Tonight's the night (Sunday at 2am, technically) we set the clocks back 1 hour to end Daylight saving time.
Tonight's The Night by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
11/5/11
Tonight's The Night (To Fall Back)
Tonight's the night (Sunday at 2am, technically) we set the clocks back 1 hour to end Daylight saving time.
Tonight's The Night by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Andy Rooney, R.I.P.
Andy Rooney died November 4th at the age of 92. I grew up watching him. I thought he was cool and funny. I will miss him.
11/4/11
10/28/11
Hey Student, Sign This Contract That Says You Will Be A Student, Or You Can't Come
My son started high school this year. He's a freshman. He loves it and is doing very well. I have mentioned in the past that he was a member of the leadership team at his middle school and is on the board at his temple's religious school (don't ask). My kid is awesome.
On the way to school this morning he told me he was getting out early today because there is an assembly or rally and there was a permission slip that needed to be turned in and he neglected to do it. He took full responsibility for not having turned it in yesterday when it was due. We parents aren't informed of things that come home, so it is entirely up to the students to get this kind of thing done.
The permission slip is not really a permission slip. The fact that my son considers it a permission slip is itself interesting; it speaks to his naivety and to the school's actual basis for requiring the "permission slip."
I have it right next to me, and it is called a Student Activities Contract. What? It talks about requirements students must meet in order to attend certain functions. It is a copy of something we all had to sign in the beginning of the year. And it is non-binding, because these children don't have any standing to sign contracts. But that's a whole other issue.
The contract talks about maintaining a 1.5 GPA or higher (really?), no suspensions, and an attendance record "deemed passable by the Dean of Attendance." So, the requirements are inherently unclear if one is decided in the vacuum of the Dean's head.
Why would a school demand that students sign a contract promising to be students? I'll tell you why.
It's to keep out the riffraff. If you make participation in activities contingent upon parent signatures --the signatures themselves contingent upon a teenager remembering to have mommy sign the silly thing-- then you are precluding many kids from participating, especially in a Title 1 district, like the one my son attends. Why? Inner city families often have more difficult work hours, or lack of interest, or who knows what that might prevent them from getting a silly form signed just so their kid can go to the school their tax dollars pay for.
It also precludes great, interested, competent, well-prepared kids from coming if they forget to get the stupid thing signed.
It's like giving someone a contract that says they will be human, and if they don't sign it, then, well, what? You're no longer human? These students are being asked to sign a contract that says they will be students. Why this stupid thing has to be turned in in order to attend the school and functions at the school is nonsense, and it's a ploy to limit attendance to the "good" kids.
The kids that need the adults the most are the ones who are precluded, as are the ones who are a good example to other kids, like my son, who don't get to go because they forgot to turn in what is a useless and manipulative form designed without him in mind (or, with only kids like him in mind--the point is to limit attendance).
This kind of policy invented by school administrators is what gives public schools a bad name.
It's calling everyone guilty before they even show up. It basically says, We know your fucked up kids who do drugs and are violent and get shitty grades, and if you bring that shit here, well, we won't let you in, fuckers!
It's like Nancy Reagan when she told everyone to just say no. It's easy when you're a coddled millionaire, isn't it? Not so easy when you are surrounded by it and it is the economy your hood runs on.
Students are not treated with the respect they deserve. As kids, they react poorly and act out. Think about that the next time you as principal decide to call everyone into question by making them sign some shit that makes them promise not to be drug-addled killers.
On the way to school this morning he told me he was getting out early today because there is an assembly or rally and there was a permission slip that needed to be turned in and he neglected to do it. He took full responsibility for not having turned it in yesterday when it was due. We parents aren't informed of things that come home, so it is entirely up to the students to get this kind of thing done.
The permission slip is not really a permission slip. The fact that my son considers it a permission slip is itself interesting; it speaks to his naivety and to the school's actual basis for requiring the "permission slip."
I have it right next to me, and it is called a Student Activities Contract. What? It talks about requirements students must meet in order to attend certain functions. It is a copy of something we all had to sign in the beginning of the year. And it is non-binding, because these children don't have any standing to sign contracts. But that's a whole other issue.
