Words of Wisdom

Occasionally I get invited to small, private gatherings featuring a speaker. A few days ago I had the rare privilege of meeting and hearing an 88-year-old WWII POW, who survived 14 months in a Nazi prison camp.

His story began with the description of his plane and his job on that bomber as the flight engineer and top turret gunner. He jumped from 25,000 feet, flak in his knee, face charred black beyond recognition. He drifted in and out of consciousness, and has no memory of pulling the parachute cord. The Germans below were waiting for him, and he remembers a hospital and something that felt like molasses put on his face.

He rambled, skipped ahead, doubled back in his tale. At one time he was on a boat, down in a hold, a bucket lowered with water. He saw a man jump overboard and used for target practice.

The first camp was too close to Russian guns. They were loaded into 40-by-8 boxcars (called this because capacity was either 40 men or 8 horses), 60 men deep.

They all knew they faced a firing squad, sooner or later.

Red Cross parcels provided food for the guards first, since the German army couldn’t feed them. This man learned one could go a whole day on a 1-inch piece of chocolate from the care package. Most of the time, he was fed cabbage soup.

Stalag #4 was his home, and he learned quickly to not engage in conversation or draw the notice of the guards. He was often cracked in the back by a rifle butt.

He did have an empathetic story to share about one guard, who had two sons. One fought for Germany; the other for his new homeland, America. When he received word that the German soldier-son had died, he felt great relief. Because it was not to be by the hands of his brother. Small mercies.

He helped to cover for another man who chose to escape, for a tense 48 hours. Just like an episode of “Hogan’s Heroes,” but without the laugh track.

The word came – they were to be released to Patton. Yes, The Patton, who would race the Russians across Germany to claim victory as ours. Hitler knew he would have to give up his prisoners and ordered a forced march of 800 kilometers. He wanted no man left alive to relinquish.

The Army airman described how they were handcuffed in pairs, right hand to left hand. Emotion gripped his features as he relayed how his partner wanted to lay down and die. He threatened to twist the other man’s arm off at the shoulder, if he didn’t keep the gap closed in front of him. Another man did drop, and a Hitler Youth ran his bayonet through his temple.

They slept paired up for warmth, with one blanket, in the same subzero conditions as the infamous Battle of the Bulge, occurring nearby.

And somehow he survived. This is the price one single man paid to save the world. It’s overwhelming, isn’t it.

Yes, he lived, returned, married, had children. His daughter is a nurse. A great-granddaughter sat on his lap to pose for pictures at the end of his talk. He loved and was loved. From the second he jumped from his B-24, he has lived an existence close to God. He felt His hand many times.

The spirit remains strong in his feeble body; he is determined to spread his message as long as he can. That war must never happen here, on American soil. We must do whatever is necessary elsewhere to keep it from here.

This very decent man, a member of the dwindling Greatest Generation, also softly cautioned, “I know we are drifting further and further from God. And we’re gonna have some tall questions to answer.”

Timeless

I meant to write a lot for Black History Month, sharing the accomplishments and heritage of my fellow Americans who happen to be black. I really enjoy making the effort to celebrate holidays, recognizing that certain days are different than other days so that all the days of life don’t just run together.

I did not write as much as I would have liked, though. No matter. I don’t need a special month designated to honor individuals and retell great stories. I can do it all year-round, whenever I feel like it.

Black History Moment

Langston Hughes was not into “black power”; his thing was “black is beautiful.” He didn’t slam doors closed, but opened them… and windows and eyes and minds…

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people

Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

- From the Hughes poem “My People”

Roses and Thorns

I’ve had so many intensely bad experiences with the teachers of my sons, that I want to paint them all with the same brush. And, of course, that is not fair. I forced myself to remember clearly the last 15 years and give this just treatment.

Cooter refused to learn to read in 1st grade, too busy! His middle-aged teacher pounded the phonics into him every day until…he came back from Christmas break and in two weeks leaped to 3rd-grade level reading. He wanted to read the Texas Field Guide to Snakes. He refused to learn how to count 1-100 until…she asked him to paint a snake with 100 scales going all around her classroom. That boy has always had his own agenda. I suspect everyone is like that. But how can a teacher find every kid’s unique personal motivation. The setting: Very expensive private school, Houston, TX.

Kindergarten, 2nd, 3rd, 5th grade: He had a lot of young white female teachers who were so inflexible, stressed, and petty-minded that it’s a shame they were allowed to work with children. Setting: public.

4th Grade: You will be a math success in Janice West’s class, there is no other option. She said, “He makes me laugh every day, and that is very special.” The next year, she became a vice principal at a different public elementary. I heard this very smart, energetic young black woman died tragically shortly after. Her words live on.

He attended a religious private school in 6th grade. That teacher came up with the idea of using a kitchen timer on him, to keep him focused intensely til finishing the worksheets. The racing pace kept him in it. He loved caring for the many animals in her room.

Public junior high was one of the worst periods of his life. Both boys attended this school at different times. Both were lucky to have certain teachers. Mrs. Cox is one of those awesome English teachers with mind-blowing lesson plans. Students watched “Remember the Titans” to discuss racism. Cooter was given a picture of a Jewish boy from the Holocaust and told to create a history for him. Then she revealed where those depicted real people are today. He tells me now he learned more about difficult clauses from her than anyone else.

