Media Inconsistancies

[dallen68]

Hopefully, users will use this thread to highlight inconsistencies in news reports in the media. As an added bonus, perhaps it will become a source material for "biggest bogon emitter", "idiot extrordinaire" & "news of the bogus"

At any rate, as an example:

From Philip Elliot, AP 08/29/2013 - States can request permission to ignore parts of the No Child Left Behind education law through the spring of 2016, the Education Department said Thursday.

A paragraph later - The law expired in 2007 and included goals now seen as overly ambitious.

(If the law expired in 2007, why not just ignore it altogether, without asking permission?)

Two paragraphs later - Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the sweeping law, formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is outdated and inhibits innovation and reform by school districts and states.

"The smartest way to fix that is through a reauthorized ESEA law, but Congress has not agreed on a responsible bill," Duncan said.

(If the law is "outdated and inhibits innovation..." wouldn't the fix be to NOT reauthorize it?

[MrBogosity]

I've never heard of a sunset in the NCLBA. I have no idea where they're getting that from.

[dallen68]

I was able to find quite a few websites from 2006/7 that were talking about re-authorizing NCLB, (or more specifically the NESA provisions of it), but nothing that said what came of it or anything one would call recent.

Edit: It occurred to me that there might be language in the text itself that specified a sunset, but if there is, it's well hidden. While I was there, I noticed that Section 5 requires teaching based on "scientific methods", and expressly forbids teaching based on case studies, "tradition", and other "non-scientific" methods to instruct children. By implication, this means you CAN'T teach ID; which is surprising considering who the administration was at the time.

[MrBogosity]

Edit: It occurred to me that there might be language in the text itself that specified a sunset, but if there is, it's well hidden. While I was there, I noticed that Section 5 requires teaching based on "scientific methods", and expressly forbids teaching based on case studies, "tradition", and other "non-scientific" methods to instruct children. By implication, this means you CAN'T teach ID; which is surprising considering who the administration was at the time.

I believe it was Rick Santorum who tried to get an amendment put in to NCLB to allow the teaching of ID. It failed.

[dallen68]

I also noticed that the Secretary of Education referred to NCLB as ESEA, claiming "it is formally known as...", this is not strictly true. ESEA was originally passed in 1965, and is now PART OF NCLB, but technically they are separate legislation.

[dallen68]

According to the New York times, some property owners are having a dispute over whether or not the federal government should be granted an easement to build a sand dune along the New Jersey shoreline.

The article states that the owners are objecting because "it will ruin their (ocean) view". I suspect that explanation is potentially bogus, because there is probably more to it than that. In any case, a number of property owners are refusing to sign the document that would allow this to happen.

In the mean time, the other members of the affected communities say that these dunes are necessary to protect the shoreline, and communities, and a bunch of other stuff from various natural disasters, and that said property owners are being "selfish". In order to convince said property owners to reconsider, community members have resorted to : publishing the names of the individuals in local papers, refusing to serve said individuals in various local business establishments, and sending harassing e-mails, texts, and phone calls.

It seems to me that the entire argument or dispute, whichever you'd like to call it is bogus-and the communities' behavior is bogus squared. If there really is some impending disaster threatening the shore line, why not skip the chicken feces, declare eminent domain, and make plans to build the dune? Then, instead of having to deal with chicken feces from their neighbors, these individuals could go to court and fight the government's claim.

[nilecroc]

Or they could offer something to make it worthwhile. I guess that's to simple a solution.