The Wine Commonsewer™

Milton Friedman's Centennial

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The godfather of school choice was born a century ago today, which is why Mrs TWC is having a leisurely breakfast on Waikiki Beach this morning. Nope, we didn't get to tag along. No way to scrounge up the cash for spendy airline tickets after the fuel bill came in from the Lake Powell outing last week ($5.48 per gallon at Dangling Rope Marina).

Later tonight, the missus will be speaking at a Grassroot Institute dinner in honor of Milton Friedman. As many long-time readers know, Mrs TWC is one of the leading school choice advocates in the country. 

TWC isn't especially overwhelmed by celebrity status. You might say that having my picture snapped with a rock star or politician isn't on my bucket list. Yet, it was kind of intriguing to actually meet Milton Friedman in person. No, I didn't spend much time in deep, philosophical conversation with the man. I mean, what, exactly, do you say to this dimunitive guy in the Aloha shirt? Good Job, Man(?) I guess I could have mentioned how much I enjoyed his book, Free to Choose. 

Milton with our friends Shikha and Arthur (May 2006)

As Always,

TWC

Mrs TWC on Stossel Tonight

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Mrs TWC appears on the John Stossel show, No They Can't, Friday night and a repeat performance on Saturday night. Airtime: 10:00 EDT and 7:00 PDT on Fox News Channel.

Money Quote:

Lisa Snell from the Reason Foundation explains how the government's own research found that Head Start did not help poor kids. Government's response? Spend even more.

Mrs TWC is Director of Education & Child Welfare at the prestigious Reason Foundation.

Thanks for your interest.

As Always,

TWC

Mrs TWC on Stossel Show

Mrs TWC will show her smiling face in John Stossel's new documentary, No They Can't scheduled for Friday 10 PM EDT (7 PM PDT) on Fox News Channel.

 

Ron Paul Wins Another Straw Poll Mrs TWC on Education Reform Spoiled Wine

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Say what you want about Ron Paul but The Man can turn out a crowd. When we rolled up to valet parking at the Marriott in LA, both sides of Olympic Boulevard were teeming with Paulistas waiting for his imminent arrival. Bullhorn Man crackled a warning: Two Minutes! The boisterous crowd erupted into cheers. Ron Paul! Ron Paul! Bullhorn Man was a bit optimistic on the timing of the arrival.

Paulistas From Here to Nokia Theater, Which Hosts the Emmys Tonight

Mrs TWC had a 9:00 AM call time for her panel on education reform, so she and moi weren't there to greet Ron Paul anyway. The California GOP convention scheduled Ron Paul's speech in the same time slot as the education reform panel, so there was some concern that his popularity would keep people away.

A half hour later, wild raucous cheering exploded through the hotel. Clearly, the Grand Entrance was under way. The cacohony momentarily interrupted our panel, which was upstairs on the second floor behind closed doors. Though nobody said his name, everybody knew, and most people smiled.

Mrs TWC

And who did Marriott hire to come up with the hideous yet unending circles? Pretty stoopid selection if your goal is to encourange an audience to focus on the speaker. 

There may have been a few no-shows to the education panel, but it was a good crowd and included a couple of obvious teacher's union plants. Those guys were good on drama but they really need the other kind of drama lessons. After blathering inteminably, one shill demanded that panelist Ben Chavis pipe down and hear her out.....I listened to you! Now it's my turn!  Really?

Straw Poll results here. Yes I know Straw Polls don't translate well into electoral victories. Yes I know that Paulistas are enthusiastic, young, mostly pretty tech savvy, and, more importantly, they show up and vote.

And the spoiled wine? Later several of us, including Ben Boychuk and Larry Sand, adjourned for lunch where TWC was served a glass of Franciscan Merlot that had obviously been stored uncorked next to the stove for a week. At twelve bucks a glass, the bartender should not be serving wine that has turned. And room temperature isn't 85 degrees. This happens way, way too frequently. Props to the waiter for cheerfully swapping out the spoiled wine for a fresh glass from a fresh bottle. If in doubt, Gentle Reader, always send it back. Life is too short to drink bad wine.

We report. You decipher.

As Always,

TWC

Mrs TWC On Expensive Schools That Don't Educate

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Mrs TWC in The New York Times with a better idea than maintaining separate schools for the deaf at a cost of $87K per kid.

Whole thing here.

As Always,

TWC

For those who don't know, the missus is Director of Education at Reason Foundation

School Choice is #Winning (Braggin' On The Old Lady & Clare)

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

As Mrs TWC points out in her presentation, if students in Compton Unified manage to graduate from high school at all, only 1.5% of them make it to college.

The public school monopoly and the teacher unions have had decades to fix this problem and have, at best, allowed these children to be denied an adequate education. At worst they are complicit in the destruction of generations of perfectly good minds.

It is time to try something other than the status quo, which is why the school choice movement is so important.

For those of you who don't know, Mrs TWC is the Director of Education at Reason Foundation in Los Angeles and school reform is her life's work. Clare Mullin is Senior Program Officer at Gleason Foundation.

As Always,

TWC

 

Mrs TWC On NPR

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

If it interests you, Lisa is scheduled to appear on the Pat Morrison show on NPR (89.3 FM) in Los Angeles around 2:00 PST. She'll be discussing universal pre-school. It may be broadcast nationwide on NPR, if not, you can listen local here. 

As Always,

TWC

Mrs TWC On With The Judge

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

For those of you who are interested, Mrs TWC is scheduled to discuss education reform on Judge Napolitano's show on Fox (Faux News for you lefites). She's taping this afternoon at Fox Studios in LA and we assume the show will air tonight (but we don't know for certain). 

Unlike his cousin J-No, who is Big Sis at DHS, Judge Napolitano is a nice libertarian boy. 

As Always,

TWC

No I don't think she's really his cousin. 

Mrs TWC Talks School Choice with John Stossel

Permanent link to the video is here.

What Schools Teach About Terrorism

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Mrs TWC wrote this in response to the way in which public education reacted to the criminal terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The essay appeared September 15, 2001 on Mrs TWC's blog and was reprinted elsewhere a number of times. I've quoted from it several times, but never posted it. In re-reading it yesterday I realized that it is as salient as the day it was written......

    I have a three year old and a five year old and I want them to feel safe. Having said that, the media coverage of the impact of the terrorist attacks on America's children is sickeningly trite and leaves one with the impression that our school children are extremely coddled. I have been following Education Week's coverage of the terrorist attack "Terror Touches Schools," which has collected newspaper stories about terrorism and children from around the nation.