Archive for July, 2008

Welcome to the New Intercepts!

I’m reasonably tech-savvy, but all this labor-saving computer stuff is killing me. Nevertheless, I think this is a marked improvement, and I hope you agree. It will take some time to get this up and running properly, and I’m sure we’ll have some bugs along the way, but bear with me and I’ll remove as many annoyances as possible, as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, the first thing I must ask you to do is bookmark and blogroll this page, which is

http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/

Let me know if you have any difficulties, and thanks for your patience and continued support.

UPDATE: All feeds and e-mail subscriptions have been automatically transferred (I hope!) and the site redesign is now complete (I think!). Feel free to post your comments and concerns, or just ignore all this claptrap and wait for the next actual story to appear.

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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

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You Can Find Anything on Craigslist

Including, apparently, an autographed copy of Plato’s Republic. Or maybe it’s a typo and he really meant Pluto’s Republic.
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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

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The July 21 Communique’ Is Up!

Click here to read:

1) Compare and Contrast
2) California’s School Funding Guru
3) Last Week’s Intercepts
4) Quote of the Week

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Monday, July 21st, 2008

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History the Old-Fashioned Way

There are a lot of different ways to write history, but if you like yours with a lot of kings and battles, check out John Julius Norwich’s review of Roger Crowley’s Empires of the Sea in today’s Wall Street Journal (here’s a link, but it’s probably behind the subscriber firewall).

The book covers the battle for the Mediterranean in the 16th century between Christians and Turks, and even Norwich, a prestigious historian himself, sounds like a kid when recounting Crowley’s descriptions of the Great Siege of Malta. And believe me, I know how he feels. I may be the only man in America with a “Great Siege of Malta” coffee mug.

If you have a boy in middle school who thinks history is boring, tell him the story of Marcantonio Bragadin, commander of the Venetian garrison at Famagusta during the Turkish siege of Cyprus in 1570-71. Here’s a description of what happened to him:

“Bragadin and his men held their defenses for months, waiting for reinforcements
from Venice. Help never arrived, and the fort surrendered. The Turks offered him
terms, and when Bragadin and his officers came to deliver the keys to the fort,
the officers were all hacked to pieces. Bragadin was forced to kneel. Three
times the executioner raised his sword to cut off Bragadin’s head, but the death
blow never came. Instead, Bragadin’s ears were lopped off. Then a basket of
stones was strapped onto his back and he was paraded around the city. He was
made to carry baskets packed with earth for ten days, and each time he passed in
front of the Pasha’s tent he had to grovel and kiss the ground. Then he was
hoisted up on a ship for everyone to jeer at. Finally, he was tied to a stake
and flayed alive. His skin was stuffed with straw and mounted on a cow. The cow
was led through the streets of Famagusta bearing its grisly trophy. Bragadin had
been turned into his own scarecrow.”

Bragadin’s skin was retrieved by a Venetian seaman years later and returned to his family. It resides today in a tomb in the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.
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Monday, July 21st, 2008

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Dissident Teacher Beats the House in Vegas

Remember Ron Taylor? He’s the Las Vegas teacher who bumped heads with the Clark County Education Association and eventually worked unsuccessfully to decertify the union in favor of the Teamsters.

CCEA expelled Taylor for his actions, but he fought it, and this week the Local Government Employees-Management Relations Board reinstated him. It also directed the union to reimburse Taylor’s legal expenses, which could reach $10,000.

The union’s rationale for booting Taylor is, well, ironic. CCEA Executive Director John Jasonek told the Las Vegas Review-Journal “that the case was not about dissent but about the union’s right of self-preservation and the right to kick out hostile members. The union director said Taylor ‘was in it to kill it,’ by recruiting members for the Teamsters and trying to decertify the Clark County Education Association.”

Apparently CCEA’s position is that when one union does this to another it is grounds for expulsion. But when a union does it to a private business, it is a constitutionally protected right.
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Friday, July 18th, 2008

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Who Lost Roland S. Martin?

You’ve seen Roland S. Martin on any number of CNN shows. His column today is headlined “McCain right, Obama wrong on school vouchers” and contains this quote:

“But part of the reason why vouchers have been denounced and dismissed is
because Democrats have been far too obstinate on the issue, and have not
listened to their constituents, especially African-Americans, who overwhelmingly
support vouchers…. Obama’s opposition is right along the lines of the National
Education Association, and the teachers union is a reliable and powerful
Democratic ally. But this is one time where he should have opposed them and made
it clear that vouchers can force school districts, administrators and teachers
to shape up or see their students ship out.

“It is unconscionable to ask a parent to watch as his child is stuck in a
failing school or district, and ask him to bank on a politician coming up with
more funds to improve the situation. Fine, call vouchers a short-term solution
to a long-term problem, but I’d rather have a child getting the best education
– now — rather than having to hope and pray down the line.”

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Thursday, July 17th, 2008

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Time for a New Crusade?

First the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453. Then they went on to besiege Vienna and Malta. Now they are reaching for the greatest prize – the Washington Education Association.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Turkish hackers recently hijacked the union’s web site, replacing the home page with a picture of the Turkish flag.

WEA has regained partial control of its site, but EIA has learned that new NEA President Dennis Van Roekel is convening a special meeting of the board of directors at Clermont to deal with the situation.
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Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

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