Tuesday, Wednesday... I can't tell 'em apart anymore

So I have just a cluster of little things to talk about today instead of some epic production.  So here we go, and let's see if my friend Bobby G. can guess where I stole the style from:

ITEM! Check out the Caps blog!  Not only do I have a new, artsy display that I have inflicted on our wall, but a really crazy story to tell.  Here's a clip:

Over the next 8 months 50 more cases with similar findings appeared in the same area with 20 of these being fatal. It was noted that all patients were heavy drinkers who mostly drank beer and preferred the Dow brand, consuming an average of 24 pints of alcohol per day.


This story goes on to include corporate intrigue, a well-known surgeon, environmental damage, and just how much 24 pints a day is in American terms.  And scandal!  Don't miss it!

ITEM!  We took another another walk with my friend and her BFF Monday.

Hooey and his mom.  "Don't you DARE put that on your blog!"

She don't know me very well, do she??

ITEM! Just got word about her dad moments ago.  Allegedly the problem stems from a compressed vertebrae.  So they decided the cure was to shoot some "hydraulic fluid" in it to decompress it.  After a Keystone Kops attempt at it Monday, it seems to have worked yesterday and he's ready to go home and wreak havoc once again.  The doctors, for their part, have been pretty sparse on the passing out of info, so it remains to be seen whether he will be released upon the unsuspecting world yet or not.

ITEM!  My little corner of the internet has been abuzz for the last few days over a comment left on my friend J Day's blog.  Some idiot claiming to repesent the Boycott American Women Blog left an anonymous "comment" (not for the first time apparently) attacking American women for everything from the world's total of child molestation cases to the world's leading cause of foot fungus.  Needless to say, my friend did not have a very complimentary response to him.  He posted more false statistics than a Barack Obama speech, and since I happened to see the comment first, I got in the opening reply:  "And you posted this on a WOMAN's blog?  Buddy, you are a case."  (For which you'll see I got a nice pimping, thank you very much!)  From what I've gathered in all the uproar is that this dipstick posts his anonymous cut-and-paste rant exclusively on women's blogs, which makes me wonder if his "blog" isn't just one of those "I get $0.01 for every click" deals with a very "clever advertising gimmick.

ITEM!  You've gotta watch this video a friend put on Facebook (boy I have a LOT of friends today!)- it is HILARIOUS!!  All commercials should be as funny as this:




ITEM! I discovered something that may come in handy in the future.  Twitter is especially valuable at the major league baseball trading deadline!  I had rumours as they sprang like apples from the tree, and confirmations before ESPN and CBSSports!  I'll have to dial into some experts at NFL final cuts day, too.

ITEM!  Chick-fil-A anti-boycott day!  Laurie and I will be striking a blow for free speech this afternoon.  Because thios has become more than a gay -issue; it has become whether political correctness is going to determine who a law applies to.  I don't feel either the jerk in Boston, or Obama's thug-lord in Chicago, should be able to prevent a business from putting down roots anywhere because the owner states a perfectly legitimate value system.

I generally avoid boycotts.  Now, refusing to watch the Brickyard because of NASCAR's criminal treatment of Elliot Sadler is a different thing.  And if this was just some gay group's attention getting device (which is all most boycotts really are), I'd ignore it too.  But this is a government official's changing the way government business is done because 2% of the population thinks it's offensive for a man to marry a woman as God intended (argue that point all you want, but the square peg-round hole system is in place for a reason).  This country was built on freedoms like the freedom of speech.  If the LGBT community wants to boycott Chick-fil-A, that's their right.  If I decide not to buy any more Muppet products because they support LGBT, that would be my point to.  But the government is supposed to referee, NOT pick sides.  So my views on the other thing notwithstanding, I'm going to eat chicken today to protest Rahm Emmanuel and all his little buddies out there who want to turn government into their own little activist nation.

"An if Martin don't like it, I'll cap him too, see?  Nyah."

ITEM! I think I'm out of items!  Now go look at the cap blog for me (Monkey Butt, you're excused), and have a nice day!  EAT MOR CHIKIN!

The immigration ruling

No, I'm not going to tear the whole thing down bit ( though I could).  I'm not going to pontificate onwhy illegal aliens should be made to comply with the law, since conservatives already know that and liberals will choose to ignore it as they do all laws they don't like.  The ruling itself had little to do with the morality of the subject, or the wrongs or rights.  The case was about one thing- state's rights.

The majority threw out 3 of the four causes on the concept that they "interfered with existing federal laws".  Never mind that the whole thing has come up because most administrations in the 20th and 21st centuries have FAILED TO ENFORCE said laws.   The fourth only survived because the Court felt that enforcement was so far ambiguous and needed to force a state case before they could rule whether it "interfered" or not.

When you read the Court's majority opinion (which basically goes, " We feel your pain, Arizona, but you can't supercede federal law"), it sounds pretty ironclad and logical.  The Federal Government has taken up the mantle of immigration supremacy, and despite the fact that the rules are written so the DOJ only has to enforce them when or if they feel like it, the states are out of the game.

But are they?  Let me give you some quotes from Justice Scalia's EXCELLENT dissent:

Today’s opinion, approving virtually all of the Ninth Circuit’s injunction against enforcement of the four challenged provisions of Arizona’s law, deprives States of what most would con- sider the defining characteristic of sovereignty: the power to exclude from the sovereign’s territory people who have no right to be there. Neither the Constitution itself nor even any law passed by Congress supports this result. I dissent.

One would conclude from the foregoing that after theadoption of the Constitution there was some doubt about the power of the Federal Government to control immigration, but no doubt about the power of the States to do so.Since the founding era (though not immediately), doubt about the Federal Government’s power has disappeared. Indeed, primary responsibility for immigration policy hasshifted from the States to the Federal Government .


Even in its international relations, the Federal Government must live with the inconvenient fact that it is a Union of independent States, who have their own sovereign powers. This is not the first time it has found that a nuisance and a bother in the conduct of foreign policy.

Though it may upset foreign powers—and even when the Federal Government desperately wants to avoid upsetting foreign powers—the States have the right to protect their borders against foreign nationals, just as they have the right to execute foreign nationals for murder.

What this case comes down to, then, is whether the Arizona law conflicts with federal immigration law—whether it excludes those whom federal law would admit, or admits those whom federal law would exclude. It does not purport to do so. It applies only to aliens who neither possess a privilege to be present under federal law nor have been removed pursuant to the Federal Government’s inherent authority.

The Court points out, however, ante, at 11, that in some respects the state law exceeds the punishments prescribed by federal law: It rules out probation and pardon, which are available under federal law. The answer is that it makes no difference. Illegal immigrants who violate §3 violate Arizona law. It is one thing to say that the Supremacy Clause prevents Arizona law from excluding those whom federal law admits. It is quite something else to say that a violation of Arizona law cannot be punished more severely than a violation of federal law. Especially where (as here) the State is defending its own sovereign interests, there is no precedent for such a limitation. The sale of illegal drugs, for example, ordinarily violates state law as well as federal law, and no one thinks that the state penalties cannot exceed the federal.

It holds no fear for me, as it does for the Court, that "[w]ere §3 to come into force, the State would have the power to bring criminal charges against individuals for violating a federal law even in circumstances where federal officials in charge of the comprehensive scheme determine that prosecution would frustrate federal policies." Ante, at 11. That seems to me entirely appropriate when the State uses the federal law (as it must) as the criterion for the exercise of its own power, and the implementation of its own policies of excluding those who do not belong there. What I do fear—and what Arizona and the States that support it fear—is that "federal policies" of nonenforcement will leave the States helpless before those evil effects of illegal immigration that the Court’s opinion dutifully recites in its prologue (ante, at 6) but leavesunremedied in its disposition.


The brief for the Government in this case asserted that "the Executive Branch’s ability to exercise discretion and set priorities is particularly important because of the need to allocate scarce enforcement resources wisely." Brief for United States 21. Of course there is no reason why theFederal Executive’s need to allocateits scarce enforcement resources should disable Arizona from devoting its resources to illegal immigration in Arizona that in its view the Federal Executive has given short shrift.

