Steve Lohr, in a recent New York Times article, reports that a "Study Finds that Online Education Beats the Classroom," and as I read the article, I was reminded how little people understand what teachers do. For example, one line reads, "The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms."
The interesting thing is that these "learning experiences" seem to magically appear at the press of a few buttons.
Of course, I know that behind that "electronic curtain" is a teacher responding to students needs. That is what we do, that is what we've always done, and that is what we will continue to do.
Lohr also points out, "This hardly means that we’ll be saying good-bye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to expand sharply over the next few years, as evidence mounts of its value."
No one who has been teaching for the last twenty years will be surprised to hear this. Most of us teach online as well as "face-to-face," and we usually combine the two by either providing online support for face-to-face classes or requiring face-to-face meetings for our online classes.
The reason: Because online instruction is a very effective tool. I used boldface because I want to emphasize that it is a tool -- and like any tool, it's effectiveness depends on the skills of the person wielding the tool.
The secret is, teachers do know how to use the tool and tend to use it very effectively. Yet, for some strange reason, we are often not included in the visions of the future being created.
One of my colleagues recently said that we need to convince out leaders to depend more on "the collective wisdom of the practitioners."
Wouldn't that be nice?
Hello,
My name is Doris Anne Beaulieu. I have a website-Life’s Ultimate Test dot com-on which you can learn more about my mission to change the face of home schooling.
I attended a parochial school as a child in the 1950's. In this Catholic school I was sheltered from the realities of the world around me-from swearing, from public displays of affection, from slang. These are often some of the same things that modern home schooling parents aim to protect their children from. A superior court judge said " In today’s threatening world, we seek to protect children from abuse, not just physical, but also educational abuse." This protection however often leaves behind a naiveness to the surrounding world the children must eventually enter.
Children need to be exposed to real life. Parents should as a family, talk about the world openly so children may not only learn that the world holds cruelness, but so they can gain knowledge from their parents experience and guidance for adulthood.
Playing with other children, a basic aspect of childhood was something we were unable to do because of the lack of seeing children outside of their family. Home schooled kids face the same consequences. A child who hasn’t efficiently learned how to deal with childhood conflict can not deal with adult conflict.
A child could become an active member of an organization that offers compromising skills. Be it girl scouts, boy scouts or some form of sports in their community. Anything of this nature would improve the outcome.
In my school, we spent most of the day praying- in church and in class. Who is to say in home schooling the children are receiving a full education which I even lacked in a parochial school? The same judge mentioned before also said " how can we not monitor the educational welfare of all of our children?" There should be a system, of more than just suggestions, to guarantee the children are being educated. This system should also lack so much variance from state to state.
More of my personal experience can be found in my book The Torments of the Modest Secluded Farm Life and it’s screenplay "Broken Souls." I hope, through my experience, I can soon make a difference for children facing similar situations.
Thank you,
Doris Anne Beaulieu
http://www.LifesUltimateTest.com
This piece is a profile about the teachers' unions, their contracts that work against rewarding teachers. I would love comments for follow up piece.
http://www.examiner.com/x-5067-LA-School-District-Examiner~y2009m3d20-Unions-help-keep-bad-teachers-employed
Astronomics$!
"No term exists to describe the current spiraling fiscal situation..."
The phenomenon of a 789 billion dollar stimulus package has quite simply exceeded the necessary vocabulary to be in any way adequately understood and encompassed.
So I hope you'll forgive this writer coining the term "Astronomics$."
No, it hadn't yet existed in modern parlance, but I, like most Americans, am dwarfed by the idea of it all, with its unparalleled price tag.
It's way out there, out in the Milky Way somewhere. And were it not from a great distance mentally, we couldn't possibly conceive of it at all.
I sat, stunned, with my mother watching the news, as CEO Vikram Pandit of Citigroup - which in the form of CitiMortgage owns the lien on my home - testified before testy Senators. They gnawed at him as if they were the old lady in the familiar Wendy's hamburger commercial in search of the patty of beef on the proverbial bun. So, "Where's the beef?"
And there's a beef all right, carnivorous in its intensity, angrily pervasive in this country of ours. Folks are hungry for help, but, politically and psychologically, and where their wallet is concerned, they're looking at accumulating lint. If they are nourished at all, it is with sarcasm, because they're all fed up!
And this sandwich, however, comes in the huge form of a sum hitherto unheard and even not thought of.
A stimulus package. It boggles the mind of any who try to wrap themselves around it.
It actually approaches a zillion dollars! Frankly, I'm surprised the spell-check let that one by me. But, apparently the word does legitimately exist.
If you, like I, am used to rounding cents upward to dollars in your checkbook in the best of times when the budget allows, then you cannot fathom this ridiculously high amount of money.
My research took me to multiple sites, all with the information below a matter of public record.
Just take a look of the summation below to see how the Treasury has thus far disseminated our tax, and as yet unearned, dollars:
How Treasury has spend/committed the $350 Billion so far. 1)$168 billion in varying amounts to 116 banks 2)Committed another $82 billion to capitalize more banks 3)Bought $40 billion in preferred shares of American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500) so the troubled insurer could pay off an earlier loan from the Federal Reserve 4)Committed $20 billion to back any losses that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York might incur in a new program to lend money to owners of securities backed by credit card debt, student loans, auto loans and small business loans 5)Committed to invest $20 billion in Citigroup on top of $25 billion the bank had already received 6)Committed $5 billion as a loan loss backstop to Citigroup 7)Agreed to loan $13.4 billion to GM and Chrysler to get them through the next few months. 8)Invested $5 billion in GMAC 9)BofA to Get $20B More From TARP, Plus Backstop on $118B
Below, see a list of participating companies. Last updated: 1/16/2009 using Treasury announcements. Click the headers of the columns to sort by company, state and amount.
Date Announced*
Company
Headquarters
Capital, in millions
Status**
10/28/2008
Citigroup Inc***
New York
$25,000
Completed
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co
Wells Fargo & Co
California
Bank of America Corp
North Carolina
$15,000
1/9/2009
Bank of America Corporation**
$10,000
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
Morgan Stanley
That boils down to just six mega-banks when the vrous names are combined: Citigroup, Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group, and Morgan Stanley.
