Today's Nuze: November 10, 2003

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2003

REFUSING TO FACE REALITY

First .. a quick note to those of you who need a primer on Georgia's HOPE Scholarship. It's funded by the Georgia State Lottery. Briefly stated -- since the Hope Scholarships began in 1993 all Georgia high school grads with a "B" average or better would get their tuition to a Georgia college or university paid from lottery funds. Fees and books would also be covered.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is printing a series of articles on Georgia's HOPE Scholarships. You really need to read these articles ... they detail a lot more than the financial problems with the HOPE Scholarships. The series illustrates just how bad our system of government schools have become in Georgia.

If you've been paying attention you already know that in just a few years there isn't going to be enough money coming from the Georgia Lottery to cover the costs for students eligible for the scholarships. Fine ... now here's some things you probably didn't know:

Currently HOPE is subsidizing 100,000 students in Georgia colleges and universities.
More than one-half of last year's Georgia high school graduates qualified for the scholarship.
About 58% of students on HOPE scholarships bail out or flunk out of school before they complete 30 credit hours. Most of these students are gone by the end of their freshman year.

Consider those facts in light of the fact that Georgia has the worst government schools of any state in the nation. Only the District of Columbia scores worse.

Can someone please tell me how in the hell more than one-half of the students in one of the nation's worst school systems manage to graduate with a B average or better? When I was going to school a B was considered to be a superior grade. It was above average. Average was C. A D was below average and everybody knew what an F stood for. You should have to be a superior student to graduate high school with a B average. Superior high school graduates don't flunk out of college before they even get to their sophomore year.

They're considering all sorts of ways to save the HOPE scholarship. The politically correct method of fixing HOPE will be to put an income limit on those who receive the scholarships. The more successful your parents are, the less likely it is you will be able to get your HOPE scholarship.

Anyone with an ounce of sense knows what the problem is here. Two words: Grade inflation. Georgia's government school teachers are simply giving too many Bs to their students. These grades aren't being earned ... they're being handed out like hall passes ... passes to college.

No wonder these kids flunk out at the end of their first year? Could it be that they actually went off to college thinking that they were real, honest-to-goodness B students? Did they really think they had earned those grades? Surely not! You see, there's a big difference between high school teachers and college professors. College professors have standards. They don't hand out grades to please parents or to keep the heat off. If you want a B from a good college prof you pay attention, you read, you study, and you make good grades on tests. Many of the wonderful B average high school students in Georgia haven't read a book in their entire lives, and their grades were given to them by teachers who didn't want to be responsible for denying this particular kid his HOPE entitlement.

So ... enter the politicians. They know the HOPE Scholarship is immensely popular and they need to do something to save it. If this problem was turned over to a businessman for a solution he would simply instruct the teachers to make these kids once again earn their grades. Once again the average would get Cs, the best would get As and the dullards would get their richly deserved Fs.

But there will be no business approach here. The solution will be political ... and politicians aren't going to stand up to the teacher's unions. These unions have far too much political juice. There will be no requirement that students get their B average and at least a 1000 on their SATs. That would present too fat a target to the race warlords. (God forbid they should ever address the anti-achievement mentality that permeates their culture). The race demagogues and the teachers unions have sent the politicians running for cover. If you are part of a household earning over $100,000 a year, bend over and grab your ankles. You're in the crosshairs. Get used to the idea of paying for your kid's college and start socking money away. You are going to be punished for your success; punished because Georgia is so full of spineless politicians who can't stand up to the teacher's unions and the race pimps and make the HOPE scholarship what it was supposed to be ... a reward for excellence and hard work.

As for the lottery? I absolutely love it. No ... I don't play. I prefer investing to gambling. But I do love the sight of all of these people whom our politicians have tried ever so hard to protect from any tax liability at all going out there and gobbling up those lottery tickets like that. Let's face it, the lottery is a tax on stupidity. Gotta love it.

Note: In today's second installment of the AJC series on the HOPE scholarship they actually suggest that there's a bit of grade inflation going on in Georgia high schools. But .... will anything be done about it? Hint to parents. Don't be all that impressed with the high grades your kids age getting in Georgia government high schools. Chances are they were given, not earned.

"FLAWED" AND "BIASED" ---- BUT IT'S ALL THOSE EVIL RIGHT-WINGERS AT WORK

I'm getting a big kick out of all the news stories about those evil right-wingers, Republicans and talk show hosts who managed to frighten CBS into canceling that miniseries about Ronald Reagan. The man in charge of entertainment programming at CBS says that the production was "flawed" and "biased" and it was removed ... and suddenly it's all the fault of those evil right-wing maniacs and their heroes in talk radio.

One thing is sure here. The left is getting fed up with talk radio. You can bet they're looking for a way to shut these blabbering conservatives down. I'm betting they're going to try to use the campaign finance reform act to accomplish this goal around the beginning of next year. They're going to claim that conservative talk radio shows are nothing more than a paid political advertisement for Republicans and, as such, should be subject to the rules of campaign finance reform. The rule the left will seek to enforce will be the regulation which prohibits soft money advertising which names a particular candidate within 60 days of the election.

