Speed Gibson

I just now noticed this subtle change in the process to hire the next Superintendent of the Robbinsdale Area Schools. This is from the District 281 web site:

New Hope, Minn. (March 12, 2009) - Members of the community are invited to meet finalists for the superintendent position in Robbinsdale Area Schools April 7-9. The tentative schedule calls for as many as three finalists to each spend a day in the school district touring the district, meeting with staff members and the community and interviewing with the school board for a second time. Community members can meet with candidates during a question and answer session and social hour at 5 p.m. at the Education Service Center boardroom, 4148 Winnetka Ave. N., New Hope. A final schedule will be posted to the district web site on April 2.

Candidates for the position will be evaluated by the school board in the next few weeks and the board will conduct first round interviews March 31 and April 1. If the board selects one of the finalists after the last interview, it would make an offer immediately and announce its decision as soon as the candidate accepts.

There was no mention of that last sentence I highlighted in the original timeline, which calls for the search firm to submit its list of 5 or 6 candidates to the Board today, March 30.

First round interviews are scheduled for March 31 and April 1, a process that was to winnow the field to 3 finalists. We the public were to be able to meet and greet them April 6-8 as part of their second interview. The Board would then have the rest of April to make its decision, make the offer, negotiate the contract, and announce the acceptance. The new Superintendent would then take charge on July 1, 2009 when the retiring Stan Mack retires.

Is there now a problem? Are we not getting the expected response? That's what happened at Anoka-Hennepin, the largest public school district in Minnesota. Their process produced only two finalists, both internal. Is Robbinsdale, also a large district, seeing the same lack of interest from qualified external candidates?

If so, the decision could be made early on Wednesday, April 1. No fooling.

Sometimes I wonder if my fascination with Old Time Radio either dates me or makes me appear to be some sort of a Luddite. But then, people still like to ride horses, right? I found another such world Thursday evening at the Edina Art Center, where a number of "pinhole" photographers were showing their work, one of them a cousin.

Photography has seen a similar evolution in technology, the last step to digital practically a revolution. Pinhole photography is in no hurry, however. It's content with film. It's the lenses it can and does without.

A pinhole is a natural lens, the light from any one "pixel" of the subject having only path through the hole to the awaiting film. The major drawback of course is that a pinhole doesn't let much light through, so full exposure requires anywhere from several seconds to several minutes, maybe even hours for a night shot. Tripods are an obvious necessity. As such, it's not suitable for capturing live action shots like a batter's swing or the photo finish of a race.

It's also not exactly High Definition. As small as the pinholes are, they are not infinitely small as the physics would require for a theoretically exact image. The images have to be a little bit soft. But that said, the quality of the displayed work is remarkable. If I may conjecture, the simplicity of it all allows its enthusiasts to, er, focus more on the subject matter.

More information is just a Google away. It's comforting to find others who enjoy the artistry of old in a modern age.

It's been a long week at work, one with several clear examples of Murphy's law, like a well-timed power hit during a data recovery. But we got the pieces back together today, so I'm ready to take on a subject that's been bothering me all week, the "anti-bullying" bill. Here is Minnesota Public Radio's account of SF 971:

A bill that would expand schools' anti-bullying policies goes before a Senate education committee for a vote next week.

The bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Scott Dibble of Minneapolis lists more than a dozen characteristics that could be targets for harassment. They include sexual orientation, socio-economic status and national origin.

Schools must prohibit bullying in any form, but the only examples now listed are race, religion and gender. Dibble includes more examples so it's clear other forms of bullying won't be tolerated.

But Republican Sen. Gen Olson of Minnetrista questioned the need to list so many characteristics when all bullying is already banned.

I'll add that I saw a public school official on TV more or less say "so what?" in that they don't have staff to enforce the current law. What - an unfunded mandate? From the DFL?

But let me focus on the language I found offensive in this bill: socio-economic status. As Sen. Olson says, bullying is already against the law for any reason. Why this specific clarification? Are the brats in Maple Grove taking too much lunch money from the kids in Brooklyn Park?

Let's get something straight here. The kids where I live take care of themselves. They don't find someone else to fight their battles for them, watching, holding their coat. But beyond that, that "socio-economic status" is meaningful here is insulting. I even object to "socio-economic" being a "status" let alone legally actionable. This is the language of bigots.

All you busybodies over in St. Paul, if you really want to do something meaningful for those in these "social-economic statuses" you profess to support, how about some vouchers to give them a real choice in education?

Work has taken most of my waking hours the past 3 days, so my blogging has lapsed accordingly. You'll have to trust me that my picks for week 2 of Dancing with the Stars were indeed, again, the pair of Steve's, with Wosniak going home, again. Wrong again.

But I have no problem with Holly and Denise in the docket, Denise going home.

It's time to round up the last of Gregg J. Cavanagh's list of structural Sacred Cows that today trample reasoned attempts to get control of our runaway State spending in Minnesota

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   
   "The state prevailing wage law requires nonunion contractors to pay union-scale wages and benefits on state-funded construction projects. It also forces them to adopt inefficient union work practices. It drives out competition and subsidizes construction unions with taxpayer funds. It performs no valid public function and should be repealed.
   
