One of my biggest concerns about our nation is the educational system, but I rarely blog about it, because I find the problem so intractable and depressing that I don’t know what to do about it. But Joanne Jacobs has devoted much of her (at least recent) life to the subject, and she has a new book out. Go ye forth and buy it.

This moron would have been better off if he’d stolen a belt.

Rosa Parks has died. Her bravery moved many Americans to the front of many buses, both literally and metaphorically.

I can imagine that the left wingnuts who think that all “right wingers” and “conservatives” are racists, will imagine that Free Republic will be saying things like “good riddance.” Defying the stupid stereotype, au contraire.

John Derbyshire, of all people, has an eloquent tribute to Bob Dylan. He’s mistaken about Mr. Bojangles, though–it was written by Jerry Jeff Walker, not Dylan.

Somehow, I can’t help but think that there’s some kind of relationship between this piece, by Professor Reynolds on the growing paucity of males on campus, and this one, by Professor Hanson, on the feminization, hypocrisy and intellectual bullying, and celebration of mediocrity there.

I’m hearing that Don Adams died yesterday, but I haven’t seen anything yet to link to about it.

[Update in the late afternoon of the east coast]

Dang. I suggest a minute of cone of silence.

[Evening update]

Cathy Seipp remembers him, though I would have thought her too young.

Derek Jeter has gotten hate mail for dating white women, accusing him of being a “traitor to his race.” But he reportedly has a black father and a white mother. So what race is he being a “traitor” to? Who should he date?

Commenter Josh Reiter has some second-hand reporting from the Houston evacuee site:

Many of the people while screaming in anger, spitting, and fist pounding while demanding that they receive better food. Note above that my girlfriend has eaten the food there at the convention center and describes it as the same quality that you’d get at a Chili’s, Fridays, or at worst a Boston Market. They were angrily demanding McDonalds’ value meals to satiate their palates.

One young girl who was pregnant was asked where she was from. She very quietly mumbled something while several people were talking loudly and the buzz of lighting ballasts blared overhead. When asked to repeat herself the girl grabbed the clipboard and pen out of her hand and scribbled a series of indecipherable letters on the form. Then, threw them back down in disgust…

…I understand that anger is one of the natural reponses to a tragic situation. But there is a difference between venting types of anger and those in which someone really shows their true colors. They did nothing but display direct anger at those things and people around them that they truly despise. I think we see here the reason these people are in the situation that they are in for a reason. These people have been giving shelter, comfortable beds, good food, free medical care, free medicine, and money. For which they have little or no consideration for those who are trying to help them or appreciation for what they are being given.

Mark Twain once wrote “…a dog will not bite the hand that feeds him. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.”

I’m listening to Neil Cavuto let Deepak Chopra make an ass of himself on Fox News right now, about how New Orleans is our fault, from global warming, etc.

I’ll probably write more on this, but I’m working on another piece right now about price gouging. Glenn has a sobering email from a colleague that demonstrates that we are always just one brief disaster away from being a third-world country, and how thin and fragile is the veneer of what we call civilization. Lee Harris has additional thoughts.