The bailout is dead. Long Live the Bailout!  H.R.3997 – Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, was voted down in the House of Representatives this afternoon.

When just about all of Congress realizes something is a BAD IDEA, even if some of them think its a necessary BAD IDEA, then you know it is a bad idea. Why are we even considering throwing good money after bad, now that even Wall Street has had to acknowledge that the housing bubble mortgage fraud securities were a bad idea. For years, they profited by driving up the cost of housing for all Americans. Under the marketing banner of making home ownership affordable for more people, they made it actually affordable for fewer.

Why should anyone help out someone who did that? Because if we don’t give them more of our money to lend us, they won’t lend us any more money? They made loans to people they knew couldn’t afford to pay them back, so now they won’t loan money to people who can? Is this really behavior that should be rewarded?

If we need government spending to kick us out of recession, isn’t there a better way to do this than by buying up bad loans in the hope that they will somehow turn good and get us our money back? Somebody out there still has the blueprints for the Yugo.  Let’s bring that back.

Wouldn’t it be better to put that money into building something we can use? Wouldn’t investing in infrastructure be better than investing in an already fallen house of cards?

John McCain proposed a $300 million battery development contest. Pocket change compared to what he’s willing to spend to protect overpaid shell game perpetrators. Guess he really doesn’t understand economics. Obama thinks if you add in caps on executive compensation and help some people stay in homes they never should have bought in the first place that makes it a good deal. Can’t say I think much of his grasp of economics either.

If the government is to take our money and redistribute it, it should be for the things we know need to be done but that on an individual level always seem to take a back seat to getting this month’s bills paid. Like energy technology that gets us off of petroleum addiction and cleans up our air and water. One of the obstacles to large-scale solar and wind power is building the infrastructure to get big empty spaces hooked up to the power grid.  Battery costs still make hybrid and electric cars cost 20-25% more than gasoline models.

What could we do with an extra $700 billion in education? This country became great on the force of ingenuity. There was no problem that couldn’t be solved by a combination of brains and hard work. How did we let that go? Where did the idea that being smarter than the average bear was evil come from?

Why does even your average Congressman think this bailout is a bad idea? Because we’ll never have anything to show for our money!

What would you do with $700 billion? Call or write your representatives, and tell them what you expect to get for it.

S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act of 2008, is one of those bills written by an industry for the sole benefit of that industry.  The RIAA and MPAA are currently trying to stampede this through Congress without anybody noticing.

Among it’s provisions to drastically increase copyright enforcement at the expense of fair use rights is allowing the federal government to sue citizens in civil, not criminal, court on behalf of Big Content.  Not only does the RIAA want your grandma’s house, they want you to pay for their legal bills to steal it!

Why does it matter whether the prosecutions are civil rather than criminal?  Because civil cases are decided by a preponderence of the evidence, not guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Big Content is an industry that can’t figure out how to deal with the technological changes that have made their stranglehold on making and distributing professional level music and video something akin to Ford trying to bring back the Model T.  Their business plan no longer works, and their response has been to sue their customers, and try to convince the public that piracy, and not changes in the market,  are responsible for their problems.

Anyone in Congress who votes for this bill should definitely be considered bought and paid for, and any of them who vote for this bill and ever express a belief in “free enterprise” will have given you indisputable evidence which end they are talking out of.   Way beyond a reasonable doubt.

Further adventures in indoctrination rather than education at Grayson High School. From the most recent email newsletter:

GRAYSON TEENAGE REPUBLICANS (G-TARS)
The Grayson TeenAge Republicans (G-TARS) is now an active student club affiliated with the Young Republicans, the Georgia Republican Party, and the (national) Republican Party. Our next meeting is on September 2nd after school in room 1.553. Our plans include a voter registration drive and activities in conjunction with the Gwinnett Republicans in addition to guest speakers. Students who are interesting in finding out more about our organization are welcome to come to the meeting, talk with our sponsors (Mr. Wade and Mrs. C. Edwards), or talk with the president of the club, Mallory Davis.

Republican Principles

• Individual ability, dignity freedom and responsibility are basic to good government.
• The free enterprise system and encouragement of individual initiative and incentive are musts for a strong economy.
• Government exists to protect the freedom of each individual, not to restrict it.
• Government should get involved only in those things which people cannot do, or cannot do so well for themselves.
• Both government and society should assist those who cannot provide for themselves and should help them become self-supporting, productive citizens with pride in their independence.
• Equal rights, equal justice, and equal opportunity belong to all, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or sex.
• The preservation of our nation and the security of our citizens depend on every citizen’s respect for the constitution, the laws and the courts.
• Government must maintain sound money and responsible economy. The rights of life and liberty are meaningless if citizens are deprived of their property through excessive taxation, inflation and government waste.
• World peace and friendship will continue through strength.

Are there equivalent clubs for Democrats, Libertarians and Independents at Grayson High School?

Will the initial meeting include an explanation of how the Bush/Cheney administration (and their Georgia YesMen in the Senate and ConYesMan Linder in the House) have repeatedly violated every one of the “principles” you attribute to the Republican party?

