Captured Souls-Ransomed for Money

What do we believe? Insidiously, hate and harsh judgement has snaked around our hearts and fallen from our mouths. Inside of our souls opens Pandora's box, emerging this hate filled energy that splays itself across the landscape of our souls.
This energy seeps into unfulfilled spaces of our hearts and the venom clings to all of us.

Weaker souls become stronger. In fearful ways. Stronger, wiser souls become whispers.
Whispers that do not disappear. We know, in our hearts, that judging others, wishing for downfalls, and spewing hate and meanness are not right. We know it, deep inside. Anger, even justified, does not right life. Anger does not conquer and win. It destroys.

Religion is not God's words. It is not the teachings of Jesus. False paths do not take us to spiritual teachings.

And folks, we have a lot of false paths out there. Anyone who believes the path they walk on, organized by teachings that instill anger, righteousness and harsh judgement is the path, have lost direction.

Forgiveness isn't a right. Who are we to think we have the glory of choosing what is maligned and forgiving? Have we become God in our own right?

The spiraling economy and the loss of money is revealing our nature-and I ask you, dig into your hearts and tell me, is this us?

Divide, Conquer, Rule-this is the sign on a church I pass, each day, on my way to work. The message never changes. Is life a battle to be won? Did Jesus set up a commando unit to capture souls?
Captive souls -ransomed for money.
This is what we have become today.

A political chasm is destroying America

It is us.
I am watching a video clip from McCain's trail thumping. A man take over the microphone and yells to the crow, "I don't want a terrorist Muslim to run MY country. You need to fight-McCain-fight!! And the crowd begins yelling, "Fight"

A terrorist Muslim? Do you really think our justice system would allow a "terrorist" to run for political office?

From what rock has this insanity emerged??

We are watching are nation fall. From corrupt elections, smear campaigns- ugliness has frothed out of America's mouth.

We are our own worst enemy and so full of of narcissism we don't recognize our own selfishness, ignorance or blathering idiocy.

Voices of reason become targets of suspicion. Crazy accusations become fact. Why anyone would want to run for a political office, on ideology, in this country is a HUGE mystery.

Mention a name in politics and watch the contortions of anger on your neighbors face. Where did all this hate ooze from?Close friends can't speak. Others avoid talking about our country's woes fearing the venomous response which inevitably follows.

What is going on ???

Have we become a nation of crazies?

How can the majority of Americans buy trickle down economics? Or sending our boys t fight a war we don't need to fight? How does anyone believe a politcian right now?

And how can the American people buy all this shit ?

Amazes me. Really does.

The Cynical America-Losing Heart

The cynical American drives over the speed limit and slows down when a cop is spotted.
The cynical American believes if the grocery store gives you more change -keep it-prices are expensive.
The cynical American uses credit cards, payday loans,and home equity as if it were cash. In fact, Cynical America has marketed borrowing money as a normal way of life.
Cynical Americans do not believe in public school education, welfare for the poorest, helping children of illegal immigrants or providing free medical care to our sickest elderly or our children.
Cynical Americans take sick days from work because they are "owed" and think nothing of pulling their children out of school for a two vacation.

Cynical American government wastes our time attacking one another instead of finding solutions.
-They sponsor people to run for office based on cynical loyalties and not qualifications.
-They blame one another while America's infrastructure falls apart, our economy fails, our jobs lost, our small businesses fail, and our homes are foreclosed.
-Cynical politicians get elected to enrich themselves through corporate and lobbying industries and forget it is us they are supposed to watching out for-and Cynical Americans assume cynical politicians will be greedy and dishonest.
-Cynical politicians who break the law are only remorseful at having gotten caught.
-Cynical politicians who break the law and are not called out on it are outraged when they are-because if they aren't in jail, no one has the right to accuse them of unethical behavior.

-Cynical Americans and Cynical Politicians believe fudging the truth, evading the real issue, keeping silent about important truths to protect an overall dishonest situation. not stepping up to call out any of these falls under the umbrella of "loyalty" and are ethical.

American children, who are not cynical, yet, are taught, in our public schools some of the most important lessons of life-values.

As a second grade teacher I teach my students how to get along even if they don't like each other. I tell them not everyone likes everyone but they do need to respect one another.

-I teach my students the difference between having pride in doing their very best work and owning a Wii.
-My students learn that working together can almost always result in a victory where everyone benefits. They have also learned, through their own trial and error, spending too much time arguing who will lead the group almost always results in getting nothing accomplished.

