After reading the article, I had to send an email to the woman to try to convince her that she missed an opportunity to teach an important lesson. Here is my email to the assistant principal and the superintendent:

Ms. Allen,

I just read an account of your decision to suspend a student from the school bus because she was disrespectful to the school bus driver. You certainly have the right and duty to teach the children life lessons including the respect for authority. I think the lesson of respect would have been better if you had also suspended the bus driver who displayed a tremendous lack of respect to the student and to her parents.

The bus driver is an adult and in a position of authority who should have demonstrated better judgment in this case. Her job is to safely deliver the students to and from school. I also imagine there are policies against picking on other kids and tormenting them. Bullying and hurtful words can and often do lead to violence, which I’m sure you’ve seen in your years as a teacher and administrator. An adult in a position of authority has no business adding more hurtful words to such a dangerous situation. Her job is to diffuse it.

I can appreciate that you have a tough job and making a mistake can earn you more attention than you might want, but you have a chance to correct that mistake. The bus driver should be suspended for being disrespectful to the student and her family, and for fostering and encouraging a hateful environment. The bus driver should also have to attend a training class on how hateful words can lead to violence. Perhaps other members of your staff could also benefit from such training?

I believe this is a better approach to handling this situation. This lesson is that we should all respect each other and that both adults and children are subject to punishment for acting in a disrespectful manner.

I pray that you and other members of your staff learn this life lesson and that you are able to teach it to the kids and members of the community.

Sincerely,

Becki True

I especially like the architecture of the 50′s and 60′s known as “Mid Century Modern.” I’m not wild about the interior design of that period, in fact I don’t like it at all, but I love the architecture. I really like these Mid Century Modern homes that have been updated with modern cabinetry, kitchen appliances, and furniture.

Vegas has many homes and several neighborhoods like this, and they are (still) enjoying a resurgence of popularity. While researching this subject, I came across a very interesting and informative blog, Very Vintage Vegas. Check it out if you are interested in what is happening with these neighborhoods, or to keep up with what is going on downtown.

I pre-babbled so as to lay the foundation for my main point, which is that I judge politicians on their ideas, not the letter after their names. You have good ideas, ideas that help, and I’m happy to support you. What follows is an example from the small mind subset.

I was watching Olbermann’s Worsts tonight and heard about this guy who is a state senator in Colorado. The gentleman’s name is Dave Schultheis from Colorado Springs. I won’t state his political affiliation in an attempt leave you disoriented, although I suspect you’ll figure it out before you get to the end of this post.

This man says he won’t support a bill requiring AIDS testing for pregnant women because AIDS is caused by sexual promiscuity and she shouldn’t be rewarded for bad behavior. He goes on to say that the baby being born with AIDS is in essence a good thing because the mother will feel guilty about her choices. She and her child would be an object lesson for anyone else considering fornication.

Mr. Schultheis, “We can’t keep people from being raped. We can’t keep people from shooting each other. We can’t keep people from jumping off bridges. People drink and drive, and they crash and kill people. Poor behavior has its consequences.”

OK, he doesn’t think people should be rewarded for bad behavior and bad choices. Never mind that many people who have AIDS didn’t get it as a result of promiscuous behavior, at least not their own. I guess that means these women and their fetus’ are just collateral damage. Their husband (boyfriends wouldn’t count because sex with a boyfriend would be promiscuous) would just have to feel guilty because his wife and kid(s) have AIDS.

It makes one wonder what kind of moral compass this gentleman has. What else should we do to make people feel guilty so as to change people’s behavior? Maybe we could film cases that exemplify the other choices he sited. We could make everyone watch them before each meal so we could make sure people get the message.

For example, you get in an accident because you made some mistake, even a stupid one (kind of the definition of “accident” by the way). You’ll be filmed screaming in agony and have to get yourself to the hospital, because “poor behavior has consequences.” We shouldn’t pay for services such as fire, police or ambulances for people who make bad decisions or behave badly. No soup for you!!

It’s good to know we have people like this in elected offices. He’s a conservative (a label meaning people who identify as “Christian”, anti-abortion, say they want smaller government, but are oblivious to the fact that governing people’s homes is antithetical to small government, and that’s about it. Even they don’t know what they stand for any more), which is something they really like in Colorado Springs. I just hope the good people of Colorado Springs adopt Mr. Schultheis’ tough love approach to teaching people to make good choices. They can save a lot of tax dollars because there should be no need for any pubic services or programs considering we all make poor choices from time to time.

