Thursday, June 11, 2009
Can you balance California's budget?
Try your hand here. There are a number of things I would like to do that were not on the options list. But I suspect some are prevented by law or one of those %^&#ed public referendums that have helped make California effectively ungovernable.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Not for lightweights: A Baptist minister discovers Orthodoxy
From the blog Real Live Preacher
The minister has since made a couple more trips to Orthodox parishes which you may read about here and here.
Last Sunday was the 4th of 13 in my sabbatical time. Each of them is precious to me. Each week I am choosing a place and a way to worship. I’m not a church tourist, hoping to see new things. I’m seeking spiritual experiences. I want to worship. Saturday night Jeanene and I still hadn’t decided where to go. I experienced something common to our culture but new to me. The “Where do you want to go to church - I don’t know where do YOU want to go to church” conversation. I found the Saint Anthony the Great website. It's an Orthodox church that has beautiful Byzantine art in the sanctuary. We decided to go there.Read the whole thing here.
Shelby and Lillian went with us. On the way we warned them that this was going to be different. “They might not have changed their worship service much in a thousand years or so,” I told the girls.
That was an understatement.
Saint Anthony the Great isn't just old school. It's "styli and wax tablets" old school. We arrived ten minutes early for worship and the room was already filled with people lighting candles and praying. There was one greeter. I said, “We don’t know what to do.” She handed me a liturgy book and waved us inside.
Pews? We don’t need no stinking pews! Providing seats for worshipers is SO 14th century. Gorgeous Byzantine art, commissioned from a famous artist in Bulgaria. Fully robed priests with censors (those swinging incense thingies). Long, complex readings and chants that went on and on and on. And every one of them packed full of complex, theological ideas. It was like they were ripping raw chunks of theology out of ancient creeds and throwing them by the handfuls into the congregation. And just to make sure it wasn't too easy for us, everything was read in a monotone voice and at the speed of an auctioneer.
I heard words and phrases I had not heard since seminary. Theotokos, begotten not made, Cherubim and Seraphim borne on their pinions, supplications and oblations. It was an ADD kids nightmare. Robes, scary art, smoking incense, secret doors in the Iconostas popping open and little robed boys coming out with golden candlesticks, chants and singing from a small choir that rolled across the curved ceiling and emerged from the other side of the room where no one was singing. The acoustics were wild. No matter who was speaking, the sound came out of everywhere. There was so much going on I couldn't keep up with all the things I couldn't pay attention to.
Lillian was the first to go down. After half an hour of standing, she was done. Jeanene took her over to a pew on the side wall. She slumped against Jeanene’s shoulder and stared at me with this stunned, rather betrayed look on her face.
“How could you have brought us to this insane place?”
The minister has since made a couple more trips to Orthodox parishes which you may read about here and here.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Work in progress...
Playing with the website a bit today. You may see some things appearing, disappearing and being moved around.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Political Crisis in Britain
We Americans tend to ignore the politics of other countries to a degree that is frankly a bit embarrassing. But for those who have missed the news the British Labour Party appears to have suffered its second electoral drubbing in less than a week. Polls indicate that it has been crushed in European Parliamentary elections held yesterday by the Conservative Party and even came in behind a couple of fringe political parties. Last week Labour suffered massive losses in local elections.
This follows on the heels of a huge scandal which has rocked Britain's political establishment. It would appear that large numbers of Members of Parliament (MPs) have been abusing the official expense account for years. Charges for obviously personal items have been rung up on the public's nickel (or should that be shilling?) and the British public is livid. Making matters worse is that this scandal broke during a brutal recession which has left their working class in the same kind of pain we are feeling here in the states. The fact that the Tories (conservatives) were also up to their eyebrows in this scandal does not seem to have registered much with the voters who appear intent on punishing the party in power.
Under Britain's unwritten constitution the government (they use that word in the same sense we use the word "administration") must call for a new general election within the next year. And as one might expect the Tories smell blood in the political waters and the sharks are circling. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now facing a revolt in his own party as Labour MPs are becoming concerned that they are political dead meat if they go into the next general election with Brown as their party leader. There have been a slew of resignations from his cabinet over the last week including one former female minister (political, not clergy) who accused Brown of using her as "window dressing."
