Georgia Tech fired their head football coach. His team had a winning record again this year, same as every year. The AJC actually said they wanted more than a winning record and bowl games. They wanted to feel good while winning. I mean doesn't Georgia Tech compare favorably to Princeton, Harvard, MIT, providing a world class education to students? Think about the football teams at those places.

Scott McClellen came out a few days ago and said the President and Vice President helped plan and carry out the outing of a CIA agent and it has absolutely been quashed in the media. It never happened. Congress is on vacation and doesn't seem to care. I've not seen it on TV at all. McClellen is their guy, their mouthpiece. He knows of what he speaks. He left on good terms. No sour grapes. And he accused them of TREASON. And apparently it has not resonated with anyone but me.

Boy looking at technology is confusing. Everything is written in fine print and laced with jargon and abbreviations. You'd need a master's degree in that area of technology to understand what they say. Who are they selling to? Ugh.

The loss of due process is a grave loss. Habaeus corpus protects us from being scooped off the street and held in prison forever. Or, it used to. In a law passed in 2006, the preznit may now declare anyone, for any reason, an "enemy of the state" and habaeus corpus no longer applies for them. . . for you. Perhaps for writing this blog. Perhaps for reading it.

There seems to be a stir about Bill Richardson saying that Human Rights are more important than national security. What the heck is national security? Is it freedom from terrorist attacks? Or is national security freedom to drive over a bridge without fear it will fall? Or is freedom to make a phone call without fear that someone is listening? Is it freedom from hunger? Is it healthcare for children? Is it freedom from fear that we can't pay this money back that the government is spending willy nilly, a few billions on democratic museums and a few trillions on repub wars? (I promise to stop saying repub when the repubs stop saying on TV the democrat congress. It's a slur. They know it. It's just a low key way to show their hatred.) Does national security mean that our borders are sealed and nothing and no one gets in or out without being examined? That ain't gonna happen. Does national security mean that if someone hits us we hit back randomly, ten times harder? I'd think we'd be saying you kill our people and we'll kill yours, but what the preznit says is, you kill our people and we'll kill whoever we want. With all the scandal of the incompetence of this administration, is there any greater than the failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice? He just sits out there thumbing his nose without so much as a government to protect him. His boys have his back.

Protecting human rights is national security. Protecting habeaus corpus (Magna Carta 1215) is protecting national security. Protecting the world from torture is protecting national security. The Repubs like to pose the scenarios where torture saves the day but I'll tell you it is just rhetoric. I was about 12 when some irreligious kid asked me "Can your God do anything?" I snapped back "Yes," without hesitation only to hear him reply, "Can he make a rock so heavy that he can't lift it?" Torture fails. For every step forward it produces three steps backward. We are spending our capital in all the wrong places. It was the United States that put Saddam Hussein in power. How much investment in him would it have taken to have created an Iraq we could live with, an ally to the United States? My guess is . . . less than trillions.

I say the military action in Iraq must stop now. Make no mistake, there is no war. The war on terror and the war on the drugs are the same--unending, unwinnable political boondoogles. But the military action should end. The money should go to national health care for everyone. We already have national health care for the elderly, the poor, the military, the government. Let's just include everyone like they do in civilized countries.

The preznit and his people have seized and shredded the constitution. We need to put him in prison and put the document back in place.

How can we talk about anything else except the impeachment of the President and Vice President of the United States. It now appears that there is clear testimony from within the administration, from Scott McClellen, the CJ Craig of this administration, (and if you watched the West Wing you realize just how close the Whitehouse spokesperson is to the center of the executive branch universe) detailing how that Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Andrew Card, George Bush and Dick Cheney, conspired together to leak Valerie Plame's name as a CIA agent in order to endanger her life, ruin her career, and get vengence on her husband for bringing to light their lies about Sadaam Hussein's nuclear capabilities. McClellen now says that although he reported that they were not involved, that he was lied to about it and in fact, all five of the above named are responsible for the outing of a CIA operative. This not only is a crime. It is treason. We can't mess around with these guys any longer. They all go to prison.

A good pair of walking shoes is a must have. My Mephistos are terrific. The initial outlay for a pair is staggering, but the resoles from the factory cost only one-third of the original price and the shoes are virtually as good as new when redone. When out marching around the neighborhood with the dog at seven a.m. I'm happy that my feet feel good.