He had a male geography teacher, teaching for 40 years, who was psycho, mean, unrelenting. He conducted all sorts of crazy social experiments that infuriated me at the time. An entire row was awarded the same grade earned by that week’s “row leader.” This man doled out shame on a daily basis. The wrong colored pencils? You were doomed. He once counted every one of Farnsworth’s correct answers wrong due to punctuation issues or what he felt were erasure messes. He taught everything but geography, and both of my boys loved him. The oldest visits him when he’s in town. This man refused to do what the establishment told him, and I think it made him a little crazy. In his own cranky way, maybe he was teaching why socialism sucks. I’ll tell you what, his students GOT it.

High school: Cooter had another great English teacher. The first day she had students write a poem about their own hands. Another lesson involved analyzing the impact of tv on presidential campaigns. A history teacher’s assignment at the end of the year involved hosting a dinner and inviting historical figures. What to serve, where to seat them, what conversations are they having? A biology teacher inspired him to create an artistic metaphor for a human cell – it still hangs on my wall. A science teacher asked him to bring his guitar and amp to demonstrate how hearing works with his devices.

We come to a teacher he has now who totally understands how his brain works. She devised an entire Creative Writing program for him. He writes stories based on classified ads, weaves random assigned objects and letters together into stories, explains a meal preparation, uses starters like “Officer McCarthy finds a dead body,” “The nation is controlled by…” and “My body…”

Consider all the types of thinking he is pushing through: organizing, following rules, stretching rules, keeping one eye on details and the other on direction, exploring emotions, juggling, storing, finding his own perfection.

Cooter will never be an engineer. I wish the government would understand this and quit forcing their “space race” mindset on everybody. Hermie does not want to build toys, and then he and Rudolph ran away. One size does not fit all.

Farnsworth’s speech and debate coach also deserves mention. I remember a black male student rapping his way to national forensic points and college scholarships. Two young Muslim female students of Middle Eastern descent wrote and performed a brilliant humorous skit focused on common stereotypes held about them.

Mixed in with this “wonderful” is a whole lot of bad: coaches who are blatantly partial, Cooter’s English teacher fired last semester (yes, fired) for sexting nude photos of herself to a male student she was having sex with.

I have to share one “bad teacher” story about the infamous APUSH teacher (AP US History). My oldest was awarded 20s and 30s all year on weekly essays, with no explanation of why such low marks. His students passed their state-required End-of-Instruction exams for this subject a week before the final, so boycotted the final…except for Farnsworth. The teacher was furious. The final consisted of one question: what color are the teacher’s shoes. Farnsworth got it right and earned enough points to bring his F to a D, thus passing the class and getting to graduate, so he could go on to college where 21 hours of advanced standing credit (earned in AP exams) awaited him (6 of them in US History).

I know of another student, a female cheerleader he hated, who got zeros for all the assignments she missed while in the hospital with mono. She didn’t get them in within the two days.

I’ve noticed the worse teachers we’ve experienced teach math. That’s weird, isn’t it, considering the enormous extra-special emphasis on this area by the government. The math teachers for a particular grade “team teach,” all of them teaching the same thing at the same time from the same materials, to stay on careful schedule for the government-required tests. No flexibility, no individual attention. If the child didn’t get it, roll over him. The problem is many aren’t getting it, and they’re left on the road side. Algebra teachers are frustrated trying to teach kids who haven’t mastered computation. Give ‘em calculators, move on, they’re told.

It’s clear to me: the more government involvement, the more messed up it is.

I’m so glad it’s almost over for me. I remember how the “AR” program almost succeeded in making my youngest child never read for pleasure again, the annual Parent Science Projects, the ridiculous amounts of homework that cripple family home life, the arbitrary grading and crushing hateful written comments, teachers who admit they hate boys, all the stomach aches and tears when they didn’t want to go to school.

Reporting truthfully from the front lines of education,
The Stoopid American Mom

A Good Life

We are a lot alike actually. We all want the same thing – a good life. But the D’s and R’s just have very different ideas about how to make that vision come true.

We all want to be safe from foreign enemies, thus a strong military. Sometimes our elected decision-makers gauge threats incorrectly, erring on both sides. I think we’re getting better at it.

We all want an incredible public education system available for children to become whatever they desire, and be able to contribute to society. This isn’t working so well right now – we totally agree. Will throwing more money and regulation at it fix it? I think we’ve tried that.

We all want jobs, food, shelter. The economy makes that happen. And the individual, if the economy is healthy. Interestingly enough, some believe deficit-spending under Kennedy led to a period of prosperity late 1960s. Others point to different factors as the cause. Some believe the government should give individuals jobs, food, shelter. Others believe the government should stay out of it, and let the economy naturally operate, and individuals get what they earn. Those are extreme positions, and reality is a crazy mixture, a constant tug-of-war between government involvement and natural economic responses.

