Mock Elections
Nothing brings a group together like shouting about how bad another group is. You see it in politics; maybe you’ll start seeing it more often at school. We can start subtly, when we ask first graders, “Didn’t they teach you how to do that in kindergarten?” or “Who was your teacher last year?” Instant bonding. The lacking to the substantial. Belittling previous teachers makes kids think you’re really smart and that they’re lucky to have you, the brightest, best teacher in the whole school. The school that is so much better than that other school could ever be. In a village that is so much better than our village-friend to the north is.
IMPERFECT PRESIDENTS
It is becoming obvious that political conventions have lost their real usefulness.
They are no longer about party and national issues but about the candidates whom already have been chosen preceding the conventions. Today these gatherings become the candidates' convention.
THEN SHALL WE KNOW YE.
I'd like to wish Senator John McCain good luck in “fixing Washington,” whatever that means.
“Reform” is another term. What kind of reform and where does one start and toward what end? And what about the term change?
Wrist Watch
About a year ago I wrote a piece about what architects should consider when planning an elementary school. They need to remember that most elementary teachers are female and not quite as tall as most windows and accessories require. I joked about having to push a chair up to the collar of counters, climb on our knees to pry open the windows, that is if they aren’t locked. The guys who came to change the screens couldn’t pull them down from the top, either. I understood. To open those, you have to take a long pole with a hook and insert it into a loop about 15’ up in the air. Then you’re supposed to pull. It looks like a bad Cirque du Soleil act if they are stuck. Your feet come off the ground and you pull down with all your might. When you’re exhausted, you just pull and dangle while you catch your breath. All this, on a 45° angle.
Only ONE State Assembly District Candidate Responds to Questionnaire on Issues --- Other Candidates Counting on Big Money Campaigns to get Elected !
IT IS THE DAY BEFORE THE PRIMARY ELECTION NOW --- AND ONLY ONE CANDIDATE HAS DEEMED IT WORTHWHILE TO SHARE HIS VIEWS IN DETAIL ON THE ISSUES --- SEE HIS RESPONSES BELOW:
IT PROBABLY ISN'T TOO SURPRISING AS THE OTHER CANDIDATES ARE SPENDING ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY ON ADVERTISING THAT TALKS ONLY ABOUT ISSUES THEY WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU --- AND THEY KNOW THAT IN MOST FORUMS, WITH ONLY A MINUTE OR TWO FOR A RESPONSE THEY CAN OBFUSCATE LONG ENOUGH TO NOT ANSWER IN DETAIL.
What to Look for at Parent Orientation
School parent orientations are starting. I remember going to those; listening to the teacher talk about curriculum and clerical issues. They had copies of the textbooks out for us to look through, sign up sheets to get people to bring napkins and cups for parties, and talked to us about having a place for children to do their homework at home. That was all fine. The orientation session that made the most impact, however, was an elementary teacher who took her place at the front of the room and started out by telling us how great our kids were. She went on to talk about all the things she understood. She knew that some parents had young children, blended families, messy divorces, stressful jobs and gave everyone a little slack for the underperformance we all feared as school aged kids’ parents. She said she’d gone through everything in her lifetime, and was very convincing. We all came to know that she was someone who had feelings.
SEPTEMBER TALK---SPEAKING IN TONGUES.
So August has resolved itself into September, the month that transcends us into Autumn's folly. We still think warmth and not snow.
No, not yet. It is primary election time in our village of Shorewood and in Wisconsin, voting for those who will rule us and who will ask the big questions, like “how many angels can stand on the head of a pin” and the meaning of life, its beginning and end.
LIPSTICK POLITICS.
The Republican administration of the last 8 years has led us nowhere.
The Republican Party, once the party of Lincoln, with its recent history and its present leadership under Senator John McCain has truly become “a bridge to nowhere party,” personified still further by his Alaskan “bridge to nowhere” running mate.
THE REALITY OF OUR FUTURE.