Must Arizona’s ability to protect its borders yield to the reality that Congress has provided inadequate funding for federal enforcement—or, even worse, to the Executive’s unwise targeting of that funding?
The President said at a news conference that the new program is "the right thing to do" in light of Congress’s failure to pass the Administration’s proposed revision of the Immigration Act. Perhaps it is, though Arizona may not think so. But to say, as the Court does, that Arizona contradicts federal law by enforcing applications of the Immigration Act that the President declines to enforce boggles the mind.


But there has come to pass, and is with us today, the specter that Arizona and the States that support it predicted: A Federal Government that does not want to enforce the immigration laws as written, and leaves the States’ borders unprotected against immigrants whom those laws would exclude. So the issue is a stark one. Are the sovereign States at the mercy of the Federal Executive’s refusal to enforce the Nation’s immigration laws?

A good way of answering that question is to ask: Would the States conceivably have entered into the Union if the Constitution itself contained the Court’s holding? Today’s judgment surely fails that test .

Arizona has moved to protect its sovereignty—not incontradiction of federal law, but in complete compliance with it. The laws under challenge here do not extend or revise federal immigration restrictions, but merely enforce those restrictions more effectively. If securing its territory in this fashion is not within the power of Arizona, we should cease referring to it as a sovereign State.

So you see, we spent 100 years of this counrty's history wisely constricting state's rights- the Nullification battle, the Civil War.  Then we let things swing the other way.  Now every battle we need to fight with the Federal government- education, health care, immigration- is fought to preserve the dwindling rights of the states.  It's not the constitution that's flawed- it's those that interpret it.

The proper battle, well fought

The Charlotte, NC, police department has joined the ranks of the PC, at the urging of our good friends at the ACLU.  The officers that volunteer as chaplains at public events have been told not to pray to Jesus at invocations.

A pastor/officer named Terry Sartain got the phone call from Major John Diggs, who said it was a matter of respecting "all denominations".  Terry asked, then, how was he supposed to pray?

"Pray a secular prayer," he was told.

sec·u·lar

   /ˈsɛkyələr/ Show Spelled[sek-yuh-ler] 

adjective

1.

of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.

2.

not pertaining to or connected with religion ( opposed to sacred): secular music.

 

 

“Even when I wasn’t a Christian – in my past – I didn’t even know what a secular prayer was,” he said. “Why even pray if it’s to the one who’s in the room? That could be anybody.”

 

How easy it would be just to comply- to avoid naming names.  To put in phrases that convey the meaning without saying.

 

The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8b-10)

 

Do you think that the atheists and the ACLU don't know this?  This is another attempt to get Christians to gut their own faith in order to "conform".

 

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos. (Tao Te Ching 38)

 

You can look at the ACLU's attack on Jesus as "the defense of unbelievers against the society's dominant religion" if you want.  Or you can say, well, the Jews will just ignore them and the Muslims would kill them, so the Christians are the only "good target".

Or you can look at it as Satan manipulating the faithless to attack the one true faith.  Why else is it so important to remove the Name of Jesus?

 

So Sartain asked the police department to withdraw his name from consideration for future public prayers.
“I didn’t really need to do that as a chaplain,” he said of the public prayers. “I still wanted to have the influence with the police officers and their families.”

In other words, better to serve Jesus Christ with integrity than to bow to those who want a faithless faith.

No protests, no banners.  No lawsuits, no scenes.  Just a decision to serve God as God wants to be served.  It's a skill, as I've said before, that we have lost to the TV generation.

We burn Korans rather than teach the Bible.
We defy the government to put nativities up, and string our houses with colored lights surrounding a tiny ceramic creche.
We mail death threats to doctors and stand with pickets at abortion clinics rather than teaching our children the value and meaning of human life.
We pour Holy Water on roads rather than pouring prayer upon the travellers.
We keep one eye on the dates some "christians" give for the end of days rather than opening the Book and seeing that no one knows the date, only the Father. (Matt. 24:36)

Our weapons are not, nor were they ever supposed to be, protest signs, cigarette lighters, hateful letters, or ceramic dolls.  Our weapons are to be poorness of spirit, sorrow for others, meekness, a taste for righteousness, mercy, pureness of heart, peacefulness, and the ability to take insults and persecution in serving Jesus.

 

Sartain said it’s apparent that “Christians for the most part are targeted in these days that we exist in.”
“As Christians in the United States of America – what we are saying as believers – is we want the same rights and privileges as everybody else,” he said. “Let the playing field remain level.”

The dumbing down of America moves to Canada

I think that one of the single stupidest things ever come up with by education "experts" is this "let's not hurt Johnny's self-esteem" crap.  While I agree that it does Johnny no good to get kicked outta the house for bad grades (like the guy that got sentenced this week*), fudging his grades so that he passes through school without learning anything does him no good.  Why not just make school optional, so we can become that third-world country the liberals and PC people want so badly that much faster?  And now, I give you the Edmonton, Alberta, school system:

EDMONTON - Lynden Dorval, 61, has been a teacher for 35 years. He’d be in the class room today at Ross Sheppard High School except he’s been suspended.
That drastic action was taken because Dorval refused to go along with a misguided scheme cooked up by educational theorists and school administrators.
Under this scheme, it’s no longer possible for high school teachers at Ross Sheppard and numerous other Edmonton schools to give a student a mark of zero on an assignment or test, even if the student fails to hand in the assignment or write the test. Instead, students are given a final mark based on the work they do complete.
This policy has been in place at Edmonton junior high schools for decades, Dorval says, but it is now working its way into local high schools.
Ross Sheppard’s principal brought it in last year. Dorval refused to go along with it and was reprimanded. He refused again this year. He was reprimanded again. Finally, on May 18, after a meeting with Edmonton public school board superintendent Edgar Schmidt, Dorval was suspended for his defiant behaviour.
Dorval says if he doesn’t accept the new grading policy, he will lose his job.
I met with Dorval on Thursday and immediately thanked him. It’s not often any of us see real heroes, people who put their reputations and jobs on the line to uphold a righteous principle. Dorval fits that category. By refusing to accept lower standards in our schools, he’s standing up for all parents and students.
But Dorval is a reluctant hero. When I ask how he’s handling his suspension, his eyes fill with tears.
“It’s been pretty tough. … I didn’t expect to end my career in such a dramatic and sudden way.”
In his researching of the so-called No Zeros Policy, Dorval found it’s tied to the self-esteem movement, to the notion that if students get a zero it will damage their egos and they will give up.

Hello, but doesn't not turning assignments in indicate that they have ALREADY given up?

But he’s found in his years of teaching that students who don’t do the work simply don’t like school and don’t care to do the work. Essentially, many have already given up, he says.
Yet almost all students, he says, will make some effort to catch up on their work when Dorval presents them with two sets of marks.
One set shows their average mark for all their completed tests and work, but not factoring in the work they have failed to complete.
The second set of averaged marks factors in the zeros the students will get if they fail to do all the required work. This second, lower set of marks usually does the trick, Dorval says. “I just get a flood of assignments in and students coming to me, ‘Can I make up this quiz?’”
The students have until the end of the school year to catch up, without any penalty. “I don’t give them any punishment at all or deduction.”
Dorval’s system strikes a decent balance. The students who do the work on time get their marks. The students who are late are able to catch up and have plenty of incentive to do so. And those who don’t care to work get a real-life lesson: If you shirk, even after repeated reminders, there will be a negative consequence.
“These are young adults now,” Dorval says. “They’re going to be out in the work world. ... Somewhere along the line they have to learn they have to be accountable. If they don’t do stuff, there are repercussions.”
Some school administrators like the No Zeros Policy, Dorval says, because it’s a way of passing students and having them graduate. “To me, this is just a way of inflating marks. It’s not really benefiting the students.”

In other words, lazy incompetant administrators wrapping themselves in PC pseudo-nobility in order to AVOID DOING THEIR JOBS!