Reading the tea leaves I think it's looking bad for the prime minister. He has been so severely damaged by members of his own party calling for him to step down, that even if he manages to hold onto power his ability to govern effectively has all but evaporated. This would seem to render his position untenable during a time of extreme economic crisis and potentially looming foreign crisis (N. Korea etc.).
If I had to make a guess I would say his chances of surviving in office are now less than 50%. The odd thing is that the Tories may have won too big in the recent elections. More than a few Conservative MPs grasp that Brown is by far the man they want to run against in a general election. If he is ousted it may not strengthen their electoral prospects unless it occurs in a way which forces an early election.
But my gut says Brown is political toast and he will be gone by the end of the week. If I am wrong and he survives this week then I think he will hold on until the general election, when the Tories will get their wish.
Stay tuned...
This follows on the heels of a huge scandal which has rocked Britain's political establishment. It would appear that large numbers of Members of Parliament (MPs) have been abusing the official expense account for years. Charges for obviously personal items have been rung up on the public's nickel (or should that be shilling?) and the British public is livid. Making matters worse is that this scandal broke during a brutal recession which has left their working class in the same kind of pain we are feeling here in the states. The fact that the Tories (conservatives) were also up to their eyebrows in this scandal does not seem to have registered much with the voters who appear intent on punishing the party in power.
Under Britain's unwritten constitution the government (they use that word in the same sense we use the word "administration") must call for a new general election within the next year. And as one might expect the Tories smell blood in the political waters and the sharks are circling. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now facing a revolt in his own party as Labour MPs are becoming concerned that they are political dead meat if they go into the next general election with Brown as their party leader. There have been a slew of resignations from his cabinet over the last week including one former female minister (political, not clergy) who accused Brown of using her as "window dressing."
Reading the tea leaves I think it's looking bad for the prime minister. He has been so severely damaged by members of his own party calling for him to step down, that even if he manages to hold onto power his ability to govern effectively has all but evaporated. This would seem to render his position untenable during a time of extreme economic crisis and potentially looming foreign crisis (N. Korea etc.).
If I had to make a guess I would say his chances of surviving in office are now less than 50%. The odd thing is that the Tories may have won too big in the recent elections. More than a few Conservative MPs grasp that Brown is by far the man they want to run against in a general election. If he is ousted it may not strengthen their electoral prospects unless it occurs in a way which forces an early election.
But my gut says Brown is political toast and he will be gone by the end of the week. If I am wrong and he survives this week then I think he will hold on until the general election, when the Tories will get their wish.
Stay tuned...
Some food for thought...
From Mike Liccione who updates his blog far too infrequently...
This is something which I think we have become a bit timid about pointing out to those outside of it. In all honesty I am guilty of this myself. No one wants to offend others and I seriously doubt many converts have been won by insulting people. But there is a fine line between being sensitive to causing unnecessary hurt or offense and fudging the truth because it might make people uncomfortable. Sometimes I think we shy away from saying things like this not because we are afraid we might hurt someone's feeling but more because we are afraid what others will think of us.
As as another Tiber-swimmer, Fr. Al Kimel, once wrote: "A church which does not claim to be the Church, outside of which there is no salvation, is not the Church founded by Jesus Christ." The Anglican Communion has, historically, understood itself to be at most a "branch" of the Church; but for Fr. Jeffrey and many others, the recent history of that communion calls even that claim into question. A church which recognizes no doctrinal authority other than a "consensus" identifiable by scholarship and subject to reversal by allegedly new things done by the Spirit cannot reliably transmit the "faith once given" to the saints—nor, indeed, eternal life. It cannot present divine revelation as anything more than a set of data about which various opinions can be entertained and should be tolerated. Such a church is not an authoritative vessel and teacher of truth, the Mystical Body of Christ which shares in his authority as her Head.Read the whole thing here. Mike and I would disagree on where The Church lies. But here are words which express a very Orthodox understanding of the word "catholic" and what it implies. There are no multiple Churches and multiple Truths. There are no "branches." There is The Church, and there is that which lies outside it. Of course not all sects are created equal. There are varying degrees of error. But the Ark of Salvation and the true and grace filled Mysteries can only be found within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church affirmed in the Symbol of Faith.
