Happy 100 Days!

Well, here we are-100 days into the Obama presidency already. Amazing. Where does the time go? The Wall Street Journal devoted a full section to this important milestone; the news magazines are covering it; it's been all over morning and evening news programs; and even the president himself had yet another news conference marking this important anniversary. But nowhere have I seen anyone ask the most important question of all: What's he done for ME personally? The heck with the rest of the nation and world. Well, let's see....I do know that as a Social Security recipient and veteran I can look forward to the arrival of my portion of the stimulus package. I haven't actually received it yet so I'm sort of counting my chickens before they've hatched-as it were. But I'm sure I'll get it and, man, I can't wait. It could be as much as $250!!! What shall I do with all that money? I KNOW!!! I have confidence that GM is going to come out of this crisis stronger than ever so I think I'll invest my money wisely and buy 10,000 shares of GM stock! Great idea, huh? OK, OK, so I'm being a little sarcastic. All kidding aside, you have to give the guy credit. He has gone a long way toward undoing a lot of the damage done by Bush and Cheney-although Cheney is still out there spreading his share of venom and anger but no one's listening except Fox News viewers. Obama has also taken the necessary steps to pull the nation out of recession (make that depression if you happen to be the one out of work) and most important of all he's given people hope that things will improve-well, most people that is. Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh and others of their ilk continue to whine and snivel about this, that and the other thing. Fortunately, my remote is working just fine so when I see or hear them, click click. They're gone! Cool, huh? Aren't you glad I invented it??

Good Bye, Old Pals!

The vehicles you see above are a 1948 Plymouth Coupe, a 1955 Studebaker Hawk, a 1955 Pontiac Chief and a 1966 Olds Cutless. They all have two things in common. First, they're vehicles I owned at one time or another and second, none of them are in production any longer. The only one I bought new was the Olds which I got right after I was discharged from the Army. I drove it for about 10 years until the frame literally broke in half. Before that, it was by far my favorite car. It was a two door hard top with a V8 engine and 4 on the floor Hearst transmission. Fast as hell. But in those days body rot was a serious problem with cars and that's what finally got it. The first auto maker to go out of production was the Studebaker. Next Chrysler did in the Plymouth. After that and not so long ago was the Oldsmobile. Finally, recent reports have it that GM is ending production of their 'muscle' division-the Pontiac! No doubt about it. The American auto industry is in big trouble but I think they'll survive. I just can't imagine not seeing Ford F150's and Chevy Silverados and Dodge Ram trucks on the roads any more. No way that's going to happen-I hope. Bankruptcy is probably a good thing because it will give them time to restructure, renegotiate union contracts and generally get their acts together. Time will tell. In the meantime, good bye, old pals. I had a lot of fun driving (and usually abusing) you!

(Un)Fair & (Un)Balanced

Fox news has been running a bunch of commercials lately billing itself as "the most balanced news program on television". I presume whoever wrote this did so with a straight face. I'm sure it was an effort to write those words without feeling some sense of shame. After all, no sooner do the words drift off into cyberspace, there appears the angry, distorted features of none other than Dick, We Don't Torture, Cheney. What a joke. This guy has been appearing on Fox News on a regular basis, spreading his lies and venom all over the air waves and Fox has the gall to call themselves 'fair and balanced'. Fortunately, most Americans are smarter than Fox gives them credit for. They'd rather watch Katie, or Charlie, or Brian!

Depression Era Mentality

This cartoon was sent to me by a friend of mine (see KM3's blog on the blog spot)It dates back to 1932 and depicts conservatives protesting the policies of the newly elected FDR. It was of course during the depression and it was Roosevelt's thought that Keynesian economic theory had a lot of virtue, i.e. during times of depression or serious recession it is not only appropriate for government to engage in deficit spending, it is essential. Some modern day Republicans have tried to argue that it wasn't Roosevelt's policies that pulled us out of the depression. Rather it was WWII. Duh! What exactly do you think it was the government started to do big time after Pearl Harbor? Spend, that's what. History does indeed repeat itself. As I've said before, Mr. President, keep calm and carry on!

