SICK AND TIRED OF FEELING SICK AND TIRED?

There is too much of a bad thing and it is contagious. I am so sick and tired of feeling sick and tired of all the crap we read about everywhere we turn.

I digress for a moment to point out to any wannabe country singers amongst my readership (and I know there are a few) that the above is a great song title and if you use it I want royalties – or at least credit.

Back to the gripe. Face it, there is nothing good going on. Turn on the news and what do you get? Murder, rape, robbery, arson, suicide, incest, kidnapping, molestation, corruption in government, national debt going up and the US involved in a conflict somewhere. Even the weather is the shits right now.  In the 1975 film “Network” the lead character played by Peter Finch. who won Best Actor for the role, so fed up with “the bullshit” of the world, galvanizes the nation with his urging to open their windows and yell out “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore,” which prompts a massive response and ultimately garners him his own television show, even though he was on the verge of being fired.

Well I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired of what I see, read, hear and understand to be the direction that we are headed. Where to start? Difficult to answer. Spin the wheel, pick a topic, talk like Charlie Sheen and you’ll know exactly what I mean, without the paranoia of course.

I’m not alone in this quest. Another blogger named MaxFurie has a similar stance.  He/She writes “I started this blog to start a community for people who are sick and tired, of being sick and tired. I have so many complaints I don't know where to begin. I wanted to create a community where you can comment freely on my posts, and you can join in on what bothers you.”     Gosh, darn it and I thought I was special. MaxFurie goes on to say  “I have had just about enough of the rat race. I am so sick of the BS that surrounds the office and the politics that's involved in advancement. Tell you the truth, I suck at brown nosing. I have never had a knack at faking how I feel, especially to some pretentious blow hard that thinks he is better than me. I’m referring to my fat faced boss. Why? Because he wears nicer clothes, drives a nicer car, and makes more money?”   Yeah, I know, a whole bunch of you are about to click on the link because you feel the same way. I’ll be watching you on my stats page… it’s okay…go ahead if it makes you feel better.

Meantime, elsewhere on the nether-plane, Avii bemoans his/her experiences of feeling sick and tired of felling sick and tired with a poem about feeling sick and tired.  “I'm sick and tired of being treated like a worthless piece of nothing. I'm sick and tired of being abused by the lies and secrets being told to me. sick and tired of the way people i know or don't know, look at me, talk to me and talk about me. sick and tired of the unfairness and the bias. I'm sick and tired of being looked down upon as the world's inferior. and I'm sick and tired of taking people's orders just to make them happy, without getting anything in return, not even satisfaction.”  Yeah, vent it right out of you….

Even Ozzy Osbourne is quoted as saying: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” That was after he said “Well listen, how does a sparrow make an emergency landing? With a sparrowchute".  Enough said on that.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s  there were protests against the war in Vietnam which started out of Berkeley, California and spread through the nation.  Nowadays you can’t get anyone off their arse to complain about anything except anonymously on a blogsite, all the while not realizing that its like taking Prozac; you get the angry out of your system and forget that you are living in the Matrix. You might have been mad as “heck” but you surely will put up with loads more of it because you have been doing it for years.

Criminals: don’t judge them too harshly after all they came from broken families and we should nurture them, after all it is the humane thing to do. Education: Johnny is not a lazy butt for not doing his school or homework and lying about it; he is merely covering up a hidden learning disability that was spawned because his mother was exposed to Corn Flakes while she was pregnant. Johnny will get an SST, IEP, 504 and will graduate no matter what because he is special and loved by the education system wishing to avoid a lawsuit.  Job Performance: You can’t fire me unless I am a middle age white man. Sorry, that is the rule otherwise I can sue you for discrimination. And win, receive a healthy award and still get to keep my job thus making you terrified of ever trying to fire me again. Politicians: People with a legal degree covering up a hidden learning disability that was spawned because their mothers were exposed to Corn Flakes while pregnant.

Conversations: How are you feeling?

Are you implying that I am not in touch with my feelings?

I was just asking?

You cannot assume that tone with me otherwise I will have to assume that your intentions are hostile.