I ask Dorval if he can fight this suspension and this policy.
He doubts he can have much impact.
“I’m only one person. I only have so much power.”
But I suspect Dorval is far from alone. Many of us are frustrated with the lowering of standards inside and outside of our schools. Just as teachers are severely undermined if parents don’t insist that their kids do their school work, so are parents undermined if the teachers back off on that same responsibility. That is what is happening now with the No Zeros Policy. It’s got to go.
And Lynden Dorval needs to be handed back his job. We can use every teacher with high standards that we’ve got.

I know their are liberals among you that think that the concept of boosting self esteem in this way is a good thing.  And some of you read all the articles out there about the technical jobs out there that are screaming for workers and can't find anyone qualified.  And you blame the machine manufacturers for making things so damn complicated , and you blame the universities for being so darn expensive, and you blame the job pool for being unwilling to take the jobs, but you NEVER blame the school system YOU BUILT for turning out graduates that never learned a damn thing!!! And how do you think these kids will fare?  The only thing they'll learn under these conditions is how to pick and choose the assignments they can manage to scrape through, refuse to do the rest, and spend the rest of their lives at Burger King wondering why they couldn't get a better job!  And the minority communities should be especially aghast because their is enough pressure in their childrens' lives to not improve their lives without the school system giving them a free pass.   Plus, they just don't get that a minotrity electorate too uninformed to know what's going on is thie electorate that will keep electing the very people keeping them stupid and unable to better themselves.

My own daughter has been getting much the same treatment in East Allen schools.  It has allowed her to develop the laziest of study habits to the point that she got 5 out of 30 on her learner's permit test.  That's 5 RIGHT.  Four tries later, she finally got her permit.  Do you think that THAT helped her self-esteem?  And where was I? Non-custodial parent, who offered to help on the condition she was willing to learn, but was only contacted when she needed an answer.  Why bother learning, there's no consequence.  Except there was- and is.

Setting her back, giving her REASON to learn, would have been what the school system could do for her self-esteem.  FAIL, in big fat letters.  I don't want to hear one teacher out there tell me this is a good thing.  It's only good for lazy teachers and lazy administrators, and of course Race To The Top and No Child Left Behind.

* The story I referenced was a father who dumped his daughter off near a mall and told her not to come home because her grades weren't good enough.  He's now unable to come home until he completes 100 hours of community service and a parenting class.  Touche!

A lot of odd stuff...

Okay, first off, I want to let you know that I've actually put a new post up on my Cap blog- see the link over there on the right.  Check it out, I do stumble onto some fairly interesting stories as I catalogue my beer cap collection.

Man, I smell OT coming on at work- not that that's a bad thing... I just wish my clone could work it for me.  I have had two days of being a victim of my own stupidity.  Examples:  Making 12 cushions that were supposed to have a front side of one color and backside of another out of just the one color; Forgetting more than once that the cushion I was making was a "case" which meant I should've made two of 'em; Making a canopy set that was supposed to be a bench w/o the top with the top anyway; locking onto the idea that KA04 was the light and KB02 was the dark, to the extent that I made 2 of the dark and one of the light instead of vice versa- which meant I had to lose the "extra" and make another light one- and finished it off by putting the rolls away in the wrong spot three seperate times; discovering after laying up 5 different colors for one cushion that I had only put down half the plies for three colors, grabbed one roll that was flat out the wrong stuff, and messed up the yardage tags on two rolls; and finished the day making the fronts for four cushions that we had run out of back fabric for.  All in pretty much a day and a half.  I'm going to blame it on the table I was working on, which was not my usual table:  it's a foot wider than any other table, has a 1/2 inch gap between two sections AFTER you use an iron weight to hammer it closed, the roll racks are not bolted down and thus rock like a drunken sailor everytime you so much as look at them, and the mouse on the table's computer really sucks, as in if I had one at home, I'd go out and buy a sledge hammer to dispose of it.  See, it's not just me...

Lokomotiv got knocked out of the playoffs Monday morning, losing 3-1 in Penza.  Galimov got us on the board with three left in the game to avoid the shutout.  Hell of a season, guys, see you next fall in the KHL!!!

Here's a fun news story from FoxNews:

New York City bans mention of dinosaurs, dancing, birthdays and more on student Tests

| New York Post

 

NEW YORK – In a bizarre case of political correctness run wild, New York educrats banned references to "dinosaurs," "birthdays," "Halloween" and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests.

That is because they fear such topics "could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students."

Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah's Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism.

Even "dancing" is taboo, because some sects object. But the city did make an exception for ballet.

The forbidden topics were recently spelled out in a request for proposals provided to companies competing to revamp New York City's English, math, science and social studies tests given several times a year to measure student progress.

"Some of these topics may be perfectly acceptable in other contexts but do not belong in a city- or state-wide assessment," the request reads.

Scratches head several times.
First, let me ask my fundamentalist friends, are you offended by dinosaurs?  Job 40 and 41 does a pretty good job of describing a Brontosaurus (or Apatosaur, if you are more modern) and a Mosasaur, so I don't necessarily associate dinos and evolution.
Second, does Halloween really suggest paganism to anyone besides Wiccans and Druids (who ARE pagans)?  And why would they mind?
And third- thank GOD they made an exeption for ballet.  Leotards are much less suggestive than, say, what you wear to PolkaFest.

Oh, I'm hoping my friend Bobby G.  will take up the story on the Southwest Allen County Schools lockdown tomorrow.  In a nutshell for you non-locals, a lawyer in the district discovered someone ransacking his garage.  Lawyer turns to run, perp shoots him and flees.  Area schools call a lock down, as it was just after 8 AM.  Thing is, while students arriving by bus were shipped elsewhere, those arriving on foot or bike heard the announcement over the PA that the school was shut down- and while there was SUPPOSED to be somebody outside to heard the pedestrian kids into the building for safety, no one was out there, and many kids had to hoof it home through the SAME AREA the perp was supposed to be.  Just to top it off, parents were e-mailed (yeah, I'm sure a lot of 'em were just waiting by their computers for an emergency e-mail) but no one was called.  Needless to say, the district is looking into issues with their lockdown proceedure.

I guess that's about it for today.  I suspect I will be working in advance on Time Machine if they announce OT tomorrow, so have a nice next couple'o'days.

A little this, a little that...

Leading off tonight, a bit of that irony I love.  A lady whose blog I follow was just mentioning an earlier trip to Florida, in which she expressed a desire to avoid Atlanta traffic at all costs.  She said the thought of driving around the Atlanta bypass put her "in a fetal position, which isn't a good thing when you're driving."  Lo and behold, tonight as we listened to Pat Miller on the way home, he got a call from a frequent-caller truck driver who was at that moment on that very stretch of road.  I about died laughing when the trucker called it the "Watermelon 500".

And next, I have a one-person who's dumber.  From FoxNews:

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper seems to have a knack for imbuing run-of-the-mill political introductions with sexual imagery.

After he introduced his lieutenant governor last week as a "sex star" to an audience of school children, the Democratic governor went two-for-two on Tuesday -- reportedly evoking a shower scene while introducing Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

According to the Denver Post, Hickenlooper dug himself into the rhetorical tar pit while introducing Hancock before a crowd of hundreds at a luncheon. He was apparently trying to make a reference to the singing career of the mayor's wife, Mary Louise Lee, but it went downhill quickly and he couldn't escape the metaphor.

"We read about how President Obama sings to Michelle in the shower," Hickenlooper said, according to the Post. "So you can just imagine what the mayor gives his wife in the shower. Uh, I mean what she gives him in the shower."

Too late.

The governor turned red, according to the Post.

Hickenlooper's office had no comment on the slip when contacted by FoxNews.com.

The joke may have been doomed from the start, as there is scant mention in the public record about Michelle and Barack Obama singing in the shower. The first lady said a month ago on "The Tonight Show" that the president sings to her all the time -- no mention of a shower.

Something about shower scenes, though, runs in Hickenlooper's political history. One of his most notable 2010 ads in the race for governor showed no fewer than a dozen shots of him taking one, fully clothed -- to make a point about how negative ads make him want to clean up.