   "The state often requires nonunion construction contractors to become signatory to union collective-bargaining agreements in order to work on state projects. This practice drives out competition on such projects and subsidizes unions with taxpayer dollars. The use of such agreements should be banned."

***

In a word, the favorite pastime of the Minnesota Legislature is meddling. In many cases like the above, it's for fun and political profit, too often the latter.

Price-fixing is one of their favorites. In some cases it's overt, like telling private businesses not to lower gasoline prices or setting minimum wages. In most cases, however, it's indirect, by limiting our options. They tell us who we can hire, as in points 7 and 8 above. They rig K-12 education funding so that few families can afford anything but the "free" public schools. Naturally, those who benefit from such favored treatment show their appreciation to those responsible and/or send delegations to encourage them to stay the course.

Some of it is just feel-good, to satisfy some inner calling to do what they feel we constituents are too stupid to do for ourselves, like buckle our seat belts. It seldom dawns on them that they might be the ones that are too stupid to comprehend the situation, as in the "Baby Huey" bill to require car seats up to age 8. Add a measure of hubris and you get the Smoking Ban; the scientific research does not matter.

The point is, this all costs us money. Money to pass and enforce the law. Money paid in needlessly higher prices. Money lost in reduced economic activity, which also means reduced tax revenue to the state, exacerbating the budget deficit.

Even non-taxpayers suffer from this interference in our lives. They may get an inferior education, a prisoner of their failing school to which they have no feasible alternative. They may get an inferior job, or no job, the de facto union requirements for many jobs and projects having sawed off the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

What they will get is welfare and a pat on the head, leaving them to think that it's not their fault they're not getting ahead. They might be right.

It's back again in 2009, a proposed limit on the Charter school movement in Minnesota. This attack comes from the DFL of course, no doubt a direct order from Education Minnesota. Oh, they're all for competition, but only on their terms. Ignore those markedly better test scores you see in the newspaper. Better you should be concerned about the occasional lapse in procedure or accounting at this or that charter school, which of course you don't see at the public schools.

An unattributed account from District 279 United says that the Senate will takes up a bill next Wednesday to all but outlaw any new Charter schools. I was unable to locate the specific bill on the Legislative web site, but here is what District 279 United reported:

• Only two new (not-yet-approved) charter schools would be allowed to open in the entire state before Fall 2011. Currently, there are 152 charter schools open and 6 more that are already approved to open, leaving slots for only two more schools in Minnesota.
  
  
• On a permanent basis, no new charter school could open within the boundaries of a consolidated school district, a dissolved school district, or within a 1 mile radius of any closed district school, for 36 months from the date of consolidation, dissolution, or closure.
  
  Given the large numbers of urban, suburban and rural district schools that are expected to close over the next decade, this provision would make it very, very difficult for many charter schools in districts across the state to find a facility--large parts of cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, for example, would become no-go zones for new charters for 3 years at a time.
  
  
• Minnesota would lose at least an estimated $20 million, and possibly $40 million or more, in Federal charter school start-up funding. With a cap in place, Minnesota would jeopardize its eligibility for these funds, which are designated for new charter schools' planning expenses ($540,000 per school over 3 years).
  

The irony is that the DFL is attacking the very system championed and implemented by the late DFL Governor Rudy Perpich and now embraced by President Obama, also a Democrat.

In fact, Obama is as far left as Democrats come, the least likely to rock the teachers union boat. And yet, as District 279 United quotes the President, Obama is (so far) doing just that:

"Right now, there are caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they are preparing our students. That isn’t good for our children, our economy, or our country."

I'm a bit of a night owl, seldom turning in before midnight. Actually, I'm usually first up as well, getting around 6 hours of sleep most nights. I almost always listen to the radio or maybe the MP3 player loaded up with Gunsmoke and Jack Benny.

Of late, I'm tuning into Chicago's WBBM 770 AM, a largely all news station. At midnight they play "When Radio Was" which is a syndicated old time radio program. I enjoy that, of course, but if I'm still awake by 1 AM, I listen to the local Chicago news. It's kind of like living there, hearing about their weather by the lake, their sports teams, and their politics.

The State of Illinois has a big deficit, too, and they're talking about a 50% rise in income tax rates. But then I hear that's from 3.0 percent to 4.5 percent. Minnesota's bottom rate is 5.35 percent!

It sounds pretty good, but then there's the crime reports, with more homicides than Baghdad or even Cabot Cove. It's so routine, the way they read these reports. I think I'll keep my distance for now.

Oh look - it's midnight! Good night!

Let's examine another Sacred Cow from the Star Tribune opinion piece by local attorney Gregg J. Cavanagh.

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
   "Law enforcement should be performed by state employees. Most other tasks should be evaluated for possible outsourcing. If let competitively, rather than simply assigned to ever-growing state departments staffed by union employees, most tasks could be performed more cheaply by the private sector."
   
