Hear! Hear!

As you know, this morning marked a crucial vote on the Senate floor regarding Health Care Reform. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) had a moment to share his thoughts with the assembly. Here's what he had to say:

"[They] are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one."

Here is what Bob Parks had to say about that. I say "hear, hear!" I'd like to shake his hand and have a chat with this guy, wouldn't you?

"Despite liberals' historically dismal and revisionist civil rights history, when things with this President fall apart, they are all too willing to resort to playing the race card. The problem is - whether it's the Black Panthers in Philadelphia or Professor Gates in Cambridge - Barack Obama and his administration have conducted themselves so poorly in office that the race label really doesn't bruise the skin anymore. [Ha! You think??] If President Obama had not entered the presidency with his signature arrogance, the American people may have had more patience, but he and his liberal allies have talked down to the American people like we were stepchildren they were forced to tolerate. Statements like those of Senator Whitehouse only further harden the opposition's resolve."

Yes, I approve, Mr. Parks, and add a resounding "AMEN!"

Ironic, or not?

How many of us have seen this footage in US History class? How quickly the tone in the emergency session of the UN suddenly changed; laughter came to a sudden halt when Ambassador Adlai Stevenson presented undeniable evidence of Soviet missile presence in Cuba. (If you've never seen 13 Days, do yourself a favor and rent it. The producers, I believe, did a great job. Some of the scenes use word-for-word speeches.)

That was 47 years ago today. We seemed so laser-focused then. Maybe it was because we were afraid to be attacked on our own soil? Whatever the case, many American lives have been sacrificed to help this and other nations preserve multiple freedoms for their citizens. My fear is that when these freedoms go unchallenged, free from attack for a period of time, (we, as a people) begin to take them for granted. I do recognize this as part of human nature, but it is very sad...

One such freedom (namely, the First Amendment) seemed to be attacked this week. Did anybody else see this? Smacks of Hugo Chavez to me.

All I can say is that I'm glad the Big 5 Networks of the White House Press Pool stood together in solidarity to defend Freedom of Speech in this country...

That little, blue box & The World

I just love reading my friend's blogs. My SoCal, fashionista friend just posted a truly marvelous experience from inside NYC's 5th Ave Tiffany & Co. store. (If I had her permission, I'd post it here for you to read. She is an amazingly talented artist and cook. Apparently, Williams & Sonoma like to award their 5 yr employees with a little sumin' sumin' from Tiffany's.)

Yes, yes ... all women would like to get that little, blue box at least once in their lifetime, right? Personally, I'm still waiting ... but a girl can dream, right? ;) Oh, and I'm not limiting my imaginations to diamond rings (although, a diamond IS my birthstone), but I'd settle for a bangle, pendant, earrings or a keychain.

Now, on to my real purpose in sharing. In reading the news today, I see that even Tiffany & Co is hurting. Apparently, this last year, global diamond production fell by 46 million carats. I understand that luxury items will be the first to go in times of recession and hardship, but does that mean that quality of production should be compromised? Fifty percent of their diamond cutting/polishing was out-sourced to China, Vietnam, Mauritius, etc. WHAT!? I'm ok with my plates, knives, blankets, clothes and such being crafted elsewhere, but fine jewelry? Not so sure about that. Some things are better left to the long-time experts, right?

Can't help but to chime in on this one, seeing as how I have been spending time with Folsom High School seniors who are preparing debates regarding school reform. As you may well know, sometime during the late 80's and mid- 90's, the United States decided that it would be a good idea to get rid of Vocational Education in our schools, in the hopes that all children would/could attend college. Huh? Within the next 5-10 years, we will be facing a dearth of jobs which simply cannot be out-sourced when our Baby Boomer generation fully retires. Who will be our master plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc? The sad truth is that schools used Vocational Ed as a dumping ground for those students they didn't think were "capable" of learning. (Well, one would suppose that depends upon what one is wanting them to learn.) You might be shocked at the date of this TIME magazine article but, when you read it, you realize that, sadly enough, not much has changed today.

You didn't see this happening in other parts of the world. Germany & Japan have long been preparing 7th graders to begin either vocational apprenticeships or the college prep track.

There, now I'll step down off my soapbox and get back to work. (That's the only way any change will happen anyway...)

Utah in the news?

I am sure you've seen UT was in the news for a recent Harvard Study, claiming they were ranked highest in the nation for online porn subscriptions. To be sure, there are problems with porn in UT, as well as many other states. But, as you might expect, I have something to say about this study. The following are thoughts of mine and my dearest friend upon discussing the study. Read on if you dare...