But it's hardly the first risqué gaffe for Hickenlooper. Last week he mistakenly called Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia a "rising sex star" at a childhood literacy event. "I mean symbol, not star," he then said, correcting himself.

Never mind why the governor thought it prudent to invoke Garcia's hunkiness at a school event.

Well, I hate to say it, but when you vote for someone with a name like Hickenlooper...  exactly why last election, when I had no intention of voting for soon-to-be-criminal Charlie White, I chose the libertarian for Secretary of State over Democrat Vop Osli.  "Vop"?  (Note: I just looked it up- he was a gabby toddler and thus got the nickname "Vop", which stands for Voice Of the People.  I'd have considered if he'd have run under his given name Samuel.)

Speaking of which, didja hear the one about Democrat Candidate Dave Roach, running for Allen County Commissioner?  Kicked off the ballot because the nickname he filed under- "Legalize Marijuana"- was ruled invalid.  Maybe he should have tried Dave "Cock" Roach, but that might have led to even more problems.   "Vop" Roach?

Uhhhh.... no.

THE NEXT ITEM IS VERY NON-PC.  IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED, PLEASE STOP READING NOW, SINCE WHAT COMES AFTER WILL BE HOCKEY STUFF.

I'm sorry, I know this headline was attached to a serious story, about a man trying a dangerous feat, and he did a skillful job at completing this very questionable endeavor.  But just pretend you are back in grade school for a moment, and tell me your first reaction to this headline:

Polish kite surfer fights off sharks for two days in battle to survive Red Sea crossing

----------------------------------------------------------------

The first two games of Lokomotiv's series against VMF St. Petersburg were yesterday and today.  Game one was in front of a capacity crowd in Yaroslavl, and we put up a good effort, outshooting HC VMF 32-13.  However, it was VMF goalie Dmitri Shikin, a second stringer who was 6-11-6 in the regular season, who starred.  He kept our boys out of the net, and was backed up by a 1st period goal by Ilya Grebennikov from a bad angle from the side of the goal, and a third period score on a wrap around by Albert Konzov, and VMF won 2-0.  The one bright spot was a fight between our Rafael Akhmetov and their Yegor Chuguev.  Rafael caused it by running at one of their guys.  Chuguev landed a couple good punches before Akhmetov began walloping Yegor with his helmet and accidentally tripping him.  Both men got a 5-minute fight and a 20-minute game misconduct.

Today, it was the same in shots- 40-15 in our favor- but the score was different right from the start.  A minute and a half into the match, Vitaly Zotov- who had scored exactly zero goals and 6 assists in 22 games this season- put one behind Shikin for a 1-0 lead.  Despite the VHL website's mention that all the goals scored in this game were even strength, VMF's first- and only- goal was actually a power play while somebody sat in the box for goalie Nikita Lozhkin who was whistled for a trip.  And the scoring party was our friend Yegor Chuguev, tying the game at 1-1.  Less than three minutes later, at 15:04, Daniil Apal'kov untied it with a goal that made it 2-1 for us.  Maxim Zyuzyakin scored halfway through the second- with suddenly high-scoring Zotov getting an assist- to make it 3-1.  And Oleg Yashin, who seems to have a real talent for scoring when the matter is near decided, tallied inside the first minute of the third for a 4-1 final.  With a split of our home games, the series heads to Pitir for the next bout on Saturday.

So Christians are the hypocrites, eh?

Well, the next time you hear THAT one from the ACLU, FFR, or their other playmates, run this past them:

A Colorado high school student quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no other truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire.

James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper quit.

"I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a public high school to be singing an Islamic worship song,” Harper told KREX-TV. "This is worshipping another God, and even worshipping another prophet ... I think there would be a lot of outrage if we made a Muslim choir say Jesus Christ is the only truth."

District spokesman Jeff Kirtland rejected Harper's analogy.

"This is about bringing diversity to the students and showing them other things that are out there,” Kirtland told KREX. "The teacher was open with the parents and students do not have to participate in this voluntary club choir."

Kirtland did not return multiple calls for comment from FoxNews.com.

Rahman, who has sold hundreds of millions of records and is well-known in his homeland, has said the song is not intended for a worship ceremony. Messages seeking comment from Rahman were not immediately returned.

The song is written in Urdu, but one verse translates to "There is no truth except Allah" and "Allah is the only eternal and immortal." Although the choir sang the original version, Wieland distributed translated lyrics.

Grand Junction High School Principal Jon Bilbo did not return calls for comment.

School officials told KREX-TV that Wieland -- aware that there would be questions regarding the song -- asked her students to watch a YouTube video of the song prior to performing it.

So, let's get this again.  If I put a Christian hymn in a school choir's set list, I'm violating seperation of Church and State, blah blah blah.  If I put in a Muslim song, I'm helping to understand diversity.

As I understand it, there are cultural diversity classes out there in many districts that teach about other faiths, and I'm fine with that.  This, though, is  not a diversity class by any stretch.  Nor is it a place for kids to be "forced to worship against their beliefs", isn't that what they say about a Valedictorian wanting to thank God in his/her commencement speech?

If this gets in under the flag of "diversity", then Christian prayers, Menorahs at Hannukah, Buddhist meditations, and atheist lectures should ALL be allowed.  By allowing this, the argument goes, the school- and therefore the state- is promoting one religion against all others.  At least, that's what they would say if it were Now Thank We All Our God instead of Zikr.

Come on, PC elite.  It's not diversity if you exclude a single point of view, even if you reason that it is society's dominant position.  This student was allowed to opt out- but this meant quitting choir, something that was important to him.  He can be made to quit in the name of diversity, but one person can shut down a whole graduation if they don't want to hear a prayer?  Either secular means secular- or the atheist student can opt-out of the valedictory speech.  Or you can continue being a hypocrite.

Side note to my Christian friends- isn't it funny how Satan doesn't work near as hard against Allah as he does against Christ?

Update on "you can't say 'cute' in school"

I'm going to combine a couple of reports here, so we can see the prices of overreaction.

North Carolina Principal Forced to Retire After Suspending 9-Year-Old for Calling Teacher 'Cute'

GASTONIA, N.C. – The North Carolina school principal who suspended a 9-year-old boy for saying a female teacher was "cute" has been forced to retire over the decision.

Emanyea Lockett was given a three-day suspension from Gaston's Brookside Elementary School after he told another student his teacher was "cute" and a substitute teacher overheard the comment, the Gaston Gazette reported.

School officials investigated the incident and found that Emanyea had done nothing wrong. The school board then gave principal Jerry Bostic one hour to stand down or face termination.

Bostic spoke out after his 44-year career came to an abrupt end Tuesday, saying, "I didn't show a history of making problems like that. I've had the best of evaluations my entire career and because of some syndicated columnist in New York or California, I don't have a job."
Superintendent Reeves McGlohon would only say that Bostic submitted his resignation. McGlohon had no further comment.
 The school system said the suspension won't count against the student, and there will be additional instructional assistance provided to the student for the classroom time missed.
Of school superintendent Reeves McGlohon -- who gave him the quit-or-be-fired ultimatum -- Bostic said, "He told me he had made the decision he was going to terminate me or drop me into an assistant principal position.

"I admit I made some errors in what I did, but to fire me or to demote me with 44 years in it, it just doesn't make sense. To me he was a very heartless man, and he did it because of politics."

Emanyea's mother, Chiquita Lockett, said, "This is something that everyone needed to see, just to see what's happening within our school systems."

She was likely to pursue legal action, WSOC-TV reported.

