Lies About Wisconsin, Ohio...

[Edit, based on Calvin's comment: Unions were created because of abused workers, and tied into the end of child labor laws. These are good things, unless you're Republican and want to fund (read: tax cut) the corporations at the risk of crushing the hopes of real working Americans. Even today, while some abuses rear their ugly heads, the base mission is still valid: If the state (or other large group) controls your wages, you're going to get screwed. And yet teachers are still getting screwed. In Ohio, school funding based on property tax has been banned by the Ohio Supreme Court for over 20 years, yet no one changes it. But I digress - Unions are needed. And I hope I capture that in my post.]

The Riots

I was driving from Cleveland to Cincinnati yesterday afternoon, half-hungover and half awake, trolling the local AM stations from there to here and came upon quite the pompous asshole (unidentified conservative) who was taking calls about what's happening in Madison. When confronted with how hard teachers work, he reverted to "yeah, I work hard too." Then he switched to "Their job sucks!"

But all during his (and I will readily group Hannity and the other rightwing tools and myrmidons here), he nonchalantly referred to what was happening in Madison and Columbus as "riots" and "bullying" while out of the other side of his mouth saying all the Governor wanted to do was balance the budget and referring to the Tea Partier protesters as "just representing the taxpayer."

Yes, this should probably sit in the Hypocrisy section, but if we categorized it by that, the whole post would be under one heading.


The Teachers

Just to be clear: I was a teacher for one year. It was 50% wonderful with the kids. It was 50% horrible in the politics and administration. Also: the Madison issue is about ALL public service professionals.

Experienced teachers who have it down and still do a great job run an average of about 60-70 hours per week between teaching, planning, and grading. They spend 10-15% of their income on supplies and tools that the schools will not, either for them or the students.


The Hypocrisy

All the verbal abuse of the protests (RIOTS!) in Madison are from the right wing. And they're clearly targeting the unions as the abusers and devils. Why? Because while unions collect dues while helping negotiations for benefits and salaries, they also use some of those dues to promote political parties and candidates that support the unions.

And - YES - unions have, in some cases, totally abused their power and outgrown their use as their detriment has taken the ruling share when it comes to workers' benefit.

But the only reason it's an issue for the right wing right now is that 99% of those union donations go to Democrats because 99% of union supporters are Democrats. If that union money was going into the GOP fund, Hannity's only comment on the subject would be "They're doing the right thing, for themselves, and for America."


Life Without Unions

As a first-year teacher in North Carolina, where teachers' unions appear to be completely missing, allow me to tell you what happens (numbers were from about 5 years ago):

• First year teachers will start at $23,400.
• Mandatory 10% into retirement (that will eventually be your pension, none from state).
• Tax the rest at about 24%.
• You have the option of taking your yearly salary in 9 months or 12 months. Okay, can we do 12? Yes, but the way that works is you have to open a separate account, do the math yourself, and put away what you think you'll need over the 3 months and have that direct deposited from each check. But after realizing you won't even be able to pay the mortgage if you split it into 12, you opt for 9 and cross your fingers you'll be able to find something else during your "time off."
• You'll be working about 80 hours per week. Sometimes more for a teacher (English) where you have to grade 5-paragraph essays from 120+ students multiple times each semester.
• During the time you don't have, you're required to spend the money you don't have to pay to attend Continuing Education classes.

Why isn't anyone talking about what happens when you don't have unions?


The Reality

While the right wing refuses to acknowledge it, this is about power. The bill on the floor, the contention on the main issue is based on killing the union's ability to negotiate as a group. It allows the state to say "We don't have the money to meet what you want" and lets the salary to default to the "previous contract" meaning you basically don't get a raise if they say they don't have the money.

The power grab is simple. Pass the bill and own your public employees. Teachers aren't paid enough as it is as the people teaching/training/loving/supporting our kids when we're not there (and many parents aren't there out of school). Hey, let's pay them less because they're asking for more. Brilliant!


The Senators

The Democratic Party senators have left the state. The right wing is calling them cheats and liars. They might want to take a look at what Lincoln did. These Democratic Senators are apparently following The Party of Lincoln's playbook.


The Conclusion

These teachers and firefighters and police and every other public servant needs the unions to get them a fair wage. Yes, the unions sometimes abuse their power and certainly use money where they shouldn't, but the alternative is an abomination to anyone involved in a state job.

Keep your fight, Wisconsin! Bring the fight harder, Ohio!

And every other state that sees this horror coming, the Republican terrorism of breaking the unions in a veiled mission to balance the budget, be forewarned by our lessons and take heed. A struggle is about to begin. Embrace it!

