My Beauty Best Teacher

Reuters released a story revealing some pretty shocking things going on over confidential diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Hong Kong:

As the U.S. Federal Reserve grappled with the aftershocks of financial crisis, the Chinese, like many others, suffered huge losses from their investments in American financial firms -- from Lehman Brothers to the Primary Reserve Fund, the money market fund that broke the buck.

The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, show that escalating Chinese pressure prompted a procession of soothing visits from the U.S.Treasury Department. In one striking instance, a top Chinese money manager directly asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a favor.

In June, 2009, the head of China's powerful sovereign wealth fund met with Geithner and requested that he lean on regulators at the U.S. Federal Reserve to speed up the approval of its $1.2 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, according to the cables, which were provided to Reuters by a third party.

Although the cables do not mention if Geithner took any action, China's deal to buy Morgan Stanley shares was announced the very next day.

If this is true, and I hope that House and Senate immediately investigates these charges, then we have evidence and records of US officials being successful pressured by the Chinese government to unlawfully use the power of the federal government in such a way to benefit Chinese investment firms.

Timothy Geithner is the United States Secretary of the Treasury, appointed this position under Democrat President Barack Obama, and if it is true that Geithner was pressured by the Chinese to use federal government pressure in any way to circumvent the normal processes of our government then Geithner and anyone else who covered up or knew about this scandal should be impeached and thrown into prison.

Morgan Stanley received billions in taxpayer money as part of the bailout of 2008-2009. This taxpayer money helped Morgan Stanley stay in business. Chinese officials later bought a large chunk of Morgan Stanley, apparently after the White House applied pressure of some sort of federal regulators.

THE CHINESE ARE RUNNING OUR GOVERNMENT UNDER OBAMA AND HIS POLICIES, and Obama's latest debt proposal will put us further under communist China's control- they're already calling the shots in the Obama White House, Obama's bowing to the Chinese not just in reality but in real meaningful policy ways to, and this is now rising beyond 'Obama must go because he is imcompetent' and is getting to the level that 'Obama must go because he is criminally complicit in using the power of the White House to inappropriately apply pressure to other government agencies to help foreign governments to the possible detriment of US citizens.'

UPDATE: After sleeping on this one, I've decided that neither Obama nor Geithner has likely committed treason or other high crimes and so should not be impeached (although one could argue that it is possible that since Obama accepted massive amounts of donations from unidentified foreign sources last election that there is some sort of possibility of conspiracy that may be criminal). They are and continue to be incompetent in office, but no longer in the sort of incompetent bumbling fools sort of way, but now rather in the incompetent to the level that it is dangerous to the future of your children sort of way.

UPDATE II: Via memeorandum I see that Breitbart is on to this story now, so hopefully it will gain some legs, because if what Wikileaks reports is true, there are some borderline criminal behaviors that need to be investigated.

Powerline blog has a great post up today- Don't Blame Us, We're Incompetent!

We devoted almost all of our radio show today to the Obama administration's recent foreign policy stumbles--in particular, Hillary Clinton's European apology tour and President Obama's mysteriously insulting treatment of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. We speculated about whether Obama's treatment of Brown was calculated disrespect, or whether the administration simply doesn't know how to host the Prime Minister of our most important ally on a state visit to Washington.

The White House, evidently stung by negative reaction in Great Britain, is now telling the British that the insult to Brown was inadvertent, the problem being that President Obama is "overwhelmed" by his job: Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.

But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama's inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special elationship.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk. A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".

Where to begin? Obama, after two years of expressing smug contempt for the Bush administration, is "surprised at the sheer volume" of work the President has to do. And he's too tired to deal competently with one of the most important foreign officials he will meet during his term in office. So: maybe he should cut down on the late-night White House partying? And why in the world does the White House--let alone the State Department!--not have someone who is "[familiar] with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister?" If true, this is rank incompetence.

To some extent, the Brown fiasco might be attributed to Obama's failure to "even fake an interest in foreign policy." (Just think, by the way, how much work he will have to do when he realizes that as President, he has to deal with both domestic and foreign policy!) But I'm not sure that's the whole explanation.

The Telegraph's story contains this suggestion that Obama's slight of the British Prime Minister may have been intentional, at least in part: The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key. The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment."

So: was the Brown fiasco intentional, or was it the result of Obama administration incompetence? Or a combination of the two? Most likely, I think, the latter.

There are a lot of things going on in my household right now, and we've been up late at night too- my wife suggests that because of her lack of sleep, she should be forgiven for any major policy blunders or international incidents she causes. I told her that excuse won't fly in this house, even if it flies in the White House.

A word of advice to President Obama- take some more vacations, exercise a bit more, and delegate authority better- you might make less mistakes then. To be fair though- you'll be called lazy and incompetent by liberal Democrats like you if you do that.

Earlier last week I was critical of Obama's response to Tunisia's revolution, where it appeared that rather than take an active role in events, Obama's administration simply sat on the sidelines and tried to figure out where Tunisia was (I'm kidding- I heard that he had a 40 minute briefing on Tunisia after the revolution broke out- I'm sure he learned about it then). He is dangerously incompetent, especially on important world events that our President is supposed to be the primary actor on in our political system. The revolution in Tunisia though was just the start of something bigger, something that the Iranian Revolution of 1979 has taught us will have repercussions lasting decades, and that is the revolution that is taking place right now in Egypt.

For the past couple days I have been trying to get a handle on events there, much like our President, and like usual, my reactions have mirrored Obama's. First I first supported the young revolutionaries against the bad dictator, while Obama supported the bad dictator. But now I support the bad dictator over the evil militant terrorist groups who want to take power in Egypt, while Obama now supports the evil militant terrorist groups (he supports them by not saying anything bad about them while saying bad stuff about Mubarak- that's an upgrade over his usual 'voting present' by showing support for the bad guys). Obama is dangerously incompetent again and once again, anyone who voted for him or his party made our nation and world a worse place by doing so.

The best article that I have found to help me get a handle on what is going on in Egypt appeared today in the Jerusalum Post by Caroline Glick called Our World: Clueless in Washington. I am going to pass on some of the better parts of it to you to help you too understand a little bit better what is going on in Egypt...