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   

My favorite example of this is the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees ("MAPE"), a union representing over 25,000 state employees. You may remember that MAPE went on strike in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attack, which drew criticism even from the left.

I remember reading a Minneapolis Star Tribune breakdown of all the disparate professions MAPE represented. I remember thinking how odd this was for a union. The only tie that bound was that they drew government paychecks. I also remember noting that every one of the many listed professions in the article provide services readily available in the private sector. Based on the article, there was no reason for any of these people to be government employees.

Assuming this hasn't changed since then, these jobs should be outsourced, opened to competitive bidding. MAPE would be free to continue representing such employees, of course, so this isn't union busting per se.

***

A related thought is school bus transportation. Some districts own and staff their own fleets, like Robbinsdale and Minneapolis. Others like Osseo outsource with companies like Laidlaw Education Services.

I won't pretend to know which is ultimately cheaper, certainly not on a district by district basis. But having watched my own District 281, I have a nagging feeling that even if it were slightly more expensive, maybe we'd be better off outsourcing it.

The reason I say that is that it seems like we're continually fine tuning the schedule to save money. That's an honorable goal, but it seems that we're setting school hours to meet this need, not what actually might best, grade by grade. Private operators with larger fleets or more flexible staffing may be able to provide the optimum starting times with comparable costs. But fundamentally, we elect School Boards and hire Superintendents to educate our children, not transport them.

Getting back to the general point, we all tend to be better buyers than builders in most areas. We may not know a thing about brewing beer but we know what we like and what we're willing to pay for it. Define what you want, solicit bids, award contracts, and review the results periodically. Focus on your primary mission, your core competencies. Don't waste your time and money trying to be proficient in someone else's.

Tonight's the first elimination show of Dancing with the Stars, season 8. I have to admit this isn't the most stellar starting group of celebrity dancers. Maybe the talent pool is giving out, giving us Apple co-founder Steve Wosniak, for example. But then, he's still an improvement over Tucker Carlson, perhaps the worst opening act to date.

These early rounds are a bit like a NASCAR race, where fully half of the entrants have no chance of winning the race. I'm ready to cut about half the field now.

A new wrinkle is some sort of "dance off" between the bottom two, the additional judges points possibly swaying the outcome. My bottom two are Steve Wosniak and Steve-O of Jackass fame, with Wosniak getting the boot.

I wish I could remember where I found this, but I was so taken with it that it is now my new PC wallpaper.



Forget whatever politics and history you see beyond their common party affiliation. I think this is just a great concept, skillfully executed. It would work as well with Jefferson, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton. It evoked memories from several decades. As then, I like Ike!

This also reminded me of Steve Allen's old PBS "Meeting of Minds" series where he empaneled a number of historical figures from different centuries. We perhaps saw too much of his wife, Jayne Meadows, but it was otherwise excellent television, a great blend of educational content, perspective and entertainment.

Regular readers know I am no fan of Prime Minister Tim Pawlenty 2.0, introduced in 2005. He's the best we've got, but like his hero Senator McCain, is way oversold on the virtues of moderation and compromise. We win a lot of battles, but we are still slowly losing the DFL "War on Prosperity" here in Minnesota.

That said, it looks like this session might bring back Pawlenty 1.0, judging by his speech at the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce. Talk like this could get me calling him Governor again. I really like this quote:

"Here's a novel thought for some folks in Minnesota: not everyone can work for the government."

Though he intended this to remind the opposition that the private sector pays for everything that government does, I submit there's another, deeper interpretation.

Isn't that what our education system tries to instill in our children: get a government job? Be a teacher, a librarian, a city planner, a judge, maybe even a politician. Some jobs are ancillary, like being a journalist, a lawyer, or a nurse. They don't talk much about the "dirty jobs" like keeping the sewers flowing or butchering meat. And you certainly can't do the politically incorrect, like working at an oil refinery, running a bar, selling V-8 cars, or anything connected with talk radio.

No, you have to go to college. You want a job indoors, in the Twin Cities area, with coffee and email. Otherwise, you're a failure. You didn't live up to their expectations. You didn't chase their dreams.

Once again, the DFL says they want / need to raise taxes, this year in the name of the "shared sacrifice, shared responsibility" needed to close the budget deficit. Part of this is to be a new fourth tax bracket reserved for high income taxpayers.

Once again, the DFL pretends there are minimal consequences for this. The rich, the threshold to be determined, will simply say acknowledge their need to carry even more of the load. They won't move. They won't put off major purchases. They won't even economize. For those whose returns include their small business income, they won't lay anyone off. They won't outsource. In fact, once they realize all that Minnesota is doing for them, they'll expand!

Rubbish. They will do all of these things. They're smart people. That's why they make high incomes.

The result is that money they would have spent on the middle class to eat out, travel, buy a car, or invest now goes to the state. Money that would have been middle class income is effectively diverted to St. Paul.

The reverse is true, also. Imposing taxes on the general population reduces discretionary income, limiting the sales a high bracket business owner can expect.

