Safest cars

Just saw a recently released safe car list. I expected to see Hummers and big SUVs. There  was no engineering data on construction. There was no crash test statistics. The basis was insurance claims. I wanted to know why these cars were the safest.

The problem with insurance claim statistics is the basis for the data. Was the highest rated model determined by dividing all claims for that model by the total number of that model insured? Was the highest rated model selected by that model having the smallest number of claims compared to other models? Regardless of the method were multiple claims for same vehicle ignored or included? Were all insurers included or just insurers participating in a national association group? Did parking lot incidents under 10mph have the same weight as interstate incidents of 55+mph? Was safety factor based on injury to people or repair cost?

Looking at the models listed you will not find muscle or sports cars favored by young men.  You will not find vehicles typically associated with offsite service entities. You will not find typical commuter vehicles.

The models listed are associated with part time workers, young women new to the work force, soccer moms, yuppies, and retired people. The safety list isn't about vehicle safety. It is about the life style of owners.

Except for the young women new to the work force, the vehicles on the list would have low annual mileage users. The vehicle users are not usually out and about during peak traffic hours. They would seldom travel roads where the speed limit is above 45mph and probably not over 35mph.

For safety, the bottom line is don't buy a car on the list, adjust your life style to reduce risk. Or, just use common sense.

Guest Blog Rebekah Rast on public School

Found this interesting after my JCS blog

 "If you build it, he will come." It seems some school districts nationwide are taking this quote as their own.  Come September, thousands of kindergarten through 12th graders will flood through the doors of the newly built Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles.

The school is known as the "Taj Mahal" of public schools. Built from the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, the architects of the school held back no luxuries while staying true to the site's acclaimed fame.

The complex holds 4,200 students within its art-covered walls and also houses a marble memorial depicting the school's name sake.

A state-of-the-art swimming pool and public park enhance the complex as well.

Yes. This is a public school. Its price tag. It is now the most expensive public school ever built, costing $578 million or $137,619 per student.

"Spending this kind of money on a school is outrageous," says Bill Wilson, president of Americans for Limited Government (ALG). "The public school system doesn't need a half-billion-dollar building to help students succeed; it needs proper educators and better management of the resources it has."

The advocates of the school say it will be a more pleasing and hospitable environment for learning. The only problem is Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has one of the highest dropout rates of the nation. For 2007, the graduation rate was only 40.6 percent — well below the national average of 68.8 percent.

"There are no connections between facilities and students' success beyond a safe and well-functioning building," says Adam B. Schaeffer, Cato Institute's policy analyst for the Center for Educational Freedom.

Pouring money into school complexes isn't a new idea. New York City has a $235 million campus and New Brunswick, N.J., opened a $185 million high school in January.

In fact, Schaeffer says, from 1999 to 2008 public school spending on infrastructure increased by 445 percent, while student enrollment during that same period increased by only 7 percent.

Why are these lavish schools being constructed?

"They have money so they spend it," Schaeffer says. "Bond revenue is easy to borrow and pay back later."

Most taxpayers have no idea how much of their money goes into education. In a report written by Schaeffer titled They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools, he writes that about $1 out of every $4 of taxpayer money goes to fund education.

Aside from fancy schools, how much is it costing taxpayers to send children to public schools?

In the 2007-08 school year, LAUSD had 693,680 students enrolled and calculated an average per pupil cost of $11,357. This number is astonishing, as the median cost for a private school in Los Angeles is estimated at around $8,300.

Los Angeles, with its highfalutin flair for school architecture, still doesn't compare to what other areas spend. Washington, D.C., states it spends $17,542 per pupil and the graduation rate for all students in the District of Columbia for 2007 was only 59.5 percent, again, below the national average.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Utah State spends one of the least amounts on public education. Jordan School District in Sandy, Utah, spends about $5,111 per pupil. The district's 2007 graduate rate was 79.3 percent, well above the national average.