You are being ridiculous. It was just a question.

There you go again. I’ll have you know that is verbal assault. I have a good mind to contact my attorney.

You’ve got to be kidding? I just asked you a simply question.

So now you are assuming that I am mentally impaired and not capable of holding a serious conversation. My lawyer wants to know how to spell your last name.

 

Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Call the law offices of Handy, Dandy and Mandy today –you m ay be entitled to compensation.

As for those aspiring country singers waiting to latch onto my song title – you are too late:

Lyrics to Candle (Sick And Tired) by The White Tie Affair:

I took a ride on a February morning,
Just getting over it and dealing with the mourning,
I started thinking out loud: I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired,
My baby's flying off the edge of the road,
She's saying, "I'm so sorry about that note",
That left me all alone,
But I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired…

You can hear the whole song > HERE

MisterWriter

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER - NO ICONS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS BLOG

As predicted, it is happening at an ever faster rate; destroying icons is a pastime savored as much as fox hunting is to the British monarchy.

This time it is Mohandas K. Gandhi who has now been exposed in a new book as a bisexual who slept with 17 year old girls. The book shows that Gandhi, as opposed to the idiots who may have thought otherwise, was simply human, regardless of his sexuality which, by the way we are dangerously obsessed with for all people.

And not surprisingly the Indians are in revolt against this new image. See HERE.

But that is not even my point. Gandhi died when I was a boy, enjoyed iconic status as a peacemaker furthering the cause of passive resistance and certainly inspired many people.

A wonderful Sir David Attenborough film was made in the eighties starring my favorite Gandhi, Sir Ben Kingsley who wore the sheets well and gave us a sense of the man and the times. So without even exploring the truth of it, let me say... "Who cares?" Gandhi is now just another icon that has been dragged down and dirtied, just the way we like our icons because Heaven forbid there are any heroes to make us aspire to a higher standard. And I believe that is because our current society, as dirty in mind and spirit as Elizabethan England, wants the people to know that there is no one to save them. You cannot rely on anyone to be pure of heart.

In this world where everyone is convinced how important they are, as we watch the peaceful unity that Gandhi represented disintegrating worldwide, we should be more concerned with greater things than the sex life of a long dead historical figures, turn the mirror upon ourselves and use that image as a standard by which we grow.

Throughout the last few decades one icon after another has been similarly assailed. It seems to me that we are short on the list now, with only Mother Theresa, The Dalai Lama, Jesus and God left. And we all know that the Dalai Lama wears a dress.


- Posted by MisterWriter

GO FIGURE….

it out!

“contra principia negantem non est disputandum”

and remember that people actually spoke that way not too long ago!

HOW ABOUT SAVING THE MONEY SPENT ON SURVEYS AND USE THAT FOR SOMETHING WORTHWHILE? SURVEYS OF OBESE KIDS SHOW… OPPOSING RESULTS.

One things we LOVE in this country are funded surveys. Give some fool some money to prove an assertion and you will get a whizz-bang survey that will show you one thing on Monday and an opposite result on Tuesday. You know – one day coffee is bad for the heart and the next it is filled with anti-oxidants. One day chocolate is fat and the next it is an antioxidant. One day sex is good for you and…. okay sex is good for you and even if it was not good luck stopping it.

And so with TWO Headlines this week, one showing that only 1 out of 3 California kids pass a basic fitness test, while the other shows that the amount of exercise has less importance than we think you just have to wonder which one is worth the gigabytes they took up. And yet our kids are getting fatter and no survey is needed to know that.

Now the validity of these assertions aside, let’s face facts; we are a nation of morons. Go to any (surviving) bookstore and you will find aisle upon aisle of how to books. How to wipe your butt and burn calories at the same time. We need someone, some self-professed expert- to tell us how to do right what we are doing wrong.

