Restricting FOI Requests

For John, BLUF:  Don't get on the Government's bad side.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

I am quoting the Instapundit:

THE WISCONSIN JUDICIAL SYSTEM HASN’T EXACTLY COVERED ITSELF WITH GLORY LATELY:  Wisconsin Court Broadens FOI Exception, Allowing Government Agencies To Deny Requests Based On Perceived Motive.  Call me overly suspicious, but I suspect there’s a lot of stuff the Deep State in Wisconsin, fresh from its shady assault on Republican donors, wants to keep buttoned up, and this is just an excuse to start on that.

Well, Professor Reynolds is indeed suspicious and this case, involving a shady character, seems to come very close to and fly in formation with existing law, but I too am concerned.  Freedom of Information is for everyone, or at least should be.  And Courts need to be siding with the People, against the Bureaucrats.

Regards  —  Cliff

How Did Dave Brat Beat Eric Cantor?

For John, BLUF:  The Numbers are in.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

This morning, on City Life, co-host Mimi Parseghian suggested that the victory of Professor Dave Brat was in an election with a low turnout.  In opposition to that is this column by Daily Kos writer Tony Alexiou.  The Headline is "The Coup D'Etat in Virginia's 7th District".  By going to an open primary the turnout actually went from 47K in 2012 to 65K this year.

Some demographics for the 7th Congressional District:

Race	7th District	Virginia	US Overall
Caucasian	77.4%	71.1%	77.9%
Black	13.8%	19.7%	13.1%
Asian	4.1%	6.0%	5.1%
Hispanic	5.2%	8.4%	16.9%
Causcasian, not Hispanic or Laatino	74.5%	64.1%	63.0%

Homeownership	7th District	Virginia	US Overall
Home Ownership Rate	74.2%	68.4%	66.1%

Income	7th District	Virginia	US Overall
Income per capita	$34,004	$33,040	$27,915
Income per household	$68,910	$63,302	$52,762
Percent below poverty line	7.6%	10.7%	14.3%

Professor Brat's Campaign webpage.

Regards  —  Cliff

Bergdahl Update

For John, BLUF:  The Bergdahl imbroglio just gets worse.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

This is from The Washington Post, which I believe has been reliably pro-Administration for the last six years.  The byline is Stephanie McCrummen, on 11 June, at 11:03 AM.  "Bergdahl’s writings reveal a fragile young man".

Before he became a Taliban prisoner, before he wrote in his journal “I am the lone wolf of deadly nothingness,” before he ever joined the Army, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard for psychological reasons, said close friends who were worried about his emotional health at the time.

The 2006 discharge and a trove of Bergdahl’s writing — the handwritten journal along with other essays, stories and e-mails provided to The Washington Post — paint a portrait of a deeply complicated and fragile young man who was by his own account struggling to maintain his mental stability from the start of basic training until the moment he walked off his post in eastern Afghanistan.

For those of you asking yourself how the Army could miss the Coast Guard discharge when Sergeant Bergdahl joined the Army, the answer is that to quickly expand the Army it lowered its standards.  Let us face it.  Less that half of our youth meet the military enlistment standards.  Being a US Citizen or having a Green Card, having good health, passing the mental aptitude test, passing the physical standards, not having a criminal record, not having outlandish tattoos.  When you need more folks in uniform you lower the standards.  I recall someone telling me that toward the end of WWII the US was taking people with sight in only one eye.

I think that Sergeant Bergdahl should be treated with consideration for his personal problems and with appreciation for what he has endured.  That does not mean that the Army is obligated to allow him to reenlist.  Nor does it mean that he should be condemned for his actions in a manner that is insensitive to his mental state, at the time or now.  Sergeant Bergdahl is not the issue and shouldn't be.  There are two issues.  The first is the Administration execution process.  Granted that the Administration was concerned about leaks if they told Republicans in the US Senate.  That said, notification to the Senate Intelligence was too long delayed.♠  The second issue is the fact that the Administration is tone deaf with regard to the American public.♥

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Well, and the whole legality issue.  Releasing five people from GITMO while ignoring the Congressional restrictions (which are law) is not a big deal.  However, if the President next releases ten or twenty, releases fifty, or 100 or all of the prisoners, it will at some point cross the line and become an impeachable offense.
♥  The alternative view is that they, like Rhett Butler, just don't give a darn.

