More Fun With Numbers At The Times

The NY Times are thinking so hard about gun control safety that have lost their math skills and common sense. But we can help!

In Other Countries, Laws Are Strict and Work

Like other shootings before it, the Newtown, Conn., tragedy has reawakened America to its national fixation with firearms. No country in the world has more guns per capita, with some 300 million civilian firearms now in circulation, or nearly one for every adult.

"Nearly one"? Per the US Census Bureau there are about 310 million people in America, roughly 60 million of whom are below the age of fifteen. That leaves 250 million "adults" including some fifteen-seventeen year olds. I think instead of "nearly", they meant "more than". Odd that they passed on a chance to scare us.

Pressing on, we come to the real scary stuff:

Experts from the Harvard School of Public Health, using data from 26 developed countries, have shown that wherever there are more firearms, there are more homicides. In the case of the United States, exponentially more: the American murder rate is roughly 15 times that of other wealthy countries, which have much tougher laws controlling private ownership of guns.

15 times? It's the Wild West! It is also multiplicative, not exponential, and seems ludicrously high. The Times links to a Harvard site, which seems to be keying off of this paper (Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew. Firearm availability and homicide rates across 26 high income countries. Journal of Trauma. 2000; 49:985-88.) using data from the early 90's.

I can't find a free version of that paper [but a reader can - see UPDATE] so I can't speak to the author's conclusions, but here is a chart from Kieran Healey comparing "assault deaths" in the US and the OECD countries. My eyeballometric estimate is that the US level is currently around 6; one-fifteenth of that would be 0.4, and few if any OECD countries appear to be below that. [In an updated chart focusing on regional US variation Mr. Healey cites an OECD average of 1.1.]

And the United Nations provides data on homicide rates in different countries. I picked eighteen well-off, "Western" countries (including Japan) and used 2009 to keep Japan in the mix. The US rate was 4.4 intentional homicides per 100,000. One-fifteenth of that would be 0.3; Japan's rate, the lowest of the group, was 0.4.

The group average was, hmm, around 1. Done properly, I suppose someone could attempt a population-weighted average, but for my purposes, there is no way that the Times ratio of 15 holds up.

I know we all look forward to a fact-filled conversation, as the reality-based community comes home to reality.

The Times archives don't say a lot about the "American murder rate" but this is interesting from 1998:

...In 1996, the last year for which data are available, the United States murder rate was 7.4 per 100,000 people. The next closest country was Finland, at 3.2 per 100,000 people, with France at 1.1, Japan at 0.6 and Britain at 0.5.

Well, if Japan and Britain were used as the average, the US would have been about fifteen times the average of other countries. Interesting that the US has been getting better while France and the UK have been backsliding.

As to the editorial at hand, I say the Times editors are wrong and won't be able to back up their "fifteen times" claim. I also predict they won't even try.

I'LL DRINK TO THAT: Eugene Volokh notes the likely ineffectiveness of a new assault weapons ban without even mentioning that the gun used in Newtown was purchased in compliance with Connecticut's assault weapons ban, which mirrored the (lapsed) Federal bill. After explaining that all sorts of guns are deadly the professor closes with a New Year's Eve metaphor:

If I’m right on this, then banning assault weapons would have as little effect on mass shootings as banning whiskey would have on drunk driving. Even if we concluded that drunk drivers were disproportionately drunk on whiskey, banning whiskey would just mean that the drunk drivers will shift to vodka, gin, tequila, or other alcoholic beverages that are just as dangerous as whiskey. The same is true for the so-called “assault weapons.”

UPDATE: Here is the relevant chart from the paper described by the Times. The homicide rates are from the early 90's but the "15 times" ratio is not supported.

Ths US rate is roughly 10; one-fifteenth of that is about 0.7. Only three of the other countries are below that level, and the rest are well above, so with no further ado I deem the Times claim to merit Four Pinocchios. Or fifteen times that - Twelve Pinocchios!