If it looks like a tax and acts like a tax ... it's a tax. As the liberals like to say, "we're all in this together." There is no way to raise taxes solely on an isolated segment of the population.

Today is Pi Day, created about 20 years ago by a now retired physicist. As you may remember, π is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. It's approximately 3.14 and today is 3/14. OK, I get it. But what about the other fundamental constants?

The base of natural logarithms (e) is about 2.718. Dates like 2/71 or 27/1 don't work.

The speed of light (c) is about 2.998 x 10⁸ meters per second. Again 2/99 or 29/9 doesn't fit, nor does rounding up to give 3/0 work.

Plank's constant (h) relates the energy and wavelength of a photon, about 6.626 Joule seconds. Again, 3 digits won't work - 6/62 or 66/2 - but hey - 6/6 would. Oh wait, that's D-Day. If only there hadn't been that bad weather on June 5, 1944.

The (Newtonian) constant of gravitation (G) that determined how fast that apple fell out of that tree centuries ago is about 6.673 x 10^-11 (units upon request). Again, no suitable numerology works.

One more, Boltzmann's constant (k) that relates pressure, temperature, and volume for an "ideal" gas, about 1.38 x 10^-23 (units - see Google). Ludvig Boltzmann will gain no further fame since 1/38 and 13/8 are not dates, either.

Moo-ving right along with Gregg J. Cavanagh's list of the sacred cows of Minnesota spending, it's time to look at the revenue side.

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
   "Minnesota has one of the most burdensome corporate income taxes in the world. This tax discourages businesses from staying or locating here. Corporations employ people, and people pay income and sales taxes. The reduction or elimination of the corporate income tax would likely increase overall state revenues."
   
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   

Prime Minister Pawlenty is already promoting this idea, based on what appears to be some pretty good research by his task force. Our rates are high and I doubt few would argue that high corporate tax rates draw, keep or create more business in Minnesota.

I'm really not swayed by the argument that lower rates would bring in more revenue per se, even though it's likely true. I think the ideal corporate income tax rate is zero for the simple reason that corporations don't pay taxes. They only collect them, and inefficently.

If you have any corporate headquarters experience, you've seen the people, desks, square feet, office equipment, and paper involved with preparing state income tax returns and issuing checks. The Department of Revenue has similar expenditures in processing those returns and managing the receipts, not to mention the auditors both sides hire. And none of this produces anything valuable, like food, clothing, shelter, transportation, education, or entertainment.

Direct taxation of the people for the equivalent amount avoids almost all of this. When hidden via the corporate income tax, we pay this extra overhead. It's like we're paying for our own deception.

The one remaining "yeah, but" is progressivity, if that's truly a word. Many assume that the corporate income tax falls on the upper class, but I'd argue that it's in fact regressive, disproportionately falling on the lower class. As I said, corporations only collect taxes, either from customers (higher prices), employees (lower wages, fewer jobs), or investors (your 401K). McDonalds makes their millions one Happy Meal at a time.

One of the most flaming liberals of my acquaintance readily agrees that the corporate income tax is regressive, pointing to the State's tax incidence data that estimates who pays all the indirect taxes. (His solution is to make the individual tax still more progressive to compensate!) In doing a few Google searches, the jury seems out on this, that the corporate income tax is somewhere between regressive and neutral, but not progressive.

I like simple and the lower costs it brings. I like honest and the transparency it brings. Eliminating the corporate income tax is a step in both of these directions.

Years ago before Sid Hartman led the charge to ruin it with brackets, I used to take Thursday afternoon off to see the first two games of the Minnesota [Boys] State Hockey Tournament. I'd plant myself in a local bar sipping a Bloody Mary or two while watching the TV overhead.

While the competition was great, we of the old Lake Conference lived to see Edina (nee Edina-Morningside) get beat. They were the cake-eaters, the insufferably rich, superbly equipped, professionally coached Hornets that seemed to catch every break, including all those interference penalties around the goal that were never called.

And oh, once in a while it happened, the glorious upset years when dropped coins would land on their edge and Edina got beat. The afterglow would last well into the summer. But then the Tourney was expanded and the music died.

This morning, I heard that #1 Edina got beat and I got that old feeling. It may be for the wrong reason, but I may have to start watching again, for that old feeling is still in my heart!

Another election, another President wanting to be remembered for improving education. Barack Obama continues the tradition, giving an address Tuesday night. You can find a good analysis by Chad the Elder at Fraters Libertas. Bill Bennett, Secretary of Education under President Reagan spent over an hour on it the following morning on his radio show, including multiple segments each with Jay Greene and Rick Hess. Everyone was respectful and measured in their reporting and reactions.

Then we have the Wednesday morning edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune made to order for the occasion. "OBAMA: WE MUST CHANGE EDUCATION" says page one, above the fold. "The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens," said Obama, re-quoted proudly above the headline. Below that are two upbeat file photos, new students, new graduates, each with highlighted quotes from the President's speech. Below that a skyward-looking pose of Mr. Obama, presumably taken at the speech.

