Beware-the Las Vegas Bus Stop

Target practice. Must be what Las Vegans see when they see this sign and nice little green sun shield the city so generously builds to protect the poor from 114 degree summertime heat.


Must be some strange brain wiring in Las Vegans.
More people are shot, run over, stabbed, run over again, and again, while waiting at bus stops in this city.

After the big headlines reported six injured at a bus stop recently one would think we would keep a low profile.

Not happening. Only today another car veers toward the green shield, running over two people waiting for the bus.
Last year two girls cutting high school, waiting at the bus stop run over by some lady who took too much Xanex that morning.
Both killed.
"Oh, she's sorry", it was the drugs.
Not the stupid bitch in charge of taking the drugs.

On the strip one night some old guy accerlates -you guessed it-right into a bus stop-killing four.
Maybe he had a stroke? Never found out why??


Just a kind word to tourists out there-
DO NOT take our busses-or at least don't wait for them near a STREET-

Grown ups not ready for primetime

I read about a woman who was killed by a machete. Her son, 20 and daughter, 12, lived with her.

She had recently lost her job and was selling tamales on the street corner.

Her kids are fine but she is gone. The church is taking up a collection to pay for her burial. People have offered to take the girl. No relatives here-only Mexico.

Too many young adults live with their parents. Too many rely on mom or dad, or both parents to care and support them. I know many single moms still working extra to suppport kids in college, or just getting out on their own.

Growing up, adulthood was all about becoming independant. It was a matter of pride to be able to support oneself.
Some of us had no choices-going to college meant working and taking out loans and living with a bunch of people in a house to pay rent.

I didn't have the option of calling on anyone to support me.

A 20 year old son living off his mom is just trashy. Shame on him-hanging out while his mom was selling tamales on the street.

Now who will care for him? Not many -welcome to the world of adulthood.

Is there a Santa for Grown-Ups??

I have been an adult since I was a child. With seven sisters and brothers and totally irresponsible, narcissistic parents(and one demonic father) I learned to be an adult for survivals sake. By age six I could cook for eight. By age 7 I could do laundry and iron. Cleaning house started at four. I could read my parents moods from the time I became cognizant of the danger of not reading them. Probably by two.

Adulthood brings certain freedoms. Not having to be near dangerous people. Knowing I had the power (most of the time) to control certain things. Like that fact I could make sure I had food on the table for my family. I had clean sheets(or I had sheets). I had underwear to wear under my clothes. A warm coat. Boots.

I wasn't very good at marriage. I just chose people who resembled my parents. They didn't appear that way at first but at some point the relationships evolved into that. So I decided I probably wasn't very good at them and decided to raise my children myself and do the best I could.

But sometimes it is hard. Both my kids have had good educations and neither has had to worry whether they have clothes or food. They are both wonderful people with humor and kindness. They have their struggles but I am so proud of them and I love them.

I just wish it wasn't so hard sometimes. Having to make all the decisions. I teach school. I have always had to work extra jobs to supplement my income. Sometimes I just wish I had a little break.

I know other women who are in the same situation. Teachers who have to decide whether to juggle the car payment to buy their kids new shoes, or make a late payment because a son or daughter broke an arm or a leg.

I know I am not alone. In many ways though we are all alone.

Isn't there a Santa out there for us?

A Santa that could maybe make an extra house payment so we would have the luxury of having a dinner out, or not worry about living month to month?

A Santa that could give us a little extra time to enjoy our kids -maybe a month without working the extra job?

Or even a Santa that could say, No, you are not alone -none of us single moms would have a to be alone.

If we had a Santa that could do something special for some of us that would be real magic.

Why isn't anyone demanding answers???

Why isn't anyone asking these questions and demanding answers? Why are just rolling over for it?

Why are gas prices so high?

Why is milk over 4.00 a gallon?

Why have my electric bills gone from 200.00 to 500.00 in the summer for the same usage in one year?

Why has Coke gone from 3.99 to 5.99 for twelve in one year?

Why do gas prices change every three or four days?
Why hasn't my salary changed the same way? Why am I not getting increases to keep up with inflation?

Why are we still in this damn war?

What the hell is going on?

Karl Rove Exorcist

Well, how else can we explain his latest fantasy? Congress forced Bush to go to war with Iraq?

He must be possessed.
I can't think of any other rational explanation, can you??

Do you believe the media anymore???

I'm 54 and I am morphing into an old lady who wants to keep her money under the mattress. The media has oversimplified, mislead and sometimes write just plain stupid and insulting stuff.

I don't buy their stories anymore. Do you?

Black Friday-Indeed-the empty Big Lot's

Don't be fooled by what you see in the press.

Look around you.

Many people may have waited in line to buy the 3.99 coffee pot Wal-Mart offered between the hours of 5am and 10 am. You might have seen pictures of people lined up outside electronics stores for the big deals.

That's the American mentality. To be first in line. To pay for something they don't need. To feel like they just triumphed over some kind of obstacle. We have to ask ourselves, more often, I am thinking-do I really need this?

The generation of 30 somethings think home equity lines of credit and credit cards are a way of life. Just one more source of income.

The main streets of local shoppers in Las Vegas were even quieter than usual for a Friday afternoon. Even the Strip seemed a little slow.