Handshakes & Talk VS Fists. Hmmm...A Tough One

This morning on The Today Show we were treated to the news that conservatives/republicans were upset that Obama shook hands with Venezuela dictator Hugo Chavez. Newt Gingrich was asked for his two cents although I can't imagine why anyone would want to hear anything that loser has to say. Nevertheless, there he was criticizing first Obama's meeting with Chavez and then Obama's whole approach to foreign policy. Gee...he may have a point. We certainly wouldn't want to undo the fine body of work and good relations the previous administration left us, would we? After all, what possible good could come from actually sitting down to listen and talk to those leaders who dislike us? Isn't it much better in the long run to show them the business end of an M16? That would certainly convince them to listen to what we have to say, wouldn't it? For proof just look at how well that worked for W! At the end of the day it's not going to matter what Obama does. What ever it is, republican gas bags are going to come out against it. Therein lies their hypocrisy regarding 'nonpartisan' politics! Fortunately, the majority of the nation recognizes the need for Obama to do exactly what he's doing. Stay calm & carry on!

Look out, Jeter!! There's A New Kid on the Block.

That little cutie you see poised to take a hard hit line drive and fire it to first base is my oldest grand child. She's 5 yrs old and yesterday she played in the first organized sport we've attended for grand children. The first of many, I'm sure. She's in a league with 6 & 7 year old girls but adjacent to the field they played on was a little league game in progress for 10 year old kids-most of whom were boys. One of their coaches happened to look over just as Brooke was batting and asked me if I knew who she was. Being a somewhat protective grandfather, I of course wanted to know why. He said he'd never seen anyone with such amazing skills and he was wondering if her parents would consider letting her join his team......OK, OK. I'm totaling lying but I'm entitled to indulge in "grandparent exaggeration". All of the girls did a great job. They ran the bases correctly although some passed the runner in front of her; they listened to their coaches; they made contact with the ball; they made some really good catches and throws and most of all they were having fun. So stay tuned for many, many more pieces to follow about the accomplishments of our 4 (gifted) grandchildren. (By the way, check out the video clip on http:/georgeswebpage.com for more about the game)

Eerie Silence

It's awfully quiet around here. Nicholas's big brother Cole and dog Sadie have gone home after three days. Everything is put away, Sadie's blanket is back on the porch and there's no one to play with-until the next time one or more of the grand children come over. It's amazing how quickly one can adapt to the 'small child' mode of life. Part of the key is not sweating the small stuff like clutter, a little dirt on the carpet, spills here and there,a sink usually full of dishes, sometimes an interrupted night's sleep followed by pretty early mornings, etc. If you can get past that, then it's all down hill from there. And it's all good stuff. As someone said, don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff.

Introducing Nicholas George Stockwell

I was sitting here a little while ago fretting about the mess my yard is and all the other stuff I need to do when it occurred to me that I was being stupid. After all, what's more important than your family-speaking of which Nicholas George Stockwell made his way into the world on April 15th at 1:05 P.M. weighing 7 lbs even and measuring 19 3/4 inches. The hell with the yard and the wood pile and the power washing of the house and the windows and the garden and whatever else I have on my list. Nothing's more important than watching over big brother Cole until mommy and daddy and Nicholas come home!

Rescue At Sea. Go Navy!

Finally, a good ending to a bad situation. A situation that was brought somewhat closer to home when I received a forwarded email regarding a former colleague of mine. It seems this person and her husband are on a luxury cruise ship presently in the Indian Ocean not far from the region were the ship was hijacked by Somali pirates. Security was tightened to the extent that it could be but needless to say everyone was a tad nervous until they were safely out of the area. What's to be done about this growing threat to shipping in that area? Armed resistance, that's what. Every nation in the world has a stake in this and they all need to pitch in and help. These pirates need to know that they're not going to just easily board a ship and start demanding a ransom. They need to know that what awaits them is capture or death. When that happens, the hijackings will stop-or at the very least diminish in number. There are times when force and violence are the only appropriate actions. Very unfortunate but that's the way it is right now-at least until we human's have evolved into higher order creatures. Oops. Sorry about that you 'creationist' folks out there. Thus endeth my rant of the day.