The superintendent told Bostic that 15 parents from the school called his office asking for Bostic’s termination. Bostic said Brookside has more than 1,200 parents. His average evaluation from parents and the community over the past 10 years has been a 98 and 99 percent rating, he said.
“I just don’t see why he’d be so upset over the 15,” Bostic said. “He only gave me one hour to make a decision or he was going to terminate me.”
Bostic said he didn’t have time to ascertain what would be the best decision, financially, for himself and his family. Nor did he have time to give his staff proper notification that he would be leaving. Bostic said he could understand being written up for his mistake and having someone follow up with him over the school year.
“To me it’s a really sad final note to a career that I have found very satisfying and enjoy working with kids,” Bostic said. “I really don’t believe I was treated fairly.”
More than 600 children will be affected by the decision and around 1,200 parents and guardians will have to explain to their children why their principal was removed from a school after 15 years.
“I made a mistake,” Bostic said. “I offered to apologize for my mistake, but I wasn’t given that opportunity."
 Chiquita Lockett received a letter from the school explaining that her son was suspended for sexual harassment when he said a teacher was “fine” in a suggestive tone and had been warned about calling other students bad names.
Emanyea, 9, was suspended for three days after a substitute teacher overheard him tell another student a teacher was cute, said mother Chiquita Lockett. Emanyea served a one-day, in-school suspension and two days out of school, she said.



Okay, let's break this down.  Who was this "substitute teacher" who couldn't mind his/her own business and reported it?  Jealous?  Trying to get an "in" with administration at the cost of one little boy?.  Was it racial? And it was OVERHEARD in a conversation between the boy and another student? We don't know, but I'm of the opinion that if the board felt the principal had to walk the plank, perhaps someone else should have been down there testing the water for him.

Next, the syndicated columnist in NY or CA didn't cost you your job, Bostic- YOU DID.  Whether or not your firing was an appropriate response may be debatable, but your attitude here is contemptible.  I wonder what else you have done to get the quick trigger here.
The student doesn't have to pay for the principal's stupidity.  Great job here.

"A very heartless man,"  says Bostic of his boss.  The guy that suspended a 9-year old for calling a teacher "cute" calls the man who fired him for it "heartless."  Does anyone else sense the working of karma here?

I'd like to say, this seems like overreaction to media pressure on the part of the superintendent.  Bostic was given a VERY limited time to fall on his sword.  Would like to, but can't.  Bostic comes across as a PC-tied, self-concerned blowhard who very likely brought this on himself.  And 15 parents complaining did this?  Obviously it was the RIGHT fifteen.

And, little boy's mom?  It looks like you have a little talking to do to your little man.  I've heard that this may have been his fifth "incident", including some racial epithets directed at other students.  But guess what?  That great administrator, Bostic, didn't have them documented and never bothered to inform you.  Shame on him.  And shame on you if you don't do a little "investigating" of your own.

Bostic told mom something along the lines of, "Maybe you can do this in YOUR culture..."  I have a feeling the superintendent is trying to keep a lid on a LARGE can of worms here...

Random Monday

If I can ever get my glasses clean enough to do this, I've a few items to bloviate about.

Item:  Carl Edwards, with the class he showed in losing to Tony Stewart last night, makes it hard to not like him.  But I'm trying.  Maybe he could take a lollipop from a baby or something...

Item:  Up to this point, I have not mentioned the Occupy protests on this blog.  Mainly because a) most of them have no idea what they are doing so it's kinda useless to engage in debate, and b) I'm a firm believer in "If you ignore it, it will go away". And it's been hard, as I've listened to the endless litany of their lawless acts (start here  if you doubt), the endless "99%" garbage (when by their definition I'm in "the 99%" and they don't speak for me), and their inability to understand that using public parks without paying applicable fees is and should be TRESPASSING and FREELOADING (to use Pat Miller's term)- and that King Tom's gutlessness when forced to choose between the good of his city and his core constituency is the only thing preventing them from being dealt with as such.

But what I am finally going to say is on all the bitching about the police turning pepper spray on them.  Guys, you want to play at being noble protesters, standing against "the man" to change things for the "little guy".  Pepper spray, riot sticks, rubber bullets are all part of that.  If you wanna be anti-establishment, TAKE WHAT COMES WITH IT.  I'm sure Sandra Lee Scheuer would have gladly taken a little mace asides of what she got standing up for her beliefs.

Item: Moving on to stupid laws, UK edition:

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.

NHS health guidelines state clearly that drinking water helps avoid dehydration, and that Britons should drink at least 1.2 litres per day Photo: ALAMY

By Victoria Ward and Nick Collins

6:20AM GMT 18 Nov 2011

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.

“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”

There you have it (or, "Bob's your uncle" if you prefer).  The same brilliant minds that brought you global warming now bring you this helpful research.  Hopefully the plan for just what the hell TO DO when your dehydrated will be next on their research list.

Item:  Yet again I have died- and this time I'm not alone...

ZENITH BANK OF NIGERIA
Plot 84, Ajose Adeogun Street,
Victoria Island Lagos-Nigeria
Contact Name: Mr. Norman Briggs.
Position: Executive Director,
Email: lafcu34@yahoo.co.jp



                RE: REQUEST FOR YOUR ATTENTION/OUTSTANDING PAYMENT:

Attention: Beneficiary,

We are contacting you to clarify and resolve the misunderstanding and problem at hand.

We do not intend to send to you a scam/unexpected or any sort of fraudulent email because you also need to know if you are being impersonated by the unknown, therefore, this email should not be regarded as unsolicited, as our intention is for your best interest and to protect your human right and our good image and reputation and to maintain our Leadership in professionalism in banking sector as the leading bank in Nigeria.

Be informed that we the Zenith Bank of Nigeria have received instruction to release the approved sum of Fifty Two Million Dollars Only (US$52, 000, 000.00) to you, as your Inheritance/Contract fund. We have with us the entire documentation required for this payment in your favor. We shall be waiting to hear from you for the immediate payment and to guide you on the modalities as the policy of this bank permits us.



(Blah, blah, my inheritance, cleared by authorities, act quickly, blah, blah...)

After this resent approval of your contract/inheritance fund payment of Fifty Two Million Dollars Only (US$52, 000, 000.00) to be released from my bank, Mr. Hancock from Washington DC contacted my bank requesting for the release of your funds in his name as your next-of-kin/beneficiary hence you are proclaimed dead and WILLED everything to him. And the below are his bank account details which he provided to us for the remittance, urging my bank to transfer your fund into his account immediately before it is too late:

His Bank Account Details: (Blah, blah...)


Please, if you are not dead as this man said, kindly provide in the below DETAILS required from you to enable us update your payment documents and put a stop before this person blah, blah, blahh....
 
Thank you for your understanding

Yours In-Service

Mr. Norman Briggs.
Executive Director,
Plot 84, Ajose Adeogun Street,
Victoria Island Lagos-Nigeria
lafcu34@yahoo.co.jp

 Good of Mr. Briggs, so far as it goes. But what I left out was the no fewer than 50 e-mails CC'd by Mr. Briggs.  Among the deceased are one L. Greene, connected with somebody's 36th district court, and Latrice Ponton, who was a psych major at TCU a few years back.  I sure hope you are all feeling better now.

Item:  Actual conversation at work today:

Supervisor (shaking head): "Communications SUCK around this place."
Me (faking stunned):  "Please, TELL ME this is not an epiphany for you..."

Oh, and one last item:  Does anyone else have a problem with Blogger randomly chopping off a sentence or two of your post every time you use spell-check?

Free speech and Julio Pino

What this is about is that an Israeli guest speaker at Kent State was verbally attacked in a Q&A after a speech at the university by a tenured professor at the school, who punctuated his comments with a shout of "Death to Israel" and stomping out.  I got the first of the story from FoxNews, which generally leaves a few things out; I got the rest here from Ohio.com.  What this article adds is that it was part of a back and forth after the speech- and what it leaves out is the mixed opinions of Pino's fellow faculty.  Read the article on the link, and then come back here for those comments.  Go on, I'll wait.

Back?  Okay, now read this from the Fox article:

But Pino does have some supporters – among faculty members at the public university.

Donald Hassler, a member of Kent State’s Faculty Senate, told Fox News that Pino is a “colleague whom I respect.”
“We believe in freedom of expression and civil discourse,” Hassler said. “And those sometimes come in conflict – as they did in this case.”Hassler said Pino must have lost control at the lecture.


