The Education Wars: More Mess in NY

It appears another Democrat in name only is shitting all over teachers' unions:

Gov. David Paterson is heading into the new year taking on Albany's most powerful special interest on two fronts that will test the influence of the teachers' union and put $700 million in federal funding on the line.

Paterson is fighting a lawsuit and biting rhetoric from the New York State United Teachers union, two school administrators' groups and the state School Boards Association. They sued to keep the state from delaying 10 percent of aid payments due in December that Paterson had ordered as part of wide-ranging cost-control measures to keep the state out of fiscal crisis.

"It's almost like children who start screaming and pulling the covers over their head to make the monsters go away,'' Paterson told The Associated Press.

"Well, they can scream all they want and pull the wool over their eyes, but the public sees the monsters of the lack of cash and the monsters of unavailability of credit are here, and someone is going to have to be the adult force that comes into the room and gets rid of the monsters,'' he said. "And the only way to do that is to practice a new culture of governance called discipline financing.''

As the World Turns.

At least the new governor has admitted it:

The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.

In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.

In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with "a woman other than my wife," beginning in 1999.

Miscellaneous.

Paul McCartney finally gained his freedom.

One thing about him I always liked was he has insisted his children attend public schools (called "state schools" in Britain). He felt it was important his kids were treated no differently than other children.

Video is here.
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Today New York gets a new governor.

Let's hope there are no further scandals.
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Rapper Tupac Shakur was probably right in identifying those who attacked him and left him for dead in 1994, a couple of years before he was murdered.

Edit: Sean Combs, also known as P. Diddy, categorically denies the report.
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Former ABBA drummer Ola Brunkert has died in a freak accident at his home in Spain. He was 61.

Details:

Police believe Brunkert hit his head on a window and shattered the glass which cut him. A post-mortem is taking place.

...

The musician was found by a neighbour late on Sunday in a pool of blood.

He had managed to wrap a towel around his neck before leaving the house to summon help before collapsing in the garden.

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A baby suffers from a rare disease, Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, which causes the body to age far quicker, and children invariably die of it.

It occurs once in 8 million births. Only about 100 cases have been identified in medical history.
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