I've Been Thoof Ranked!

I am trying out a new service to bring my smaller niche articles to a larger audience. The service is called Thoof, and it allows you to submit a story, with a brief description, and tags to help organize the story. It will provide a larger audience to find your own niche stories.

I am also using the service to watch for stories that I am interested in, and it has really helped me find sources that I would not have been able to previously. I just read a story that I found on Thoof, that told me that The Ohio State University has brought back on of it's best president in history, Gordon Gee (known for his bow ties).

Give the service a try to help you in your personalized news story searches.

This was one of the easiest services to sign up for, it took all of about two minutes (most of that was just waiting for the email to come in). Once you have signed up, it takes only seconds to submit a story to the site, and if it is your own story you may embed your ThoofRank badge into your site again in only seconds.

I believe that services like these will be the way of the future because we don't have the time to go out and hunt thousands or millions of different resources. The only thing that I see that is missing from this version (and perhaps I am just overlooking it right now), is a customized RSS feed of the sort of stories I am looking for.

Lockland principal's fate still undecided

What school in America is willing to employ a principal with confirmed anger management issues, and who doesn't even like children? Well the answer is Lockland Public Schools, in Lockland, Ohio (a suburb of the greater cincinnati area). He was aquitted because the woman he attacked "blocked his way" so he could avoid the conflict. Last time I checked even if you are "forced" to confront someone, you didn't have to punch them. What sort of example is this for the children? Just more proof that liberal school policies do not work.

If you agree with me, please post a comment here and voice your opinion

In related news here in this article the school board is again in financial trouble. The district should have been forced to merge with another school years ago, but there are several issues with this. First, the board wants to protect their jobs so they keep putting levies up and people vote for them because noone in Lockland actually owns their property. It is a poor neighborhood so most people are renters. Second problem is that they have had talks with other school districts in the area, and they have basically been told you can join with us, but you keep your own trouble making kids there. No one wants to deal with Lockland because of the proplems these poor kids bring to the table. Oh and don't even get me starting on the nepotism that exists in the district.

Help me get the message to the school that we no longer want them to run it as they have been. Post a comment here, and I'll get it to Misty Cromer of Arlington Heights to give to the board, if you live in Lockland voice in LOUD voices that you will reject any further levies, also please consider sending your kids to alternative schools as I am doing.

I am sending my son to the Sts Peter & Paul Academy. He is going to get a very good education along with religion. I no longer have to worry about the public school system attempting to indoctrinate him with their liberal view point. I can count on the fact that he will get the truth in school and an excellent education. If you would like more information on this school, please vists: sppacademy.org

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The school board here has not reached agreement on whether to continue to employ an elementary school principal acquitted of assault.

The board has scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday to discuss the matter. A formal agenda has not yet been drawn up.

Ralph Jacob, 50, was found not guilty last month of assault involving a neighborhood dispute in which he allegedly pushed down or punched a woman who lived next door to his friend.

The judge in the case acquitted him, saying the woman had blocked Jacob's way, preventing him from walking away from the conflict.

Jacob, who makes $68,900 a year as principal, has been on paid administrative leave since May. He did not return phone calls for comment and did not attend Wednesday night's board meeting.

A couple of parents at the meeting resubmitted a petition asking the district to fire him. Misty Cromer of Arlington Heights said she and other parents had collected about 120 signatures.

"There's 120 names to not bring him back. I haven't heard one person here ... petition on his behalf to bring him back," she said. She said later that many parents said they have concerns about his temper and wonder if he'll be a suitable example to young children.

Lockland Elementary has about 390 students. The combined junior and senior high next door has 320 students.

Last year the state ranked the elementary school in "continuous improvement," its middle of five rankings, while the district and secondary school each were rated "effective," the second-highest ranking. The state plans to issue new school report cards in mid-August.

Superintendent Donna Hubbard said the board has been meeting with the district's counsel to consider options, including a possible buyout of Jacob's one-year contract. Board President Kim Costanzo said the district and Jacob are not in agreement.

Lockland is scheduled to resume classes Aug. 23.

In an unrelated action, Lockland's board Wednesday voted unanimously for a new one-year contract with its teachers union, granting a 2 percent raise. Teachers get raises two ways: through an increase in base wages and by moving up "steps" of compensation based on years of experience and education.

Lockland's 50 or so teachers make between $31,412 and about $68,000, said Chuck Johnson, labor relations consultant with the Ohio Education Association. The high end of the range is the pay for a teacher with a master's degree and more than 27 years' experience.

Ohio Department of Education consultant Dean Horton told board members Wednesday that the district's wage structure is too extravagant. If the district doesn't cut personnel costs and other expenses, Lockland will run out of cash by 2010, he said.

Hubbard asked about a possible across-the-board pay cut and about setting up a two-tiered salary schedule. Costanzo asked about a possible operating levy.

Horton said Lockland's existing levy, which automatically renews, is already high, considering property and income levels in the district. He said the district would need to pass another levy by November 2008, at the latest, to avoid the deficit.

Johnson said Thursday that Lockland's teacher salaries are already near the bottom for Hamilton County. If voters in the district want to keep good teachers, they will have to pay them what other area districts pay, he said.

