Happy Halloween

Yeah, I haven't had much to say. It's been a hectic two weeks, especially my Blogmother has called in the reserves this weekend, oh and grades are due Tuesday.

Here's a little something to make you think of all of your goons and goblins. Spitfire say "Roar!" (but not to anyone who isn't family) and Tigger has a "Meow" for you. He actually said his first sentence today! "Dada cuts peppers."

Happy Halloween

Oh boy

This was definately some day. I'm sure you know the type... everything at work is moving along then all of the sudden *{BAMM!}* you get blindsided by the most random thing in the world and remain off kilter for the rest of the time even after you get home.

Well, it was one of those days for me. The students were doing some group work with a timeline, since we are studying Islam and the book has a difficult time explaining all of the caliphates/Crusades in a coherent manner. On top of this, it's Homecoming Week so everyone is tossed off thier rocker with that (still no animals in the courtyard or tennis courts so far).

Everyone was slugging along nicely in my Honors 4th period until a couple of kids started to fuss at each other and the girl involved insited she leave the room. It turns out the boy she was insulting/teasing (?) said something VERY inappropriate about her mother and somehow, despite her bipolarness, she didn't slug him.

After all of that drama, how can real life hold a candle to it.... unless my greatest fears about my brothe-in-law's wedding this weekend hold true (think Randy Quaid's character in American Vacation with a Texas twang.

I'm probably overreacting, but given the insanity we've had over what my kids are supposed to wear for this medevial wedding.... I think I'm going to hide.

Return to the War on Poverty

I think that one of the reasons why we have not heard a coherent and reasonable "War on Poverty" from the administration is because it would mean dealing with gender issues that they would rather not talk about. The Right seems to get really queasy when it comes to dealing with gender based discrimination, even though they are more than willing to play that card if it suits them (the Dole Senatorial race here in North Carolina was a prime example of that). Likewise, I think that is one of the main reasons, sublimimally, why they continue to refuse to address issues like affordable health care, day care, and increased minimum wages because the majority of people it would help are women. Now, maybe I'm way out on a limb here, but I don't think I am.

All of that being said, it's interesting to see what the UN is saying about improving conditions across the globe.

Only greater rights for women can end poverty, warns UN

There are some staggering statistics in this article. For example

* 500,000 women die in childbirth

* 600 million women are illiterate

* One in three women around the world is likely to suffer physical, sexual or
other abuse in her lifetime, usually at the hands of a family member or
someone she knows. Half of the sexual assaults in the world are on girls of
15 or younger.

One would hope that with some international leadership and targeted investment in social infrastructure that the world could start to deal with some of the myraid of problems across the globe. If we are really serious about improving economic conditions in many developing nations, then wouldn't this make a reasonable investment?

(cross posted at Just a Bump on the Beltway )

Here is a Hint...

Just a quick F.Y.I. in case any of my students happen to stumble across this neck of the Internet or any other teenager does...

If you are going to do something as brain dead dumb as cheat on a test, at least have the good sense to erase the page numbers on the test that match up with the page numbers in the book's index for those vocabulary terms.

Honestly... you know, most of us who sit behind those desks didn't just get our degrees because the check didn't bounce when we paid our tuition.

Oh and another thing, if you and your best friend/neighbor happen to have the same answer word for word (down to the misspellings) on short answer/essay questions, I personally consider that to be a slam dunk case, unless you are related to Uri Geller or are good friends with Miss Cleo at the top there. Of course if you are, then she's probably already warned you about this and hopefully your textbook was brought home for the first time this term.

Ok, my rant is done. It's nice to have you here and feel free to comment away.

Greatest rip off known to man

Really... if they don't get the highest #@%#$ profit margins off of these items, I don't know how a Target type store stays in business...

We spent $15 each on a new pair of shoes for the kids tonight because they need an extra pair at school for when the ones they came in get dirty and wet. $15 for something they aren't going to be able to wear for more than 4 months???

The worst part is we couldn't find any cheaper one that didn't have the blinking lights and such or didn't have characters all over them, and I'm sure that's part of the markup. Considering they had adult shoes there which used 2-3 times the resources for basically the same price ($15-30) that we paid for two, you've got to be wondering what's going on especially since that extra money isn't going to the workers.

Oh yeah, I also picked up some DVD's too (one of my weaknesses). We grabed Life of Brian which I have never seen (the older DVD not the special anniversary one), the 30th anniversary of Blazing Saddles which I always seem to be drunk whenever I try to see it, and The Wiz if for no other reason than to show my kids what Michael Jackson looked like before the aliens got him.

I swear if I ever get a chance to finish that Masters in Media Literacy, I'm going to find a way to work in a critique of The Wiz in there. Just because...

Reading of sorts and other observations

So it's like this... my twins are just barely 2 years, adjusted age. They are actually 27 months in chronological age, but that's another post for another day. Anyways, we were riding to the mall and both of them had their books in their laps to look over. My son had his car book and wanted to "read" it. Normally, this amounts to my wife and I reading the words and him turning the pages with a big grin on his face.

