Early Tue AM Thoughts...

...before going out to shovel 2" of powder before heading off to class.

Can you believe the nerve of some people????? The former head of Oakland Schools, who was convicted and jailed for being a crook while on the job, is suing for "wrongful" dismissal. He, apparently, wants backpay and compensation because his reputation has been tarnished so he can't get meaningful employment. Hmmm. With a rep like that, why doesn't he run for Congress?

The Senate confirmed our nontaxpaying Treasury Secretary. No surprise there. They all take care of their own, like school administrators. And, because we don't pay attention or don't care (take your pick), they--the pols and the administrators--get away with the most egregious of behavior. I repeat, you try not paying your taxes like this guy and see what the IRS does to you. Of course, maybe some so, ahem, familiar with the tax code might be worth having. My two US Sens likely voted for confirmation (but I'll have to check for sure). I'll have to send them a letter scolding them--as if they care what I think or write. They rarely answer and, if they do, it's not anything about my concern or it's some innocuous nonanswer ("Go to the IRS Web site...."). "Conscience of the Senate" my bejabbers! Phil Hart is rolling over in his grave.

As much as my brain tells me no death penalty in Michigan, my heart tells me otherwise. Note the guy who clobbered some woman in the head with a tire iron and then threw her in a pond to drown. At his arraignment, after being extradited from NY, he smirked and made wise cracks about the murder, even ignoring his attorney's pleas to quiet down. Just kill the scum. And I don't want to hear "Well, then the state is just becoming a murderer like those it kills." Hogwash! The state is reacting to inhuman behavior; the executed committed the inhuman behavior and don't deserve to live. This goes especially for child abusers and molesters. In fact, maybe a little torture would be in order first. I know, Iknow....

Have you seen the obscene money being tossed at baseball players? Tough economy? The little guy? Perhaps everyone should boycott MLB until it regains its senses. Oh, I already do that--but not because of the money, but because they don't play very good baseball any more. Ah, nobody will do any boycott, esp not it spending all that money means winning. I think Chuck Norris, yeah, Walker Texas Ranger, is right in his book that "we have lost our moral compass." And, unlike him, I don't think we can refind it. We're that far gone. In part, but only in part, read Cullen Murphy's Are We Rome?

I normally like Walter Williams, the columnist and economics prof at George Mason. But he is way off base in his recent article about Abe Lincoln. I will feel compelled to write a rebuttal letter-to-the-editor about it, using an old Williams' article that contradicts what he said this time. I had a letter-to-the-ed published yesterday (but nobody saw it; it was on the editorial page) which had a two-fold message: one, the Lincoln facts were distorted and, two, the distortion was by a former state superintendent of education, which isn't atypical that school leaders don't know what they are talking about. You can read the letter, if at all anyone wants to, at www.theoaklandpress.com and navigate to the Opinions, Monday Jan 26 letters. I'll post my letter about the Williams article here once I write it.

And Michigan is finally going to stop smoking in the prisons. Oh, no...what's going to happen to the country club atmosphere? Are people going to stop committing crimes because it's no longer "fun" to be there? Who knows?

Oh, I'm on a roll, but there's show to be snoveled. Out I go....