Tea-Baggin' Football Coach Gets Sacked

Bryan Glover got fired. See, he was a 26-year old middle school football coach with mediocre aspirations as a singer/songwriter. So when he wrote a song about how Obama was awful and Republicans will take back the country in November and fix it all (so short their memories), he did what every sane person would do: send it to every person on your "personal email list." This included parents of kids he coached. D'oh!

Now, as with most shoddy right wing "journalism," none of the relevant questions were being addressed: Was he using his school account? Were the contacts in his personal list procured as a professional? Does anybody with any sense or knowledge of etiquette really do that (sorry Mom)? Why does he not understand that when you're a teacher/coach, you're a teacher/coach all the time?

Long story short: they canned him because a handful of parents went batshit. I don't know that they should have, but that's what happened.

When it comes to the GOP USA article above, their claim is that the liberal parents' claim was one of racism. I don't believe that. There's nothing in the song lyrics that points to race per se. However, the last lines of the song:

When we’re holding the hammer
Every one of them looks like a nail

I can understand mid-level understanding of simile and metaphor, but when you spend a whole song talking about how the hammer represents misguided and clumsy policies, getting ahold of the hammer does not empower you, but makes you subject to the same errors as your predecessors. Okay, so in that respect the song is accurate.

But this last line plainly incites the same Beck-esque language of violence reflected in oft-used words like "reload" and "open season on Dems." As represented by a handful of whacked-out "isolated incidents," this violence is not figurative but literal. And that prevalence is becoming ever-increasingly dangerous.

Sidenote: the comments on the story? Typical: He should sue the hell out of the school, join the Tea Party, open the Hannity Freedom Concert with his one song and then run for office (and presumably fail miserably).

Education in America: Jumped the Shark?

Over the weekend, my father, who works for the mayor of a Cleveland suburb, was explaining that next year in the high school system everything but the state mandated minimum was going to be cut. That means that all the high school kids in the district will go to school for under 5 hours a day, cutting everything except English, Math, Social Studies, and Science. That means no music, art, or theatre.

This, of course, stems from the way schools in Ohio are funded: primarily by property taxes. The state lottery also funnels money into the schools, but as soon as that was instituted the crooked politicians channeled most of the non-lottery money into other projects. And despite a 1997 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that property tax funding of the schools was unconstitutional, in 12 years nothing has changed. Except the installation of No Child Left Behind which provides regulations but no money for implementation, further crippling struggling schools.

This is happening all over Ohio, all over the country. Schools are being stripped of enrichment as budgets fall off from a mix of shitty management and shitty economy. As of right now many children are being pushed through high school without some of the things we considered basics: writing a five paragraph essay, understanding of grammar, basic knowledge of science, history, government.

And then what do they do? They try to get into a college having had a year or two or three of 5 hour days, no extracurricular offered. And if they can get into college, they're looking at $30,000 for an inexpensive state college 4-year degree.

This weekend, as I was soaking in the collapse of the educational system that provided me with quality schooling, I came across this article (or one like it) about how colleges are entertaining the idea of a three-year degree to make college "more affordable." So don't knock down absurd spending levels or sick tuition hikes, but slim down your requirements and push the student through ASAP. That is if it's not a bait-n-switch: "Ooh, sorry, you missed the 3-year degree by 2 credits. Not going to give up now, are you?"

So we're pushing the high school students through at absolute minimum so they can barely get into a college that is too expensive so they can chug through that at the minimum 3 years so they can end up in a work force that - if they can get a job - will devalue their education, paying them much less whilst they sit atop some $20K+ in loans. And that's just the undergrad.

And we're spending trillions on banks and car companies? Where's the education reform? Where's the NCLB repeal? Where's the money for the important things?

Needless to say, it makes me mad. And as the father of a 13-year old, it scares the shit out of me.

Still on the Andrew Wilkow

Even though I posted Andrew Wilkow: My New Pain in the Ass back at the beginning of March, it's one of those posts that just won't die: every week or so I get another comment, usually from a conservative troll, sans grammatical or linguistic ability, too afeared to post anything except as Anonymous.

This week was no different. Anonymous first seemed centerist, argued that aesthetic traits (whiny) are irrelevant to any argument against a person. Then:

"Most liberal statements are, in all truth, irrelevant, or crafted in a manner which simply appeals to aesthetics and the dog-like qualities."