A friend of mine and I stopped at Big Lots to pick up our usual cleaning supplies for a dollar each. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and the store was pretty slow. We even had a cashier offer to help us! It felt pretty strange to be driving down one of the busiest streets in Las Vegas and not have problems with the traffic.

I drove my daughter to Mandalay Bay's House of Blues for a concert. Usually the strip is wall to wall cars after Thanksgiving. It was pretty slow. I didn't have any problems getting into the casino nor did I have a problem parking. I hate driving to the Strip during the holidays. It felt eerie to be able to drive in reasonable traffic.

This year I bought my turkey dinner fixings at Food for Less. We thought about forgoing Thanksgiving altogether with milk at almost 5.00 a gallon at Albertsons. Food For Less sold it for 3.00 a gallon. I don't mind packing my own groceries if I save a fair amount of money.

Gas is 3.15 a gallon. Milk 5.00?! Coke, at Albertsons is 5.99 a for 12.

Maybe the retailers need to hear us.

I think we have reached a saturation point. I don't think they could squeeze another dime out of us.

I am a teacher receiving a modest salary and I work three part time jobs. It is expensive to live in this town.

I bought a town home last year and it has already depreciated 50,000 dollars.

I don't plan on moving anywhere so it is all on paper. But the payments are high and it is why I work so much.

I predict Christmas may bring us back to a point beyond the gluttony of years past. With no home equity lines of credit available and the credit cards maxed out, the Las Vegas real estate and job market crashing around us, maybe we will be able to appreciate that it isn't "stuff" that shows love but "us".

Or maybe this generation has not been exposed to this concept and will struggle with what many of us from older generations already understand-that it is people who count-not belongings.

Or do they?

The Teachers Witch Hunt

We teach in an environment of cauldrons and burning stakes. I love teaching children. The deep satisfaction of watching the light burst forward when a child discovers new information and makes sense of it is a thousand times better than any fireworks display I have oohh and aahhhed over in my lifetime.

I feel honored.

I am also terrified for all of us working in a room for seven hours a day-theoretically-alone.
Terrifying is the word-the witch hunt of teachers.
Headlines are made based on allegations.
A teacher never recovers from those.
Even if or when found innocent, or when charges are thrown out.

I would not want to be a male teacher today. Our kids need good male role models-desperately. No wonder we have about one male teacher to every thirty-five female teachers.

Who would risk it?

Students are wise today. Even my second grade children who come to me for hugs will yell, "Ow" if a teacher pats their shoulder-they know the game.

Fifth grade girls are no longer children. Look around you. Most fifth grade girls look thirteen or fourteen. Puberty comes early. Sadly, in my neighborhood school of poverty, instability and a revolving door of parental partners, many girls have become sexually active.
When they reach out for reassurance and validation, yearning for approval and encouragement, we have to be even more careful-never allowing ourselves to be alone with a student, maintaining a distance-not even the hugs they got from their second grade teacher are without suspect three years later. We all have to be so careful.

It only takes one word to ruin a teacher. One word from a confused child, an angry parent, or a disgruntled aide. They all know it as well.

Peoples reaction is, "Well, if the teacher is innocent that will come out."

A teacher I knew was accused a few years ago-he was found innocent-he hung himself afterwards.

You have to understand why teachers teach.
We teach because we have a passion for learning. We believe, deeply, believe in the future of our children. We know education is the way out for many of our poor, abused, neglected, confused kids. We love them and we love teaching our kids. I can't think of any other profession I would rather do-it is an honor to teach children-and a gift to me.

When allegations are made and the press gobbles them up on the front pages without substantiation and the indiviudal's life drifts through the system-not even a statement exonerating the teaching, or the simple act of throwing out the charges can heal the terrible stab wounds to a teacher's psych.

I hope to God I have never have to go there. It is frightening enough to make me rethink teaching as a career.

Smokin and Sewin'

This isn't a picture of my mom but it could have -she probably started smoking around this age

She died three years ago at age 83. I was sitting at the sewing machine this afternoon thinking about her and smiling.

Doris smoked everywhere-she never saw a problem with it. She grew up during a time when smoking was glamorous and acceptable.

Ava Gardner, Lauren Bacall, all the sirens smoked. In her heyday, Mom was a siren-she frequented the speakeasies of San Francisco when booze was illegal, wore minks to the country club and her sense of entitlement never left her.

She smoked walking in the streets, threw her cigarette on the ground in front of Albertsons, smoked in the state and national parks as she oohed and ahhed at the scenery and smoked her way around the world. She visited almost every country existing, smoking and enjoying it.

She was also a fabulous seamstress. Many hours of hearing that buzz-buzz-buzz -the needle climbing to it's goal-as she smoked and sewed.

That's what reminded me of her today.

I'm sewing my meager, sad little hems wondering how she did it. She had the machine working overtime and that cigarette burning in the ashtray. I'd hear a pause, for about one minute and the needle would roar to life again. Smoking and sewing-smoking and sewing...

No, she didn't die of lung cancer. Genetically gifted with healthy Nebraskan parents who lived till the age of 91 or 92-she never worried about the hazard's of smoking. In fact, as she got older and could not drive, her second husband, a non smoker used to make it hard for her to buy cigarettes-not much deterred her-he certainly didn't-she was a stubborn smoker and kept a stash of money so she could call me and I'd run to store to buy her a carton.

