Me, Us, and Them

I’m tired of telling people they’re not smart enough to have a job in America. Because when I give them an F in math, that’s what I am telling them, and their potential employers. It’s not as if, being nineteen and having failed elementary algebra, they will have to settle for the Chrysler assembly line, or go down in the coal mine, or get on at the mill. Those jobs are long gone.

Neither is it the case that they won’t get into med school, and so will have to take their second choice and go to law school; or have to make do with an engineering degree; or do their best with an associates. We’re a few steps below that. A high school diploma is as far as their abilities will take them, and they only got that because we’ve lowered the standards to keep the graduation rate up. No CNA, no CDL, no certificate in landscaping – and not because they’re lazy. Because they can’t master algebra, or even simple arithmetic, there’s no real job for them, anywhere in the US.

And what are they supposed to do? Go live in India? Not because people in India are stupid, but because all the low-skill jobs have gone to the third world. For lots of reasons the US economy doesn’t have jobs for a significant fraction of our citizens. What’s left for those? Not the Army, because they can’t pass the ASVAB. They can choose from begging, petty crime, and/or incarceration.

There are no such people? Yes, there are – people who are unable to learn enough to earn back, in America today, the price of teaching it to them. Much of literate society is insulated from them, or blind to them, willfully or otherwise. Teachers see them. Drill Sergeants see them, or used to.

Maybe this is the real reason for social promotion. Teachers get tired of sticking it to people, tired of screening for the Grand Societal HR Department, tired of enforcing standards that insulate the successful from the visible consequences of their choices. Does off-shoring do the same thing? Lets us profit from unrestrained nineteenth-century capitalism, while hiding the squalor in the third world?

Anyway, I’ll teach my students as much as I can, pass everyone who shows up and makes an effort, and wish them good luck. The meritocracy will have to look after itself.

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Maureen Dowd is categorized in my head as “that one liberal, you know, writes for that big newspaper back east…” The other day I realized the lady I thought was Maureen Dowd was really Helen Thomas.

Now I’ll have to figure out who this Olberman guy is people are always talking about. Because apparently he’s not the guy who plays the pan flute and used to sell records on TV.

US officials defend swine flu vaccination plan – There’s a plan?

Some options

There are some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who can’t be tried or released, ever. President Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay. What to do? Mister President, here are some options.

1. Be a man about it. Say you were wrong, and the facility can’t be closed without opening a comparable facility somewhere else.
2. Open a comparable facility somewhere else, and move everyone there. (I suggest Fort McNair. Or maybe Cuba, if Fort McNair is too close to your home.) Pat yourself on the back for having closed Gitmo.
3. Have a big ceremony closing Gitmo. Have a small ceremony renaming it “Happy Valley.” Nobody leaves his cell. If you’d done this the day after you took office, you would have gotten away with it. Today, there might be some muted criticism in the Post.
4. Get a ship. Name it the Bush. Find a man willing to change his name to Cheney and make him the captain. Put the terrorists on the ship, and sail around and around Antarctica until there’s an “unfortunate accident.” Blame Bush and Cheney.

Why would I link to a web log that includes coarse language and inappropriate humor? Go see. Look! A Baby Wolf!

to September 10

One bad idea followed by another: Illinois the next Gitmo? – “Near-empty prison a leading contender to house terror suspects.”

New-born French and German babies cry differently. To scientists this suggests some component of language acquisition occurs in utero. To me it suggests a joke, but I haven’t been able to think of a punch line.

There’s a raging storm of politically-correct denialism about Hasan’s motivation – Who ever heard of such a thing? What could have caused it? Incomprehensible! Inexplicable! Inconceivable! Things will have to get worse before they get better. Others have written about this and will continue to, but let me consider a few things.

Hasan was upset because people talked mean to him; called him names. I’m sorry, but wtf? A major in the US Army? It’s not like he was a junior nco and the sergeant major called him a dumb ass. Did an enlisted man or junior officer call him a rag-head? Rip the offender a new one. Did a colonel call him a sand-jockey? Have it out with him on the spot, or file a complaint if you’re that kind of guy.

And again, a major, and a medical officer; so he shoots civilians, unarmed junior enlisted men, and a physician’s assistant; while shouting “Allah Akbar.” Yes, God is great. Hasan is a contemptible coward.

His relatives say Hasan’s worst nightmare was being deployed to Afghanistan. Even if he was thinking of his personal safety or comfort, it’s not like he would have been going out on patrols. He’s a Major, and a psychiatrist. He’d have been sitting in an office in a rear area, talking to people and writing reports, eating in the officer’s mess, sleeping in officers’ quarters – field-grade officers’ quarters, if they still divide it up like that.

Okay, that’s not seventy-two virgins in a garden watered by rivers of honey and wine. But he didn’t die in his attack. He was shot (by a woman) and taken into custody. When he regains consciousness and sees his circumstances, he’s going to have a different worst nightmare. Hopefully one productive of repentance, about life in federal prison and the fate of sinners in the hands of an angry God. A year at Bagram airbase may not look so bad then.

Can a wind-driven vehicle travel down-wind faster than the wind? Doc says yes.