Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

BO promised change. Based on his campaign speeches as well as remark recorded over the years we one change is definite. He will govern as if the constitution was written by Karl Marx, not Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
He has said his greatest lament is that the constitution does not set what the government must do.
He believes judge must be more willing to ignore the limits of the constitution and "reinterpret" meaning not intended.
He and the democrats will use the completely unconstitutional Kelo ruling to justify confiscating 401K accounts and private pensions in the name of "fairness" and "protecting" us from ourselves. The democrats have already debated this but there has not been a peep in the network news about this. In fact, it happened before the election. Had this news come out before the election BO would not have been elected.
BO has promised to create a federal tax on homes over 2000 square feet. Again, he will invent the authority for this out of whole cloth because such authority does not exist. According to Kelo, the government can now do anything, take any private property and trample any right if it increases tax revenue because increasing tax revenue has been redfined to mean "public use."
BO has also indicated that he is predisposed to banning SUVs and setting federal controls of home thermostats.
BO in the oval ofice guarantees the return of government censorship of talk radio in the so-called "fairness doctrine." Rest assured, liberals, that the "fairness" provisions will not apply to any media already domninated by liberal ideology. TV news is so far left that when one network attempts to be balanced, it is called the Fascist News Network.
Under the previous "fairness doctrine" there were just 125 talk stations. Today there are over 2000. But it is the one media that liberals have failed miserably at. Just look at the complete failure of "Air America" network.
One piece of good news is that BO will guarantee a return of the house and senate back to republican hands in 2010.

Is "religious left" an oxymoron?

This is a question that, as an observer and not an actively "religious" person, I believe I can answer with an unequivocal "YES."
Those on the left who call themselves Christian seem to optimize my response.
The bible is chock full of moral absolutes. But you would be hard pressed to find anyone on the left who will admit such. Moral relativism is the only moral code they will accept and the only thing that is immoral is believing in moral absolutes. Why do they believe this? So they can be comfortable in their belief that murdering children in right and killing murderers is wrong.
Obama displays this characteristic in full view without apology. He opposes every "Born Alive Infant Protection Act" and opposes the death penalty for any crime. He seeks to grant the legal protection of US citizens to terrorists captured in foreign countries but does not believe we have a constitutional right to self defense. He does not believe parents have the right to direct their child's education either.

Back to biblical teaching. It is very clear that killing murderers is not a sin. Murder is. Murder is the killing of innocent people.
There are numerous behaviors that are immoral according to the bible but are glorified by the religious left. And what does the RL do to defend their belief? Threaten those who dare to say they are wrong.
In Colorado is now a criminal offense to sell unedited bibles. Punishable by up to one year in prison.
SB200 can not be interpretted any other way.
In California, it is illegal to teach anything truthful about "alternative life styles" that may offend anyone who chooses such a life style.

"Religious Left" is an oxymoron. Yet they are the one with bumper stickers declaring that "The Christian Right is Neither." The Religious left is LEFT but they are not religious. For being of the LEFT neccessarily result in a belief in government over God.

Finally we will be rid of Ted

I would never wish cancer on anyone. However I must confess that I don;t not feel one bit of sorrow or sympathy of Fat Ted's cancer diagnosis.
Call it late payback for the murder of Mary Jo. And it was murder under any legal definition. He walked away to sober up and did not call for help. He left her to die. That is murder by depraved indifference. The same as Murder in the second degree in most states.
He has spent decades living above the law while telling the rest of us how to live.
He is not a defender of working people. He is defender of corrupt unions. If he were a defender of working people he would have pushed for protections from union thugs for those who do not choose a union. But no. He has pushed legislation to make it easier for union thugs to strong arm people into unions that serve no one but the union officers who live off the dues of working union members.
Fat Ted has always sought to expand government and reduce freedom. Government can only expand by reducing freedom.
Voters of Massachusetts, I hope you elect someone who actually gives a hoot what the constitution says. We do not need any more Kennedy country like one sees in Roxbury, Murderpan, Lawrence, and substantial parts of Lowell.
Karma has come around final to bite Fat Ted. The day he let Mary Jo die to avoid damaging his career is the last day his life had any chance for redemption. He does not care. Why else would he name his dog "Splash?"

Anti-democracy democrats

I have always known that liberal democrats really don 't like democracy. Now the rest of the country knows and the LDs hate that they have been found out.
In the democrat primary, the votes cast by US citizens actually don't have any bearing on who wins the democrat primary. These votes are merely a "suggestion" to the delegates. For the so-called super delegates, the will of voters means nothing, not even a suggestions.
Most of the MA SD's have endorsed BO even though HRC won the state primary vote. So the super delegates plan to ignore the voters of Massachusetts. No surprise for MA Voters who for years have been stepped on by their elected representatives on Beacon hill.
Just more proof that democrats only like democracy when it yields the results they like. When democracy fails them they use liberal judges who invent new law they can not get though even our legislature.