Ah, to the crux. I replied:

Most critical conservative statements are generalizations, based on untruths, peppered with obfuscation, and punctuated with one thing the ignorant masses can hang onto, such as "he's a commie!"

Liberals also tend to be more internet savvy and understand the importance of signing posts and owning your own words.

And on a sidenote, aesthetics carries a great deal of relevance, especially when all you have to go on is the voice itself. If your word choice, tone, temperament, and speech pattern peg you - in my mind - as a collar-popping guido douchebag, there's not much you can say that can break through that. Lynn Samuels has a voice like nails on a chalkboard interrupted by a smoke detector. Hence, I don't listen.

Finally, tips for credibility. This is for you, trolls! Want to come across as intelligent? Here's how:

• Post using your username and claim some responsibility for your words
• Grammar and spelling are important; Firefox has built-in spellcheck.
• Make a substantial (or humorous) post without devolving into "ur a stupid librl whoz stupid n stuff"

I know. That last one is probably asking a bit too much.

Achtung! Compulsory Patriotism! I Said Now!

A couple of kids in a "small-town" Jr. High were suspended for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance. I remember this thing, I think maybe in Jr. High, that they taught: the Constitution. I may be wrong, but it gave us the freedom to speak, even if the Podunk Jr. High says "yous gotta" in the student handbook.

This compulsory idol worship is absurd in that it is part of the reason Brits fled England for a savage wilderness, part of the reason our Founding Fathers started a war against their own governing body. The flag is a fabric representation of all of our freedoms, including the freedom to see it as a piece of fabric.

You do not need to pray to Jesus in church on Sunday morning to believe in God and you certainly do not have to pray to a flag to believe in America.

Tennessee Principal Outing Gay Students

From the local Tennessee station:

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, went way beyond her role as educator.

The ACLU says in September 2007, Beasley asked her staff to give her the names of students who were couples, heterosexual and homosexual, because she wanted to keep an eye on them to cut down on public displays of affection.

She's accused of publicly posting the names of those students, including two boys, Andrew and Nicholas, who had just started dating. The ACLU says that in doing so, Beasley revealed their relationship to other students, teachers and even their parents.

This is where you think: "What kind of monster...."

You can find the school website here.

And feel free to call the school:

Phone: 901.435.1765

...and perhaps even email Principal Beasley directly:

beasleyd@mcsk12.net

Just try not to, in your frustration and anger, mention her mustache.

Home Schooling: Bane of Reason

Holy shitbox stormfront! Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a full-fledged, four-alarm Conservative dichotomy!

Let's start by chewing on this from SFGate:

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

I don't care about the abuse case that brought the issue to light; my initial and overall reaction is: it's about fucking time.

My first experience with a homeschooled kid was when I was working at a movie theater at 16. To all appearances, he was a normal kid. Unfortunately, 5 minutes with him showed him to be completely, socially retarded. When children are very young, they come to a realization that not everyone has the same ideas and thought processes that they do. I don't think he ever got past that.

Watch the movie Jesus Camp. All those kids? Homeschooled. Why? Because public schools teach the Devil's lies of evolution.

So back to the four-alarm dichotomy. I'm listening to Sean Hannity rail against the story and it hit me like a tire iron in the xiphoid process: Conservatives have been screaming about the quality of education for years (because NCLB itself is crippling America, in actuality) and screaming about getting rid of tenure and teacher's unions and making quality assurance a mandatory part of a teacher's life - who is paid dirt and works twice as hard as many full-time employees - to guarantee that our children are receiving the best education possible.

Amen: knock out the unions, pay them a minimum of 50K a year, and implement a fair rating system.

But how do you go from "We need full reform of the education system because teachers are not qualified enough to teach our kids" to "Moms with no educational background, formal post-secondary education, or accreditation are the best teachers evar?" Someone tell me how that fucking logic even remotely works!

Here's the logic: It's okay - in the conservative world of rainbows and unicorns and intelligent design - for conservative parents who don't want their kids to learn actual science - to keep them home and teach evolution instead. This, in and of itself, is a root problem; if you can't pass a general science test because the teachings being tested were written by the Devil, there is a serious problem.

Which is why this whole issue is long overdue. If you want to teach your kids at home, more power to you, but you better be held to the same bullshit NCLB tests that every other kid is held to, and you better damned well have at least a college degree.

If not, regardless of how this story is labeled or ignored by the media, we are dis-servicing the future of America and guaranteeing a continuance of idiocy and ignorance.

But maybe that's the plan. Ignorance breeds complacency breeds compliance. And that's what those in power would like to see every day; they love it and kiss it and dry hump their tailored-pants-clad chubbies all over it.