Now his spoken language skills are a bit delayed right now because he has a paralyzed vocal cord. Tigger (his nickanme) can speak, but not very well or very loudly. We are making progress with him and he's started to put two words together... sort of, unlike his sister Spitfire, who is giving us detailed solilIoquies on how the world should work.

So my wife starts to read the car book to him and he jumps in on the final word for each page with her, including some of the more difficult words like oil, which he had repeated after me just before we left. Granted, he probably just has a great short term memory, but both of us were very surprised that he did that well.

Here is an earlier entry I did on the kids on their 2nd birthday. I will use their nicknames while online so they won't be too embarassed when they do a google search later on in life.

Though I did also stumble across a link to a humane shelter in California when I googled "spitfire and tigger".... very interesting....

Wallace and Gromit

I haven't had a chance to see the new movie yet, one of the downfalls to being a Dad with kids that are a wee bit too young for the movie. My friend that I referenced in the last post took his 3 year old to see it and, for the most part, Luke loved it even though Wayne thought that Luke probably had some trouble understanding the... resiliancey of most animated characters.

From what I've seen about this weeekend it looks like the duo did quite well, even though my wife's favorite movie Serenity is tanking big time.

Sadly though, the creators of Wallace and Gromit haven't been so lucky. When they should be celebrating their good fortune, they are looking to recover from a serious fire that destroyed most of their archived materials from their earlier shorts and other works. Thankfully, there were some pieces that were not in storage yet, but it's really depressing to see that much historical material melt down in a fire.

Next thing you know, I'm going to find out that the Henson Creature Shop was gutted. That would really depress me.

It isn't just Gotcha

I just got back from watching the first half of the Monday Night Football game with a good friend of mine, someone I might even call my best friend. We met through church and after our last church started to dissolve at the seams (long story), both of our families travelled to the same new church together. Still...

Somehow we got onto politics where Wayne (not his real first name) admitted that Bush screwed up with Myers. Now, this came as a bit of a shock to me, since Wayne is a rock ribbed Republican. He's not a howling fascist, but more of a passive good old boy chuckle southern Republican.

"Welcome to reality," I told him. "I've been waiting for you since 1999... where have you been?"

"Now Chuck," he replied "I'm not in camp with you; I'm just saying he's made some bad decisions."

"Of course, because ignoring New Orleans while it flooded worked so well, he's almost moved the White House to my old Hometown to show that he cares when all it does is remind people how much he F****Ked up the first time. How about Karl and the fact he's on the verge of being charged with outing a CIA agent? If this was 7 years ago, you'd be screaming at the TV about it!"

"All that is with Karl is a game of Gotcha. They don't care. She went to parties with him."

"Not with a blinking neon nametage that said 'Hi, my name is Valerie. I'm with the CIA. Won't you be my friend?'"

"They did it with Clinton and Reagan and everyone. It's not that important..."

Since when has this country lost so much gravitas that treason isn't important?

Wayne, maybe I didn't make myself clear, but this isn't about gotcha. This is what it's about:

• It's about the fact that you scramble for overtime anytime you can get despite the fact that you are a lawyer for the Frederal Government. Why? So your wife can stay at home with your boys so if she goes to work, her entire paycheck doesn't go towards daycare like my wife's does.
• It's about the fact that your wife and I (she's a teacher too) can't make a decent enough living on our own paycheck to allow our spouce to stay at home with the kids even though we have just as many years in school and most other professional jobs.
• It's about the money that's being wasted, both in the Gulf and Iraq, because there are horribly corrupt individuals who don't have any clue what they are doing. Sure, the government wastes money... but this isn't waste, it's Harding style corruption at it's most blatant.
• It's about an administration that has robbed the nation of at least one election and possibly two and people like you not giving a damn if your most fundamental right as a citizen is being upheld
• It's about me being worried about what my kids are going to inherit and if they have a prayer of being as financially *hah!* well off as I am
• It's about the fact that families who aren't lucky enough to work for the government like us face a serious uphill battle to find affordable health care and God forbid if a crisis comes up, like say two premature babies who wind up costing $500,000 each by the time they leave the hospital.
• It's about the fact that my wife and I can't find a decent started home inside the city limits even though we both work full time with professional jobs.

Sure, the DC Democrats aren't worth a tinker's damn, if they were they'd be a real oposition party one worthy of demonizing, but they are a far cry better than what is there now. Where are those principles I heard your leaders preach in 1998 when Clinton was impeached about the sancity of law and some such. I know I didn't go through with law school, but how does all of this fall under that pious rule of law.

Maybe I learned something wrong from the lawyer in my life, but he taught me that no one is above the law and that we should expect the best from our leaders. Period.

It's not Gotcha. That's what will happen when you get your first heating bill in December.

(cross posted at Just a Bump on the Beltway )

Where have I heard this before?

FEMA call-center workers say paychecks fall way short

Saturday, October 8, 2005

By KIM HORNER and HOLLY YAN

A scuffle broke out Friday at a Dallas FEMA subcontractor after many temporary workers did not receive their paychecks.

ne man was arrested for disorderly conduct at Cendera Technologies at 8700 N. Stemmons Freeway, but no injuries were reported, Dallas police Senior Cpl. Max Geron said.