They've already gotten our money once, and are looking for more. Bucks we haven't yet earned, and yet have still invested in them.
In the first round of payouts, executives blatantly thumbed their noses at the American public, taking ridiculously high bonuses - many millions of dollars apiece. But none of this so far has caused them to loosen their grip on loan resources for John and Sally Q. Public.
Now it remains to be seen if the current astronomically high amount of investment infusion will produce the desired results: more jobs, a revived economy, and the salvation of American home owners in danger of foreclosure.
One Corporate bank CEO told Barney Frank's congressional committee that his bank had so far saved 60,000 debtors from foreclosure.
But thousands of homes have already been lost.
My dear old bungalow house is among those remaining, badly in need of repairs and a lower interest rate should I wish to survive.
My credit? I recently sent for a "free" credit report, but it didn't include sufficient detail to completely review my status and rating, so I ended up purchasing the reports in their entirety from Experian, Transunion, and Equifax.
Turns out I haven't incurred any registered reports of late payments, because my bills have always been paid within 90 days.
But as to the status of my credit, I have watched as my open to buy was downgraded by the ever cautious and conservative American Express, and then upgraded by Discover and Chase. It has been a teeter-tottering experience, if not a mad merry-go-round,
Still, from day to day and week to week, the figures of my credit worthiness on charge cards have varied wildly between $10,000 to $30,000.
In a conversation with a Wells Fargo customer service representative, I was told that I should refinance my bill payer mortgage loan with them, and that they were "the most solvent bank in the country."
I responded to this pomposity by saying, "fine, send me the application in the mail, and I'll take a look at it." But the information has yet to appear.
It's the same old story. Major banks have yet to put their money where their mouths are.
I've grown all too weary of just scraping along. The irony of it all was brought home, as I was completing this article, by comedian Bill Maher this evening on the Larry King show. He offered the same analogy as I have in my past writings: "The foxes," in effect the Republicans, "have been in charge of the chicken coop too long!" He went on to observe that the disparity between the very few wealthy two percent of Americans and the increasing debt of the middle and lower classes has worsened the situation. He spoke of stagflation, but also observed that the living wages of American workers have hardly changed at all in the past thirty years. But the continued to charge on their cards, and buy homes with ever more inflated property values.
Now the boom, or balloon seems to have burst.
Today, adding the most historical of ironies to our national and world situation, is the two hundredth anniversary of the births of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. When one considers the politically divided United States and the status of a world torn by war, famine, and disease, it isn't at all a very secure situation. Survival sis not something for which mankind has ever been able to purchase a guarantee.
One wonders in this crisis what such a president as Abraham Lincoln would do. President Obama has been stumping the country for his policies, speaking to the common people, just as Lincoln once was the first to do - drawing crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, city by city traveling by train..
Lincoln has come to be seen in refreshed, detailed, and more balanced terms these days, with the observations of historians on two National Public Broadcasting shows which on February 11, 2009 cast new light on the great emancipator.
It turns out that he was a white supremacist, and that he had, according to latest research, mostly had economic factors in mind in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln's personality is now in retrospect thought to have been flawed by deep depression and the common white prejudices of his day. But he was a person who struggled against poverty early in life. He remarked that his early years could be summed up in one phrase: "The short and simple annals of the poor."
Could today's CEOs survive on even a hundred times the per diem expense of 75 cents, as did Lincoln and his 300 pound, lawyer partner when making the rounds of Illinois circuit courts?
I doubt it.
Atop his horse, Old Tom, Lincoln rode through prairie grasses that grew as high as his head all about him.
A brilliant litigator, he urged townspeople to, if at all possible, avoid the expenses of the legal system.
Still, he had to earn a living, and took cases both for an escaped slave and later for a Kentucky slave owner in the affirmative.
He never truly new financial prosperity, despite rising to the highest executive office in the land. He felt fortunate enough just to manage, and had difficulty keeping his wife, southern belle Mary Todd, happy.
But he successfully traversed troubled times, determined to keep the American Union intact. That also reminds me of the sea of growing debt we are now attempting to navigate.
Having a temper just like you and I, he even became involved in a sword duel which was narrowly averted by the two people who acted as seconds negotiating a settlement. Well, if he were around now, I firmly feel he'd be angry as hell, and cursing. Yes, Lincoln did curse, and also visited a prostitute, as well as indulging in "blacky" jokes.
Struggling as a young lawyer, when he finally won a big Illinois Supreme Court case, he had to sue merely to recover his fee.
Would he be chasing an economic ambulance these days? Perhaps. Or maybe he would be among the senators or their aids who are peppering Bankers and corporations with questions as to how they are using and misusing public stimulus and TARP funds.
He agonized over the Civil War and its consequent cost in human lives.
We are now at war upon fronts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And surely the most major cause of our national debt has been the horrendous military expenditures, as well as corporate greed by civil contracts acquired support without benefit of bidding and oversight. That has left former Vice President Cheney and his Halliburton far more wealthy than before.
Nothing is free. Everything innately in this life has its cost, whether in money, in patience, in labor, or in stress.
Which brings us back to the present day stress of bail outs and their price tags.
In our times adults responsible in the economic crisis have come to resemble children in a war of words.
Recall how, as kids we would try to outdo our playmates?
"You have a million of them? Well, I've got a billion!: Then the retort would be "a trillon" and following that a ba-zillion" and a "ga-zillion!" So went all the lofty taunts.
If money were humor, one could do a Jimmy Durante impersonation: "I've got a million of 'em, folks - a million of 'em!"
But it's greenbacks were talking about here.
Not jokes. Not astronomy either.
Yet we've had to put the subject of fiscal peril in terms that can only be viewed at such a great distance as to be cosmic in astrological euphemisms. And financial slavery has taken on the face of debt, rather than color.
Even the traditional national pass-time, baseball has been tainted. The Yankees will soon be playing in a stadium which replaces the "house that Ruth built," and its new name: Citibank! This sponsorship will benefit the team annually with its top heavy all-star payroll, to the tune of twenty billion dollars a year.