-My students discover that even at age seven, one caring act, such as helping another student understand a math problem, can create a change that is further reaching-because people rarely forget a kindness and that little extra boost brings along the classes overall learning. (And kid talk is so much more effective)

-My students know the difference between trying to "please the teacher" and "taking pride in what they can do them selves"

-_My students learn early on that kids don't have control over what they have, so those that come to school in ragged clothes or worn out shoes;this does not make them less of a person.

The great equalizer in our class is our earnestness, our honesty and our efforts.

You see, in Elementary school, in second grade, life is pretty transparent. It is also safe, predictable, caring and compassionate.

-With those values in place, kids feel free to learn, try and make good decisions, learn from failures and mistakes, and most importantly, continuously evaluate their own behaviors.

The Cynical America is out there waiting for them, they are exposed to it by parents, neighbors, health care providers, government systems.

Some lose their way.
Many don't. Somewhere in this world, my students continue to believe America does not have tobe cynical if we can be respectful of our differences, work together for the common good, and remember to help each out once in awhile.
.

More Karl Rove at the RNC??

Hello??
Did anyone else see that smug look on Karl Rove's face at the RNC?

What are you thinking???

Buy Nothing For One Day!!!!

After bailing our Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and a few stray banks,

have you gotten the feeling we all get the Italian kiss off as workers?

The new mortgage "save" for American citizens really gives money to the mortgage companies.

I'm getting a little tired of government bailing out the big ones and leaving us with the bill.

Doesn't it make sense that all the big guys' problems have more to do with the fact the workers are struggling to pay bills? Those mortgages would be paid if workers weren't being laid off or squeezed.

More than one news report this morning (NY Times, AP) point out the disparity between the increase in profits for large companies(based on exports) and the decrease in US workers pay-or the flatline of workers pay and the inflation of costs.

Let's show the United States Government who really rules our economy.

Americans unite. Gas up your vehicle and buy necessary supplies.

Make Tuesdays for the month of October "No spend days"

Not a dime for a soda machine. Not one fast food stop.

Smokers-make sure you have them

No appointments where you have to spend money.

Grind our economy to a halt.

Let the rich corporations and the wealthy business owners sweat a little-let them spend their money.

DO it on purpose. Let the public know you are doing it.

Let's make a statement.

You want our business every day?

Quit bailing out the big guys and pay attention.

We, the people, run this economy, not the government, or the top 2% of the nation's wealthiest.

Us little guys.

No money Tuesdays.

Are you listening out there, big government and lobbyists?

Pay attention.

Just one day.

Rove and McCain-America speaks????

After all we have experienced-the lies and deceit of the Bush Administration-Karl Rove's insidious manipulations of our government-

He is one of the masterminds of the McCain campaign??!

My country must be out of their collective minds.

What is wrong with Americans?

This is not reality TV folks-it is for real.

There isn't going to be any finale where you all get to turn off the set and go about your lives.

Well, I suppose you will have LOTS more time to watch it since you won't be employed, have health insurance that will care for your family or even the luxury of Social Security when you are old.

You make me sick.

Vote for Rove/McCain and the trophy chick willing to throw her family under the bus for her political aspirations.

Shame on your stupidity. Shame, shame shame..

You deserve what happens next.

The bitter divorce presidential race....a grey party?

I scour the Internet to see if there are others out there feeling this same feeling.
The ugliness we seem to be feeling as we arch away from one another like magnets exposed to polar ends.

This isn't a political race about "family values", it is an emotional race about our worst and best qualities.

It is a race about race-about sex-about motherhood-feels like an all out war -pitting our most internal beliefs and, yes, our deepest fears.

I wonder why political parties do this?

At a time when we need each other the most, our country has a chasm miles wide and deep.

In times of trillion dollar debt, unemployment, the greatest divide between the rich and the rest of us, an energy crisis, global warming, educational crisis, inflation and financial crisis, our emotions have become almost murderous when it comes to politics. Our country's future is not one big assed photo op filled with sound bites.

Isn't there someone out there who can pull us back together again?

As I always said in my marriage(now long gone) Do you want to be right or married? Compromise goes a long ways in life.

We need to work with the grey to get the black and white.

One Pissed Off Old Lady: Bristol Palin, Why would your mom do this to you??

One Pissed Off Old Lady: Bristol Palin, Why would your mom do this to you??

Bristol Palin, Why would your mom do this to you??

My sixteen year old daughter is not pregnant. My little sister was at age 16, and so was my niece.

They come from a small town, not unlike many in Alaska. Teen pregnancy rates are high in small towns. Communities tend to help raise the children when we all know each other.

My sister married her boyfriend and divorced a few years later.

My niece waited until her daughter was four before she married another man.

