I'm very proud of the Reader for this piece, the entire coverage of Jeff Olson's ordeal, and for exposing the audacity of the City Attorney for prosecuting Olsen with taxpayer dollars (the City Attorney should not only be dismissed but also be order to pay all court expenses out-of-pocket). This made National news, and thanks to Mr. Hargrove, it is a perfect example of how alternative weekly publications are notoriously necessary, since mainstream media fails to provide proper coverage on how all branches of government are so easily manhandled by huge corporations. Olson has proven his point here, even more so than having done nothing more than drawing what amounts to harmless hopscotch chalk patterns on city sidewalks, in that large corporate entities seem to be powerful enough to direct the government to cast off a shoe and use it to smash us often-helpless slugs into submission. Good job Mr. Hargrove, and good job Mr. Olson, I thank you both.

Radio lives and dies by the "book", meaning the ratings books that come out quarterly (or at least when I last looked.) In the biz, most of the overpriced talent knows that if the ratings, meaning listener-ship, isn't there, you die. That contract comes across as something no broadcaster would ever abide by, because it just takes too long to react. Some years back the then "all news" local station KSDO was using the redoubtable Ernie Myers as a morning news personality. A couple weak quarters and he was gone. He didn't sue, didn't complain, and slipped away into the sunset because he knew how the game was played.

I'd say the guy has a case, in that when a book or two didn't look strong, they just let him go, forger the contract. That was usual radio operations, but then why did the station make such a commitment? We may never know.

If you want undiluted Hacksaw Hamilton, listen to the station, and he'll erase your mind. Can't say where I would go that would actually allow conversation.

Honored to have your thoughts and your hands on experience Dave. I, too, have been hearing the buzz words common core generally let them wash over me with the associated buzz word "critical thinking." I think the advice people have reiterated on this blog about educating oneself...not just relying on the buzz words...is important.

Separate from or maybe part of the discussion: I just want children to learn to love to read--that will take them 9/10 of the way they need to go.

David Rice - you are not alone, many of us must be your neighbors under that rock. SUHSD announced they were going to CC at a board meeting and voted on it. I have been waiting for an in depth interactive meeting to explain, but alas none to date.

Regarding the 'selling of CC material' - now at SUHSD that should be interesting. You see we have gone to IPADS, that was SUPPOSE to be the saving grace. The only problem, a couple of weeks ago the entire IT system crashed when the IPAD students took a test. Did the community warn of such things, that would be a yes; did Ed Brand listen, that would be a no. When a parent and IT expert offered her professional opinion regarding our lack of ban width and other options that might be investigated our Superintendent called her boss and allegedly insinuated she had broken some employer rule. Ah yes, that is our reality in the South Bay under the reign of Stalin, I mean Ed Brand. No doubt Brand will come up with some new idea, some new scheme that he will try and sell as education - in my opinion, I agree with those throughout the city and county who are of the opinion, that he is nothing more than a charlatan. 'We need it for CC he will say'. Wonder how much it will cost us?

To add to the conversation many have accused the district of placing our non English speakers in special Ed. How will this demographic be taught?

The students of SUHSD who have been taught the traditional way, the very students who will be expected to change mid stream. What of the testing scores they need to gain entry into College? How will that be addressed, since, as reported, there is an expectation that scores will drop as dramatically as the balances in SUHSD accounts have since Brand then 'the gandara' and now back to Brand again.

In closing, I see major problems on the horizon - I see massive amounts of monies for CC being spent, I see the trials, I see a new board, I see Brand being shown the door, and then what?

This is the partner of "VigilantinCV." Susan is absolutely correct about how important being able to read is -- almost. The rest of the equation is math, particularly algebra. I was an accounting major and I was surprised how often simple algebra helped me figure out an accounting problem. Even more surprising to me was how helpful simple algebra has been useful all my life in doing word problems. And I don't mean word problems out of a textbook, but real-life problems. A situation will come up and, usually involving some numbers, and if you state the problem and then write it down in equation form, it is easy to solve. The "=" is the "is." Just state a problem in English and when you come to the "is," you have the equation.

I am 82 with a Ph.D. in economics and cannot see why my education with rote learning of the multiplication tables, plus algebra isn't the way to go.

Susan, your comment about just wanting children to love to read is spot on. I filled my home with magazines, fiction, non-fiction and even pulp journals. It doesn't matter so much what they read as long as they are reading a large sample of available literature. Reading enjoyment and comprehension will enable a person to understand and learn almost any subject and be a benefit throughout life. Also enjoyed vigilantinCV's comment about math. So very true!