Here We Go Again

I think it’s appropriate to quote that Great American Conservative, Ronald Reagan (genuflect when you say that)-“Here we go again.” Air Force One has barely rolled to a stop and already conservative gas bags are jumping all over him. First they’re complaining that he’s trying to do too much and now they’re saying he hasn’t accomplished enough. For example Laura Ingraham appeared on the Today show this morning ranting and raving and generally running off at the mouth on Obama’s trip. It seems too much attention was paid to issues of little or no substance, i.e. Michelle’s wardrobe, lots of hand-shaking and smiles, photo ops, etc. Instead he should have returned home with a troop commitment from France; stopped North Korea from launching its pathetic little missile and a whole host of other stuff. Never mind that this is his first trip abroad as president. Never mind that he’s stepping into territory that for the past eight years was held in contempt by the previous administration who delighted in flipping off our allies and pugnaciously snarling “bring it on!!”. Never mind that the art of diplomacy and negotiation requires a great deal of time, patience and finesse. It’s unbelievable, but when you think about it not at all unexpected because conservative pundits in general and the republican leadership in particular have absolutely nothing to offer this country except their constant whining, complaining, criticism and hostility. Ingraham, Coulter, Limbaugh, Gingrich, Boehner, Jindal and all the rest are completely out of touch with America’s needs. In a sense you’ve got to feel sorry for them. They’re such a pathetic, irrelevant, disorganized and off message group that all they can really do is throw their tantrums in hopes that someone will listen. Well, lucky for the rest of us, they’re being ignored-except of course by Fox News but who cares. They can listen to each other. Rave on, mindless fools.

All Hail, Almighty Union!!

There are a lot of reasons why I'm glad I'm retired from teaching but one of the biggest is due to the amount of abuse being dumped on the teaching profession these days. I have no patience with it anymore and if I were still active in the profession, I would no doubt get myself into trouble with letters to editors and comments at budget hearings. For example, here is an excerpt from a recently published letter:

Dear fellow citizens of Newtown,
It is time that we stood up to the powerful Board of Education and teachers' union. For a long time, the Board of Education, the PTA and the teachers' union have used fear as a method of soliciting more money for the school budget every year.

I chose this particular passage because it is typical of some of the stuff that comes out every year at budget time. There are so many things wrong at so many levels with this that it's hard to hold this piece to a reasonable length. First of all, the writer targets the Board of Education and the teachers' union (usually an adversarial relationship) but then goes on to include the PTA conveniently overlooking the fact that the 'P' in PTA are parents. So I guess it's safe to say the writer here has a problem with the Board of Ed, the teachers' union and all parents!! Interesting. The issue that prompted this letter was the teachers' union's refusal to consider a salary/step freeze for the coming year. What the writer doesn't know or perhaps conveniently overlooks is the following:
1. The teachers' contract is up for negotiation anyway. There is no need to 'open' it.
2. The teachers in this town, unlike any other area town as far as I've been able to determine, have been furloughed 6 days for the coming year thereby effectively resulting in a salary cut for many that could be in excess of $2500.
3. Even if this wasn't a 'contract year' as we used to call it, you do not simply just open a contract for renegotiation. The consequences of that can be enormous.

The bottom line here is that the Board of Education, teachers' union and their members are nowhere near as powerful as many would have you believe. I'm sick to death of hearing and reading of people complaining of how powerful the unions are. The fact is the real power lies with the voters. Pure and simple. Does the person who wrote the above excerpt actually think that every time the voters turn down a budget, the Board and union have the authority to overturn that vote? These are very difficult times for many people-no doubt about it. But before people vent their anger and frustration on a particular group, they need to get the facts. Publicly running off at the mouth serves no purpose and results in more harm being done.

Will That Be An AK47 or an M16, Sir?

Four Oakland, CA police officers ambushed. One killed. Sixteen people shot dead in Binghamton, NY by an man who lost his job. Three Pittsburgh, PA police officers killed in ambush by man wielding an AK47 assault rifle. These in just the past week or so. The list goes on and on. What is it about the NRA that scares politicians? Is it their lobbying power & all their money? Is it that their members number in the tens of millions? I don't know but I do know that there are not only too many guns in this country but they are too easy to get. Yeah, yeah, I know. The legendary frontier we all read about in history classes was settled by Messers Colt, Winchester & Remington. And I'm well aware that there are millions of people out there who participate in sport shooting whether it be hunting, target shooting, trap or skeet. I used to be one of them and I, in fact, still own a rifle although I haven't fired it in about 30 years so it would probably blow up in my face. So I get it. But what does someone need an AK47 for? And how do convicted felons get firearms? And how do they continuously end up in the hands of the wrong people? Does the Second Amendment or the NRA have an answer to those questions? Not a long time ago the ever-growing, Bush appointed, conservative wing of the Supreme Court pretty much took the Second Amendment out of play. Basically, if you want a gun, it's yours. If your state won't let you have one, not to worry. Get it at a gun show in Virginia or Alabama or Tennessee. The fact that the FBI may have a file on you isn't pertinent. How bad is that? Is there anyone man (or woman) enough to take on the NRA? I'm looking around but I don't see anyone. Not even Barack!