It is my conclusion that Senators Obama and Biden will return to the Senate in November and that Senator McCain will become president of the United States in January.
What does this mean for us as Americans? We will probably have a congress with a slim Democratic majority, so that they will not be able to control the course of events. Neither will McCain and so he and Congress will have to do a lot of the “other-side-of-the-aisle” work and do much compromising.
Percentage of Non-Voters in Primary - 75% - Is That an Indication of Lack of Concern or Knowledge
For the upcoming Presidential Election, voting officials are working hard, as they know the Voter Turnout will be Huge !!
Too bad Voters in Shorewood weren't very interested in the Primary Election this past Tuesday.
TELL THEM THAT COUNTRY COMES FIRST.
“Putting country first does not then mean that we are a nation under God.”
“Everything comes after our interest in our country, including family and children.”
Retire, Aspire. Sarah Lit the Fire!
I’m trying to figure out how qualified a teacher would seem to be for a vice-presidential run after retirement. It might be kind of awesome. Cheney set the grumpiness bar a bit high, but we have our days when nothing goes our way. We think we’ve settled a fight between the bully and the hothead but just when the dust around the line in the sand settles, there they go again. It can make a person really angry. We do have the “So?” thing down, though. That has been our answer for years to statements like, “I don’t want to write in my journal.” or “It’s too cold to go outside for recess.” We definitely have that one tight. What teacher hasn’t thought something was a good idea, put in a requisition slip for funding or wrote a seven page grant request, got rejected but still got all the money?
CHINA.
We in this country have lived at a place and at a time that few have ever experienced, a place where we live free of oppressive government. Of course we must give thanks to our forefathers.
General observation of history indicates that all government tends to be oppressive. It is oppressive by its very nature. All we ned to do is view the rest of world today and in the past.
WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO CHANGE TO?
What does change mean?
A number of economic events that are occurring today lead us to recall similar events of the Herbert Hoover-Franklin Roosevelt era. Even Senator John McCain, who has always opposed regulaitons is referring to improper regulation in the financial world.
Terms of AIG Bailout Demonstrate Fragile State of US and Global Economy
This past week we saw Lehman Bros go bankrupt --- and AIG, the Largest Insurance Company in the World --- get an $85 Billion bailout from the US Federal Reserve System.
Even more alarming to me than the fact that AIG needed a Bailout, are the terms of the Bailout.
Will the People of Shorewood be a Party to UNION BUSTING by Waste Management
In my last post on this blog I started a thread about the dire straights of our economy. I intended to work up from the 70's to today, to show how changes in our government and culture have put us in this precarious position.
Eventually I would have reached the time when Union Busting came into vogue (think Regan and Air Traffic Controllers) --- and how Unions are an intricate part of our economy that We Have All Benefited From ..........
How to Save Wallstreet One Cookie at a Time
Hey Mr. Paulson! I hear you are open to ideas as to how to address this sticky wicket that is the world economy. Here’s how we do it in our school districts. Feel free to borrow any of these as an answer to the question, “Where the #+!# are we going to get more money from?”
You Have 2 Minutes To Convince Me You're Not Who You Are
I have not given high school debate team coaches enough credit. Who knew how much was involved in a debate that has nothing to do with the actual topic? I’ve underestimated the potential of little kids who can convince me of anything; and to think I’ve accused them of being liars with their pants on fire. I should have given more time to observing what was good about their pitches, regardless of what they said. I learned this week, that when all else is sort of equal, other things take precedence when evaluating the success or demise of participants.
Waste Management chips away at Middle Class -- what does that mean for the rest of us ?
Drivers and workers for Waste Management in the Milwaukee area were on strike due to Waste Management making offers that attacked the benefits they had won in previous contracts.
With the current credit and financial crisis, and the threat of hiring Permanent Replacment Workers by Waste Management --- the striking workers were left with no choice but to capitulate and accept a junk contract from Waste Managment.
