America is a Republic, and so is Chariho

Make no mistake, we are not a democracy.  We are a republic. And this is actually a good thing.  I’m not going to get into all the details that separate the two but the basic gist is that in a republic, such as ours, everyone is granted protection, there is a universal set of laws that govern our activities and we utilize a representative government to get our business done. On the other hand,  in a strict democracy, everyone has a vote on everything and all that counts is the majority will at that time that the majority decides what it wants to do.  And this is not necessarily a good thing.  It sets up a system where mob-rule takes over and leads to the term “tyranny of the majority”.  It gets more complex than that and I’ve left a lot out, but you get the point.  If you need an example, how about this:

I do not vote in Congress unless I am elected to Congress (state or federal).  I can bitch and moan at my representative and vote for a representative I like better, but the responsibility for his or her vote is his or hers alone.  I really have very little power.  And consequently, the “mob” has very little power.  And because of our Constitution, we all have protections and a set of laws that can’t be easily violated.  Imagine if we were all required to vote for every act of state legislature?  We would do nothing else.  This is a pretty extreme example of a pure democracy, but this is a pretty good example for you.

So what about the Chariho/NEA negotiations?  Should we all get a vote in that?  A lot of people think that the negotiations should be public.  Essentially, that we should all be able to see what is going on so that we can influence the outcome.  Let’s be honest, if we have no intention of trying to influence the outcome, there is really no need to observe the process, is there?  Clearly, from some of the discussions I have read on other local forums, we are all too busy to participate in our own children’s education.  If this is the case (and it seems like it is), we certainly don’t have the free time to observe the process unless we plan to corrupt it.  The Westerly Sun has the following quote:

The school committee considered conducting negotiations publicly, but decided that would be inefficient, said Eaves.
Hawkins said, “It makes it extremely difficult to conduct negotiations with the entire public.”

And the point is well made.  We elected these fools to the School Board.  Felkner the fool, Eaves the fool, McQuade the fool, etc.  Obviosuly, they are all fools.  Who but a fool would want such a dismal job?  But we elected them and it is their job to do what we elected them for.  It is not our job, as the citizenry, to negotiate teacher contracts.  Similarly, it is not our job to go busting drug dealers or stopping speeders along I-95.  We all have a job in this Republic.  The Chariho system runs like every other facet of Republic America.  We elected them, they do the job.  They do not want the process to be public and that is their decision.  If, however, we don’t like the results of these negotiations, it is our job to vote these fools out and vote in some new fools.

The other aspect to this that I have really left out is that teachers have rights too.  Most people do not seem to realize that.  The teachers and their union are treated like criminals and miscreants.  Slouches, bums, on-the-dole, good-for-nothing slime balls.  Why do we hate education so much in America?  Why do we hate teachers?  We refuse to teach our own kids and then get upset when we don’t think someone else is doing a good enough job?   Are we all just a bunch of self-conscious stupid monkeys who fear learnin’ and edumacation?  Or are we just a bunch of assholes?  I’m voting for us all being assholes.

And the whole issue of transparency is overblown.  It is generally wasted effort.  People who want to get away with something will get away with something, transparency or not.  I’ve seen a bunch of Town Councils violate Open Meetings Laws and it turns out, there are no consequences!  Shinning a bright light on anything only matters if anyone cares.  And no one does…   

Here’s a fun example:  If I want to, I could get the FBI’s file on me (assuming they have one and I doubt I’m important enough for them to care about me).  So consider my getting the file an act of “transparency”.  What on god’s green Earth am I going to do with it if I get it?  What does it matter if I get it?  It’s a pointless exercise, but it might give me something to do with all my free time.

Meaningless Educational Tests

Today, the results from the NECAPs were released.  The results were better than in previous years.  But as far as I can tell, these tests are pretty meaningless.  The reason why is simple:   in order to be judged “proficient” a student must obtain the equivalent of a B+.  And that sounds about right.  Proficient means you are pretty good at what you do.  But heres the rub:  most kids grow up to be “competent” adults, managing solid C’s.  In our culture, we see the “C” as an acceptable grade. We don’t really want proficiency, we want competency.  These are two completely different things.  So if you expect kids to turn into C-wielding adults, why do we expect them to do proficiently on the exams when proficient translates into the level of above-average and very bright students?  Unfortunately, not everyone can be above average because then the average becomes above average.

From the Journal,

The math test is tough — scoring proficient is roughly the equivalent of a B+, say education officials. But that is the level of math proficiency in algebra, geometry and some trigonometry students need today to compete globally, officials say.

