Are School Libraries Necessary?

Poll question for a post I'm working on:

Are school librarians redundant or superfluous?  Necessary?  What do you think?

States are re-evaluating the necessity of the school librarian across the country and in Louisiana it's a topic of concern as the BESE board works on revising the administrators handbook.

There's a push across the state to "Save the Libraries."

What do you think?  Has technology made librarians unnecessary?  It is a cost-saving measure?  Do students actually need a librarian, or is that one more thing the teacher should cover?

Check out My Bossier to see a letter that Caddo students took home yesterday.

Thoughts?

The Queen of Camo

Are you a Duck Dynasty fan?  Or no?

I love those people.  They crack me up.  Seriously, I do.

Duck Dynasty, as you've probably heard, is a show the whole family can watch: no sex, no cussing, no violence (except the occasional dead squirrel or duck), it's funny, and it ends with a prayer.  (shhhh!  Don't tell the libs that!)

The Robertson clan is in the news now because they're holding out for a raise.  Oh, they don't need the money; Phil Robertson made millions with his duck calls ages ago.  But who can blame them?  They're a huge ratings hit.

I've been amazed at the comments on Facebook about this photo of Korie Robertson.  The critics are downright nasty about this picture and are calling it "porn" and the Robertsons "sellouts."  They look at this picture and see sex.

I look at this picture and I see a happily married Christian woman with a great figure in an original duck-camo pattern dress.   Beautiful.

What do you see?

Lower Than Obama

I tried to tell you that Gov. Bobby Jindal is not everyone's favorite governor ages ago.

Now we have the poll:

Gov. Bobby Jindal's approval rating dropped from 51 percent in October to just under 38 percent in March due to voter dissatisfaction with state fiscal and education policies, according to a poll released Tuesday. Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and U.S. Sen. David Vitter -- both possible candidates for Jindal's job in 2015 -- had approval ratings near 60 percent.

Ouch.

Where's Senator Landrieu in this poll?

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, among a group of congressional Democrats seen as highly vulnerable ahead of next year's mid-term elections, also saw her approval rating drop nearly 6 points to 56 percent. Over half of Louisiana voters polled said they would be less likely to vote for Landrieu knowing she voted for the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. 

It's true, people will be slow to forget "Louisiana Purchase" Mary".

Governor Jindal, however, is drawing fire from many areas, the least of which right now is his sales tax proposal.  Jeff Sadow has much more on that:

In essence, the plan eliminates all state income taxes in favor of an increased sales tax on more items, provides income support for individuals making $20,000 or less in earning or those drawing retirement pay at $60,000 or less, eliminates some exceptions to the tax code while retaining those designed to shield basic necessities from sales taxes, and raises taxes dramatically on tobacco consumption. The state calculates the net impact to be a small gain to the lowest-income earners with higher gains for highest-income earners, while business may end up paying more but will be advantaged by lower administrative costs and an increased amount of revenue with more money in the mass public freed up to be spent. 

 Jindal's school voucher plan is before the Louisiana Supreme Court right now; the teacher unions as plaintiffs have multiple appeals in place.

Speaking of teachers, Jindal's new Compass evaluation system kicked in at the same time teachers are trying to implement a new Common Core curriculum, and both are fraught with problems.

Gov. Jindal has also infuriated groups with his cuts to higher education.

In a Salon piece, Joan Walsh mocked Gov. Jindal's Republican convention speech and noted the criticism against him:

Yet Jindal’s other cruel cuts are set to stand – cuts to battered women’s shelter programs, to higher education, preschool programs, anti-truancy efforts and a range of other efforts to make life better for low-income people. Meanwhile Jindal wants to replace the state’s income tax with more regressive sales taxes. 

Jindal is getting it from all sides these days.

But when your numbers are lower than Obama's?  Well, that's baaaaaad.

(H/T:  Memeorandum)

It Begins

The Palinization of Dr. Ben Carson begins; after a shouting match on Hannity, Leo Terrell calls Dr. Carson a "puppet" created by Sean Hannity:

Then things really got heated when Terrell said, “You created Dr. Carson ever since February 15. All of a sudden he knows everything about politics. You created a monster. You created a guy who has fifteen minutes of fame. He’s out of time now. He has no more fame.”