I do support governmental involvement in economic development in certain areas. I’m okay with the idea of collecting the society’s taxes and using it in ways to boost certain businesses that represent progress and improved quality of life for the society (alternate energy sources, infrastructure, severe weather detection).

This see-sawing between the extreme positions results in times when D’s are in control, then R’s. Now it’s time for the R’s to come back in power and strengthen business. We’re out of balance. Government spending is too large and can’t be supported by weakened Business, unemployment is high. When you tie the hands of Business, you just eliminated the tax revenue for another social program. We’re so out of balance that the government is spending a lot more than what it’s collecting in taxes and still can’t pay for the social programs it’s promised. It’s time to say no, and figure out how to help Business get off the ropes.

Business itself is not evil. Profit is not evil. Business is what naturally happens when one real live human being helps another real live human being solve a problem. “I’ll give you a coin if you’ll help me haul my fruit to market.” “I can pay you after I sell my fruit to the people who have a problem, they need to eat.” Is this evil? We want our fruit vendor to do very, very well so he can grow more fruit, hire more help, feed more people, even give his remains to the poor at the end of the day. I want him to MAXIMIZE his profit – he is the key to a good life for many of his fellow man. Profit is a great thing…a company stays in business, people get to keep their jobs, more taxes are paid to the government by the business and the employees.

Is he a good, fair man? If he stays in business a long time, he probably is. Most people are a mix of good and bad, externally and internally motivated, simply acting on obtaining pleasure and avoiding pain in the moment.

You can see many “evil” business owners and many “good” ones around us today. Many billionaire businessmen are forming a coalition to do good works with their fortunes. Others prey on their fellow man until their industry collapses, and they are revealed.

Good, evil, mixture – they’re everywhere, and the fact is we need them and their businesses to be the engine that runs America. More than ever, right now.

So, just because an R says no to government spending does not mean he doesn’t want a good life for all. He/she wants everyone to have the life they deserve, and he is trying to get us there according to his beliefs. That means letting business happen…and get the money flowing.

Big Brother in Little Dixie

Well, it’s worse than I thought. The Oklahoma legislature is not relying on the DMV to someday provide a database to catch uninsured motorists…they’re accepting proposals from 3rd-party vendors to create this system.

They plan to install 20 cameras around town to read your bar-coded car tag as you drive by. The car tag record will provide your personal and auto information to compare against a database containing records from all auto insurance companies. If you’re not in there, the 3rd-pary vendor will mail a ticket to your house and try to collect. The vendor will then split the collected money with the state.

A similar system in current use in the UK has been a disaster in errors, one mistake resulting in a death.

Even the vendors vying for the contract are expressing concern about the potential lawsuits and public backlash due to errors.

"If the query response is returned with a disclaimer regarding accuracy, and a citation is generated based on inaccurate data, that will ensure negative press and possibly litigation, none of which will help generate revenue and so, projections must be reduced," a vendor stated in an April 27 amendment. "The vendor and DPS will be accused of 'trolling'... not really knowing status but hoping that enough vehicle owners will actually be driving uninsured vehicles to make the system profitable. This is certain to create a vast number of failed citations, a very high level of bad press, public resistance and reduced revenues... If a name and address is sent in a broadcast email to many insurers, that would be in clear violation of both state and federal DPPA laws, inviting challenge in the courts and also greatly reduce the ability to provide revenues to the state; that too means that current projections would have to be reduced; this is a serious problem with the current system."

And check out this pompous reply by some stoopid Oklahoma bureaucrat.

[ DPS responded that mass-emails of private information to insurance companies would not violate driver's license privacy laws because the for-profit company would be operating on behalf of DPS. "It is respectfully suggested that the vendor concentrate on providing a system for verification of out of state car tags and spend less effort on concerns about OCIVS, per the RFP," DPS responded. ]

You know, I hate uninsured drivers as much as everyone else, but this isn’t the way to go. Our state government is giving permission to some company to troll among citizens for offenders, access our personal information, and hunt us down for money.

It seems that a better way to get more people to buy car insurance is to help them get a job, by removing obstacles to business. The two are directly linked (see previous post).

Oh, and the state legislature has already budgeted and thus spent the projected “revenues” for the first year of operation. They hope to get the system installed by this summer. This plan was first approved in 2006. They’re going to spend our tax money to pay for this. It will be wasted – I don’t see how this will bring in the revenues projected. Even if they manage to get blood out of a turnip (money from someone who can’t afford insurance), I see the money going back out in legal settlements. One vendor anticipated a 20% error rate. It’s ineffective and intrusive.

We are hurtling toward that sci-fi world in which you walk into Gap, your eyeballs are scanned, and an automated voice starts talking to you about the jeans you bought six months ago. I want my privacy, and I want the stoopid politicians to stop trying to solve every damn “problem” they think they see. They create 10 more problems and throw my money into the wind. Just stop. You’re not smart enough to solve the problem.

More info: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/31/3165.asp

Road Blockheads

I’m hoping some smart person out there can figure this out for me.

“A proposed traffic camera system that state budget officials expected to generate at least $50 million in revenues from tickets sent to uninsured drivers has run into roadblocks. Lawmakers were unaware that there is no central database containing all insurance records, but the governor hopes the motor vehicle insurance verification system will be operational summer 2011.”