Education is another fine example of psychobabble gone wild. in an effort to turn a basic premise that worked – teachers who  cared and made kids care about learning – we had to develop terminology that would make a surgeon retch. Scaffolding to assist those struggling students. Mainstreaming, as though they were carp. Differentiation because without that big word you might not want to pay the teacher a little more money. Business is no better. On-ramp, up-ramp, ramp-up – that is what passengers do on an airplane in the seventies… The premise is the same; break out the lube and bend over. Someone wants to make you feel unimportant and impress you with their stellar philosophy. Problem is that none of it is backed up over time. They all got left behind and if the kids are so out of shape then who is racing for the top?

So when you want to see that our kids are getting fat and out of shape, you really do not need to pay a genius thousands of dollars when television shows you how much we push crap for kids to eat, and sit-on-your-arse activities to stop them exercising. Even the great American pastime of football is not a high energy game – and just look at the bulk most players sport. I guess I should be glad that we are not pushing Sumo wrestling.

Back to obesity. Kids eat high fat foods that are pushed at them on television and supported by weak minded parents who cannot prevent them from buying and eating the stuff.  And hours of text messaging burns no calories. Facebook burns no calories and destroys eyesight .

Worse still is the obscene inclination we have to say nothing remotely negative about obesity. By doing so we hurt feelings and it is better to spare feelings than to talk about it. How many obese people, both adults and children have you see this week?

I am tired of surveys by people with a PhD as though that qualified something tangibly intelligent. Not all PhD's are to be discounted, and I do not mean to lump them all together, however there are enough who have no business opening their mouth on a premise of absolutely no value. I would rather the grant money go to something tangible.

You can read the California unfit children report HERE and the other study HERE. Perhaps we should criminalize food manufacturers who lie about low fat foods when they contain high sugar and low sugar when they contain high fat. And perhaps we would be advised to avoid surveys and try controlled portions. Here is an interesting observation. Go to a very pricey restaurant and look at the portion you get for the price. Steak FaLaLaLa La Petite and you get a 1 inch cube piece of steak with a slight drizzle of sauce, a lovely small salad with tiny mandarin oranges and walnuts and it will cost you $50.  Trust me, you won’t eat too much. Portion control is a skill. But this is common sense and should not require a book or a survey.

I have a study to write. Reading my blog will make your IQ jump. There you go. Now all I need is a PhD.

MisterWriter PhD.

MAKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS A FOR-PROFIT VENTURE TO SOLVE FUNDING ISSUES

The old saying that nice guys finish last applies to anything not fiddling with the vast capitalistic machine of making money and none so prevalent as in public education. When I look at university fees that are applied for everything from exorbitant parking to the pleasure of a student membership at a variety of off-academic clubs, or the fees involved when someone like me wanted to get a teaching credential (my pre-Y2K crisis) which only proved that it is incredibly expensive to become an underpaid teacher, I am left wondering why public education doesn’t just shift to the for profit model and grab its share of the bounty rather than the state being able to do so? Would you rather pay a student to learn something or an overweight and overpaid public official who has forgotten that public service was not supposed to mean a big fat paycheck and enough power to light a few hundred egos?

On my new blog FIX EDUCATION, where negative talk like this is not allowed, we explore solutions, ideas that come from my fertile imagination as well as yours.

And at the top of the list is corporate sponsorship. Let’s be honest, dollar for dollar, who pays more taxes – you or giant corporations?  So why not get that corporate funding applied – name schools and have the ultimate advertising exposure. After all it is not like you did not shell out $75 for junior to wear that sports jersey and your school sure got none of that. In fact dollar for dollar who deserves funding – your child or some multi-million dollar sports figure with a potential drug scandal in their future? I know – I am being cynical. But what is true is that millions are paid to name things, names that once people cared about but now have long abandoned concern for. Sleep Train Pavilion. The Oracle Arena – the Oakland Coliseum. So why not McDonalds Junior High? How about United Airlines Middle School?  Nike Elementary? Trojan Junior High (instead of the sports team being called the Trojans)?

Go visit FIX EDUCATION and post your CONSTRUCTIVE suggestion on ways to fix education. Your kid will thank you. Someday.