There seems to be a real disconnect here.  Very few of our children go into math or the sciences.  They are simply not interested.  Maybe they are capable and could, but they do not.  So in the end, how useful will a B+ in algebra or even calculus be when you end up flipping burgers or working for a marketing firm or selling used cars?  Or even working on Wall Street?  Perhaps we could become globally competitive by interesting our kids in careers in the sciences and technology?  Perhaps this might be more useful than worrying about how competent they are at skills they are never going to use?

I do not mean to discredit the importance of mathematical skill.  I think math is very important.  However, just because someone knows the information does not mean they can or will use it.  It will never translate into economic opportunity if they never choose to use it.  Relying on test scores to tell us how successful our kids will be at solving the energy/food/population crises is stupid and pointless.  Let’s get them interested in being a physicist or a chemist or a mathematician and then we can worry about their scores.  Good luck with that…

And remember, proficient is not the same as competent.  If we are looking at competency, we probably have scores in the 90th percentile.  And most people would say that is just fine.  Like any statistic, these tests can be made to say anything we want them to because that is all they are: statistics.  Testing will never solve real problems nor will it necessarily expose existing flaws.  It’s just something for people to do to make it look like they are actually doing something.  And it is much cheaper than actually fixing anything.

If You Are Reading This, You May Be Called As A Witness

Did that get your attention?

A document hit my email this week, it appears to be public record so I thought I would post it here.  It’s quite a doozy.  Charles Mauti is suing Police Chief Scuncio for violating his “constitutional rights”.   I wonder how much this will cost Hopkinton?  Just in time for tax season….

The first deposition of Scuncio appears to have occurred on Dec. 16th.  I’d love to get a copy of that.  If you read the document, there is a huge list of possible witnesses.  You may really be one.

The file is here:  http://hopkinton.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/1611318803.pdf

Cops get sued all the time.  It’s pretty much part of their job.  But most of the time the cases are frivolous and get tossed out or a Town might settle for peanuts.  The police have generally been given pretty wide latitude in treatment of prisoners, etc, sometimes making it difficult to determine when rights have actually been violated (of course, when five of them are beating you over the head with batons, it’s a pretty good bet that your rights are being violated).  But this case seems to be a whole lot different than your normal “arrest retaliation” suit, to juxtapose a phrase.  There is a whole lot of documentation listed in the file above and of course, there is the Westerly precedent for $100K.

DiLiberio and Hartford

There seems to be a lot of sentiment in Westerly against Hartford and for DiLiberio.  We’ll find out soon enough who they will choose but I suspect there will be considerable backlash if Hartford is hired.  I have no doubt people will say it was just insider politics as usual.  It might be, I have no idea.  But I am keeping my fingers crossed, waiting for them to hire DiLiberio and take him off our hands.  It would one heck of a blessing for Hopkinton, hey maybe the Town Council could then take charge and cut the budget?  They are going to have to once State aid for cities and towns dries up.  Heck, they might do the smart thing and forgo replacing the man altogether!  Now that would be a real cost savings.

Why Does the Sun Insist on Publishing Crap?

Here is the thing:  The 1st Amendment guarantees that the Congress shall not infringe upon the rights of the press, or individuals, to speak.  But a private citizen or corporation may surely infringe upon those rights, especially in their own damn paper.  So I find it strange that the Westerly Sun continues to publish senseless crap.  I do understand that paper media in this century is under fire, advertising dollars are scarce and they need to drum up business using yellow journalism.  But they can and often do censor and edit what they publish.  So why did they publish this rambling diatribe from some jackass who lives in Florida (in fact, why do they ever publish anything written by anyone out of State)? 

Change is coming. Just ask poor Senator-elect Roland Burris.  He was chosen to be the only black in the U.S. Senate. But his dreams are being dashed by the all-white Senate Democrats. They plan to physically block the door to keep Burris out.  How could King Obama let this develop?  Oh yeah, he was busy enjoying a 12 day vacation in Hawaii. Not bad for a mutt.  And why are Democrats, of all people, blocking the door? The answer is simple. George Wallace is dead, and the Ku Klux Klan might look bad.
Roger Dwyer Punta Gorda, Fla. formerly of Westerly

Dear Roger Dwyer,  

WFT?  Are you that bored and retired that you have nothing better to do than write rambling and idiotic letters and submit them across the United States?  Please, grow up.  You clearly have no idea what the problem was with the Burris appointment and you’re picking on a guy for taking a vacation?  George Bush Jr. has spent more time on vacation than ANY PRESIDENT IN HISTORY!  I’m not even sure what you problem is.  Do you like Burris?  Do you hate Obama?  Do you like the KKK?

Dear Westerly Sun, 

Please, don’t waste our time with this kind of stupidity.  Was it that slow a news day?  I’m dying here.