The contract talks about maintaining a 1.5 GPA or higher (really?), no suspensions, and an attendance record "deemed passable by the Dean of Attendance." So, the requirements are inherently unclear if one is decided in the vacuum of the Dean's head.
Why would a school demand that students sign a contract promising to be students? I'll tell you why.
It's to keep out the riffraff. If you make participation in activities contingent upon parent signatures --the signatures themselves contingent upon a teenager remembering to have mommy sign the silly thing-- then you are precluding many kids from participating, especially in a Title 1 district, like the one my son attends. Why? Inner city families often have more difficult work hours, or lack of interest, or who knows what that might prevent them from getting a silly form signed just so their kid can go to the school their tax dollars pay for.
It also precludes great, interested, competent, well-prepared kids from coming if they forget to get the stupid thing signed.
It's like giving someone a contract that says they will be human, and if they don't sign it, then, well, what? You're no longer human? These students are being asked to sign a contract that says they will be students. Why this stupid thing has to be turned in in order to attend the school and functions at the school is nonsense, and it's a ploy to limit attendance to the "good" kids.
The kids that need the adults the most are the ones who are precluded, as are the ones who are a good example to other kids, like my son, who don't get to go because they forgot to turn in what is a useless and manipulative form designed without him in mind (or, with only kids like him in mind--the point is to limit attendance).
This kind of policy invented by school administrators is what gives public schools a bad name.
It's calling everyone guilty before they even show up. It basically says, We know your fucked up kids who do drugs and are violent and get shitty grades, and if you bring that shit here, well, we won't let you in, fuckers!
It's like Nancy Reagan when she told everyone to just say no. It's easy when you're a coddled millionaire, isn't it? Not so easy when you are surrounded by it and it is the economy your hood runs on.
Students are not treated with the respect they deserve. As kids, they react poorly and act out. Think about that the next time you as principal decide to call everyone into question by making them sign some shit that makes them promise not to be drug-addled killers.
10/27/11
10/20/11
10/10/11
You Need To Spend More Time On Job Creation? Bullshit. You Need To Spend More $$$
I've been listening to the oligarchs and politicians telling us that there has been a lack of focus on jobs, and not focusing on jobs and not spending time thinking about job creation has been our problem.
I beg to differ.
I am not an economist. I am not a billionaire CEO, or even a millionaire CEO. But I am tired of the lies and obfuscation that are easily identifiable even by a know-nothing like me.
Not too long ago, like a few months or weeks back maybe, there was lots of talk about a lack of certainty in the markets. This lack of certainty caused the "job creators" to want to wait until they could be more certain. Certain of what, you ask? Certain their crimes would go unpunished and that they would be able to continue the rape and pillaging of the world's economy. It was pure bullshit, and they got called on it (and the Wall Street occupation is proof) but that's it. Nothing happened. Sure, a protest happened, but that's because nothing happened. We the people have decided to fix this shit.
Now that the certainty nonsense has been seen through, the oligarchs have latched on to a new meme--lack of time spent dealing with job creation.
I call bullshit, again.
It's not a lack of time being spent on job creation, it's a lack of money being spent, you greedy bastards.
When the wealthy are holding a trillion dollars in the bank and not investing it due to uncertainty or because they haven't spent any time thinking about how to use their money (job creation), it is pretty clear their focus is on keeping their money, not reinvesting in the country that helped them get rich.
When a rich dude tells you he is uncertain or admits he hasn't spent enough time on something, he's full of shit. It doesn't take much time to realize the wealthy have hoarded the dollars, shipped the jobs overseas, are investing in land in Argentina, and have no interest in helping the American economy. They got theirs, and their focus is on keeping it, no matter who it kills, starves, renders homeless, or whose life it ruins.
Don't let Immelt and Obama trick you into thinking they just need to spend some more time thinking about job creation--they don't. They need to fucking do something, and it will cost money, and that's the problem.
Greedy bastards go great with a red wine reduction.
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