MisterWriter

2 Billion Alien Earths Could Exist In Our Galaxy

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Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

STOP WHINING AND MAKE THE CHANGE – YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE ONLY VOICE HEARD AT THE EDUCATION FIX

This is not just for the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, but hopefully a forum for all states where education is suffering at the hands of bad budgets, poor state leadership and general insanity. California knows about that – the golden state where prisoner rights take precedent over student rights and where students are given the ten cent education because the state keeps stealing the ninety other cents.

I complain about education often. I believe we are setting ourselves up to have a nation of idiots unable to do more than servant roles for the nations that own us. That said, I am TIRED of complaining….

And so I had AN IDEA. Set up a blog where ONLY CONSTRUCTIVE IDEAS can be posted. No negativity. No complaints. All I want are GOOD IDEAS that school districts everywhere can explore. Ways to raise FUNDING. Ways to change LAWS to ENHANCE LEARNING instead of crippling it. Posting GOOD THINGS that schools are doing that can be SHARED OPENLY.

I have NO AGENDA here. As a parent, a taxpayer and a concerned futurist, I want to SEE SOMETHING GOOD HAPPEN. But only WE CAN DO THAT! Make the change.

Please visit this new BLOG and IF you have a good idea, post it. So you know the rules – ALL COMMENTS ARE MODERATED which means anything that is not a CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENT will be rejected. You can post anonymously, or under your name. It is not a forum to tear apart the ideas posted – I will reject any comments that are not constructive. You may BUILD UPON a previous comment, but you MAY NOT DETRACT from one.

Spread the word. I invite teachers and parents, concerned citizens and more to put an idea on the table that districts can examine. One idea may work for one district but not for another so do not hold back.

Wouldn’t it feel GREAT to know that something you thought up became REALIZED and HELPED EDUCATION?

I hope so.

The Blog is called “THE EDUCATION FIX” and it can be found at  http://FundingEd.blogspot.com

-MisterWriter

WHERE IS THE HANDBASKET?

These days you cannot help but believe that things have gotten far worse than ever. It seems that each day brings some new disaster, war,  illness, corruption, deficit and more heading our way at an ever increasing speed.  Aside from the classical theological argument about where God fits into all this, or, as many like to believe, unmistakable signs of the end times, especially given that next year is the dreaded 2012; one must question the very nature of our societal construct and, as any good science fiction  author would postulate, imagine the transition between this state of life and the next.

Granted, the world was a simpler place in my youth, and before that  simpler still. You had a station or your did not. you were a brain or a grunt. Someone told you to go fight a war and you did not entertain endless debate about the merits of it or render your opinion, freely, readily or anonymously, as is the rage today. Everyone had rights; the exercise of the rights and the extremity to which those rights could be taken were not handled the same way. Perhaps it was a level of conduct with which people were raised, or harsher punishments for those careless in their approach. Youth were expecte3d to perform and to behave; whereas now there is no expectation because that is considered politically incorrect to so burden a child, and one can only wish that their child will turn out acceptably – unless you have money and can afford a top notch boarding school/controlled environment, but even there, times are a changing.

So I see a country with a HUGE deficit planning to send aide to another country with a huge deficit while considering enforcing control over  yet another dictator that may well escalate into yet another conflict for which we are so ill-prepared. I see an education system that lets you learn more from the back panel of a cereal box than the time allotted as instructional minutes. I see rampant pollution in every waterway –to such a degree that once cannot safely drink from a river or stream, cannot eat fish without worrying about the toxins, meat without worrying about the hormones and the antibiotics and need a college degree to decipher the level of lies that comes across in all forms of advertising, even as you cannot afford the cost of a college education.

  I live in a world where someone jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge on average once every two weeks – the last one was a teen who did so on a dare and managed to survive, although in dubious condition.

I see a world where freedom allows religious zealots to inflict their brand of theology at the funerals of dead kids, soldiers and others, as though they held a mandate from above. And yet no man holds that mandate despite what they may otherwise claim.

I read of a student walking into a classroom  HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and  HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and making a gun sign with his hand at the teacher or students and no consequence enacted despite the endless shootings that have taken place in schools and in public by people who should have had no access to a firearm.