Let me make some suggestions:

Explain how the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 allow Customs officials to take their iPod and laptop at the border for any or no reason whatsoever. Supposedly to fight terrorism, but also so that the Justice Department can sue you on behalf of the RIAA if you can’t prove that you bought all the songs on there legally.

Or maybe explain how going to war in Iraq to boost oil company profits and provide no-bid contracts to the Vice President’s former employer is free enterprise.

Or how anyone who looks Middle Eastern is a suspected terrorist, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or sex.

Or how President Bush has respected the Constitution by pushing for laws that trash the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure, while claiming that anything his buddies do is a secret and Congress and the people of this country aren’t entitled to know about it.

Or how it is sound monetary and fiscal party to borrow huge sums to fight a war while giving tax cuts to the richest Americans.

Or how “world peace and friendship” are enhanced by unilateral invasions and torture of prisoners.

The following article was in the first newsletter issue of the school year for the high school my daughters attend:

GOD’S GOT GRAYSON PRAYER WALK
Since the great success of last years Prayer Walk where hundreds rallied together in prayer, the community of Grayson gathers again on August 25th, 2008 at 7:30 PM for another Prayer Walk. The God’s Got Grayson gathering will be held at Grayson High School near the front entrance (prayer leaders will be available to guide and assist).

Supporters and Leaders invited to participate in the event include Mr. Keith Chaney – Principal, GHS / Mr. Mickey Conn – Head Football Coach, GHS / Rusty Maddox and Bob Evans – Leaders, Men’s Fellowship / Brian Krawczyk – Leader, Young Life / Jill McEwen – Leader, Mother’s In Touch / Steve Traylor – Executive Pastor, Snellville Baptist Church / Buddy Hoffman – Grace Fellowship Church / Jonathan Howes – Graystone Church / and The Entire Community of Grayson.

When I emailed the school principal to state my feelings on the use of public school property for a religious event (separation of church and state – if you think that’s a bad idea please move to Iran – oh it’s only a bad idea if it’s  YOUR church attached to the state?), he replied “This is not a Grayson High School sponsored event.”

Mr. Chaney, it is a held on Grayson High School property and publicized in Grayson High School newsletters but it is not a “Grayson High School sponsored event”? Is “I found a loophole, so it’s OK” really the message you want to teach our children?

What about the children who aren’t members of a Christian church?  What message does this send to them?  That those who harass them for not being Christian (and what would Jesus think of that behavior?) have the blessing of the school administration?  Is that the indoctrination desired here?

I have been generally rather horrified at the state of our education system lately.  The recent expansion of “standardized testing” is one example.  It forces teachers to teach one particular set of trivia, since a student’s year of hard work can be erased by not knowing enough of that trivia to pass the standardized test.  This turns our schools not into educational institutions but into places where young people are indoctrinated with particular points of view.  The teachers I remember learning the most from were the exceptional ones who could present things in their own style. The micromanaging of the syllabus reduces the effectiveness of the best teachers, while doing nothing to weed out those who are simply bad teachers.

In Gwinnett County, Georgia, the Superintendent of the Board of Education has recently come under fire for making the observation that there are not many blacks living in Idaho.  How that statistically verifiable statement could possibly be offensive to anyone I have no idea, and I certainly do not approve of someone being fired or forced to resign over something that petty.  However, I would welcome anything that gets Alvin Wilbanks out of public education.  He has been one of the leading proponents of runaway standardized testing on a national as well as a local level, and was one of the architects of the No Child Left UnIndoctrinated legislation.

Why do I oppose standardized testing?

First off, if you give someone a test and never return it to them to show what they got right or wrong and why, the test has no educational value whatsoever.

Secondly, the focus on these major tests places an undue amount of stress on the students.  How would you feel if at your job you were given an annual test knowing that if you did not answer enough questions correctly, your pay for the last year’s work would be taken back from you?  Do you know of any business (or even governement agency) that implements a policy that stupid?

Thirdly, standardized tests are used by politicians to claim credit for “improving education” when the scores go up year over year, even though the politicians had nothing whatsoever to do with the process, except most likely to make it more difficult for teachers to do their jobs properly.  And of course none of the politicians would EVER even CONSIDER manipulating the tests from year to year to make themselves look good…

Teaching is  a profession, and the only involvement politicians should have in public education is to make sure the professionals have the tools they need to be successful.  If you needed open heart surgery, would you want your surgeon to have your Senator looking over his shoulder telling him where to cut?  Didn’t think so.

The only measurement of our education system that matters is how many students make it through to graduation from high school and how many of those students are prepared at that point for success in higher education and/or in the workplace.   Education does not stop with graduation; it continues for as long as you live.  The purpose of K-12  is to make sure that each student knows not a particular set of trivia, but how to evaluate and acquire the knowledge needed at each subsequent stage of life.

Standardized test do nothing to improve the education process, nor do they accurately measure the success of that process.