The Egyptian multitudes on the streets of Cairo are a stunning sight. With their banners calling for freedom and an end to the reign of President Hosni Mubarak the story these images tell is a simple one as old as time.


On the one hand we have the young, dispossessed and weak protesters. And on the other we have the old, corrupt and tyrannical Mubarak. Hans Christian Andersen taught us who to support when we were wee tots.

But does his wisdom apply in this case?

Certainly it is true that the regime is populated by old men. Mubarak is 82 years old. It is also true that his regime is corrupt and tyrannical. Since the Muslim Brotherhood spinoff Islamic Jihad terror group murdered Mubarak’s predecessor president Anwar Sadat in 1981, Egypt has been governed by emergency laws that ban democratic freedoms. Mubarak has consistently rejected US pressure to ease regime repression and enact liberal reforms in governance.

This reality has led many American commentators across the political spectrum to side enthusiastically with the rioters. A prestigious working group on Egypt formed in recent months by Middle East experts from Left and Right issued a statement over the weekend calling for the Obama administration to dump Mubarak and withdraw its support for the Egyptian regime. It recommended further that the administration force Mubarak to abdicate and his regime to fall by suspending all economic and military assistance to Egypt for the duration.

The blue ribbon panel’s recommendations were applauded by its members’ many friends across the political spectrum. For instance, the conservative Weekly Standard’s editor William Kristol praised the panel on Sunday and wrote, “It’s time for the US government to take an active role… to bring about a South Korea/Philippines/Chile-like transition in Egypt, from an American-supported dictatorship to an American-supported and popularly legitimate liberal democracy.”

The problem with this recommendation is that it is based entirely on the nature of Mubarak’s regime. If the regime was the biggest problem, then certainly removing US support for it would make sense. However, the character of the protesters is not liberal.

Indeed, their character is a bigger problem than the character of the regime they seek to overthrow.

According to a Pew opinion survey of Egyptians from June 2010, 59 percent said they back Islamists. Only 27% said they back modernizers. Half of Egyptians support Hamas. Thirty percent support Hizbullah and 20% support al Qaida. Moreover, 95% of them would welcome Islamic influence over their politics. When this preference is translated into actual government policy, it is clear that the Islam they support is the al Qaida Salafist version.

Eighty two percent of Egyptians support executing adulterers by stoning, 77% support whipping and cutting the hands off thieves. 84% support executing any Muslim who changes his religion.

When given the opportunity, the crowds on the street are not shy about showing what motivates them. They attack Mubarak and his new Vice President Omar Suleiman as American puppets and Zionist agents. The US, protesters told CNN’s Nick Robertson, is controlled by Israel. They hate and want to destroy Israel. That is why they hate Mubarak and Suleiman.

WHAT ALL of this makes clear is that if the regime falls, the successor regime will not be a liberal democracy. Mubarak’s military authoritarianism will be replaced by Islamic totalitarianism. The US’s greatest Arab ally will become its greatest enemy. Israel’s peace partner will again become its gravest foe.

What has most confounded Israeli officials and commentators alike has not been the strength of the anti-regime protests, but the American response to them. Outside the far Left, commentators from all major newspapers, radio and television stations have variously characterized the US response to events in Egypt as irrational, irresponsible, catastrophic, stupid, blind, treacherous, and terrifying.

They have pointed out that the Obama administration’s behavior – as well as that of many of its prominent conservative critics – is liable to have disastrous consequences for the US’s other authoritarian Arab allies, for Israel and for the US itself.

The question most Israelis are asking is why are the Americans behaving so destructively? Why are President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton charting a course that will necessarily lead to the transformation of Egypt into the first Salafist Islamic theocracy? And why are conservative commentators and Republican politicians urging them to be even more outspoken in their support for the rioters in the streets?

Does the US not understand what will happen in the region as a result of its actions? Does the US really fail to understand what will happen to its strategic interests in the Middle East if the Muslim Brotherhood either forms the next regime or is the power behind the throne of the next regime in Cairo?...

...As Prof. Barry Rubin wrote this week, “There is no good policy for the United States regarding the uprising in Egypt but the Obama administration may be adopting something close to the worst option.”
 
Unfortunately, given the cluelessness of the US foreign policy debate, this situation is only likely to grow worse.

Two more years remain in President Obama's term of office. Hopefully voters in America will wake up and realize how dangerously incompetent his administration has been and how destructive the impulse to take a flier on this unknown was.

According to the AP, President Barack Obama's new chief of staff William Daley respond to the proposal from congressional Republicans to cut $55 billion from the federal budget by going on CBS' 'Face the Nation' and asking the "Where's the beef?" He then elaborated that he is very curious to see exactly where those cuts will come from, implying that Republicans are playing the same sort of game that Obama plays often where he makes vague statements with no details to back them up. Both President of the United States Barack Obama (Democrat) and him apparently can't find the details for these cuts and so think that this is some sort of trick.

This is really sad, because I opened up internet explorer, went to google, searched 'details of gop plan', and the very first site that was listed was "A Roadmap for America's Future: The Budget Committee Republicans," which links to the GOP's detailed plans to cut $55 billion from the federal budget. That I was able to find the details to the plan so easily and yet the President of the United States and his chief of staff were not able to speaks to one of two things- one, they're all incompetent idiots who lack basic computer and research skills because they are all stuck in the pre-internet past, or two, they are disingenuous liars who are knowingly trying to scam and fool the American people because they know they are not decent or honest or truthful people so they can't find any refuge there.

Daley is thus either an incompetent idiot or a disingenuous liar- either way, the fact that he was chosen to be the main advisor to our President speaks to the kind of people that our President has chosen to surround himself with.