And then nature takes its course, as in Japan who had a gigantic earthquake,  a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown in progress promising to irradiate many people there, all while our government assures us that the radiation will not reach us despite the weather patterns.  Of course prostate cancer patients who have a radioactive pellet inserted may well get more exposure…

And I guess it is not that so much has happened to make things worse other than the fact that nothing happened to cull off the population. In the past, wars, disease, starvation, ice ages, all stripped quantity from the human race leaving behind a hardier breed. But what has really happened in the last 60 years that had an effect on population? Medical science allowed people a greater survival, premature babies are able to live from a remarkably young age, and terminal diseases are now held at bay longer than ever before. 

We are removing substance and quality for quantity and duration and as a result, using the rights enacted by the founding fathers, gives power to idiotic, imbecilic, and the crude and corrupt to take advantage of an orderly world to promote chaos.  Parents stopped parenting because they are now told how to parent, complete with legislation that determines the manner by which you should parent your child. As a result we have a few generations of youth who care little for the system and abuse it where they can.

Life has become cheap. There was outrage when Japan considered that only 4000 people might die from radiation, because our over heightened sense of self-value, even in the face of ignorance, tells us that every life is sacred. And if we doubt that for one second someone will throw one of the many Bible variants at you to ensure you never forget that fact.  It is not a sentiment God would share given the wrath of floods, plagues and every other thing thrown at man throughout the eons, nor one we hold true with our endless warfare. But if believing that makes you feel more secure then who am I to argue with you.

We have rules – no shortage of rules and laws, and consequences. What we lack is a strength of will to enforce rather than spend our time in endless debate with people barely able to string a coherent sentence together yet still believing in their right to spout their opinion. As a result nothing gets done. Throw in political influences and less gets done. Confuse them all… it keeps them busy.  Then build another Wal-Mart and everyone can be happy because they can shop.

Have you noticed that these days every town looks the same? The same stores, the same strip mall, the same restaurants and the same banks. You need not travel anywhere in the US anymore because each town looks like the one before and frankly if you are going to shop at Target you may as well do so at home where the drive is less.  Likewise all Americans are the same – regardless of your intellect or ability, or hard work, we all have the same rights to just about everything. You cannot have an exclusion because that is considered discriminatory. You can’t have a Brainy Club because stupid people have the right to be members, too. Discrimination is no longer in the eye of the beholder; it is anywhere you do not get your way because it is your right to get your way and my right to disagree no longer counts. And I am not talking about the color of your skin; I am talking about merit, effort, quality, earned status that is now freely given like a certificate of completion for high schoolers unable to pass the exit exam so their feelings are not hurt after spending 13 years in a classroom.  And you wonder why Toyota was cavalier when the brakes didn’t work on the cars!

We are treated like idiots because we act like idiots. And we act like idiots because it is our God-given right, not to mention our Constitutional right to do so. And that is why people not members of the American club run across borders to enjoy our discriminatory free medical benefits that most working Americans cannot afford anymore, or why the border down south is a drug war-zone because we have no clue how to stop it, but we know what we are doing in other countries when we send in the military.

2012? The end of the world? That would be too easy. Even the extra-terrestrials are smart enough to stay away from us.  We are too polluted as a food source to be worth the effort, and as for the land….? 

The time for us to enjoy these freedoms without limits and self-important rights of expression that we so liberally apply like the fat on our bodies, is coming to an end because the system cannot sustain the weight of all that decay. And sadly, it is not just localized; this is a global collapse, an economic collapse, and many billions of mouth breathers will suddenly wonder where the next meal may come from and whether they can barbeque their neighbor in order to feed their family. “Soylent Green is people!!!!”

So where is the handbasket, I ask you?

THE INVISIBLE ENEMY AWAITS - JAPAN IS NOT THE ONLY SOURCE OF RADIATION THAT CAN AFFECT YOU

Californians, like others in earthquake prone zones always hear about safety and survival guides, home kits for surviving the "Big One" and yet never hear about surviving a radiation exposure, something not only prevalent by the sheer number of nuclear power stations SEE MAP - site is down often, but also from the threat of a terrorist setting off a "dirty" bomb; a conventional bomb dispersing radioactivity into the atmosphere, or a small, portable nuke.