A Day At the Truck Museum

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon with a group of men from an assisted living facility. We visited a truck museum. I volunteer at this place and one other one or two days a week. There are relatively few men at this facility so the Director of Therapeutic Recreation has been working hard to provide social opportunities that they might not otherwise have. So far it is working very well. I started volunteer work shortly after I retired and as I have written before it is certainly a very worthwhile thing to do. Volunteering probably does as much for the volunteer as it does for the people you're working with. There are other volunteers there but not many. Some of them manage to give time while still working full time jobs. In addition to my regular visits there, the next trip scheduled is to the Botanical Gardens in NYC. Unfortunately, the amount of time this trip requires will exclude some of the men but efforts will be made to find something else for them at another time. So if you are retired or find you have some time on your hands, consider doing volunteer work. You won't regret it.

A Sleeveless Dress? How Gauch!

As the news has been reporting lately, the Obama's are in Europe for the G20 conference. The topic of course is the world wide recession that has gripped this and all other nations. Pretty important stuff, right? The media is all over this, right? You've been well acquainted with the various issues and solutions being offered, right? WRONG! What you HAVE been watching is the attention being paid to of all things Michelle Obama's dress and the quality of the gifts the President is presenting. It seems these two issues are what's being talked about among polite circles. Frankly, I couldn't care less about either of them. For all I care Michelle can wear jeans and sweats (my personal favorite) and the president can give gift cards to McDonald's. Why is this stuff, instead of the substance of the conference, important to people? Maybe it's only important to the media?? So what are you going to wear today? Be careful, people are watching!

April Fools Day- No Foolin'

Ah, the first of April, April Fools Day. What fond memories I have of this day. As a former teacher for over 31 years of 9 & 10 year old kids, I’m sure you can imagine I have seen it all! I mean everything. There were of course the usual suspects such as chalk in the blackboard erasers (they don’t even have chalk & blackboards anymore!); soap added to my coffee mug; children writing different names on their papers; everyone sitting backward in their seats; reports that the principal wanted to see me immediately (I’ve actually pulled that one on a few kids!); notes in their handwriting purportedly from their parents saying they’re not to have homework that night, etc, etc. But there’s one April Fool’s joke I’ll never forget. It was pulled off by a quiet little girl named Christie. What made the joke so effective was that you’d never in a million years suspect this girl of being capable of doing anything even remotely wrong. She was the kind of student you wanted to clone and keep for your entire career. So when she presented me with a piece of chocolate layer cake I didn’t suspect a thing. Besides she was always bringing me cupcakes, cookies, brownies, stuff like that because my sweet tooth among students far and wide was legendary. So when I bit into this tasty morsel, I certainly didn’t expect that between the layers of cake and chocolate was hot, hot, hot, horse radish!!! As I stood there turning red and choking, she & the rest of the class erupted in gales of laughter that pretty much disrupted the two classrooms on either side of me plus a couple across the hall. Everyone jumped up and ran into my room to see this hilarious situation (to them!) unfold. Once I regained composure, I congratulated Christie for her ingenuity. She promptly ratted out her mother but I reminded her that she was an accomplice so she happily took part of the credit. They don’t make jokes like that anymore. I often wonder what little (now big) Christie is doing. I hope every April Fools Day she sits quietly for a moment or two with a smile on her face that everyone wonders about.

Blog On!