Oh yes, a story, too! Scott Wilson's byline from the Washington Post is reasonably fair except that there was no reaction from Republicans or experts like Jay Greene who propose different solutions. This was a scheduled speech. There was time to arrange to get such reactions from the loyal opposition. Bill Bennett did.

A sidebar on page A7 recounts local reaction, subtitled "Obama's speech broadly applauded..." Again, the article was reasonably fair, but again, devoid of any real criticism. Nobody wondered if Obama has enough credentials or experience to be making such grand proposals. Nobody questioned further expanding the federal role in education. Nobody objected to the significant spending increases President Obama's plan will require. Nobody challenged the timing, what with a major recession with huge deficits in progress, federal and state.

In what could be the waning days of this newspaper, it's sad to see it again kissing the DFL Blarney Stone. Four of nine voters did not vote for Obama. That's a lot of market share to neglect. Are we asking so much? A little balance, you know, both sides of the story?

I was unable to attend the District 281 School Board Work Session held Saturday, March 7, but there is a summary posted at their web site. Those following the Pilgrim Lane / Beacon Academy issue should note this paragraph:

Superintendent Stan Mack presented a list of pros and cons to leasing Pilgrim Lane Elementary School to Beacon Academy for the 2009-10 school year. Board members discussed pros and cons, offers for use of district facilities by other organizations, and the proposed process for divestiture of surplus facilities. The board generally agreed that they are too many unknowns at this time to lease Pilgrim Lane Elementary School for the 2009-10 school year. At this time, it is not known how many organizations might be interested in leasing the building. Leasing the building would also limit the district’s flexibility for district use of facilities next year, and would undermine the work of the Divestiture Advisory Committee.

First, when would you ever know "how many organizations might be interested" in leasing Pilgrim Lane Elementary? A lot of things interest me that I can't afford the time or money to explore. The only offers that matter are the ones on the table, which at the moment is the one from Beacon Academy.

The assertion that leasing precludes "district use" is really mysterious. What use? Are not all bases covered today? Does not the adopted Facilities Plan cover them tomorrow, even if they can't all be moved to Sandburg over the summer? Such a use for Pilgrim Lane would have to be brand new.

I'm not big on conspiracy theories, but the Board could be treating this question a little more transparently. I agree there are unknowns, but one known is the lost income from leasing to Beacon Academy. Given the economy in general and the facility in particular, this is the only viable use of this property short term.

It’s time for another installment of Gregg J. Cavanagh's herd of Sacred Cows that are blocking the road to sustainable Minnesota State spending.

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
   These projects are incredibly expensive to build, serve only a small percentage of state residents, and run perennial operating deficits. A state flush with cash might construct such projects as a luxury. A state with a huge deficit should focus on moving the most people with the fewest dollars. That's what roads do.
   
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   

***

Mr. Cavanagh says it well, but I'll go further. Light Rail never was and never will be necessary, significannt or viable as a transportation solution.

Spending a fraction of Light rail money on buses would have improved transit service far more. Don't forget, existing bus service along the Hiawatha was gutted to create artificial demand for it. The same fate awaits Routes 16 and 94 when (if?) the Central Corridor starts running.

Spending the same money on roads, which could include some bus lanes, would benefit most of the area, not the narrow segment served today. As a part time bus rider, it upsets me that we're raising bus fares solely to help cover the hemorrhagic losses being rung up by Light Rail. Let me also note for the record that I requested such figures three times from Met Council last year, via three different people. I'm still waiting.

Spending any more on Light Rail is totally irresponsible. Any Legislator voting to expand this system cannot claim to be at all serious about getting control of State spending.

Dancing With the Stars is back, so yes, you'll have to suffer through my weekly reviews for a few weeks. Nobody's leaving this week, so all I'll say now is that there is no early favorite. It just won't be Steve Wozniak.

***

American Idol came down to 12 13 finalists who competed tonight. If you want commentary on that, go see Bogus Gold, who'll first give you note by note coverage.

There's something simple and beautiful about truth. Gary Gross at Let Freedom Ring contrasts two approaches to the same issue, raising taxes in Minnesota.

In the blue corner, Representative Ann Lenczewski (D-40B, Bloomington), Chair of the House Taxes Committee recently said this at a DFL gathering:

"I have to tell you that, you know, we haven't gone public with this and we've gotten a lot of flak for it. But there is no doubt that the Minnesota House will be proposing revenue to solve the downsizing. We've been criticized because everyone supposedly in the press thinks we're hiding or waiting or something. The process works where we wait for the second forecast. We now have that as of a few days ago. We came into Legislature in January and unlike the Governor who gets to look at this all last year, we've now begun the process of making a bunch of very difficult choices. And there will be cuts. There will also be progressive revenue proposed.

"You will be seeing that as time goes on here. So I know that a lot of people are waiting for that and we appreciate that. It’s part of how the process works to get to a final solution. So I know that you understand the need for progressive taxation, so we will be getting to that point soon."