Unfossillized fuel

All my life I have heard that gasoline is a fossil fuel, a non-renewable resource. That crude oil is from decomposed dinosaurs and huge lush tropical swamps buried under layers of sedimentation.  I have learned all of God's creation is a complete whole and balanced. A non-renewable is not consistent with God's design.

Large oil deposits have recently been found under igneous rocks. Since igneous rocks are formed from molten material (like lava), they would burn up the carbon based decaying matter before being entrapped under a layer of cooled molten material. The rock formations are dome shaped.

Oil is not compressible. It is a basic principle behind the invention of hydraulic lifts, car brakes, back hoes, and several thousand other devices. Oil from deeper in the earth being forced up under the igneous rock layer would create a dome shape. So how does oil come from deeper inside the earth?

As the North American tectonic plate rides up over the pacific plate, a veritable water highway is created between the two plates. Water at the ocean bottom would flow down this highway to the deep reaches under the earth. It would carry decaying matter with it as it went. As it reaches the hot regions deep underground the mixture would flash into basic atomic elements.

Carbon which doesn't like being alone grabs some hydrogen making itself a gaseous molecule. These super heated gases begin the trip back to the earth surface. Carbon likes big parties so it begins to combine into ever larger molecules. Once the molecule has at least five carbons it becomes liquid or oil.

As this oil is pushed ever upward it encounters an igneous layer. The uncompressible oil begins to bend the rock layer forming a dome. If the dome cracks, the oil squeezes through invading the sedimentary layers above. The formations where first discovered.

This is one theory. If not exactly correct, the evidence does suggest that oil is a renewable resource and not a decayed Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Jefferson County School’s Business Plan

Facts:

14,000 employees, teachers including subs 6,000, principals 700

150 teachers removed from their 2009-2010 school, 3 principals removed from their 2009-2010 schools, 2 principals suspended first day of 2010-2011 for being inept

Schools  (in 2007): Elementary 87, Jr High 23, Sr high 20

75 Departments at the board employing 1140 people

No charter schools thus no federal money.

Property tax increase of $0.03 per $1,000 of value.

Third straight year of property tax increase.

Questions:

Why are only 49% of employees teachers or principals?

Why are the 5 principals per school?

What are the funding sources other than property tax?

Why doesn't the system have charter schools?

Why is this information not more widely known?

Why 5+ support people per teacher?

What are the people removed because of 2009-2010 performance doing now?

 

It is interesting that all services and departments must be retained, but taxes increased to cover budget.

 

Do we need the 220 people in the department s of Family Planning, Student Development Services, School and Community Nutrition, School to Career, Community Support, Cultural Studies, English as a Second Language, Family Resource Center, Business Partnerships, Health Promotions, Demographics, Safe and Drug Free Schools, Diversity, Homeless Education, Louisville Day Treatment, or Neighborhood Places?

 

What kind of savings could be achieved by consolidating departments of similar function like: Payroll, Purchasing, Accounting, Supply Services, Division of Financial Services, Grants and Awards Accounting, School District Business Partnering, and Financial Planning (total 110 people); or, Human Resources, Pupil Personnel, Personnel Services, Administrative Recruitment and Development, Employee Relations, and Louisville Education and Employment Partnership (Total 110 people)?

 

It should be evident the Jefferson County School System has a bad business plan. I don't know of any company that can be successful with 6,000 production workers (Classroom teachers) and 8,000 management and administrative  workers.

 

Elimination of “D” grades

A New Jersey School District has decided to ban "D" grades in their system. Reason: nobody wants to hire "D" anything, so why have them in our system. They are lowering the "C" percentile to include part of the old "D" range. The district is not saying previous students with a "D" level mastery now fail. That means they will now be given "C" grades.

Grades are an indication of achievement. The ultimate is pass-fail. Pass means you have achieved proficiency in the subject to use it successfully. Grade "A" through "D" are all pass. They represent degrees of the subject mastery beyond proficiency.