My personal website http://georgeswebpage.comis going on 4 years old. I started it after taking a couple of web design courses. The original purpose is generally unchanged-provide an on going photo gallery of various things; provide a fun page where people can click on various links to fun pages; a humor page and, the last thing to be added, the Blog Spot. I was originally on the fence with the blog page because a lot of my friends and family either didn't know what they were or if they did, they didn't have any interest in them. Then a friend of mine decided to publish a blog of his own (KM3) and from there it began to grow. I now have links to 9 personal blogs, 3 columnists and 2 general blog sites making 14 links to blogs of one kind or another. Blogs are among the most visited sites on the internet. There are virtually tens of millions of them. I'm not sure how many visitors most of my blogs have because I don't have hit counters for a lot of them. Of those where I do have a hit counter, the trend has been that when the blogger first started posting pieces, the hits were very high but then over time they slacked off. Part of the problem is that of all the people who publish on my web site, I'm by far the most frequent contributor with a blog piece almost daily. Some people go weeks or months without sending me anything to post. I'm sure that if they posted more often, they would gather more followers. But that's OK. No pressure. Post when you want to. Blogs probably do more for the blogger than they do for the reader anyway. It's amazing how much better I feel when I've ranted and raved about some silly thing or current issue or when I write about things I do with my grand children. I've read articles where the authors contend that blogging is very therapeutic-kind of like keeping a diary except the whole world can read it if they want to. So I'll keep on blogging and I'll continue to post the blogs of anyone who wants to. If they're providing someone with their first-or only-chuckle for the day, then they're worth it! BLOG ON!

Who Needs Science?

A recent Harris Poll revealed the following:
53% of Americans polled know it takes the Earth one year to revolve around the Sun.
40% of Americans polled know that dinosaurs and humans did not live at the same time.
47% know that about 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
Put another way, can it be possible that 60% of those polled think dinosaurs and humans coexisted?? I find that to be suspect. Nevertheless, I think these findings are pathetic! Pathetic, but, unfortunately, not surprising. Much of this dismal situation can be laid at the feet of parents. If they're not talking about science or at least showing interest in matters of a scientific nature, then certainly their children won't. Unfortunately, I find this attitude prevalent throughout American culture. All together too many Americans don't regard science as being very important unless it involves the profit motive in some way. For a very obvious example of this trend you needn't look further than the last administration. No one had more contempt for the field of science than Bush & Cheney. But parents and politicians are not totally to blame. The schools play their part too. I remember back in the day I was always struggling to find time to teach science. Other things seemed to take precedence, i.e. state mandated 'conflict resolution' discussion groups. When it wasn't the state getting in the way, it was an administration who did not value science education. It's a shame because children love science when taught correctly. I can see great interest in science in my grand children(see blogs dated Feb. 7th & 8th). Certainly they're not doing controlled experiments but experimenting they are. And they are extremely hungry for facts. You should hear my 5 year old grand daughter talk about dinosaurs, the human body, rocks and the planets to mention a few. Her parents and preschool experience are responsible for this. I hope it continues into elementary school and beyond. Then, maybe the dismal poll results cited above will improve.

Spring Has Sprung!

Ah, Spring. Sixty five degrees, sunny. Birds chirping, flowers poking their heads through. An altogether beautiful day to relax on the front porch, sip coffee and do some bird watching, right? WRONG! That wood pile won't split and stack itself in spite of a very generous offer on my part. And the leaves that old man winter redeposited in my yard won't clean up after themselves. And the windows aren't self washing nor is the power washer going to do my house. And the garden area isn't going to clean out and till itself. And the back porch certainly isn't going to clean and stain itself. All of which means I better get busy and I will-as soon as I take a little rest.

Monkey Business

Headline: Texas School Board Set to Vote on Challenge to Evolution
(Wall Street Journal; March 23, 2009)

It must be Spring because it’s that time when every level of government is putting together a budget. Ordinarily, I couldn’t possibly care less what they’re doing in Texas as long as W stays there. If they want to ignore the mountain of data supporting evolutionary science, it’s their loss. They can embrace what ever level of ignorance they want as long as they leave me alone. But the above headline caught my attention because it seems the Texas Board of Education is voting on a new biology curriculum that challenges the guiding principles of evolution. This affects the entire state because unlike some other states, Texas has a uniform curriculum. That means that every single kid in Texas who takes biology is going to have the same textbook. That’s a whole lot of kids-and a whole lot of books. That in turn means that publishers are waiting to see what happens in Texas before printing the tens of thousands of books they hope to sell there. Hence the connection to the budget. This whole thing gives Texas a pretty influential presence in the textbook market. I remember back in the day when I was putting together budgets, I was often left with choices of books that others had decided on. Publishers won’t produce books to appeal to every single curriculum. So the bottom line is what happens in Texas could happen elsewhere. Now before anyone panics (as if), let me assure you that there are certainly publishers out there who are going to provide texts that fit a variety of curricula. This is especially true when dealing with a controversial issue like evolution. But it’s not so certain when dealing with, say, a math curriculum. Very often in curriculum areas such as this, whatever California, New York and Texas decide are what your choices are going to be. The point is school districts are not as independent as perhaps they’d like to be. What others do can influence what you can do so pay attention, kids. Every once in a while, look around and see what’s going on.

