Florida's School Systems

National studies show that parental and community involvement alone cannot turn around a school system. That requires an effective corps of teachers, principals and other leaders.
A new pay-for-performance program for Florida's teachers, which tied raises and bonuses directly to pupils’ standardized-test scores, was introduced last year.
Teachers unions and some education experts say any effort to evaluate teachers exclusively on test-score improvements will not work, because schools are not factories and their output is not so easily measured. An exam, they say, cannot measure how much teachers have inspired students, or whether they have instilled in them a lifelong curiosity. Moreover, some critics say, the explicit profit motive could overshadow teacher-student relationships.
A study by the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, a research group in Texas, noted that school systems with highly involved teachers and parents can expect higher test scores and better behavior. What do you say?

Have you been to the grocery store lately?

Have you been to the grocery store lately? If you have, you’ve no doubt noticed the cost of food. Wholesale food prices rose nearly 8 percent in the six months ending in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Producer Price Index.
Low-income U.S. consumers spend a much greater proportion of their income on food than high-income consumers do. Their large share combined with less flexibility to adjust expenditures in other budget areas means that any increase in food prices will cause hardship.
Consumers have more power than they realise, they really do have the power to send a message all the way through that complicated supply chain. If the message is frequent, loud and consistent enough, then they can actually change practices.

Standards

A number of Christian groups teach what they call “standards.” Standards, they say, are practical applications of the biblical principles of holiness. Some also suggest that Christian women shouldn’t wear jewelry.
Should Christian women wear make-up or jewelry? Should they care about their physical appearance?

More black women going for white guys

Not many years ago interracial marriage was illegal in many states. It was locked in prejudicial religious beliefs based on the Bible. The National census data showed 117,000 black wife-white husband couples in 2006, up from 95,000 in 2000. There were just 26,000 such couples in 1960. (See the Article More black women going for white guys )
Some churches have a policy forbidding interracial dating and marriage. Is this policy biblical? Should we have such a policy in the church today?

My Wife's Dodge Durango

On Friday, July 13, 2007, I received a call from my son he said that his mother’s car had died. She had the vehicle, a Toyota Corolla for about nine years, with no major problems. My son said, he was driving on the interstate when the check engine light came on. Then the car lost all oil pressure. He felt something give and a loud clicking sound was heard. Needless to say, with a similar incident happening to him only a few months ago while driving his own car, he was very discouraged. In getting to the point, the same day my wife and I talked about purchasing a vehicle.
The following day we went to a car dealership. Even if their ethics are clean, face it—they're pros at selling cars, and you're likely an amateur at buying them. The people at the dealership, nice and smiling though they may be, simply have a different objective in the car transaction than you do. Their goal always is to maximize profit. They all but held my hand at the dealership. And everything was great! We test-drive a few vehicles, but my wife wanted a SUV.
On July 14, 2007, we bought a Dodge Durango fully loaded with bells and whistles. My wife was living large! She loved her Durango. Now today Tuesday, July 17, 2007 I am about to refinance the vehicle at our Credit Union, they are giving us a better interest rate.

Illegal Drugs 2 x 2

For the last five years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Survey on Drug Use and Health has consistently found 0.2 percent of Americans reported meth use within a month of the survey. Four times as many Americans reported regular cocaine use; 30 times more reported regular marijuana use and 90 times more reported binge drinking, according to the report's data.
The image of a teenage kids beating up their own mother so that they can steal money from her purse and the scene in which a young woman has sex in exchange for drugs will not quickly fade from memory.
In August 2005, Newsweek called meth an "epidemic" and a "plague" and slapped the headline "America's Most Dangerous Drug" on its cover.
An increasing number of people are coming to the conclusion that this so-called "war on drugs" has been lost and that other options need to be explored.
Is the current drug-control effort a waste of money and lives? Are there any alternative options?

Illegal Drugs 1 x 2

The involvement of Caribbean youth in drug distribution of marijuana from the mid-1960s to 1981, cocaine hydrochloride powder and crack from 1981 to present, the relationship between the underground economy of drugs and the corporate, capitalist economy is explored. Responding to high rates of unemployment and to other problems, young Caribbean African males established a multimillion dollar marijuana (ganja) trading network which linked cultivators on the islands with exporters/importers and street-level distributors in North American cities. By 1976, its participants had become Rastafarians, or followers of an ideology of self-reliance and indigenous development. They reinvested marijuana revenues to revive various industries. In neighborhoods, marijuana was a "positive vibration" and its distributors were lionized. However, as a child living in Jamaica, by the time I had reached the age of reason, I basically figured out that the marijuana life style was not for me.

China recalls on the news

Thomas the Tank Engine, pet food, toothpaste, and tires. The recalls have filled the papers with negative views of China exports. All of these items have low manufacturing costs and are daily consumer products.
There are many who would argue that the United States does bear some responsibility for the situation in China.