Mardi Gras Update

This article tells of this year's carnival season in Nawlins. Crowds seem a little lighter than in pre-Katrina years, but there are crowds nonetheless. Good for them.

Sunshine and mild temperatures helped bring the crowds out Monday as New
Orleans' first post-Katrina Mardi Gras neared, but sales of beignets were down
this year at Cafe Du Monde, where the manager noted that a stroll down Bourbon
Street is a lot easier now than it was this time last year.
"Right now, you
can walk right down the middle of Bourbon Street. Before, it was so crowded, it
was almost an adventure trying to get across," said Scott Escarra, who noted
that sales of the little French pastries were down about 25 percent.

If everything is only off 25 percent, I'd say it is a very very good year, all things considered.

Just a thought.

Independent Candidate

A few short years ago an independent candidate won an election. Of course it was in Minnesota, not a large electoral state, but now there is another candidate with big name recognition running in Texas. Kinky Friedman is the latest known celebrity to make a run. Check out his site here.

Just an observation.

Exit Exams Under Fire

Yes, exit exams. The kind you take upon completion of 12 grades of school to see if you've learned enough to be worthy of a diploma. To Ol' BC this sounds like a capital idea. To some, their disagreement is enough to sue. According to this Ruben Navarrette column, we won't want to include him in their camp.

If Gonzalez gets the injunction, it would allow those California high
school students who have not passed the test to graduate this year. One study
estimated that as many as 100,000 12th-graders – about one out of five in the
state – had not yet passed at least one section of the test.
You see the
problem. What we should be worried about isn't the test but what the test is
revealing, namely that our public schools are failing to provide many of our
kids with even basic academic skills. Now that's criminal.

You see the problem. What we should be worried about isn't the test but what the test is revealing. Bingo. Bingo. Bingo. Way to go Ruben. Asking a student to get a fifty percent in eighth grade math and ninth and tenth grade English isn't asking too much. It denotes enough development of the intellect to be able to function in society. It certainly isn't fair to blame the schools solely. Most kids are not expected to achieve by their parents. I know several teachers and they all have the desire to teach and really want the best for the students they have. Recently, however, they have been denied the right to have order in their classes. There is virtually no discipline in the schools so there can be no environment conducive to learning. This started with the courts and is being continued by spineless school administrators who fear legal action.



Ol' BC has just one question. How long will it be before a group who passes the test sues for issuing diplomas to those who don't pass it, thus cheapening the value of their work for twelve years. Sounds like a suit that has merit to me. Of course that would depend on the result of the idiotic case in California.

Navarrette sums it up pretty well as he concludes the column.

So you better watch out. This brand of lunacy could be coming to a school district near you.

Sad, but very likely.

Just an observation.

Bryant Gumbel Hasn't Noticed

What, you may ask. Bryant Gumbel hasn't noticed the increasing number of blacks who are moving to the GOP. This piece includes the following from Bryant directly from his HBO show.

Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t care
about them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying ... Like, try not
to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the
ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when
someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of
blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.

Bryant, my friend, you may want to look around. There is a growing number of blacks in this country who recognize the the Democrats age old policies are geared to keep them down and dependent on the government. As blacks in this country take more and more advantage of opportunities to create and amass wealth, more and more are going to flee the Democrats, leaving that party with those who don't want to work and the Socialist/Communist element that remains in this country.

Just a thought.

CNN Whines And Cries...

...about the VP giving an exclusive to Fox News. Read about it here along with some other complaining.

Ol' BC thinks the VP just wanted to tell what happened without venom spewing all over him.

Just a thought.

Another Example - U.N. Is No Good

For years and years we've heard how the United Nations is a no good institution with a very strong anti-American bias. Here's another example. People who shout this about the U.N. aren't the nuts they are portrayed to be. Most of them are just paying attention to what goes on there.

Just an observation.

Mike Davis Resigns.

Sports Illustrated.com reports.

Mike Davis' rocky six-year tenure at Indiana is over. Davis
has resigned as coach but will stay on for the rest of the season, a source
in the IU athletic department has told SI.com.

Wow. Let's hope that's the case. Nice man. Poor coach.

Just an observation.

WMD Talk Continues.

This article tells about it.

Last week a man who had been deputy chief of Saddam Hussein's air force claimed
Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war
began.



Special Republican
Guard brigades loaded yellow barrels with the skull and crossbones sign on each
barrel onto two airliners from which the seats had been removed, Georges Sada
said. There were 56 flights in all.
"Saddam realized this time the Americans
are coming," Mr. Sada told The New York Sun, one of a handful of news
organizations which took note of what he had to say.

Hmmm. I doubt we hear much about this. MSM doesn't like it when people confirm they were there. There are ten of thousands of Kurds and Shiites who would verify it as well. Ooops!
I keep forgetting. Saddam killed them.

Just an observation.

Space Tourism - Wait Until 2008

This article says it's not a joke. It's going to happen in a couple of years or so.

Here's the catch -

There have already been three space tourists who have hitched rides on
Russian Soyuz spaceships to the international space station. Each paid 20
million dollars.

That's $20,000,000.00 for one vacation into space. What will the kids want to do next year when spring break rolls around. On a positive note, the person in the seat next to you may be very influential.

Just a thought.

Bogus Rights

Read this Walter E. Williams column. I've seen this referenced in a few blogs today so I checked it out. He points out clearly rights, as our founders saw them, versus what some refer to as rights today. It's informative to say the least.

Just an observation.

Danish Flags In Middle East?

Littlegreenfootballs asks, " where did they come from?" Interesting perspective. Cartoons run in October. Now, there is this "spontaneous" burst of outrage in the middle east. Hmmmmm. I think Charles Moore nailed it.

Just an observation.

Angela Merkel Difference

I seriously doubt we would have heard anything like this article credits Angela Merkel with coming from her predecessor.

"Looking back to German history in the early 1930s when National Socialism
(Nazism) was on the rise, there were many outside Germany who said 'It's only
rhetoric -- don't get excited'," she told the assembled world defense policy
makers.
"There were times when people could have reacted differently and, in
my view, Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages ... We want to,
we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program."

If they're not careful, Germany may get back on the side of the good guys. But, don't hold your breath. Merkel may be a one man band. BUT, it's a start.

Just a thought.