We sat on the porch in the cool of the evening. It was difficult to come inside. I called my dear friend Dr. B. We talked about our choirs, our summers. He's been fishing in Alaska. We went to Yosemite. I guess we've reached the time of our lives that we can afford to travel. My life is pleasant.

Some have a talent for summarizing. Joe Huebner writes in a letter to the editor, in today's AJC:

"The hallmarks [of this administration] have been "cooking the books" to start a war, out-of-control spending, unbridled cronyism and Nixon-like thuggery, punctuated with extended vacations."

Now that's a good summary.

Someone needs to remind James that FEMA was not slow to respond to hurricanes last year in Brother Jeb Land (Florida). Hmm. But when the disaster site has a Democratic Mayor, Democratic Governor, a Democratic Senator (Where the heck was their second senator, by the way? I only saw the Democrat), well then things got really slow. Couldn't be political rather than just ineptitude could it? Wouldn't that be criminal negligence?

Reading the newspaper these days has become more and more like reading the national enquirer. So you thought the Homeland Security department fouled up by cannabalizing FEMA? What else is it doing? Is it legal to have a peaceful protest and pass out leaflets? What would you do if you spoke you mind legally and were arrested for it? Let's make up a stupid situation, say you are Vegans (a type of vegetarians) who wanted to pass out leaflets on alternatives to pork outside the Honey Baked Ham store. Let's say the Honey Baked Ham people, didn't even care. Could you be harrased by the Homeland Security department? Who would help defend you in court? It would be your shallow resources against the deep pockets of the U.S. Government, right? Well maybe not. The Redcross couldn't help. Your church wouldn't take up the cause. You're in deep trouble kiddos. In fact we are all in deep trouble. The Homeland Security department is monitoring Vegetarian protests.

I know you think this is a stupid scenario, set up to make heros out of the ACLU right? But it now seems that writing down the tag number of a person who is taking photos of you without your permission is probable cause for arrest.

Read on.

By JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/23/05

They don't eat ham. And they don't like to be spied on, either.

The story begins outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway just before Christmas 2003.

KEITH HADLEY / Staff (ENLARGE)
Vegans Caitlin Childs and Christopher Freeman were arrested after a protest at a HoneyBaked Ham store.
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That day, two vegans — vegetarians who eat only plants and plant products — were wrapping up an animal cruelty protest with a handful of other vegans when they noticed a man in a CVS pharmacy parking lot taking pictures of them.

Later, they would learn that the man was an undercover homeland security detective, according to a federal lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed Thursday on the vegans' behalf.

The lawsuit, in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, charges that the detective, who was working for DeKalb County's Homeland Security Division, and a county police officer subjected Caitlin Childs and Christopher Freeman to false imprisonment, false arrest and harassment and violated their constitutional rights.

After the ham protest, Childs and Freeman walked over to the mysterious man's car and wrote down his license plate number. When they drove off, they noticed the car following them.

They pulled into a parking lot at a Mexican restaurant. The car and a police car pulled in behind them. The vegans were ordered out of their car and told to hand over the piece of paper with the tag number on it. Childs refused and was handcuffed and searched. She and Freeman were arrested for disorderly conduct and jailed.

They were released, but the piece of paper and Childs' house keys weren't returned, the lawsuit says.

"I couldn't believe that all of it was happening," Freeman, now 36, said Thursday. "We were out there doing educational outreach on a topic that is important to us." At the event, "we were handing out leaflets on alternatives to pork," he said.

Childs, now 22, said they brought suit because "this really could happen to anyone who practices their free speech in the kind of time we're living in. It's really scary."

Childs and Freeman live in East Atlanta. They are suing DeKalb County, Detective D.A. Gorman and an officer identified as K.A. Moffit. The newspaper could not reach the officers Thursday, and county officials wouldn't comment.

In court, Childs hopes to hold government officials "accountable." "Citizens aren't going to allow you to bully us and harass us and take away our rights," she said. "We will fight back."

A Homeland Security report on the incident, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution got from the ACLU of Georgia, says Gorman told Childs and Freeman he was a police detective "instructed to monitor and picture the protest."

Gorman told Childs he was driving an undercover vehicle and didn't want the tag number passed around. The report said the two vegans were "hostile, uncooperative and boisterous towards the officers."

The county's Homeland Security Division, within the DeKalb Police Department, was formed after the County Commission decided in October 2001 to hire a homeland security director. The move was prompted by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Gerry Weber, legal director at the ACLU of Georgia and a lead attorney in the lawsuit, said the case "illustrates the overreaching of homeland security by monitoring clearly peaceful protesters. This is a poor allocation of resources and chills free speech."

Weber said he had no idea why the protesters were under surveillance. "One couldn't imagine a less threatening image than vegan protesters in front of a HoneyBaked Ham," he said.

Deputy Chief Moses Ector, DeKalb's commander of homeland security, referred a reporter to the chief public information officer for DeKalb County police, who said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit.

Acting county attorney Viviane Ernstes did not return phone calls seeking comment. Burke Brennan, spokesman for the county, said, "DeKalb County has a strict policy preventing us from discussing pending litigation."