So, now they’ve figured out this magical database doesn’t exist. But if it did, it somehow would lead us to uninsured drivers? What about those who’ve never had dealings with the Department of Motor Vehicles i.e. illegal aliens? (I’m assuming an image of one’s car tag is the key to “unlock” your information you gave them when you purchased your tag. You had to show proof of insurance to get the tag…) What about those who got insurance so they could get the tag, then canceled? Or those who do not renew a few months after getting the tag? The database records are wrong, do not reflect the reality other than the day the car was registered.

This is the problem in a nutshell: any database of information the government may have is made up of records of people who have followed the law. Inclusion in the database means you successfully showed proof of insurance and successfully tagged your car. So how the hell does this work, to ferret out all those people not following the law? We want all the people NOT in the database! Can someone out there figure this out for me?

Okay, let’s assume the magical database exists. It just does. Now think of how often government workers enter information incorrectly. So, all the addresses in our magical database are going to be current and correct? Okay. Is US mail a surefire way to send and receive important correspondence? Uh, no. Which is why they developed the “certified” option. Do you throw away most of your US mail? I do. And I’m not fooled by those envelopes that say IMPORTANT and DO NOT DISCARD. But somehow all the tickets are going to land in the hands of those criminal offenders.

So, let’s assume the camera took a shot of someone’s car tag on their car (who knows where and why and under what circumstances). The tag connected us to some car owner that somehow is in the system (yes, the system that only contains those with insurance and tags), but somehow we know does not have insurance NOW. Miraculously we send a ticket to the correct address and the person receives it. Will that person pay it?

Maybe they don’t have insurance because they can’t afford it. Actually, uninsured rates are directly tied to unemployment rates, and the auto insurance industry is charting these increases due to the recession. Oklahoma ranks 4th in the nation with 24% of drivers uninsured. New Mexico is number one with 29%. So what if the person cannot pay? Jail? Efforts to pursue and prosecute? Sounds like expenditures, not revenues.

This is the dumbest idea ever. If the average ticket is $100 for being uninsured, then they plan to catch 500,000 drivers in one year in the wonky manner described, in order to receive 50 MILLION DOLLARS. There are 2.4 million licensed drivers. 24% is 570,000. Not all have cars, teenagers, elderly. So, they’ve really set their expectations high, to catch almost every one of them.

And by all means, let’s go ahead and budget and spend that $50 million.

I do have other questions…like who approached the state legislature with this humdinger idea and just so happens to have a bunch of cameras for sale. The really stoopid people in this scenario is us, because we voted on the guys who voted on this.

It would be great if there was some way the government could identify and ticket those with no insurance. I have been victimized several times in the past by the criminals who hit me and have no insurance and I was out the cost of my property damage with no recourse. What would be the right thing for the government to do is NOT pocket that money for themselves, but set up a fund for victims to make claims against. The law-abiding citizens were the ones suffering damages, not the government.

Victory?

This week’s history lesson at The Stoopid American’s School for the Homebound: Viet Nam 1954-1975.

What a terrible, terrible event in our history. How did we get in that mess in the first place? Hindsight is perfect, and one hopes we took away a lot of lessons. I think the most important lesson is: Once you’ve become committed to a fight, give it everything you’ve got.

Many presidents were involved with Viet Nam: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Why did we care about a little backward country in SE Asia?

It annoys me when people flip-flop and blame war involvement on someone else because their memories are short. We did not like South Viet Nam’s stupid, corrupt, uncaring leader, but we believed the Soviet threat of world domination. Stalin was clear that he wanted to take over the world, now that he got Hitler et al out of the way. And we clearly remembered Hitler’s early successes…if we let Viet Nam fall to communism, nearby countries would also in turn.

Was it possible to imagine turning our eyes away, assuring ourselves that if communism did spread to our front door, we could handle it then? Did Stalin really have the resources? Well, he could easily after gobbling up other countries, pressing those citizens into service (like he did in Eastern Europe), taking over companies, militaries…

So, this seemed like a worthwhile endeavor at which to throw a few resources.

Then we find ourselves in a country, fighting a war for people who have no desire to fight for themselves, propping up an idiot leader just because he’s anti-communist. This is the first time we will fight a “tiger” with no front lines, with tactics we’ve not seen before that offend and confuse our cultural sensibilities.

As we get more desperate for an end, we destroy forest and food with pesticide, drop jelled fire, use a draft to sacrifice more humans to the War Beast. This would not be the only time we would try to “win hearts and minds.”

Viet Nam was a huge mistake, but I will gladly own it myself and not blame others. I understand the need to stop people like Hitler and Stalin, so that I can live in a free USA. (Dale Jr. pointed out that no one ever thinks war is a mistake when we win.) I just wish we had had smarter military leaders who could assess a situation and a plan and its likelihood of success more accurately. (How would Patton have fared in Nam? Can a tank roll over a forest? Would he have shown more flexibility and common sense in the field, more backbone in dealing with politicians?) And more humble leaders who listened to the stories of those returning from the conflict, as unfiltered information. (I wonder if Patton would have stomped into a meeting with LBJ and said, “We can’t win this sonofabitch!” And I don’t see the point! Just let me go punch Stalin! And let these nice pajama-wearing pointy-heads get back to their rice paddies.”) (You know how un-PC George could be sometimes…)

I like to think I would have adopted a waiting stance, to see what happens after the fall of Viet Nam, to see more evidence of Stalin’s power.