Ironically, she forgot she was a smoker. She slowly disappeared behind that hazy world of Alzheimer's-forgetting she ever smoked a cigarette.

Just smokin and sewin...

Our Earth-When do we start doing something???

I would not bring children into our world.

Would you want to be responsible for bringing children into a world that looks destined to destroy itself because of our own ignorance?

I look around me, and it isn't about politics anymore. It's about watching our earth heat up, massive disasters, unpredictable weather patterns, increasing destruction of our resources, drought, continued pollution by industry with little or no progress toward rectifying it, and the disappearance of animals on our earth.

I used to worry that it would be my daughter and son that faced the destruction of earth, or maybe their children.

Now I am not so sure it will be my own generation who dies a natural death.

All because humanity's collision course with reality has become unreal to most of us and our powers of denial are unbelievable.

If I read or hear one more conspiracy theory I will scream.

Get off the keyboard-text messages and cell phones and look around you.

Look around and ask yourself if you see change- ask yourself if it is good.

If you think it is you are part of the problem.

How long do you think we can trash, deconstruct, compromise, pollute, and essentially not clean up our mess and not pay the price of losing our planet?

What will we do?

Homophobia-America's last greatest value????

Republican Corruption in the past three years:

Ted Stevens

Larry Craig

Bob Ney

Tom Delay

Jack Ryan

Bob Livingston

Duke Cunningham

Sexual Scandals-with women

David Vitter

Jim Gibbons

Ed Schrock

Sexual scandals with men

Mark Foley

Bob Allen

Craig

Our culture loves moral outrage. Especially politicians. They step into dog shit repeatedly, trying to wipe the residue on the grass before anyone can smell it.

But we seem to have created our last bastion of outrage for our own homophobic fears.

Blase'-oh yeah, absolutely blase'-we have become when it comes to hook ups with hookers, adulterous affairs, even assaulting women in parking garages, like Jim Gibbons did and then smearing her reputation in the press aka Carl Rove style.

Nothing like destroying a woman to make a man feel powerful, eh?

Ah, but male sex? Outrage!

Our last bastion of morality.

Stealing money, selling out the citizens of the US, lying, spying, locking us up without a warrant, denying legal representation, ignoring our critical needs during time of disaster- *yawn*

Homophobia!! Welcome to the forefront of America's paranoid, judgement day act one of many more to come script...Welcome to Brokeback Mountain hell!!

uncharted, american stuff-headlong into whatever...

The American world is one big buffet of polarization, excess and deprivation, obsessiveness and denial, riotous noise and dead silence.

We look for bombs in soda cans, mysterious poison powders in dumpsters, terrorists in skin color and we rarely learn from either our wisdom or are mistakes.

Whether it is interrment camps for Japanese-American citizens, indefinite lock-ups for Americans of middle eastern descent or massive round-ups of Mexican-Americans, we look for the boogy man in all that is not white.

Like a beached whale taking it's last gasp in a swirling mass of air, so foreign and lethal, panicked, we continue grasping for the familiar water. Our instincts to grasp the microscopic, almost invisable fishing line, unseeable, unable to hold the massive weight of fear we collectively produce creates a repeated pattern of attack and withdraw, attack and withdraw.

Hurricane Katrina reduced a city to rubble. All but wiped out a geographical region. Unprepared, using our denial, we created the menu and nature chose the main course.

If human spirit exists, we can transcend the panic mode of our existence and deal with reality rather than rhetoric.

Let's look beyond ourselves, now, rather than clinging and pushing our way to extinction.

Senator Craig's dueling selves...

Senator Craig's bathroom foray almost seemed destined to bring him the relief he must have, on some level, sought in a big destructive way.

A man who decried same sex relationships, strongly espoused family families and preached the christian pathway may as well have detonated a bomb inside his pants.

Why would he do it? Did you see his wife? The image of a Midwestern woman, full -round the middle, maternal material-oozing of family and mundane womanly living.

I find it sad to view a person battling the incongruencies of life-the feelings connected with the shame and the guilt. The denial-which has to be eating away at both selves-and I ask, "Did anyone ever know this man if he doesn't know himself?

Were those who love him surprised or did they already know who he is? Did they know it before he did? Can you imagine keeping his secret for years and years?

I don't think our world is such a condemning place that Mr. Craig would not have been able to live his lifestyle, work and be a productive citizen with some joy.

He is an older man now facing questions and answers which could lead him to that joy -I hate to think of what he considers alternatives.

We all have our own truths. We decide if we live them or not. Facing our own truths isn't without pain, discomfort or anguish. Most of us choose the Senator's way-not to face them at all-until they face us -

Pony up, Folks, the Iraq war sucks it out of us...

Who pays for this war? Are you feeling it yet? Is it pinching? If the pictures don't make it real enough for you yet-how about losing your home? Your job?

Are those utility bills nudging you into the small loan category yet? Are reeling from the cost of groceries? Gas?

Is your car payment getting closer to the payment you make for rent or your home?

Are you finding yourself choosing not to pay for repairs, or dental work, forgoing medical care?

Who pays for this war, folks? Some ubiquitous "someone out there"-some nebulous "other"???

Denial isn't working, friends. It just ain't working..Let's stop this-start yelling..

If there is one thing I know about the American people it's that they don't like to suffer or make sacrifices-other people do that..not us...