“It lacked civility,” he said. "It was an example of hate speech. He knows better than to use hate speech. He has definitely strong opinions. He needs to state them in a civil way.”


Ken Bindas, the chair of the KSU history department, told the Cleveland Jewish News that Pino was not attending the program as a professor, but “as a human being.”
“I don’t agree with his comments, but at the same time, I can’t not defend his right to free speech,” he told the newspaper.


My turn.  Yes, this is hate speech.  In this current climate, had Pino been expressing his thoughts as any kind of Christian, or as a white about any ethnic groups, Kent State would have thrown his grip in the streets and five preachers led by Al Sharpton would already be picketing the school.  But because he's a Muslim, we get to debate free speech issues.  Well, here's a free speech thought.  Major Nidal Hassan was saying the same things and visiting the same websites (I told you, Read the link!) just before he killed a bunch of our nation's heroes on an Army base.  Not only would I fire him, I'd have three FBI agents on his ass 24/7 on into eternity.  THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PINO AND HASSAN IS THAT PINO HASN"T STARTED SHOOTING YET.  And I'd bet money he will.

Second, and again read the link, doncha just love his rant about the poor little Muslims.  Yeah, all we ever did to Muslims was mortgage our future for their oil and make their rulers rich and give them something to eat other than sand and camel crap.  But their innocent little souls are crying out for revenge, and "the Muslim man is at (our) door".  Tough Shit, Professor Pino.  The only thing wrong with your type is using a persecution complex to cover up religiously rationalized bloodlust.  If Israel never existed, you'd find some other way to hate the rest of the world and some whackjob reasoning to justify it.  Let me make this clear- a terrorist is never a martyr or hero.  He/she is a mass murderer, nothing more.  If the Palestinians want to have things better for themselves, put down the guns and missles, pick up a shovel or a plow, and BUILD something instead of sitting around waiting for Arabic Welfare.

Third, and I address this to Kent State administration- James 3:1 says, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment."  Perhaps it was intended for teachers of the Word, but I think it applies universally- or should.  This "Pino was not attending the program as a professor, but “as a human being.” " horsecrap doesn't fly for me.  He is entitled to his opinions, I agree.  But he cannot divorce himself from being a representative of the university, just because he's there off hours.  How well does he separate the "teacher" and the "Muslim" in the frigging classroom?  Unfortunately, the head of the administration is Jewish himself, and is caught between a moral rock and a PC hard place.

Pino, say what you want.  But if you want to be a radical, you shouldn't be employed by a publicly funded university.  The same faculty that support you would likely run out an Evangelical teacher who had an optional prayer session after his class.  And let's face facts, you didn't just say F#@k you, asshole!  You advocated the Murder of 4.5 MILLION PEOPLE!  Frankly, our rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness trump your free speech rights, and you'd be on a slow boat back to Cuba were it up to me.

Football, NHFFL style, but first...

... I have to say that what I've heard today about Hank Williams, Jr., once I looked into it, was no bigger a deal than the Herman Cain thing.  I was in the shower and missed Hank's exile from the intro, and as far as I'm concerned, ESPN ha actually done a fairly good job of policing those whom might be considered its spokespeople.  HOWEVER...

If you just get your news from soundbites, the dealio is that he was asked what he thought of Obama and Boehner playing golf together.  He was not pleased.  "It's like Hitler and Netanyahu playing," he answered.  And while subsequently you got the gist of who was who in Hank's mind, he did NOT call Obama Hitler.  He made an analogy.  Repeat this word after me- AN- AL- O- GEEE.   Very good.  (This was me showing anonymous how I am trying to change the world on my blog.  If confused, look up the comment section on my post, "Who's dumber? I'll tell you who's dumber".)  This is the VERY SAME THING as if Hank said, "It's like a cat and dog playing".  You would not sit there and say, "OMG, he just called Obama a dog/cat!" would you?  WELL? WOULD YOU??  One more time- AN-AL-O-GEE.  Very good.

Yes, an unfortunate analogy.  He'd have been better served by trying the dog/cat thing.  Then only PETA would've complained, and no one listens to them anymore anyway.  Unfortunate because the most misused words in current English lexicon are Hitler and Terrorist.  Hank, if Obama were Hitler, you'd be in a concentration camp right now- or worse.  Joe Biden et al, if the Tea Party were terrorists, you'd have been Fancy Feast by now ( again, I don't think that remark offends anyone but PETA.)  If you hadn't guessed, I'm a wee bit tired (as well as unconcerned) about "offending people" stories.  Geez, did you all call your congressman when you were in kindergarten and a fellow student called you a dork?  You did? Then he/she was right about you.

Okay now onto the stuff no one cares about, starting with the NHFFL.  For the second time this year, the Beagles topped 50 points and got beat, falling to the Rangers 61-52. Even three TDs by Beanie Wells couldn't save the Hounds when Baltimore's D rang up 27 points on them.  The win left the Rangers undefeated- and keeping pace with the Aguas, who turned in a 55-34 win over the Greenwoods that wasn't as close as even that score indicates.  In fact, the Elves scored 28 of the 34 after the Aguas were done!  The master stroke of playing Matt Hasselbeck instead of McNabb gave them 12, Calvin Johnson scored twice for the 4th straight game- an NFL record; and Tennessee's D chipped in 14.

But there were tight games as well.  The final TD of the week, by LaGarrett Blount, gave the Elks a 34-32 win over the Ducks, and 15 by Cam Newton gave Buzz his first win, 32-28 over the Clock BBQs.  The KCAs had a 33-10 lead after the early games against the Angels- but the Angels had Aaron Rodgers and his 27-spot ( I think that 2 entrants having 27 points in one week is yet another record for us).  Final- Angels 49, KCAs 33.  Finally, the B2s hang on for a 36-27 win over the Porkchops.  Gentlemen, let's go to the standings:



I was going to update KHL hockey and FCS football too, but I'm a bit tired tonight.  It seems that on top of a restless and shallow night of sleep, Scrappy detected something out the window at 3 AM that he considered woofable.  Next week, #1 Aguas get the struggling KCAs, #2 Rangers draw the Greenwoods, #3 Elks face the Clock BBQs, plus Beagles?Angels, Ducks/Porkchops, and B2s/Buzz.

You wanna know who's dumber? I'll tell you who's dumber!

I hope Bobby G. will forgive me for so blatantly plagiarising one of his links, but he just today posted a story so (forgive me) retarded, so abysmally stupid, that even I can scarcely believe that the mind that came up with this can possibly be called an expert on ANYTHING.  Please, read on:  (Courtesy, BTW, of the London Telegraph)

Dress witches in pink and avoid white paper to prevent racism in nuseries, expert says



Teachers should censor the toy box to replace witches' black hats with a pink ones and dress fairies in darker shades, according to a consultant who has issued advice to local authorities.


From the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz to Meg, the good witch from the Meg and Mog children's books, witches have always dressed in black.
But their traditional attire has now come in for criticism from equality experts who claim it could send a negative message to toddlers in nursery and lead to racism. (WTF??)
Instead, teachers should censor the toy box and replace the pointy black hat with a pink one, while dressing fairies, generally resplendent in pale pastels, in darker shades.


Another staple of the classroom - white paper - has also been questioned by Anne O'Connor, an early years consultant who advises local authorities on equality and diversity.
Children should be provided with paper other than white to drawn on and paints and crayons should come in "the full range of flesh tones", reflecting the diversity of the human race, according to the former teacher.
Finally, staff should be prepared to be economical with the truth when asked by pupils what their favourite colour is and, in the interests of good race relations, answer "black" or "brown".  (here again is that Liberal "let your truth be fluid" mindset that allows them to lie about damn near anything.)
The measures, outlined in a series of guides in Nursery World magazine, are aimed at avoiding racial bias in toddlers as young as two.
According to the guides, very young children may begin to express negative and discriminatory views about skin colour and appearance that nursery staff must help them "unlearn".
If children develop positive associations with dark colours, the greater the likelihood that the attitude will be generalised to people, it says.
The advice is based on an “anti-bias” approach to education which developed in the United States as part of multiculturalism. (yeah, sure, blame it on us!)