Well, you knew where this story would eventually go – to the endless parallels. Afghanistan. Today.

Again, I’m not going to be one of those who conveniently forgets how we got into this mess. I do not forget that after 9/11, we were itching to hunt down Osama bin Laden, chomping at the bit to shake our mace at the world. We were adamantly in favor of war (one vote from unanimous in Congress) to crush the network of terrorists backed by Islamic extremists. The roots of their anti-America hate involved many presidents as well, many past decisions… But at least Bush did not lie when he warned that this effort would take a lot of time, money, and resources.

So, here we are. Can we win? Why don’t we really put all we’ve got behind it? We can’t win wars with hands tied, and especially those with unclear objectives, targets. We can destroy this Godforsaken place in 30 minutes, but that’s not the goal. Our generals write white papers describing how to “win hearts and minds.” The nature of war has changed. It’s damn complicated.

And we’ve learned one thing well – if you knock out one bad guy in charge, you create a vacuum for another bad guy to step in. Well, hell, this sounds like we’ll be there forever because to really bring lasting change, and thus peace for us, requires education, human rights, economic solutions…geez.

And so that is what we do. Our marines pass out soccer balls and crayons while avoiding IEDs. Do the citizens even really want us there to battle the Taliban? I don’t know. Again, I just see pajama-wearing turban-heads squatting around fires in caves. What the hell are we doing? How can we possibly bring these people into our 21st century?

And let’s not even discuss the cost. AND the opportunity cost of that money that could be used in other ways…

But, wait. Let your eyes drift a little to the south on the Middle Eastern map. I don’t know if or how the dots can be connected, but the entire picture is changing before our eyes. Can we link our efforts in places like Afghanistan to the historic sweep of democratic uprisings happening right now in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Bahrain, Iran…

America, I think we just won.

Tea, Anyone?

I want to join the local TEA party because I believe I have been Taxed Enough Already. I believe government spending is out of control. I see deficit spending, borrowing gazillions from China, as the thing that will bring our country to its knees. I believe that the government is mostly corrupt, drunk on greed and power. I think the federal government is over-stepping its constitutionally outlined role. The amount of money wasted is unacceptable to me.

So, where do I sign up? I’m all about fiscal responsibility and view this as the Number One Issue.

Let us delve into the tragically sad possibilities.

The two largest groups in my state are: Sooner Tea Party and Oklahoma City Tea Party. The Sooner one formed in 2009 by splitting from the OKC one, after 5000 people attended a rally at the Capital. So who are they and why the split?

According to the daily paper, Sooner Tea Party is headed up by Al Gerhart, and these are the quack-a-doodles talking about forming a militia to defend citizens from a hostile federal government. Hmmm. I think it’s possible, if we continue down the current path, that the government will become so powerful and over-reaching some day that it succeeds in disarming us and turning us into silent worker-drones who turn over all the fruits of our labor to the Agency for Redistribution. But, hey, we’re not there yet, not close. You look like a psycho.

Actually, the guy does look a lot like the mentally ill person who shot the Arizona congresswoman…bald, big eyes. Okay, forget I said that; I wouldn’t want folks making fun of how I look. That’s not a deciding factor in my quest to find my party-home. Okay, so the guy has no PR sense, a lot of people don’t…like the POTUS.

Let’s check out the website. Hmmm. Well, it’s just long rants by Al, not a lot of spelling errors (and that’s a relief on my eyes). He’s really fired up about state and local politics – I totally disagree with that focus. And maybe that’s why the groups split? Really, he’s scrabbling in the dirt over pennies when Jacksons are being sucked up by the Federal Vacuum Cleaner. Gee, unplug the machine, instead of trying to snatch back the crumbs. The federal government is the big problem, not the little guys sitting on the school board or the city council.

The truth of the matter is we Oklahoma Cityans like to pay taxes to build stuff we can see and use locally (baseball stadium, river canal, convention center, school buildings, etc.). We have voted repeatedly in favor of economic development projects to lift our city up and improve our lifestyle. And these public funds have attracted several times more in private investment. A huge success.

What we don’t like is tax money used to support programs or efforts we don’t believe in (like Viagra for sex offenders or feeding hungry foreigners when we have hunger here) or wasted on silly, unnecessary projects (bridges to nowhere, replacing perfectly fine sidewalks in towns we’ll never visit).

We only have so much energy and resources. I don’t want to squander mine on local crap when the problems with greater impact and reach are at the federal level.

The local taxes were a good business decision, earning an excellent return on our investment. Many federal taxes disappear in a black hole to never be seen again. The money is supposed to achieve a certain goal, rarely does it.

Nope, Al and I aren’t on the same page.

Next. Oklahoma City Tea Party doesn’t seem to have quite the same “radical” image. Let’s check out their website.