We bought an electric blanket. That's nice. The bed is toasty when you slip into it. Haven't had one for years.

The new America. Any statement that is anti-leadership is pro-terror and treasonous. The American Bridge Federation is proposing to ban the players American foursome who recently won the world championship because one of the four, in response to some questions from other players about American support for torture, held up a hastily crafted sign which was written on a menu that said simply "We didn't vote for Bush." The leadership of the Federation apparently did vote for Bush and they propose a one year ban from playing for the champions for this treasonous act. Other players who were wearing buttons that say 01/20/09 on them (the day Bush leaves office) were not singled out for punishment. Thankfully, the American Contract Bridge League, which provides major funding for the ABFed, is proposing to withdraw their major financial support from them if the go forward with their attempts to sanction the players.

Today's preznit is beyond criticism, dictator of the country, allowing no pork projects for democrats after signing off on the wild spending of democrats for 6 years without restraint. The democrats are spending like a teenager with a new credit card according to him. I've seen no comparisons to prior spending. I guess the media is just sleeping these days, too lazy to be concerned. Truthfully, I could do without all earmarks. If you want a library in Tulsa, write a bill for it. Don't drop it in a defense appropriation bill. The congressmen are all covering their asses with these policies of piling up omnibus bills. They could never justify voting for the Tulsa library so they say "Oh well, it was the price of getting defense appropriations." Everyone knows it is bull. Then you hear that the budget just can't be cut. I'll be I could cut it.

I think we need some Obama leadership. I wanna try Obamanation for awhile.

Why all the Hillary hate from the wingnuts. Why don't they talk about how they'd improve the country over what the shrub has done. Instead they say "Ooo Hillary has a bad temper." I don't care if she has a bad temper, but she always, always looks calm and cool to me. If you are running your 3rd marriage, flagrant adulterer, against Mrs. stand-by-your-man, you better just shut up about personal qualities.

The right hates Clinton primarily because he beat them soundly twice. Their fear is that Bill may beat them soundly twice more. He just might!

As a teacher, you keep waiting for the day that and edict will come down from the county office and everyone will say, "What a good idea. It's about time someone thought of a soloution to that problem."

Some of the latest ideas from our county office:
All booster clubs must be audited every year to assure there is no fraud. Couple of problems--one: they have absolutely no control over booster clubs, they are private organizations and two: audits cost $800 to $1000 and would take away half or most of the budget of the smaller clubs. Booster clubs have to take care of themselves and the county office has no say so.

Edict number two--Chaperones for overnight field trips must be fingerprinted and have background checks done before they can chaperone students. A couple of problems--one: it is insulting to ask you to help and then ask you to go to the jail, be fingerprinted like a criminal, pay $30 for the privilege of being treated like a criminal and wait to be okayed as a chaperone. They are volunteers, not employees! and two: it is nearly impossible to get chaperones now.

Oh I see, this is a scam to cut down on field trips. Our lawyers want kids maintained in the classroom all the time because there is less risk and less chance of a law suit. This is the only issue for these morons. Education is not important, control of lawsuits is. Listen idiots. Remember the Pied Piper of Hamlin? Someone has got to pay the piper. Education has cost and risk. Get over it.

I hear the media decrying the dismal state of education today. Is there some way to compare it to education in the good ol' days, say in the 50's or 60's when the congressmen were getting educated? What do you think we'd find? If we are doing about as well as the good ol' days that built the richest nation on earth, wouldn't we be doing okay, not dismal. Is America going to hell in a hand basket? (Half full/half empty arguments). I thought Ronald Reagan told all you Repubs that it is only "Morning in America" and that we have centuries to come of prosperity. I think education has improved but criticism of education is at an all time high.

Todays AJC tells us that twice as many tests are now going to be required for students to graduate and that the result will be more high school drop outs. The whole purpose of todays leadership's focus on education is to convince us that public education is a failure and we should replace it with private education, paid for by the government? In other words. The parents of the rich kids who are already in segregated (by race, religion, or class) schools, want to be free of the responsibility they have to support public education. Take the money out to support their vice (segregation), and let public education flounder on whatever is left.

