I have to go to work in a few minutes, early day. I haven’t had a chance to review this, Words that Don’t Matter but I’m sure it’s up to the standard that we expect out of Mr. Hanson.

Ah, yes. Our wonderful public school system. The Separation of School and State.

First of all, what started out the story:

In the wake of a fatal shooting, the security for a D.C. high school was officially turned over to the city’s police department last week. Armed officers will patrol the halls.

I’m sorry to say that schools like this will never go away. Even if we were able to get the best and brightest students out and away from hellholes such as this, the students that create the situation in the first place will still be there, necessitating such measures. But that is no excuse to sacrifice those who have a chance to escape in the name of those who don’t have that chance.

Two of the most viable ones are homeschooling and apprenticeships. Neither prevents anyone from choosing public schools; each merely offers a choice at no public expense. How could anyone reasonably object to that?

I’ll tell you right now the teachers and NEA have a problem with things like this. They realize that every success undermines their position, and they are the masters of incrementalism. If they allow this today, they’ll have to take another step back when the first step proves successful. Before you know it, people will think they have the right to teach their own children, or to send them to whatever school they want to.

This must not be allowed to happen. People by and large are too stupid to raise their children or to make such decisions.

Of course, if you believe the above, you are hopelessly Liberal. It is a basic tenet of this country that people are NOT stupid, and must be empowered to make their own decisions. Just like there is a freedom to starve, there is a freedom to make the wrong choice. This freedom must never be taken away from us.

In a related story: This concerns me. Gaffes spell doom: Students’ sloppy letters aid charter schools’ approval.

I think this quote sums it up, emphasis mine.

[Board of Education member Roberta] Schaefer ridiculed the letters against a proposed school in Marlboro for their missing punctuation and sloppy spelling – including a misspelling of the word “school” in one missive.

“If I didn’t think a charter school was necessary, these letters have convinced me the high school was not doing an adequate job in teaching English language arts,” Schaefer said.

Misspelling simple words at the high school level, especially in a letter to an important person, shows the sloppiness not only of the student, but of the teacher as well. These letters were supposed to show that these charter schools weren’t needed, but proved the very point that they are desperately needed. Anything to get away from the monolithic bureaucracy that is the public schools. And, of course, the teachers union opposes any kind of opposition. They would never put the welfare of the children above their own petty agenda, would they?

Here’s two stories, Kerry’s View on Israel’s Fence: ‘Legitimate’ or ‘Barrier to Peace’? and Kerry Donors Include ‘Benedict Arnolds’ show just who he isn’t.

The first article talks about his standard giving the audience what they want to hear, and in doing that he comes down on both side of the issue. The second article is all about biting the hand that feeds him.

Kerry couldn’t make up his mind and stick to it if his life depended on it, and in this time and place it does.

What strikes me as odd is Clinton did the same thing, but never got the same level of coverage about his flip-flops. It’s like the media are in league with Hillary and her 2008 bid that I’ve talked about before. It seems like the media is trying to shave points away from Kerry without being too obvious about it.

Heh.