It challenges prejudices such as racism, sexism and ageism through the whole curriculum and teaches children about tolerance and respect and to critically analyse what they are taught and think.
Ms O'Connor, who has worked with Newham and Tower Hamlets councils and recently devised equality material for Lancashire council's childcare service, said the approach, based on an "anti-bias" model of education, developed children's empathy and helped early years teachers to explore their own conditioning and possible prejudices.






"This is an incredibly complex subject that can easily become simplified and inaccurately portrayed," she said. (Because only a simple minded idiot could come up with it!)



"There is a tendency in education to say 'here are normal people and here are different people and we have to be kind to those different people', whether it's race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or faith.
"People who are feeling defensive can say 'well there's nothing wrong with white paper', but in reality there could be if you don't see yourself reflected in the things around you. “As an early years teacher, the minute you start thinking, 'well actually, if I give everyone green paper, what happens’, you have a teaching potential. (and we all start being sympathetic to large, raging, gamma-spawned behemoths.)

“People might criticise this as political correctness gone mad. (MIGHT?? Do ya THINK??)But it is because of political correctness we have moved on enormously. If you think that we now take it for granted that our buildings and public highways are adapted so people in wheelchairs and with pushchairs can move around. Years ago if you were in a wheelchair, then tough luck. We have completely moved and we wouldn’t have done that without the equality movement.”


Margaret Morrissey, a spokeswoman for the Parents Outloud campaigning group disagrees. She said: “I’m sure these early years experts know their field but they seem to be obsessed about colour and determined to make everyone else obsessed about it too.
“Not allowing toy witches to wear black seems to me nonsense and in the same vein as those people who have a problem with 'Bar Bar Black Sheep’ or 'The Three Little Pigs’. (Not to mention how biased it might be against Wiccans.  How'bout it, witches and warlocks?  How do YOU feel about this??)
Children just see a sheep in a field, whether it be black, grey, white or beige. I have worked with children for 41 years and I don’t believe I have ever met a two year old who was in any way racist or prejudiced.”


However, recent research by Professor Lord Winston provides evidence that children as young as four can hold racist views. In an experiment carried out for the BBC’s Child of our Time series, children were presented with a series of images of faces of men, women, boys or girls. Only one of the faces in each sequence was white.
Children were asked to pick out the face of the person they wanted as their friend and the person they thought would be most likely to get in to trouble.
Almost all white children in the survey associated positive qualities exclusively with photographs of white children or adults. More than half of the black children made the same associations. (That's not prejudice- that's WATCHING THE NEWS.)


Okay, aside from the comments I've already strewn throughout the article, Here's some more thoughts.  If all this is true, how does Ms. O'Connor think white kids feel about toilet paper?   Should we be fed food coloring to avoid unpleasant associations between people of color and #2?  Ms. O'Connor, did you ever think that we use white paper so we can SEE WHAT WE'RE WRITING?  If we are supposed to be for diversity, why is it important for anyone to "see yourself reflected in the things around you"?
I have in fairness tried to find out a little more about Ms. O'Connor and her employers, but other than their claim that they are read by anybody with a nanny license in the UK, I learned precious little.  I'm a bit taken aback, as I assumed such a renowned expert for such an influential magazine would have something more out there about them besides their being read by every nanny in England.  Ah, but they do have easy- and unrelenting- access to their subscription site, which as we learned from AttackWatch.com is all a Liberal action site really requires.

And in fairness, I invite Ms. O'Connor and Nursery World to rebut, comment, or otherwise tell their side of the story.  I promise to publish without editing any comments they'd like to share with us.  How about it, Ms. O'Connor?  I'd dearly love to hear what your qualifications are.  Either post a comment, or e-mail me and I'll give you a respectful and highly trumpeted guest post!

april stuff

Ah, where to start.  Scrappy and I just got back from an after-work walk that involved a "Scrappy's choice " tour of the woods along the greenway.  In this escapade, I give him a lot of leeway about the trail to be taken, as long as A) I can get through reasonably safely, and B) we keep out of the muck.  This is rarely all that good a thing for me.  Scrappy is pretty good at obeying "no" and will divert to "Doofus, what are you doing?", but "wait a minute " and "let Daddy get through " might as well be "kjyrfihgvkyhufjth do."  Still, he found us yet another orphaned golf ball in a spot I would have never gone to, and was a real good boy on the way home.  We cut back over into civilization at that point, and he was very good at not only stopping at all the crossings and sitting as I trained him ( his "sixth grade ejication"), but waiting for me to tell him to go again- which is typically hit and miss.  At least until we passed a puppy and his mistress, and the rest of the trip was "where did he mark?  I have to find where he marked so I can mark over it!"  He never did find any, despite a thorough effort.

Last night I think Laurie broke my record for passing a kidney stone.  My first stone began its journey about 8 am one day and passed sometime around 12:30 pm.  Laurie told me afterwards that she had felt a twinge on the way home from work (after the fact, so not too bad), but we had company last night and everything was fine until about 45 minutes after everyone left.  She came down in tears or close to them to inform me of the little darlin's approach.  I spent about 15 more minutes finishing what I was doing and giving Mr. Dog a last trip outside for the night, and when I went up to check on her, THE WHOLE THING WAS OVER.  My sister the human stone machine would kill for stones like that.  She gets one per kidney every six months- on a staggered schedule so that she's almost never without something on the way.  They put her on an experimental drug a few years back, and it worked good- for a little under a year, then it was back to the quarry.

And now, we bring you Martin's second and third laws, both based on work- one on a really rotten day and one on the realization that I tend to force my way through things that just don't work. Law number II:  Every person has the potenial to go to hell exactly once.  Therefore, the more of it you give me on earth, the less likely I am to give much of a damn.  Law number III: Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus say to move the mountain by pushing.

On the subject of Jesus, I was hit with a thought this morning about His words on the cross.  Specifically, "My God, my God, why have You abandoned Me?"  We all (?) know He was speaking to His father, who withdrew His grace from Him as He took upon Himself the sins of the world.  Now, flip it.  Say "My God, my God" like we usually do- as an exclamation and not an address.  Put that way, He's talking to US, the sinners whom He's going through all this for.  Why have we abandoned Him?  That puts a more personal spin upon the crucifixion, doesn't it?

Laurie's family is having an estate sale this weekend at her late father's place.  Lots of tools, some radio equipment- Bob was a big ham guy, although I think Chuck's already gotten shed of the big stuff on e-bay- and enough stuff that Laurie and her sister Mary have spent the last three weekends prepping it.  Location is in  New Haven on Dawkins Road (the former Indiana 14 east) right across from Robinson's Wrecker place.
Friday-Saturday, I believe is the plan.  I've stayed pretty much out of the way, because I'm a lazy cuss and have no real desire to work on my weekend, but I will be there at least Saturday depending on work schedules (now, how's THAT for a draw!  Meet the Tilting At Windmills guy!)

Oh, and just over the wire- UN is going to put Syria on the human rights committee!  Yep, right there with Iran!  Talk about that UN credibility.  Word is that Sec-Gen Ban the Moonie is a) too busy getting re-elected to give a hoot about Human Rights, and/or b) doesn't want to piss off the 56 votes he'll need from the UN's Islamic conference. IDK about you, but in a world where I can't say a prayer at my graduation or enjoy a nativity scene on the courthouse lawn, I'm a bit fed up with people telling me I need to kiss the Muslim butt.  You want to cut some waste out of the budget? Tear up that IOU the UN holds from us for $1.3 billion in dues, and tell the beggars "Don't let it hit you on the way out". That building would make a kickin' 39-story homeless shelter!

And Finally, we say goodbye to Phoebe Snow. Circumstances prevented her from having more top 40s than the #5 Poetry Man and the duet we had on TM a month or three ago with Paul Simon, Gone At Last.  With a voice like that, she should have undoubtedly had more.  I salute her courage when it became more important to her to take care of her daughter than to pad her Billboard stats.