This is something which I think we have become a bit timid about pointing out to those outside of it. In all honesty I am guilty of this myself. No one wants to offend others and I seriously doubt many converts have been won by insulting people. But there is a fine line between being sensitive to causing unnecessary hurt or offense and fudging the truth because it might make people uncomfortable. Sometimes I think we shy away from saying things like this not because we are afraid we might hurt someone's feeling but more because we are afraid what others will think of us.
Friday, June 05, 2009
New Orthodox Church in Rome
The Russian Orthodox Church has a new church in Rome. There are some very nice pictures here.Hat tip: Rorate Caeli & Carlos Antonio Palad
Caution: If you go to the Rorate post on the new church be prepared for the usual snarky anti-Orthodox comments.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
More nauseating clap trap from the religious left...
A prominent Catholic academic and supporter of President Barack Obama says that Roman Catholic Archbishops Raymond Burke and Charles Chaput and Bishop Joseph Naumann did not take a "Catholic approach" when they insisted that prominent pro-abortion Catholic politicians should not take communion.
He also said bishops and priests who deny communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians are engaging in “intimidation.”
“Let me tell you that to be separated from the body of Christ even once is intimidation,” said Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
Kmiec--a campaign advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008--was barred from communion by a priest in California last year. Kmiec wrote a book, “Can a Catholic Vote for Him?” which promoted the idea that pro-life Catholics could support Obama, who supports legalized abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, and same-sex unions.
“But it is not just an isolated case of a mistaken priest who thankfully, with the discipline of the local archbishop (Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles), wrote a letter of apology, which of course, is accepted," said Kmiec, speaking of his own case, on a panel at the National Press Club last week.
“It is instead that since 2004, it has been the teaching of at least some bishops that this is something that should be readily advertised and pursued,” said Kmiec.
Kmiec, a former dean of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America, cited these examples:
“‘Mr. Kerry, don’t come to St. Louis.’ ‘Mr. Biden, if you’re in town, in Denver, and you’re attending mass, you should think twice about coming to the altar rail.’ ‘Kathleen Sebelius, because we disagree with how you have discharged your responsibilities as you’ve been advised by your legal counsel, stay away. Publicly confess.’
“I suggest that is not either an effective or a Catholic approach,” Kmiec added.
Read the rest here.
He also said bishops and priests who deny communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians are engaging in “intimidation.”
“Let me tell you that to be separated from the body of Christ even once is intimidation,” said Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
Kmiec--a campaign advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008--was barred from communion by a priest in California last year. Kmiec wrote a book, “Can a Catholic Vote for Him?” which promoted the idea that pro-life Catholics could support Obama, who supports legalized abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, and same-sex unions.
“But it is not just an isolated case of a mistaken priest who thankfully, with the discipline of the local archbishop (Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles), wrote a letter of apology, which of course, is accepted," said Kmiec, speaking of his own case, on a panel at the National Press Club last week.
“It is instead that since 2004, it has been the teaching of at least some bishops that this is something that should be readily advertised and pursued,” said Kmiec.
Kmiec, a former dean of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America, cited these examples:
“‘Mr. Kerry, don’t come to St. Louis.’ ‘Mr. Biden, if you’re in town, in Denver, and you’re attending mass, you should think twice about coming to the altar rail.’ ‘Kathleen Sebelius, because we disagree with how you have discharged your responsibilities as you’ve been advised by your legal counsel, stay away. Publicly confess.’
“I suggest that is not either an effective or a Catholic approach,” Kmiec added.
Read the rest here.
Episcopalians mourn "hero" abortionist
First put down your coffee and grab the trash basket before reading further. You have been warned.
Join the Boston community in sharing our grief and celebrating the life of Dr. George Tiller, a true hero for women across the country.
Monday, June 1st
6pm
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral
138 Tremont St., Boston
Across from the Park St. T stop
Read the rest here if you have the stomach.
Join the Boston community in sharing our grief and celebrating the life of Dr. George Tiller, a true hero for women across the country.
Monday, June 1st
6pm
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral
138 Tremont St., Boston
Across from the Park St. T stop
Read the rest here if you have the stomach.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Obama gets a pass...
Big surprise here (that someone in the press is actually noting this).
The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment, but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America.
Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means. The leaderless and confused Republicans don't provide effective opposition. And the press -- on domestic, if not foreign, policy -- has so far largely abdicated its role as skeptical observer.