In the old Reagan glory days, there was a time when we believed that "evil empire" described by Reagan, would initiate a nuclear war, and there were certainly many times, as declassified documents attest, where the Soviet computer controlled launch system came close to starting (and ending) World War III due to a flock of geese on the horizon messing with the detection system. Thankfully the Russians believed in double checking. You can read that HERE

But what we saw in the US was the construction of nuclear shelters - as early as the 1950's and the now humorous nuclear protection videos that ascribed "drop and cover" as a sound measure of protection, omitting the essential "and kiss your ass goodbye" added step.

There are, however, many methods of protection available, including decontaminating soils and water exposed to radioactive particles, air filtration, as well as knowing where the weather patterns are likely to disperse radiation. Survive a nuclear war? Who would want to? But survive something like Japan is facing, or a terrorist attack? Certainly worth the effort. HERE is a Japanese weather radar image.

It seems to me that given the sheer number of nuclear power stations globally that some training in survival should be more prevalent than it is. In America, we like to minimize the dangers to things because it keeps the citizenry happier believing that nothing could happen. But then, the Japanese who have done marvelous things in earthquake survival, complete with skyscrapers that withstand what was a 9.0 event, totally failed to believe that nuclear power stations could have a problem, creating an event that potentially could devastate them on a scale as yet undetermined.

Shelter in place is great except for the fact that air (and radiation) can seep in through gaps in doors and windows, vent shafts etc. And even then, your water supply is likely tainted - tap water won't work. Of course you could allow it to sit long enough for the radioactive particles to sink to the bottom, and purify it for drinking with iodine tablets, but do you know how to do that? Do you own a Geiger counter? Do you know how to build an air filter using charged plates to trap radioactive particles, or do you believe a Home Depot painter's mask will work - no offense to Home Depot.

Read more about the nuclear issues HERE.

So as we watch the horror in Japan unfold, we are again reminded that the initial event is often not the fatal event. In this case, the tsunami and now the nuclear power station meltdown made the 9.0 quake look like a walk in the park.

Then there is the radiation exposure from cell phones. See THIS SITEfor more on that. In fact I am surprised more people do not wear radiation detectors given the ample and invisible sources. How about Radon gas that seeps from the ground into your home? Read this FACT SHEET HERE

Being the giant of commercialism that we are, I expect to see radiation kits available at the local grocery store soon, or sold on TV by a Billy Mays look alike, and of course let us not forget the lawyers... "If you've been injured as a result of nuclear radiation leak in Japan, you may be entitled to compensation..."

I like "duck and cover" better, but don't forget to do that last part...


- Posted by MisterWriter

8 FEET AND 4 DEGREES OFF OUR AXIS – LESSONS FROM JAPAN

As everyone who has been watching the news is aware, the recent massive earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami resulted in a shift 8 feet for Japan and a shift of 4 degrees on the Earth’s axis. It was the fifth worst earthquake ever, and reportedly the worst for Japan.

Video footage showed huge skyscrapers doing a slow dance, swaying, as they are designed to do, rather than crumbling and falling. In fact for the intensity, the damage done seemed to come more from the effects of fire, and system failures with one of their nuclear power plants.  Still the damage was horrendous and the Japanese people, used to regular quakes, stoic in their handling of the crisis. And repeated quite frequently, had the quake occurred elsewhere, not only would the damage have been off the charts, but the loss of life would have been immeasurable.

And therein lies the lesson for other places on the dance card of the “ring of fire” that seismically dysfunctional area  across the pacific from Indonesia all the way up around Russia, Alaska, The west coast of the US and on down to Mexico, without leaving Hawaii out.  Californians are used to hearing about the potential for “the big one” and, for years the same probability was used: “Sometime in the next thirty years…”   And Californians, who would rather follow the antics of Charlie Sheen than something more serious, like to pretend that it won’t happen “today.”   Despite endless announcements about earthquake kits and earthquake plans, and removing those loose and dangerous objects that are likely to gain an immediate acceleration toward you during a quake,  Californians like to believe that everything will be okay.

