Yessirree, Bob, what should your Number One priority be when your school district is $640 million in debt , has one of the lowest graduation rates and some of the worst test scores in the entire country, and has recently laid off 3,000 teachers because it can't pay them?
Why, spending $578 million bucks on the most expensive school *evah*, of course, because community activists have demanded that the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex be built at whatever cost necessary -- "for the children."
Sooooo, what are "the children" (and the taxpayers of Los Angeles) getting for almost doubling the debt?
No wonder Maxine Waters and Henry Waxman keep getting elected...
Why, spending $578 million bucks on the most expensive school *evah*, of course, because community activists have demanded that the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex be built at whatever cost necessary -- "for the children."
Sooooo, what are "the children" (and the taxpayers of Los Angeles) getting for almost doubling the debt?
- A 300% cost overrun in groundbreaking, because nobody surveyed the site beforehand -- it's sitting on a methane pocket *and* a fault line.
- Murals of Bobby Kennedy on every wall (did I mention it's been christened the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex?)
- The original canopy of the original Cocoanut Grove nightclub
- A 330% cost overrun on the Visual and Performing Arts school building
- Talking benches that recite the history of the site
- A "billboard-sized marble slab" engraved with the selected sayings of Cesar Chavez, Maya Angelou, and Teddy Kennedy ( did I mention that it's been christened the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex?)
- A "restaurant-class pizza oven" in the cafeteria (note: we ain't talkin' "Pizza Hut" or "Little Caesar" here, folks -- think "Tavern On The Green" or "Campanile" -- or, so Barb and BCR can relate, "Rover's"
No wonder Maxine Waters and Henry Waxman keep getting elected...
But, Obama will probably decide that Kalifornia is "too big to fail" and forcibly confiscate money from less profligate states and individuals to keep this "government skool" and state ontheir present course for a few more years.
You know, the one shot by the Palestinian terrorist that everybody in LA refuses to admit was a Palestinian terrorist?
The difference between the two districts couldn't be starker.
Question, Do you see it happening on the Left *AND* the Right? If your answer is yes, enjoy your coffee. If your answer is no, pull your head out. WARNING, It may take 3 or 4 tries, to break the suction.
George W. wanted us to track the money of the terrorists, this was a good idea, but doesn't go far enough. We should also track defense spending. Government officials past and present should not be making money off of programs that they establish. Is Defense spending the only area? No, there are many area, such "ObamaCare".
Only in LA do they think they are invincible enough to build over a fault line and a methane pocket.
How appropriate though...
My old high school is considered historic because it was built in 1890 and because John Steinbeck went there way back when. It used to amuse me vastly to read old editions of the school paper to see if he had done anything noteworthy. Sooo, kudos to the people in the district with the school built in the Craftsman style. I hope they get to keep it.
The patriotic ones who paid their fair share rushed to defend taxation as being a means to build infrastructure. Fair enough...It does. But at what cost? Efficiency is the hallmark of the free market, not government intervention.
I not only posted the link in our online classroom, I drew their attention to the last couple of paragraphs with regard to accountability and efficiency.
I think my fellow students are going to be hissing and spitting for awhile, especially when I dared to compare Obama with Hoover and Roosevelt. Unfavorably, I might add. The worlds 'drunken sailor' escaped my tapping fingers.
But -- but -- but it was Teh Summer Of Recovery, when all of Teh Won's 'specially-timed stimulosities kicked in to save Teh Economy! You can tell by the numbers -- unemployment only went from 9.5% to 9.6%, so look at all the jobs he created or saved!
Hum. Bug.
In related news, the EPA fined Tesla Motors $275,000 for failing to file mandatory paperwork detailing the amount and type of combustion emissions and estimated mileage-per-gallon ratings for it's proposed all-electric Tesla sports car -- which, as an all-electric sports car, doesn't produce combustion emissions and doesn't use gasoline...
He recovered his frail constitution, exhausted by working so hard on improving American job prospects, by riding girl's bikes and taking naps in a simulated vacation or twenty. It's all for the Tourism Industry of course, already oiled up for another stupidendous year.
He re-covered the same old windy lines every politician since the beginning of time has used about how all the problems were their predecessors fault. However, his graciousness was exceptional when he refused to blame Bush for the good news in Iraq.
Nonetheless, my high school produced 12 National Merit Finalists, of which Bill S. and I were the only two Gentiles. (The school was very heavily Jewish, which prolly saved me from some beatings, as nerdiness was rewarded there.)