In case Obama or Daley ever do figure out how to use the internet and read by blog, I'll help them out by putting the apparently hard to find information on where 'the beef' is below:

• LEGISLATIVE BRANCH...............................$1,283,000,000. (23%)
• Notes: The Government Printing Office is abolished.
• JUDICIAL BRANCH......................................$2,434,000,000. (32%)
• AGRICULTURE............................................$42,542,000,000. (30%)
• The Agriculture Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Resources Conservation Service, and Foreign Agricultural Service are abolished. The Forest Service gets a $1.2 billion haircut.
• COMMERCE...................................................$5,322,000,000. (54%)
• National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is cut by $857,000,000.
• DEFENSE.......................................................$47,500,000,000. (6.5%)
• EDUCATION..................................................$78,000,000,000 (83%)
• Only the Pell grant program survives.
• ENERGY............................................................$44,200,000,000 (100%)
• The Defense Department takes over all of Energy's remaining functions (nuclear waste, for example) and about $18 billion of its budget.
• HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES..............$26,510,000,000. (26%)
• Notes: FDA is cut by $230,000,000; Indian Health Service is cut by $650 million; CDC is cut by $1.17 billion; NIH by $5.8 billion.
• HOMELAND SECURITY.................................$23,765,000,000. (43%)
• Notes: Coast Guard is shifted to Defense. TSA's funds are cut by $900 million.
• HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT....$53,100,000,000. (100%)
• Notes: Completely eliminated. Veterans' housing programs are transferred to the VA
• INTERIOR........................................................$10,934,000,000. (78%)
• Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Indian Affairs are abolished.
• JUSTICE.............................................................$9,057,000,000. (28%)
• Note: Office of Justice Programs is abolished.
• LABOR....................................................$2,803,000,000. (2%)
• OSHA, MSHA, and the The Employment and Training Administration are spared all cuts (no cuts to unemployment benefits)
• STATE...................................................................$20,321,000,000. (71%)
• Note: Massive foreign aid cuts. All international commissions and organizations are defunded.
• TRANSPORTATION............................................$42,810,000,000. (49%)
• Notes: Amtrak is completely de-funded.
• VETERANS’ AFFAIRS..........................................No cuts
• CORPS OF ENGINEERS......................................$1,854,000,000. (27%)
• EPA..............................................................$3,238,000,000. (29%)
• GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION.....$1,936,000,000. (85%)
• INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS...$24,300,000,000 (100%)
• NASA.........................................................................$4,500,000,000 (25%)
• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION...............$4,723,000,000. (62%)
• OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.......$9,070,000,000.
• SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.........No cuts
• FCC...........................................................$2,150,000,000. (22%)
• ABOLISH...............................................................$2,050,000,000. (100%)
• (1) Affordable Housing Program.
• (2) Commission on Fine Arts.
• (3) Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• (4) Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
• (5) National Endowment for the Arts.
• (6) National Endowment for the Humanities.
• (7) State Justice Institute.
• MISC
• Collect delinquent taxes from Federal Employees........$3,000,000,000.
• Freeze Federal Government employee pay...................$2,000,000,000.
• Reduce Federal Government travel..............................$7,500,000,000.
• Repeal Davis-Bacon..................................................... $6,000,000,000.
• Prohibit union project labor agreements......................$2,000,000,000.
• TARP repeal.................................................................$4,481,000,000.
• Sell Federal Buildings..................................................$19,000,000,000.
• Reduce Federal vehicle budget..........................................$600,000,000.

UPDATE: Comment from theblogprof's story on this subject, which I echo:

Note the one cut close to the end: "Collect delinquent taxes from Federal Employees." $3 BILLION??? Good grief. How are they still federal employees at all?

This one's for Chris L. @ A.U.

I think that The Frustrated Teacher said it best on the subject of inequality in education: "There is no quick fix because the problem, whatever the problem is, is not the fault of public education; it's the fault of society to adequately take care of those in need. I think its pretty clear that the "haves" have been having at the expense of the "have-nots" for so long that we are where we are now; a rich/poor society; very little in the middle.The "poor" don't need better schools and teachers, they need better lives !"

On a similar note Public Education Defender made a number of key points about Obama's recent speech on education policy. Public Ed. Defender argues that Obama's plan like that of other well intended politicians will do little to significantly improve education in America. Here's what this teacher blogger said: "... President Obama gave a major speech on education policy. So far, I like him a lot. Who knows whether or not he will have a successful presidency, but he seems to have the potential for greatness. His plan to improve education in America, however, does not inspire me. It's not that I'm disappointed by the things Obama is proposing; it's exactly what I would expect from a good politician who does not really understand what happens in a classroom. It's not that I think the things he is proposing are necessarily bad things. "

"President Obama is endorsing merit pay, that's not a bad thing, but I think it is greatly overrated by its proponents. It might help a little, and I am all for doing whatever it takes to make sure we keep our best teachers, regardless of seniority, and get rid of our worst ones. "

"...America's teachers are often portrayed by our media and elites as being incompetent. This is unfair. There are some lousy teachers out there--no one can deny that--and we should get rid of them. But much of the so-called "bad teaching" is being done by teachers who have been put into impossible classroom situations. Once in a blue moon you might find an incredible teacher who can go into one of those classrooms and turn things around. Those teachers, however, are very rare. If anyone thinks that enough of them can be found to turn around those impossible classroom situations in large cities throughout the nation, they are dreaming. Something has to be done about those classroom situations, and Obama's policies don't. "

I can't help but agree with both of these education bloggers. Somehow I feel that many out there, although well-intended I am sure try to offer simplistic solutions to a very complex problem without considering the research. It seems to me that almost everyone is an 'expert' when it comes to education reform. Many argue that if we just get rid of teacher tenure, fire all of the incompetent teachers, offer merit pay, and get all parents to make their challenging students behave then all of our problems will be solved. All of these solutions seem to be rooted in a "schools only" approach to fixing the problem which is part of the problem.

A look at a Bolder Approach to Education website is quite insightful and is a deliberate effort by leaders from various fields in education, social welfare, housing, and civil rights. Their position statement reveals that ".. research has documented a powerful association between social and economic disadvantage and low student achievement." They argue that our national education policy has been crafted around the expectation that schools alone can offset the full impact of socio-economic status on learning. As an example they cite the No Child Left Behind Law. They support that schools can ameliorate some of the impact of social and economic disadvantage on achievement but not all.

Many including our DC schools chancellor denies that socio-economic status has a significant impact despite what the research states. According to bolder approach : "evidence demonstrates that achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status are present before children even begin formal schooling. What is crucial for all of us is to not get caught into the trap that many of our politicians have which as bolder approach states is a "failure to act on the evidence — in tandem with a schools-only approach — which is a major reason why the association between disadvantage and low student achievement remains so strong. " Check out a bolder approach to education for solutions.