Of course, it takes some maturity and humility to admit that we all make mistakes and poor choices and need help from time to time. Helping people when you don’t have to and when they don’t deserve it is grace. I am not holding my breath that Mr. Schultheis will figure that out before he receives his final judgment from the only one who matters. Nevertheless, I fervently hope he does figure it out before then. It’s a shame to go through life with his judgmental attitude.

Source:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/25/gop-lawmakers-comments-hiv-promiscuity-cause-uproa/

I’ve been watching the Rachel Maddow show. I really enjoy it, but am watching to see how it goes now the election is over. I like that she digs into subjects deeper than most folks on TV, and I like that she works hard and is very smart. She is definitely not your average anchor.

To continue this random thread, I read an interesting article on how our current economy parallels that of that of 1873. There are some very close comparisons here, not the least of which is both started with mortgage crises.

I think it was a successful event. There was a lot of interest in how to get into these fields. One of the biggest questions was how to get middle school and high school girls to stay interested in math and science. Everyone agreed that the only reason for the gender gap is due to societal pressures that girls of that age face. The panel also agreed that both boys and girls are not encouraged to try things on their own and allowed to fail. Kids need to learn how to deal with failure and not to fear it. If they can learn it’s just another part of the learning process, they will gain confidence that they can overcome set backs and succeed in the end.

Hopefully the college will run more events like this in the future.

The hijackers opened the door for those who may legitimately want to make us safer to remove free speech and due process from the Constitution. Those things tend to get in the way of fighting terrorism. It’s so much easier to fight terrorism when you don’t have any nasty rules to follow.

What if those making up the rules decide that you or your group aren’t “American” enough or are undesirable in some way and decide to remove you from American society? Who would do something like that? Who would carry out genocide or any other form of cleansing in this country? It can’t happen here. Sure it can. Get some Pat Robertson wannabe in the White House and you’ll see purges on the scale of Hitler and Stalin. Don’t think you’re safe because you’re part of the “Christian Right” either. They’ll decide that if you believe in pre-tribulation rapture you’re a heretic, or maybe you don’t believe baptism is required for salvation and you’ll be out too.

Don’t believe me? Don’t think we’ve lost much? That’s fine. Read this article and see what you’ve lost already. If you’re interested, you can read the book Namoi Wolf wrote on the subject. You don’t have to call yourself a liberal to be alarmed; you just need to be an American who believed our founding fathers created the greatest system in the world. It’s ironic that we successfully defended our Constitution and way of life against the most powerful armies on Earth only to willingly give it away in response to an attack by 19 guys.

The men dealt with the assailant while I and a female store employee assisted the woman. She had been hit (I didn’t see it) and she was bleeding badly from her lip. It turns out the man was her husband and was drunk. He got in his (her) truck and drove off before the police arrived.

I was glad to see that strangers would still come to the aid of others. Everyone offered the victim support by bringing her ice and tissues, and letting her know that no one deserves to be abused and that being drunk is no excuse. Me and the guy who had been driving down the street tried to encourage the woman to remove herself from the abusive relationship. She said this was the first time things were this bad, and we both said that they were likely to get worse. The police said they would tell her she had options. I just hope she is strong enough to exercise them.

This was a pretty scary situation before the men came to the woman’s aid. Before the men got on the scene I was just trying to keep an eye on things and keep them from escalating. I didn’t want to get physically involved unless it looked like he was going to hit her or worse. I didn’t know anyone else saw anything and I didn’t know if he had a weapon, while all I had were my golf clubs – which I would have used if necessary. I’m just glad it ended with as little damage as it did, and I hope the victim does find the strength to get out of that violent situation, and I hope her husband learns to deal with his anger in a more positive manner.

UPDATE:

Just after I posted this, I received a call from the victim. She said that she’s given all of her husband’s things to one of his friends and has removed him from the lease and is having the locks changed. Hopefully, he won’t press the issue and she’ll be fine.

I’ve put together a website compiling documents, plans and other websites. If you’re at all interested in what’s going on downtown, check it out.

I attended the education focus group, and most of the discussion centered on getting better math and science teachers in the elementary grades. Many of the people in attendance were teachers, and they felt that there should be teachers that specialize in math or science. They also discussed the hurdles to getting and keeping good teachers. Pay was one hurdle, but the teaching requirements were another. For example, Dr. Barrett was a professor at Stanford, and he is not qualified to teach in our school district.

I am a big believer in education. There is no better way to improve you or your family’s earning potential and life. It’s a crying shame that our education system is so tough to change due to factors including people trying to protect their power and maintain the status quo. I’m usually optimistic, but I’m almost certain that we as a city, state or country will not do anything about restructuring our education system until it’s obvious to everyone that we can’t compete with the rest of the world because our system is broken.