Obama has inspired a collective fawning. What started in the campaign (the chief victim was Hillary Clinton, not John McCain) has continued, as a study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism shows. It concludes: "President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House."
Read the rest here.
The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment, but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America.
Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means. The leaderless and confused Republicans don't provide effective opposition. And the press -- on domestic, if not foreign, policy -- has so far largely abdicated its role as skeptical observer.
Obama has inspired a collective fawning. What started in the campaign (the chief victim was Hillary Clinton, not John McCain) has continued, as a study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism shows. It concludes: "President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House."
Read the rest here.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
A day of violence
The well known and infamous abortionist George Tiller was shot dead today while serving as an usher at his church. Within hours of the shooting police reportedly arrested a suspect. Details are being withheld as this is still early in a homicide investigation.
Mr. Tiller (I refuse to refer to him as a doctor) was one of only a handful of abortionists in the country who would perform late term abortions. For those unfamiliar with that term, it refers to the killing of the child in the later stages of the pregnancy (even up to the final days) in a manner too cruel and horrific for this blog to describe. Late term abortions are illegal in many states and in almost all civilized countries. Even in Europe (!) where the right to kill one's child has been enshrined as a "human right," late term abortions are not allowed.
For the record I unreservedly condemn this crime. It is a yet another link in a vicious cycle of violence, which must at some point be broken. Vigilante justice weakens the foundation of respect for the rule of law and is unacceptable. Likewise I remain an opponent of capital punishment.
But please spare me from the sobs of the pro-death cult which is so entrenched in our country even to the point of holding the active support of our country's president. Tiller is no martyr. He was a mass murderer in his own right with the blood of God only knows how many innocents on his hands.
I feel true sadness for his family and pray that in some way they may find comfort during this time. As for Mr. Tiller; I commend his soul to the mercy of God. But do not ask me to weep for the man. I think I see this in a similar light to a well known criminal assassin being rubbed out by a rival. It's not right. But evil men tend to come to an evil end.
-Matthew 26:52
NOTE: I will not permit any comments endorsing this crime. Those holding such opinions are invited to post in some other corner of the blogosphere.
Mr. Tiller (I refuse to refer to him as a doctor) was one of only a handful of abortionists in the country who would perform late term abortions. For those unfamiliar with that term, it refers to the killing of the child in the later stages of the pregnancy (even up to the final days) in a manner too cruel and horrific for this blog to describe. Late term abortions are illegal in many states and in almost all civilized countries. Even in Europe (!) where the right to kill one's child has been enshrined as a "human right," late term abortions are not allowed.
For the record I unreservedly condemn this crime. It is a yet another link in a vicious cycle of violence, which must at some point be broken. Vigilante justice weakens the foundation of respect for the rule of law and is unacceptable. Likewise I remain an opponent of capital punishment.
But please spare me from the sobs of the pro-death cult which is so entrenched in our country even to the point of holding the active support of our country's president. Tiller is no martyr. He was a mass murderer in his own right with the blood of God only knows how many innocents on his hands.
I feel true sadness for his family and pray that in some way they may find comfort during this time. As for Mr. Tiller; I commend his soul to the mercy of God. But do not ask me to weep for the man. I think I see this in a similar light to a well known criminal assassin being rubbed out by a rival. It's not right. But evil men tend to come to an evil end.
-Matthew 26:52
NOTE: I will not permit any comments endorsing this crime. Those holding such opinions are invited to post in some other corner of the blogosphere.
Memory Eternal: Millvina Dean
Ms. Millvina Dean has reposed at the age of 97. She is generally believed to have been the last living survivor of the Titanic disaster. Ms. Dean was a baby at the time and had no memory of the shipwreck that killed 1500 people including her father.May her memory and that of all those who perished at sea that night be eternal.
Ostrov (Part 1 of 12)
Someone uploaded the entire movie to youtube. The film is in Russian with English subtitles. The other parts are linked at the end of each segment. I can not recommend this movie too strongly.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
More on California's fiscal nightmare...
A broad array of Californians would be touched in fundamental ways by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest proposal to balance the state budget: senior citizens who attend day-care centers, voters seeking absentee ballots, children who ride the bus to school, parents seeking enforcement of custody orders.