A Challenge for the new School Super

It is an open secret in Lowell Public Schools that student can flunk just about everything all year long but still advance to the next grade by attending summer school. Not Passing Summer school. Just attending.
My wife is a teacher in Lowell. Before the end of February she has students already talking about what they are going to wear ot summer school.
How can teachers expect to raise the expectations of students when the administration sets the bar so low?
What can be done to turn this downward spiral around?
1. End inclusion. Students that are functionally two or three grades behind level should be in a separate class room.
2. Students who do not care to learn should no longer be kept in the same class room with those who do. Disruptive students must not be tolerated. Their right to an education ends when they interfere with other students rights to the same
3. No students over 19 allowed in any regular public school. They are now adults and should be held responsible for their own education. Send them to a separate adult education program if they show initiative.
4. Now students allowed in mainstream class room more than two years older than normal for that grade.
5. No suspensions for kids who defend themselves against an assault by another student.
6. Require parents to pick up report cards at the school.
7. On the state level, end compulsory education. Going in the direction that Gov P. wants will only make it worse by forcing more students who don't care into classrooms. Eventually the kids will wise up and take it upon themselves to finish later on, on their own dime and their own time.
8. End the virtual compulsory union membership for teachers, actually any job for that matter. The Unions block any attempts to actually improve education. When things are improving and going well, there is no need for constant reform.

That's enough for now.

What is an "essential function" of Government

The answer is rather short. The essential function of government is limit only to those things we can not do for ourselves.
In Lowell, the city government has grown far beyond those bounds.
Tsongas arena, The Auditorium, Parking garages which spawned "The Parking Authority," The Spinners' ball park, "public housing projects. All of these things serve only to allow self aggrandizing politicians pat themselves on the back, pad the city payroll, and help more people become permanently dependent on tax payer support. And all of these people will vote loyally for those who promise not to shut the faucet off.
I would love to run for city council but it would be a waste of time and money. The voters of Lowell have never elected anyone who ran on a platform of smaller government, fiscal responsibility, property rights, and selling off all city owned property that is beyond those things that are essential.
If parking garages are economically viable, then let the private sector build them. If a ball park is economically viable, let the team owners buy it. then they won't have to beg for permission from the city manager to add seats. Get rid of the Tsongas Arena. A private owner will make it profitable. The government can not. It never has in such cases. In all of these cases the city can collect property taxes without incurring any future pension liability.
We also need someone on the city council that will block all eminent domain takings that are not genuine public use taking as spelled out in plain English in our Constitution. Taking someones property to build a parking garage or to give it to a private developer IS NOT PUBLIC USE!
Of course the loons over at "left in Lowell" would disagree, well maybe until the city came to take there own home.

Time for bringing back tracking to Lowell Public schools

How much more proof do the liberal education "reformers" need that inclusion has failed before they will relent and allow a return to sensible tracking of students? Children learn better when they get attention appropriate to their current level.
Under the current system, a 7th grade teacher must teacher kids from a 3rd grade to 9th or 10th grade level in a single classroom. How long before the liberal progressives decides to do away with class grade separation.
Back when some of in middle school there were 8 tracks from special ed to high honors. The honors students were learning freshman algebra in 7th grade. They did not have to waste time going over material they already new and then take algebra as an extra class.
Inclusion harms the special needs students the most because they can not get the attention they need and are further harmed by making their academic challenges all the more glaring. All so the liberals can feel good about "not excluding anyone." Under inclusion, the honors students end up functioning as teacher assistants.
Teachers get burned out and a substantial number of the most qualified teachers leave teaching out of frustration.
I have no confidence that the new superintendent will do anything to change this.

More affirmative action politics

This is the year of the affirmative action president. A man who is only still in the race because of his race. A woman whose only qualification seems to be that she is "a girl." And a senior citizen who will be lucky to finish his first term.
BO has no qualifications. No experience. Take away his black father and you have......John Edwards.
And Hillary? When I read comments from women saying they will vote for her because she is a woman, I don't believe it. If they really voted based on gender, we would have Governor Heally.
Neither BO or H care what our Constitution actually says. For them it means whatever it would say if they had written it. And their document would more like the writings of Karl Marx, not Jefferson, Franklin or Madison.
McCain is also Constitutionally challenged. The First, Second, 4th, 5th and 10th amendments do not exist in McCain's World.
Once again we will be choosing between two democrats. Better the let the "real" democrat win so we can get back the house and senate in two years.

Why did the locals even apply?

When I saw the slate of finalists, I asked myself why the locals even bothered to apply. They should have known they were included only make it appear that the school committee was at least considering local candidates. The final two were predictable. A minority and an immigrant.
Granted, the local candidates did not have very impressive resumes either. One stuck in the same position for 19 years if memory serves correctly. And there was no way a white man would get the job.
Let's just hope for the sake of the students of Lowell that the new boss does not fall down on the job facing a school system that has more students in the freshman class than in the entire system she is coming from