So one cannot help but draw the inevitable conclusion that poverty, with its attendant long term debt, is an equal opportunity mortgage banker - a present day Shylock - fixing the books, and embezzling the tax dollar. It's now a racetrack full of economically careless drivers. Just an accident, looking for a place to happen, it may soon resemble a veritable multi-vehicle auto accident resulting from veering around, and finally disastrously crashing. Or perhaps this has already occurred in terms beyond our wildest nightmares - and we are only just starting to realize it!
We've substituted dollar signs for stars in the process. Or are they planets - all of them red as Mars like the ink with which accounts note, penny by penny, our burgeoning budget?!
So, to quote the song from "My Fair Lady," "Are the stars out tonight? I don't care if it's cloudy or bright, 'cause I've only got eyes for you."
Unfortunately, it's not a love affair at all - if it ever was one - and it seems as though in point of fact our bankers only have unashamed lies for you.
They're at the top of the world, or out in the firmament, and they're looking down on us now.
But we've reached an impasse, and can no longer hold them in such high, starry eyed respect.
Maybe educators will one day thank them for introducing a new area of study. After all, they've introduced us to a possible whole area of research to be taught soon in our schools and colleges: "Astronomics$!."
Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com
It has been my perception that what has driven some Americans increasingly in the past two decades has been personal greed; greed not for just money but for power, control, influence, domination, security, knowledge, ideology, ..., all for individual or limited closed association/club benefit. That is not only the mentality of individuals, but of people operating in government and business as well.
We now witness the results of greed by a select few:
Corrupt and special interest government officials who set themselves above as aristocrats regulating government for their own investments or hidden ownerships in companies and organizations. Many who also take bribes and illicit favors from corrupt lobbyists.Laws are actually written/drafted by who? Do you really think your legislator, congressman, or senator sits down in front of a computer or uses his own pen and paper? Or, did you think it's his staff? It is lobbyists who actually do 99% of the work; work they have vested interests in, to see it is written the way their 'client' wants it worded. Do you as an individual have lobbyists employed by you? Financial institutions that cheat and steal from the unsuspecting, far beyond the weak laws of usury. Trustworthy? Bank & 'Trust?' Wanna givem another bailout for cheating? It looks like lobbying paid off for the financial 'institutions' (we have all been taught to 'respect?' the term 'institution?', but maybe we are learning). Insurance Companies that 'legally?' bribe law enforcement, judges, and congress/legislators with grants, equipment gifts, perks, and free trips in order to gain unprecedented influence/control -- everything from mandatory laws, to not or barely paying claims, to price fixing, to all sorts of corrupt and unfavorable methods imposed on individuals. Do most people realize that premiums (a name of 'respect?' for monthly payments you are charged) are used by Insurance Companies to pay for -- grants, equipment gifts, perks and trips as payoffs for public laws, regulations, and controls that the public does not want. It is a form of taxation represented/controlled by insurance companies, not taxation with public representation. It's a twisted form of taxation charged by insurance companies. Manufacturing barons who import economic slave labor and outsource to slavery. Pharmaceutical corporations that cover-up sickness and death with misinformation in order to push up profits. Weapons manufacturers that promote violence, war, and enduring sickness. Energy companies that monopolize production/prices and cause destructive environmental damage.American Companies, or those using names, that import/offshore products who turn a deaf ear and blind eye to safety, quality, and poisons.Service providers that care not about consumers but are strictly money driven, with less regard for employees; employees who suffer with unreasonable demands for performance and who are not paid a living wage. Private educational institutions that cater to the wealthy who have abandoned the public. The concept for the masses of "let them eat cake"; they will eventually go away from malnutrition of education because it will make them perish; and, those who survive can be the servants. Suburban Public School administrators in growing housing markets whose actual and hidden agendas are to serve land developers and government aristocrats. They play statistical number games made of fudge, intentionally choking out struggling students by actually encouraging students to drop out or be 'home schooled' by mom or dad. That's how suburban schools 'look' more attractive to potential home buyers, with faked academic 'success' -- faking the 'No Child Left Behind' statistics, a real game, using kids as pawns. But aristocrats brag, statistically they look like they have done a good enough job to re-elect them. And, most importantly to them, they can continue to reap the profits from either the land they own or are financially connected with.Inner City School administrators in decaying areas that hopelessly cope with being under funded, attracting the poorest quality teachers. Children do not choose to be born into poor families, or choose uncaring parents, nor do they choose parents that are ignorant and uneducated. Do these kids have the hope of opportunity? They are pushed aside as the burdens of a greedy society, in hopes they are not seen nor heard from now or later in life -- good to be used as the pawns in wars, or workers for catering to the wealthy though. Employees of city/county/state/fed. institutions (schools, universities, jails, prisons, leases/sales of buildings to Gov., contracted services, hospitals, VA facilities,...) who take kickbacks and gifts, in return for higher costs and sweetheart deals with companies often owned by or financially benefiting government aristocrats.Major colleges and universities chasing the buck by catering to overseas students. They somehow brag of a 40% to 60% foreign enrollment, while American students grasp for help and aid. Community colleges that are given the leftovers in funds, coping with unrealistic expectations of graduating students or preparing them for major colleges. Even with 100% tuition/books paid, it is unrealistic to expect students to juggle working full time jobs (for food and living) while going to school and studying full time. It is not surprising to see such an astronomically high dropout rate in America. Capitalist have made it clear to students, not to have hopes that are too costly; or, they will import already educated talent. Do wealthy capitalist require students in their families to work full time at low paying jobs while pursuing higher education's? Maybe they simply know it's a story made up for the 'less fortunate', like a fairytale dream, achieved by one to two percent and used as shining examples, stories told to pacify the masses. Those with capital also know, they can hire a well enough educated dropout at a reduced rate to do the job of a graduate, a real bargain. …
We could each recite instances far beyond this short list, and it is all for greed. People’s greed has been rooting through our nation and causing so much destruction. Certainly money has been a primary instrument of their greed, but their other instruments of power, control, influence, domination, security, knowledge, ideology, … have all been used to chip away and damage each of us who together form our great nation. With renewed vision and focused determination we will heal and rebuild to become more active and much stronger.
To learn more details, you can read my other three blogs about 1) Educational Devastation, The Need for an Entirely New System, 2) The Auto Industry, A Few of My Personal Experiences, and 3) Invention, Innovation, and Education.
