Musings and Rants

1)The Obama administration is so inept. It is becoming clear now that when they decided to halt all further drilling in the gulf they did not foresee the unemployment of thousands of oil workers and others who support their efforts. Now that it has become obvious to them, they are saying BP must pay the salaries for all the people who are losing their paychecks. So, now BP is going to make a stand against this insanity and all this is going to wind up in the courts and nobody will win but the lawyers.
2)In their continuing attack on private enterprise, Obama now says that BP should forgo paying dividends and give all the money to the gulf effort. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone in the Obama administration knows anything about how to run a business or anything else, but BP has many billions to devote to the obligations their negligence created and the payment of dividends is not a great percentage of their assets, but dividend revenue from BP is a large percentage of the British retirement system's income.The firm's dividend payments, which amount to more than £7 billion a year, account for £1 in every £6 paid out in dividends to British pension pots.
3)Islamic fundamentalists believe that homosexuals should either cure themselves or die. Given this, it is amusing to read that a delegation of gay residents of Tel Aviv has been banned from joining a gay pride march in Madrid because authorities in the Israeli city have not condemned the recent attack on the Gaza flotilla.
So, the gays in Spain are supporting those who kill any gay who permits sexual preferences (Palestinians) to become known. Strange mixing of ideas.
4)The proposed Arizona law which addresses the illegal immigrant problem in that state may be working prior to its actual effective date. Arizona's tough new immigration enforcement law is fueling an exodus of Hispanics from the state seven weeks before it goes into effect, according to officials and residents in the state.

Though no one has precise figures, reports from school officials, businesses and individuals indicate worried Hispanics — both legal and illegal — are leaving the state in anticipation of the law, which will go into effect July 29.

Schools in Hispanic areas report unusual drops in enrollment. The Balsz Elementary School District is 75% Hispanic, and within a month of the law's passage, the parents of 70 students pulled them out of school, said District Superintendent Jeffrey Smith. The district lost seven students over the same one-month period last year, and parents tell Smith the Arizona law is the reason for leaving.
5)Here in Georgia and across the country as I read the news, schools are facing severe money problems and there are teacher furloughs, increasing class sizes and other measures to save money. Rather than raise taxes what if schools spent available funds on educational efforts rather than non-academic matters. Football and other sports are nice, but not essential. Ditto for food service two meals a day. If you want a choir, pay for it. Bus service could be an option which parents pay for. Maybe some of the assistant and associate administrators could go back to teaching instead of pushing paper. The most effective move to save money is to simply dismiss any student who causes problems for the year and tell them to come back when they want to learn and study without causing problems. This would improve the learning environment and fewer teachers could teach larger classes more easily. Let the police deal with the problems on the streets rather than the teachers in the schools.