John Muir featured on California’s Quarter (2005)

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Jim Wasserman writes that the design of California’s new quarter features former Wisconsin resident John Muir.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the design of California’s new quarter Monday, which shows conservationist John Muir, a California condor and Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome mountain on the coin’s tails side.
More than 2 billion of the coins will be placed in national circulation in January 2005, said California State Librarian Kevin Starr.
Los Angeles graphic artist Garrett Burke, 42, designed the coin that Schwarzenegger selected from five finalists including images of sun and waves, a redwood tree, the Golden Gate Bridge and a gold panner.
“I’m thrilled with the outcome,” said the self-described nature enthusiast, calling Yosemite Valley and John Muir the “real stars.

Leahy Shills for Copyright Cartel

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Dan Gillmor is right on the money with his criticism of Vermont’s Patrick Leahy regarding his co-sponsorship of the “Pirate Act“. One would think our politicians have more important things to do (education, health care, terrorism, the economy) than carrying water for the Hollywood cartel.

s stunning, and disheartening, to see U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who has been one of the champions of civil liberties on Capitol Hill, become a water-carrier for Hollywood and the music industry. But there’s no other interpretation for his co-sponsorship of what’s being called the PIRATE Act, a chillingly bad bill that would give the copyright cartel a gift for the ages.
The basics of this legislation are fairly simple: In a time when there are truly serious things on the minds of law enforcement, such as terrorism, Leahy and his colleague Orrin Hatch would send the FBI and Justice Department (Copyfight) after file-sharers. If this passes, look for a crackdown that makes today’s music-industry lawsuit frenzy look tame. And look for the end of most experiments in new media, because file-sharing networks are the only financially feasible way to distribute content for people who aren’t trying to corner a market.
If I still lived in Vermont, I would call Leahy’s office and ask anyone who’d listen how someone I’ve respected for years could do something so awful.

I’ve sent a note to Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl encouraging them to vote against this and any other similar nonsensical initiatives.

High School Sports: Coach Fitz’s Management Theory

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Michael Lewis pens a fascinating article on Billy Fitzgerald, the longtime baseball coach at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. Fitgerald has coached many exemplary student/athletes. Recently, some of them got together to fund the school’s gym renovation in his name.
Lewis’s article explores the friction between a coach trying to get the most out of student/athlete’s and parents who want to protect their children.

”The parents’ willingness to intercede on the kids’ behalf, to take the kids’ side, to protect the kid, in a not healthy way — there’s much more of that each year,” he said. ”It’s true in sports, it’s true in the classroom. And it’s only going to get worse.” – Scott McLeod, Newman’s headmaster.

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Random Lake Schools Budget Challenges/Response

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Martha Shad writes:

When the Random Lake School District cut high school course offerings last fall to save money, teachers and parents stepped in to help fill the gaps.
The district was faced with getting about $350,000 less in state aid, so it eliminated three high school teaching positions, one middle school teaching position and seven extracurricular activities, according to Joe Gassert, who?s been the district administrator for 10 years.
?The reduction in aid was a combination of declining enrollment and the smaller amount of money the state gave all school districts,? Gassert said.

UW Minority Students – Alone in a Sea of White

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Nahal Toosi writes:

Madison – The day he moved into his residence hall as a freshman, Christopher Loving heard the whispers of his hall-mates.
“There’s a black guy on the floor. Somebody go talk to him.”
Finally, three fellow University of Wisconsin-Madison students appeared.
After noting he was from Chicago, one asked Loving if he was from a rough neighborhood.
No, Loving said.
“My dad told me that all the black people in Chicago live in the projects. . . . Are you sure you didn’t grow up in the Robert Taylor Homes?”
Nope.
“Well, does your dad play for the Chicago Bears or something?”
No, Loving said. He wasn’t rich.
“Well, how do you go to school here then? I thought you had to be either really rich or really poor to go here if you’re black.”
Loving, now a junior and president of the campus Black Student Union, recalls the encounter with humor and sadness.

9/11 Hearings Free on Audible.com

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The 9/11 Commission Hearings are available right now for free at http://www.audible.com/911hearings. […] You’ll hear Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, former National Counterterrorism Coordinator Richard Clarke, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and others as they answer tough questions on blind spots in foreign intelligence that may have enabled the worst terrorist attack in American history.
Download the Hearings now from our Web site, and feel free to share this e-mail with your friends. Let them know they can download the audio for free as well. From the Online Blog.

“Getting the Most out of the Nation’s Teachers”

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Virginia Postrel writes that smart women who were shut out of the professions used to become teachers. That was bad for the women but good for their students. New York Times:

The best female students – those whose test scores put them in the top 10 percent of their high school classes – are much less likely to become teachers today.
“Whereas close to 20 percent of females in the top decile in 1964 chose teaching as a profession,” making it their top choice, the economists write, “only 3.7 percent of top decile females were teaching in 1992,” making teachers about as common as lawyers in this group.
So the chances of getting a really smart teacher have gone down substantially. In 1964, more than one out of five young female teachers came from the top 10 percent of their high school classes. By 2000, that number had dropped to just over one in 10.

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9-11 Commission Report Online

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Read the report directly (and avoid the spinning on both sides) here:

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002, is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. The Commission is also mandated to provide recommendations designed to guard against future attacks.

Here’s a few links from different points of view: Time Magazine | Wonkette’s 9/11 Flow Chart | Talking Points | Instapundit

9/11 Panel Background

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I’ve been reading Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars, The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001.
Anyone interested in a deep look at how we arrived at the current situation in Central Asia should read this book. Coll follows our policies from supporting the Afghans & jihad fighters against the Soviets in the 1980’s to our complete withdrawal (the source of our problems, I believe) after the Soviets left (leaving Afghanistan to the Pakistanis/Saudis and others) through the 1990’s where a few tried to get those at the top engaged once again in the region as the Taliban rose to power (backed by Bin Laden and others) and finally, to 09/10/2001.
There’s been no shortage of discussion recently on this topic, including the recent charges/counter charges around Richard Clarke. Clarke’s White House role during the 1990’s is discussed extensively in this book. I believe Coll’s work provides a useful basis to get through the politics and discover that in reality, there was little leadership or will power to address these problems, until 9/11 (despite the Cole bombing, the African bombings and other telltale signs of what was to come).
The genesis of the problem is that we abandoned Afghanistan after the Soviets left (leaving it wide open for regional players), and did not re-engage in a serious way until post 9/11.
Fascinating read.

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