Onward and Upward

Did you catch President Obama on 60 Minutes Sunday night? I did and I was duly impressed. Obama is a man of obvious intelligence, resolve and determination. But the thing that interested me more was what he chose NOT to say. He could have easily used 60 Minutes as a forum to reach millions of people and remind them that he was handed a number of problems that were 8 years in the making. He appropriately responded to Cheney’s recent criticism but he did so in an elegant, controlled manner. He even preserved Cheney’s dignity by referring to him as Vice President Cheney instead of the number 2 man (some would say number 1) in the most destructive administration in history. Instead, Obama took the high road throughout the entire discussion. He is a man of class and dignity that has been long absent from the American political scene. If you’ll recall, one of the other blogs on my website’s Blog Spot is entitled ‘Now Is The Time’ (http://nowisthetime-rae.blogspot.com/). In one of RAE’s recent pieces he notes the extremely angry reaction of the Catholic Church to some proposed legislation. A lesson one might take from that piece is that anger and hostility are never an effective means to promote one’s ideas no matter how valid. Obama knows this very well. Much of the Republican Party leadership along with many conservative political pundits do not. Their constant ranting, raving & whining are going a long way toward the deepening alienation of the public to their position. Consider the fact that Obama continues to maintain a very high approval rating among Americans even though there have been missteps. Obama will get us out of this mess. He’ll do it because he has a plan. He has people behind him who can get it done and he has the country’s confidence. Most of his opponents are selected groups on Wall Street, cable TV (i.e. The ‘Fix’ News station), and some republicans. No matter. The public sees right through them and they will continue to sink into either obscurity or disgrace. “Keep calm and carry on”

Physical (Phew!) Education

Today's subbing gig took me to the gym. I'm going to be there Monday too but fortunately they're going to be starting something new. Today was the last day of gymnastics skills. For an elementary school of Kindergarten to 4th grades, that involves the rings and a rope. Sounds like torture, doesn't it? It was-for me! My job was to be stationed at the rings. What the kids do is stand on a pile of 3 thick mats, grab the rings in both hands, kick their legs up, put their feet in the rings and hang there a couple of seconds. The second ring skill was to flip all the way over and back again. My job was to grasp the kids by their right wrist with my left hand and help them over with my other hand. This doesn't sound like a huge deal but think of doing it with several classes of 20 kids-over and over. Added to that is the fact that some of those kids weighed in at 80 pounds. The more athletic or agile kids did pretty well on their own but as you would expect the overweight kids needed a lot of help. By the end of the day, I had received a pretty good workout. Thank god we switch to basketball Monday. Now, what's a basketball again?

Newspaper Blues

The other day there was a piece on a local TV news station that reported on a number of newspapers who are being forced to reduce their content. Along with that, Andy Rooney spoke on 60 Minutes Sunday night of the decline of the daily newspaper. It seems advertising revenue and readership are down significantly. People (especially young people) these days are getting their news from TV and the internet. Even news magazines like Time and Newsweek have raised their subscription rates and taken a stronger position on their websites. Andy Rooney went on to lament this trend and I couldn't agree more. I really enjoy my daily newspaper and it's not even an especially good one. But I like taking the time to look at all the parts of it-international, national, local news, the classifieds, obituaries, police reports, the comics and advice sections-all of it. You can't get that stuff from TV or the internet. The paper I'd really like to get daily is The New York Times but it's expensive and delivery in my area is unreliable so I settle for two local papers-one daily and the other weekly. I think this trend away from printed matter is a shame. I've already written about that little gadget Amazon.com calls the Kindle. It's designed to replace books. This is another sad trend in my view. Maybe at some point in the future people will tire of staring at screens and using gadgets and return to the traditional ways of being entertained and getting information. One encouraging thing is the amount of reading of printed matter being done in schools. Let's hope this carries over to adulthood.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Not Today!