Teacher Tenure Challenged

For John, BLUF:  This could spark a revolution.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

"California court rules teacher tenure creates impermissible unequal conditions".  Ouch!

The article linked to here is by Reporter Lyndsey Layton, of The Washington Post, datelined June 11, 2014

A Los Angeles judge Tuesday struck down teacher tenure and other California laws that offer job security to educators, a decision that is expected to trigger widespread challenges of teacher job protections nationwide.

Plaintiffs in the case argued that California children who are poor receive an inferior education because they are saddled with the weakest teachers, who are entrenched in their jobs and are difficult to fire.  Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu sided with the plaintiffs against some of the most powerful labor unions in the country, striking down California’s teacher employment laws because he determined that they violate students’ civil rights.

Here is a link to the ruling itself.

There are a number of challenges ongoing to our current way of doing schooling.  Even the Catholic Worker, earlier this year, had an article against the current system.  The author off that article asserted literacy rates have been down hill ever since our current system of education was instituted here in Massachusetts before the Civil War.  Recently one school system abolished its schools and went for vouchers for all.

I have seen this ruling mentioned in several places, including postings at Althouse and Instapundit.  And it isn't like the larger issue wasn't touched on by City Life this morning.

Regards  —  Cliff

Women and Men

For John, BLUF:  Your theory is correct.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Here is something that Ms Renee Astee, from Christian Hill, might like.

The Washington Post has an article by W Bradford Wilcox and Robin Fretwell Wilson, "One way to end violence against women?  Married dads."  The second headline is "The data show that #yesallwomen would be safer with fewer boyfriends around their kids."

The dramatic social media response to the UC-Santa Barbara shooting, captured by the hashtag #YesAllWomen, underlined an important and unpleasant truth: across the United States, millions of girls and women have been abused, assaulted, or raped by men, and even more females fear that they will be subject to such an attack.  As Sarah Kliff wrote in Vox:  a “national survey of American women found that a slight majority (51.9 percent) reported experiencing physical violence at some point in their life.”

This social media outpouring makes it clear that some men pose a real threat to the physical and psychic welfare of women and girls.  But obscured in the public conversation about the violence against women is the fact that some other men are more likely to protect women, directly and indirectly, from the threat of male violence: married biological fathers.  The bottom line is this:  Married women are notably safer than their unmarried peers, and girls raised in a home with their married father are markedly less likely to be abused or assaulted than children living without their own father.

The point of all this is that our culture and our social welfare system are working against the institution of marriage, which tends to work to the advantage of women.  While it is probably sexist to say this, but when I was young people actually said that part of the job of marriage was to allow women to help tame men.

The charts at the article are interesting.  One thing they say is children with their natural parents are better off, but we knew that, did we not?

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

The Instapundit, in posting this, references a book by a Dr Helen Smith—Men on Strike:  Why Men are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood and the American Dream, and Why It Matters.

Regards  —  Cliff

Primary Upset

For John, BLUF:  Reports of the demise of the Tea Parties may be premature.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

From the Associated Press we have House Majority Leader Cantor Defeated in Primary.  The Reporter is Alan Suderman.  The lede.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost in his Republican primary election Tuesday to a little-known economics professor, a stunning upset for the GOP's No. 2 in the House and a major victory for the tea party.

Mr Cantor is the Number Two guy in the US House of Representatives and touted as a possible future Speaker (succeeding House Speaker John Boehner).  Maybe in two and a half years, with a comeback.  Not next year.  Fox News Show Host Megan Kelly said that Mr Cantor was gracious in defeat.  The sign of a gentleman.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse (and my wife).

Regards  —  Cliff

Public Schools in the UK

For John, BLUF:  Can Western political concepts endure when a sizable minority favor a non-securlar state?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

This article, from The Wall Street Journal, raises some questions about education in majority minority districts.  In particular, and this seems to be a slowing increasing issue♠ in Europe and Great Britain, to what extent are cultural communities permitted to isolate themselves from their host community?

I would note that this is a small group of schools in a pretty big nation.  Today Scottish independence from Great Britain is a bigger issue than a handful of Muslim dominated schools in Birmingham.  The vote is 18 September, a little over three months away.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  As in "Did you see the results for the European Parliament a couple of Sundays ago?"