These services could go by the wayside in a plan the governor unveiled Friday to slice $2.8 billion more from state spending. The announcement was the closing act of a two-week drama during which Schwarzenegger proposed dismantling many of government's functions.
His new proposal would expand on cuts he put forward in earlier plans to close $21 billion of the budget shortfall as he and lawmakers begin negotiations to keep the state from running out of money by the end of July. That deficit projection has since swollen to more than $24 billion.
Schools would be hit by $680 million in new cuts to classrooms and by $315 million in cuts for transportation. The state's social safety net would lose $1 billion more in funding for the poor, disabled and aged. Cities and counties would lose an additional $242 million in transportation funding.
"These are no longer cuts," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a nonprofit advocacy group. "These are amputations, and the question is, which limb are we cutting off today?"
Several of the governor's proposals, including cuts to schools, would be contingent on whether the state's tax revenues dip as deeply as projected. All would require legislative approval.
It is unclear what tone the budget negotiations will take. The governor and legislators have said they understand the gravity of the situation and the need to act quickly, and they have expressed optimism that they can do so. But in recent years, despite similar declarations, state leaders have engaged in weeks -- even months -- of acrimonious fights over less serious problems than they face now.
Schwarzenegger would save $100 million by suspending laws requiring the state to pay for a variety of local government services, including offering absentee ballots before elections, resolving child custody problems, investigating deaths at mental hospitals, posting safety signs on beaches, collecting DNA samples from bodies, caring for abandoned pets and many more.
Local governments would have to pay for the services or stop providing them.
Read the rest here.
These services could go by the wayside in a plan the governor unveiled Friday to slice $2.8 billion more from state spending. The announcement was the closing act of a two-week drama during which Schwarzenegger proposed dismantling many of government's functions.
His new proposal would expand on cuts he put forward in earlier plans to close $21 billion of the budget shortfall as he and lawmakers begin negotiations to keep the state from running out of money by the end of July. That deficit projection has since swollen to more than $24 billion.
Schools would be hit by $680 million in new cuts to classrooms and by $315 million in cuts for transportation. The state's social safety net would lose $1 billion more in funding for the poor, disabled and aged. Cities and counties would lose an additional $242 million in transportation funding.
"These are no longer cuts," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a nonprofit advocacy group. "These are amputations, and the question is, which limb are we cutting off today?"
Several of the governor's proposals, including cuts to schools, would be contingent on whether the state's tax revenues dip as deeply as projected. All would require legislative approval.
It is unclear what tone the budget negotiations will take. The governor and legislators have said they understand the gravity of the situation and the need to act quickly, and they have expressed optimism that they can do so. But in recent years, despite similar declarations, state leaders have engaged in weeks -- even months -- of acrimonious fights over less serious problems than they face now.
Schwarzenegger would save $100 million by suspending laws requiring the state to pay for a variety of local government services, including offering absentee ballots before elections, resolving child custody problems, investigating deaths at mental hospitals, posting safety signs on beaches, collecting DNA samples from bodies, caring for abandoned pets and many more.
Local governments would have to pay for the services or stop providing them.
Read the rest here.
Spitting in the eye of mainstream education
Via the LA Times :
Reporting from Oakland — Not many schools in California recruit teachers with language like this: "We are looking for hard working people who believe in free market capitalism. . . . Multi-cultural specialists, ultra liberal zealots, and college-tainted oppression liberators need not apply."
That, it turns out, is just the beginning of the ways in which American Indian Public Charter and its two sibling schools spit in the eye of mainstream education. These small, no-frills, independent public schools in the hard-scrabble flats of Oakland sometimes seem like creations of television's "Colbert Report." They mock liberal orthodoxy with such zeal that it can seem like a parody.
School administrators take pride in their record of frequently firing teachers they consider to be underperforming. Unions are embraced with the same warmth accorded "self-esteem experts, panhandlers, drug dealers and those snapping turtles who refuse to put forth their best effort," to quote the school's website.
Students, almost all poor, wear uniforms and are subject to disciplinary procedures redolent of military school. One local school district official was horrified to learn that a girl was forced to clean the boys' restroom as punishment.
Conservatives, including columnist George Will, adore the American Indian schools, which they see as models of a "new paternalism" that could close the gap between the haves and have-nots in American education. Not surprisingly, many Bay Area liberals have a hard time embracing an educational philosophy that proudly proclaims that it "does not preach or subscribe to the demagoguery of tolerance."