Are you starting to feel the burn yet?

The Classroom as Disneyworld........

It's crunch time for teachers. School starts Monday and the walls and floors of the school buildings are full of "learning tools"
Bulletin Boards are fierce competitions to see who can place the most elaborate eye catching phrases and images, most times not related in any way to the achievement of students, out for your viewing pleasure.

We have pirates and ducks, chili peppers and dragons, transformers, frogs, jungle trees with monkeys-whatever plays this year is on the wall.

Wall space in classrooms must be graded by how much JUNK can be pasted on the walls. The amount of stimulation via posters, pictures, rules, quotes, and various pop culture garbage is so overwhelming it is a wonder there is no smell to the amount of clutter.

If that doesn't totally distract the students the classroom clutter of rocking chairs, bean bags, pillows, games, videos, rugs, boxes, bags and various paraphernalia kids will wade through to get to their desks will plunge them asunder, boggling their minds and send them reeling as if they had too much sugar.

Welcome to the new generation of teachers. More is better. Feed the kids rather than teach them how to eat. Slide and slurp.

Disneyland classrooms. Keeping minds so overwhelmed and busy, the art of quiet reflection and time to think is lost in the myriad of buzzes like some kind of laser show to the brain.

I recently read something I thought critically important to learning.

It is the spaces around us that have meaning, not the objects in the way.

Learning is much like that.
We need the spaces in our brain, those pathways to neurons to be available to us in order to construct new meaning , store it and retrieve it.

As much criticism as I have with Kid Nation's approach to leaving kids unattended I have to say the crucial component of the show is this-kids had to use their brains-they had to problem solve without the Disneyland approach-they had to construct meaning-they had to work together in groups and they had to use those spaces and learn from them.

If you are impressed by the glitz and glamour of all that stuff on the walls and floors, think again-student learning, inquiry based student learning-which sticks inside the brain and clamps down in awe and wonder does not come from spoon fed videos and big, flashy posters on the walls.
In fact kids will struggle with the distractions all year long -struggle to focus-struggle to think-struggle to develop some sense of structure, as their little minds try and focus.

We have lost the art of quiet reflection, clearing our brains of stimulation and relishing quiet solitude.

Those days of lying on the grass, alone, watching clouds pass, without an agenda -those moments of noticing what is around us -that belongs around us -those are the pathways to the brain that we teachers need, desperately need-to foster learning and understanding.

Don't be impressed by Disneyland classrooms. Be more impressed by open spaces, room to wander and think and great lessons.
Ask to see those-the rest is smoke and mirrors.

Shootings on the Las Vegas strip..

The miracle mile ain't too safe this summer.

Las Vegas likes to hide their dirty little secrets and have successfully, until this summer...

Three shootings have occurred this summer which made national headlines. The Las Vegas Police like to tell you the strip is pretty safe and this is the work of a Las Vegas street gang, which they have a handle on...

You don't see the reports about the tourists who jump from the casino parking garages or commit suicide inside the hotel rooms. Those aren't the kind of events that get noticed.

But these shootings-these aren't same-old-same-old. These are news-

One man walks into a casino on the strip and starts shooting at people randomly. Last night another shooting at a strip casino when two guys bumped into one another-and one at the beginning of the summer-when a man was beaten by a group of men in a parking garage.

Then there was also the car bombing in one of the casino garages on the strip this summer.

Money is tight. People get ugly when money gets tight and the casinos are pulling in the cash and not much is going out.

I'd give it a rest if I were a tourist coming out here any time soon.

It's not a pretty place to be.

Ahhh Magical Mermaids

My daughter, at age two, was convinced she was really a mermaid. More than once I had to walk down and take her out of the water when we lived in Florida.

She was convinced she had to go and find her "real family"

Today she is fifteen. She still believes she has some past life as a mermaid. She also believes she is a Paris Hilton clone, was once one of the Spice Girls and lately, she believes she is a kin to some 1940's pin up girl.

I love her imagination...

E-Harmony-is that the only six couples....??

Did you ever notice the ad for E-Harmony hasn't changed since it came out??

The same six couples ooze bliss and compatability!

Just makes me want to gush all over the tv.

All that money-and that's it?? Six couples..

I'm tired of their tired faces.. Tired tired tired

Bush staff and Jed Clampett Leave Washington..

I'm tellin ya-those Texans don't waste much time-told to stay until the end or leave now, they jus' packed up them vittles and high tailed it outta there...

Leavin no dust on them cowboy boots, they all said the honorable thing-"I'm a missin the family-ma wife is doin poorly and it's done time to head for them hills...

Only prollin is leavin their kin behind to face all them hootin-hollerin-mad as possum varmits-

all hot in the hat because they dang drub took them expensive hifalutin carpets and wall scones with them.. Ok, so y'all a little sore about that there oil-well, we texans know all bout oil-in our veins to tell ya-and that's where it will stay-we been pokin holes for that stuff longer 'n y'all been playin that wall street game-suckahs!!!

The ladies just love that flea market stuff...and hey-finders keeper-losers weepers in this ad-min-u-stra-t-u--a-n...

Bye, Now-

Y'all come back now , hear??

Quality- Just another Buzzword??

Historically, two words represented American enterprise-quality and service.

Remember "Look for the Union Label" -?