Amen.

Al-Qaeda, Evangelicals Teaching Hate

The Sun proclaims

Al-Qaeda teach kids, 6, to kill



in a related story,

Evangelicals teach kids, 6, to hate

Sesame Street: Back in the Day

Subway!

Virginia Heffernan has an excellent piece in the NY Times about Volume 1 and 2 of "Sesame Street: Old School" being released on DVD, focusing primarily on how non-PC those original episodes were, and how those characters got from there to where we can still see them today (e.g., Snuffleupagus could be seen by everyone in 1985 as not to exacerbate Big Bird's condition into full-blown mental illness).

What they did to us was hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

The only part of the article that didn't ring true to the spirit was a single snippet on the first page:

Live-action cows also charge the 1969 screen — cows eating common grass, not grain improved with hormones. Cows are milked by plain old farmers, who use their unsanitary hands and fill one bucket at a time.

The point of running through the grocery list of "atrocities" was to show how PC we've become, but the single farmer's careful handling his organic milk is something that rings PC/"social conscious" true in the light of today's Big Box stores and farm factories.

Excuse my literary nitpicks. Read the article. It's worth the walk down memory lane and stuffed full of things I was never aware of concerning a show that helped me grow, read, write, and eventually become this blogger that you're reading right now.

More on Cincinnati's Baby-cookin' Lady

Thanks to commenter dmvnana on my last post on Mom Bakes 2-Year-Old in SUV, Walks Free, I was prompted to further outrage and tracked down this terrifying information from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

UNION TWP. - The day Cecilia Slaby died wasn't the first time her mother left the 2-year-old alone in a car, according to police reports made public Wednesday.

Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby was warned by a former administrator at the preschool attended by Cecilia's 5-year-old sister, Allison, not to leave her toddler in the car by herself.

A parent had complained about seeing Cecilia left in a car last winter.

A teacher at the Compass School in Loveland told police that twice in the two days before Cecilia's death she heard Nesselroad-Slaby describe leaving the child unattended in a car.

Teacher Tara Phillips told police that on Aug. 21 Nesselroad-Slaby arrived at 5:10 p.m. to pick up Allison.

"She told Allison to hurry up because the baby was in the car," Phillips wrote. The same thing happened the next day, Phillips said.

"We were acting out a story when Ms. Slaby came to pick up Allison about 3:05," Phillips wrote. "Allison asked Mom if she would stay to watch her part. Mom stayed, and they both left at 3:15. Mom didn't go to check on the baby."

Debbie Wolf, a former Compass School administrator, told police that after the parent expressed concern last winter about a baby left in a car, she told Nesselroad-Slaby "that her child should not be left in the car alone. Mrs. Slaby apologized."

Wolf told police the incident prompted the school to warn parents in its newsletter that "no child should be left in a car unattended."

A couple of things to note here: The law in Ohio states that you can't have negligence without endangerment, and endangerment requires intent to harm. Apathy, forgetfulness, stupidity, even if repetitive, even if in abundance enough to make you want to scream at the world and punch the wall, is not enough to send someone to jail in Ohio. Ohio Revised Code even defines Involuntary Manslaughter - something I would've thought would fit the "I didn't mean to kill my baby" defense - is only applicable in the case of committing or attempting to commit a felony or misdemeanor. And as we saw in the last article, because of lack of intent, neither of those works either; they cancel each other out.

Hamilton County Job & Family Services is looking into whether she is a threat to her other daughter. They have a 24-hour "Child Abuse and Neglect Line." Let's throw that one on the barby as well.

HCJFS Child Abuse and Neglect Line
(513) 241-5437

Clermont County Prosecutor's Office
(513) 732-7223

Glen Este Middle School
(513) 947-7700

West Clermont Local School District
(513) 943-5000
contact_wcs@hccanet.org

Miss Teen USA 2007 - No Maps, South Africa, Iraq

Some people are blowing this out, talking about the "ditzy chick" or the "blond moment." What struck me was the irony inherent in a question posed to express concern about the state of education in America, answered in a way that really showcased the poor state of education in America; that in order to gain recognition and worth to stand out and speak out against the ills plaguing society, they all believe this is the path, and they all must reinforce a stereotypical false ideal of beauty that will affect millions of little girls.

If you haven't seen it, you know you want to watch:


[Alternate YouTube Link]

It's painful to watch like the bad American Idol auditions, like that kid at the choir concert who - why? why? - got the music teacher to give him a solo. Ugh.