Okay, guys, I think that's it for now. Enjoy you evening and watch the weather just in case.

January junk

Or, an alliterative way of saying Bits and Pisses. Well, I got to go back to work today, not so Laurie. I got to be a guest packer in the blow-fill dept., which consisted of blowing bits of fuzz off just filled pillows and throwing each flavor in one box; once these boxes were filled, put them in the actual display packages with the right side of the law label up, all upcs facing one direction, doing bits of building the boxes and labelling them when needed, and trimming unruly strings. The main bright spot was I got my chance to see how well the new car does in winter slop (answer, quite well) as well as how it does going home on good road (answer, going 80 feels just as smooth as going 45- a good thing within caution).



My sister Jen Schible turns 59 today!!! Happy birthday, Pete!!!



The continuing story of the facebook page shows us with 3 count 'em three likers so far! Thank you very much. I'll try to make it as rewarding an experience as ... as... well, as rewarding as reading a nitwit like me can be.



I had a comment by anonymous on the first fb post "another retarded idea". They ask,

"retarded doesn't mean stupid. I don't get why you used it here."

Well, anon, it's like this. First off, unlike other cultural buzzwords such as "gay" and the "n" word, it can be used in a non-derogatory sense. It means in essence to be held back to a lower level by some means or for some reason. Unconvinced of its wisdom, I held it to a lower level of esteem than other far better ideas. Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable to use in this sense; where "gay" I would not use on this site because of its derogatory nature (though I will and do use it in informal conversation because of my opinion of not so much the sin of homosexuality but the activists that want to flaunt it as if there going to gain "converts" to something they claim is "not a choice"); nor would I use the "n" word here, even though to me its definition is "not ambitious enough to work, ambitious enough to commit crimes" As you can see, this can and should apply to people of any race, but is too tied to one (whether from history or from example) to divorce it from race. Once again though, I am wont to use it in private conversations when discussing those who fit the definition.

Secondly, if you look under the windmill on the blog home you see the phrase, "and pc be hanged." If anyone needs to feel offended by my use of this word, be offended because you are a true believer of pc and I am a heretic.

So, Jim Harbaugh is happily ensconced in San Fran, leaving the UM alumni "Jim or bust" clique out in the cold and the rest of them happy to have in Brady Hoke an alumnus, at any rate. The winner in this whole situation, though, is Les Miles. His flirtation with the job was more than enough to scare LSU into giving him that BIIIIG new contract. And Pitt , who took Miami of Ohio's coach when they decided to give Dave Wannestadt the bum's rush (can't argue with that move) and then fired him when he celebrated by smacking his baby-momma around, have ripped off their second mid-major of the off season by stealing Tulsa's coach. Not that I wish bad on anyone, but it would be amusing to see them stumble onto a reason to fire this guy without a game played too, and watch 'em go crawling back to that bum Dave. Speaking of bums, that's pro'ly how Miami coach Tony Sparano felt after owner Stephen Ross and GM Jeff Ireland (remember him? He's the one who during last years draft interview asked Dez Bryant how his mom liked being a ho) fell all over themselves to apologize for "how they handled" their flirtation with the aforementioned Mr. Harbaugh. When original owner of the Dolphins Joe Robbie died in 1990, organizational class died with him.

Oh, and I guess my thought about not giving nutbags air time isn't a worldwide thought. From T6news:

After receiving an offer to be on a nationally syndicated radio talk show, Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church won't picket the funerals of any of the six victims of Saturday's shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., after all, a church spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church spokeswoman, said the pickets had been called off after radio talk show host Mike Gallagher offered to have her on his radio program Monday.
Phelps-Roper said the decision boiled down to the church being able to communicate its message with as wide an audience as possible. She said Gallagher's radio audience is estimated to be about 10 million people.

Gallagher, from what I hear, is to the right of Rush Limbaugh, and I'm sure that broadcast will be a real knee-slapper.

The church had sparked outrage earlier this week when it announced it would protest the Thursday funeral of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who was one of six people killed during Saturday's shooting spree that also wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
However, that protest was called off in exchange for the church being given airtime on two radio stations -- KXXT-AM, a 50,000-watt station in the Phoenix suburb of Tolleson, Ariz., and Canadian station CFNY-FM, 102.1 "The Edge" in Toronto.
Phelps-Roper was interviewed on the Dean Blundell Show on the Canadian station on Tuesday and is to be interviewed again on the show Thursday.

Blundell, from what I can determine, is like a "Bob and Tom" show with even less good taste. Shirley will either be highly insulted or feel right at home, depending on how warped a sense of humour she has.

She also is to be a guest on "The Steve Sanchez Show" on Saturday morning on KXXT-AM.
Upon hearing of the church's plans to protest at the funerals of the Tucson shooting victims, some residents of the Arizona city began to organize efforts to shield mourners from the picketers.
As for trading picketing at funerals for radio airtime, Phelps-Roper said, "It's always a question of where can you put the words in the most ears."
This isn't the first time Westboro Baptist Church has traded picketing at a funeral for radio airtime.
In October 2006, the church cancelled plans to protest at the funerals of five Amish girls who were executed in their Pennsylvania school in exchange for an hour of airtime on Gallagher's radio show.
Phelps-Roper said the church also cancelled plans to protest at Virginia Tech after a gunman killed 32 people in a massacre in April 2007 for airtime on Gallagher's show.

When does being "all things to all men" bleed into prostituting your message, Shirley?

Phelps-Roper will be a guest on "The Steve Sanchez Show," a live call-in program that airs from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturdays Topeka time on KXXT-AM radio, which serves Phoenix and the surrounding area.
On Wednesday, Sanchez said he had Phelps-Roper on his program in October before she hung up on him after he challenged her views from a scriptural viewpoint during their chat.
For Saturday's show, he said, he would avoid going "down that road" again and would allow Phelps-Roper to have a "platform" for her viewpoints during 30 minutes of airtime, though he said there would be plenty of "disclaimers" and that he would "moderate" the discussion.
Calls from listeners also may be included during the half-hour segment, which is to run from 9:15 to 9:45 a.m. Topeka time.

That would be 11:15-11:45 our time here in beautiful Fort Wayne, dudes.

Sanchez said the show is heard in several major U.S. cities in addition to Phoenix, and also can be heard live online by logging onto his website, www.thestevesanchezshow.com.
Sanchez said he came up with the idea to offer Phelps-Roper the airtime in exchange for not protesting at the girl's funeral on Tuesday night.
He said he called Phelps-Roper and initially requested that the Westboro church not picket at any of the funerals from Saturday's shooting. However, Sanchez said, Phelps-Roper refused to stay completely away and the two sides agreed that the church wouldn't protest the girl's funeral.
Sanchez said he called Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Tuesday night to inform her the church had agreed to stay away from Thursday's funeral.
Sanchez said that as a Christian, he disagreed with Phelps-Roper's viewpoints, but was willing to give her 30 minutes of airtime to keep the Westboro church away from the girl's funeral.
"Of course she wants her platform," Sanchez said. "I looked at it this way: I'm a grown man, and I can stand 30 minutes of her."

You sure? I've seen grown men puke from just drinking beer.

Meanwhile, a team of four other Westboro Baptist Church members on Friday will be in Washington, D.C., to picket the memorial service for Richard Holbrooke, who was special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan before his death in December.
Margie Phelps said she and three other church members would picket Holbrooke's memorial service at the Kennedy Center , as well as protest at American University and an Islamic center in Washington, D.C.
"It never takes but three or four people to handle one of these things," Phelps said. "There's always people available if we need them. It's just managing the resources the Lord gave us."
Another group of Westboro picketers are to go this weekend to Los Angeles, where they will picket the Golden Globes Awards ceremony.

The Golden Globes? WTF???

Okay, I think I'm done offending and informing for one evening. Gottsa go ta work tomorrow, y'know? (note to Bob G's neighbors- that's what the neighbors you don't like do during the day).