The koala bear says ...

Happy New Year! Happy 2005! 

Schools not getting job done

This is just sad.

"'No state requires its graduates to take the courses that reflect the real-world demands of work and postsecondary education,' said the report released last week. 'Too many American youth leave high school with a diploma in hand but largely unprepared for the opportunities and challenges that await them in college and the workplace.'"

The Tree!

This is the tree that we use every Christmas! 

The Bird!

The company that I work for has a tradition of giving each employee either a turkey or a ham at Christmas. This is a picture of the smoked turkey that I got, this year. Yay! 

Court Says Disputed Votes Can Be Counted

"The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of state Democrats. It ruled that King County should include hundreds of disputed ballots in its hand recount for the governor's race."

Why?

Bank's account closings eyed

"After three years as an AmSouth Bank customer, Imad Aleithawe got a one-page form letter telling him his account had been closed.

The bank refuses to explain why, citing confidentiality and a broadly written customer agreement allowing accounts to be shut down at any time, 'for any reason.'"

House arrest: Pro and "con"

"'Why even send them to prison?' asked Robert Owens of Greenville, who raised questions in 1996 about association spending after he'd raised thousands for the burn center. 'It's a slap in the face of those who entrusted the system to prosecute and make sure the man is paying for his crime. Instead, he's home watching TV. There are patients staying longer in the burn center than he was in prison.'"

Hard work wins -- still

"A 1994 Times-Mirror Center survey showed that fewer blacks earning more than $50,000 a year believe 'everyone has the power to succeed' in America, than do low-income whites. 'Social programs' like AFDC and food stamps -- government programs designed to 'uplift' the inner city -- create dependency, lessen initiative and harm the very people the do-gooders want to help. During a 1977 Senate hearing on the impact of government programs on neighborhoods, liberal Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wisc., told a witness, 'You would probably have better neighborhoods today if there had been no federal programs at all!'"

Condi's First Test: The Oil-for-Food Scandal

"Although the Iraqi elections on January 30 will top her incoming agenda, the first real indicator of Condi Rice's tenure as Secretary of State will be how she handles something most in her new department would rather ignore: the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal."

The New And Improved Racism

"Still furious about the election, liberals are lashing out at blacks. First it was Condoleezza Rice. But calling a Ph.D. who advised a sitting president during war 'Aunt Jemima' apparently hasn't satiated the Democrats' rage. Even the racist cartoons didn't help.

So this week, they've turned with a vengeance to Clarence Thomas. Only the Democrats would try to distract from their racist attacks on one black Republican by leveling racist attacks against a different black Republican. If Democrats don't nip this in the bud, soon former Klanner and Democratic Sen. Bob Byrd will be their spokesman."