On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of a dinner meeting with 17 American University students and their professor from the DC Education Project on the subject of systemic inequities in K-12 education in the District and the nation. Chris L. , sophomore student leader of this group contacted me through my blog to arrange this very delightful evening. Our meeting took place in a Adams- Morgan hostel where several college students prepared all of us an informal dinner of burritos while we dialogued on this very interesting subject. This took me back to my ole' college days which for me offer many fond memories.

What I learned is that these 17 students are part of an alternative spring break project which included visiting DC schools (Janney ES and Hart middle school), meeting with non-profits, a community activist parent - Maria Jones, and Chancellor Rhee and WTU President George Parker, etc. As a public education advocate, I did my best to answer their many well- thought out questions from my vantage point on the subject of systemic inequities. I think that a good starting point for our discussion was their recent visit to a school west of the park and another school east of the river. What a dichotomy ! As I shared with Chris, I look forward to seeing the final outcome of their project. At a time when college students could be enjoying all of the simple pleasures of their spring break- they decided to become a part of an interesting alternative educational experience. I applaud their efforts. I am sure it will provide many life-long academic and personal memories . I believe that we ALL can learn a lot from their project- even President Obama. (Posted by The Washington Teacher).

Over the last two weeks in Libya, important events were occurring. There was an important revolt against a ruling power, a revolt that was inspired by events in nearby nations and that was driven by forces including a desire for more liberty, a desire for better protection of property from takings by the government, and a desire for more protections of life. Of course there are other forces swirling around too in Libya- the whole life, liberty, and property line also needs to have added to it tribal, religious, and other overtones- but the idea is that there is an important revolution occurring in Libya today.

Opposing the revolutionaries are those who like the status quo in Libya, those who are part of the tyrannical government system, those whose livelihoods are based on the looting of their fellow citizens, those who feel that elites and overlords and government agents should control what people do in their lives, and those who abuse human lives with cruel and unjust judicial systems. These people have important skin in the game too- if the tables are turned on them, they die and their way of life dies, and so they are going to fight tooth and nail and to the last bloody body to keep their unearned gains.

And then there is probably the most important group in Libya, that of the middle. Everyone always remembers the American revolutionaries and the British and Loyalist forces, but few ever think about the great percentage of people who sat out the opening rounds of the American Revolution and watched events before deciding which way to commit. There is a large number of people in Libya who are on the sidelines, watching- although they might agree with the revolutionaries, if the revolution is successful, they may not gain personally and they may have less wealth or power, or although they might agree with the established power, but they may live in an area where the revolution is doing well or may think that long term the revolution will be successful. There are a great number of people in Libya sitting on the sidelines- generals, political leaders, business leaders, and teachers- who are trying to figure out which way this whole thing is going to break so that they can be on the winning side.

The United States had the opportunity two weeks ago to put pressure on all three to achieve some sort of an outcome, and because of the incompetence of its primary political figure in charge of international events, the President, it has failed to do so and only now, several weeks later, is it finally making weak policy decisions on this important event.

This is an important event, you see- Libya is a significant oil producer, Libya has over 6 million people in it, Libya is in a strategic area of the world, and Libya has been a thorn in the side of the United States for years as an active supporter of worldwide terrorism. It is a nation that could be better- it could be a more reliable producer of cheaper oil for us, it could be a nation that has fewer human rights abuses and more political freedom and happiness for its own people, it is a nation that could serve as important source of stability and support in the region, or it could be simply removed from being a thorn in our side and stop supporting worldwide terrorism.

It isn't guaranteed, of course, that these positive events can and will happen- one must always weigh the possible positives of the future with the current situation- but as Libya was a 'bad' nation who wasn't our ally, it can't get much worse (this contrasts to my position on Egypt which was that it was a 'not totally bad nation who was our ally and could get worse').

When this revolution started up several weeks ago, there was every possibility for the United States to put pressure on all three factions working in Libya. Now, of course that pressure needed to be subtle and applied in the right manner by the right people, but I think my case has been laid out strongly that some action should have been taken in some way as soon as possible in this revolution in Libya.

All three factions- the revolutionaries, those in power, and the significant middle in between- could all have been acted on. The revolutionaries could have been provided with support- moral, international, actual arms and weapons, etc. Those in power could have been pressured through sanctions, embargoes, stern words, seizure of assets, or threats of more by moving military assets into the area, and this may have moderated its response and taken off of the table such actions as bombing civilians or hiring foreign mercenaries. And the moderates and those who hadn't decided which faction to support would have observed these reactions and made the call that the winning side and stronger horse to bet on in this revolution was the revolutionaries, thus swelling their ranks and leading them to quicker and less bloody victory.

But Democratic President Barack Obama did not act quickly, surely, or strongly. Other nations did- the British seized assets, the Chinese moved warships into the region, the French acted diplomatically- but not the world's greatest superpower and the one with the most capacity to act in a positive manner. Instead, Obama did nothing, he dithered, he went to basketball games and concerts, and he did not exercise the leadership that was so critical during this timer period.

His failures resulted in a longer, more drawn out, less sure conflict, one in which the moderates saw the President of the United States doing nothing and so decided to support the established powers, one in which the revolutionaries saw their morale drop due to lack of support, one in which the established powers in Libya believed that is was okay to use deadly force and hire international mercenaries to keep control.

The fact that Obama is acting now to issue weak international language condemning Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi does not improve my regard for him or his actions; it instead makes me regard him worse. If Obama was going to oppose Qaddafi, he should have opposed him- if Obama was going to support Qaddafi, he should have supported him- but instead it appears that the leader of the free world and commander-in-chief of the greatest military force ever was a confused, unprincipled, weak, inept, and incompetent moderate who is simply waiting on the sidelines trying to look good in the end rather than being a strong, principled, competent leader who takes action, even if that action is a strong no-action.

President Barack Obama must be removed from office sooner rather than later because he is not a good leader and is incompetent and his failures are leading to a world that is less free, less secure, and more dangerous to the living. He may be a fine father and a good person and a great community organizer, but it was and continues to be a mistake to have him as President of the United States.

UPDATE: Something about this subject must inspire deeper thoughts about the President and what sort of person should occupy that office, because Richard Fernandez over at Belmont Club has also penned a great editorial on this very subject titled The Root of All Evil- check it out!

