The PC racists and anti-science clowns at Berkeley deserve a post

of their very own.
Last week, M. Simon emailed me a link to a piece in the East Bay Express about Berkeley High School's decision to cut science labs. The article confirmed what Simon told me in the email: the reason was that too many white kids were interested in science:

The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High's School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley's dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.

And OBVIOUSLY the way to deal with this is cut the science classes the eeevviilllle white students are taking in too-large numbers, right? Well, it is if you're a PC racist progressive like the people 'running' this school(into the ground).

Please take note of the wording at the start of this:
...it is striking that Non-Hispanic whites are so underrepresented and blacks so overrepresented.There is only one public high school in Berkeley. It is likely correct that blacks in Berkeley are more fertile than the whites, but I don't think the disparity is striking enough to account for the demographics of Berkeley High School. Rather, many whites must be sending their children to private schools.

This action will reinforce this tendency; the type of engaged parents which a public school benefits from won't consider sending their child to one which has to slash science laboratories to focus on remedial education. So Berkeley High School is simply accelerating its long death spiral.
Remember reading of the idiotic classification of people in the slave days by any drop of black blood? 'Quadroon' and 'octaroon' and so forth? Well, at Berkeley the PC School we now hear of 'Non-Hispanic whites'; how long before they start breaking down 'African-American' into different categories, so they can decide just how much 'special assistance' each type deserves?

And, just like a lot of the idiot politicians these clowns send to the state capital and DC, when caught at some corruption and/or idiocy and/or racist bullcrap, they want to change the subject(long excerpt):
Until this morning, when the San Francisco Chronicle intervened with a truly remarkable attempt to change the narrative. No longer are science labs a perk for white students at the expense of blacks. Now, the science labs are downright oppressive! To Mideast-surnamed named female students! No, I kid you not:

(01-05) 19:52 PST BERKELEY -- Berkeley High School sophomore Razan Qatami glanced at the wall clock in her advanced biology lab class and frowned. At 4:15 p.m., she still had about 10 more minutes before she was done for the day.

While most high school science classes incorporate labs into regular class time, Berkeley High requires most of its students to attend labs before or after school in the so-called zero or seventh periods.

That means showing up at 7:30 a.m. to, say, dissect frogs, or staying until 4:30 p.m. - additional class time that not surprisingly costs additional money.

School administrators would like to see that money spread around, specifically to help struggling students, and have proposed cutting out the supplementary lab classes.

Qatami would love to see those early and late labs discontinued.

Remember, these AP labs are voluntary. You know, for high-achieving type science aces who want to get ahead? No one is making Ms. Qatami take them, but the Chronicle makes her sound like a victim of some sort of oppression (exactly what I am not sure).
And, having started getting real criticism on this stupidity, the school wants to, ah, 'change' the narrative:
It also appears that (perhaps because they've been subjected to criticism in the blogosphere) Berkeley High officials are trying to cover their tracks, for they are now denying that they want to get rid of science labs.

Instead, they're speaking about a need for a "conversation":

To be clear, under the administrative proposal Berkeley High's science labs wouldn't be cut from the curriculum.

"The one rumor we need to totally dispel is the district or principal want to get rid of the science labs," said Berkeley Unified Superintendent William Huyett. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

But the community needs to have a conversation about how to keep quality science labs at Berkeley High, no matter when they're offered, Huyett said.

I'll let you read his take on the definition of 'conversation' these clowns use.

So. At Berkeley "We'll screw your kids future for the sake of being sensitive and PC, but don't you dare talk about us doing it, you'll hurt our feelings! And actually make us take responsibility for this crap, and we don't like doing that."

Californicated. Don't let this happen to your schools. And if it's starting, words first, and if they decide PC idiocy is more important than actual education maybe start sending boxes with a chunk of tar, some feathers and a stick to the clowns responsible, before your kids wind up in the same situation. And don't forget the politicians(other than the school morons) involved in creating the mess.

I tend to agree

3. I believe that whenever a person says “I am offended and my right to be un-offended trumps your right to speak” he is, in effect, throwing a temper tantrum. This is most certainly the case when he likens constitutionally protected free speech to a “phobia” simply because he cannot muster the courage to offer a calm and intelligent rebuttal.

A commenter makes a good point: if this clown can be censured

over and over, but he keeps the black robe and power, what the hell is the 'punishment'?