Because we all know that you can't be a politician if you don't know anything about politics, right?

(Via Newsbusters)

Just Say No

I dislike the implications in this post via The Corner:

North Texas will host what could be the first showdown of the 2016 presidential campaign. 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are scheduled to speak at separate events in the Dallas area on April 24, the day before the potential presidential contenders are expected to attend the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

No more Bushes.

Get Ready for Higher Gas Prices

Get ready to dig a little deeper; via Heritage:

The EPA’s new Tier 3 regulations require a reduction in the amount of sulfur in gasoline to an average of 10 parts per million (ppm) by January 2017, down 70 percent from the current average of 30ppm today. The new regulation is similar to those standards of California, Japan, and South Korea. 

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute found that reducing sulfur to 10ppm will increase gas prices 6 cents to 9 cents per gallon—although the study does not specifically analyze the newly proposed EPA regulation. The analysis also mentions that if the EPA proposes an additional vapor reduction regulation, that cost increase will skyrocket to 25 cents per gallon.

The environmental impact is expected to be negligible.

The best part:

Because refineries operate on such thin margins already, implementation of these regulations could result in a number of refinery closures. Such closures could squeeze supply chains and further increase the price of gas.

EPA unhinged.  Just in time for summer.

Therapy Gardening

Well, it's back to work tomorrow.  I've been off since Mom died on the 19th.  It will be two weeks tomorrow.  Spring Break was last week and schools were closed today following the Easter holiday.

Back to reality tomorrow.  In a way it will be good; it's good to keep busy.  And, the end of school is in sight - we have something like 40 more days.

Today was a beautiful day; I spent most of the day working in the yard.  There's nothing like digging in the dirt for therapy!  I used to have a really pretty backyard but then we got a second dog.  My Boston Terrier did little harm to the backyard and it stayed lush and beautiful; then we got the Lab.  Now my backyard looks like a barren wasteland.  It's literally unrecognizable.  It's awful.

And on top of that, the drought year before last killed off a number of shrubs back there that I never got around to replacing.  I really had planned on re-sodding the backyard over spring break but was discouraged by voices of experience who warned me that my Lab would keep it from taking root.

It's getting better, though.  You'll have to trust me when I tell you that I've spent two really good days working back there and even still you can barely tell a difference, although by the end of the afternoon today I can say I'm starting to see some progress.  I even went out on a leap of faith and planted a few flowers.  They probably won't last a week (dog!), but they look hopeful right now.

So far, over the past two weeks, I've pruned three crape myrtles, cleaned out six flower beds, dug up one dead shrub, bagged fourteen bags of oak leaves from the neighbor's tree, mowed for the first time this season, planted twelve hollyhock roots, two phlox, two giant elephant ears, one delphinium plant, one avocado tree (started from a seed last year), fertilized the hostas who are bravely peeking up through the surface, planted a pot of basil on the deck and a few annuals in containers.

If half of that lives then it might be habitable back there this summer.

And if it doesn't, well, it was good therapy anyway.

Columnist Wants to Cut Military Funeral Benefit

Next to the guy that posted the Cesar Chavez on Google today, the next most unpopular guy in America right now might be St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan.

Mr. McClellan reports that his inbox is overflowing with people who "want to get rid" of him after he wrote two columns on doing away with military funeral honors for all veterans except those who were actually killed in combat:

But what about the guy who spends a couple of years in the military and then gets on with his life? Bear in mind that most veterans did nothing heroic. They served, and that’s laudable, but it hardly seems necessary to provide them all with military honors after they have died.

McClellan suggests that the free space and headstone in a national cemetery ought to be sufficient.

Tom Blumer at Newsbusters asks:

Well, what about those who incurred serious service-connected disabilities as a result of their "non-heroic" service? (The level of disability claims has from all appearances gotten completely out of control, but that's a separate topic. I'm discussing veterans with legitimate and provable physical and mental injuries resulting from their service.)

Indeed, by Mr. McClellan's theory, those people would not eventually be entitled to a funeral with military honors either.

McClellan's suggestion is that local service organizations pick up the tab:

Why not let the veterans organizations provide military honors at the funerals of their members? If a person gets out of the Marine Corps and wants to stay connected, he can join the Marine Corps League. I’m sure the 101st Airborne has an association. In a more general vein, we have the American Legion and the VFW.