Sure movies like “2012” show California tilting and sinking into the Pacific, and other movies depict the “big one” that is big enough to cause explosions and car crashes but not mess up the heroine’s hairdo.  And despite streets that will be filled with debris, in the movies you can still drive your sportscar on your way to save the day.

What remains a fact is that when that day arrives in California, unlike Japan, the death toll will be intense and the destruction widespread. It will be a time when we find out whether all those construction codes were worth the endless debate and whether that exorbitant Bay Bridge retrofit/new eastern span will survive.And that is not even discussing the nuclear reactor meltdown which may have even far more reaching effects.

Despite the shift in the axis, the world still turns steadily with country backstabbing country, with big business dumping pollution in the name of cost reduction, and with all the problems that mankind wears like clothing. It is just a good thing that the iPad 2 has a front and back facing camera as that will help as a visual when the screaming starts.

THE MOST DISGUSTING THING I HAVE READ AND SEEN ONLINE

Be warned, this site is graphic and the descriptions equally so. In a nutshell, this animal rights group claims that in China 2 million cats and dogs are skinned alive each year for their fur because it is easier to get it off while they are alive and in pain. The fur apparently makes its way to the US through false labeling in clothing and toys, items with a fur trim. The site provides documentation and video to back up their claims.

The video is extremely graphic. I suggest you do not watch it unless you have a string stomach. The descriptions alone which are HERE are disturbing enough to warrant the following disclaimer:

WARNING; The facts disclosed in our first section headed “Why We Must Campaign” are shocking and deeply disturbing, but must be disclosed if our Campaign is to succeed. Obviously, if you are highly sensitive to such information, you may choose not to read those facts and pass on to the next section. However, we find that those people who know the facts are those who most want to help the animals. I guess you can’t get passionate about a Cause unless you know the facts. It takes a minute or two to read. It’s up to you. If you love animals and want to help stop one of the worst cases of mass cruelty to animals ever, you should first know the facts. Knowing the facts gives us the focus. Otherwise it’s all too vague and unreal.   >>>>> You can READ that HERE <<<<<<<

>>>>> This is the link to the site<<<<<<<< >>>>>>> This is the link to Video 1  and  2 <<<<<<<<

I am trying to learn more about this. It is just disgusting and warrants outrage. I apologize for having to post it but it needs to get exposure. The only way it will stop is if the consumer refuses to buy these products. Whatever you do, after you read this you will never look at products from China the same way again.

A THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO LIFE THAT IS NOT AFRAID TO ASK THE BIG QUESTIONS

If you are interested in faith without boundaries, you may be interested in Words ‘N Way, an online theological exploration complete with weekly commentaries and reader responses that offers an insightful and questioning look at current events using a theological foundation upon which to draw meaning. If, however, you prefer a live version, you might be interested in the companion site PATHWAYS.




“PATHWAYS is a church without buildings, budgets or ecclesiastical hierarchy. It costs nothing but an open heart and mind to belong to PATHWAYS,” the website tells you.  PATHWAYS is holding a Lenten House Church Series beginning March 13th. Click HERE to learn more.


Both sites are headed by Walnut Creek, CA. resident John Bennison. His bio offers an eclectic mix of life experiences… “In the last thirty years, John Bennison has been a teacher, preacher, lecturer, trainer, conference leader, carpenter, coffin builder, counselor, spiritual advisor, ethicist, entertainer, assembly-line union worker, small business entrepreneur, corporate cog and executive director of a faith-based non-profit organization.”
An excerpt from this week’s commentary “Dust and Ashes” reads:

“In response to my own question, many, many years ago now I used to provide a service, assisting such mourners scatter cremated ashes at sea.  My partner in this fly-by-night venture was a weathered sailor with the most cheerful disposition; and who ran charters out of the Sausalito marina with his handsome 32’ Grand Banks fishing trawler….
Assembling my new found friends in the stern, I’d hand each of them a pair of long stemmed, fresh cut red roses; representing both the beauty and transitory nature of all things. 
One of the two roses, I would suggest, might represent for them the life of the one whom they had gathered to remember.  I left the obvious implication of the second flower for them to figure out for themselves.
Someone would hand me the container of all that remained of someone’s body, now reduced to the size of a shoebox.  Sometimes I’d be asked to say a few customary words. Oftentimes no words were appropriate or necessary.  At those times in our lives when we brush up against that mystery between our life and our death, silence is often better than speaking about that which we frankly know little…”