If the other guys are cutting prices, it is because sales, er, enrollment, is down, and probably sharply. I think the word is getting out there that spending on education doesn't have the payback we have assumed for generations. And that is true especially for these mills that charge an "arm and a leg" and deliver a poor product. It may take a long time for the public to really wise up to what the for-profit colleges are doing, but I'd say this marks the beginning of a decline for them. It may be years before they fold up, but such companies are on the way out, unless they make major changes of priority and direction.

Learning that Clark is cutting his holdings of the stock in his own company tells a story too. If he thought it was on a growth track he would not sell but rather buy more stock. He sees the handwriting on the wall.

Don, while I don't dispute anything you said here, one thing seldom mentioned is just how the Fed could have steered the bucks to Main Street. This sort of monetary stimulus used to work to speed up the mainstream economy, and it isn't working this time. You've criticized "trickle down" economics as a flop, yet that is what I see here. That is, this stimulus should have trickled down to Main Street, and may be doing that to a small degree. But that effect is far too little and too late for a robust recovery, which we may never see. The scary part is that this sort of money supply expansion always creates inflation, and the sheer size of the expansion this time is breathtaking. We may be in for decades of inflation as a result, and those of us of a certain age can recall the late 70's and early 80's only with a twinge in the gut. That inflation was corrosive, and coincided with the start of the contraction of real wages in the US that continues to this day. We will live with the effects of this "easing" for a long, long time.

I have taken shit for not wanting kids. It's just what happens when you make the decision not to breed. Even lost a girlfriend over the hypothetical kids she might have (maybe) someday thought about having, even though she was only "pretty sure" at the time!

I've got my own reasons for never wanting to do it, but I sure don't look to anyone else to justify them. By the same token, I take short shrift with people who want to cram baby pictures into my face and be all like, "ooooh like at this little critter that I grew in my uterus!" It's amazing, in the same way that all biological phenomena are amazing, but I resent being expected to admire someone's ability to make a baby. Like, seriously, guppies can do it. Guppies.

The funny thing is, whether or not to procreate becomes this really weird line along which to divide people and it's definitely not a this or that subject. People's opinions on the subject are highly individualized.

Anecdote one: I have a friend who rants and raves about how he is "never having kids," yet talks about his plans to, like, foster and adopt a whole basketball team at some point in life. To me, it seems like he makes an arbitrary and really pretty ridiculous distinction between what amounts to exactly the same thing. Kids are pretty much the same to me, regardless of who's DNA floats in their cell nuclei.

Anecdote two: I remember making fun of one of my friends and calling her a "breeder" for having this whole grip of kids. It's kind of funny, because she's as much lesbian as one could be (spiky crewcut and cargo shorts fuhreallllz), and the gay crowd used to have exclusive domain over the term "breeder," using it as a mildly derogatory term for us straight folks. I threw the term at her with more than a hint of irony, natch.

Now, I almost feel like straight people who don't want kids are more in the "weird camp" than gay peeps!

What a wild world, huh?

I'm willing to bet that childlessness and atheism are the two biggest social stumbling blocks in the urban world these days.

That, and being female. Misogyny remains the king of discrimination in our enlightened age, but that's a different tale entirely.

My mini- me daughter is my best friend, no one else would fill that. That's me, no shame.

If someone is "free", that must include the freedom to ingest substances that aren't good for them. There is no moral support for the "War on Drugs"... the intention was to go after the effects of drug use, and has failed badly.

Legalize it. Tax it. Bring it out into the light. If someone wants to blaze away 24/7, that's their business. If they then want to do something stupid or criminal, there are laws for that. get stoned and drive? Already illegal. Commit burglaries to buy dope? Already illegal. Want to give pot to a kid? Illegal.

Stop the hand-wringing. Time for the nattering ninnies to shut up. Don't want to use pot? Don't. But you don't have a right for nobody else to use it because you disapprove.

Daaaaamn. I call a place "rad" (with italics, mind you!) and "the niftiest idea to hit North Park in a while" (or something to that effect) and I still can't catch any love. Can't even praise a place without getting hatemails. What's the world coming to?!

I guess everybody is used to pseudo-journalism and PR-hackery. We must break them of that terrible addiction.

:heads off to speak more truth

Too bad--would have been great for the OTL finals every year.

It'd be interesting to see how a earthquake (at the minimum) be responded to. Add the update of the city fire/police need to make. Speaking of "expense" above, as I not wanting to be the first to say the word.