Comments

[NK]

CaptH-- PJ's still in the game as an assistant with the Brooklyn Nets. But hs head coach career may be over. Interestingly, I never knew he was on Digger Phelps Fordham NCAA Tourney team that launched Digger to ND: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Carlesimo

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

No legislation enacted in 2013 will make it significantly more difficult for a madman to commit mass murder with firearms.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Ig, how DARE you cite facts!--

Facts are racists.

[narciso]

Ah, Joke Line,coming to Hagel's rescue, what could go wrong?

[Extraneus]

Isn't the concussion fakery an indication that Hillary isn't running in 2016?

[boatbuilder]

Headline of the lead editorial in Today's Hartford Courant: "Action, Not Discussion." Next to the idiotic editorial is a cartoon of Uncle Sam calling for the Repeal of the Second Amendment.

"This situation requires an absolutely futile and stupid gesture on somebody's part."

[boatbuilder]

Hell, no, Ex. The concussion fakery is an indication that she's going to avoid answering any hard questions until things blow over.

[narciso]

Well 'Mario Andretti' Monti, has done such a bang up job, although I don't think he can get back in, Andreotti, wasn't actually convicted if I recall;

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-18/berlusconi-italy-may-be-forced-leave-eurozone-and-return-lira
The precursor to that previous Conor Fitzgerald novel .the Namesake flashes back to that late 70s era, which feels like dejavu

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Personally I think Holder wants to get out of Dodge but Bammy won't let him.

Or no one will take it with Fast & Furious coming down the pike.

The Lanza dad paid $250,000 a year alimoney, so Nancy and Adam were not hurting.

[Janet]

Interesting Sultan Knish post - "To the left these are distinctions without a difference. If a thing is available then it is the cause of the problem. The individual cannot be held accountable for shooting someone if there are guns for sale. Individuals have no role to play because they are not moral actors, only members of a mob responding to stimuli."

[narciso]

Speaking of which, Jane;

http://twitchy.com/2012/12/18/fast-and-furious-guns-claim-another-victim-in-mexico-time-for-a-national-conversation/

[Jim Eagle]

Take away line in Janet's 8:26 post link:

"To understand the left's position on nearly any issue, imagine a 20th Century American and then take away accountability. Assume that the individual is helpless and stupid, has little to no control over his own behavior and is only responding to stimuli and functions in a purely reactive capacity. Then use that data to come up with a response to anything from kids getting fat to a football player shooting his wife to terrorists firing rockets at Israel. The only possible answer to reactive behavior is to find the thing being reacted to and condemn it."

IOW's, Your stupid and I am smart because I believe in co-existence, peace, abortion, pot, vegan, Obama, gun safety/control, porn, Palestinians, Islam, and Europe

[Extraneus]

News you hopefully won't need to use. But just in case you do...

Australian court: Worker's comp covers sex mishap

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- An Australian court has ruled that a bureaucrat who was injured while having sex on a business trip is eligible for worker's compensation benefits.

[snip]

The woman was hospitalized after being injured in 2007 during sex with a male friend while staying in a motel in the town of Nowra, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of her hometown of Sydney.

During the sex, a glass light fitting was torn from its mount above the bed and landed on her face, injuring her nose and mouth. She later suffered depression and was unable to continue working for the government.

[snip]

That ruling [against her claim] was overturned in the Federal Court in 2012, when Judge John Nicholas rejected the tribunal's findings that the sex had to be condoned by the government if she were to qualify for compensation.

"If the applicant had been injured while playing a game of cards in her motel room, she would be entitled to compensation even though it could not be said that her employer induced her to engage in such activity," Nicholas wrote in his judgment in favor of the woman receiving compensation.

Alas, no pics of the card-playing lass.

[Anybody know what I'm talking about cuz I don't?]

I ran across something awhile ago which suggest that Justice Thomas has laid some extremely important groundwork to protect the 2nd Amendment.
============

[Must be the tax code that fractures families.]

Tax Specialist for GuErgantia. Too busy grubbing with cronies.
====================

[Captain Hate]

I never knew he was on Digger Phelps Fordham NCAA Tourney team that launched Digger to ND

If I had to choose between those 2 I'd take PJ in a second. Seton Hall got jobbed by the zebras against Meechigan with a touch foul that you just don't call in a situation like that. He's probably better suited as an assistant coach though; some people just aren't suited to be the Big Dog. Wade "Sad Santa" Phillips does great as a defensive coordinator after laboring mightily at Buffalo (Music City Miracle FTL) and Dallas (where Jason Garrett doesn't seem to be the answer as if anybody is under Jerrah).

