Tom delay is selflessly sacrificing his seat to continue his good work for foster care. The needy orphans are certainly lucky to have such a fine role model.

Since Mother Teresa's passing, there's been a gaping need for a selfless leader to take her place, and perhaps after a suitable pause, Delay will fill her sandals.

How long a pause?

I'm thinking three to ten.

Bring a loaded gun to your middle school. Get suspended.

What do you have to do to be considered a criminal?

Jackson Baker has been banned from the Tuscaloosa Academy for having long hair. He's growing it for Locks of Love, so that he may donate it to cancer patients, after having lost his mother to the disease.

The academy's director said "It's absolutely vital in this day and age to enforce stupid and pointless regulations regardless of the consequences. Otherwise how will our kids learn to function in a hugely anal-retentive world?"

(Perhaps he didn't use precisely those words.)

The Fort Myers, Florida high school marching band has been prohibited from taking part in a London festival because the city, apparently, is too dangerous.

One student commented "There is no better time to show these terrorists that we have no fear of them. Instead we are forced, through the cowardly acts of our superiors, to hide in shame."

Bob Bone, the parade's executive director, said: "Here is an educator that seems to delight in the knowledge that he is ignorant of the facts. London is not a city under siege."

Tell it to the administrators.

Public schools aren't the only ones with problems. Read the sad story of the little charter school that couldn't.

...that you tagged me (twice) for a music list of ten artists , two songs each, unless you actually listen to some of the music I recommend. I play the violin, so pardon my prejudice in favor of others who do the same.

1. Brilliant young fiddler Michael Cleveland is just breaking into his twenties, but plays like he's lived a hundred years. His first major label solo album, Flamekeeper, is absolutely breathtaking, and I'd recommend Dance Around Molly, Lee Highway Blues, and the very pretty Blue Violet Waltz.

2. Ricky Skaggs sings like an angel and plays every instrument he touches like a house on fire. He can fiddle, but I'm crazy about his his mandolin playing, which is dead-on perfect. On Bluegrass Rules, he really nails the odd Bill Monroe tune entitled Get Up John. His vocals are exquisite, and I love a tune from Soldier of the Cross entitled Seven Hillsides. It's about a preacher who has to speak at the funerals of seven soldiers in one day.

3. Alison Krauss has a voice like no other. She's also a first-class fiddler, having won contests before literally finding her voice and making a name for herself as a semi-bluegrass bandleader. My favorite Alison CD is So Long So Wrong, and I'll choose the title tune for one of her tunes. I'm also very fond of a fiddle tune she plays called Ride the Wild Turkey which Darol Anger composed. I believe she recorded that on the live CD.

4. People looking for a taste of straight bluegrass without all that twangy hillbilly sound that so many find off-putting might like the Bluegrass Album Band, featuring ace guitarist and singer Tony Rice, fiddler Bobby Hicks, and resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas, lately of Alison Krauss and Union Station. Everything they play is great, but I'll pick Wall Around Your Heart from Volume 3, and Model Church from Volume 1.

5. Speaking of Tony Rice, he has a wonderful album called Manzanita. It's not precisely bluegrass, because there's no banjo, and there's just nothing like it. Tony sings on this album with Ricky Skaggs on tenor, and some of the best musicians you'll ever hear anywhere, ever. Two outstanding tunes from this album are the title cut, composed by Tony, and Gordon Lightfoot's Home From the Forest.

6. Bluegrass roots run deep, and none deeper than those of the late and maniacal Jimmy Martin, who got his start as the lead singer for American musical icon Bill Monroe. No one quite had his drive, rhythm, taste in headwear, or blatant lack of decorum.

I pick every single song from You Don't Know My Mind, particularly the title tune and Jimmy's theme song, Sunny Side of the Mountain.

7. My favorite fiddler for many years was Byron Berline, who's recorded with everyone from Bill Monroe to gram Parsons to the Rolling Stones. He has wonderful CD called Dad's Favorites, and I'll pick the intricate Limerock and the simple Redbird from that CD.

8. I'm going to get out of bluegrass for now, just to prove that I can, and select Graham Parker as a killer singer/ songwriter. He has an unforgettable song on The Real Macaw called You Can't Take Love for Granted. His classic and best album Squeezing out Sparks is now available on CD bundled together with live versions of all those songs for just $11.98 (!), with a version of the Jackson 5 hit I Want You Back, at no additional charge.

For a second Graham song, though, I'll pick Temporary Beauty. Bruce Springsteeen stated Parker was the only singer he'd pay to see.

9. I grew up very fond of Ray Davies and the Kinks, mostly for the ironic wit and observations they were able to add to the music. It's very tough to pick two of their tunes, but I'll go with Victoria and the heartbreaking Young and Innocent Days from their thematic album Arthur. The Beatles were not the only ones back then doing clever things with music.

10. But the Beatles were clever indeed. I'll have to pick Julia as one of my very favorites, and the fact that my daughter's name is Julia has absolutely everything to do with it. I'll also pick the ballad For No One.

That's it. But don't get too close to me or I may tag you as well.

Update: I've tagged Tom Moore over at I Who Can't. Check out his site, and don't miss his great series of articles from Slate.

I've also tagged my favorite political blogger, reality-based educator.

Does anyone reading this know where I could get a simple 3-column blogger template without lawn-elfs, Yanni snippets or pictures of Garfield?

I like the current look, but I'd like the title to link to the main page, which the current template does not do. If I could correct that I might stay with what I've got.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

In Florida, they'll change the constitution to dole out vouchers for private and religious schools.