Life happens life that.

I really feel for Bristol. You have to understand seventeen year old girls.

To become a matter of national debate has to be a horrible nightmare for her.

If she had any doubts about wanting to marry the father of her child, do you think she feels as if she has a choice now?

While her picture is played across the nations papers, where is his? The same old victimization garbage.

Shame of Bristol's mom.

She had to have known her daughter's pregnancy would become a major focal point if she were to take the vice presidency nomination.

There is no money or power in the world that would compel me to put my daughter through the media insanity that enthralls our nation in a feeding frenzy of glee -devouring and purging other's dignity as if it were the finishing touch of a gluttonous meal.

Bristol, if you need a quiet place to hide, where privacy and nurturing is important, and where we will protect you, as families have been shown to do, with their children, in the past,

You are welcome in my home.

Walk Away From That House...go on do it...

Okay-so the government bailed out Bear Stearns-shored up Sallie Mae and made a few new rules that are supposed to help us save our houses.

Yeah, right. The only people who benefit from the new rules are the banks and the mortgage companies. Great job, assholes in Congress. Thanks for nothing.

And you wonder why people walk away from their houses, handing you the keys.

Oh, then there are the moralists who talk about OBLIGATION and HONOR.

Remember that old saying-There is no HONOR among thieves??

Three months before the bottom of the housing market fell out I bought a townhouse in Las Vegas, NV. haha Yeah, keep laughing.It is now worth half the price of what I paid for it.

Guess what? The county raised my fucking taxes anyway!!!!!

I used to believe in honor and obligation. For thirty years I have paid my bills on time. I have owned four houses before this one.Never late on a payment.

I had credit cards. Never late on a payment.

Utility bills on time.

Car loans paid in full-never a late payment.

I work two and three jobs now. I support four people on my salary.

I don't need to tell you how credit card interest and fees from banks, even late fees from utility payments and the rising cost of groceries have placed us in victimized positions.

We have no say anymore. Even a threat to discontinue service has no sway.

Since decentralization of services and goods, building of monopolies once again, prices are skyrocketing and we are screwed,

So. I say. screw em. Walk away from that house. Pay your bills at the edge. Screw em

If enough of us say, Screw credit ratings. Screw bank charges and overdraft fees, screw em-walk away.

No one will be a "good risk" and they just might have to change the tune of "Screw the masses"

Thanks Bush. For freeing us of our moral obligation to feel responsible anymore.

You started it.

Giving free reign to corporations to screw us over means Bear Stearns, Sallie Mae and a host of credit card companies are going to take it in the a..

Your buddy Ken Lay started this screwing with Enron employees. With your blessing.

Watch how the American people deal with it.

I'm putting my money under the mattress from now.

I don't trust anyone.

One Pissed Off Old Lady: Update: Teacher Witch Hunt

One Pissed Off Old Lady: Update: Teacher Witch Hunt

Update: Teacher Witch Hunt

A new school year! The fad this year is same sex classes! The latest gurus of education are telling us brain research is on the same page.

Kids learn better in elementary school if learning is geared toward how males and females learn. Differently.

I'm excited. I teach to the energy of 18 seven year old boys.

I bought a pogo stick for my classroom.

Do you think it will make a difference? :)

An observation:

A solemn one, actually-

During our three day orientation a discussion about why so few men in elementary schools ensued-

men stated they don't teach young children anymore because they are automatically considered pedephiles by many.

That is too dangerous.

They also don't like teaching middle or high school girls. Too risky,

The men at my school are more comfortable teaching boys classes-in the older grades.

They say there aren't too many teaching jobs for men where they feel safe anymore.

Art, P.E., music, library or special education. Coaching.

Do you think the media has made a difference in how parents think?

When will we stop sensationalizing the abnormal when overwhelmingly the norms point to dedicated teachers operating in your classrooms?

One Pissed Off Old Lady: The Teachers Witch Hunt

One Pissed Off Old Lady: The Teachers Witch Hunt

One Pissed Off Old Lady: High Schools are obsolete

One Pissed Off Old Lady: High Schools are obsolete

One Pissed Off Old Lady: George Bush telling Russia what to do???????

One Pissed Off Old Lady: George Bush telling Russia what to do???????

One Pissed Off Old Lady: McKenzie Phillip's -Everyone's Public addiction

One Pissed Off Old Lady: McKenzie Phillip's -Everyone's Public addiction

McKenzie Phillip's -Everyone's Public addiction

McKenzie Phillips. Addict.
Watching public persona's struggle with addiction-falling, without the grace of privacy is so painful.
Having experience with addiction not related to drugs but to gambling, I understand the components of addiction and the struggles and cycles.