[centralcal]

Janet - do you know what your problem virtue is? You have far too much common sense.

I am sure some Liberal somewhere is trying to figure out a way to regulate it and outlaw it! Be careful, girlfriend.

[Captain Hate]

Hell, no, Ex. The concussion fakery is an indication that she's going to avoid answering any hard questions until things blow over.

Cankles has never faced any hard questions. Rose Law firm, cattle futures, FBI files, Hillarycare, Vince Foster's strange "suicide" or any of the crap that was tossed out in her Senate campaign. She'll have to dry out to run in 2016 which I don't see happening.

[narciso]

It's going to be a little crowded under the bus, Charlene, then again you got less then you deserved;

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/state-benghazi-report/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29

[Neo]

(CNN) - Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the world, says it has removed all guns from its store nearest to Newtown, Connecticut, and is suspending the sale of certain kinds of semi-automatic rifles from its chains nationwide.

[Jay Stevens]

The U. S. is not #1 in per capita gun ownership. Israel is.

[narciso]

But those are the moderates, unlike the Nusra Front;

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/nbcs-richard-engel-describes-terrifying-psychological-torture-threats-of-execution-while-in-syrian-captivity/

[jimmyk]

And Switzerland is high up there too, no?

[Janet]

Why thank you, centralcal. That quote was from the Sultan Knish post though...not from me. :)

[jimmyk]

I meant in gun ownership per capita, not altitude, though it is that as well.

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

"some people just aren't suited to be the Big Dog"

Take Norv Turner. Please.

[jimmyk]

Courtesy Tim Blair, here is an article that seems fairly level-headed, with some useful facts:

http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/13183/

For example:

There is no direct causal link between gun ownership and homicide rates. Brazil, Argentina and South Africa all have much lower gun-ownership rates than the US but higher gun-homicide rates. Whereas the US has a homicide rate higher than many European countries, countries with very high gun-ownership rates, like Canada, Switzerland and Israel, also have some of the lowest gun-homicide rates.

[Captain Hate]

Norval has already been given enough rope to stretch around the world twice with both the Skins and the Bolts. Marty's inability to win in the playoffs at home after amassing a great regular season record opened the door to the pock necked one but it will close with multiple dead-bolts after this season.

[jimmyk]

Another perhaps more controversial bit from my 9:24 link:

School shootings are incredibly rare and, statistically, children are safer at school than they are at home, and they are far more likely to be killed by their parents than by anyone else. According to Gary Kleck, a child is more likely to be struck by lightning at school than a bullet....
Whereas most of the nonsensical suggestions come from those who want more gun controls, this one [arming teachers] can be heard from those resisting such controls. What it fails to see is how rare school shootings are, instead playing on the same fears that fuel demands for controls. On the same logic, children should be made to wear lightning-proof helmets.

[Melinda Romanoff]

jimmyk-

I believe all citizens of Switzerland, after their mandatory two year stint in their military, are members of the reserve for life.

And are armed as if recall is minutes away.

The Israeli military was fashioned after it, as I recall.

[Clarice]

Typepad seems to have eaten my post. AB I forget if you are on the Big Island. I will be there Sunday for about a week. I'll be at Treadwell House on Wailea Bay
and if you wish to get together, let me know and I'll see what we can do.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Switzerland gun laws and statistics.

[boatbuilder]

Mr. Yuill makes some excellent points. The last one is undeniably correct as a statistical proposition but I am not persuaded by the criticism. There hasn't been anyone so depraved as to single out and kill kindergardners before last Friday, at least in the US, and it probably won't happen again (let us pray) for a long time. But if the point is that this should never happen again, it makes far more sense and causes far less harm to arm some teachers (who more responsible?) than to repeal the Second Amendment and make schools into little prisons. Those teachers in Texas haven't had to use their guns, and hopefully won't. If there were armed teachers at Sandy Hook, maybe no kids or teachers, or fewer, would have died. Nothing like the Norwegian massacre had ever occurred before--does that mean everybody should just take the chance that it won't happen again? As a bonus maybe the kids who learn about responsible gun handling from their teachers can grow up and teach their own kids. A pipe dream in a culture where 7-year olds get suspended for drawing pictures of guns, I know.

