Neff Zone Column - January 30, 2009

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Print Edition: January 30, 2009

STUFF FROM THE CRATE

It’s time to dive into the crate beneath my desk and see what’s accumulated. This is where I keep all the items that didn’t make it into previous columns, so the mix is rather eclectic.

Some good news about Michigan is always appreciated and according to a Gannett News Service analysis Michigan has the second highest percentage of core classes being taught by highly qualified teachers. Michigan scored a 99.6% with only North Dakota’s 100% being better. The bottom state was Hawaii at 64.9%. Locally, the Cadillac Schools rated a 100%...

Also on the education front, the deficit-ridden Detroit schools, which is $139 million in the red, has to give back $16.3 million in federal aid because they can’t figure out how to spend it. The money is eligible to be used for professional development, parental involvement, and for paying salaries for more teachers, but the geniuses that run the Detroit schools could not figure out how to make that happen. Here’s a thought, send that money up north. Every school district above US-10 would be happy to have the "problem" of having to spend $16 million, or any portion thereof…

The revelation that Tim Geithner, the new U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, can’t even figure out how to pay his own taxes has led to conservatives calling him a crook and then making the quantum leap that because of Geithner all Obama appointees must then obviously be crooks too. OK, Geithner is fair game. But for the record, just a cursory check of the facts would also reveal that the Bush administration had at least 10 political appointees who pled guilty or were convicted of crimes, 26 more who resigned due to investigations, and 5 more who failed to make it through the nominating process because of scandal. That’s a total of 41 and I’m leaving out all of 2008 and Karl Rove. The Reagan administration had 29 appointees convicted of crimes...

Speaking of now ex-president Bush, the Detroit Free Press thinks his legacy will live on. In an editorial the paper observed: "The Bush mind-set may live on, even if most of its practices do not. The administration has operated largely by plumbing the fears unleashed on 9/11 and coding its actions as protecting the American people. In one of the great contradictions of modern messaging, government has simultaneously been ‘the problem and not the solution’ AND the paternalistic overlord that keeps its citizens safe." If you’ve ever read the chilling George Orwell novel 1984, this is what Orwell called doublethink…

Aw, maybe who’s president may not matter anyway. According to a leading Russian political analyst (reported by USA Today), by 2010 the United States will break up into six parts amid chaos and civil war. Under this scenario, California will be under the influence of China and Texas will go to Mexico. Michigan will be annexed by Canada. Thank goodness, at least we’ll be part of a country that knows how to play hockey and brew really good beer, eh?...

One argument against universal health care is that anything run by the government will be less efficient than the same thing run by private insurers. Interesting because according to the Urban Institute public health care programs spend about 5% on administrative costs while private insurers spend from 12-23% for the same administration…

In the world of sports, the NCAA is clamping down on college basketball programs. No longer will they be able to recruit seventh and eighth graders. This only applies to "men’s" programs, though, so middle school girls are still fair game. No word yet on rules applying to pre-schoolers…

Responding to my column about old time hockey in Cadillac, reader Jerry Tossey called me with some information. Tossey was part of the crew who put up the lights and scoreboard and built the bleachers at the Lincoln softball field. In fact, he was the first scoreboard operator and was paid the princely sum of $1 per night. He remembered that in 1949-50 there were two skating/hockey rinks in Cadillac, one at Lincoln and one at Diggins Hill, both of which he assured me had rounded corners. He was on a Cadillac hockey team that played teams from Manistee and Traverse City. They played in shirts that were left over from football. Tossey left Cadillac for a stint in the Air Force in 1951…

Do you know what one of the hottest new sports is? Competitive jump rope. The sport combines gymnastics, cheerleading, break dancing and rope jumping. There are three national organizations, 100,000 competitive jumpers, and the sport is lobbying for inclusion in the 2016 Olympics…

Finally, as a public service, here is the website where you can check what foods are being recalled due to salmonella in peanut products: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html#products. There are about 400 items on the list and it’s growing by the day.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.