Judges who do things like this should be disbarred and forbidden from ever again acting as a judge.

Somehow I just knew something like this was going to come up...

As you might imagine, it really has nothing to do with the troops per se. They can be loaded up quite quickly and flown into Afghanistan. But, as the old saying goes, “amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics”. And the amateurs in the White House apparently don’t understand the impact the addition of 30,000 more troops in theater have on an already strained logistics system:
Ah, yes, logistics; the problem of getting not only troops, but food and ammo and spares and medical stuff and vehicles and fuel and so on where it all will be needed, which in this case is the back end of Wherethehellarewe Province of Afghanistan. I'll let the pro say it:
So why wasn’t the logistics system already prepared to take the surge? Well, until the decision was made, no one in the logistics channel knew there was actually going to be a surge, or how large it would be if there was one. Unlike the claim made by the president, every day he delayed that decision was another day the logistics piece remained unplanned and unresourced. And that’s on top of the problems that LTG Rodriguez has pointed out.
And every day he dithered and pretended to 'study' was another day they had to put off shipping stuff because they couldn't finalize what to send until they knew who/where/when; you don't send winter stuff for a unit that's getting there in late spring, or summer stuff for someone arriving in friggin' December(that stuff comes later, first you send what they'll need NOW and for the near future).

"This decision has delayed nothing" my cold-chapped ass.

Hey, did you know that if you disagree with what a blogger says,

you're a troll? I have to admit I'd never heard that before. And it's coming from somone who makes snotty comments about 'teabaggers', so he must be an expert, right?

If you're wondering what this is about,
Blogger is upset(rightly) by some idiot illegally and idiotically carrying and having horrible accident,
Blogger gets very nasty toward anyone who carries without her fully- approved background,
Commenters question and argue,
Blogger and husband edit comments, insult, and- in hubby's case- threaten,
Various bloggers call attention to this,
And hey! they're ALL 'radical pro-gun "trolls" '!

If you're interested, part 1, part 2, general roundabout on this, and check the comments on Tam's post.

Oh, and it seems the hubby making threats to 'conservative assholes' bragging about 'splitting skulls and breaking noses' is a politician. In TN.

Some wonderful people on the left, huh?

"There seemed to be so much desperation to forget she had died,"

McLeod said recently.

Gee, I wonder why...


Pointed to by Five Feet

I have come to the conclusion that Mark Steyn is a treasure

For two weeks, the government of the United States has made itself a global laughingstock. Don't worry, "the system worked," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Incompetano. Don't worry, he was an "isolated extremist," said the president. Don't worry, we're banning bathroom breaks for the last hour of the flight, said the TSA. Don't worry, "U.S. border security officials" told the Los Angeles Times, we knew he was on the plane, and we "had decided to question him when he landed." Don't worry, Obama's counterterrorism chief, John Brennan, assured the Sunday talk shows, sure, we read him his rights, and he's lawyered up but he'll soon see that "there is advantage to talking to us in terms of plea agreements."

Oh, that's grand. Try to kill hundreds of people in an act of war, and it's the starting point for a plea deal. In his Cairo speech, the president bragged that the United States would "punish" those in America who would "deny" the "right of women and girls to wear the hijab." If he's so keen on it, maybe he should consider putting the entire federal government into full-body burkas and zipping up the eye slit so that, henceforth, every public utterance by John Brennan will be entirely inaudible. Americans should be ashamed by this all-fools' fortnight.

By the way, exactly why is my money being extorted by the gummint

to pay for NPR?

Because I could use that to pay sales taxes on bread or something the gummint and NPR considers wasteful, I guess.

By the way, about that "Snow will be rare and drought will be common"

forecast from the Met:
Just how often has the entirety of Britain been snow-covered at one time?

So the 'dating secret' of European and Canadian women is the nanny state

When we talk about dating or the possibility of having family, with a man or on our own or with—gasp!—a coven of like-minded women (why not?), the conversation is framed entirely by the fact that we can count on our native countries to look after us should we—for whatever reason—not be able to make ends meet stateside.
Aww, isn't that cute? They're so independent and skilled and learned and it doesn't matter if they blow it because the Nanny State will take money away from other people and use it to take care of them. And they think women here should demand the same.

