Greetings from Pueblo

The Pueblo Chieftain :: Disappointed

Disappointed, because the charter schools appear now to be a money-making operation for Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Hernandez, his wife and the network’s chief financial officer.

Private organizations getting into the business of education for profit! Now that’s a shock. Either a shock or the most natural thing in the world.

Look, if these private organizations underperformed for what they got then call them out on that. But don’t act like Captain Louis Renault when you find out that private organizations are in the game for profit. They are looking to make a buck, that’s their game.  You’re game should be making sure that they are earning that profit, not that they are doing what comes natural.

California mom tells cops she had sex with boys to keep them away from her daughter – San Jose Mercury News

In a 48-page report released this week, Towe told police she was protecting her daughter by diverting the boys’ attention to herself.

Assuming the report is correct I’m sure the daughter appreciated the rumors going around that her mom was now the school hoochie "mama" to having to fend off horny teenage boys (I know, redundant). And just so I can say it: where were these mothers when I was in middle school?

Ohio Christian school tells student to skip prom

The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said.

Are they going to hire snitches to infiltrate the prom? Or are they going to simply attend the prom? I can’t see that happening.

You can argue that as a private school they have the right to enforce whatever rules that they deem proper. This isn’t what I’m contesting; what I’m saying is that they are going overboard on a little prom dance and assuming the worst from this young man.

And this seems a problem in our society. Too often we assume the worst in teenagers. We think that if they aren’t getting high or doing crimes they are engaging in sex.

Besides, didn’t I read somewhere that King David danced and Jesus attended a wedding ritual? Would that Baptist school suspend King David?

 At my old school (which was a parochial school) They sometimes leased out the gym for receptions, weddings, etc.  Once I caught a view of the words, and I remember one of the rules stating "NO DANCING IS ALLOWED IS ALLOWED IS ALLOWED".  I never knew that paper could echo. 

Official: Bailout returns will have conditions

WASHINGTON – The government will require banks seeking to return federal bailout money to prove they don’t need other special federal assistance, a condition that will make it harder for some institutions to escape restrictions on executive compensation.

Namely, the government setting conditions on repaying money. I guess it does make sense (why should the government accept that money back only to have to spend that same amount or more to bail out banks?), but it still has a sort of reverse robber vibe. Have you ever heard of a credit card company saying, “Before we accept payment we need to check your credit report to see if you can’t live without the money.”?

Families sue judges in kickback scheme – Crime & courts- msnbc.com

“At the hands of two grossly corrupt judges and several conspirators, hundreds of Pennsylvania children, their families and loved ones, were victimized and their civil rights violated,” plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Cefalo said in a statement Friday.

Hundreds of Pa. juvenile convictions tossed.

Isn’t that nice. Your kid goes before the judge, maybe he did something wrong, maybe he didn’t. But it doesn’t matter to this judge because he’s got a quota to make and big bucks to earn. And this particular conviction should send shivers up anybody’s spine, particularly younger bloggers:

Hillary Transue, 17, who appeared in Ciavarella’s courtroom in 2007 and spent a month in a wilderness camp for building a MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal, was elated that her record would be expunged.

Civil rights violated? Let’s try constitutional rights first.

Well, I’m gonna reveal some secrets to ya’all that the infomercial companies don’t want you to think about. Secret number one: if you give your CC to that old man John Schrerer and VP you will be taken for $185.95 At least. You know that one CD that he promises to send out to you for just the cost of shipping and handling? The one that is valued at $185.95 (a little more on that in a moment).  Well, you really didn’t think that Video Professor was going to stop there, did you? Nope. He’s gonna send you out three of them to start. And if you don’t send one back with the return authorization code in ten days of when you order it. . .well, you guessed it. You’re hit with a $185.95 charge. Nice.
And it is an auto-ship program which means that there are other sets that they are going to send out to you, on the same terms as before.   That means that each time you’re going to be hit for $185.95.  And trust me, the information that you get out of that money, is not going to “fill up your gas tank for a year” (that is, if you could dig yourself out of that $185 hole in the first place). That information is the same information that you can pick up on web forums, on blogs, on wikis for free. Even if you were to pick up a book you would pay at most $50-$60 at a book store.
One little brain washing technique I learned was “What’s In It For Me”. The concept was to play on the customers wants and desires and tie the product to them. Well, whenever you see one of these too good to be true products, ask yourself, “what’s in it for him?”. In the case of Video Professor, there is no way he’s gonna put together a commercial and then send out a CD for just the price to ship it. Something has to pay for those commercials and it ain’t $6.95 a CD I will tell you that.

Oh, and there’s another little thing they’ll try to sell you: Software Savers.  Same rip if only a little less, and most of the software packages you can find online free or an alternative.  Before they go into their whole spiel stop them and ask for the price.  $65 for the first five CDs, then $30 every month for three CDs.  Trust me, you can do better by searching download.com.

I would only wish that the people who should be reading this are not going to be.  They will be your grandparents, maybe your parents, who are watching TV shows and this comes on.  And watch yourself.  What is in it for them.  That is something that I will cover in future blog posts in order to get you to catch the deals that are too good to be complete.

Also, I am not alone. Check out what these people had to say about the Video Professor. Be wary of kindly looking old men schilling free CDs.

PS: one last detail. During the call they are going to ask for two numbers. The purpose of this is to sign you up for future solicitations. Don’t bite.