Supposedly the change is to make students feel better about themselves. Nice sentiment. Not realistic. It increases the number of students in the next to failure category. The emotional stress felt by students getting "D" grades will now be extended to the "C" students. Making "C" the old "D" grade.

Eligibility for extra curricula activities including athletics in the New Jersey system requires passing grades. Eliminating "D" grades doesn't affect local school athletics. The NCAAA does consider "D" grades for determining freshman eligibility to play. Will college athletics from this school district now get a free pass on playing time eligibility? The NCAA will no doubt adopt a procedure specific to this school system for determining eligibility.

Change is not bad. The college athletic eligibility is just one ripple this change will cause. I am sure others will be created. In the future other schools may eliminate "D" grades. Or, this district may revert.

America's prosperity and high quality of life is because we are nonconformist. Always looking for a way to do things better. Centralized control stifles innovation. I'm glad this district can experiment. I think their decision is naïve. Only time will tell.

Cold water causes chaotic weather

God made the earth in balance. We can discuss average temperatures or rainfall because of this balance. Although the global warming enthusiasts  want to proclaim the world is abnormally heating, they cannot point to any specific statistic. The current average world temperature is well within statistical norms. Unable to use good science, they use anecdotal evidence to advance their claim.

Chaotic weather extremes are their current anecdotal cry. Extended heat waves, break off of unusually large ice floes, drought, and excessive monsoon rains are the anecdotes currently put forth. Their claims are accompanied with a reminder of their prediction that warming would produce these type of events. These chaotic events have been occurring for as far back as there is recorded history. Anyone remember the "dust bowl" of the 1930's?

El Nina has been identified as the cause for the chaotic weather systems. EL Nina is the phenomenons South Americans call the disruption to normal Pacific Ocean currents. It occurs when the water straddling the equator in the mid Pacific Ocean becomes cooler than usual. It affects all of the meteorological factors used to predict weather. There is no rhyme or reason. There is no known cause. The cooler water temperatures were noted several months ago.

As these meteorological changes make their way around the Pacific it impacts the bordering land masses of the Pacific rim. It also impacts the smaller Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic oceans. The disruption in those oceans likewise affect the land masses on their rim.

Do not expect to hear much about El Nina because the enthusiasts cannot find a suitable theory to support global warming as the cause. Greenhouse effect from carbon build up would increase the ocean surface temperature.

Perhaps we have been too successful in our carbon offset efforts.

Guest Blog Warner Todd Huston

I did not write the following. But would have loved doing it.

Now, this story is a bit confusing (he says tongue in cheek). We have our friend Mr. Jim Callaghan who works — or used to work, anyway — for the United Federation of Teachers, America's biggest teachers union. Yet, this happy union organizer was fired by the UFT this week.

Why was he fired?

Because he was organizing a union.

Ah, but it's not as cut and dried as it seems because Mr. Callaghan wasn't just organizing any old union, he was trying to organize a new union comprised of the nonunion workers at the UFT headquarters.

So let's get this straight. Mr. Callaghan was a union member working for the union at its headquarters and he was fired for trying to organize the nonunion workers that work at the union headquarters?

In the real world — one not connected with Democrats or unions — we call that hypocrisy.

Callaghan says he's never gotten any bad reviews and was given no notice or reasons for his firing. But he notes that his firing did occur only two months after he informed his bosses that he was trying to help the nonunion workers organize their own little union.

Callaghan also reports that the union kept bullying him even after he was fired. He says that the cops were called on him as he was cleaning out his office because he wasn't doing it fast enough.

In any case, it is quite interesting to note that one of the nation's biggest, most powerful unions that have agitated for unionization in every corner of the nation is against a union forming in their own office.