Headline: Cheney: Obama terrorism policies make U.S. vulnerable
Headline: AIG to pay out $165 Million in bonuses

In spite of that statement from, of all people, the most destructive vice president in history and in spite of AIG's latest unbelievable blunder, they can't ruin my day. I refuse to let it happen. The weather was good, I got to see some of the family, I worked on my website in preparation for the arrival of Spring, Becky is back safely from her trip and there's a good golf tournament on. Sorry, guys. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to feel my contempt for both of you. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Here We Go Again-Merit Pay!

Headline: “Obama calls for merit pay in education plan”.
Well, well, well. What a fine mess this is! It wasn’t all that long ago that Candidate McCain was calling for the same thing. That was in July and here’s my partial response (see blog dated July 20, 2008 in archive):

Having served in public education for over 30 years, I will be the first to say that in all of my years I have known my share of colleagues who were quite simply not getting it done and it annoyed me a lot that they were making as much as me who WAS getting it done. And yet, I can’t support McCain’s program for merit pay because the whole thing is tied to test scores. Here’s the theory the McCain & the Republicans love to put forward: Education is a business. As in all businesses, your compensation is based on your performance, right? Therefore it follows that if you perform satisfactorily (according to test scores), you’ll be justly compensated. Here’s the problem: The basic premise is wrong. That’s not at all how it works in the private sector. Think of all the people you know who were forced into retirement or who otherwise got shafted by their companies for reasons entirely different from performance-poor or otherwise. So let’s cut the bull and tell the truth. Second, the reason why merit pay won’t work is because there are certain significant segments of our society who simply do not value education. What’s a teacher supposed to do about that? Is that in his/her control? On top of that what about the significant number of students who don’t or barely speak English? Do you seriously expect them to be able to pass a test? Look, there’s no question there are people who simply do not belong in a classroom. Fine. Get rid of them. Fire them and let them work at McDonald’s. Then, those who are left can continue to do the fine job they’re doing for however much the pay scale they’re on dictates.

Nothing much has changed. The interesting part is that the teachers’ unions are so calm about this. Usually when someone (read: a Republican) brings this up, all hell breaks loose. But as one local NEA president said, “The devil’s in the details.” True enough. So what are the details, Mr. President? Here are some questions for you to ponder before turning this into reality:
1. Is your plan, in fact, tied to test scores?
2. If so, which ones? If not, then what?
3. Who’s funding this thing?
4. Who is going to oversee this plan: local administrators, state education officials, politicians at any level (local, state, federal), the federal government….who?
5. What about the teachers who aren’t getting it done? Is it good enough that they simply settle for less money or will there be some effort to retrain them or will they be dismissed or..what?
6. What about those parents/students who aren’t playing nice? Why should a teacher’s compensation be affected by factors beyond a teacher’s control? How do you plan to (delicately-or not) handle that?
7. Is this plan going to apply to every single public school in the country with the realization that there are many that are doing a great job? Would all those teachers at those schools get ‘merit’ pay?

You get the idea. Lots of sticky issues involved here so stay tuned. As details emerge, I’ll address them. I’m sure you can’t wait!

Surprise! Surprise!

Talk about 'shock and awe'. I just couldn't believe it. Leading off on the Today show is the stunning news that Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have called it quits. My jaw is still dragging on the ground. I've been in a daze all day at this incredible news. Can you imagine what their parents are going through? How could anyone predict this? I wonder if they had at least some warning? I just can't get over it!

Recently two Connecticut legislators introduced a bill that would effectively remove control of finances from the leaders of the Catholic Church. I'm still not sure who would be controlling them under this legislation-the state or the parishioners. This was prompted largely by an incident whereby a priest was found to be using church money to finance a rather lavish life style. The church's reaction to this proposed law was of course quite extreme. In fact some would say 'over the top' or 'hysterical'. Here's the thing. I am not a Catholic. I'm not even particularly religious. I don't go to church except for weddings and funerals but I do feel strongly about this because I value greatly the Constitution of the United States. I don't want anyone, especially government, telling me how to worship-or not. This is a case of government interference in reverse. Why would state legislators even entertain such a notion? Well, apparently at least two of them think this will deter future incidents of theft of church funds. Of course, it won't. Besides there is already legislation in place to address issues like this. Why on earth create a state level constitutional crises, upset a lot of church leaders and their parishioners and generally create yet more government intrusion? It's bad enough we just got rid of a president who stomped all over the constitution. We don't need state law makers following suit.

