Nevada-A Bastion of Loonies

Welcome to Nevada-and you thought Mississippi was bad..

Proud state of being last in just about everything:

-Last in education funding per student

Last in our willingness to advocate for the homeless

-Last in our ability to protect children's rights

-Last in our ability to protect women and children from domestic violence

We are however, FIRST in auto thefts in the nation!

First in the highest foreclosure rates in the nation

The above people are here to tell you the story of the latest Las Vegas debacle-this of course, after coming off a year of arresting , and placing three of our esteemed county commissioners in prison for accepting bribes from a strip club owner -who actually got the lightest sentence.

One of those commissioners was a 60 year old grandma who sent her grandson to an expensive ski camp with the bucks..but more on that later, as two more are in the process of investigation for stealing campaign money...news when it happens!!

The first photo is an outdated, (sad in any form actually) of the owner of the Las Vegas Review Journal-a better read than any National Enquirer you encounter-

he supported the little guy with the weak chin-above-our current governor extraordinaire-who needs to take his meds more often-more on that later.

Sherman Fredrick believes Child Protective Service workers -one of sorriest in the nation-should be required to pay for their own training. At first I thought he was jesting-then realized he is not only serious he eats cake while the poor starve...

He believes in the Iraq War and is still trying to convince the voters in Nevada that everyone else in the country does as well. Since the LVRJ is the largest newspaper in the state he writes his fairy tales leisurely and no one seems to take him seriously although no one seems to want to throw his ass out either. Such is apathy in a town of corruption.

He has spent the last year telling everyone the housing market in Las Vegas is fantastic while every other CREDIBLE news source writes about the overinflated housing prices and the rising default rate. (e.g. NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal...even the Iowa Times reports it- haha)He continues to write about a strong job market, people moving in droves to live in this overpriced town.

Actually, the Las Vegas housing market in currently the WORST in the nation.

Nothing like getting the real news to the people, eh?

Well, he supported Gov. Jim Gibbons-the guy above, with the weak chin? He was voted in last year amidst a scandal of attacking a woman in the parking garage in Las Vegas. Of course, in this town discrediting a woman is an easy thing to do-so that was no big deal-just call her a slut, put a few risque pictures in the Las Vegas Review Journal-courtesy of Sherman-and trash her daily until the election.

No problem. Jim Gibbon's problems didn't go away-the FBI is investigating him for accepting money while he was a Congressman-a perfectly acceptable illegal thing to do in the Republican Congress-as we all know-and so what does he do? Starts up a slush fund for his defense while Gov. without reporting any of the donations. Gov. Gibbons can't seem to quite grasp the concept of NOT TAKING freebies while in public office.

I suppose that is a difficult habit to get over after having served in the "What's in it for me" Congress of the early 2000 years...

Throw in a little amusement with Judge Halverson, currently feuding with the rest of the Family court. Her front yard is a garbage dump, cited numerous times, her husband is a felon with a notable record and she hires body guards to take her to court to protect her from the rest of the judges and demands foot massages from her bailiffs.

So far, four bailiffs have quit -I think she is using 1)Kelly temps or 2) Stopping by Bonanza Avenue to pick up an illegal immigrant to work for low pay(a common occurrence in Las Vegas).

There really isn't enough room to show all the incompetence in the state of Nevada-e.g. Bob Beers, State Rep who pushed a bill to have teachers carry guns in the classroom...

Mayor Oscar Goodman, former Mob lawyer orders the Las Vegas Police to round up the homeless on holiday weekends and put them in jail for three days. This keeps the tourists from seeing how awful our homeless problem actually is. He touts Gin for a national company and likes to be photographed with showgirls.

The ACLU has been to court with the Mayor many times-Mayor Goodman once wanted to make a homeless shelter out of a closed prison 40 miles from the city if Las Vegas-(how transparent)-has outlawed hanging out at parks so homeless people can be arrested-but if you remember-we are labeled as one of the meanest cities in the nation toward homeless people.

If Oscar had his way if we lost our house key we would be living in Jean, Nevada courtesy of the prison system.