In other words, if you want a military funeral you would have to join a service organization.  Service organizations certainly do a lot for our vets.  The American Legion post we belong to raises money for the troops and sends boxes of necessities to those who are deployed; the members participate in Veterans Day ceremonies, Memorial Day ceremonies, members volunteer their time to visit vets in nursing homes, and countless other efforts.  I guess adding funeral honor detail wouldn't be that much of a step and many would do it voluntarily, but that's not the point.

The sequester has indeed forced many painful budget cuts for all of us but it seems to me if the taxpayers can still afford to pay security detail for Obama's jaunts to the golf course then in all likelihood the taxpayer won't begrudge a veteran a military funeral.  Logic like McClellan's is the kind that suggests we cut tuition assistance to vets or assistance to homeless vets.  Oh, wait...

In his follow up column, McClellan points out that after getting out of the service he availed himself of the GI bill and now considers his country's debt to him square.  That, of course, is not an option our vets will have now, is it?

Only to Bill McClellan, perhaps, would a tour in Vietnam sound like a vacation; in writing about a friend that got drafted, he explains...:

He ended up in Vietnam. He was a little cog in the big wheel. He sorted mail. Honorable, but not heroic. He had an apartment in Saigon. The bar girls were attractive and friendly; the dope was plentiful and cheap. It was the best year of his life. 

If he were to get full military honors at his funeral, I don’t know what the bugler should play. Maybe something from Jimi Hendrix. 

I am not demeaning my friend’s service. I come from a long line of non-heroes. My dad was at Guadalcanal. He ran the largest still on the island. When he died, I did not choose to have a military funeral. I bought a bottle of very good whiskey.

I guess we all come from different perspectives, and I thank Mr. McClellan for his service, but for my part I don't begrudge any vet military honors at his funeral whether he served 2 years or twenty.  McClellan ties all this to the idea of heroism and to me that misses the point.

The Old Jarhead:

To measure whether an American citizen is a “hero” or not because of his combat experiences is bordering on lunacy. By serving our country, without running off to Canada, puts us in the precarious position of becoming a “hero” IF we are called to defend our country or any people in any country. I never expected to spend time inVietnam, but I was there anyway and I could have been a “hero” by McClellans’ standards. But I do not believe that we joined the military just so that we could be “heroes.’

Most vets, even those on Guadalcanal or Iwo Jima or anywhere else, seldom see themselves as heroes.  They will tell you they were just doing their job. Most Medal of Honor recipients, for example, always say, "I was just doing my job."  They don't see themselves as heroes.

Apparently, neither does Bill McClellan.

By the way, consider making a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.  It's a great organization and if the VA takes Mr. McClellan's advice, WWP might really need your donation.  They don't care how many years you served or if you came back alive in order to give aid.

(H/T:  The Old Jarhead)

Have a Happy Easter Despite Google

Happy Easter!

Unless you live under a rock you will have heard (or seen) already about the Google choice today to honor Cesar Chavez rather than Easter.  I'm not going to reproduce the Google shot here; I prefer the bunnies playing baseball, an image from the NY public library.The web is aflame with outrage.

A sampling:

Ed Driscoll wonders:

I wonder if anyone at Google has read Miriam Pawel’s The Union of Their Dreams, or read Caitlin Flanagan’s 4500-word review of it in the Atlantic in 2011: “The Madness of Cesar Chavez: A new biography of the icon shows that saints should be judged guilty until proved innocent.” Read the whole thing. 

Read the Atlantic piece Driscoll links; it's interesting.

The Twitchy team notes that it is also Al Gore's birthday.  No doodle for the inventor of the internet?

Eric Mack has some Twitter reactions, including this one from Dana Perino:

Patterico notes that Google ignores most religious holidays.

Gulag Bound is outraged and switching to Bing:

Remember, Obama, the Department of Education and the Common Core Standards are teaching in our schools that Cesar Chavez is a “hero of the people.” Only if you are Marxist is this true. And now you see the U.S. government in true fascist style, place ideologues over faith. Every time I see pictures such as Cesar Chavez or more commonly Barack Obama’s arrogant visage, I see snapshots of Stalin, Mao, Lenin and Hitler in my mind’s eye. The faces have changed, but not the Google evil message.