[narciso]

'a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, told by an idiot'

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/12/benghazi-report-no-protest-deteriorating-security-conditions-ignored/#comments

[narciso]

A great way, to round out the new year, Clarice,

[Ralph L]

Some years ago at Ace of Spades (IIRC), someone linked a study that the murder rate among non-Hispanic white Americans was actually lower than for whites in most European nations. Can't remember if that was looking at victims or perps.

[jimmyk]

it makes far more sense and causes far less harm to arm some teachers (who more responsible?) than to repeal the Second Amendment

Sure, and I suspect Yuill would agree that arming teachers is less nonsensical than repealing the 2nd Amendment, but maintain that it is nonsensical nonetheless. I'm not sure he's right, either. First, the lightning analogy is inapt because there is no such thing as a lightning-proof helmet. Second, just as we don't put air marshals on every flight, we don't have to have someone armed at every school. Have them randomly and under cover.

The point is that in a country where guns are legal, schools (especially those declared "gun-free") stand out as soft targets. Having armed guards at every school might be overkill, but why go to the other extreme?

[jimmyk]

it makes far more sense and causes far less harm to arm some teachers (who more responsible?) than to repeal the Second Amendment

Sure, and I suspect Yuill would agree that arming teachers is less nonsensical than repealing the 2nd Amendment, but maintain that it is nonsensical nonetheless. I'm not sure he's right, either. First, the lightning analogy is inapt because there is no such thing as a lightning-proof helmet. Second, just as we don't put air marshals on every flight, we don't have to have someone armed at every school. Have them randomly and under cover.

The point is that in a country where guns are legal, schools (especially those declared "gun-free") stand out as soft targets. Having armed guards at every school might be overkill, but why go to the other extreme?

[Clarice]

Thanks, narciso..with my whole family there and my DiL's mother, brother and kids. A week with the wolverine again..eaven..

[narciso]

Well then, that's perfect,

[Jim Miller]

Ralph L. - If those numbers were correct at Ace, it would have to be perps, not victims.

[narciso]

Shirley he cannot be serious;

http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/335989
/michael-horns-case-common-core-standards-reihan-salam

[Jim Miller]

Clarice - From what you have said about her, I'll bet the wolverine feels the same way.

[jimmyk]

Both in this debate and the fiscal cliff one, the right seems to allow itself to be put on the defensive by arguing for the status quo, only to be pressed for "compromise."

The response to calls for more gun control should be to call for less control, meaning more freedom, with the goal of a more armed citizenry. Leaving things as they are might be a compromise.

The same for taxes: All along the right should have been arguing for tax cuts along with spending cuts, not just defending the status quo tax rates, which are too high. That might be a compromise position, but not one we should adopt as an opening gambit.

[Rob Crawford]

Anyone else remember a time about ten, twelve years ago when it seemed like you couldn't go ten minutes without hearing a lefty mindlessly repeating Franklin's quote about giving up liberty for temporary safety? When we were told repeatedly that the damage to our freedoms to protect from terrorist attacks just wasn't worth it?

Anyone know what happened?

[Clarice]

Well, Jim.. we're pretty excited..even though we were just together at Thanksgiving.

[narciso]

Well the short answer is, Obama was elected, the longer one, is when you trade liberty for no security, then it is acceptable, as with the TSA which is more instrusive, but equally useless,

[(A) nuther Bub]

AB I forget if you are on the Big Island. I will be there Sunday for about a week. I'll be at Treadwell House on Wailea Bay
and if you wish to get together, let me know and I'll see what we can do.

Thanks, but we'll be about 500 miles away on Oahu, where we live. Waialea/Puako is a an interesting destination -- lots of petroglyph rubbings to make with your granddaughter (if they still permit that, as in years past). Treadwell House is a lovely place to stay and you will enjoy it, I think. Have a wonderful time.