Blog members can reply here, or anyone is welcome to contact me at: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com
I would like to wish everyone in Ozaukee County a very Happy New Year! As a small business owner and mother of a first-grader, the Presidential inauguration represents for me the dawn of hope for the future--for our beloved family business struggling with rising costs and diminished sales, our great country, and our sacred planet. I would like to invite everyone, particularly teachers and parents of young children--to please join in this historic inaugural celebration by participating in some kind of service to the community, in the days leading up to the Inauguration and beyond. Perhaps you could attend and participate more than usual in services at your church, help a friend or neighbor in need, contribute time or talent to your favorite charity, buy one of those bags of food for the needy at the grocery store, or choose to shop at your local store rather than big chains or online. Every little bit helps.
Those two newspapers were leaning against my front door this morning. I can't find the envelope with my cash tip inside. What am I going to do? I stood, newspapers in hand, and looked down my long driveway. It is a white nightmare down at the end of it. Overlapping plows in unwitnessed combat have crisscrossed the cul-du-sac and left jumbled 'Tiger Teeth' of piles strewn everywhere down there. I cannot imagine making my way into that mess to find my papers. I have got to tip this mysterious elusive newspaper person. Christmas stress. I read Judith Warner, a replacement columnist for David Brooks in the New York Times. Where is David? Oh, he needed a break for Christmas, I guess. These 'princes of press' must have their rest. I mean, after all, it takes intensive labor to sit and write something interesting. Another Christmas crock. Like the garbage Judith wrote this day. Brainless. Let's see, she writes about the fact that reason and logic are triumphing over the forces that make Christmas what it should be...wonder, marvel and faith. I am paraphrasing, as her stuff is not worth memorizing. She calls this the 'Woody Allenization' of Christmas. I do like that line, however misplaced and addled it is. You see, Judith is lost in the combating and overlapping mythologies of Christmas in our culture. She is all caught up in the Santa Claus thing, I guess. I am so very sorry Judith, but even though Norad has been tracking Santa's Christmas Eve flight ever since 1955, he is not real. We made it all up to have fun with our kids...and quite possibly for control and discipline purposes as well.
Christmas is filled with wonder, marvel and faith. You just have to look beyond the mythologies. The wonder that people can take a bit of time and think about the plight and condition of others around them. The marvel that they will go out and spend time and money to get something for somebody else that is just right, just to have that person feel a little bit better about life, and maybe them. The faith that something is at work of goodness, driven by, well, you don't have to know. You just have faith that there are more people like you out there, buying stuff not totally out of obligation but because you really want to get stuff for them. There was an old school joke about faith that always liked, even thought the underlying premise was discomforting. Johnny is sitting in the back of his grade school class when his teacher asks the big question. what is faith? Johnny raises his hand, which the teacher tries to avoid, as Johnny is a notorious trouble-maker (i like that part as I was always in that coat closet in my Catholic School for shameful questions). But the teacher caves in when there are no other hands. "Alright Johnny, go ahead...," the teacher says, with disappointment and a bit of trepidation. "Faith is believing in something that you know is not really true," Johnny responds, in his normal fashion. Johnny went, of course, straight to the coat closet, to inhale the aroma of all the little girl's coats hanging there, if he was like me. But the premise of that story is not true. You can have faith in any number of things that may or may not be true. We just don't have enough data or life experience to know. God is like that too. Is He there? Is He a He? What is the deal? I think He is, but I am not sure. I am beginning to sound like Woody Allen, who I never liked, although he is funny...but with some real bad personal habits.
About teaching. The Times had an article about teaching in it. The writer combined the plight and conduct of my beloved auto workers with that of teachers. They are unappreciated. That part is true. But auto workers do not stay up nights working on their stuff, worrying about their charges and taking extra time and effort to help a small person who really needs it. Teachers are different. I know one well. I mean one right now, sleeping and shopping away because she is off for the holiday (one of the few small benefits of the profession). This teacher is kinda normal I think. She asked me to write a short story for her grade school classes. So I wrote The Treasure Pool, which is found somewhere back there in these blogs. She gave out forty-nine copies and then had all the students write reviews back to me. She copied and stapled, read the story to make sure I had not slipped in any filth (I am, after all, an ex-Marine!) and then spent time and trouble helping these kids to come to terms with the plot, the theme and the elements of English such necessary educational arrows to have in their quivers. The critiques came back, and they were wonderful. Oh, I got dinged pretty good on my grades in certain areas. I wrote back to those kids who had given me bad grades for the most minor of things. I was stung. I was nice, but I had to say something! But the story is not about me. It is about the extra time and effort this teacher, Mrs. Machado, takes to really help and advance her students. She is an example of what it is all about out here, and in this holiday season. She follows Sister Sarah Fogarty (my fourth grade teachere) and Sister Michael Marie (my fifth grade teacher) in being one of those unknown and unsung saints. Maybe here, in this lonely blog, she will get the only public recognition she ever gets. But she is all about Christmas. The embodiment. And she is filled with reason and logic and understanding the universe. But she is also a thing of wonder, marvel and faith. Merry Crhistmas Anise Machado. We love you.
The Pickens Plan: For those who would like to become an active participant in a solution for our nations energy needs I urge you to join with T.Boone Pickens in his quest for a cleaner planet through alternative energy.
Also see Green Wave Energy: Green Wave was founded by Mark Holmes and was formulated for viable alternative energy solutions. Green Wave Energy is promoting state-of-the-art energy-saving products and services throughout the country.
Green Wave Energy understands alternative energy technology will become “main stream” when
Call 949.645.1701 for information on how Green Wave Energy can help you save the planet.
Alternative EnergySource: David Apperson
url: http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/alternative-energy
With the hope, unity and excitement of Barack Obama's victory, many have commented that we're feeling a sense of both national and spiritual renewal that's almost like a revival.
To that end, please take a look at a design I created:
www.cafepress.com/teachers4peace
Congrats, even my 80 year old mother in Indiana voted for you which was no small feat. I am a college professor in Fort Lauderdale and I made sure all my students went out and voted but I want to tell you, I admire your managerial skills, more than anything. One of the main things is getting people involved, when a person believes what they are doing is their idea or benefit to them, they always perform much better. Never before have I seen this applied enmasse as you did with our volunteers and donaters, which brings me to my point.As a professor, I have noted that you already have a majority of the young people in college with you and now feeling part of our success. They are involved in your presidency and a year ago they did not even know who the vice president was. It is a entire new attitude from the young people, I love it. I have never seen this in 25 years of teaching.
