All right?

Alright, now, media examples of dead wood:

1. Even the supporters of the Small Business Administration say the agency is a house that needs cleaning.

Mismanagement and indecisiveness at the 42-year-old federal agency are so well documented that some in Congress and the small-business community are raising questions about the SBA’s future as an advocate for entrepreneurs.

Budget-cutters in Congress who would do away with the SBA “are going to get new life and a new hearing for their suggestion,” said Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Small Business Committee.

The General Accounting Office, Congress' fiscal watchdog, criticized the SBA recently for allowing its minority-preference federal contracting program to spin out of control. And in late September, the GAO said the agency's venture capital program was rife with abuse, such as participants’ doling of money to friends and relatives.

Such scrutiny couldn’t come at a worse time for a federal agency. Republicans control Congress, led by ardent spending-cutters such as House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and are eager for any excuse to reduce the bureaucracy.

The National Federation of Small Business, the nation’s largest small-business lobby, would like to see some fresh air blown through the SBA.

“We do think that a review of all the programs needs to be done,” said Angela Jones, an official of the association, which has 600,000 members.

The lobbying group says the SBA’s main program of loan guarantees to small business should be retained. Yet even the federation understands the need to chop away the dead wood.

“If we have all these problems and abuses, then the government is losing money, and to save money, government raises taxes and that hits small business,” Jones said.

- SBA Mismanagement Becomes A Big Business, ChicagoTribune.com, October 29, 1995.

2. Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher is glad that the Reds have managed to get rid of the dead wood so quickly. He told Liverpoolfc.tv:

“Normally when a new manager comes in you’re building. You take it one step at a time. Under Gerard Houllier and Rafa, even though we won the Champions League with Rafa, in terms of competing it seemed to take a couple of years before you felt like you were not far behind the top teams. Now, the way we’ve started, the way we finished last season and the players we’ve brought in, I’m not saying we’re going to win the league but you feel as if we can give people a run for their money. It’s only been six months. That’s what makes it exciting for me. The quicker the better for me because I’m getting on! It’s a great credit to the manager and staff, to the owners and Damien Comolli for changing things around and bringing in players. We’ve got rid of a few players now, I’m not sure how many, but there has been a lot of turnover of players and at the moment it looks like it is working. During some of the tough times it can feel like a million miles from where you want to be but at this moment we seem to be there and we want to stay there.”

Carragher believes Kenny Dalglish’s enthusiasm has really helped the players to perform well:

“Everyone can see his reaction when we score. He’s like that on the training pitch every day and that’s infectious. You can see him around the place, he loves the game. It’s great to be around a person like that.”

- Carra: Six months in and all the dead wood has gone, Live4Liverpool.com, September 5, 2011.

3. THE Education Department is finally moving ahead with great gusto in filling the vacant posts. Why did it have to take such drastic measures, especially from the northern areas schools, to compel it into doing this?

Is it only when it is threatened that it reacts and gets things done?

This is a relief for many teachers, but mainly for the children and their parents. At last, proper education can now start taking place.

However, it frightens me if I consider the severe backlog faced by these unfortunate little pawns, the children, the future of this country.

Another concern of mine is that the department does not want any previously employed teacher to apply for these posts. It only wants the Funza Lushaka bursary holders to fill these posts.

It leaves me with the utmost sadness, and I feel so disheartened and totally unappreciated by this department. I resigned from teaching a good couple of years ago, only to return as an SGB teacher as I missed the children terribly.

Teaching is my passion and I simply love the children I teach. Most of them are from the townships while my school is a former Model C school (a former whites only school).

I have extensive experience, have an absolute passion for teaching, especially mathematics, assisting those who struggle. Ex-pupils of mine who I bump into still hug me hello and tell me that I was one of their best teachers.

This wasn’t because I was anything other than caring and passionate. However, the department now sees fit to exclude me from applying for posts as I used to “be in the system”.

So I am now dead wood in its eyes whereas I have a lot to contribute in education. I am being overlooked.

- Experienced teachers excluded, by Allan Williams, HeraldLive.co.za, September 8, 2014.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者張欣 中國日報網英語點津 編輯：王偉）