[Clarice]

Instapundit references a Hartford Courant poll which says 67% of Americans do not want new gun legislation.

Consider this like New Coke--write, call, pester your Congressmen to quit it.

[bgates]

to arm some teachers (who more responsible?)

When you put it that way, I'm suddenly concerned the plan would founder after a spate of hot Florida high school teachers sought bloody revenge on boys who had dumped them.

[Rob Crawford]

hot Florida high school teachers

Having seen some of the teachers in these cases, I can only assume "hot" is referring to Florida weather.

[narciso]

The Deborah Lafave company, bgates, lol.

[narciso]

You really want to test that hypothesis, this one is from a few years ago;

[(A) nuther Bub]

Typo. Meant "300 miles away" on Oahu. Still, a long swim.

[Rob Crawford]

You really want to test that hypothesis, this one is from a few years ago

You're asserting this is typical?

[Clarice]

Sorry our paths won't cross this time. Another time ..

[narciso]

Well, not exactly, but how many do you need for the theory to pan out?

[Frau Steingehirn]

I think of Clarice and the wolverine as the dynamic duo.

[matt]

I thought it was maybe 150 - 175 miles max from the Big Island to Honolulu. You can pretty much see one from another to another.

As to Digger, pfui. He bailed the year before I got there and can rot in Hades as far as most Fordham grads are concerned. PJ was along for the ride. He did me a great favor when he was at Seton Hall and is a stand up guy, albeit with a temper.

[Mark Folkestad]

Wiki answers says 208 miles between Oahu and the Big Island. Dunno. That's one state I've missed.

[DrJ]

That's one state I've missed.

It is worth seeing (and eating in!) Mark, if you stay in the USA.

[(A) nuther Bub]

Wiki answers says 208 miles between Oahu and the Big Island. Dunno. That's one state I've missed.

From the southern tip of Oahu to the northern tip of the Big Isle that's doubtless true, but from take-off to landing I think it's about 300 miles to either Hilo or Kona airports from Honolulu.

In nearly an entire lifetime of living here I've been able to see another island from O'ahu (the island of Lanai)just three times. It takes a very unusual clarity of atmosphere for that to happen.

[Mark Folkestad]

Eventually I may get to Hawaii. It's on the list. My ex wanted to return there with me, but she, ummmm, became my ex, before that could happen.

[daddy]

Ban Polio Vaccines.

Karachi - Five female polio vaccination workers were fatally shot in a series of shootings in Pakistan

Current BBC TV says a 6th has just been shot today.

[jimmyk]

I wonder if there were calls for knife control in ancient Egypt.

King Ramses III's throat was slit by assassin.

[daddy]

Clarice,

I am sure you will do the vacation proper and have tons to do, but I will say that my 2 girls and I loved walking across the smoking volcano fields and extinct Lava tunnels at Kilauea on the south side of the island. Standing on the craters rim you could look in one direction and it was the badlands of Mars, then turning your head in the other direction you are confronted by the jungles of Tarzan. Amazing territory, and a wonderful way for an eager young brain to visualize the power of Geology first hand.

If you do go, the trail around the rim and across the middle of smaller Kilauea Iki was a real favorite, about 3 miles long IIRC, and I recommend tennis shoes for the hike.

[daddy]

The Kardashian Christmas Card is Out!!!
The Kardashian Christmas Card is Out!!!

[Mark Folkestad]

http://now.msn.com/eagle-tries-to-snatch-child-in-viral-video is a golden eagle trying to snatch a child in Mont Royal Park in Montreal. LUN.

[Mark Folkestad]

Anyone who doesn't trust links posted here can check the msn.com page to find the link. It must have been terrifying for the toddler's parents. The eagle gets airborne with the kid, and he slips from the talons. Nature-fakers have said that sheep ranchers are lying when they claim eagles take lambs, but if they can fly off, even briefly, with a small child, they can take a lamb.

[Jim Ryan]

Enacting draconian laws against dangerous driving would save, I'll guess, about 10,000 lives per year. This is a plausible guess, given the 30,000 lives car crashes take every year. 10,000 happens to be the number of gun murders per year.