I Hate the Media isn't surprised:

Frankly, we’re surprised they didn’t have a picture of Obama on the cross, ready to be resurrected so he can go play golf.

The American Conservative sees the Google Doodle as just another step in the desensitization of Christianity:

It’s a small thing, of course, but this kind of thing, accumulated, signals an intentional de-Christianization of our culture, and the creation of an intentional hostility to Christianity that will eventually cease to be latent, or minor. It cannot have been an accident that Google decided to honor a relatively obscure cultural figure instead of observing the most important Christian holiday, a day of enormous importance to an overwhelming number of people in the United States, and to an enormous number of people around the world.

Of course, the left thinks the outrage is ridiculous.  Naturally.

By the way, Bing has Easter eggs:

Happy Easter!

More reactions at Memeorandum.

Take A Spring Break Trip To Arcadia, Louisiana

Steve and I added a new day trip destination to our rotation today - we branched out and drove over to Arcadia today.

Arcadia, Louisiana is probably best known these days for the Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days which is, as best I can tell, like a Louisiana version of Canton, Texas.  It's a giant vendor shopping extravaganza with everything from pets, to crafts, to plants to antiques.  Notorious outlaws Bonnie and Clyde were finally killed in 1934 on a rural road near Arcadia.

Arcadia has been known in years past for a thriving antique business.  It's a tiny town with a population of about 3,000 and the downtown area, centered mostly on a square, used to be filled with antique shops.  Now there are about five or so, but they are wonderful shops!

We never take the interstate if we can help it, but we took I-20 to Minden, then jumped off onto Highway 80 which curves and winds its way through the hilly rural countryside.  It was a pretty drive.

We got to Arcadia in time for lunch so we stopped at Sharon's Cafe; there were lots of cars in the parking lot and lots of what looked to be work trucks so we took that as a good sign.  Sharon's is your typical hot plate lunch place with paneled walls and red plastic tea glasses.  The specials were on the wall:

I took a pass on the Neckbones and went for the chicken fried steak, as did Steve.

It was pretty darn good.  Tucked over there on the left side of the plate is hot water cornbread and you could still the the imprints of the fingers that shaped it!  No frozen cornbread here.

The pies were tempting...

...but we had shopping to do so we paid up and hit the road.

We hit the first store, Trash to Treasures, on Maple Street.  I was in total depression glass heaven:

There was another shelf of the pink glass, a shelf of cobalt, and another of amber.  I'm partial to the green so this is about as far as I got.

On the top shelf in this picture is a wonderful Pyramid pattern relish dish; that's my favorite pattern, but it had a significant chip in it so I left it there.  There were some wonderful pieces here that I seldom see anywhere else, but I didn't want to spend all my money in the very first store so I wanted to wait on my glass purchase until I'd looked around more.

I did love this little railroad sugar and creamer set:

A nifty file that was outside:

We started to leave the store and when we were outside we realized the store was bigger than we thought.  There was a fenced in area and then it adjoined another building.  We saw a fellow walking around in there and I said, "Hey!  How'd you get in there!"  and he told us.  So, we went back in and followed his directions to picker heaven.  I mean, that guy from American Pickers would have gone nuts in this place:

A player piano:

and a bar:

A great chair:

I found this great old record player:

What's on the spindle, you ask?

Brenda Lee, of course.  You know, the kids I teach today would have no idea what this is.

I saw this old Coca-Cola cooler and thought of my friend Milly Rose:

There were several of these cool dividers that came out of one of the casinos:

They were actually quite large and very, very heavy.


We kept digging and poking around and I found these:

Barrister bookshelves!  Love!  Had to have them.  The owner told me they came from the Capitol building in Baton Rouge ages ago; during a remodel they were just throwing them out back and some guy picked up as many as he could.  They're very, very old and I totally love them.  The glass is intact on the front and the company labels are perfect.

We secured them in the back of the Jeep and continued shopping.

We stopped by the post office which was built in 1937.  It has a cool mural called "Cotton Time" which was painted by a WPA artist (1930s -1940s).

