The Drake equation states that:
where:
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;
and
R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
So that’s all pretty interesting but I’m sure you can see with just a quick read that almost none of the variable values in the equation is known with any great deal of certainty. It’s the sort of thing that makes for good sci-fi but bad science. My result was something like 100 such civilizations, but I could have easily said zero or 1,000,000 – the equation has little actual value beyond its novelty.
The same is exactly true anytime a Democrat says any number. Any number at all. Whenever a Democrat says a number it is meaningless, because no number they ever say is in any way associated with fact.
Take the EduJobs bill that passed last week. We were told this would absolutely save “300,000 teacher’s jobs.” Bara Bama himself cited that number, and he’s already added the tally to his total of 150 bazillion jobs “created or saved.” But where did the 300,000 come from? If you haven’t visited, there’s an outstanding education blog here: http://www.eiaonline.com/communique.htm
This guy is first rate at unwrapping all the veiled lies of the teacher’s unions and their cohorts in the Democrat party, and he does several articles on EduJobs. To summarize, the numbers for EduJobs are a fabrication. “300,000” originally started as “100,000”, and “teacher’s jobs” was originally just any “education job.”
No less than the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, vastly distorts whatever the facts are to make the case for this kickback to education professionals with this gem: “We always said between 100,000 and 300,000. We had a broad range there… because this was a moving target.” He then followed up with this: "So, I think the reality… is the vast majority of districts around the country have literally been cutting for five, six, seven years in a row. And, many of them you know are through you know fat, through flesh, and into bone.” I don’t know what planet Arne Duncan lives on, but it isn’t Earth and it’s definitely not one of the other hundred or so “intelligent” civilizations out there.
The facts are that over the past seven years he’s referring to total student enrollment K-12 in the U.S. has increased only 1.6%, while total number of teachers has increased by 4% and the amount spent annually per pupil on salaries for educators has increased an astounding 26.4%! And this is US Census Bureau data, so Duncan knows it too well, but chooses to lie and distort the facts to pad the coffers of the teacher’s unions and education professionals, who overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
The blog cites the State of Alaska, which has budget surpluses almost every year because of the oil there, as being specifically told by the NEA that teacher layoffs were imminent, despite the fact that Alaska continues to increase school funding and leads the nation in percentage increase of teacher’s pay. They were never going to lay off anyone, but they still get $23.5 million from EduJobs.
WTF?? This is the kind of flagrant disregard for taxpayer money that is exactly the reason Democrats have zero credibility on the economy. More than that, I believe it is obvious quid pro quo, as Democrats have clearly just given their a powerful voter pool a $10 billion kickback. What I wouldn’t give to see some of these state’s Attorney’s General go after them in court! Maybe I should send this to Van Hollen…
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