1) How reliable is Eldeman's study? He fails to mention how he retrieved the zip codes. Are these zip codes based on broadband/cable bills or credit cards (if it was indeed porn-for-purchase)? As much of my sad work experience with juvenile delinquents has taught me, most internet porn is free. They tell me you can "sign up" to access it by an online profile, much like MySpace. In that case, how many porn addicts really use their true zip code?

2) What are Utah laws on the availability of pornography in other outlets (e.g., live, newsstand, etc.)? What is available in the local cable subscriptions? I'm betting that both of these are far more limited in places such as Utah as opposed to California simply because the overwhelming demand isn't there to carry the stuff. Note that one of the highest percentages for accessing online smut in Utah is in Sevier County, where ALL services are pretty limited. The upshot is that you have a certain segment of the population who is always going to want this kind of stuff and if it isn't readily available in their community, they'll access the internet to find it. What this study seems to leave out is that yes, more likely than not, Utahns have chosen to legislate morality and in doing so have caused a certain percentage of their population to have to seek it out in other venues, which wouldn't occur in other states. My bet is that the more conservative states who have chosen to put constitutionally-acceptable limitations on access to and availability of pornography would also have "higher" rates of internet access to it. I also would note that the identities of the other states, except Montana, have been omitted. Why? Probably to gloss over the fact that the percentages are so close that's it's not even worth mentioning.

3) This study smacks of a biased fight against the recent Prop 8 support work Utah and the LDS church paricipated in. Had this high-use porn percentage been reported in any other pro-Prop 8 state, would there even be a story? I quote Edelman's own words who, by the way, fails to mention any of the other "defense of marriage" states.

"Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality," Edelman writes. In the 27 states where "defense of marriage" amendments have been adopted, there were 11 percent more porn subscribers than in other states, he reports. Use is higher also in states where more people agree with the statement "I never doubt the existence of God."

4) If you believe Edelman's description of his own study (the italicized portion above), the conclusions he has reached must necessarily lead to the inevitable yet fatally flawed conclusion that people with an unwavering belief in God are, or are far more likely to be, porn addicts. I highly doubt it.

There. I've said it. Now you know my thoughts and feelings on the matter. That said, I am STILL moving home to Utah in mid-June. I miss my family, and I've been away for far too long. This last scare with dad's stroke and current rehab at home have taught me that I'll take the Utah Mormon culture "quirks", if it means I can be with the ones I love the most and live in a place that isn't tilting towards Amsterdam with legalization of everything. *grin*

California in trouble?

As you may know, I have spent the last seven years of my career in California; the last two as a Vice-Principal, experiencing enough social malaise to last a lifetime. I most assuredly have enough fodder to write a book or, at the very least, a screenplay/ script. While I was working in Utah as a teacher, I used to think it was unforgiveable to be paid so little, and to be so "disrepected" as a professional. Boy howdy, have my thoughts and priorities changed!

As I've joined the ranks of public school administrators in the largest welfare state in the Union, I have seen more waste, more abuse/ misuse of taxpayer funds than I ever imagined possible. (In fact, I could write another book just on Catagorical Fund/ State & Federal Program waste.) It's ironic to think that I came off my mission and started the Masters of Social Work Program at BYU, only to walk away because I saw horrible discrepencies with the State/Federal "Welfare" Programs, as compared to church "Workfare" programs I taught/ administered while a missionary in Argentina. It was during my 18 mos. there that I developed a love of teaching and working with those who had so little, but who were so willing to learn. To be sure, I was young and naive to believe that everyone would want to learn as much and work as hard as those campesinos did. After fighting with a professor or two, I purposefully walked out on the Social Work Program, because I saw its built-in flaw. Any system that gives out something for nothing will never be able to instill in its participants the self-respect needed to continually fuel their successes. So, I became a teacher and, eventually, an administrator. Fifteen years later, what am I doing? SOCIAL WORK.

Maybe what I'm trying to say is that while Utah has its problems, California has a lion's share of the same issues, in addition to others. In fact, these issues seem to dwarf those often mentioned about Utah. I tend to write/journal/blog as a way to de-stress from my job. I would like to share the following quotidian activities with you. They represent the not-so-out-of-the-ordinary days like today. I only wish that I were exaggerating as to what I did today:

1) Translated yet another attendance / disciplinary meeting into Spanish (I'm the only administrator at our site who can) for parents who flat out refuse to take the free English classes we offer. I beg them to, just so they can navigate in the same system as their children. Then I wouldn't have to keep reporting to the parents that: "Your child has been involved in messaging over MySpace, sending gang affiliated info, which has put your child's ingress/egress to school at risk." Or, "It would not only benefit your own employment opportunities to learn English, but those in your child's future as you help them succeed in school and, eventually, the community at large."