Right there on the home page, they urge me to “sign” this huge manifesto that begins as follows:

“It has been widely published that some in the majority caucus of the state legislature have determined to hold fiscal issues of the highest importance. The undersigned wish to bring another set of issues to the forefront without diminishing the importance of financial matters.”

Well, I don’t need to read any further. TEA means Taxed Enough Already. WTH? What’s this about “non-fiscal” issues? Hmmm. Why are you talking about the state legislature? And what’s with the pompous tone – are you writing the Emancipation Proclamation?

Well, you know me, I read further anyway out of curiosity.

Ah, TEA party to these people is a tool to be used like a Trojan horse to go after evolution and abortion and gay people. Really, I don’t care about that! And these people tend to sit around and think up bills to attack evolution and abortion and gay people, that end up costing me MORE money to implement. Wrong, wrong. These are Republicans disguising themselves as Tea party. Actually, they are those ultra-religious fringers of the R-party, mad at the R-party for not being ultra-religious enough. It really makes me mad that they pretend to use fiscal responsibility as a rallying cry, because I really do feel strongly about government spending issues.

I also feel strongly about government staying out of a woman’s reproduction decisions (that means NOT funding them either!). I also feel strongly that gay people should be allowed to marry, divorce, do whatever they want as long as I’m not paying for it and they’re not hurting anyone. Why do some people feel the need to be in other people’s business and use my money to fund it? Evolution? Don’t care. The schools aren’t teaching half the kids to read – do you think they’ll understand and remember one chapter in science class? You want to focus on one science chapter when the schools in general are failing so spectacularly across the board?

Does this make me a Democrat on social issues? I think more of a Libertarian. Government, get out of it! Leave people alone.

You know, a lot of people manage to partake in organized religion and not become a bunch of rabid haters. Like me and the people I know.

Is there no party for us? So, I will continue to be a true TEA party patriot, refuse to align with the nut jobs hijacking the movement, and vote for candidates who really believe in cutting government size and taxes.

The American Dream (Girl)

In looking for inspiration, does one need to look any further than Condoleezza Rice? I had read a tidbit recently in an unrelated article that Laura Bush had beseeched Rice to run for president in 2008. She could not be persuaded.

Who is Condi Rice exactly? I was aware that she was Secretary of State during very difficult times…war declaration times. She always struck me as an exotic bird. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Obama is the exotic bird; she’s as homegrown as it gets. She is the Real Deal.

Her story is spellbinding. She rose from the battlefield of segregated Birmingham, Alabama during the violent chaos of the 1960s Civil Rights protests to one of the highest offices in the land. And she could have made a hell of a run for the highest and in my opinion, won it.

She comes from a family of sharecroppers. She lost a childhood friend in a church bombing a few blocks from her own church. The only child of a school teacher and a reverend, she began playing piano at 3. She is firmly against gun control, explaining that her father would not have been able to defend her and her mother, inside the house, from the Ku Klux Klan nightriders, as he stood on the porch with his gun.

According to my son’s history textbook, she entered college at 15, eyes set on becoming a concert pianist. She became fascinated with the Soviet Union, and earned her first degree in political science at 19. She earned admission in Phi Beta Kappa, went on to earn a Master’s and PhD. Another side note: she was an Alpha Chi Omega…a “white” sorority. This woman SMASHED through social barriers. One very small, determined girl.

The list of professional accomplishments is long and impressive. One private project caught my eye – she founded a youth program to increase graduation rates.

Many presidents have relied on her advice in foreign policy. She restructured the entire state department to reflect her goal of “Transformational Diplomacy.” If we’re going to argue over who gets credit for the recent democratic uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt (and now Libya, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Iran…), I say throw her name in the ring, too! We are witnessing transformation, people.

Dr. Rice, as National Security Advisor, was nicknamed the “Warrior Princess” long before she was appointed Secretary of State.

Soooo, wouldn’t a black community be extremely proud of this American? Not so much. The black press has skewered her, calling her offensive, useless, cold, distant, black-by-accident, a black tyrant. So stoopid. How can you claim someone, who lost a friend as a child when her church was bombed by hate-filled white racists, as only black “by accident”?

How does a Warrior Princess respond to this? She said, “The fact of the matter is I’ve been black all my life. Nobody needs to tell me how to be black.”

I believe Dr. Rice was uniquely prepared by her life for the job she held.






A young Condi and her mother.


This woman should have her own Action Hero doll. Wait, she already does! Look at her fight stereotyping with one hand behind her back! Now she’s throwing the old villain Affirmative Action out on its ear! There she is staring racism down from both whites and blacks! This is a person boys and girls of all ages can admire.

Oh, Wisconsin

What’s happening in Wisconsin is going to be seen nationwide in the next few years. Wisconsin needs to cut its budget, and it’s hoping to do that with teacher salaries as opposed to cutting public safety services (fire, police). I’ve formed some opinions based on hopefully accurate information.

1. Their governor claims his proposal will allow him to save 5000 teacher jobs. If the thousands of teacher-protestors “win” and defeat his bill, many will “lose” their jobs. How is that better? In the real world, a company discusses options with the employees who sometimes agree to pay cuts or furloughs in order to keep their jobs. You know, they sit around the table and discuss it like adults.