My suggestion.. .offer a scholarship competition for the best energy efficient vehicle design,energy use in building and interior design, new energy sources and so on and so forth. Allow it developed at the university level in team effort so cross over skills in various programs can be utilized. Whenever ideas are exchanged between different majors thats when innovative new ideas occur Have a top 3-5 winner range,reward all members of the TEAM , faculty involved and school and do it annually. You have a fired up base, students as well as educators. The minds are here to help America solve our energy crisis, competition always leads to perfection,drive and purpose. The reward increases all of these.I am working in holographic technology we have already took 200 dollars worth of equipment and a couple months ago made a HD TV display the objects as holographs in front of you. This technology would decrease the need to travel by virtually putting someone in a conference room with complete interactivity without being there. If you watched CNN on election night they did this with an alternative method of broadcasting a live person.
This is here and it is available now.
Anyway, all America needs is a push in the educational system to develop it cheaply and enmasse.
If new jobs and new energy is what we need, we need new inovations and lets put our young minds in this manhanttan project and become the technology leaders of the world.
Ralph H. Baer Joins the www.GamingKrib.com as an Advisor…“Father of the Video Game” in 1966 Ralph made a revolutionary invention: the video game - many of them. He is noted for his many contributions to games and the video game industry. In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology for inventing the home console for video games and spawning the video game industry. In 2005, he recieved the “Legend Award” for his work in the development of video games.between learning and retaining math information.
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So, I'm at a union meeting, because that's where I go. And there's this one teacher who is all over McCain because you know, she thinks Obama is . . .scary (and we know that's not even a cover for what she'd like to say) and I start with the Obama points:
1. He's going to overhaul NCLB.
2. He's for the funding that will help us get our kids where they need to be.
3. He's a real person who's not going to make our kids suffer through scads of testing in hopes of making them smarter through bubbles.
We (NEA) endorsed him. We need him.
LEAVE MY CHILD ALONE!
Did you know that President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act mandates that public high schools must turn over private student contact information to local military recruiters or risk losing federal education funding? And not only that but the Pentagon has compiled a database of over 30 million young people, including 16 and 17 year olds, for the purpose of military recruitment?
The Leave My Child Alone coalition makes it easy to protect children from unwanted military recruiting by getting their names off both these lists. To opt your child out, go to:http://www.leavemychildalone.org
You can also join up with other concerned parents, teachers, grandparents, veterans and members of your local community by attending or organizing school board meeting outings to advocate for opt out policies and pass model school board resolutions. To find out about events near you or to find out how you can organize an event yourself, go to:http://www.leavemychildalone.org/
The Leave My Child Alone coalition was created by Working Assets, Mainstreet Moms and ACORN to protect high school students from unwanted military recruiting. Since the coalition's launch on Mother's Day 2005, concerned parents nationwide have held over 450 "opt out" events, and thousands of kids have been opted out of lists that public high schools turn over to military recruiters.
Watch a free video online and access advocacy material at the link below:
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/
The state is floating a proposal to remove the 3% COLA that's been promised to our Teacher Retirement System (TRS) for years. Please contact the executive director of the TRS here:
executive.director@trsga.com
and let them know you oppose the proposed change to TRS! More details and contact info below.
Tom McMahan, NBCTCatoosa County
Speak up for your Retirement!
To the members of the Georgia Association of Educators:
TRS, the Teachers' Retirement System, is considering a proposal that could reduce the amount of money that they have guaranteed you. GAE vehemently stands against any effort to weaken your retirement. You've spent your career investing in this state and its children. The state of Georgia must continue to honor that commitment. GAE attended a recent Board of Trustees meeting of the Teachers' Retirement System where a proposal was presented to alter the way your guaranteed Cost Of Living Adjustment, or COLA is determined. Historically, retired educators could count on a three percent COLA increase. The proposal before TRS is to allow the flexibility to determine your increase on a sliding scale-a scale that might not work in your best interest. The proposed language provides that "a cost-of-living increment may be granted two times a year." This removes the current certainty that as a member of TRS you will be granted a 1.5% COLA in January and July.
GAE believes a promise made should be a promise kept. We are working with you to see that this promise is kept. GAE will continue to engage in dialogue with the Executive Director of TRS, Jeff Ezell, about this issue and will be participating in a coalition with other stakeholder organizations to defeat this proposal. On Thursday, October 2, GAE will be attending a Retiree COLA Study meeting at the legislature. We will provide an update from that meeting.
Here's what you can do to help.
To make any changes to the retirement system, Georgia law requires at least a 30-day notice prior to taking action. That means you have 30 days to take action. You may submit in writing your opinions to the TRS Board of Trustees. The Board must consider all such submissions prior to final adoption of any policy change. We must act quickly to stop this action!
Today. Send an email. Write a letter. Say no to the change. Say yes to a fully funded retirement. Let TRS know how this change will affect your retirement.
Thursday, November 19, 2008 at 10:30am - Pack the TR House! The TRS Board of Trustees will hold a meeting to vote on this issue. You need to be there. GAE needs to be there in full force! The meeting will be held at 2 Northside 75, Suite 100, Atlanta, Georgia 30318. Send your letters to GAE- we will be compiling them and delivering them to TRS.
its important, take a few minutes and write a letter folks! We should be outraged. Our future lies in the best education we can offer our children so they won't need a "Resue Plan." Will the best teachers be available for long with such low wages & no pay growth?