We are pilgrims on a journey
We are travelers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.
          From Servant Song, Richard Gillard, 1977


What I like about both the sites is the unassuming manner in which real life is explored without drumming a viewpoint down your throat. For people looking for a theological response to life that is not afraid to question the established doctrine, all in the name of an honest discussion, John Bennison has managed to achieve that.
More on that later….

CALIFORNIA BUDGET "REPAIRS" CAN DECIMATE THE MDUSD

On Tuesday the Mt. Diablo School Board will face the prospect of massive additional cuts that will be required by the state's desperate bid to balance its budget, sharing generously, with everyone, the pain of the cuts. Included is the potential for 180 employees to get their pink slips.

For the MDUSD the cuts strike deep. With little left to slash and burn, and having closed schools already, the prospects are worse than bleak. The Contra Costa County Office of Education notified districts that their May revise budget should assume that tax extensions fail and the each district would be required to cut $350 per student from their budget calculations. For the MDUSD that would amount to $11.5 million, and, projecting ahead to the decrease in enrollment and other losses, the district would need to cut $21.9 million to fully accommodate the 2011-2012 budget.

While there remains the possibility that the tax extensions continue and some relief is afforded that way, the other factors facing the district will still have a massive and negative effect. There is some talk of trying to get a parcel tax passed in order to make up the shortfall in revenue, however, given the tumultuous nature of the funding options of the past, it appears that this would only be a reality if the stakeholders in the district recognize that there is, frankly, no other option.

So let's look at some of the potential cuts that could make up the $21.9 million.

From the school agenda for Tuesday's meeting that can be found HERE we see the following....

Eliminate 1hr or PE/Prep for 4th and 5th grades saving approx. $652,572
Eliminate 2.8 librarians (not including the ones cut from Glenbrook's closing) for a savings of $203,676
GATE Funding $221,272
Eliminate 7.725 FTE Instructional Media Aides $412,234
Eliminate teacher professional development $435,160
Eliminate the District Senior Secretary $65,466
Reduce Special Ed Assistants to .375 saving $944,898
Reorganize Special Ed/Mental Health svc $300,000
Reduce Site secretaries to 1/2 time saving $810,793 or get rid of them for an added $514,000
Eliminate 6 FTE Gardeners/Groundsman $387,795

And then, requiring negotiations to reduce...
1% Employee compensation reduction saving $1,906,711
Eliminate Library Prep at Elementary saving $1,217,678
MAX OUT CLASS SIZE saving $2,597,977

And this is not everything on the list of potential cuts. If you were not scared before you really, really should be scared now. The sad fact is that even if the state extends tax breaks, the district will still suffer from declining enrollment among other things that will continue to result in cuts.

In short, the future of the children in this district and the state, insofar as public education goes, is in grave danger.

What is happening to education is insanity. How about sending the dangerous inmate population overseas and saving the vast amounts that are spent housing and enabling their legal rights? That money should go to schools. How about passing a bill that legislators in a state that cannot balance a budget get paid minimum wage? After all, it is supposed to be a public SERVICE job. How about we stop bailing out banks and start bailing out our students?

How do we compete when we are cutting media and technology services?
How do we compete when the school libraries are gone?
How do we compete when we teach our children that in the face of budget shortfall, they get services cut - that is how much we think about the value of our education.

But instead we hear about Charlie Sheen's "problems" because that is worthy of endless airtime instead of some frank discussions about the state of education.

And let's not forget that the state is taking redevelopment money from the cities as well. When all is said, California will look like a penal colony.

So what happens next? I guess I have been asking this question for many years and each time the optimism is dashed as the next round of California failures gets passed down.

我能借些钱 -
Wǒ néng jiè xiē qián -





- Posted by MisterWriter