only in rare, troubling cases can children that young truly sexually harass one another. "The connotation is you're getting some kind of sexual gratification, or wanting sexual gratification, or are putting pressure on for some kind of sexual gratification, when a 6-year-old doesn't have that capacity," said E. … [Read more...]
John Stossel Takes on Education
It's not often I advise readers to tune into a television program. Here's an exception: this Friday night at 10 PM Eastern (9 PM Denver local time) on ABC, John Stossel brings his free market instincts and no-nonsense approach to tackle the issue of education. I encourage you to watch "Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids" (or set the VCR or TiVo if you've got big plans on Friday). … [Read more...]
2005: Highlights of a Blog Year
As my first complete calendar year of blogging comes to a close, I decided for a little self-linking retrospective, featuring the two most momentous, interesting, illustrative, or off-the-wall posts from each month. Some summon memories of meetings and activities generated by my blog, a few by the general affairs of life, and most from the things I read on the Internet. The topics range from critiques of Democrats in the Colorado statehouse to observations of national & international events, from tiny trifles to happenings of great significance, with touches of humor and personal hopes dashed in to round things out. This post is as much an exercise for me as for any of my readers. For the few of you with patience and interest, I give … [Read more...]
Another Sign the World is Changing
When you read in the New York Times that the governor of Michigan is aggressively courting a Japanese auto manufacturer to invest production and jobs in the Great Lakes State, you know the world is changing. For those who aren't aware, such an action not long ago would have been like touching the third rail of Michigan politics (and still seems far from perfectly safe). Yet while the economy is recovering well across most of the United States, the land of my childhood lags behind in employment and other key indicators. Gov. Jennifer Granholm's efforts to woo Toyota are a healthy sign for the future economy and quality of life of Michigan residents. The Big Three aren't quite able to protect their turf like they once did, and should … [Read more...]
Legislation for the Birds
Does the Colorado General Assembly have any serious issues to tackle during the upcoming legislative session, or do our state lawmakers need to take their lead from the Michigan legislature and find something to crow about? Only a little more than two weeks to go before debates reopen in Denver's statehouse. Incidentally, as a native of the Great Lakes State, my vote is to stick with the robin. No need to swap state birds mid-flight. Do you think anyone out here in my adopted home state is that attached to the prairie lark finch? … [Read more...]
Driven over the Edge by a Red Bow
Some people might chalk off my decision to post this as the result of repressed bourgeois greed and envy, or as a sign I've joined the Left-wing class warfare crusade, but I assure you it's neither. As an ardent supporter of the benefits of a free-exchange capitalist system, I am content to know that companies manufacture expensive automobiles and that consumers are willing and able to buy them. Yet there is so much that I despise about the televised ad campaigns depicting youthful upper middle-class people surprising their loved ones with a red bow-topped luxury car in the driveway on Christmas morn. Every year, my angst grows toward these commercials. And today the Washington Times reports how real people participate in the … [Read more...]
I Guess They’re Not Reading My Blog, Anyway
Ouch... sometimes it's hard to realize there is a whole other world out there. A new study from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy shows that 5 percent of 222 million American adults simply cannot read or write English. And of the remaining 211 million: Some 30 million adults have "below basic" skills in prose. Their ability is so limited that they may not be able to make sense of a simple pamphlet, for example. By comparison, 95 million adults, or 44 percent of the population, have intermediate prose skills, meaning they can do moderately challenging activities. An example would be consulting a reference book to determine which foods contain a certain vitamin. I'm guessing that most of my readers emanate from the ranks of … [Read more...]
You Can’t Make Up This Stuff
"Men Warm Globe, Women Feel the Heat, Group Claims": The debate over climate change evolved into a battle of the sexes Monday at the 11th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal. The spokesman for a feminist-based environmental group accused men of being the biggest contributors to human-caused "global warming" and lamented that women are bearing the brunt of the negative climate consequences created by men. "Women and men are differently affected by climate change and they contribute differently to climate change," said Ulrike Rohr, director of the German-based group called "Genanet-Focal point gender, Environment, Sustainability." I think we married men need to complain less about those things we do get … [Read more...]
The Heights of Blogging
The RMA's own Joshua Sharf has developed into a reliable source for the local mainstream media on issues related to blogging. Kudos to the Denver Post for acknowledging the credibility and value of this burgeoning alternative media - specifically, Jim Hughes' article today on PirateBallerina's persistent pressure on Ward Churchill and the University of Colorado. Most significant in the story is the contrast between an academic's warped, myopic view (notably from a professor of journalism) and a blogger's insightful comments from a clear and lofty perspective. First: Johansen, who teaches journalism, said in an e-mail that Paine's gotchas are baseless and that he walked away from the committee because of what he saw as a nasty media … [Read more...]
Post Beats Up Christian Group Straw Man
Note to the Denver Post editorial staff - before publishing an editorial, please take the time to verify the simple facts. Today's piece in question began: We're perplexed by a boycott of Target Corp. organized by two Christian groups that are angry with the retailer for forcing its employees to wish customers "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Especially because it isn't true. Unfortunately, the Post meant only that Target has no such policy. They didn't point out that the boycott against Target has nothing to do with a policy regarding what employees can or cannot say. What a good reason to be perplexed! The Post should be more careful about giving a misleading impression. Instead, they could have read what the … [Read more...]
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