I find Governor Palin’s belittlement of Senator Barack Obama career accomplishments offensive. Since when does being a teacher count for nothing? Coming from a long line of teachers I find teachers share many attributes/skills that will serve them well in government. Teachers need to know how to collaborate effectively, how to work with a diverse group of people and how to listen in a way that allows others to feel comfortable enough to share their concerns. They have to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and refine themselves and their message should the need arise. Teachers have to know how to lead critical discussion, they must be able to problem solve effectively, find insight in unlikely place, they have to be flexible and clear up misconceptions quickly. Teachers must be able to show how different ideas connect and show how they apply to everyday life. Great teachers have to communicate effectively, know how to procure and use outside help, treat people with dignity and respect, share personal stories to inspire others and show genuine interest and concern for those at the top as well as the bottom of the ladder. They must possess a willingness to encourage, to teach responsibility and work long hours for little pay . Teaching is an honorable profession for millions of Americans. I am saddened and insulted that Governor Palin does not recognize that teaching , being a community organizer, a member of the state legislature and the US Senate prepares you for handling more complex issues in an honorable and intelligent manner. Attacking and belittling does not belong in the classroom nor in government. Personally, I like Senator Obama’s subtle but persuasive style. I suspect that other world leaders will too.
For your convenience, you may skip over the BOLD AND ITALIC AND UNDERLINED material (can i get a highlighter tool in this HTML editor PLEASEEEEE pretty please). It is redundant to the points on his education policy, and serve as just reinforcement to those points. I do encourage you to read them though, they are written with my own personal real life experience.
OBAMAS EDUCATION PLAN
TOTAL ESTIMATED COST: $18 billion per year.
TOTAL ACTUAL COST OF IRAQ WAR TODAY: $5.1 billion per month, and a staggering $61.2 billion per year.
Some would say that Obama makes outlandish promises. Well i think if we can spend $61.2 billion a year in iraq sitting in a desert fueling extremism, we certainly can spend $18 billion a year on our future; the youth of the united states.
Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's teachers
5) Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location. We pay your school, you then come teach our kids that most need it. If you want to teach, and in all honesty only teachers that love their jobs should be teachers, then under obama believe me youll get what you want.
6) Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools. He will require all schools to be accredited, which means no more "hawk academy" or a christian charter school that mails you a high school diploma test for 200 bucks.Accreditation is the process of reviewing a school's programs and policies to see if its meets the criteria set by outside agencies like the US department of education. When a school is found to meet the minimum criteria set by an outside agency, it is granted accreditation. If not accredited your high school diploma wont allow you to get into college, or get the same paying jobs as other hard working graduates. THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO THAT DIPLOMA.
HIGHER EDUCATION
7) American Opportunity Tax Credit - This will help ME get back into college. This will cover in full the average community college (like miami dade community college) and almost 2/3rds of the average public university with a 4k tax credit. This will be in addition to the grants and aide available already through FAFSA.
8) Simplifying the financial aide process - LOL wow do i love this one, its just a no brainer. Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application. in the words of my wonderful baby niece DUH!!! anyone who reads this and has applied for financial aide will love this idea.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/ - This is his detailed written policy on education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGcr1UZpBfA - Great speech where obama lays out his entire education plan in 36 minutes today (september 9th).
Obama lays out a well known fact that the world as it exists today has never encountered the challenges we are facing. 18 years ago (when i was 2 years old) the internet was just a small local network in a university laboratory. It has changed the world by creating a global economy, because now a business can operate from anywhere there is an internet connection. This means that where in the last half of the 20th century wealth was the real way to ascertain power, in the 21st century its all about information.To survive in this new world we need to be the worlds leader in education. In miami springs senior high school and in every single public school PERIOD in florida, schools are given a grade on performance. Based on that grade in performance, the schools budget is allocated by the superintendent. The lower the grade, the lower the budget. The performance is measured, and this is a fact, by 2 factors. first factor is the schools overall test results for ONE SINGLE test called the CAT test; FCAT here in florida. Second factor is overall student attendance. *!!!WARNING; JOSE'S FACT ALERT !!!the important stuff was up there numbered. Reading further exposes you to REAL facts. Conservatives, beware. LOL What happens as a result of the failed "no child left behind act", which is what happen to me during my high school years, is that instead of focusing on class subject matter, schools FORCE you in french class, in arts, in computer class, in history class to take constantly 5 or 6 Practice fcats a week, your writing a weekly 3 paragraph composition (usually with the same topics lol) and the teachers are STRICTLY forbidden to veer off those topics. You go to high school for four years to learn how to take an fcat pretty much. If your peers in high school dont give a rats ass about the test and they do bad, and we know that kind of attitude in a high school is very contagious, then you will be affected, because your schools budget will be decreased and you will have more bitter teachers who didnt get a raise, Old locker rooms to put stuff in, DISGUSTING bathrooms to do your business in, 8 to 10 year old math books (can you believe that my algebra 2 book in 2003 was the SAME EXACT book my older brother used in springs when he took the class in 96-97?). None of you know this unless ofcourse you went to high school during the bush administration, and got to witness this whole CRAZY plan to give schools their ever so necessary budgets based on ONE stupid test. Best part, the test only counts for 12th graders and 10th graders, so you waste your entire freshman and junior year preparing for a test that over the summer you forget all about. WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM CAN ANYONE GUESS? Did you guys know that McCain at one point supported ABOLISHING the department of education. "I would certainly favor doing away with the Department of Energy and I think that given the origins of the Department of Education," the Senator (McCain) said on CNN's Late Edition in December 1994. "I would favor doing away with it as well." for full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/09/mccain-backed-abolishing_n_125096.html .
Obama lays out a well known fact that the world as it exists today has never encountered the challenges we are facing. 18 years ago (when i was 2 years old) the internet was just a small local network in a university laboratory. It has changed the world by creating a global economy, because now a business can operate from anywhere there is an internet connection. This means that where in the last half of the 20th century wealth was the real way to ascertain power, in the 21st century its all about information.To survive in this new world we need to be the worlds leader in education.
In miami springs senior high school and in every single public school PERIOD in florida, schools are given a grade on performance. Based on that grade in performance, the schools budget is allocated by the superintendent. The lower the grade, the lower the budget. The performance is measured, and this is a fact, by 2 factors. first factor is the schools overall test results for ONE SINGLE test called the CAT test; FCAT here in florida. Second factor is overall student attendance.