The real move to shut down talk radio will take place if the left ever regains control of the congress. Hello "fairness doctrine."

WEASELY CLARK'S "JOKE"

Weasely Clark made a little "joke" last week about Howard Deans flub on seeking the votes of people with Confederate Flags on their pickups. Clark said "I think all Americans, even if they're from the south and stupid, should be represented.

It wasn't a joke, folks. One of the reasons the Democrats are losing the South is because of their snotty, down-the-nose view of the south as being backwards and ignorant. A mere hint of a southern accent brands a person as being ignorant in many parts of the country. I must tell you that there have even been radio station program directors who have declined to carry my show because it originates from Atlanta, Georgia. There's an operative presumption out there that if you are operating out of New York City you must be progressive and intelligent, and if you're operating out of the south you must be an ignorant southern redneck. So ... explain the fact that CNN is based in Atlanta and Fox News Channel is based in New York City!

The Weasel will get away with his little slam on stupid southerners. After all, most of the media that will pass on his remarks are based ... where?

AN EXCELLENT POINT

In last Thursday's USA Today there was a frightening letter to the editor. The letter was responding to a USA Today story about college and university administrators keeping conservative student groups off campus. The letter writer wrote:

Whether an organization or person is conservative has nothing to do with decisions to prohibit certain groups or ideas from the public forum. Instead, school administrators are forbidding an environment where hate, individualism and repression are encouraged.

Yes, you read that right. The letter writer was praising administrators for prohibiting groups that encourage "hate, individualism and repression." So, NOW are you starting to maybe believe me when I tell you that the left is and has been pursuing a war against individualism in this country? The war against individualism is nothing new. Lenin spoke against the concept of the individual, as did Hitler, Stalin, Khrushchev, Mussolini, and both Clintons.

I talked about that letter to USA today last Thursday .. prompting this e-mail from a listener:

"After listening to this mornings show it occurred to me that grouping is something like herding. If the few can get the masses into herds they can just fence us in with rules and laws and have us chew our cud and follow the leader to the barn. NO problems for them -- no future for us. If we are allowed to think independently and act as individuals there aren't enough of them to have control. UNITE!"

Well, that pretty much nails it down, doesn't it?

OBESITY IS NOT A DISEASE

As the lardassification of America continues we're starting to see a big push to classify obesity as a disease. Obesity is not a disease, it's a behavior. Be careful, though. If the blubber-butt apologists manage to get this disease classification that would mean that your health insurance is going to have to cover your visits to the fat doctor. This means a huge increase in health insurance premiums .. which means more people dropping health insurance .. which means more pressure for government provided health insurance and health care ... which means socialized medicine.

As I said, it's inevitable.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Are you wondering why Al Qaeda is attacking Saudi Arabia? Here's your answer.

As many as 300,000 Iraqis may be in mass graves. The existence of 40 of these graves has been confirmed. Democrats wish Saddam Hussein were still in power.

Al Gore is accusing George Bush of undermining freedoms in this country. Read this ... Gore makes some valid points.

Pete DuPont says that the Democrats are stuck in the 1930s on economics and in the 1960s on foreign policy. That may be so ... but they still have the hard-core support of roughly 38% of the American people. Could that be a result of our wonderful government schools?

Georgia's first lottery winner said he was going to buy a double-wide and move to Alabama. This lottery winner burned his mobile home.

Prostitution is legal in Singapore. Oral sex is not.

So ... how are things going on Vail Mountain this morning? I don't know. Maybe it will be daylight by the time you look at this.

Diane Feinstein says that one of the reasons she's opposed to the confirmation of Justice Janice Rogers Brown is that Justice Brown refuses to put property rights on a lower plane than other constitutional rights. There you go folks. How long have I been telling you that Democrats abhor the idea of property rights? You have to read this Thomas Sowell column.

Now here's a good question from The New York Times. Why do employers pay for health insurance anyhow? Why not auto insurance too? After all ... people need cars to get to work, don't they?

Jeff Jacoby says that the real race-baiter in the Democratic campaign is Al Sharpton. He's right, of course, but the dictates of political correctness are such that Sharpton is immune from criticism.

This television writer wonders if Aaron Brown's star is fading at CNN. This talk show host certainly hopes so. Smugness is tiring.

In today's AJC Vent: "Calling an illegal alien an undocumented resident is like calling a bank robber a bank withdrawal specialist."

On the cancelling of "The Reagans:" Bruce Bartley says that for once a great cultural institution (CBS) decided that the great unwashed had it right.

Attorney attacks bicyclist in a case of road rage. Hair dresser sees what's going on, leaves his client with wet hair, goes outside and flattens attorney "like a pancake."

This is beyond belief. Cops with guns drawn invade a South Carolina school looking for drugs.

Those cell phones with built-in cameras? They're being banned in health clubs, as well they should.

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