Why would that be, one wonders? Why else but that the UFT understands that having to deal with a union makes everyone's life miserable and drives costs through the roof. After all, the UFT has been doing that to schools and governments for decades, so they should know how bad unions are

Net neutrality is a misnomer

Net neutrality is characterized as keeping a level playing field. It is really about control, specifically government control. Currently access to the internet is essentially uncontrolled in the United States. There are two parts of access: hookup and software.

Windows internet explorer is not free.  It was part of the software package purchased with the computer. In addition you can purchase or subscribe to other software access points such as AOL or Yahoo. You the consumer control the price by your willingness to pay, or your willingness to forgo benefits by using a free subscription service.

Connection or hookup is where the net neutrality is currently in contention. Connections range from dialup (free using your house phone) to hardwired (paid service through your local telephone or cable provider). Free public connections (government and private)are available for laptops equipped with wireless modems. The government service is frequently provided through community libraries which control content access. Motels provide it for their guests. Coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and other private sources provide wireless connection to lure customers.

The limitations for using the internet are software and hookup baud rate. Internet providers are constantly looking for an edge to make themselves more profitable. The two principle profit areas are monthly subscription fees and advertisements including "pop ups" and links.

The governments concern is hardware changes and provider manipulation. The government could ban hardware as not meeting "neutrality standards" or requiring only a nominal fee for Patent usage. The manipulation is almost an ethics problem. A large provider could have levels of customers: paid subscribers, sub let providers, and free. Paid get guaranteed highest baud and least ads. The free seldom get high baud and are potentially swamped with ads. The government says "range of service" is not neutrality.

Neutrality sounds laudable. Control is the goal.

Separation of Church and State fallacy

That wording is not in the Constitution, Amendments, or any Law passed by Congress. The wording was in a letter to a Connecticut Baptist Congregation written by Thomas Jefferson while serving as President. They were fighting Puritan controlled State legislature aimed at restricting their religious freedom and sought assurance the Federal Government was not endorsing the same. It is clear in the context of the two letters that Jefferson meant the State should not interfere in church affairs, but did not restrict the church from expressing their views on the State.

Evidently the Bible is not a religion. Jefferson, while President, was concerned about the poor education of Washington DC children. The Government purchased Bibles as instructional material for the school children. Congress did not see government supported missionaries to the Indians as religious activity. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 concerning the governance of the area west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio River included financial resources for missionary activities.

Prior to the U.S. Constitution each State was dominated by a religious Sect.  Virginia and New England States had state religions. To serve in office a person had to be a member of the State Sect.  The first amendment was to keep such requirements out of the Federal Government.

This worked fine until John Kennedy concerned about the lag in the space race, set up educational initiatives to increase math and science ability in high schools. Federal money flowed into the local schools. Federal money used in a school where prayer was required became the nexus for a law suit. The Supreme Court decision cited Jefferson's separation wording in upholding the lower court ruling banning prayer.

That precedent has led to ousting of our Christian heritage from public venues. Further, God himself is now a religion and ousted.

Ozone alert analysis

An ozone alert is my favorite paradox. When global warming was in its infancy the demise of the ozone layer in the outer atmosphere was the suspected culprit. This was ratcheted into hysteria with the discovery of the hole over Antarctica.  Fluorocarbon chemical usage in air-conditioning and general industrial use was proposed as the villain. Such substances were banned increasing the cost and maintenance of residential air-conditioning.

The automobile was deemed to be the biggest villain. Surprise, the automobile emissions produced ozone when exposed to sunlight. Then horror of horror, people and cattle emissions (belches, flatulence, and decaying fecal matter) otherwise known as volatile organic compounds also produce ozone when exposed to sunlight. Sunlight will produce ozone from mature tall grasses and trees. Studies have shown high humidity is a correlating factor to ozone production volumes.

Ozone is a health hazard to some people. Ozone is a two oxygen atom molecule. When breathed, the lung ignores ozone because it is seeking single oxygen atoms. Ozone will lodge unabsorbed in the lung. This occurs when the lung grabs one of the ozone pair believing it to be a free atom not a molecule; a definite a health problem for respiratory problems.