Cpl. Geron said Dallas police patrolled the office building the past few weeks because large crowds gathered on payday.

About 1,500 temporary employees of the company work seven days a week, often double shifts, answering calls for federal financial assistance from people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After their shift ended at 2 p.m. Friday, many workers discovered they would not get paid.

Others received checks for only a fraction of the $10 an hour plus overtime they were promised.

"I'm a single mother. I want to get paid. My rent is due today," Luvena Moore said. "We're here helping someone else get a $2,000 check and we can't get a check at all."

The lack of answers worried employees.

LaQuesha Irvin said she has worked at the company since Sept. 13 with no paycheck.

But she said she has no choice but to keep coming back to work.

"If we don't work, we won't have any funds to pay our bills," Ms. Irvin said.

I wonder if anyone is going to ask the new Supreme Court nominee if the 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery) to the Constitution is still valid... and if so can we nail these B***rds on it?

Back in the good olde days, we called people like that Carpetbaggers and Robber Barons... so what do you call them if they are from your home state?

This really sounds like something from an episode of the Simpsons.

(cross posted at Just a Bump on the Beltway )

Perspective and other stuff

It's so strange teaching 14-18 years olds and having them "not age" as you get older.

It's even worse when you have to explain to them why this vote in the Senate is the best our politicians can mutter for "courage" in pressure.

My job as a history teacher is bad enough when our leaders don't even pretend to try and live up to the morals that we preach.

*sigh* It was SO much easier when it was just a blowjob that had to be explained. They already understood that men could be and sometimes are unfaithful to their wives. Considering how many of today's students come from "non-traditional" families, it's not hard to see why.

Explaining why their home nation condones torture and employs tactics that make most civilized people queasy to their stomachs.... that's nearly impossible, especially since I'm not supposed to curse. And this is from the gang that promised to bring "honor and integrity" back to the White House.

Congress and Looting

In Shift, FEMA Will Seek Bids for Gulf Work

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and ERIC LIPTON
Published: October 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, October 6 - The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told a Senate panel on Thursday that the agency would seek new bids on $400 million worth of contracts that had originally been awarded with no competition in the Katrina recovery effort.

In announcing the move, R. David Paulison, the agency's acting director, responded to sharp criticism after FEMA suspended normal contracting rules in the frantic first days of trying to help storm victims and rebuild the Gulf Coast.

The contracts up for bidding - worth up to $100 million each - were awarded to four giant firms specializing in construction, engineering and consulting, said Nicol Andrews, an agency spokeswoman. The businesses have long records of work for the federal government, and some have executives or lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration.

Mr. Paulison did not indicate that his agency had found anything inappropriate in the contract awards, but he appeared to agree with critics who have warned that awarding contracts without bids could result in abuse and waste.

"I've never been a fan of no-bid contracts," Mr. Paulison said in an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "All of those no-bid contracts we are going to go back and rebid."

Agency officials acknowledged that they had rushed in awarding the contracts and say they now have time to reconsider them. They can re-open the process because the four companies have already exceeded a $50,000 minimum threshold that allows the agency to terminate the deals. The recovery effort will not be slowed during the bidding because the contractors will continue to perform work, agency officials said.

The four contracts up for rebidding were awarded early last month to The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, La., Fluor Corporation of Aliso Viejo, Calif., Bechtel National of San Francisco and CH2M Hill of Denver. They have already won commitments from FEMA for a total of $125 million in work, identifying sites for trailers and mobile homes for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and then installing the housing across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Government watchdog groups have been raising questions from the moment these contracts were awarded. The Shaw Group's lobbyist is Joe M. Allbaugh, the former FEMA director and a friend of President Bush. Bechtel has ties to the Republican Party; George Shultz, the former secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, is on the corporation's board, and Riley P. Bechtel, the chairman and chief executive, served on President Bush's Export Council.

Man, it's amazing how much quicker Congress is to react to obvious, no holds barred looting when it takes place on your backdoor instead of your new rental property on the other side of town.

Personally, I think a copy of this list needs to be mailed to every small and medium sized business owner in the Gulf region. Maybe some of them after reading the list will stop voting against their own self interests.

A good friend of mine who was at Tulane with me and is currently relocated in Mississippi says that she thinks the '06 elections will be a real eye opener... less llike '94 and more like a '32. People are beyond mad and the party in power is the one getting the blame. It's going to take more than the fear of gay weddings or President Hillary to make the voters forget Katrina or how badly their leaders have rected to it.

(cross posted at Just a Bump on the Beltway

Tiime to brush off the dust

It's time to brush off the dust at this site and actually use it to post.

I'm a guest poster over at Just a Bump in the Beltway and have really enjoyed posting my thoughts on politics and other topics there. I am still going to post with my BlogMother but I will more extensive posting here. I'll have more tomorrow, provided I'm not too wiped out from my claseses.