BP's Whiting, Indiana Refinery

We Americans complain that our gas is too expensive, but we continue to buy foreign oil, support foreign economies, and not invest in our own resources. The simple fact is Oil prices are determined in the Middle East where they decide how many barrels they are going to provide to us, but what's more is, because of crazy environmentalists, even if more crude oil was produced we are not able to refine it into usable gasoline. We are at maximum capacity, and the laws over the companies that can refine oil into usable gasoline are so restrictive that it makes little to no sense for them to expand their capacity by upgrading their plants or building new ones.

Let's take BP's Whiting, Indiana refinery for example. They would like to invest $3 Billion dollars into the plant to modernize the equipment and process crude oil from Canada, a source we know to be secure and reliable. They are being blocked because people are saying that they will be dumping "sludge" into Lake Michigan. Who out there can possibly believe this to be true? How much oversight is there on these refinery's already by wacko environmentalists that anyone can possibly believe that anyone could get away with this? The only thing that will be released from the plant into Lake Michigan is treated water that is 99.9% pure water. All sludge is treated separately according to State and Federal requirements, and if these procedures were not followed everyone would be crying foul. No company could dream of getting away with this sort of atrocity today.

By blocking this expansion people are blocking BP from investing $150 Million to further enhance the plant's wastewater treatment facility. The plant has already reduced total suspended solids in it water discharge by 40% in the past four years, but instead of recognizing that, the plant is being accused of polluting.

And what of the economy? In the day where America is losing manufacturing jobs by the thousands and millions to other developing countries, BP is being blocked from adding an additional 2000 contract workers that would come from the local communities. BP is offering to add manufacturing jobs to a state that desperately needs them, but because a few people have a loud voice with misrepresented facts these people will never get the jobs.

While forming an opinion on this I would recommend you read BP's release on this issue, and make sure you have all the facts before sticking your neck out too far.

W&S title stays with Russians

My son and I went to the first quarter final game on Friday evening and had a great time. Cincinnati is attempting to become a place where the women will want to come, like for the men currently. One way to help this happen is to attend these Tier III and Tier II events to show that we in Cincinnati support tennis, and want to see the big names come as well.

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Chakvetadze easily wins final match

A quick scan of the women's tennis rankings shows that the game belongs to the Russians. Four in the top 10, six in the top 15, seven in the top 21.

Look closer at their ages, and it appears that their dominance displayed in Cincinnati the past two years could last awhile on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Twenty-year-old Russian Anna Chakvetadze won the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open title Sunday, soundly defeating Japan's Akiko Morigami 6-1, 6-3. Chakvetadze became the second straight Russian to win here, following Vera Zvonareva's 2006 title.

"Russia is not like the U.S. or Japan financially," Morigami said, "but they come up with some great players. Maybe they're really hungry to win. I don't know, but I'd like to know too why that is."

Chakvetadze is a top-10 player, ranked No. 7 after Sunday's win, but her career doesn't yet compare with the likes of Russia's Maria Sharapova (No. 2), the current queen of Russian tennis. Sharapova, after all, has two Grand Slam titles at the age of 20. Chakvetadze hasn't experienced that success, winning five titles but none of them in Grand Slam tournaments, where she's yet to advance past the quarterfinals. Sunday's win was her third Tier III championship.

"I need to play better in bigger tournaments," Chakvetadze said. "When I started playing tennis, I never thought I'd become a top-10 player. Now I think I can win a Grand Slam just because I think I can."

With a $175,000 purse and a $25,840 check for the winner, the W&S Women's Open is hardly comparable to a Grand Slam. So maybe that's why Chakvetadze's reaction to winning Sunday was somewhat understated.

When Morigami hit the ball out of bounds on match point, Chakvetadze gave a light fist pump and politely waved to the crowd. But there was no emotional outpouring; not like in 2004, when she won her breakthrough match as a 17-year-old by beating Russia's top player, Anastasia Myskina, in the U.S. Open. Back then, Chakvetadze was stunned by the magnitude of her accomplishment. On Sunday, she was taken aback by the brevity of her victory.

"I'm happy to win," Chakvetadze said. "I just didn't expect it to be so easy."

It took only 59 minutes and might have been quicker had Chakvetadze served better. She made only 53 percent of her first serves, leaving a bit of an opening for Morigami to score some points. But Morigami could not overcome Chakvetadze's speed and angled shots once the players began rallies. Chakvetadze's court coverage kept Morigami fixed to the baseline, trying to return a variety of forehands and backhands.

"I got a couple good shots, and then she'd attack again," Morigami said. "I couldn't find any rhythm. She's very smart."

That is by design. Chakvetadze does not possess an overwhelming serve, so she aims for the lines and tries to keep opponents running. It worked well enough to win a title here. When the U.S. Open begins Aug. 27, however, Chakvetadze likely will have to serve more accurately than she did this week if she's to contend for a title. She complained often here that her up-and-down concentration levels made things harder than necessary.

Nevertheless, she won her fifth title in as many finals appearances and third of the year, more than any other Russian. At No. 7, she is the third-ranked Russian, behind only Sharapova and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova - but ahead of the top American, No. 8 Serena Williams.

Chakvetadze grew up idolizing Russian Anna Kournikova, who won over cameras with sex appeal despite never winning a WTA tournament.

Chakvetadze has nowhere near that kind of name recognition (she said the French have the hardest time pronouncing her name). She still hears variations of her name at every tournament stop. It's the price of obscurity that for Russian women is best cured by a Grand Slam title.

"I hope I can," Chakvetadze said. "You need a lot of things to come together to win a Grand Slam. I've made the quarterfinals two times. I think I can do better."