An idiot wrote into the AJC today to suggest that beginning teachers really make $53,700 (pro-rated) since they only work 190 days a year. (They actually make $35,900 in my county and only $32,600 in many counties across the state. And their 190 days are scattered over ten months. Furthermore, they have constant continuing education requirements for which they are not paid, which continue until retirement, even if they have a doctorate(!) that they try to work on during the now 8 weeks of summer left in the schedule. He also says teachers are bad because they had those education classes instead of more classes in their core areas. More calculus so you can teach that elementary school math. Don't learn anything about how children learn. Educational practice is ridiculous hocus pocus according to him. A couple of years ago the governor decided to have a six week course for any college graduate that would qualify them to teach. There was an uproar but he forced through the program. What do you think happened to those people? Every single one of them quit teaching by the end of the year.

My only question is why would the AJC print stuff written by an idiot? Are they just hate-mongering against teachers or are they that stupid in the editorial department? Not good either way.

Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President of the United States. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Even funnier, Rudy seems to be happy about it. The thing is I used to work near ol' Pat. His place, CBN University, is on Centerville Turnpike in Chesapeake, Virginia. I used to work on Centerville Turnpike. In the 1880's the pike went to Centreville. When the state planning commission got around to checking the names of all the towns, if found there were two Centreville, Virginias and declared the one in northern Virginia to be first and had the other one, in what is now Chesapeake, change its spelling to Centerville. The little hub that was there gradually gave way to another commercial area, Fentress, and it disappeared. Fentress is not really a place anymore either, except to the locals. Anyway ol' Pat, when he was young Pat, got this idea for a television church. I remember him coming around and soliciting donations from churches to get it started. He lied to them about what it was going to be, but they were generous and eventually he built his TV studio in a huge brick building just a few feet from Virginia Beach, in what has to be the capital of luny religious people in the United States. Charismatics of all brands, holy rollers, to neopentacostals, charismatic Presbyterians even, if you can believe that, and all other manner of spiritualists. Oddly as soon as Pat got his building built and started broadcasting his ultra spiritual television Christianity, send in those checks please, the sign on the nearby expressway was changed to declare the exit for CBN University. It helps to have a daddy who is a United States Senator.

I have nothing good to say about Pat Robertson. He is a liar and a charlatan and I think he knows less about God than the average 5 year old. But he knows about manipulating people to make money using religion. You have to ask yourself how he can endorse Rudy though. "Back in mid-2001, when Mayor Rudy Giuliani was busy committing adultery, lurching into his divorce and third marriage and rooming with a gay couple he promised to marry as soon as the law allowed, who among us would have imagined that one day he would have be endorsed for president by Pat Robertson?" (Gail Collins, NYTimes columnist). The phrase politics makes strange bedfellows has never been more appropriate.

The sad thing is that the media thinks Pat is a signficant religious leader when all he is, is the natural descendent of the old Oral Roberts traveling healer show that used to come to town once a year for a few weeks, healing the same people every year of their dread diseases. Never mind that, the offering plate was full.

On another subject. The martial law that has been declared in Pakistan has not been decried by our president because he is thinking of doing exactly the same thing before our elections next fall, when it becomes hopelessly clear that Republicans will lose power. He will postpone elections, declare the congress vacant, throw out the judges, and continue on as the warlord on terror, for the good of the country. You know he is thinking about it.

Surround yourself with beauty and remembrances of beauty. They are worth the cost.

Why do I blog. Someone said on TV this week that never have so many said so much about so little to be read by so few. He was describing the blogging phenomenon. But he doesn't understand why I am blogging. I remember a few years ago we were at a cousin's house who read us a letter from the mid-1800's that they had discovered in an old out building. It was from an progenitor who had moved out west, writing back home to his parents. It was beautiful to read. He had contacted that wing of the family and sent them a copy of letter written by their ancestor. Oddly, they responded by sending back a copy of the answer to that same letter. It had been preserved in their family.

My grandfathers died before I had a chance to hear them speaking and they wrote nothing for me to read. I have always felt cut-off from them (and my grandmothers). I did interact with the grandmothers, but I was only 5 when one died, and the other was not in her right mind when I knew her. So there is nothing left to me from just a generation past. I have only one keepsake from them all, a little red cloth fan that Grandmother Altman used at times. It is worn from use so I know that she held it often. What I would not give to have 500 conversations with them, even one-sided ones where I only listened to them, in order to help me understand who they were, and how I came from them to be who I am. Where does the music come from? Where the attention to detail? Where the compassion for others? Where the political point of view? How did they contribute to making me. And what of their fathers and mothers?

Everyone should be blogging and publishing, leaving a reminder of today for the future.