Caroline is wearing the bat wings and "Boss" hat in this pic.

 

"Mommy, I want to fly!"

 

 

We've been a busy bunch lately. Caroline, Isaac, Anna and I have started going to Preschool in the Park, a program put on by the Battery Park Parks department. It's Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 10-12pm at Wagner Park. The park, if you don't know, faces the Statue of Liberty and is mostly enclosed by a low bench type barrier. It's a large grassy area that is perfect for kids to play in. The Parks Dept brings balls, big foam things, dress up toys, play food, building toys and toys that you push around. The kids play for 2 hours and we go home and eat and take a nap. It has been very nice. Of course, Thursday and Friday, we have to improvise our day. Should we take the Staten Island Ferry? Or maybe a Water Taxi? Boats are always big hits with the kids. So is sand. Most of the playgrounds around here have sand, so we just bring our buckets and shovels and dig in! Blogger is acting weird, so I will try to publish some pics later.

 

 

 

 

Lawmakers considere a tax on college endowments.

Here is the story.

Legislators have asked state finance officials to study a plan that would impose a 2.5 percent annual assessment on colleges with endowments over $1 billion, an amount now exceeded by nine Massachusetts institutions.

I have two thoughts here.

(1) Welcome to Taxachusetts! Liberals almost always want higher taxes, so there you go.
(2) I actually think this is a good idea. Why should colleges be able to accumulate wealth without paying taxes on it? In general, I think all institutions should pay taxes, because it would discourage people from establishing non-profits with the intention of tax avoidance.

The idea has prompted a range of questions, including whether it is legal to infringe upon private colleges' tax-exempt status or single them out based on their wealth. It also faces significant opposition from the colleges and some skeptical lawmakers.

I'm sorry but "whether it is legal to infringe upon private colleges' tax exempt status" leaves me wondering why it is 'legal' for the government to abscond with half of my family's income???

But proponents say the colleges' vast accumulations of wealth - Harvard University has the biggest endowment at $34 billion - and their often modest contributions to their host communities justify the assessment.

Harvard's amazing endowment keeps growing, as does their tuition. The tuition at Harvard, is $32,557 for 2008-2009 year, a 3.5% increase over last year. This does not include room and board and the other associated fees, which brings the total closer to $50,000.

University leaders criticized the plan as a gimmick that would backfire by hurting institutions that are pivotal to the state.

"You'd be taxing success here," said Kevin Casey, Harvard's associate vice president for government, community, and public affairs. "Over time, this would put us at a real competitive disadvantage, which would drastically hurt the Commonwealth."

Oh please. "Taxing success"? Ummm, that is also what the income tax does. Unless Harvard eliminates or drastically reduces the tuition (they have $34.9 billion in their rainy day fund, after all) and actually makes it possible for people with lower incomes to attend the prestigious university, I really don't think they are in any position to whine about being taxed on their massive endowment.

I enjoyed this article.

Anna Sophia slept for eight hours straight last night. Very nice.

Hypermiling? Who knew?

Some people claim to get 100 mpg (driving hybrids)using these techniques.

More on hypermiling.

More on the cost of a college education.

A bubble in higher education?

Some people have already mentioned the fact that I am going to be paying for 3 college educations in a row. They ask: have you set up your college savings accounts? Are you putting money in every month? College is expensive, you know. Yes college is expensive. Why is it expensive? Are professor salaries high enough to justify $38,000 a year in just tuition? I think not. College is expensive because it can be. Everyone wants to go to college. And those who don't want to go are forced to by their parents. In NYC, everyone seems to be in college. There are many many colleges here. Some are traditional universities and others are internet based universities. I think college tuition has risen higher than the rate of inflation simply because there is so much money available to students--lots of government grants, low or zero interest loans guaranteed by Uncle Sam (YOU). If schools don't raise their tuition they are leaving that money for other universities to gobble up. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks this. Read this.

Celebrity sighting--

I saw David Schwimmer in Soho!

Hi everyone. It's me again. I've been really overwhelmed lately with 3 children, ages 3 and under. It's as though sometimes I have 10 children crying, wanting this or that, but not in this green cup, in the blue. Oh and no milk, only juice! No juice, water please ****sigh***** Now that I have 5 minutes, I want to give you all a quick update.