In addition to the lawsuit, the state ACLU is seeking any law enforcement surveillance files on Childs and Freeman.

ACLU affiliates in 15 other states have filed similar requests with the FBI on behalf of more than 100 groups and individuals, according to an ACLU news release, "as part of a nationwide effort to expose unlawful domestic spying."

Said Childs, "They're using security and the idea of terrorism, which is such a hot word and scares people, to silence people who have unpopular beliefs."

Sometimes I come up with a good idea. The Varsity Glee Club is a good idea. I thought of the name several years before I had the group. I kept hoping I'd have some men to actually call "advanced" and be able to establish the group. Last year it came to pass. You might see them going on the field tomorrow night for the start of the homecoming game and say. Oh look, the boy's chorus is going to sing. But they really are the Varsity Glee Club and they sing like a college glee club, or as my friend Wayne said, like a good college glee club. They will wail away at the National Anthem tomorrow evening and the boy's chorus idea will disappear in the opening phrase. They sing like men. Guys in the stands will hear them and think, "Man that's a group I would like to be a part of." About half are actually on the football team so they'll be in uniform. One of our guys who graduated last year is playing football for UConn this year. Brad can sing and knock people down. He's about 6'4" and 260, maybe 280 pounds. Bet you wish you could drop in for 5 minutes and see them don't you?

An acquaintance of mine, another conductor, same age as me, died last Friday. He was a good guy. Just finished his masters degree. He's been after me to help him with the tone quality his singers make. Makes me sad. He had been sick with leukemia for a while but still died unexpectedly.

Got an email today saying New Orleans was the most sinful city in the United States. (I guess Galveston is the next most). I wrote him back and said my Bible says that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." All, hmm. 100% sinful. I believe that puts us all in a tie for most sinful.

The weekend provides a solace for the working man and woman. When I was younger, I had more energy for weekends. How do I get so tired during the week?

6:30 I arise, get breakfast, shower, collect whatever I was working on last night that may be scattered in the living room or music room and try to get it together and back in my bag. I grab my lunch and a drink and put everything in my rolling crate. By 7:45 I must go out the door to walk to work.

By 8:05, I'm either on duty, watching students gather for school, or teaching sightreading, or attending a parent teacher conference, or helping a student with voice instruction.


Before class, 20 students will speak to me, many asking questions. I have already told them the answer to every question at an earlier time. At 8:40 the first class begins and I rehearse with 70 ninth grade girls. It is difficult to keep them all on task and motivated to learn to sing. They sing, I talk, I dance, I cajole, we learn. My assistant is there too. We are both active in the rehearsal doing different things, singing directing, playing piano. We must take roll and enter the absentees onto the computer in the next room. Morning announcements are on the tv at 9:33. We say the pledge of allegience and then struggle to keep students quiet while the announcements are presented poorly, mangled, often unintelligible, even when the students actually are quiet.

Class change. I race to check email, or sign in if I have not gotten to the office so far today. Ten students will ask me questions. Some just need to have my attention. Chamber Choir (mixed choir) begins with student leadership. I slip in to lead the vocal warm-up. 50 students are in the class, upperclassmen mostly. We have as intense a rehearsal as the students will allow. I constantly push them to go faster. I am teaching them first and foremost, how to rehearse. Before rehearsal is over I am getting tired. Often I am sweating. Class change. Ten more questions from students.

We have two choruses the next period and my assistant stays put to work with the B choir women while I go to the gym lobby at the other end of the school to work with the Varsity Glee Club, 25 guys. We have to break out chairs and music and a keyboard from the closet in the concession stand to set up our class in the lobby. The boys know the routine and are helpful. We lose about 4 or 5 minutes of class a day setting up and taking down. Oh well. Another intense rehearsal follows. I'm constantly onstage, leading, talking, playing, directing, encouraging. They are good and they are proud of themselves. At the bell I walk back to the chorus room. It's noon. I get my lunch and buy a milk in the cafeteria. My assistant and I eat lunch in music theory room (there are tables). We talk shop. Somedays we have a fine arts department meeting in the debate teachers room.

My best choir meets after lunch. There will be numerous questions before we begin. They have the most intense rehearsal of the day. Often I am sweating before we finish. They will get tired too. I have failed to mention that there are interactions with student aids, office secretaries, parents, and other teachers that also happen sporadically during the morning. In each case they need my attention for something.

Fifth period is my "off" period. My assistant has a class in the chorus room so I may not work in the room. During this downtime I do some of the following: get a soda, check the mail, check email (I get about 20 emails a day from within the county. Many require me to download a page and read it, print it, and file it. Others require an instant answer. Half are totally stupid and waste my time.) clean up messes, order music, look at music, study music, do lesson plans, fill out forms for fund raisers, read confidential forms on student modifications that are required, read medical alert forms on students, plan programs, type programs, contact travel companies, write letters of recommendation, record grades, plan for the next day's classes, go to the restroom, return phone calls. This period is never long enough. Somedays I stay in the intermediate women's chorus that meets this period and help them. If my assistant is out then I direct this class too.