Avoidance-not of the addiction but of painful realities of our weaknesses has to be the most destructive aspect.

Sometimes accidental death is preferable than the shame and remorse one feels.
I say accidental because most addicts are already dead emotionally. We are not suicidal just feeling hopeless.

All the step and inpatient programs in the world can't pull an addict from the self delusional logic inherent in addiction.

Even the moments of clarity and spans of clarity can't take away those little voices in your head that infuse the insanity of addiction.

I can't imagine how public humiliation would contribute to the well being of anyone.

Of course, it can be considered an intervention-a wake-up call.

For those of you who have never experienced an addiction, try this on for size:

Take all the secrets-and secret thoughts you would never share with anyone-(try being honest about this-don't tell me you tell everyone or someone-everything..please) take all that shame based stuff inside your heart and imagine it printed in the local paper and well as on the 6pm news for a week. Enough so the world knows your "otherness" instead of your "togetherness"
Imagine-really imagine how that feels inside.

An addict lives with that daily. It just doesn't disappear. Recovery is a way of reminding an addict that otherness can be lived with and controlled.

But no addict, deep down, inside, believes that otherness hides. It what makes an addict so vulnerable.

Recovery programs and meetings are a way connecting with others "otherness" to feel sameness.

George Bush telling Russia what to do???????

Please, spare us the embarrassment and agony of your hypocritical stance on Russia's conflict with Georgia.

Who are you to criticize Russia for invading another region??

Would you please just go away and try keeping your foot out of your mouth for the next few months?

Who told you that you have any street cred left??

You remember all that political capital you bragged about after your reelection?

Gone.

Spare us your indignation and try placing your focus on your own people-remember us??
The one's losing our homes, paying to bail out banks and mortgage financiers-paying for a war we don't want-paying your oil buddies while they rape us-and the struggle we have while your carte blanch permission for deregulated phone, electric, water and gas(and food) have created a nation of struggling, living on the edge of financial failure, citizens -while you eat cake with your cronies.

You don't have an iota of credibility-so keep your mouth shut-and maybe we can start to clean up your mess in three months. We hope.

Economy-The Road To Nowhere

Funk. Utter funk.
I don't really need to repeat what we all know.
I'll summarize. Money sucks.
Our economy is on the road to nowhere-and we are all on it. Paying with the time in our lives.
It looks empty-endless and the furthest stretch of empty road imaginable.
I want to ask , like a little kid, "Are we almost there yet??"

Obama's speech on race-here we are America!

Hopeful words are far and few in our country at this moment. Most campaigns are devoted to trashing the other opponents. Rove invented the smear campaign in a way that tossed us Americans into a cynical cereal bowl where we can't tell the marshmallows from the cereal. We think we can, but we are always questioning, aren't we?

Obama;s speech on race isn't about race-it speaks to our hearts -about our identity as American people..

It speaks to our confusion, our history as a nation. We are a myriad of races in our country, not one has felt the prvlidges of the the elitist white male, who is on the cusp of nonexistance- if we pay attention.

Bush has give us a present in many ways. He has turned the mirror of elitism outward for all of us to see. In the past we could ignore it, it wasn't always flashing in our faces, showing us the 1% of the population which holds the majority of the wealth in our nation.

Bush is so out of touch he can't understand the suffering of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, or the fact the Iraq war is fought with the lives of our poor, uneducated, black and hispanic males, without a chance, giving their lives for something to believe in.

Bush allowed that minority of elite white males to rape our country financially, to spurn the people on who's backs they make a profit.

Bush has stolen our hope, not in a subtle way, blatantly, handing over any ideals we had of a nation allowing us to make something more of ourselves, and handed our earnings to his rich fraternity.

Obama's balm to us is the reminder that we are a nation-all of us, and those values we hold in our hearts are real.

Reading his speech hurts my heart because it speaks to it.

I believe in his words because his truth is my truth and it is the only truth that binds us together instead of separating us.

Dear God, let this be our time as a country, for every one of us to be heard, cared for and given the dignity we so yearn to share as a nation.

High Schools are obsolete

What isn't wrong with high school?
In Las Vegas, four shootings in three months.
An emphasis on dress codes instead of recruiting competent teachers.
Tardy and absences policies which make it more difficult for students to focus on learning.
Antiquated teaching methods.
A lack of knowledge of how our kids learn in a technological age.

High school needs to be revamped. It isn't safe as it is, it isn't relevant.

One of these days us grown-ups will "get it"-that the method of teaching in our schools is hopelessly out of touch with our kids.