Environmentalist desire less ground level ozone while paradoxically desiring more in the outer layer. Pollution control has to be counterproductive to one of these goals.

Human activity (paint fumes, laser printerd, and machinery lubricant) plays such a small part in ozone production it is practically meaningless. In the 1780's and early 1790's when Louisville was a fledgling city buffalo herds from central Indiana would migrate to the "great swamp" we now call south Louisville. Reference to an odd odor from these herds is probably ozone. Had monitoring equipment been available, the number of 18^th Century alerts would have exceeded the present.

Why the attack on Christianity

The answer is very simple and trite. Some people can't handle the truth. The Bible used by Christians clearly states Satan was given dominion over the earth. He attempts to thwart efforts to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

America was founded by Christians.  This fact has been squashed and pushed back to obscure its relevance. Nonetheless, by the mid 20^th Century America did grow to world prominence and prospered. The reason was the accoutrements of its Christian roots: prayer in school, holiday celebrations centered around significant days in Christianity, displaying God's commandments, and most importantly moral standards of right and wrong.

These accouterments kept society aware of truth. They were familiar aspects of life. When the Gospel message was heard, these accouterments formed a foundation for understanding. People thus accepted the Gospel message.

The early Christian leaders of our Nation knew the truth and realized there was no need: to force people to hear the Gospel, impose laws restricting non-Christian religions, or conform to morals beyond those necessary for peaceful civil society. Subsequently, Christian leaders appalled at the depth of depravity of some people did attempt to extend Christian morals on others through restrictive laws.

Repeal of these restrictive laws became the focus for Satan's minions. After success with those they begin the assault on the accouterments of our Christian heritage.  Their suppression does not directly affect Christians. It does mean Christians have to provide more foundational understanding when presenting the Gospel message.

Perhaps this is a good thing. Christians must better prepare themselves for telling the Gospel. One fact doesn't change. The Gospel is truth and stands steadfast against the religions of deceit and empty promises.

I lament the attacks. But my belief is in a Risen Lord not the accouterments of His being.

Collectivism eventually fails every time

Collectivism is the foundation for socialism, progressivism, communism, fascism and most liberal based regimes.  Collectivism can be found in conservative causes, although not as a foundation block. Collectives have a top down structure, giving individuals at the bottom few meaningful choices. Basically collectivism is the concept where the whole is greater than the parts. Which should be a hint why it fails.

One of the earliest Collective societies in America was the Mayflower Compact. They agreed there would be no individual ownership of farm land, pastures, or arbors. That the food produced belonged equally to all. Similarly craftsman producing shoes, clothing, and other items would be available for use by all the group. The outcome over time was to exile the lazy, allow private ownership of the agricultural lands, and allow craftsman to barter their wares.

One of the last collective societies to fail was the USSR. As with the Pilgrims, food production is a basic need. As the USSR moved into the 1960's their collective farms could not produce enough to feed their people. Outright mass death by starvation was avoided because of crime. Death related to food distribution crimes was so pervasive it was a statistical category.

The farmers on the collective farms were all allowed to have personal gardens for their own use. These small plots were so productive the farmers raised their standard of living by selling excess production on the black market. Their success caused the USSR to rethink their farm collectives. They allowed farmers to increase their personal holding by fivefold with the government buying the excess rather than confiscation or allowing distribution through the black market.

The recently passed Health Care Reform it is a collective. The system as designed focuses on the whole, not the individual.

Too much rule making power

The media is astounded with Rand Paul's comment, "I'm not expert. Don't give me the power to make the rules." They say this is dumb. That he doesn't care about worker safety.  The context was in mine safety and drill rigs.

Mr. Paul is correct, Washington should not make rules. Washington regulations must be all inclusive. Yet we know geographical areas are different: substrate geology, soil characteristics, weather patterns, plant life, stream morphology, hydrologic cycle, and even prevailing winds. As a result Washington issued regulations must be narrowed to cover the worst possibility of all those factors.