Welcome to Nevada, folks-

if Rod Serling was still alive...he could meet the REAL Twilight Zone.

When all is in sync with the universe

Isn't it amazing when all is in sync with the universe? When I was a kid my grandmother used to warn me, "God'll getcha, God'll getcha eventually when you tell lies...lol

Oil Company Gluttony

All right you lazy complacent Americans, when are you gonna start yelling "Uncle" and show a little spine??? Oil prices are gonna drive me to look for a "carmate", yesterday my electric bill was raised 24.00 a month, and groceries required a small pay day loan...and where are you?

Charging everything as usual.....

The Hispanic Soldier in Iraq

A lesson in irony. Let's decide the fate of thousands of people in our country. While we are doing it, watch them fight and die in a war with no purpose, representing our country.

Last week my third grade class won a pizza party for donating the most cans to the food pantry. This from a one of the poorest neighborhood schools in the district.

We won because one of my students' older brother, (home for two weeks from Iraq) brought in a huge box of cans.

Yesterday when we talked about Memorial Day and what is means, she began to cry.
You see, she has TWO brothers in Iraq fighting this war. It's not about faceless men -in our classroom. It is about someone we love, her two brothers and her family.

Each day she carried this worry with her, when she hears about men dying in Iraq.
Her parents are US citizens. But barely.

They still have family and land in Mexico.
As our Congress takes up this immigration bill I want them to think about Gladys and her two brothers in Iraq, not some faceless, stereotypical image of Mexican immigrants they want to shoot down at the border.

Welcome Hispanics and thank-you for what you do for our country.

Tony Snow is the new Merlin??

Even Merlin had credibility with his homies.

How can Tony Snow say some of the things he does with a straight face?

He must live in some kind of fantasy land.

I am assuming he must be when he denies Bush ever made an Al Quaida-Iraq link to the American Public.

What a joke.

Perception is 9/10 of the law

It's hot this time of year. 96 degrees by 11am . Summertime in the desert is reliable that's for sure-the constancy of the unbearable heat. knowing each day endures-I wonder how our weather reporters keep a straight face???

It was in this environment last week that my third grade class had a bad day. They couldn't seem to line up for lunch and the new vice principal grew frustrated. Since then, the label of "difficult" has been their doom.

We talked about perception. We discussed how we had to be 110% based on that distinction. At this point, no matter what they do, they are now last in line for lunch, leaving them with the leftovers and ten minutes to gobble down their food.

What do we do to change that perception? Continue to do our 110% and take the lumps of distortion?

This happens in the adult world as well. There is no more dangerous profession than education when it comes to perception. I have seen it happen to many good teachers. Something gets into the bonnet of a new administrator about an event. Followed by constant visits and observations of the particular teacher's classroom, looking for evidence to reaffirm the perception, the road to dissidence begins. Until the teacher finds a job at another school, the constant stress of wondering begins to wear. Place that stress on top of the already stressful job of working in an at-risk school, with incredible demands from many levels, and the teacher either 1) transfers to another school, 2) moves to another state or 3) leaves the profession.

Our school district is short 1300 teachers for the 2007-2008 school year.

It's no wonder teachers leave the profession.

All it takes sometimes is one incident to incite the 9/10 rule.

For my kids, it is a tough lesson -unlikely to be forgotten. I am not sure if any good will come of it in their minds. I balance it with challenges that agree with their talents and skills.

They may not have been able to get it together to get in line one day but is that the sum of their behaviors? Like adults, I think not. They just don't have the choice of opting out like we do.

Government Statistics.? hahahahaha.

I'd have to mortgage my house for a cross country trip...lol Could someone tell me where these oil refinery outages are located??

Motorists Unfazed by Climbing Gas Prices

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 16, 2007
Filed at 7:42 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- The rising price of gasoline has certainly increased the amount of complaining from drivers paying $3 a gallon or more to fill up their cars, but it so far has done little to curtail how much people are driving.
That's the message from government statistics showing that demand for gasoline is only just starting to level off even as refinery outages and tight supplies have sent pump prices soaring by 43 percent since the end of January.