The day's final period is the most difficult one, beginning men's chorus. Their skills are weaker and their self discipline lacking. I have to work very frantically to maintain control and move the class forward. They do the simplest music of all the classes and perform it the worst of all the classes. Discouraging. By the end of class, I hurt. My shoulders ache, my back hurts. My voice is exhausted. I have 10 minutes to recover before private voice lessons begin at 3:30. I teach 4 students voice lessons until about 5:15 each day.

Then housekeeping begins. Straighten chairs, put away lost folders and music, make certain trash is where janitors will pick it up. There are always more emails and more phone messages to look at. Papers need to be filed. I make notes for what needs to be done the next day (need sharp pencils, reply to publisher about purchase, get check for invoices, tell bookkeeper to pay purchase order, cancel backordered items and reorder, search catalogue for order numbers, call guest conductors, confirm auditorium use, remind office that student calendars are incorrect, document poor student behavior, document poor administration, etc.).

At six Mrs. G will call if I am not at home to get my ETA. I walk home and arrive between 5:45 and 7:00. After I eat I come back about twice a week and put in another hour.

TMI right?

The real mismanagement seems to have been the selection of unqualified politcal cronies to positions of power in the emergency management field. On the day that happened, many were doomed. The failures are myriad. Congress, local and state governments, federal government. Many of the failures have been going on for years. Some happened after the fact.

Homeland security is a joke. The national guard is out of the country. Racial discrimination and the welfare state have created a more or less permanent underclass. The elderly are the most vulnerable. Many are ignorant and lawless. We should do better. But I teach. Having met the students, I know that many are difficult to help.

Okay, I stole this from Nyceducator.blogspot.com but it is pretty much my point of view too.

Okay, I stole this from Nyceducator.blogspot.com but it is pretty much my point of view too.

Priorities

It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.

Above you see Mayor Mike and GW discussing the vital importance of taxpayer funded, billionaire-owned sports stadiums and budget-busting tax breaks for needy individuals making over 300K per year. Mike and George choose not to fritter away valuable time on crazy ideas like funding the levees that could have averted disaster in New Orleans, rising gas prices, lower class sizes, and hiring high-quality public school teachers. They don't live in New Orleans, taxpayers gas up their limos, and their kids have never attend public schools, but they'll doubtless find other means to express their deep concern.

For example, here's President Bush just yesterday, apparently hard at work composing an epic Woody Guthrie-style folk song about the flood. Also, he gave a speech.

I'm already getting email that says that the situation in New Orleans is the result of the Welfare State. I see it as the result of generations of institutionalized racism. New Republican talking point--"They're playing the blame game." Look out George. It ain't a game.

There has never been the derth of leadership at the top of this country that there is currently. We should not have gone to Iraq. We did it under false pretenses. It was clearly illegal. But even at that we should have been in and out of Iraq in a year. There is no clearly defined mission. How can we ever have "mission accomplished." When it will help an election, we'll get out. If we are going to be over there, why not move in another 100,000 men and actually take control of the place. You shouldn't be able to place a roadside bomb without us seeing you and killing you.

Some photos for an old friend.

Sissy and Carter






Christmas with our children,

Carter and Rachel





Sissy with a Virginia friend and former student.

No one has said anything about Nero yet. I wonder when that is going to come up. The water has stabalized and no one is working on the levy breaches. The Senator was on TV crying this morning. She threatened to punch the President if he says anything else negative about the people of New Orleans. The parrish president for New Orleans was weeping uncontrollably. The federal goverment has sent one crane to work on the breach. The firefighters are crying. The policemen have run away. And this on a day that they say things are much better.

Nero is the only precedent that comes to mind.

On Thursday, my little bride and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. It is cool to have been around someone for so long and still like them. We just enjoy each other's company. During the summer breaks we hang out togehter 24/7 and when we go back to work we are irritated by the forced separation. I remember being really comfortable with her on our first date. That just never wore off.

My sister has just passed her 30th anniversary. We are a staying married kind of crowd I guess. There are blessings that come with the same person being with you so long. They are a repository for your memories. You are reminded of the same things by current happenings and you scarcely need to speak to communicate what you are thinking at times.

It's a beautiful day. Low humidity and sunny. Flowers in the garden. We visited cousins in Alabama at Lake Martin yesterday and celebrated Elmiria's 83rd birthday. Though she is experiencing many health problems, she was full of enthusiasm for our gathering yesterday and it was good to see her and other members of her clan. My son went along and we managed to squeeze in a few games of ping pong. Except for gas prices, it was a lovely day.

Finally on the fifth day after the hurricane, water and food arrives in the area. One of the FEMA truck drivers said that he loaded the truck on Monday but his bosses delayed him coming from Texas to New Orleans until today, Friday. I don't see any reason to comment on that.

I have to tell you that I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime. It's a scarey, sad situation. I'm concerned about our response to the disaster. It would seem to me the army could be in the area already to maintain order. Where are the relief trucks with water and food? How hard could it be to load up trucks with water and food. We have plenty of water and food and the roads are open to most areas. People are dying on the side of the road because no one is bringing water to them. Is this the United States of America or a third world republic? I mean the hurricane was four days ago.