*!!!WARNING; JOSE'S FACT ALERT !!!the important stuff was up there numbered. Reading further exposes you to REAL facts. Conservatives, beware. LOL
What happens as a result of the failed "no child left behind act", which is what happen to me during my high school years, is that instead of focusing on class subject matter, schools FORCE you in french class, in arts, in computer class, in history class to take constantly 5 or 6 Practice fcats a week, your writing a weekly 3 paragraph composition (usually with the same topics lol) and the teachers are STRICTLY forbidden to veer off those topics. You go to high school for four years to learn how to take an fcat pretty much. If your peers in high school dont give a rats ass about the test and they do bad, and we know that kind of attitude in a high school is very contagious, then you will be affected, because your schools budget will be decreased and you will have more bitter teachers who didnt get a raise, Old locker rooms to put stuff in, DISGUSTING bathrooms to do your business in, 8 to 10 year old math books (can you believe that my algebra 2 book in 2003 was the SAME EXACT book my older brother used in springs when he took the class in 96-97?). None of you know this unless ofcourse you went to high school during the bush administration, and got to witness this whole CRAZY plan to give schools their ever so necessary budgets based on ONE stupid test. Best part, the test only counts for 12th graders and 10th graders, so you waste your entire freshman and junior year preparing for a test that over the summer you forget all about. WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM CAN ANYONE GUESS?
Did you guys know that McCain at one point supported ABOLISHING the department of education. "I would certainly favor doing away with the Department of Energy and I think that given the origins of the Department of Education," the Senator (McCain) said on CNN's Late Edition in December 1994. "I would favor doing away with it as well." for full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/09/mccain-backed-abolishing_n_125096.html .
Here in Riverside, near Dayton, Barack just finished giving remarks at Stebbins High School, where he very clearly laid out the planks of his education platform--which aims to get American children to compete in the globalized world of the 21st century.
Barack was introduced by Greg, a local Dayton parent (and former Republican) who has been closely involved in his child's education. He was a perfect predecessor to Barack, because the fundamentals of Barack's education policy are rooted in the strong conviction that everyone--teachers, the government, and especially parents--must be involved in order for kids to make progress at school. Barack had this to say:
It's time to stop passing the buck on education, and hold ourselves accountable...It starts in our home. It starts in our family. No government program can turn off the TV set, or put away the video games, or read to your children. But we can help parents do a better job.
It's time to stop passing the buck on education, and hold ourselves accountable...
It starts in our home. It starts in our family. No government program can turn off the TV set, or put away the video games, or read to your children. But we can help parents do a better job.
He then floated the idea of posting report cards online for parents, so that they can more easily track their child's progress, and determine for themselves how involved they need to be.
But what Barack made sure that everyone knew at this event was that he is an unwavering advocate of public education. Beyond fully funding No Child Left Behind, he established firm ideas on how to make public schools competitive, so that children are guaranteed the best education and are fully prepared for college. This includes prioritizing the recruitment of well-trained teachers, and helping floundering schools instead of leaving them by the wayside.
All of this was in addition to his consistently mentioned plan to prioritize early childhood education and help pay for the schooling of students who choose public service as a profession. At its heart, Barack's plan calls for the federal support of education programs that have been proven to work. And as for funding? Barack swiftly allayed that concern with a one-liner that had the numerous teachers hungry for change here standing up off their seats:
We can do all of this, for the cost of just a couple days in Iraq.
With a meeting scheduled afterwards with the embattled workers of the DHL subsidiaries in the Wilmington area, who potentially face massive job cuts, today Barack is letting it be known that he cares about the struggles of Southwest Ohio.
Apparently part of McCain's education plan is to "reward good teachers and help bad teachers find a new line of work."
When I heard this, I had just returned from a county special education meeting, two extra mandatory hours at the end of a workday that, all told, shook out at 12 and a half hours long. I was a little embarrassed to show up at the meeting late, but I had no choice. I had to park at the bottom of a steep hill and walk up because my '92 Plymouth has 316,000 miles on it and can no longer navigate steep hills. I smelled like sweat from the walk and like vomit from an incident at school. One of my special needs students became upset and induced vomiting, hoping to be sent home early. When that didn't work, he began hitting, kicking, and ripping his own clothing. He then dashed from the classroom and ran down the hallway screaming. Luckily I wear tennis shoes for just such pursuits, but I wish I could learn more strategies to stop these incidents before they start.
At this meeting, we were informed that requests for staff training or professional development this year will likely not be approved because there is simply no money left for training this year in the special education department.McCain is going to "help bad teachers find a new line of work"? Instead of helping districts find a budget that allows us to train our dedicated and promising but exhausted and frustrated and untrained staff?Surveys show that 44% of new teachers feel "very unprepared" when they enter their first year of teaching. Yet 89% of them say there is nothing else they would rather be doing. I can't think of a crazier or more dedicated group of young people who, if properly trained, could be entering a lifelong career -- but probably aren't, because, if they're like 50% of their colleages, they will tire of the early mornings and the late nights and the lack of training and the lack of money and the low pay and the buildings with mold in the air ducts and they will quit in the first 5 years.
Your Moment! When the times are too great, and the paradox are set for equality, this moment is that time.When the world is at its lift and the constellation meets the mitts; this moment is that time.When those that mock, and mark the leadership qualities in a candidate that has been opposed, this moment is that time.When the opposing incumbent party is cynical of the ideas that the opposition presides, and says that's not leadership and then rephrases those ideas, to make a claim on them; is a true lack of leadership. That's when you know this is the time.This time the political gamesmanship on pandering politics -- where the bureaucrats only seek gaming the political system, to have power and control; where they spend hours looking at their profits and not the harm to the economy -- this is the moment in time that change has come. That's when you know this is the time.Change is not about: A Man with pigment in his skin, change is not about a women on a ticket; Change is not about an elder being begged to change their stubborn ways. Have you ever tried to get an elder to change their old habits -- It's hard work but it takes a spirited leader: Like Barack Obama and a nobody like Omar Dyer: two community Organizers to organize change.Change is not about; saying this person is a better American, and the other is fraud. Change is when noticeable theories are not correct and a new course is needed; a true leader will say, "I made this move because that's the change we need."Change is when a person makes the ultimate sacrifice in good of the people they represent. If you follow your candidate: Follow, if you believe your candidate: Believe. You don't need to be little others because they don't have the same views as you. That's when you know it's time to change. That's the type of politics we need to change!We are in a moment where the bitterness of someone's' pigment in their skin has no barring on the character on the content of their minds -- in a new direction to lead.We can't afford to demonize an American child because they don't come from my hood. We can't afford to demonize an American child because they don't have the same ideological thinking as you do! This campaign is not about being a celebrity in politics, making one before the other: this campaign is about all Americans, coming together and forming: One Nation. One America, a speech John Edwards wrote; a vision Abraham Lincoln saw, a dream Martin Luther King Jr. spoke -- a Hope, Barack Obama preached, and a grassroots campaign achievement by a local community organizer; in which help bring in more community organizers to unite this country from the bottom up. As one of the leaders in Barack Obama's New Jersey's Grassroots Finance Committee in campaigning and organizing; a local community organizer, and other locals like: "Omar Dyer: TheFanNJ," has helped transformed the internet as a reliable source of organizing marching and bringing people to Barack Obama's campaign. TheFanNJ has been strictly better than Karl Rove; and it was done on clean politics.