In the red corner, House Minority Leader Marty Siefert (R-21A, Marshall) responded with this press release:

"Raising taxes will not turn this economy around and grow jobs. We want job creators to stay here, come here and expand here. Raising their taxes would tell them they aren't wanted. It is absolutely the wrong policy to pursue."

Lenczewski is no stranger to tax increases. Her committee launched a full spread of tax torpedoes that were to have funded the DFL's multi-billion dollar wish list of 2007. I don't expect her to be openly proud of this, but as Gary noted in his post, she sure takes the long way around the barn in contending that tax increases are what Minnesota again needs, even now. She isn't at all specific, either. Which taxes? Which brackets? How much?

Siefert's four sentences are all bulls eyes, straight to the point, just plain truths plainly spoken. He needed no roundabout rationalizations, fanciful history, or weasel words. He doesn't duck the consequences of his position: he embraces them.

It's so much easier when the truth is on your side.

As I posted about 10 days ago, I have begun re-reading Atlas Shrugged. I'm immediately drawing parallels between Barack Obama, President of the United States, and James Taggart, President of Taggart Transcontinental. Why not Mr. Thompson, the Head of the State? We don't meet him until late in the book, and he's a relatively minor character despite his title. And, he's a one dimensional ruffian, which Obama is not.

No, Jim Taggart has that same blend of a sense of entitlement, immaturity and incompetence I see in Mr. Obama. I fear that like Taggart, Obama will also lash out in frustration. "Nobody can blame me!" or words to that effect will flash on the TelePrompter.

I heard someone say recently that "committee" is the best one word explanation for the lack of human progress to date.

District 281 is assembling a "Surplus Property and Divestiture Plan Advisory Committee" to advise the Board on divesting of the current and soon to be surplus property the District owns. Per reliable reports from Saturday's Work Session, there will be 27 members.

• One from each city (Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope, Plymouth, and Robbinsdale)
  
• One from each 2009-10 Elementary School attendance area (Forest, Lakeview, Meadow Lake, Neill, Noble, Northport, Sonnesyn, and Zachary Lane)
  
• Three School Board members
  
• Four Administration members
  
• Five "experts"
  

That adds up to an astounding 27 members! Where is the audience going to sit?

Suppose you found a distant relative had left you an assortment of properties about town, a small office complex, a couple of strip malls, two apartment buildings, and a vacant lot, most free and clear. You're happy of course, but also have no wish to be a landlord. You want to cash out. Do you assemble a committee like this, with some neighborhood activists, some realtors, an attorney, a tax accountant, an appraiser, and your Uncle Fred? No, you hire a broker, somebody that does this for a living. Maybe you hire two or three if there are enough properties to subdivide by area. The term "broker" is generic, and could apply to a realtor, developer, property manager, either an individual or an agency. The point is to have a single point of responsibility.

Said broker will yes, hire appraisers, realtors, inspectors, attorneys, maybe a contractor if a little fix-up if necessary. Said broker will also arrange for ongoing property management, tax audits, insurance coverage, and title searches.

You do your best to hire the best broker, and with a good contract for early termination if need be. Given so much, let the broker do the job and quit pretending that you could do the job better. Make sure the broker understands: no leases; I want out. And above all, don't hire second guessers.

Why doesn't District 281 do this? Do an RFP (Request for Proposal), see who wants the job. Make your best guess, hire, and get out of the way.

I know that certain cities and areas within the District can and may indeed flex some political muscle but the Board's responsibility is to the District as a whole. Taxes should not go up overall or disproportionately in one area as a result. If a city wants something "better" they can contact the broker and make an offer.

If the Board proceeds with this, you'll know it's not working when they then form an "executive" or "steering" sub-committee.

Listening to the callers at the Minnesota Budget Solutions, I heard one talk of Minnesota acting like California. That's a good perspective, I think.

Isn't that what we're doing here in Minnesota, acting like California in almost every way? Why does the DFL think our results will be any different? The deficits are growing and the businesses are leaving, or like Intel, expanding elsewhere. California is even seeing a significant net exodus of people, not counting the influx of illegal aliens.

Their Legislature is like ours, in denial, most of their efforts directed at raising taxes. Their Governor, like ours, talks tough at times, but then disappoints us at times.

I do see one difference, Prime Minister Pawlenty's push to halve the corporate income tax. Might as well, as it won't be generating much this year anyway.

Continuing Gregg J. Cavanagh's list of Sacred Cows that feed without mercy on our state tax dollars:

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
   "Minnesota offers the most generous welfare benefits in the Midwest. Many people relocate here, not to sample our lakes, but to partake of our welfare benefits. Taking care of your own is one thing. Drawing in welfare recipients from all over the country is absurd. The financial incentives for people to relocate here should be eliminated."
   
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   

***

It may become moot later with the repeal of the 1995 Clinton / Gingrich Welfare Reform hidden inside the "Stimulus" bill, but Minnesota never really embraced the spirit of that law. Our bloated Health and Human Services budget is proof enough of that.