The safe-driving laws would be costly, inconvenient, and intrusive, but in lives saved they would have the same effect as eliminating gun murders in this country. Too draconian? Make the laws less so and save 5,000 lives. This would be like halving the gun murder rate.

Please correct me if I have my numbers far off.

[Extraneus]

"If there is even one step we can take to save another motorist ... then surely we have an obligation to try."

[Extraneus]

lol

Click for full size.

[narciso]

Well if we are in the Swiftian vein, Jim;

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/al-qaeda-lives_666594.html?page=1

[narciso]

I think they called this, the 'bonfire of the vanities' I mean liberties;

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/183999741.html

[Captain Hate]

a golden eagle trying to snatch a child in Mont Royal Park in Montreal.

The local news ran that clip along with a strange comment that some people are claiming it was faked. Dunno why they'd think that.

Some imbeciles on facebook have completely lost their mind with a strange confluence of reactions to Benghazi and Sandy Hook. Maybe it's time to unfriend some people or just have nothing to do with Zuckerberg's software.

[Jim Ryan]

to unfriend some people or just have nothing to do with Zuckerberg's software.

Several years ago, I took the latter option two months into my experience with the site. An old friend announced that she was going to go to a tea party and act racist because she knew the tea party were a bunch of racists. I promptly shut down my account. I have no use for it.

[pagar]

"/446-school-age-children-shot-in-chicago-so-far-this-year-with-strongest-gun-laws-in-country-media-silent"

See this report at
www.fireandreamitchell.com

The leftists in this country make no sense.

[pagar]

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/obama-state-dept-to-parents-of-marine-jailed-in-mexico-sorry-we-cant-do-anything-to-help-video/#.UNE8CkQnig8.tumblr

Why does the Obama regime even have a State Dept? Apparently we are helpless against any other country. Cut off every penny going to Mexico from US Treasury immediately.

[Janet]

on Benghazi.

"Despite those deficiencies, the board determined that no individual officials ignored or violated their duties and recommended no disciplinary action."

in a letter (the weasel)- "Clinton agreed with the panel's finding that Congress must fully fund the State Department's security initiatives."

After the years of listening to the manufactured show about Plame...it is just too sickening to read the nonchalant attitude & reporting on Benghazi.
Need money?....
What about the electric cars & docking stations that State spent money on? or the money given to Qadafi's kids? or the late Ramadan dinner party on Sept. 13th!? or the money from State to fix up mosques overseas? or the money spent flying around to wine tastings in Australia?

How dare these grifters talk about needing money for security. A perfect example of the endless nonsense that goes on while basic functions are ignored.

[Janet]

from the Ramadan dinner party link (Sept. 13th mind you) - "Clinton spoke about faith and tolerance at the event, including about the Obama administration’s “2012 Hours Against Hate” initiative to encourage young people to “put themselves in another person’s shoes through service projects.”"

Oh my goodness! How bout she get out of utopia dream land & put herself in the US Ambassadors shoes....& DO HER JOB! He's begging for security!

It is all just too sickening.

[Jane: Mock the Media]

So Hillary Clinton knew about the terrorism in Benghazi; was responsible for the lack of security; refused to properly defend the consulate or the Americans but she told the parents of one of the dead that she would do everything to get the maker of the video.

Is that guy still in jail? Hillary should trade places with him at this point.

[narciso]

Right, Janet, as I pointed out esrlier, they celebrated Eid on a whole other month, Shawwal, and they ignored the significance of
that day.

[rse]

narciso-that link above on Michael Horn does not work. I am familiar with him and concerned that too many free market foundations keep having him as a speaker. Do they actually listen to what he says? Christiansen too. They are futurists. Education is a prime way to redirect the future even if it then barrels down its own course and not the planned pathway.

Morning everyone. I bought the Hendrick's Gin last night knowing it had the requisite juniper berries. Today is the day to get the golden raisins and start the soaking process. My parents and inlaws will be here Christmas eve for my Bolognese sauce. Last year I did the Cioppino.

OT-Red went to see The Hobbit last night and was over the moon in her endorsement. But that is from someone who adores the books.