On July 6, 2010- Stephanie McCrummen, a Washington Post writer featured a story about Sousa Middle School Principal Dwan Jordon, titled : "D.C. Principal's hands-on tack transforms Sousa Middle but also ruffles feathers" Sousa Middle School is located at 650 Ely Pl. SE, Washington, DC. The problem with McCrummen's story is that it reads like the political propaganda that we have come to expect from the Washington Post with Jordon being featured as Superman who comes to save the day of course courtesy of Chancellor Michelle Rhee who handpicked him. At first glance, I couldn't help but wonder how this local story made the front page of a major newspaper but it is to be expected given the Post's unequivocal history of supporting anything Chancellor Rhee. As DC activist, Robert Brannum reiterates in his DC Examiner column, "major newspapers like the Post are all too often willing to advance Chancellor Rhee and her protege's as innovators who all by themselves save public education." McCrummen unjustly portrays Sousa's former teachers in a demeaning light by using one example of a teacher being physically abusive towards a student when she digs her fingernails into him and other negative laden adjectives describing teachers as resistant to Jordon's strategies and emotional when she refers to them as humiliated and traumatized. At no time does this reporter take the time to examine what positive attributes (other than Jordon) these teachers had at their disposal that contributed to their ability to significantly raise test scores at Sousa before they were terminated or left of their own accord. Even the sub headings in this story credit Principal Dwan Jordon with positive captions like "Prove Everybody Wrong," " It's Beautiful" and "What's Wrong? " while teachers were conveniently featured under the one heading of "Feeling Humiliated". The problem with this type of reporting is that it is a fairy tale that doesn't exist and as Conducting the Inner Light teacher turned blogger writes: "it is fluff reportage that only compounds the problem DCPS has, a problem that will not improve through such one sided reporting nor one sided debates."

In today's Sunday WaPo front page article by reporter Bill Turque, the title suggests that there will be an upcoming showdown between AFT President, Randi Weingarten and Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Well, I certainly hope not. I know headlines sell newspapers but I am sick of the Post's negative posturing. Let's get on with the business of negotiating a contract that supports student achievement and is fair to teachers. I venture to guess that maybe- President Parker didn't meet our end of January deadline since he didn't give a quote to the Post. Wonder what Parker will say tonight on the Sunday robo call ? I hope he hasn't missed another union deadline. Don't you ?

I encourage you to check out today's front page story on page A1

Education Heavyweights Prepare for D.C. Contract Fight
Teachers Union Head, Schools Chancellor Face Off on Tenure Protection, Reforms

"When the District's teachers union unveils its long-awaited contract proposal this month, a head-to-head struggle will be fully joined between two of public education's most prominent and strongest-willed leaders: Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

At stake is not only the fate of Rhee's ambitious attempt to transform the District's failing schools, but also a significant early battle in a nationwide campaign by a new generation of urban school reformers. They want to dramatically elevate the quality of teaching and learning, even if the effort sparks labor tensions with politically influential teachers unions. That could produce ripple effects for the Obama administration, which enjoyed heavy union support in last year's election but has also placed school improvement high on its domestic agenda.

The 14-month struggle between Rhee and the 4,000-member Washington Teachers' Union, AFT's local affiliate, is a potential watershed for Weingarten. She wants to protect her 1.4 million-strong national membership from the spread of what she calls Rhee's "scorched earth" approach and roll back the broad public perception that teachers unions are an impediment to reform because they harbor mediocre or incompetent instructors.

In speeches and commentary, Weingarten has outlined a view of how teachers should be paid, evaluated and, if need be, fired that is fundamentally different from Rhee's. She has denounced Rhee's core objective to weaken tenure protections and link individual pay and job security directly to student achievement. She asserts that such systems breed resentment and discourage the kind of collaboration among instructors that truly improves schools. What she doesn't explicitly say is that individualized rewards for performance could also pose a threat to her union's future.

For the former labor lawyer, elected to the presidency of the nation's second-largest teachers union in July (the National Education Association has 3.2 million members), it will be a high-profile test."Randi is the most important teachers union figure in the country today," said Thomas Toch, co-director of Education Sector, an independent Washington think tank. "She's a pivotal figure in this conversation. The stakes are very high for her in D.C." (Posted by The Washington Teacher). Article courtesy of WaPo.

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Via Committee for Justice Blog :

CFJ has learned from a reliable source that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, reportedly on President Obama’s Supreme Court short list, boarded a flight from Detroit to Washington, DC last night. If Granholm is coming to DC for an announcement of her nomination to the Court, we’ll know as soon as this morning. If she’s coming to DC to interview for the job, it serves as confirmation that she is on the short list. In either case, it’s worth taking a look at her record, including the scandals that have plagued her.

CFJ says that for SCOTUS, Granholm's role in the economic disaster that is Michigan really is not going to be that important. Although she has been incompetent and mismanaged the state into the worst in the nation every year of her administration, that kind of resume is actually something the Obama team looks favorably on. And her opposition to traditional marriage and support of abortion are just policy differences- the kind that Obama says don't really matter, and that we should all just be nice about and agree with him since they aren't worth much (that's the point of his Notre Dame speech, right?). And her lack of experience in anything judicial isn't going to hurt her either- the Obama team favors putting people with no experience over those with experience- then Obama doesn't feel bad being so inexperienced at his job.

The real scandals that CFJ points to that might knock her off the list (allowing someone with a cleaner record of no experience and empathy to become an activist liberal Supreme Court judge)are her tax problems (Obama doesn't want to look bad by appointing yet another tax cheat) and her record while acting as Corporation Counsel for Wayne County. As CFJ mentions, after Granholm's time in that office, the FBI and state auditors have been busy for years, cleaning up the corruption of her administration, including the awarding of no-bid and grossly-expensive contracts to her husband's businesses by Wayne County.

Check out the full post here.

Recently, Michigan Senate Majority leader Mike Bishop asked me for my opinion on the President's Race to the Top program. I told him that I didn't support it, and he looked at me in a way that said "I thought you were a conservative" and "I thought you wanted to help education." At the time, I struggled to explain why I didn't like the program- I didn't really know all the details to it, but suspected that I was indeed correct in opposing it from what little I knew. He thought I was just a tool of the teachers unions, who also oppose RTTT, but I knew that for some reason I didn't like this initiative by Obama, and it wasn't just paranoid anti-Obama sentiment.

