The Bush Administration has spent a whopping $80 million since November to promote performance based compensation programs for teachers. But not everyone is willing to stand behind the idea of a merit pay system. Here are the top ten reasons why merit pay for teachers is a terrible idea.read more | digg story

Improving the education system is something I’ve always had an interest in. And I’m pretty sure the performance in our schools is very closely related to how much money we put into them. So you’d really think throwing in bonus income would help but this article shows how it could hurt when done on a merit system.

I think the best point of the article is the distinction it makes between what teachers at a low performing school with more issues wouldn’t make as much as teachers at better performing schools. Issues that might affect performance of the schools would be drugs, gang violence, etc.

During a recent conversation with some coworkers a manager commented that the biggest problem teachers have is that they are in a teachers union and that’s why that field isn’t considered “professional” or “white-collar” and therefore get that pay scale. But you know what if we’re going to consider teachers to not be a “white-collar” profession then we should give them hazard pay to work in “bad” schools. That would help give troubled schools a larger group of teachers to choose from so they can get the better pick of the crowd.

A puppy has been born in Japan with a large, clear, love-heart-shaped pattern in his coat. The chihuahua was born in May as one of a litter to a breeder. Shop owner Emiko Sakurada said it was the first time a puppy with the marks had been born out of a thousand she had bred.

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When Turkey itself is debating the role of Islam in its political life, Germans are starting to ask how — or even if — the 2.7 million people of Turkish descent here can square their religious and cultural beliefs with a pluralistic society that enshrines the rights of women. The new mosque would put Islam in plain sight — all the more so because the design calls for a domed building with glass walls.

One interesting thing is that one of the people that the article mentions as speaking out against the mosque is a german jewish author who is a holocaust survivor. He says that the mosque isn’t a religious statement but a political one. Can Islam live in a pluralistic society? It depends, I think secular Islam can but I don’t know about the stricter sects that would wish to self enforce Shia(sp?) law. Just like the stricter sects of Christianity are at odds with aspects of secular society.

But I do think it is a very good idea for Americans to keep an eye on Europe and what’s going on with the increasing number of Islamic immigrants. If Europe can figure out how to get everyone to coexist peacefully then maybe that model could help us work out our issues in the middle east.

I did find it kind of amusing when the comment was made about the immigrants not learning German. Wow, that reminds me of some of the debate going on here about immigration.

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Suicide bombers are sexually frustrated Muslims, beautiful people have more daughters, humans are naturally polygamous, sexual harassment isn’t sexist, and blonds are more attractive.

This article really has a fixation on polygamy. Of course when I read the part that human’s are naturally polygamous my first thought was oh so that’s why the draenei males are so much bigger than the females. (Sorry for the WoW refrence.)

Oddly knowing why guys like blondes better doesn’t really change my thoughts that they suck for that.

I still think it’s an interesting article cause i’m always interested in the way our society and our behaviours have evolved. Though now I really wonder what lead the judeo-christian culture to shift from polygamy to monogamy.

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Money Magazine gives advice about how to gold dig on the Today Show.

I understand the temptation that money magazine obviously had to maybe do a bit of research into the topic, and I guess they would want that research to pay off so the write an article about it or do an interview of it. But is it really good financial advice? I don’t think so. Divorce settlements don’t always go in the favor of the woman, and money isn’t the right reason to get married. Tempting but still a bad idea. Marriage shouldn’t be treated like institutionalized prostitution. But come on, gold digging has to be the ultimate con. And that’s what this article reads like. A how to find a rich man and con him into marrying you.

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Gap Kids is now offers a crochet string bikini for 1 year-olds. This article from the consumerist contains a picture of it.

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Why on earth do little girls need string bikinis? Another question how many Mom’s actually buy these? This is just one of these things that completely boggles my mind. Maybe I’ve just become an old prude but didn’t there used to be some limit on “sex sells”?

So Tom Leykis is off the air in Phoenix now, and I’m going to kind of miss his show. True he has an incredibly sexist show at some points but it’s also a show that makes you think alot.

 Lots of times I hate it, sometimes I think he’s on the right track and he’s giving good advice out. But alot of it is incredibly sexist and I’m often confused as to wether he’s sexist or not. I still think that it’s an example of how we has a society are very confused about what our sexual roles are now.

His basic philosophy is don’t get married cause if you’re a man you’ll only get screwed. Not bad advice, the whole institution pretty much gone to hell. But the thing is that he’s lost that so he’s fallen back on objectifying women. It’s like there is nothing more positive that he can replace marriage with?

The other thing that pisses me off is that it feels like he’s saying that no matter what i do I’m just going to stab my b/f in the heart eventually or he’s going to “upgrade” to a “younger model” when i’m 30 something or 40 something. And that message that something is going to happen no matter what just drives me frigging nuts.

Today I decided to listen to him one more time on the web to see if he said anything about Free fm in phoenix changing formats, and I’ve had it. After him telling another caller that you have to be an asshole to get chicks, then I said I’ve had it. Goodbye Tom.

How do you describe a crime you’re a victim of if you can’t say the name of the crime?  A judge in my dear home state of Nebraska has ruled that the word can’t be used during the trial of a man accused of rape. This is probably more the fault of the defense attorney than the judge, the defense made a motion for this and for some reason the judge decided to comply. But the funny thing is that the jury can’t be told that this word has been removed from the trial. So what words do you use to describe sex to show that it was not consentual sex without saying rape? I just don’t get that one.

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“Maj Gen Taguba, who retired in January, spoke of other, undisclosed material on the Abu Ghraib abuse, including descriptions of the sexual humiliation of a father with his son, who were both detainees. He also stated he saw ‘a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomising a female detainee,’ adding the video was never made public.”

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I don’t think there is much I can really say about this. Horrible things happened in Abu Ghraib and who knows if we’ll ever really know the entire story. 

“Rape is terrible. Rape is awful. Is it made any better by killing an innocent child? Does it solve the problem for the woman that’s been raped?” the Kansas Republican asked at the St. Joseph’s Covenant Keepers gathering.

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 Just awesome, adding insult to injury.