It would be easy to dismiss American Indian as one of the nuttier offshoots of the fast-growing charter school movement, which allows schools to receive public funding but operate outside of day-to-day district oversight. But the schools command attention for one very simple reason: By standard measures, they are among the very best in California.
The Academic Performance Index, the central measuring tool for California schools, rates schools on a scale from zero to 1,000, based on standardized test scores. The state target is an API of 800. The statewide average for middle and high schools is below 750. For schools with mostly low-income students, it is around 650.
The oldest of the American Indian schools, the middle school known simply as American Indian Public Charter School, has an API of 967. Its two siblings -- American Indian Public Charter School II (also a middle school) and American Indian Public High School -- are not far behind.
Among the thousands of public schools in California, only four middle schools and three high schools score higher. None of them serve mostly underprivileged children.
Read the rest here.
Reporting from Oakland — Not many schools in California recruit teachers with language like this: "We are looking for hard working people who believe in free market capitalism. . . . Multi-cultural specialists, ultra liberal zealots, and college-tainted oppression liberators need not apply."
That, it turns out, is just the beginning of the ways in which American Indian Public Charter and its two sibling schools spit in the eye of mainstream education. These small, no-frills, independent public schools in the hard-scrabble flats of Oakland sometimes seem like creations of television's "Colbert Report." They mock liberal orthodoxy with such zeal that it can seem like a parody.
School administrators take pride in their record of frequently firing teachers they consider to be underperforming. Unions are embraced with the same warmth accorded "self-esteem experts, panhandlers, drug dealers and those snapping turtles who refuse to put forth their best effort," to quote the school's website.
Students, almost all poor, wear uniforms and are subject to disciplinary procedures redolent of military school. One local school district official was horrified to learn that a girl was forced to clean the boys' restroom as punishment.
Conservatives, including columnist George Will, adore the American Indian schools, which they see as models of a "new paternalism" that could close the gap between the haves and have-nots in American education. Not surprisingly, many Bay Area liberals have a hard time embracing an educational philosophy that proudly proclaims that it "does not preach or subscribe to the demagoguery of tolerance."
It would be easy to dismiss American Indian as one of the nuttier offshoots of the fast-growing charter school movement, which allows schools to receive public funding but operate outside of day-to-day district oversight. But the schools command attention for one very simple reason: By standard measures, they are among the very best in California.
The Academic Performance Index, the central measuring tool for California schools, rates schools on a scale from zero to 1,000, based on standardized test scores. The state target is an API of 800. The statewide average for middle and high schools is below 750. For schools with mostly low-income students, it is around 650.
The oldest of the American Indian schools, the middle school known simply as American Indian Public Charter School, has an API of 967. Its two siblings -- American Indian Public Charter School II (also a middle school) and American Indian Public High School -- are not far behind.
Among the thousands of public schools in California, only four middle schools and three high schools score higher. None of them serve mostly underprivileged children.
Read the rest here.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Scientology under attack
One of the world's all time greatest scams is under attack in a court in France and has just been summarily excommunicated by of all entities, Wikipedia. The pseudo-religious cult which has acquired a reputation for heavy handed tactics against defectors and critics has already been outlawed in Germany and may be on the way to a similar fate in France where it has been accused of criminal fraud. The trial has gripped international attention and may serve to rally the cult's many critics who are often subjected to abuse and outright harassment from the group and its members.
And in a remarkable move yesterday the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia which permits almost anyone to edit any article has banned all editing by Scientology affiliated computers and IP addresses after a multi-month investigation revealed thousands of abusive edits linked to the cult. Most of the edits were on some 400 pages related to their group, where negative references were removed and replaced by positive ones according to news reports. Wikipedia reports that the volume of abusive edits was swamping their ability to keep up and reverse them.
And in a remarkable move yesterday the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia which permits almost anyone to edit any article has banned all editing by Scientology affiliated computers and IP addresses after a multi-month investigation revealed thousands of abusive edits linked to the cult. Most of the edits were on some 400 pages related to their group, where negative references were removed and replaced by positive ones according to news reports. Wikipedia reports that the volume of abusive edits was swamping their ability to keep up and reverse them.
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