Today, via theblogprof, via Right Wing News, I came across the an article called "Ten Rules for Anti-Government Republican Radicals in D.C. ." As an anti-government conservative radical, the kind that our founding fathers were, the kind of people that built our nation and made our country a great success, I find these rules to be useful in helping me begin to articulate why I oppose Race to the Top.

Rule number one for being an anti-government conservative radical is always try to decentralize power as much as possible. Race to the Top does not do this- it bribes the states into giving the central government in Washington DC more centralized decision making power over our education system.

Rule number two is that earmarks are corruption. RTTT is a $4.35 billion incentive program that awards prizes to districts for meeting a certain criteria. Like most Obama initiatives, it will be not be an open and transparent process the fairly distributes grants to the districts, but instead will be an opaque and closed process that awards grants to districts based on highly specific criteria designed to steer money to politically favored districts- ie, it is a program ripe for earmarking.

Rule #3 is that the louder they scream "emergency," the more suspicious you should be. The supposed reason why we should pass RTTT as quickly as possible is because we should never let a serious crisis go to waste, and our education system is in a crisis, and so now is the time when we should jam through massive bad legislation, but I don't buy this argument, and so I reject RTTT.

#5 is that the grassroots are your friend. What RTTT does is attack teachers, all teachers, and pretend that they are all incompetent and bad teachers, and that empowering the central government more to distribute gifts and prizes for things it like will somehow make the education system better. Teachers aren't bad people (or at least no more so than any other person)- I'm a proud member of the MEA. What is bad is the government structure that they operate in, the forced unionization, having them be employees of the state, etc. RTTT attacks the people, and you should never support legislation that attacks people.

#7) We will never control spending unless we change the system. This program steers money intended for 'economic stimulus' into prizes for school districts, prizes that they will become dependent on and become addicted to. It creates and enlarges a system of out-of-control spending and does nothing to help school districts become more efficient in delivering high-quality education to students.

9) We don't need new laws; we need reform. RTTT is yet another multiple-billion dollar new program that only supports and extends and strengthens the existing system, and does not really reform it. Oh, I know there is some good in it, but the main thrust of it is not to reform the system, but to put in place new laws, and thus a good conservative should oppose it.

10) It's better to kill a bad bill than improve it. Mike Bishop communicated to me that although there is a lot of bad stuff in RTTT, there is some good in it that we can work with, and that we need the money, and that education is in a crisis, blah blah blah. Mike, I support you, and think a lot of time you have good instincts, but sometimes it looks to me like the system is slowly corrupting you, as it does all good men. Kill Race to the Top- it is a bad bill, and although it could be improved, it is better to just kill it and start over with real reform that centralizes governments influence in education.

"Just goes to show you how sh---- some of these teachers are. The moron commenters on this blog can't spell, punctuate, write a complete sentence, etc. I wholeheartedly stand behind Rhee. These damn unions reward the lazy and promote the incompetent. I'm usually pro-union, but this is ridiculous! I'm glad she's shaking things up and lighting a fire under some of your asses. I can't believe you people think she should have cut funding for more educational programming over the summers over saving your jobs. Hello, does that not illustrate something for you? The system has been failing for years. Whose fault do you idiots think that is? Time for change. Good riddance to you all. Oh, and good luck with Oprah."

As the narrative goes, Joe the Plumber is not an ordinary citizen who spotted an obvious flaw in the Anointed One's grand plan, and by pointing it out got the Anointed One to let slip that his communist leanings. No, the left wing hatchet men are already at work- apparently Joe the Plumper is a Republican spy, who once lived in Arizona and has relatives in Alaska, doesn't like to pay his taxes, isn't even a licensed plumber, and has mental health problems.

Isn't it impressive how quick the left goes to work on destroying people's lives? They don't want to talk about the merits of Joe the Plumbers argument- that taxing rich people destroys the incentive for anyone to be rich- ie, that taxing rich people also taxes all future people who want to be rich- ie, that taxing rich people makes people less productive and makes America less prosperous. No, the left goes after people personally. They know they can't win in the arena of ideas, so they need to destroy people's personal lives, one by one if they have to, until no one is left.

Put the power of a police state in these people's hands and you get the Soviet Union, Cambodia, and China. Put Obama in power and it won't be this bad, but it won't be good either.

The left's reaction to Joe the Plumber shouldn't surprise people. Look again at the left response to Governor Sarah Palin. When McCain picked her to be his running mate, there was a rush to examine her record by the right... and her by the left. The left came out swinging, but not on her ideological ideas or beliefs about government or actions as a public official- their first response was to personally destroy her.

They rushed to to define Sarah Palin as a drooling hick with a gun living in a double-wide trailer in some small town. There is a whole site out there now that documents the lefts attacks on Palin, and notice that none of them are about what she believes- they are all personal attacks on her. The left takes pictures up Palin's skirt, they call her racist, they call her stupid, they all her unqualified, incompetent, a bad joke, a cancer, or a bad mother. Given power, one wonders what the left would do to someone who they perceive of as a 'racist cancer' and a 'threat to our country.'

Given power, what does the right do to leftists? How did those evil conservatives punish Obama's friend Bill Ayers? After 8 years of that crazy neoconservative Bush, how worse off are liberals? Under Reagan and Bush, were the personal lives of liberals destroyed- was there any rise in the police state- did the 'right wing' usher in an era of personal attacks? Nope- the rise of the right in our country led to great discussions on ideas, on beliefs, on questions about the nature of government, about the rights of individuals, and made our country a better place to live.

Joe the Plumber, I feel bad for you. Look at your wikipedia entry (the link)- I spent an hour last night defending you on that page, but when I left, it still said you were an un-union Republican stooge because of the petty malice of the left's minions.

What is happening to you is characteristic of anyone who annoys the left. You made the big mistake of pissing off the left's new god- an especially bad offense, for which you apparently are now going to pay. I'm sorry my friend. Soon you too will be ripped endlessly on Saturday Night Live, and the left will laugh at you and make fun of you for being a good guy who asked a good question. Don't worry though- soon enough, someone else will join you on the left's hate list.