Here's a close up of one section:

Loved it.

Our next shop was Old Towne Marketplace on Myrtle St.

Jadeite heaven:

I took one look at this shelf and went back to the counter to ask if they took credit cards.  They don't.  Nobody there takes credit cards.  If you go to Arcadia, take cash or a checkbook.  I'd have cleaned them out of Jadeite if they'd taken plastic.  As it was, it took one of the refrigerator dishes.

I thought this jar was cool:

The lid was crockery.

Another Coca-Cola item:

I ended up buying my Jadeite piece, two black Americana postcards, and a first edition of Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children.

The lady that ran this shop was super nice and I enjoyed shopping there.

Next was a little rest break in a comfy rocker in the town park:

Our last shop was First Street Antiques - another lovely shop.

Loved this pie safe:

And I found these great Fire King mugs, and if they'd been Jadeite, they'd be mine, but I already have three or four in this color so I left them.  These are great mugs; they're super thick and heavy and they keep your coffee hot for a long time!

(I'm not talking about that one with the wheat pattern; that one didn't interest me.)

Thermos bottles - all sizes!

And I love that Formica table they're on.

They had all kinds of drip coffee pots (which make THE BEST coffee, even though I love my Keurig.  My drip coffee pot is unbeatable).

How about this serious, heavy-duty pressure cooker?

There was a lot of Fostoria American around and this punch bowl was marked $45 - a steal.  The tag said it had a "factory defect" but I couldn't see it:

I love enamelware, for some reason, and I have a lot of it, but I don't have one of these coffee pots.  They're always marked around $45.  Steep.

I loved these old post office boxes; the shop owner suggested they'd make a great room divider.  They are truly awesome:

I bought a Jadeite reamer from this shop; it was priced very low because it had a tiny chip in it which mattered less than none at all to me.

So after we exhausted all the shops we checked out the war memorial:

Then headed over to the railroad depot museum.  The proprietor was just locking up but she saw our pitiful faces and took us on a quick tour.

There is a ton of Arcadia history in this place.  The depot itself it preserved; she showed us where the "colored" waiting room was, and the "white" waiting room.  There are lots of old photos from the school which were nearly destroyed before being rescued and preserved here:

This old cheerleader uniform has the tiniest waist I've ever seen:

An old ice box:

and a fabulous old wood burning stove:

Steve got a kick out of this old Possum Festival poster (they used to have a huge Possum Festival in Arcadia and raised huge sums of money for St. Jude):

And outside is a "marker" for the possums:

They have a Bonnie and Clyde exhibit in the Depot museum; this is a book that was in the car when they were shot:

It's in a glass shadowbox.  There are coroner's reports there, and newspapers, lots of photos.  It's a nice exhibit if your into that sort of thing.  I have trouble glorifying murderers, but that's just me.

We packed it all in and headed for home.  We stopped in Minden to say hey to Milly Rose and grab some dinner at Habacu's then called it a day.

Arcadia is a great place to visit and shop and we'll be back.  Just leave the credit cards at home.  They won't do you any good.  There are lots of historical landmarks around the area to see that we didn't have time for today.

But, summer is coming!

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:

Take a Trip to the 2012 Natchitoches Christmas FestivalTake a Trip to the 2012 Grand Cane Pioneer Day and Christmas Parade

Take a Trip to the 2012 Highland Jazz and Blues Festival

Take a Trip to the 2012 Vets for Vets Event

Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Photographs of the Vietnam War Exhibit

Take a Trip to Octoberfest 2012 at Barksdale Air Force Base

Take a Picnic Trip to the Lock and Dam and a Detour to Lake Bistineau

Take a Dinner Ride Through East Texas

Take a Trip to an End of Summer Party and Listen to Soulfish Blues Band

Take a Summer Trip to Jefferson, Texas and Meet New Friends

Take a Trip to Dallas, Texas and The West End

Take a Stocking the Freezer Trip to Ed Lester Farms and Find a Cool Truck!

Take a Trip to Coushatta Down Louisiana Backroads

Take a Sunday Drive in North Caddo Parish

Take a Trip to Minden's First Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival

Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to the Fourth Annual Barksdale AFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to the Third Annual BAFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
Take a Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Oktoberfest at BAFB