More instructive, though, is to talk to some police officers. You may need to go undercover, away from the Chief [insert your favorite doughnut quip here], but they can tell you who's committing much of the crime. Let's just say they're from out of town.

We're also high on the list of where illegal aliens like to settle. My mother was about as liberal as they come, but even she couldn't understand why Minnesota was "waving everyone else in" to collect our more generous welfare benefits.

I grant you this is all anecdotal at best but prove me wrong. I'm just using the time honored Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial policy - if it fits the template, no further fact checking is necessary.

In that quiet hour or two before the start of The David Strom Show, I again was searching for something listenable. Today I stumbled on Dishing Up Nutrition on 107.1 FM. This is an infomercial for a local clinic advancing nutritional therapy for a number of common complaints: can't sleep, low energy, can't focus, can't remember, and so on.

Today, they were talking brain health. Omega-3 fats good! High-fructose corn syrup bad! Just eat the smoked salmon and cream cheese, skip the bagel. White bread is bad (?), just turns into sugar, which is bad (?). Better still, have fresh organic eggs from grass fed hens. Don't sweat the cholesterol, your brain needs that, too.

Having studied some of this informally as part of losing weight, I know that while Omega-3 fats are good for you, the brain in particular, the brain runs on carbohydrates - glucose. Complex carbs like plain old potatoes that you can buy at Cub are high on the list in this regard. Me, I had steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast, primarily because I like it. Especially with a little maple syrup, glucose and all!

The oatmeal having re-charged my brain, I came up with a hypothesis. As a group, are those who worry about organic foods, red meat, anti-oxidants, omega-3 fats, alcohol, high-fructose corn syrup, trans-fats, and salt generally more liberal? Are those who like rare steaks and cold beer generally more conservative? Is that what made John Edwards go bad, when he gave up Wendy's to eat diver sea scallops?

Like any correlation, and I think this is generally a good one, we must now ask, is it 1) happenstance, 2) A implies B, 3) B implies A, or 4) A and B are responding to external factor C? I'm inclined to rule out 1 and 3. Does fish oil damage your brain, prolonged exposure being enough to make you vote for Al Franken? Or has the brain damage already happened (graduate school, e.g.), explaining both an unfounded faith in liberalism and unreasoned fear of processed food?

A higher level thought might be that the brain knows its damaged and is striking out to get better nutrition to heal itself? I think I need a little more oatmeal.

It seems a good time to bring this up. The District 281 school closings have been decided but much of the community feedback from that process involved RSI, the Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion program. Currently, this is a K-8 offering at the Robbinsdale Area Learning Campus (RALC). The K-5 portion is moving to the repurposed Sunny Hollow building. The 6-8 portion, as I understand it, merges into the two remaining middle schools with some advanced RSI specific courses. Critics said that this is not full immersion. The Administration has pointed out that the current environment isn't pure now, given a certain amount of interaction with the Robbinsdale Middle School (RMS) operation co-located at the RALC building. There is only one cafeteria, auditorium, parking lot, and so on.

RSI goes back many years in the Robbinsdale Area Schools. I believe it is the second oldest such program in the Twin Cities. A fair question is therefore: is it still a valid concept? Do the original premises still apply? One I remember (I've lived in 281 for 25 years) was that fluency in Spanish would be a valuable job skill. It's the other main language of the Western Hemisphere. Few then foresaw the rise of the Pacific Rim.

So, is it a valuable job skill today? Maybe not, for another change has the been the rise of the immigrant (and illegal alien) population that speaks Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and many other Languages. Maybe the academic experience of being bilingual has its own rewards regardless.

The critics charged that RSI is an elitist program. For openers, there's a waiting list in the form of a lottery to get in. Despite what Superintendent Mack said, it is not open to everyone. Then there's the matter of the free bus transportation that some claimed was also unfair when other intra-District transfers are not bussed. Is that all RSI is, an intra-District transfer, for the lucky? Or is RSI also seen as an escape from the average Robbinsdale experience, like moving up from Coach to First Class on an airline flight?

Is RSI free? Of course not. No specialized program can be, especially one that has dedicated facilities, including busing. In an environment where we can't even understand the existing finances very well it's hard to say what that cost is. Academically, would a "plain" District 281 with 9 elementary schools instead of 8 be better overall?

So, what is RSI in the 21^st century? A valuable signature program? Popular but not always for the right reasons? Clearly worth the added expense to the District? Unfair given the lottery and set-asides system to get in? Or has it now simply become an anachronism?

I surf morning radio programs most mornings, still thinking there ought to be something reasonably informative and entertaining. More and more, I'm finding the new AM 1500 offering with Patrick Reusse where I soon wind up.

When first announced, I thought this could never work. Sportswriters are occupationally predisposed not to be morning people, let alone go on the air before sunrise. Even if he did I thought, his raspy voice would never stand up. But with his job at the Star Tribune in obvious jeopardy, he's apparently summoned the will power necessary.

