Strange Days, Indeed

From Buffalo, New York comes this story about a conflict in values. Apparently the teachers and administrators in Buffalo have a rider in their contract that provides for cosmetic surgery procedures. Now, with a budget crunch that may mean the elimination of nearly half the band and orchestra programs, it occurs to them that maybe they should just eliminate this benefit. I mean, sure, we all want our teachers and administrators to look their best, even as they age, but I'm almost sure that it would be an even better idea to have a music program.

Facing elimination of nearly half the Buffalo School District’s band and orchestra programs, the School Board is targeting superficial anti-wrinkle procedures such as facial peels and microderm abrasions. The cost of such procedures to the district in the 2011-12 school year came to nearly $1.7 million, according to School Board member John B. Licata, who has sponsored a resolution to deny such claims from teachers and administrators.

Sometimes I think that our political class, and in that group I include public service unions, has lost all sense of values and shame.

Here is an amateur video of a Buffalo, New York high school orchestra playing in front of the Lincoln Memorial: