My Space Confusion

Political and Religious Musings

[paperbackwriteriu-blog]

So much chatter about Mitt, what about Barack?

I know, I know...we don't have a republican candidate.  That's great.  I suppose...we need one.  But it seems to me that the world is focused only on the republicans.  But, unlike the famed Libertarian candidate Ralph Nader, we do still have a few.  There's Roger Gary, former chair of the party in Texas; R.J. Harris, 3-tour combat vet and philosopher/law student (quite a combination!); Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico; Carl Person, New York attorney and founder of the Paralegal Institute; R. Lee Wrights, Libertarian activist. The Libertarian website has the potential candidate listed as Wayne Allyn Root, an entrepreneur, author and political commentator.  

But that's not all, ladies and gentleman!  In case we didn't realize...America is really NOT a two party state.  There are the Independents.  The Independents that are running are Stewart Alexander, the Socialist Presidential Candidate and political activist.  Then there is Danny Woodring, a Vietnam Vet and Purple Heart recipient.  The Independent Presidential website lists as the potential candidates Robert Burck, Charlie Crist who is the former Florida Governor.  Labeled as a non-traditionalist, there is retired middle-class American Charles Harvey.  A computer technician, Becky Rusher. 

Of course we have the traditionalists - of republicans and the democrats.  Running against our current president is Randall Terry, a Pro-Life Activist. And Barack...a given. He did what people wanted him to do.  He attempted to do what he promised to do.  He really did inherit a horrible state of affairs, a gaggle of congress that seems to be out for this invisible entity that is either in their own head or their own pockets...but not for the people - and I'm thinking that goes for both sides.  Does he deserve to be booted out?  Naa - He has handled everything with grace and dignity. 

The insanity that has become of healthcare, we don't owe to him...he tried.  He had to make both sides happy.  And that is what came of it.  The economy.  The budget.  Everything.  If we look back in history at the Great Depression, and what they did wrong, the bailouts were a necessary factor in preventing the collapsing of our economy.  I would love to see a second term - to see how much of this mess he untangles and how.  I surely don't want to put it in the hands of someone new for them to create a whole new mess and well - there we're right back where we started.  We gave G.W. a second chance to fix his mess - and WOW...well - enough said. However, the one thing Obama has on his side is that he is highly educated and well...intelligent. And even the 3rd party commission he put together stated he has been the most transparent presidency in the White House and there is a vast difference between him and the previous office. 

Okay - so there is my rhetoric about Obama.  My main motive was to let people know...there's more than Mitt Romney to talk about.  There's more than asses and bulls to talk about.  There's a whole world of politics in America that never gets discussed because we are slowly becoming a two party state. 

[paperbackwriteriu-blog]

When does Journalism go too far?

When, as journalists, we talk about censorship, and we are often referring to the amendments that protect the freedom of the press, right?  Right.  However, I feel there should be a certain logic to journalism, a certain kind of integrity to reporting the news and a logic about what people want to hear and not just what we think they need to hear. 

   In the summer of 2007, a four year old little boy named Ivan Cano went missing in Louisville, Kentucky.  He lived near the famed horse track of the Kentucky Derby, Churchhill Downs.  In case people from far and wide do not realize, that although the horse track attracts affluent people, it sits in one of the slums of the city.  Although that is not what I, personally, attribute to Ivan Cano, but to his perpetrator, Cecil New.

   What is more embarrassing about our city isn't so much that they spend exorbitant amounts of money into the racetrack, the neighborhoods around it are significantly not safe and are often uninhabitable for decent living.  The rentals often owned by slumlords. If they had spent a 16th on the neighborhoods that they do on the track, Ivan Cano and his mom might have had a safe and decent place to live, away from the Cecil New's of the world. 

    This is what the news does not tell you.  However, what they WILL tell you is that when the young boy went missing he was found dead.  In the city garbage.  Earlier this week, a judge decided not to seal the testimony and confession of the alleged killer of young Ivan and now the citizens can hear every gory detail of this poor four year old's last moments. The news can make a choice not to air these records.  This would be, to me, journalistic integrity, not censorship. 

    Some news stations are touting exclusive details.  This is disgusting.  Making ratings on a four year old's murder.  And although I am sitting hear blogging about the outrage of the news stations, I implore those of you in the local area of Ivan Cano's killer's trial to turn off the news.  This will do two things.  First, slow their ratings, and may or may not send them a message, but give YOU - the viewer- a piece of mind that YOU are not buying into propaganda news.  And two, it will not taint the case.

       Although New has apparently plead guilty already, excessive news coverage and public knowledge of high profile trials can sway trials. And aside from those two options, why - why on earth would you want to know every specific detail of how a man killed a four year old child?  Some would say you have a "right" to know.  They are now public record.  Well, let me ask you this...if it were your four year old, would you want it on your local news?  Neither would I.  Please, turn the channel.  

May Ivan Cano and his family be in peace, and Cecil New receive swift justice that is due upon him by Kentucky Law.

[paperbackwriteriu-blog]

Cross Curriculum in Georgia that makes us do a time warp!

Okay there is way to combine curriculum and kids learn what they are learning in one subject and carry it over to another.  Like applying math to say - real life events, like grocery shopping or civics issues like the economy.  But when we apply it to the slave trade of the 1500s and until the abolishing of the slave trade with the 13th Amendment of our Constitution in 1864, it is walking a fine line that most teachers - I use the term most because obviously there are some that are not as educated as some - that don't know where it crosses.  Although, some educators would extend the 13th Amendment to the subject of Civics, I personally, think it falls under the category of historical civic events, and this is one time I will loosely agree with FOX News.

Normally that particular news channel is banned in my house for biased news reporting, and even in this instance, when interviewing parents regarding the travesty of the math homework that applied slavery to its equations, they still used African American people.  I guess they assume that white people would not be outraged that their children are getting an education straight from Jim Crowe too. But, I know I would be.  It would be one time my child would either turn in alternative homework or not any at all! 

I find it ironic, however, that there was more than one teacher on this bandwagon that found it acceptable to use problems like, ""If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?" or ""Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?"

I think that if they were talented teachers, and only needed diversity training that they did not receive while obtaining a Master's Degree in Education, but still wanted to incorporate what they were learning in their other subjects into their math lessons, they could have done a better job. 

So, it's a multiplication problem.  Why couldn't it have said something like, "If it took Ann three days per week to get the congressman to sign her petition for the bill, how many times did she visit the congressman?"  Or, I don't know, "the slave trade lasted from 1500 to 1864, how many decades did it last?" 

Here in my state, which is a middle state - not southern - not northern - but it has its issues with racial inequality nonetheless, I find it hard to digest that the teachers wouldn't be fired.  Our state is in textbooks for the recent Supreme Court ruling that was over turned on busing, so it would be difficult to walk away with your job over something like this.  There would probably be a witch hunt. 

My question proposed here is, why did the Georgia teachers walk away unscathed?  My local news reported that they were simply going to be trained in "diversity issues."  WHAA?  HUH!?  Why wouldn't teachers already have that training?  Why wouldn't teachers already understand, in 2012, that this was inherently wrong to propose to kids in any context at any age? 

In the Fox News article, however, parents are outraged and rightfully so. Although the principal and a community activist state that they promise to offer more training to help them come up with better math questions and reprimanded, apologies, and diversity training. 

What I found almost laughable was the better math questions.  There should already be math questions in place.  There is a curriculum to follow in any district.  With that curriculum comes textbooks, and with textbooks comes teacher's manuals and homework lessons.  IF these teachers felt they needed to come up with their own math problems and were stumped, there should be a plethora of resources within their district, and if there isn't there is always the internet, right? 

All I have to conclude with is, WHAT were they THINKING?? 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/08/georgia-parents-reportedly-outraged-over-school-math-assignment-that-used/#ixzz1iz3Dj6nL

[paperbackwriteriu-blog]

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness. Dalai Lama

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dalai_lama.html#ixzz1iyjIdGja

[paperbackwriteriu-blog]

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

Hmm - this is an interesting question.  My earliest human memory.  Would probably be tainted by pictures I've seen of my childhood.  It may not be as accurate as I realize it is.  So I may have to think about this for a second. 

It isn't just one.  It is a menagerie of events.  For example, I remember playing with my cousins at my grandmother's house in her front yard.  Can recall always playing on her type writer (Ha! Who knew?!).  I can remember that was the one who always kept me when I was little and she worked for a prominent family/company in our city.  This required her to work some evenings and weekends, and sometimes I'd have to go to work with her. When I did, she would take a small child's desk with her.  It wasn't like a school desk, it was a fiber board contraption, with a chalkboard top, that I could draw on.  She'd help me draw windows and curtains in my houses that I drew.  I always drew houses.  I don't know why.  I remember she drew the prettiest windows. 

If I got to stay home with my grandpa, he was Chief of Police for a division of our city's police department, he would play grocery store with me or I could play cops and robbers in his police cruiser. 

  Life with them was idyllic. 

[paperbackwriteriu-blog]

Art imitating life?  Life imitating art?