Glenn Beck's take? They tell us pedophilia is a bad thing and then parade 15-year olds around in bikinis. How confusing.

Actually, Glenn, there was only one fifteen year old in the pageant, and the only person who would make that statement would be a grown man who is personally struggling with justifying why they needed half a box of Kleenex on the end table during his viewing.

Kids, Sex Ed, Obama Throws, Romney Ducks

Best article I could find on the topic was the ABC News version entitled "Sex Ed for Kindergartners?" (via Drudge).

Here's the rundown:

• Obama reaffirms an issue almost 4 years old with Planned Parenthood, stating "age-appropriate" sex ed should begin in kindergarten.
• Romney's all "No one in my state said there wasn't enough sex ed."
• Someone points out Massachusetts has sex ed plan that can begin in pre-kindergarten
• "We had not awareness, no input and certainly did not promote these curriculum frameworks," said Fehrnstrom, who served as Romney's communications director all four years that he was governor.
• Obama, sitting in his living room quietly whispers "Ooh, snap. I'm good."

As Obama stated, kids knowing the difference between good touching and bad touching is a good thing, and that would fall under sex education. Back in 2004: "If they ask a teacher 'where do babies come from,' that providing information that the fact is that it's not a stork is probably not an unhealthy thing. Although again, that's going to be determined on a case by case basis by local communities and local school boards.'"

Personally, I had the "puberty/boys 'n' girls/basic sex/ask me anything" talk with our daughter when she was in 3rd grade, just after she turned 9.

Take your moment to gasp. (Oh, the humanity!)

Why would I do such a thing? Because kids in 3rd grade are already talking about it, trading horribly incorrect information, whether from older siblings or something misinterpreted on Skinemax. Little girls in 5th grade are giving little boys in fifth grade blow jobs. It's not happening everywhere, but it's happening, and it only gets worse in Jr. High. And if you have kids, YOU need to be established as an approachable expert and authority concerning sex NOW.

We no longer live in the world where I grew up, where 7th grade started the bra boom, and we're eons from the reality in which Obama or Romney copped their first feel.

But if Mitt Romney wants to remain oblivious to reality around him and tell these children, their minds being torn asunder by hormones and emerging sexual identity, that they should just not have sex, to just say no to naughtiness, then that is his prerogative.

Personally, I'm not too worried. Should by some Joseph Smith revival miracle of asshattery Mitt Romney actually win the presidency, the best way to tell how a person will act in the future is to look at their past actions; he was so absent-minded and ineffective concerning sex ed policies in one state, how is he going to effect change in 50?

Synopsis: Obama runs away with this one.

And in a totally underhanded and unassociated train of thought deliberately designed to alienate Mitt Romney based on his religion: Did you know Mormons wear funny underwear?



Okay, not entirely unrelated; perhaps that's how they can be so nonchalant about abstinence: no one's getting laid in those.

Book Burning, Bloodletting...

It's a long train, but it's worth the crash. From Jenkins Group, Inc., via Robyn Jackson, via New Pairodimes:

• 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
• 70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
• 70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.

My initial reaction is sadness for the imaginations never ignited and worlds never explored through books.

This is immediately followed by a quick spout of stomach acid hosing the back of my throat and sadness for our country; these people vote.

And then inevitable, intellectual superiority.

I want to help motivate people to register and then vote. But what good is it if this many people have no understanding of the importance of books, in entertainment and history and science and literature, people who have never experienced the joy of losing four hours entangled in the language, the story, who have never felt the quiet dance of the author's words and the reader's imagination?

I feel a need to console words and receive consolation from them. Go hug a book. Then hug somebody you love. Then read them a book, or read with them.

Texas Kids Protest TAKS Decision, Look Silly

From WFAA in Dallas/Fort Worth:

About a dozen young people, carrying signs and chanting, began picketing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. They represent the 613 Fort Worth seniors who did not pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.

Crystal Martinez complained that while she finished at the top of her class with a 3.5 grade point average, she is now blocked from graduation by failing the TAKS test.

"We know we're not going to get our diplomas, but we just want to walk across the stage," Martinez said. "That's all we ask for right now."

No, dear. The only reason to be at commencement is to get the little piece of blank paper that represents your diploma. You did not graduate. You don't get a diploma and, by extension, you don't get a fake diploma. You don't get to walk.

But there is more: the picture used in the online story.



What can I even say about that? Kids: Just go home and stop embarrassing yourselves.

Faulty Faculty on All Things Democrat

Been working on a post for All Things Democrat about Time's issuance of an edict for Bible worship.
Enjoy.