Mental Acrobatics asks What can the ordinary African citizen do to make Africa relevant on the Global Scene?:

As Africans we have to start focusing our energy on adopting strategies to counter this state of affairs beginning with a harsh reality check. We are under-represented at these summits because we are increasingly irrelevant. On the global scene African countries have very little influence, even less power and no force at all (except against other African countries).Relying on our current political leaders to draw up and implement a strategy to make Africa relevant in a positive way is a non starter...[continue reading]

The increasing irrelevance is the largely the result of incompetent,unaccountable,clueless leaders with a serious dependency syndrome. Herein lies the danger of the endlessly outstretched hand.Why would anyone take them seriously, would you?

In July 2008, TransCanada announced a $7 billion expansion to its Keystone pipeline system, calling the project the the Keystone XL project, which would build a 3,200-km pipe linking Alberta’s oil to refineries in Texas. The line is expected to handle 590,000 barrels of oil a day and would take about a year to build. Three years ago the plans were communicated to the State Department, which failed to move quickly and efficiently to implement the plan and bring jobs and energy to our nation (timeline details).

Then the Obama administration came in, and there was a long delay when nothing got done- no work was put into the project, no reviews were done, and nothing happened for several years. Starting in the summer of 2010, Republicans began to put increasing pressure on the State Department and the Obama administration to do approve the pipeline project or begin the approval process or redesign the pipeline or anything- and yet the months go by and nothing more happened.

Then in December of 2011, the Republicans attached to the payroll tax deal a provision that forces President Obama to decide within 60 days whether or not to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The deadline runs out on February 21, 2012- which is in another 35 days or so. President Obama instead decided today to instead reject the proposed pipeline and turn down all the jobs and money and income and cheap oil, blaming Republicans for his rejection, saying that there was now too little time left to review the project and change its proposed route.

Follow this story on memeorandum, and you can see for yourself what really happened here- Obama did not put in the work and time and effort to get it done.

There is still time left to review and change the route- oh, at this point it wouldn't be easy, and it might take a lot of work and time and effort, but there is still over a month to get it done, and an active and hard-working and intelligent President could get a task like this done. There was still time left to review the project in December and change the route- even though Obama said that it would take exactly a year to finish a review process like this meaning he'd be able to make a decision right after the November 2012 election- but at that time, the administration did not accelerate the process and put in the hard work to get the project up and working.

There was time left in the summer of 2010 to do the review process and change the route- and do in the the year time-frame that Obama suggested that it would take. That means it would already be approved and construction begun by now; perhaps it would even be finished and transporting cheap energy from our friend from the north right now, lowering gas prices and helping poor people heat their homes more cheaply during this cold winter. But Obama did not do anything in 2010, except talk and hem and haw, and demonstrated that rather than put in the hard work to square the pipeline project with his supposed environmental concerns, he instead would just dither and do nothing.

President Obama had ample opportunity to act on this project and compromise and build an environmentally safe pipeline that would bring considerable jobs and money and wealth to America while meeting environmental concerns- but he didn't. He spent his time over the last month (December 2011 to January 2012) in fundraisers, on vacation in Hawaii, and campaigning all around the nation. He didn't get the project done- make some phone calls, bring people together, and hammer out an environmentally friendly pipeline project.

The rejection of the Keystone Pipeline XL project demonstrates more so than anything how lazy, incompetent, and unqualified President Obama is for the office of the President of the United States.

Franklyne Ogbunwezeh writes:

For our democracy to shed its pretences, and sustain a vibrant dynamic, which would uphold democratic principles, Africa must groom an enlightened followership. Without this, African leaders will always fall for the temptation to omnipotence. Without an enlightened followership, there would be no credible critical mass of opposition to challenge the excesses of an incompetent government. In fact, “a responsible leadership can be nourished and sustained only by an enlightened and responsible followership, which will constitute an effective check on its exercise and excesses. This holds true because an enlightened followership would be vigilant on things that concern their welfare. This eternal vigilance, which is the price of liberty, is the basis for an effective foreclosure of despotism, abuse of office and trust, rise of tyranny and kleptocratic governance, et cetera

More here

President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress who voted in favor of it are going to stand for election in another year, and when they do it is important to for voters to remember that one of the biggest pieces of legislation that they pushed for and voted for was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as 'Obamacare.'

Part of Obamacare included a provision for temporary waivers, which were put put in place to encourage employers and insurers who are currently offering mini-med plans not to withdraw medical coverage before the full regulations come into force. This is an important aspect of the legislation- if these waivers were not in place, employers and insurers might decide to drop coverage for employees and push these employees into the public system, thereby driving up costs for the public and putting further pressure on our already bankrupt system.

The problem with these waivers is that like most aspects of the Obama administration is that it was a corrupt process- corrupt in the sense that this waiver process became tied up in trading in influence, patronage, cronyism, electoral fraud, and kickbacks. Democrats in Congress were supposed to be proving oversight to this process, but were negligent in their duties, and so there was all sorts of evidence that the waiver process was corrupt. I wrote about it myself in my post Evidence is Mounting that Obamacare is All Sorts of Corrupt?, where I wrote the following:

It was my suspicion several months ago that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a corrupt piece of legislation designed to transfer property and choice from those who have it to those who want it. There would be those who would not want to be part of this process who would then ask for waivers, and it was my suspicion that these waivers would be given out based on political considerations- in other words, they would be given to groups that support the Democratic Party, Obama in particular, or to companies who had access and connections to those Democratic party officials who were making the decisions on the waivers, likely because of their campaign donations. So I started to do some research on the issue- as I stated, the research was by no means an exhaustive list of evidence but did end up being some pretty fair anecdotal evidence that those who are receiving waivers from Obamacare are those who donated large amounts of money to Barack Obama. Check out the post for my little bit of research on this issue.

The process of getting waivers was established by law, and supporters of Obamacare gave many speeches on it where they further clarified and expanded on the meaning of the law, and in every case, these Obamacare waivers were to be granted until 2014.

But, as the corruption inherent in the process has become politically damaging, Obama has decided to change the law by issuing a decree ending the health care waiver program on September 22.

This is President Obama, supported by the modern Democratic Party- ruling by decree, changing laws around to suit their political interests, and restraining themselves from engaging in further corrupt activities only because their past corruption is now being exposed by bloggers like me.

