Gore’s Green Power

I got this from a source close to the Tennessee Valley Authority:

Anne Paine, Reporter for the Tennessean in Nashville, asked if there has been an increase interest in the Green Power Switch Program because of news stories about Al Gore’s electric bill for his Nashville residence and his use of green power to meet most of his energy needs. She also asked about TVA’s generating sources of green power and when Gore first signed up for GPS. We said there has been a significant increase in GPS signups for the month of March 2007 over March of 2006. We provided information on the GPS generating sources and referred her to our web site. We confirmed that the first request from Gore officials about GPS was August of 2006. We told Paine that TVA completed the GPS process for the Gore residence in August 2006, but she would have to ask Nashville Electric System when the first electric bill with GPS charges was sent to the Gore residence.

FYI – Gore bought the property in ’02, so it’s not like he just moved in and wanted to do his part to save the world nor did the Green Power program only begin in August 2006 – It’s been around for awhile. The timing of it all – the request in August 2006 – I’m sure it had nothing to do with him thinking about running and wanting himself to look good or with his movie that is going to save the world.

– The TVA “Insider”

TCAP Excellence

Here is a great example of Government efficiency:

We are taking TCAPS this week and there was a problem with a question. Now evidently, instead of just throwing the question out when scoring the test they chose the MUCH SIMPLER option: Notify every single middle school in the state of tennessee, and then have the message relayed to every single middle school
teacher in the state of tennessee.

Here is the simple solution offered by the TN Department of Education:

Teachers,
Once you have completed testing this morning. Please have 8th grade students with version 7 test booklet make the following correction. Have them check page 62, question #36 in math and make sure they bubbled on the answer sheet correctly. If a student chose an H or G as the answer to question #36 they need to do the following: (G and H are reversed–have students bubble H in H and G in G) If a student did not chose and H or G answer, then they do not need to do anything. Please read the attached e-mail from the state department. Please let Mr. XXXX know if you have further questions regarding correcting this test booklet and answer sheet error
Thanks
[administrator]

– XXXX (TN Middleschool Teacher)

UPDATE:

Evidently answer G and answer H are BOTH FALSE!  So we had to make sure that students who missed the question got scored missing the question with the appropriate incorrect response.
– XXXX (TN Middleschool Teacher)

Sounds like we need to help out some people in the government — maybe a new bureaucrat left behind program  ;)

Different Schools, Different Parents

Rob, a Middle School Teacher, sent me an email regarding the difference between the parents at his new School verses the more, uhm, urban School where he worked last year:

Well, the parents here are a little different than say Tony’s mom last year (the 250 pound woman with 3 inch red fingernails, that came to school, yanked tony out of his seat by his collar, with a barage of profanity, pulled him into the hall, pulled off his belt, and popped him 3 times with his own belt).

I caught a kid stealing his lunch yesterday. I had him write a confession, "I, Kevin xxxxxx stole my lunch on 1/9/07" and sign it. our Discipline Principal told me that his father came in to a manditory meeting, very upset that the school used and continued to use the word "stealing" to describe his sons actions. He felt his son merely, "circumvented procedures" end quote. Even after, showing his son had clearly understood procedures the previous 15 days that he bought his lunch, according to computer records (they can buy lunch using a pin number). the father still refused to say that his son "stole." Yup. This is for real. Unbelievable.

Thanks Rob

Judicial Freedom of Speech

Attorney James Bopp Jr is on a crusade. A crusade to free Judges to actually say what they believe, so that voters have some idea of whom they are electing. All judges are elected either directly (through the polls) or indirectly through appointment by an elected official. Here are the high points from a recent ABA Journal Article (November 2006):

"I think there is a limit on what judicial candidates can say, that does not apply to the other braches of government," [Bopp] says… Judicial candidates can be prohibited from saying ‘I’ll throw all drunk drivers in jail’ or ‘I’ll overturn Roe v. Wade if given the chance’, but they should be able to say ‘I’m pro-life’," [Bopp] says.

Bopp says that while his clients want to know a candidates personal values on issues such as abortion, they expect judges to follow the facts and law whereever they lead. He also knows htat judges make common law. And their personal values cannot help but influence them in those endeavors.

"Anybody who tells you it doesn’t matter what judge you get is a fool," Bopp says. "Judges have discretion. Their personal opinions matter and their views matter."

Evil Capitalists

 Some perspective on Big Oil from guest writer: Jeff:

Can you believe this?! Time Warner made $1.46 billion profits in the first quarter. Thats a 60% increase over last year. And just who, you might ask, is a part of Time Warner? Well, those evil capitalist pigs CNN, and Time (among others) of course. Can you believe that they are making such obscene profits reporting the news? I mean, the news is an essential part of life. Asking people to go without news is like asking them to go without their catheter bags. Besides, reporting the news is supposed to be a noble profession, far above the evil influence of profits. How can this evil conglomerate continue to exist in America, when it is obviously gouging innocent citizens? Get this: the CEO made $16 million!  Heres an idea: they should take those profits, and re-distribute them to the American people. Lets see, $1.46 billion divided among 311 million gouged citizens (dont worry, 11 million undocumented workers included), equals $4.70 a person! Send the checks today!

OR, the CEO could donate his pay to lower our cable TV bills: $16 million divided by 311 million people is $.05. I want MY nickel, how about YOU?

Why does the same rhetoric seem perfectly logical when applied to oil companies? I guess because we HAVE to keep driving? Well, are you going to turn off your cable (and maybe even go to the library)? Time Warner also owns the Atlanta Braves