We are losing the best and the brightest because we insist on conformity rather than creativity. We compel kids to learn information not relevant to their lives and do not prepare them for today's world of technology and information.

We prepare them for a world of computer information, sophisticated languages and fast paced demands using number two pencils, notebook paper and teachers recruited from other countries because we treat ours like shit and no one wants to do the job.

I liken it to fighting a Predator with a shield and a sword.

When will we ever learn to pay attention to what our kids are saying??

Recession-The Three Stooges-dems/repubs/pres

The bailout of Bear Stearns doesn't fill my gas tank-is it filling yours?
It isn't helping me work less than three jobs-me, with a Master's degree-is it helping you work less?

I don't know which party is Larry-or Moe, but Bush is definitely Curly-the only president I know that can yuck it up while I am watching the value of the house I bought last year drop 20,000.

I live in the city that reveres Bush and his corrupt pals. Las Vegas. The worst housing market in the nation.

The high schools have had four shootings in the past three months and my sophmore daughter is afraid to go to school.
Selling my house isn't an option. I can barely hang onto it. I really do work three jobs and I can't figure out why we can't live more comfortably.

I support four people on a teacher's salary. This is Spring break.
Guess what? I am counting the miles I have to drive until payday on the 24th.
You would think with three jobs I'd have extra.
The problem is, the school district isn't paying me for the extra work I am doing and hasn't since October.
Oh, I'll get it-eventually.

My disillusionment with both parties is nothing next to the disgust and contempt I have for the Bush baby. He has taken us down a road of inflation, giving his good buddies at the oil companies carte blanche to gouge us, and we do nothing??

I am as disgusted with my fellow citizens for their laziness and apathy in the eye of a recession.

What do we do?
Start shouting from the rooftops. Someone needs to let our government know that we think they all suck. All of them. All three branches, both parties, the Executive branch of rich, out of touch, let them eat cake leaders who don't have a clue what it is like to live in the US anymore.
Probably the greatest change I have seen in the country in the past eight years??

The blatant corruption, not hidden anymore, not even subtle, of the banks, the credit companies, the oil industry, the health care industry and thousands of other businesses -who have become greedy mercenaries -with the blessing of our government.

I am so disgusted-and afraid for us.

Don't give me that shit about loyalty. Don't tell me to love it or leave it.
I have lived through eight presidents, served during Vietnam, worked as a social worker, in hospital care, with seniors, and now as a teacher -for my entire life. I believe in us-this humanity living side by side in our nation.

No, I won't "love it or leave it" I have loved my country for 55 years. I have fought for my country. I have spoken out for justice and I will continue to speak out for justice. This isn't just about YOU-greedy, apathetic, materialistic citizens-it is about all of US. Remember that word, US??

YOU start loving it enough to speak up-for all the beliefs we claim we live. YOU love it or leave it. I am not impressed with the generations behind me. You are not loving US enough.

We-say it. Even if you don't know who the hell your neighbors are anymore. Even if you drive yourself to work each day guzzling gas because you would not even consider ridesharing. WE-even if your turn your head when you see homless men and women in front of grocery stores and on the streets.

WE-practice saying it.
Because we are all in this same sinking boat-and no- you don't get special consideration because your mom and dad told you that you were special...guess what? You're not. You are no exception.

If you don't believe me, wait until it is your turn to feel the pinch.
How will you know? Because your fellow generation-"ers" will look the other way, just like you do.

A Woman in the Oval Office??? Lions and Tigers and Bears-Oh My!

A Woman in the Oval Office?? Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!

Not since 1984 have we had to contemplate the idea of a woman in any higher power than congress-and even then, it is a sorry state of affairs-13 women in congress!

Worldwide, thirteen countries are ruled by female leaders-an unheard of in the United States.

Men have screwed up this country for over 200 years-our record for diversity-as much as we claim we practice it-is a sorry sight-

Black men had the vote fifty years before white women -which gives us all a strong indication of where this election is going.

Diversity is an overused, overblown, pompous conceptual word we Americans like to throw around. While it screams at us from every corner of America, we have this powerfully ignorant method of disregarding it in our laws, policies, and community interactions . The Republican party may be on the skids with the Bush but they are not stupid. Putting a white man up for election(albeit the oldest white man ever running for the Oval Office) is a good strategy. Our country has one of the poorest records in the history of the world when it comes to acknowledging we have women, people of color and those who may be physically or otherwise challenged.

Somehow we continue to fervently grasp the proverbial straws of prejudice and ignorance, stereotyping our culture with a nonexistent white man majority.

How do we do that and survive?

Look around us.

Not very well.