Do any of you wonder if much can be trusted anymore? I look at the space shuttle and the engineers telling the world it is safe, after the same problems repeatedly occur and deaths result and I ask myself, "If I were up there would I take their word that I was safe to bring the shuttle home?"

Baby toys? Bibs? As parents, in a culture that sells Baby Einstein products and upscale baby products, we trust that our most vulnerable are protected as we buy products and services.

Can we trust that assumption anymore?

I've already written about our infrastructure, water quality, legal system -political protections-Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts-

Don't you ask yourself, "What are we doing here?" With our abundance of technology, our breakthroughs and sophisticated studies, our country of wealth, opportunties and inventive spirits-have we made a decision to work to the lowest common factor rather than the highest ?

What happens when we begin to see our country's government, our businesses. our services as suspect?

When profit takes precedence over safety and effectiveness , dishonesty over disclosure-cynicism instead of faith-what happens for us?

What was the turning point in our nation -when we saw opportunism instead of opportunity as our desired goal?

I don't know how you see this but I can't stop this growing queasy feeling inside telling me that

human life is only a cost factor in the risk catagory of profit.

Once we become less than whatever else is out there-(one of the mainstream), (less than the rich) human beings, become anonymous, what becomes of us?

Karl Rove-On how a man learns to fight dirty...

I wondered about Mr. Rove's decision to leave the Bush Administration now-when there is little more than a year left?

I wouldn't be surprised to hear the next announcement.

"George Bush resigns...decides he "needs to spend more time with his family"

As if these are "just jobs"

After reading a number of on-line news sources about the life and times of Karl Rove I have a better understanding of how and why he chose to fight dirty in life. Interestingly-he not only chose to fight dirty-his pride and penchant for teaching others how to fight dirty is more significant.

I don't think I could say anything not already known about his past life-it is full of sadness, surprises and betrayals. He learned to be sneaky and dirty during his college political years and instead of winning on merit seemed to find an easier way-look for a way to destroy the opponent, whether it is procedurally or negative information. Kind of like the school bully. If you can't be liked for good things be feared for the bad.

His mother committed suicide, his father announced he was gay and left. He discovered he was adopted after his mother died and he was an adult. If ever a man won the trifecta in trauma, I think he would be able to claim it.

Since college(which he never finished) he has grown and matured in his abilities to fight dirty. A smart person can do that.

All those allegories pertaining to good and evil?

Karl Rove's life and decisions almost seem cliched and predictable.

I can understand his decision to take a road-a significant road. A smart man, he may have recognized and considered all avenues of gaining power. He found his most effective. We can't argue that it hasn't been. He has managed to aid in the dissection and reinterpretation of our most fundamental rights. He has taken a weak leader and made his imprint.

He has a reason to look for each "screw you" moment in politics.

He has reason to be pissed. He really does.

The universe, in perfect alignment, waited for Karl Rove to develop and grow.

We needed him to shake us up-to evaluate our own morals and laws.We are doing that now.

Karl Rove is just one little man. Amazing....

Let's hope we make the right decisions.

Space Shuttle woes...again...

Hidden in the back of my morning news on page 14A is an interesting story-in small type.
Foam insulation may have damaged the Space Shuttle on take-off .
Nine pieces of foam broke off on take-off and three struck the vehicle. Barbara Morgan-school teacher turned astronaut operated the mechanical arm searching for the damage outside the spaceshuttle.
Apparently one large piece of foam struck the right wing and the damage is unknown.
Put these courageous people in your prayers and thoughts.
You would think NASA worked this out after the last deaths.
We are so complacent about our space shuttles. Did we ask enough questions about the last failure or are we using the cost risk factor here again over quality?

How much would you take for your son's death??

Army offering $20,000 bonuses to new recruits

How much is your child's life worth? Is it worth taking the chance for a $20,000 enlistment bonus?

Almost four thousand of our men and women have died in Iraq and as many as 200,00 have been wounded.

We don't see those pictures of the body bags taken off the military planes, or the soldiers deaths in Iraq, or footage of the wounded getting help. Why is that? Vietnam was a bloody war and we had to watch it. The news stations made it real for us. We saw napalm burning, Buddhists setting themselves on fire, the medivac helicopters carrying wounded US soldiers.

We learned the vocabulary of war and we were very aware of the sacrifices being made-and we said enough...

Today the only US citizens aware of the price of war are those who have lost family members-those deaths are real.

The rest of us have the luxury of the Bush media spin machine which keeps reality from our doorstep. Of cooperating news agencies willing to soft pedal the reality of the death and maiming war creates. We all want it-so we go along. Oh we grumble-grumble grumble...big deal..

I walked into my daughter's high school at the end of the year for a meeting. I looked around the front lobby of the school and posted, big posters-recruitment posters for the armed forces.

This school has a primarily African American and Hispanic population.

I'll bet those $20,000 bonuses look mighty good to poor struggling families. Like money they would ever acquire in a lifetime.

So who do you think those bonus bucks are set up to lure? Which socioeconomic group do you think will take the Armed Forces up on this once in a lifetime chunk of money?

Shame on them. Shame, shame and more shame.

We fight this war on the backs of the poor and the minorities in our country.

Let's have Mitt Romney's boys sign up for that bonus or some of the others in Congress-

It makes me feel sick in my heart. Sick in my heart and such a sense of sadness.