I also thought he might let his liberalism get the better of him too often, but even that hasn't proved to be a problem for me. He works well with Jay Kolls, and newsman Bob Berglund would be an asset to any local program. The only negative is the traffic reports every 4-5 minutes it seems, but that's no different than the competition.

This is the first real upgrade to KSTP-AM lineup since they hunkered down when Rush and Lewis left.

That was the name of the late Ray Stevens' parody of Barry Manilow's genre. That's what came to mind when I read about this new use for all those hits.

It seems that a New Zealand shopping mall is infested with rats - Mall Rats who "regularly spread rubbish, spray graffiti, get intoxicated, use drugs, swear and intimidate patrons." The solution is to include lots of Barry Manilow standards in the Muzak (or whatever it is down under). The owners are betting it will either pacify them or make them hang somewhere else. As Stevens sang,

I need your help, Barry Manilow
I'm all alone and sitting on a shelf
Sing me a song, sing it sad and low
I feel like feeling sorry for myself

Continuing with Gregg J. Cavanagh's list of Sacred Cows that need to be corralled to get Minnesota's State Budget under control:

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
   "The teachers' union has a stranglehold on K-12 education in this state. The result is high per-pupil education costs and a never-ending demand for increases in funding, despite questionable performance in many districts. Private schools should be allowed to compete for K-12 students and dollars."
   
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   

***

This is one of those polarizing issues where few minds get changed no matter what the latest budget figures, test scores, or research correlating them might indicate. But recent news prompts me to try again anyway. It's for the children.

Hidden away in the "Stimulus" Bill is the revocation of Washington DC's voucher program. As I understand it, there's a long waiting list/lottery to get in. It pays out about half what the DC schools typically spend per student. The "Stimulus" Bill does provide that the program can continue if Congress so votes. If they do nothing as seems the intent, it lapses. I also heard today that two classmates of the Obama children use this program.

The program is tremendously popular with the parents. The program is tremendously unpopular with the unions, or at least the unions' leadership. The compromise? Slide it in legislation in the middle of the night, feign surprise when the press uncovers it later.

The academic gains appear to be substantial and undeniable. The unions argue that the same level of parental involvement would achieve similar results in the public schools. The tie breaker for me? More than 25 percent of Washington and Baltimore area teachers send their own children to private schools.

Closer to home, what harm would a voucher program do in Minnesota? We can structure it to hold the public school harmless, even a modest profit center by getting money to educate students that aren't even there. The competition would be positive, forcing both public and private to truly look at issues like teacher quality and paying accordingly.

Last night's District 281 School Board meeting featured a short presentation on addressing the Strategic Plan's goal (4-B) to "develop innovative, targeted communication that is clear, concise, and compelling." One facet all three panelists mentioned was the overuse and unexplained use of jargon, what the Minneapolis Public Schools' Chief Communications Officer Susan Eilertsen calls "Education Speak."

I'm pleased to note that Executive Director of Human Resources (HR) Stephanie Crosby applied that advice minutes later in her own presentation, expanding and explaining the various acronyms and mysterious program names on her slides. She did it with a pretty big grin, too, as though she had been waiting for someone to agree with her all this time. OK, I'm being presumptuous, but hey, give her credit, especially for an HR person!

That probably added a minute to this meeting, but that's not why it took five hours. Next meeting's Word of the Night: Verbose.

It was a long night, the March 2nd Board meeting extending into March 3rd by three minutes before it was adjourned. I must say there was quite a bit of discussion for votes that had earlier been characterized as formalities. But it's over.

The Robbinsdale Area Schools officially closed Pilgrim Lane Elementary, Sunny Hollow Elementary, and Sandburg Middle School. A couple of us suggested at least tabling the Sandburg decision for a couple of weeks for further study, but to no avail. The original K-5 decision adopted January 20th was tonight made official per separate Roll Call votes.

I have a couple of portable radios that tune the analog TV channels 2-13. The cutoff to all digital TV being delayed, I was able to listen to the NASCAR preview while out walking in the Howe neighborhood this afternoon.

It's a nice feature I'd hate to lose, another use being to listen to the Minnesota Vikings TV broadcast. Even at their worst, the TV announcers are better than radio's shrieking homer Paul Allen.

So far, though, it would appear a comparable device is not likely to appear on the market. Here's one explanation I found, courtesy of WSYR Channel 9, Syracuse, New York:

The issue is this: if you (as a manufacturer) have already designed an FM radio, it's very easy to add analog TV sound because you're only expanding the band a bit -- analog TV used FM for the audio, so there's very little additional circuitry needed to add the feature. Coming up with DTV audio is a much bigger task, and requires a separate receiver, logic to decode the station's PSIP tables and some kind of display to select which sub-channel you want, logic to filter out the data packets for the correct audio, a Dolby AC3 decoder, and a digital-to-analog converter. That's an awful lot of additional stuff to pack into a small radio, and it will take an awful lot of power to run. Offhand, I wouldn't expect to get more than about five or ten minutes from a 9-volt battery.

There are some portable TV sets out there, but so far, neither cheap enough nor small enough.