They draw the line, though, at requiring students in those schools to take the same tests the public school kids must take.

Florida Republicans think it's OK to remove funds from public schools and send them largely to church-run parochial schools. It's grossly unfair, however, to hold those schools to the same standards as public schools.

You can't be too careful. If you give in to Democratic demands once, next thing you know they'll want to count the votes.

It's a slippery slope.

Today's NY Times has yet more on what can go wrong with high-stakes machine scored tests. If they're going to make millions with testing, you'd think they'd do better than teachers with red pencils.

Most teachers go over every hand-scored test with every one of their classes and make far fewer errors than "professionals" do. The rare errors we detect are corrected immediately, and no one has to pay us for rescoring.

It's tough to be a teacher. You're always making difficult decisions. How can you best help your students?

Do they need gratification, or discipline? How can you know? Each situation is different. And each student has different needs.

While it's understandable, even laudable, you want to help your students, there are times you'll simply have to deny them. For example, no matter how heart-wrenching their entreaties become, you should endeavor to refrain from buying them pornography.

...covers a serial killer story, in its own unique fashion.

(via)

Sign in Japanese public bath:Foreign guests are requested not to pull knob in tub.

In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian orthodox monastery:You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

Hotel catering to skiers, Austria:Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.

Taken from a menu, Poland:Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.

Supermarket, Hong Kong:For your convenience, we recommend courteous, efficient self-service.

Dry cleaner's, Bangkok:Drop your trousers here for the best results.

Outside a dress shop, Paris:Dresses for street walking.

UFT President Randi Weingarten, recently humiliated by the self-serving editing of right-wing demagogue John Stossell, has come crawling back for more.

This week's NY Teacher reports that Stossel has accepted her challenge to teach for a week in NYC. First of all, by allowing him to take responsibility for real kids, it's implicit that teachers need no qualifications or preparation.

Anyone can do this job. It's a lark.

Right there she's demeaning our profession.

Furthermore, if Randi thinks Stossel is doing this for any other motive than to prepare yet another hatchet job, she's laboring under a terrific misconception. Stossel's got free reign on ABC to spout whatever nonsense strikes his fancy.

Expect to read his column in the NY Sun describing the week as a walk in the park, vilifying teachers, criticizing public schools as inadequate, and renewing his call for vouchers. Expect well-edited film footage calculated to prove the points he's already decided upon.

I've seen Randi Weingarten speak, and always thought she was very smart. But she's dealing with someone with a clear and pronounced agenda, tremendous access to mass media, and she ought to know better.

Get a note from your psychiatrist that says you have a learning disability.

Can't afford a shrink?

Better hope the next scoring error falls in your favor.

It looks like 27% of American schools are not making it, as far as NCLB regs.

If their respective states don't make the tests easier soon, they could be sanctioned.

In case you live in a cave with nothing but wi-fi internet access to keep you company, reporter Jill Carroll has been freed. That means there's one fewer hostage in Iraq.

Take that, liberal media.

HEY,

YOU GOT A PLUG TODAY ON EDWIZE!! LEO MUST BE TURNING IN HIS COFFIN!

...is when there's too much parental involvement.

Thanks to Schoolgal for the tip.

Tom Friedman posted a great column ($) this morning about the US and just how far we're falling behind. He stressed the need for quality teachers, and the need to attract more of them.

"If teaching remains a second-rate profession, America's economy will be driven by second-rate skills," Mr. Gerstner (former IBM chairman Louis Gerstner) says. "We can wake up today — or we can have a rude awakening sooner than we think."

The Teaching Commission notes that "our schools are only as good as their teachers," yet this "occupation that makes all others possible is eroding at its foundations." Top students are far less likely to go into teaching today; salaries are stagnant; nearly 50 percent of new teachers leave within five years. To remedy this, the commission calls for raising teachers' base pay, finding ways to reward the best teachers, raising standards for acquiring a teaching degree and testing would-be teachers, on the basis of national standards, to be certain they have mastered the subjects they will teach (theteachingcommission.org).

As if that's not enough, under the guidance of President Bush, we've gone from first in broadband access in 2000, to 16th today. Our technological manufacturing is also falling behind at an alarmingly rapid rate. While Bush's National Security Strategy paper assumes we're a powerful country and always will be, Friedman's take is much more sobering:

It's not surprising that the Bush strategy paper is largely silent about these educational and technological deficits, as well as about the investment we need to make in alternative fuels to end our oil addiction. Because to acknowledge these deficits is to acknowledge that we have to spend money to fix them, and the radical Bush tax cuts make that impossible. It would be one thing if we were going into debt to solve these problems that affect our underlying national strength. But we are going into debt to buy low-interest houses and more stuff made in China.

We're like a family that is overdrawn at the bank just when the parents need to send their kid to college, buy a computer and a D.S.L. line, and replace a gas-guzzling furnace. Whatever "strategic plan" that family has for advancement, it won't get anywhere until it rebalances its books.

Fewer people are choosing to go into teaching as a career. Despite the arssertions of those who supported the UFT contract, it turns out more work and less pay may not be what people want after all. Perhaps that's why NYC, despite 800 numbers, ad campaigns, job fairs, and exhaustive intergalactic searches, does not consistently attract the cream of the crop.

Perhaps that's why half of all teachers leave within five years.

Nationally, one-third of teachers are estimated to be 55 or over. Replacing them may prove challenging, to say the least.

The Education Wonks have a great piece about a math teacher who felt he had no other choice but to leave.