Should kids get cash for good test scores?

Some Wonder if Cash for Good Test Scores Is the Wrong Kind of Lesson

If it is up to New York City they should.
School administration wants to give 500.00 to children who pass the state standardized test.
Ah! But only to the low income kids. The kids from middle class families would not qualify.

Before you start nodding your head that this seems like a reasonable approach-after all-we get paid to do our jobs-

Let's really explore the world of positive tangible reinforcements.

Does rewarding with concretes instill any kind of self discipline -or such qualities as patience-internal sense of accomplishment-a moral compass which teaches us that sometimes working hard and waiting for "down the road" rewards is worth something in themselves?

I think our educational system is getting down right crazy-loonie-loco-I really do.

Let me put it terms of my own fifteen year old-"I want it now or I'll die" daughter.

Her adolescent way of thinking precludes hard work and accomplishment for long term gains. She learns (often enough) the hard lesson that some of those wants warrant patience, time, and work. It's frustrating for her to see the Paris Hilton's of the world become celebrities for no apparent reason. We should all be able to be "one".

Our culture rewards gluttony and excess. It reinforces the "what's it" for the moment. The message out there that works best in advertising is "get it now or it won't be there."

We have raised a generation who think saving money is an archaic notion. I have one friend who's 28 year old son did not want to propose to his girlfriend until he had his college loans paid off and could pay cash for the engagement ring.

That is an anomaly, my friends.
Most people think credit is a way of life.

Back to our kids in school-
I have used concrete rewards to reinforce positive behavior in the classroom. I think it creates a lot of little reward junkies. I really do.

Teaching kids those intrinsic character traits in the classroom is a challenge.
How to feel proud of work well done.
Why doing your best is a good idea-it is only then you will know how far you can go-in any endeavor. The sense of accomplishment one feels when hard work and perseverance produces a quality work.
Little kids really need to be able to develop these traits.
Why? The world is based on money and rewards-you say.
Ask yourself-maybe, just maybe, that is the reason the quality of products, goods and services have become inferior in the US.
Why Americans buy Japanese cars. Why drug companies are being sued for disastrous side effects-why bridges collapse and mortgage companies fail.

Maybe our philosophy of focusing on the external rather than the internal will be our downfall eventually.

Do we really want to teach our kids a philosophy which is already failing our nation?

I don't. Kids in my class need to learn how high they can soar-for the sake of curiosity and the challenge of it. They need to push themselves to see how what possibilities exist and how dreams can be made possible. They learn to love learning because it is an adventure.

Rewarding kids cash for a test that has such little meaning in the scope of life is so typical of our narrow minded little box of thinking.

When will this craziness stop?

What the Las Vegas Review Journal did not tell...

Two years ago the Las Vegas Review Journal was still printing articles about the how Las Vegas would never become a part of the housing bust beginning to shake the west. Sherman (the editor) found every article he could by whatever charlatans he could dig up to reassure the people of Las Vegas that THIS housing market was an exception to the rule.

Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate in the country, right now. Do you think he prints that? Oh, perhaps a few lines about how we are suffering like everyone else....buried in the back of the business section written in Chinese...

The highest foreclosure rate in the country. Florida ranks number two.

Las Vegas sets the standard in greed, indifference and corruption. If you want to watch a mini version of what could happen to the rest of the US in terms of downfall based on lies, corruption, disillusionment, good ol' boy politics, raking the dollars and ignoring the people -watch Las Vegas.

People are literally walking away from homes and allowing the banks to foreclose.

In fact, I just had a friend who remortgaged her house enough times based on an overinflated value she can't afford the payments. She said, "Oh, I'll just let the bank short sell it-everyone is doing it."

Truthfully, the California investors. those with the sub prime mortgages-most of the people who buy here have no investment in the community.

Why is that? Maybe because the state is not invested in the communities.

After the state legislators recessed this year they left behind-

no plan to improve the roads and gridlock of Las Vegas, no substantial plan to address the huge and ever growing school population and the swinging door of over a thousand teachers leaving a year-the housing shortage and the high cost of housing which has discouraged people who leave the state-the fact we are in a water crisis and have no plan except to steal water wherever we can-the high cost of living and utilities-much like California

What did they do??

Tried to pass a law allowing teachers to bring guns to the classroom-gave big casinos "green tax breaks" for not wasting water-and no a hell of a lot else-

except Gibbons as an afterthought told the Government it could use our precious water to drill at the Nuclear storage it has been trying to install 60 miles from the casinos of Las Vegas.

I could keep going-but of what use?

I tell you-watch this state-if you want to see an example of disaster-a living example of how corruption, greed and dishonesty can destroy a state...

Skill versus Illusion

Watching the old movie, "Greatest Show On Earth" with Charleton Heston and Jimmy Stewert, this morning.
Have you been to the circus in the past few years?

So much is based on Illusion. Most of us want to be entertained using sophisticated computer illusions, backdrops or videos which look real, music and lights which dazzle eyeballs and ears.
Watching the performers seems to be a small part of the act.
Our world gets brighter, lighter and more stimulating with new technology. Most shows use it and most of us expect it.