One of the more annoying things about this(aside from, if it's so damn wonderful back in the EU and Canada, why are they here?) is this:
We have Ivy League degrees, speak multiple languages, are savvy and entrepreneurial.
To borrow from Indigo, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

I ask you, does this not look

like a somewhat prettied-up Nazgul? But prettied-up or not,
Women who wear Islamic veils in public in France face a £700 fine under strict new laws being proposed.

The amount could be doubled for Muslim men who force female members of their family to cover their faces.
Yeah, that's gonna go over well with the disaffected north-African youths.

And the circus has begun at the Obama-Holder Terrorists Are Just Like Muggers trials.
A federal judge has tossed out most of the government's evidence against a tarrorism detainee on grounds his confessions were coerced, allegedly by U.S. forces, before he became a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.

In a ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan also said the government failed to establish that 23 statements the detainee made to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were untainted by the earlier coerced statements made while he was held under harsh conditions in Afghanistan.

MIT professor Jonathan Gruber is a corrupt little liberal

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the leading academic defenders of health care reform, is taking heat for failing to disclose consistently that he was under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services while he was touting the Democrats’ health proposals in the media.

Gruber, according to federal government documents, is under a $297,600 contract until next month to provide “technical assistance” in evaluating health care reform proposals. He was under a $95,000 HHS contract before that.
Another corrupt liberal in the Most Ethical Administration EVAH!!!

The Book of DC

Friend sent this, and it's actually titled 'The Book of Corporate Life', but I think it covers DC very well.

Today's reading is from the Book of Corporate Life, Chapter 1, verses 1-15.

In the beginning was the Plan.

And then came the Assumptions.

And the Assumptions were without form.

And the Plan was without Substance.

And darkness was upon the face of the Workers.

And the Workers spoke among themselves saying, "It is a crock of s**t and
It stinks!"

And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and said, "It is a crock of
S**t and we cannot live with the smell."

And the Supervisors went unto their Managers saying, "It is a container of
Organic waste, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."

And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying, "It is a vessel of
Fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."

And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another, "It
Contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."

And the directors went to the Secretary, saying unto him, "It promotes
Growth, and it is very powerful."

And the Secretary went to the President, saying unto him, "It has very
Powerful effects."

And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good.

And the Plan became Policy.

And that is how s**t happens.

It has been entirely too cold for too long

when you go out to take care of some stuff, and it's 20F, and it's almost comfortable...

About the enviroweenie boat sinking in the Antarctic seas,

Tim Blair has a lot on it(Random had some the other day), and all of it, the actual video and such, says
A: the Sea Shepherd weenies are insane,
B: they either can't handle the damn boat, or are suicidal
C: are liars
D: Combination of the above(my choice).
Among other things, the escort ship that hit them weighs 491 tons and has a top speed of 12 knots; but we're supposed to believe it managed a 'sudden course change and dash' and caught a 13-ton boat that can hit a max 45 knots...

Yeah, I've noticed that odd definition of

'weapon of mass destruction' too.

About those wind farms Britain is planning to build,

I forgot to mention, what do you do when you depend on windmills and the wind doesn't blow?

And it's cold outside?

You think maybe the people somewhere else are going to be happy about having the power they need to keep warm diverted to you?

This time last year we were remarking on a not uncommon phenomenon in the UK – an almost total lack of wind. And here we are again, with the temperatures struggling to get above freezing and we have, effectively, a zero wind state - see below right.

The effect of this on the electricity generation system is evident from the latest status report (see above) which shows a predominant reliance on gas, which accounted for nearly half of total production in the last 24 hours, followed by coal at nearly thirty percent and nuclear at just under twenty percent.

Wind, in all its glory, managed to deliver a risible 0.4 percent – which is hardly even a rounding error and amounts to an insignificant contribution to the national electricity supply. Producing a mere 163 MW at around midnight last night, against an installed capacity of just over 4 GW, that represents a load factor of four percent.

I think this is a very important point ref the Climaquiddick e-mails

"Not entirely the “death of global warming” as many have claimed – what happened with Climategate is much more nuanced and exponentially more interesting than the headlines convey. What was triggered at this blog was the death of unconditional trust in the scientific peer review process, and the maturing of a new movement – that of peer-to-peer review."

Gawker and Gillian Reagan untrustworthy,

whoda thunk it?

If you need tattoos like these

you need to change your dating procedures.