As one more aside, she was telling me how often college students talk about how much harder it is for them to read assigned materials online vs in a hard copy. Many have to download and print out. I asked her if she had ever explained it to them. She said no but she was surprised how often it came up.

So good to know all is supposed to be digital by 2017. Speaking of Horn and Innosight.

[rse]

http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/335989/michael-horns-case-common-core-standards-reihan-salam# should be a working link.

Competency, outcomes, and Ralph Tyler's original objectives in the 30s are all synonyms. And that data being gathered is a lot of affective values and attitudes and beliefs. Very little knowledge in these definitions of student achievement. It is what UNESCO calls psychotherapeutic data.

One problem is the sinecure for Republican politicians after they leave office at rates of pay far more than they earned in office is seeing education as Crony connected business it is. Simply assuming it is a public good without appreciating none of these terms mean what is assumed.

[Janet]

I'd forgotten about that Jane.

"According to Woods, after offering her condolences on the loss of his son, Clinton told him that the U.S. government would “make sure that the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted.”"

...as to the recent shootings....I wonder if the murderer watched any violent movies or played violent video games? Will the makers of those films & games be "arrested and prosecuted"?

[narciso]

That was in your wheelhouse, that's why I pointed it out, 'for lack of a nail' OT, they found a planet around Tau Ceti, only 12 light years away

[rse]

Thanks narciso. Having NRO practically endorse makes it clear Duke & Duke recognize the money to be made here. The Rep leader of the Senate in Ga who ran for reelection and has been both the big charter and digital learning advocate resigned to take a job at Ga public TV. I had been at breakfasts he was at and was always struck by his lack of understanding of the details of what he zealously and in good faith pushed. Heh, what's the harm? Just another way to make a living.

[henry]

Narciso, does that planet have any good islands?

[pagar]

"“make sure that the person who made that film is arrested and but.”"

She can get US citizens put in jail for no crime, but can't get US citizens (who are in jail in Mexico because they got bad advice from American officials) out of jail in Mexico.

Strange!

[Clarice]

Qw are planning to see the volcano, daddy , though with so many young kids and oldsters the 2 mile hike might have to be shortened.

Jane, it's a fitting end to that incompetent, overrated , congenital liar's political career.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Clarice-

I'm willing to wager that they intend to put this little episode in the box where the Rose Law records sit.

[NK]

The panel report explains why Rice got kneecapped for SoS. The report explicitly concludes there was never a protest- it was a complete fabrication-- a lie-- a lie that Rice went out and spread abroad the land. She was just to stupid to realize that Barry and Hildabeast were setting her up, or she was too stupid by believing that Barry and HildaBeast would back her up when the truth spilled out. She got played by HildaBeast and Barry back in Sept... and her reward... no SoS for you:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/12/benghazi-verdict-grossly-inadequate-security-and-systemic-failures-of-leadership.php

[narciso]

It's the system where the planet Aurora Asimov's 'Caves of Steel'occurs, mostly underground, so I don't think it has many islands.

[NK]

MelR@844-- no doubt; of course the media teammates will cover for Cankles Clinton. In truth, they love her more than Barry-- but I really don't think they can push her over the POTUS finish line, just not enough votes. And there of course is the coming economic disaster from THE DEBT. I don't se HildaBeast being a 2016 candidate-- she'll recline comfortably in the academic salons as a college prexy, with a coterie of fawning young ladies attending to her.

[Neo]

Judge Robert H. Bork, one of the the greatest jurists this country has ever produced, died early this morning from heart complications in a Virginia hospital near his home. He was 84.

[NK]

RIP Robert Bork.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--The Kardashian Christmas Card is Out!!!--

I don't really keep up with the Kardashians.
Can someone tell me when Bruce Jenner finally gave in, had the operation and became a woman?
He's the slightly butch one on the right. The slightly butcher shemale on the left is, I believe, his alleged "wife";

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

-The local news ran that clip along with a strange comment that some people are claiming it was faked. Dunno why they'd think that.-

Golden Eagles are used to hunt wolves and deer in Mongolia.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Biden in charge of gun control review.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Real spending cuts = economic growth.