Watching the Circus acts in this film highlighted the real skill most circus performers exhibited. No one pulled a hippo using a rope, a plate and their teeth, no one needed to have costumes which set fire at the end of the act-the skill was in the relationship with the animals, the sense of timing of the clowns and the wonder of the kids.
Just makes me wonder how much of our entertainment is more illusion today..

I mean, if Paris Hilton can sing(lol) thanks to computer technology-we should all be able to sing..

Welcome, Kasen James Davis...

Welcome, Little Buddy.

You are born into a world of dichotomies. Before we get to that let me tell you a little about your family.

You have a dad who stills know how to play. What fun is that?? Your life will be full of magic. Parents who know how to play are far and few between. He will wake you up with bubbles on a Saturday morning, sing songs to you on the guitar to fall asleep at night and make even funnier faces than you will ever be able to---you can't ask for more-except

You also have a mom with a heart of gold. She is already majorly(my word) in love with you-and you will have real meals(she can cook), clean clothes smelling of fresh air and lots of pets. She is a guru of pets. She loves animals. So you will learn all about loving not just from your parents but from whatever pet you have as a family member. You are one lucky dude.

You also have other family members who you will get to know exceptionally well-

A grandmother who probably saw you long before you were born and was there the minute you took a breath-

an aunt with children so loved it makes your favorite teddy bear look sad-and she will -count on it-love you as much-and an uncle who will also play songs for you as part of a duet-with your dad.

Two cousins-one who will teach you manners and the other the way of boys-

A teen age aunt in the midst of her own angst who will love you the minute she gets to hold your tiny little hand

and a Grandfather-who has always had an inner teacher, and I think, has been disappointed for awhile that his Daddy Nature Trips have been on hold-

But don't worry, little Kasen, dude, he has plans for you-

You are going to learn all about the workings of the inner ear, the eye, airplanes, electricity-spaycams(lol) and all kinds of gadgets.

And Patty, his lifelong partner, who has taught your grandfather the meaning of loyal-and she is gonna love you-in fact you will probably get your first handmade gift from her-she has talents.

You are lucky-because although Grandma can't do tea parties and take you for walks, she gets to touch and smell you and she will know you, Kasen, it is a gift to be 90 and be able to smell the smell of your great grand baby- great grandchildren-your cousins know it-someday your parents will tell you all about Grandma and Guns and Roses...

Maybe we will save the part about your new home for another letter.

For the time being, I hope you feel all the love you have coming out of us, all of the love, it is what nourishes your spirit, and ours.

Welcome, Little Buddy. Life is good for you-we all promise you that....

Love, Connie

What else haven't we cared for???

My heart hurts for those lives yanked away in such a horrible disaster-one that could have been prevented. Like the Levees breached in New Orleans, the Sunshine Skyway collapsing in St. Peter burg, Florida, the O Rings on the Challenger, and the heat shields on the Voyager, these could have all prevented.

It seems as if few people take responsible for maintenance and we spend a lot of time investigating who needs to take the blame.

I would say "who needs to accept responsibility" but I have a question here-does anyone have consequences for neglect? I haven't heard of any except for the fact Brownie resigned. What about the Corps of Engineers? The contractors who built and knew about flaws? The state and government.

What is most frightening to me and should be to you as well is this-Can we trust our infrastructure? Do you feel confident driving through the Windsor Tunnel or across the Brooklyn Bridge? Some of these are twenty years or older. Is anyone really paying attention to what is needed to care for these?

Sometimes it is the cheap materials used. Sometimes it is knowing the flaw but factoring in the cost to correct it and deciding to take the risk.

Do our lives come so cheaply that they are now considered a cost factor in a gamble?

Do we care? Or do we only care when it involves someone we love personally.

Do we no longer care about the welfare of all of us-only what it means to us?

If that is the case, we no longer have a community- looking after the welfare of one another-just a large group of people living side by side believing they are the exception-not needing to take responsibility for anyone but numero uno.

Pretty scary.

Freakin Passwords....

Who could have predicted it twenty five years ago? The only password anyone needed was the one we played in that stupid game...

If there is any doubt in the universe about old peoples' inability to remember as they age-I say, get over it...

We need passwords for our bank accounts, computer accounts, bill paying, telephones, answering services, school loans-any loans-any frickin where the information highway-sky way-and dirt path takes us we need a password.

Social security numbers as national id's? What a joke. We have so many passwords - social security is obsolete.

Mother's maiden name? Best friend in school? Name of elementary school? City you grew up in? Favorite pet's name?

Not only do we have passwords but we have backup questions to verify our passwords.

All these actions indicate we live in a world where information is so vulnerable we haven't quite figured out a system to protect ourselves.

Maybe we ought to develop something a little more stable-something that doesn't involve passwords.

And we think we are dang smart...

we really need to get over ourselves and solve some of these problems.

Teeheehee

Couldn't help it-just struck me as funny the minute I saw it...I still can't stop laughing. Thanks for the twisted humor..great brain!!

Dear Children, this is a Library...

Dear Children,

The picture in the center (above) shows a building called a Library. You can check out books(see the picture to the left) for free.

Sometimes, parents read stories to their children, that they check out at the library.

Some parents even go to the library with their children to choose books to read together.

Some parents even check out books to read themselves.

The library does not have video games to play. The library does not have candy, soda or sticker machines. It does not look like a WalMart inside.

The library really does have free books to read!

This is a public service announcement from a teacher who cares about you.