Although the variance in these factors may be less within a State, they still pose a problem for establishing comprehensive regulations. Besides our law makers, whether State or Federal, rarely have any expertise or experience with the activity to be regulated. So they form commissions and panels of experts to formulate the rules. Who are these experts? They are the industry to be regulated; a composite of management and labor (the company owners and their associated unions).

I believe Mr. Paul is saying cut out the Federal Government as the middleman. I'm sure you, like me, have heard people in both management and labor think some regulations are totally inappropriate for their facility. The government is the broker because one side is too inept to make a reasoned case for work site procedures. In which instance that side needs to get competent leadership. These issues are resolved when both sides with mutual respect use their God given talent.

A company with unsound practices will fail and cease to exist. Workers who allow unsafe practices gamble with their own lives. It behooves each side to work together, not only for safety, but for overall profit.

Oh my! Mr. Paul is advocating capitalism.

Near death experience

A recent TV documentary presented the case of near death experience and return from visiting heaven. The question asked of me, was essentially: "Is this an acceptable Christian viewpoint?"

There is no scriptural reference. Many were raised from the dead in the New Testament. No reference to what they experienced "while dead." The Old Testament has reference to bones coming back to life and growing sinew on dried bones. One person was resurrected when thrown on the bones of a prophet. Again no commentary on the individual's experience between death and resurrection.

 

I remember about twenty years ago reading a reference book on this. The name I remember was "Into the light." The current book on Amazon by that name has a 2007 copyright and was not the book I read.  Accounts have been detailed in other reference books as an aside to the theme of the book. The stories of revival from death experience are numerous and cross centuries, cultures, and religions. They invariably reference a brilliant white light. After the white light there is little commonality. The experiences range from fuzzy (foggy) to sharp (HDTV). The individual's past to their future. Familiar surroundings to an unfathomable place. Billy Graham's "Angels, Angels, Angels" contains some instances.

 

Some of these people were saved (I have a Pastor friend who had such an experience. It was what led him to become a Pastor. He was saved but ignoring God). And, of course the unsaved. For the unsaved, the resurrection was followed by either salvation or increasing paranoia and eventual insanity.

  

Basically, it is not a tool God uses for our knowledge of Salvation, since there is no clear reference in Scripture.  There are enough stories of a similar nature to suggest some sort of supernatural phenomenon. Whether God, Satan, drugs, or illness induced fever I have no answer.

 

Arizona’s Immigration Law protested in Louisville

Examine the picture of the Courier Journal's article. Three things should pop out.  One in seven is over 25 years of age. Five, possibly seven people have pre-printed tee shirts "IMMIGRATION." Since we know the law is aimed at illegal Mexicans, isn't  it odd no one in the picture had Latino features.

Acknowledging I am stereotyping I make these observations. Individuals in the picture under 25 are unlikely to have a career job, and are thus available for a mid day protest. They are extremely ideological., rather than logical. Their cultural immersion over the past few years has been both liberal and anti-establishment.

The preprint shirts indicate organization rather than spontaneous indignation.  Such organized efforts in the past have included payments to protest, otherwise they would not make the effort to march in the midday summer sun. The sponsoring organizations are known liberal groups who endorse the progressive socialist communist policies. The root purpose of those policies is the end to capitalism.

These liberal groups try to dress up their purpose with appeal to emotion. One quote with the article was, "A battered spouse who is illegal will not report the abuse because of the immigration law."  Such concern has no true merit.

The State law mirrors Federal Law. If the spouse reports abuse the same information would be gathered if the State law didn't exist. The difference being the State can initiate judicial action rather than turning the matter over to Federal Immigration Enforcement Authorities. Arizona passed their law because the Federal Authorities failed to perform.

So in truth the protest is not about immigration. It is about States having the right to establish and enforce civil order. Illegal's by their very nature are not part of the good civil order of a community.