2. One suspect source claims the annual teacher salary there is $100,000 (56K in salary, 43K in benefits). The governor also claims this compensation package is much more than the average tax payer earns in their jobs. This seems unfair to burden those taxpayers with teacher salaries so far out-of-whack with the state average salary.

3. What exactly does this bill say? The Wall Street Journal reports the bill will eliminate automatic withholding of union dues from teachers’ paychecks (Really?) among other things designed to weaken the teachers’ labor union, so that the state can even begin to BARGAIN with the union to REDUCE the percentage points of their RAISES. Based on my reading, one might assume if you become a teacher, you are forced to join the union and dues is automatically taken from your check.

Why are unions so afraid to actually work to earn their members or collect their own income? Yes, I can see how desperate this possibility might make them feel. To justify their existence in a member’s life and justify the cost of dues, the unions must whip everyone into an outraged frenzy over what I see as nothing. I’ve never earned $100,000 a year, never had a cushy government job nor been a member of a labor union who represents my demand for the soft toilet paper in the company restroom. These people need to get reacquainted with reality.

4. Some folks take the stance of “screw the government, I’m going to get every penny I can from it.” But “the government” is you and I, handing over a third of our earnings every pay period (the most common tax bracket). Someone needs to stand up for the taxpayers and feel their pain, and say enough is enough, it’s time to reduce the size of government and reduce our tax burden.

5. If tax money was spent wisely and effectively, most people would gladly give it! But, it’s sadly not. It would be so awesome and simple if government was the answer to all our problems, but it’s not. It tends to screw up everything it touches, with jaw-dropping waste. Did you know that over half of the nation’s 4th-graders cannot read on level? That number rises to 80% in Louisiana. That number also rises to 80% for black and Hispanic children. Sooooo, what if the Wisconsin governor said, “I’m going to cut your salaries in half until the other half of the kids learn to read.” Crazy, huh. But, in a free market environment, the parents would have fired them long ago. In a free market, there is strong motivation to succeed, whatever the excuses.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for teachers. I know they’re miserable and hate their jobs. Most of their day is spent doing everything except teaching…by law. Yes, there are a million reasons why they can’t teach the kids successfully – the most popular reason I’m hearing today is “the parents are so screwed up, we can’t teach the child.” I agree – many of us parents are screwed up, but we are not in the classroom during those hours the teacher has with the child. Unfortunately, the teacher spends those hours doing administrative work, paperwork, dealing with discipline and control, dealing with the hungry child, abused child, bullying child, depressed child, hyper child, autistic child. All tough challenges.

But I do have an idea for teaching 5-6 year olds how to read. I have learned if the child is not motivated, you are banging YOUR head against a wall. I used to do scavenger hunts with written clues all over the house that led to a cake or treat hidden. My kids were so excited they would set it up and do the game OVER and OVER to relive the fun of figuring out the clues. And I never helped with the deciphering. I just looked at them and shrugged. They had to want the knowledge. Simple psychology. But, let’s get back to Wisconsin.

6. Is there anywhere else education can be cut? (And it goes without saying that the legislators better have already cut their salaries in order to share the pain.) Maybe they could screw the kids somehow? Oh, wait, already did that. This state has already a) delayed textbook purchases b) tightened and redrawn bus routes c) eliminated extracurricular activities.

My experiences have revealed to me that textbook purchases are usually shady, anyway. A selection committee can be bribed with gifts, trips, and such to do business with only certain publishers. Pretty common right here in Moore, Oklahoma. The new information in a yearly update is nominal and does not justify the cost of a new book. New info could be added in a much cheaper way, but that wouldn’t make text publishers rich. Homeschoolers are laughing at this. They manage to teach their children without the latest and greatest just fine. I’m gonna go way out on a limb here and say I’ll bet 100% of homeschooled children learn to read. And it’s done on the cheap. (One caveat: my son’s high school history text is the best I’ve ever seen, however I think it could stand good for 4-5 years.) So, delayed book purchases? Not a big deal.

Your kid has to walk further now or be driven to catch a bus? Again, homeschoolers are laughing. They routinely shoulder the expense of carting kids to monopolize on various education opportunities in their communities. Homeschoolers don’t feel “entitled” and demand government send a bus to their house to haul their kids somewhere.

But eliminating activities? That’s a crime. That’s the only thing public education does better than private. Eliminate it? That stinks for the kids. I believe I’ve seen studies that connect involvement in school activities with academic success, higher gpa’s, fewer dropouts, etc. Yeah, let’s eliminate the programs that help kids explore their passions and hidden talents, demand certain grades for participation, keep them going to school. Brilliant.

And, so many teachers called in sick to protest, three districts closed schools. That’s helpful. I see this as an act that also screws the kids. (And the teachers and unions accuse the politicians of trying to hurt the children by “cutting” their salary?)

No wonder the teachers can’t teach the children – they’re like spoiled children themselves. Finger-pointing. "Sally won’t pay attention to me! Tommy won’t be still! Hermie doesn't want to build toys! What? You’re trying to reduce my 100% employer-paid pension? Waaaaaah!"