The purpose of these waivers was to avoid disrupting coverage, but Obama has decided that it would be much better for him to disrupt insurance coverage for our nation if it will remove a politically embarrassing and corrupt program that he worked to pass. Let me be clear- Obama has made a selfish decision that will damage our nation because he believes it will help him hide politically his policies and his past actions. These sorts of actions move Obama away from simply naively incompetent to dangerously corrupt.

Franklin Cudjoe writes "...Famine in the fertile climes of southern and eastern Africa, however, seems more shocking. But there's a common thread: centralized state rule -- incompetent at best -- marked by corruption and sustained by aid...more temperate southern and eastern African countries are on the edge of famine, too, with 10 million affected in southern Africa alone. Again, we find the same economic profile: Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho all lack economic freedom and property rights; all have economies mismanaged by the state; all depend on aid...Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi believes that allowing Ethiopians to own their land would make them sell out to multinationals. He seems to have overlooked a basic market principle: It demands a willing seller and a willing buyer at an agreed price. If that price is worth selling for, the farmer might have some money to reinvest elsewhere; if that price is worth buying for, the purchaser must have plans to make the land profitable. If there is no sale, owners might have an incentive to invest in their own land and future, having, at last, the collateral of the land on which to get a loan.After decades of socialism, Ethiopia's agricultural sector -- the mainstay of the economy -- is less productive per capita than 20 years ago when Band Aid tried to defeat famine. Although 60% of the country is arable, only 10% has been cultivated. Ethiopia is entirely dependent on donations; but instead of grasping reality, Mr. Zenawi, a member of Tony Blair's "Commission for Africa," is forcing resettlement on 2.2 million people..."
Also covered at PSD Blog

• Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ: The ballot or the bullet

  A Martin Luther King, Jr. Lesson plan from my friend @teacherdude in Greece. This is what he does in his class. Make sure you prescreen movies and make sure that age appropriate films are selected. It is interesting how he handles the discussion in the oft tumultuous Greece.

  tags: education teaching martinlutherking

• Care of Magical Creatures

  This is from one of my favorite teachers on Tumblr - magical teacher. Here, she shares an infographic from AOL the "11 Days that Shaped 2011" to use as a writing prompt and suggests that you have students develop their own infographic for their life in 2011. What are the 11 days that shaped your life this year?

  tags: 2011 teaching lessonplans lessonplan

• Kinect Lesson Plan with Body and Brains: Kicking Your Way to Mastering Math | KinectEDucation

  Get this. A lesson plan using Kinect, teaching math, and aligned with common core standards. This includes handouts. For grades 3-6. If you have a kinect at your school, you'll want to follow kinecteducation.com 

  tags: education kinect teaching math_teacher

• Get Statistics About How You Use E-mail to Use E-mail Less - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education

  This is a great post with guidance on helping people use email more efficiently. If you use Google apps for domains, the tools that let you analyze your email use will be great. If you teach digital citizenship and literacy, this is a great starting point for teaching about email. No, email is not free, it costs us time. 

  tags: education email productivity teaching

• The New York Times Accidentally Spams More Than 8 Million People

  Oops. Spam makes the best organization look incompetent. Best option is to admit it, make sure it doesn't happen again. I find schools and organizations that don't have a clue about how to send an email (by using blind copy instead of to everyone on the planet) increasingly annoying because there is always someone on the list who doesn't respect the emails of others and starts spamming. 
  
  Use email well in your organization.If you teach digital citizenship, conversations about spam and proper email etiquette should be part of what you teach. This would be a good conversation starter.

  tags: education teaching digiteen digitalcitizenship

• Teens Stand Up as Abolitionists | hollyboardman

  Teacher Holly Boardman has added her voice to the blogosphere. She's doing great work online promoting the cause of abolition and I've enjoyed reading her tweets. Here is a phenomenal overview of how she has integrated this topic into her literature classroom where she uses writing, literature, and the topic of slavery to make literature of all kinds relevant to her students. How can you make literature relevant and do the world a service? Take a read of Holly's blog.

  tags: education slavery abolition literature_teacher teaching

• Resources for teaching about the Titanic

  January also includes the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Start on this page and on the left you can drill down by age to find the appropriate resources for the age of your students. (You may have to log in to be able to do this. You'll need a free account.)

  tags: education titanic teaching

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Resources

  Several lesson plans and activities for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, coming up in January. This is one of my go to places for resources online. Contribute what you're doing so others can download them. (there is also a download contest right now so you can share a great idea and win as well.)
  
  Lots of good ideas including assemblies from UNICEF, videos, and an analysis of his "I have a dream" speech to use in your speech class.

  tags: education teaching

• Recycling Christmas cards - Resources - TES

  Ideas to recycle Christmas cards. Use those lovely cards in your classroom instead of buying new paper in January and promote an awareness of taking care of the earth.

  tags: education teaching recycling lesson plans all_teachers

• Essay Writing Toolkit - Resources - TES

  If you teach essay writing, you'll want to download this powerpoint toolkit. It is a new resource just uploaded to Tes on December 9th. If you teach writing, you'll see a lot of information here.
  
  "A comprehensive guide to essay writing. The toolkit contains over 50 activities to help students improve their essays, as well as a wealth of other information, ideas and links. All aspects of essay writing are covered."

  tags: education teaching literature_teacher essays literature

• Distracted Driving | One Text or Call Could Wreck it All | Distraction.gov for Teens

  A website targeted to teens about distracted driving. It starts with a test to see how long you can keep your eyes and mind on the road. A great site for health classes or driversed. It is a bit tricky because it tricks you into doing something you might not should do but it does make a point. some kids will say it is lame but it is a start.

  tags: teaching health_teacher cellphone

• VoiceThread iOS App for itouch/ipad + Posterous - Be the Change

  So, you want to use digital storytelling in the classroom. Here Beth Sanders writes about what she is doing with the voicethread app. Some great classroom ideas here.

  tags: education teaching digitalstorytelling

• STEM Research Program for Teachers Accepting Applications -- THE Journal

  The Siemens' STEM program for teachers is an outstanding program for Science, Technology, and math teachers. I highly recommend this program as I've been there for a one day part of their program at Discovery Headquarters and, as always, the work Discovery did was outstanding. You can apply by February 9th. 

  tags: education stem teaching science_teacher

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.