Bored, Bored, Bored

News Flash! NBC30 nightly news just reported several teenagers were made to sweep broken glass and remove other debris from the streets of two area towns due to a vandalism spree. Some of the parents of the teens maintained that it was unfair and that the towns were at fault because their teens were bored and there wasn't enough for them to do. Can you believe it? I used to hear my kids complaining about where we lived all the time because it was booooorrrrrring! But they didn't go around breaking windows (I know this to be a fact because my kids told me everything. Really!). This has been a common refrain of teenagers since language was invented. In fact Neanderthal cave drawings were recently discovered to contain a primitive type script on their walls that, roughly translated, meant, "I'm so bored. There's never anything to do in this cave." (Remember, back then they didn't have MySpace or Facebook!) How absurd. Are they that stupid they can't find some constructive way to amuse themselves? Never mind making the kids sweep up. Put their irresponsible parents out there with them and then make all involved, parents included, work off the cost of the damage the little brats did! Thus endith my rant for the day:)

Pick Up Revisited

I need to add one more thing to that long list of stuff I've hauled in my pick ups over the years. Kids. Lots of kids. Back in the day when it was OK to transport people in the back of a truck I'd take my kids along with many of the neighborhood kids to the hill behind the football field at the high school. We would ride sleds and snow tubes down that very steep hill for a few hours and then head home for hot chocolate. People aren't allowed to go there anymore. Someone might get hurt. People aren't allowed to ride in the back of pick ups in CT anymore either. Someone might get hurt. Ahh..those were the days, my friends, we thought they'd never end, la, la, la, la, la...........

Ode to a Pick Up

This is a picture of my truck. A 2008 Dodge Ram Big Horn 1500 with a 5.8 liter V8. Yes, it's lousy on gas but with my 5000 miles per year, I don't care. The reason I'm telling you this is because I've owned it for just about a year now. In fact I wrote a blog about it at that time. I was inspired to mention it again because first, as I said, its one year anniversary is coming up and second, the blog 'Now Is The Time' (georgeswebpage.com/blogspot) wrote a piece celebrating the value and worth of Chrysler products. I wrote a comment to that piece and now I find I need to say more. The truck pictured above is the 4th truck I've owned and the 3rd Dodge. My first truck was a 1977 Chevy short bed, step side, 2 wheel drive, 6 cylinder engine. It was as basic as you can get. The truck ran well but by 1985 the corrosion and rust had advanced to such a state that about all I had left was an engine and drive train on wheels. Plus there is nothing-I mean nothing-worse in snow than a 2 wheel drive pick up so in 1985 I bought my first Dodge 4 wheel drive. It was a 4 speed with the old Dodge slant six engine. That truck was an animal and it looked good. I kept that for 13 years at which time I bought a 1998 Dodge 4 wheel drive Laredo. I spoiled myself by getting for the first time A/C, automatic transmission, V8 engine and extended cab. Another great truck in spite of a bad rear axle and A/C condenser. Otherwise it was a fine vehicle until rust and corrosion got that one too. So in 2008 I bought the vehicle described at the start of this piece. Four door cab, satellite radio, remote start (which I don't use), step rails, and the other stuff already mentioned. Why drive a big, heavy, relatively expensive vehicle, you ask, instead of, say, a Toyota Prius? Here's why:
Firewood, garbage, furniture, yard mulch, dirt, sand, stones, outdoor play sets, over the years animals like chickens and goats, washers, dryers, refrigerators, hot tubs, garden tractors, snow throwers, tillers, mowers, chippers, lumber, windows, doors, more furniture, more garbage, more firewood, first children's then grand children's toys, bicycles, sporting equipment, etc. You name it. At one time or another I've hauled it. What amazes me is how home owners who live in the country get along without one (unless of course they're borrowing one!) I'll never be without a pickup. I should be a Teamster!