Your Moment!
When the times are too great, and the paradox are set for equality, this moment is that time.
When the world is at its lift and the constellation meets the mitts; this moment is that time.
When those that mock, and mark the leadership qualities in a candidate that has been opposed, this moment is that time.
When the opposing incumbent party is cynical of the ideas that the opposition presides, and says that's not leadership and then rephrases those ideas, to make a claim on them; is a true lack of leadership. That's when you know this is the time.
This time the political gamesmanship on pandering politics -- where the bureaucrats only seek gaming the political system, to have power and control; where they spend hours looking at their profits and not the harm to the economy -- this is the moment in time that change has come. That's when you know this is the time.
Change is not about: A Man with pigment in his skin, change is not about a women on a ticket; Change is not about an elder being begged to change their stubborn ways. Have you ever tried to get an elder to change their old habits -- It's hard work but it takes a spirited leader: Like Barack Obama and a nobody like Omar Dyer: two community Organizers to organize change.
Change is not about; saying this person is a better American, and the other is fraud.
Change is when noticeable theories are not correct and a new course is needed; a true leader will say, "I made this move because that's the change we need."
Change is when a person makes the ultimate sacrifice in good of the people they represent. If you follow your candidate: Follow, if you believe your candidate: Believe. You don't need to be little others because they don't have the same views as you. That's when you know it's time to change. That's the type of politics we need to change!
We are in a moment where the bitterness of someone's' pigment in their skin has no barring on the character on the content of their minds -- in a new direction to lead.
We can't afford to demonize an American child because they don't come from my hood.
We can't afford to demonize an American child because they don't have the same ideological thinking as you do!
This campaign is not about being a celebrity in politics, making one before the other: this campaign is about all Americans, coming together and forming: One Nation. One America, a speech John Edwards wrote; a vision Abraham Lincoln saw, a dream Martin Luther King Jr. spoke -- a Hope, Barack Obama preached, and a grassroots campaign achievement by a local community organizer; in which help bring in more community organizers to unite this country from the bottom up. As one of the leaders in Barack Obama's New Jersey's Grassroots Finance Committee in campaigning and organizing; a local community organizer, and other locals like: "Omar Dyer: TheFanNJ," has helped transformed the internet as a reliable source of organizing marching and bringing people to Barack Obama's campaign. TheFanNJ has been strictly better than Karl Rove; and it was done on clean politics.
Another note on shallow things that caught my attention and made me a believer in the Democratic side of things rather than the Republican or some other indie platform: Joe Biden and Dr. Biden.
My appreciation of Joe Biden is for true-blue reasons. He has done a lot, his record is clearly impressive, he's a no-nonsense kind of guy. I like to think that part of the reason Obama wants him on the ticket is because Biden was one of the first to state that he thought Obama wasn't ready for the job.
I can appreciate what Obama did here. He chose the guy who had explainable reasons for not thinking he was choice #1 and he brought this person, with all his experience, to his side to ensure that he was ready, that he was prepared for disbelievers.
This honestly sounds like a brilliant move to me.
Dr. Biden doesn't hurt the message at all, either -- she's one of my excuses for appreciating the ticket on a shallow level. I love Michelle Obama. She pretty much owns. But Jill Biden is an ENGLISH PROFESSOR at a COMMUNITY COLLEGE. My heart FLEW when I read this.
What educators are more bare-bones and underrated than community college professors? I started off college in a big state school in an Honors program. Sure, I loved the hell out of at least one of my professors, but when I screwed around and had to tame my social life back down, I returned to school as a community college student. I've now graduated from a four-year university, but I swear if I had the spare change for it, I'd go back to my local CC every year just to dabble in something new. I did for a while -- hospitality, cooking, baking, security, foreign languages -- but for sure the most versitile and worldly of my English professors (and I've had quite a few as a Lit Major) were my community college professors. And so I just plain love Dr. Biden for this. Mrs. Obama is a strong, kickass speaker in her own right, but Dr. Biden's story just stands out to me.
After "meeting" the candidates and their families, the thing that clinched it for me was the "Issues" section of the website. You can go directly to the things that need to make the most sense to you.
This is also how, in a long, heated conversation yesterday, I also got my mom to start thinking away from McCain. She's already frustrated with the Palin decision and was convinced, before, by the fact that all her mom's friends and relatives back in Chicago are making sure others are registered to vote just so that they can convince them to vote anti-Obama.
Though she feels she is beyond the concerned age, my mother still despises the fact that old men feel they have a right to rule over the reproductive organs of women. In the "Issues" section, this site makes it clear that Obama does not intend to try and force the disappearance of the Roe v. Wade decision and that's one of the biggest reasons he has my vote.
My mother also felt that McCain would do more to keep money in her pockets and that Obama planned to take more money away from her paychecks for social security. I explained to her that I wasn't sure about that - I'm never very clear on money issues and I'll admit that as soon as people start talking in numbers, my brain switches off - but what I am sure about is that, one way or another, your money always disappears. And it's never going to go exactly where you think it needs to go, but how about this: her entire paycheck goes to the monthly cost of gas for my father's commute to and from work. McCain is a proponent of offshore drilling, which won't actually yield any relief to our economy for *years.* Obama wants us to find another way.
For obvious reasons, this got her attention. What is taking more out of her pockets than gasoline these days?
I feel that my mom is really ready to vote for McCain. She voted for Bush the last two times even though she's a Democrat. I don't know where she thinks these last eight years have really worked out so stellar for her.
I'm still boggled.