* I am having surgery May 16th to correct my umbilical hernia.
* Caroline is getting her hearing tested on May 14th.
* Todd is enroute to Tokyo for a week. He left his glasses in the cab and so I am overnighting his spare pair to him. It might arrive before he does.
* well that is all for now, because I need to go feed Anna Sophia BBL

 

Things to do when you are bored.

 

Put on daddy's pants.

Gun Control.

Fifty-four shootings in two weekends. Shot-up bodies recovered in groups of three and five. Is this Ramadi? Basra? No.

Welcome to Chicago.

Read it HERE. Via Instapundit.

Plant Rights.

I have nothing whatsoever to add. I'm stunned. Via Instapundit.

 

 

Global cooling is the new global warming. Or is it?

This is no longer science. It is the new religious orthodoxy. Believe in global warming or else! Don't look at what the data show. Better yet, change the data to produce the correct result.

This is your tax dollars at work (well, if you live in NYC)

And I thought I had it easy. New York City substitute teachers on full pay and not working. Nice.

Changes to the 2005 teachers' contract created nearly 700 substitutes who receive full pay. That agreement will have cost the city $81 million by June, the New Teacher Project report said.

The report also found that substitutes, known as the Absent Teacher Reserve, are less active in seeking jobs and more likely to have been rated poorly.

The report calls for giving nontenured teachers in the ATR three months and tenured teachers one year before they're put on unpaid leave.

UFT President Randi Weingarten said she had warned school officials that if they gave up the power to place teachers into open positions, the ATR pool would grow indefinitely.

"I am so enraged that three years later, they would once again attempt to lay people off," she said.

Lay off people??? You aren't supposed to do that. Jobs are our right, you know!

Is College worth it?

This is interesting.

I think that too many people go to college. There I said it. There are too many people who go to college just because their parents tell them to. They don't like reading and studying, but they go anyway, filling up the classrooms and asking such erudite questions as "is this going to be on the midterm?" College is expensive and it's not necessarily a productive use of time for some people.

I can think of a number of careers where a college degree is unnecessary.

*Business owner
*computer programmer
*chef
*bookkeeper
*carpenter
*plumber (have you paid a plumber lately? do you know how much they make?!!!)
*professional athlete
*mechanic

Many careers do require some training or education, but they don't require a 4 year college degree.

I think the we should focus our efforts on HIGH SCHOOL education. We need to make high school better, not force students to waste more time in school if their 4 years in high school did not yield a solid secondary education. We need to make sure that high schoolers can read and write (I can't believe I'm writing this)and have a solid understanding of math and science.

BTW, I disagree with the article's assertion that we should require colleges to submit their students to testing. We've already done that with high school and now we have found that teachers teach the test and the kids don't learn. Shameful.

A new low for the New York Times

This whole column really irks me. First, the NYT finds that pointing out Obama's extreme liberal leanings is racist. This is ridiculous. He has the most liberal record in the senate. Really, the guy is a liberal. It has nothing to do with his race. The ad did not even mention his race. Second, the statement that the ad was intended to arouse "bigotry in a Southern state" as if Southerners are naturally a bigoted people and the editorial staff at the New York Times is not.

The assertion that Mr. Obama is “just too extreme for North Carolina” is a clear bid to stir bigotry in a Southern state. The ad’s claim that its target is actually two Democratic gubernatorial candidates who endorsed Mr. Obama is ludicrous.

Is calling someone "extreme" race baiting? I just don't see it.

Biofuel Craziness.

Even Time Magazine gets it right sometimes. From Instapundit.

Biofuels do slightly reduce dependence on imported oil, and the ethanol boom has created rural jobs while enriching some farmers and agribusinesses. But the basic problem with most biofuels is amazingly simple, given that researchers have ignored it until now: using land to grow fuel leads to the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon.

and

One groundbreaking new study in Science concluded that when this deforestation effect is taken into account, corn ethanol and soy biodiesel produce about twice the emissions of gasoline.

and

Not every kernel of corn diverted to fuel will be replaced. Diversions raise food prices, so the poor will eat less. That's the reason a U.N. food expert recently called agrofuels a "crime against humanity." Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute says that biofuels pit the 800 million people with cars against the 800 million people with hunger problems. Four years ago, two University of Minnesota researchers predicted the ranks of the hungry would drop to 625 million by 2025; last year, after adjusting for the inflationary effects of biofuels, they increased their prediction to 1.2 billion.