7. Why have Wisconsin’s Democrats fled the state, refusing to show up at the capital for the bill’s vote? If a quorum isn’t present, they can’t hold a vote. Do they think the money problems will just go away? It’s so childish. What a dumb tactic. The bill will still be there to vote on. Just go to work, like you’re paid to do, and vote. If you have the votes to defeat it, great. If not, too bad. This is a disgusting, grand-standing, juvenile strategy that doesn’t solve the real problem – that Wisconsin is broke.

The Only Solution For Us Normal People: Go to the library tonight to borrow an enjoyable book to read to your child. You can’t rely on the government to teach him/ her how to read. And you can’t afford to buy a book for him to own or hire a private tutor because your money goes to the government to waste as it sees fit. You’re going to have to teach your child yourself, and try to ignore that loud ruckus going on as the politicians, teachers, unions, textbook publishers et al fight over your money being sucked up into the system, just like a pack of stoopid, wild dogs.

Why Does Linda Brown Matter To Us?

Sometimes we forget why history is important, or we mistakenly think we KNOW why it’s important. History is about people: not events, dates, titles. The people are what is important.

Example: Everyone’s heard of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark court case that resulted in a legal decision against segregation. The “Brown” was a 3rd-grader named Linda Brown, forced to travel many miles to attend a black school, instead of the white school 4 blocks from her home. Yes, this “event” sparked the “Civil Rights Movement,” but what ever happened to Linda Brown? She was a person, a little girl living in a mixed-race neighborhood who could not go to the same school as her friends she played with. She was a child in the eye of the storm. It’s unconscionable that our society would send the message to this child that she was inferior in some way. What became of her?

It’s interesting that you won’t find the “what happened next?” in the history textbooks. If you did, then we could have a meaningful, intellectual discussion in our schools about the result of this event in our society. Also ironic is the fact that schools today shy away from this sort of discussion – it would be impossible to “grade” a student’s participation or guarantee a standard, equal response from teachers. So, we will continue to have the students regurgitate trivia (like dates and titles) and not really learn to THINK or communicate their thoughts and feelings.

Actually, she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree and became a teacher in the Head Start program, working with underprivileged children. She is now a librarian in the Head Start library sponsored by her family’s foundation. She occasionally accepts invitations to speak at universities.

Any intellectual discussion of this event must include this woman’s life work as a representation of the enormous return we as a society received when we invested in the decision to change our racist ways. Think of the impact she has had on thousands of other children, and still has as a librarian, through her education received.

A strong case can be made that the legal decision was not only the right and moral thing to do regarding this child and all children, but brings to fruition unrealized benefits to our society. Linda Brown was a pebble dropped in the water, and those ripples are still felt today. How could we have been so stoopid before, to not see this? We want the best education we can devise for all American children, who will grow up and contribute to their society.

But, what if she had become a criminal? Would that change our view of this legal decision as a thing of great intrinsic value for our society? I don’t know…but the point I hope to make is that she did not become a criminal. Her society invested in her and she has repaid it a hundredfold. I wonder if she has felt a spotlight on her throughout her life, bringing to mind the ending of the film “Saving Private Ryan.” The commanding officer played by Tom Hanks tells Private Ryan to “earn this” as everyone around him perishes, which means for him to return home and have a great life, in order to honor the sacrifice of others.

How does she view herself and the historical event to which she is forever tied? I love the question asked of Linda and her sister during a speaking appearance at a university. “Was Jackie Robinson’s 1947 admission into Major League Baseball more important to integration than the Brown decision?” Her sister felt that the truly historic change occurred during World War II, when African-Americans fought for freedom overseas and decided they would accept no less for their native land after they returned home. I think the answer to the question of what brought us to integration is: all of the above, and more, as people connect and grow and affect each other.

How does one sum up the importance of Brown v. Board of Education in history? In another speech, Linda said simply “It gave us an opportunity to embrace the better angels of our nature.”

We could really use more opportunities like that.


Linda and her sister today.

Seeing the Light

Martin Luther King hoped for a colorblind society some day. (And many opposed Affirmative Action because it did not further this idea of colorblindness.) I hope we never become color-blind, because I enjoy all the differences in people, the shades of skin color, patterns of speech, past experiences, opposing viewpoints that enrich my life as a member of the human race.

When we see each other we should take note of the package because it is the starting point of understanding. When people look at me, what do they see? A blonde, white woman, obviously of mostly European descent. I could be (not guaranteed!) dressed in a manner suggesting education and financial comfort and speak with a Southern accent. These may or may not provide clues to my culture, my background, or my life view. Before you make any judgment, though, you must go much further and deeper before you have any understanding of my mind, heart, and spirit.

In summary, external appearance is only about 10 percent of the journey to understanding each other, but an important 10 percent, nevertheless, that could give insight into the life a person has lived. It’s just the beginning.

Somehow, on the prescribed path to becoming “colorblind” (the so-called prescription for fixing our society), did we lose our way and simply become “blind”? Not seeing each other at all….afraid to acknowledge each other and connect?