Or perhaps in some underground bomb shelter.

How did we get to this point? A most frightening vision-
a crazy power hungry vice president with a pacemaker.
An emotionally stunted immature president who plays frat boy with the world's leaders-
A sociopath Attorney General who could probably pass a lie detector test..
A group of syncopating buddies who have no clue as to what government has to do with people...
Isn't this the scariest??

Why wear underwear?

The question in my mind today. Why wear underwear? It is uncomfortable. It creates playground for yeast infections. One more marketing ploy to grab your dollars.

Why wear them??

What a waste. Pants looked bunched up in a wad. Who knows whether you wear them or not? Actually, who cares? I say, take them off! Save yourself some money. Put a little dash in your life! Take them to the trash!!

If Harry Potter died you'd know by now..

It's hard to believe they were so young when they started this saga.

I'm here to end the suspense. It's a great story. He does die. He also lives.

The best part is that very last chapter. I love happily ever afters..

and it leaves room for a new saga.

Now, Get on with your lives!!!

Add Starbucks to another overrated american obsess

Starbucks used to equal quality coffee at a reasonable price.

Until we, as usual, used our herd intelligence to overrate it, over inflate it and then show our willingness to pay over five dollars for a coffee drink.

How many more times can I say it, for cryin out loud-get a life!!

Starbucks raising prices again???

Guess what, folks..there is a sneaky little society of people out there who refuse to pay for that little cup holder, the emblem of pretentiousness and shallowness...

Those of us who refuse actually make our coffee at home, with quality beans and real coffee makers. We also buy our sickeningly sweet lattes and cappuccinos at 7-11!! Cold coffee drinks actually exist at the McDonald's drive through window..did you know that??

Don't start telling me about the quality at Starbucks.

Have you noticed lately, who is making those high priced, overinflated, mediocre drinks at your local FRANCHISE (as if you are buying something original..)

Yeah, the same kids who are cooking your burgers at McDonald's...

get a clue.

How the Wizard of Oz freaked out a nation of ...

Try to explain this movies to kids from another culture/country. How the flying monkeys freaked out generations of little kids-terror at being picked off in the night from the darkened skies. How the witches evil laugh rang through the ears of thousands of kids-identifying with that one aunt, teacher or evil neighbor lady who hated the dog.

How even the munchkins-had an aura of danger to them-most terrifying? The lollipop boys with their man voices and grown up scowls.

The Wizard of Oz is an American classic which depicts all the linear lines of good and evil for American culture. No sneakiness. No subtle acts-outright evil and bursting forth with righteousness.

It's no wonder we are so screwed up. lol

Pratibha Patil-Remember this name

NEW DELHI, July 21 (AP) — India selected its first female president on Saturday, winning a vote seen as a symbolic victory for women contending with widespread discrimination.
Pratibha Patil, 72, won almost two-thirds of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators. She had the support of the governing Congress Party and its political allies, and had been widely expected to win. The election of a woman to the office, which is mostly ceremonial, continues an Indian tradition of using the presidency to give a high-profile voice to disadvantaged groups.

Wasn't this a part of our platform as a democracy? I thought the true measure of a society was how they cared for the most vulnerable of their people?

Cheney takes over while Bush gets it in the end...

Isn't this a frightening thought? Who knows what laws Cheney aka Dungeon and Dragons Master conjured up while we were sleeping and the doctors were finally probing the one place we all told them to look in years ago..


CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- Doctors removed five small polyps from President Bush's colon on Saturday after he temporarily transferred the powers of his office for two hours to Vice President Dick Cheney under the rarely invoked 25th Amendment

Another, "Get a life moment" from the media frenzy..

Harry Potter is definitely cool-but hey, let's get some lives here...we are so obsessed by the, "I'll wait in line for hours to be first narcissism " I want to vomit.
Let's get real folks, it's a fricking book which will be on the bookshelves for the next fifty years. Who cares if you got it first..get a clue...

Fox Wonders if Women with "Axes to Grind Can..

Fox Wonders if Women with "Axes to Grind" Can "Effectively Rule Society"
Posted July 13, 2007 03:45 PM (EST)

Kind of makes you wonder -as Fox conjures up the image of Lizzie Borden...

Introduced in 1888, the right to vote by women was sandbagged for the next forty years. It wasn't until 1920 that women got the right to vote.

Let's see....I was born in 1953-that makes the concept of women voting only 33 years old when I was born. 33 years.

Let's think about today. With men running the country we have all but lost the right to make decisions about our bodies-we are in a war no one in their right mind would have declared("right mind" get it?) We have an economy run by the elite rich-welfare reform has taken away the safety net for poor women-universal health care is nonexistent in this country-dental care is even less accessable to our babies-

and Fox wants to know if the country can be won by a woman with an ax to grind?

I say-you go girl, Hilary-you go girl-grind that axe for all our babies sent to a war we don't want, all our kids with abscessed teeth and nowhere to go-all the singles mothers and women making less than equal pay for the same job -you grind that axe.

Thirty three years. Pretty amazing. Black men had the vote before women did. In fact, every man did-which tells the story of the incompetence men have used to fuck up the country-

other countries have had female leaders for years. We can't even fart out a female vice president.

Go ahead, Fox-piss us off-there are a lot of women out there-go ahead and piss us off--