I disagree with their premise that the earth is warming, but they are completely correct about biofuels being bad for the planet and for poor people.

 

Here is Isaac's new bed. Please ignore the top bunk. I need to make it and it's really a pain.

 

Anna is now 2 months old and weighs 10lbs exactly and is 22 inches long. She is in the 30th percentile overall for size.

Anna, 2 months

 

I've come to the conclusion over the last couple of weeks that I am now intolerant of dairy products. There really is no mistaking it. I eat ice cream or drink milk and experience lots of stomach pains. No more ice cream for me :(

Anyway, I stopped drinking milk because it was so outrageously priced and, I guess, lost the ability to digest it. I can deal with small amounts of cheese and yogurt doesn't seem to bother me, but other than that, I cannot deal with dairy products anymore. Weird.

Oh my goodness. Read this.

Random thoughts

It has been a very interesting couple of days. Isaac is occasionally using the potty, which is reassuring. He doesn't always tell me when he needs to go, so he isn't trained yet, but soon I hope. Isaac started sleeping in his trundle bed a few nights ago. The transition went over smoothly. I showed Isaac his new bed and told him he would be sleeping there and so far, it is working.

Isaac and Anna Sophia had doctors appointments yesterday, where they both received vaccinations (Anna received 2 shots plus the Rotavirus and Isaac also had 2 shots). Yesterday, Isaac woke up from his nap screaming. He was probably not feeling well from his vaccine, but I'm not sure. I told Caroline that Isaac was feeling sad. Isaac looked at me, crying, and said "I not sad!"

Oh, and can I say, 3 year olds have the worst tantrums? It is even worse than age 2! Though at other times she is very sweet and thoughtful. Yesterday, she was showing letters to Isaac asking him what they were. When he got one right (he's pretty good at letters) she would congratulate him. "Good job Isaac!"

I'm going to the doctor day for a pre-surgical appointment. I should be able to schedule my surgery soon now.

Global Cooling?

This is very interesting.

I'm really annoyed by all the hysteria surrounding global warming. The science is far from settled. Anytime someone questions the validity of global warming science, they are castigated as global warming deniers and haters of the environment. In my opinion, there is more evidence for global cooling, which is quite a bit scarier, as it drastically affects the growing season, and by extension food production.

Isaac has been using the potty all morning and has had no accidents. He even cried when Caroline handed him a diaper.

Yesterday Isaac said "I need to go potty." It really kind of shocked me that he spoke in a complete sentence, but he did. I took him to the potty and sat him on it. He went peepee and was so proud of himself. I wasn't even considering potty training yet. Wow.

Yesterday Caroline fell off our bed after some playing around (after I told her not to) and was crying and hurt. I was holding her in my lap and we were both lamenting over her hurt leg. She continued crying and I looked at her leg and saw that there was nothing wrong with it (no bleeding, cuts, breaks, etc) and finally she said:

"Mommmy, I need some medicine"

Where in the world did she get that from? We don't dole out medication very casually around here.

Caroline is running around the apartment with a blanket on her head and the remainder of the blanket trailing behind her. Isaac is chasing after her and she says:

"Isaac stop stepping on my tail! I am a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

 

 

 

I just scheduled my appointment with the surgeon! I've been really wimpy about getting this done as I am petrified of surgery and anesthesia. For those of you who don't know, I am planning to get my umbilical hernia fixed. It's barely noticeable when I am not pregnant, but very unpleasant and risky when I am pregnant, so it's time for the repair.

Inflation in gas prices and education costs

Very Interesting.

Exhausted!

We arrived in NYC last night after a long day of driving. It will take a few days to unpack and do laundry, but I hope to post some photos about our trip and such soon. Stay tuned...

Save the environment! Buy more stuff!

I have to hand it to the environmentalist movement. Now, in order to "be green" you must buy the right stuff. A new car, new bamboo flooring, organic mattresses, clothing, and so forth. I can't imagine the environmental cost if we were all to replace our things with the right, environmentally friendly stuff.

 

 

 

 

Anna Sophia and her grandmother (BeBaw)

 

 

 

Overhead recently between Caroline and Isaac:

Caroline: Okay Isaac let's do our elements. Hydrogen, Helium... (pointing to her chart)
Isaac: Jupiter!
Caroline: No silly Isaac, that's a planet!
Isaac: Saturn!