2) Signed my weekly batch of truancy letters and sent my School Resource Officer/ Truancy Cop on home visits to verify residency. It is more than common to have families fail to send their children to school until they hear they might be taken to court and their welfare check suspended. Yesterday, I had a discussion with Sadie Clark's mother who refused to attend 3 prior scheduled meetings with me about her daughter's truancy issues. She told me: "Go ahead and take me to court. I won't show. What are they going to do? Throw me in jail? Take away my food stamps? I have another baby on the way and 2 on SSI. I'm good, honey."
During the course of the last two years, I've had probably 2-3 dozen conversations just like that one.

3) Dealt with a student on student sexual harrassment case. "Teabagging" (definintion #2) Boys in PE class, who claim they learned it on the popular T.V program "Jackass", then saw their brother do it to his girlfriend while mom was watching and laughing.

4) Suspended two boys for a fight. One kid punched out the other beacause he passed around naked, pornographic pictures in class of a quite large woman--claiming it was the other dude's older sister whom he had sex with last week. (Turns out the sister part was a lie, and that the boy had simply ripped the pics off from his dad's stash of porn. Dad admitted he doesn't try to hide it from his boys.)

5) Cleaned up last week's case of four pre-teens "Sexting" during school hours. This is a "new" craze seen on the "O.C", "Gossip Girls", "Secret Life of the American Teenager" that you may have heard about? Some states are putting kids up for porn charges with this type of offense. (This was already happening on my campus last year. I suspended half a dozen kids and expelled two for engaging in this behavior.)

6) Suspended, and will eventually expell, two kids for posession of / furnishing marijuana & related objects. One kid was manufacturing roach clip prototypes in Art class, then selling them on campus. His friend (entrepreneurial business partner) brought the weed to school from his parents' home plantation. Sad, but I don't know how much longer schools can fight this type of behavior when Assembly Bill 390 could pass. Then maybe my job will entail dealing with 16 yr olds who are working through Heroin detox (like my colleagues at the high school)?

7) Followed up on a missing person's report filed on one of my 7th grade students who just returned to our campus from our Military Academy. Jacob Cole had been back to our school for one short week and had already been suspended again for instigating a fight and other related drama. Apparently he didn't want to return to MYA, because he ran away from home this last weekend. Subsequent phone conversation with step-dad tells me everything I need to know. He says: "Jacob should remain 'lost' for all I care. That boy can't seem to get it through his head that we refuse to play his game."

8) Finished off the day @ 4:00pm, calling the Rancho Cordova police for a school parking lot malay. Right in front of my eyes, on my live video camera monitor, I witness a drunk mother back up into one car, peel past another side-swiping it, then accelerate into a third, rear-ending it. She promptly sped off trying to flee the incident. Much to her dismay, I had the whole rumpus saved on tape for the cops and all her posterity. Sad part is, once the cops brought the woman back to the school parking lot along with her Special Ed. daughter, the student witnesses were already starting to mock the girl for her mother's delinquent behavior.

Well, that's all for today, but there will be more tomorrow -- just like it, I'm sure. I appreciate the chance to explain my earlier emotion. In my humble estimation, legalizing, allowing or enabling certain behaviors doesn't seem to help them dissipate or become any less prevelant.

Do I live in the Twilight Zone?

Obama topped a new Harris interactive poll that asked 2,634 Americans who they admire enough to call a hero. Participants named the heroes randomly instead of being shown or read a list of people to choose from. The poll was conducted online between January 12 and 19, 2009.

God ranked 11th, between Mother Teresa and Hillary Clinton. Of the multiple reasons participants gave to explain their choices of heroes, the ones most cited is, "Doing what's right regardless of personal consequences" with 89%, "Not giving up until the goal is accomplished" with 83% and "Doing more than what other people expect of them," with 82%. Also popular were "Overcoming adversity" and "Staying level-headed in a crisis."

In the first Harris Poll asking this question in 2001, Jesus came in first, followed by the Rev. King, Powell, John F. Kennedy and Mother Teresea. So, my big question is: have we really gone down this far during the last 7 years? If you sit around too long thinking about it, you could get really depressed. Or... perhaps we could make our own poll. I know a whole bunch of people who'd write in prophets old & new as well as current Church authorities. My second question is: how are those with little or no moral compass seen as heroes?

Obama joked last year at a roast that contrary to rumors, he was not born in a manger but on the planet Krypton. Apparently, (according to the Godless and stupid among us) Obama is even more popular than God or Superman (who didn't even make the cut.) Not that a ficticious character should make such a list at all, but if we are voting on "helping the general populace have a little more hope in humanity", we ought to SCRATCH Obama and write in Superman. No way Obama would look that good in tights and a cape.