A Little Brief Authority

According to a letter in today’s Hays Daily News, Dr. Tiller should not have been allowed to be a member of a church because he was a known sinner. This letter was written by a Rev. Ron Ely.

First of all, as I tell all of my students, a writer will not be taken seriously if he/she makes obvious grammatical errors. My first read of today’s aforementioned letter was almost painful to this English teacher because of its syntactical and grammatical stumbles.

More important, however, is the content of the letter. I have some questions for the reverend. Aren’t all men and women sinners by our very nature? Does God and/or the Bible tell us to judge our fellow humans? Or is that God’s job? Does Rev. Ely claim to be Dr. Tiller’s judge? Are not Christians supposed to love one another, especially sinners? If church leaders took it upon themselves to kick all sinners out of churches, I fear there would be no one left. If there was some kind of requirement for admittance to church, what would it be? What sins would be accepted and which one would cause casting out? In my opinion, this letter preaches hate, rather than the love that Christ commands of his followers.

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I remember how I felt when I first heard that the U.S. was being accused of torturing prisoners of war.  My initial thought was, “That’s ridiculous. America would never even think about torturing prisoners.”  Oh, how my thoughts have changed.  And how sad it is to realize that I can now accept the fact that the U.S. has used torture and not even be upset about it.  After all of the news stories and pictures that I’ve been exposed to, the idea of torture has somehow become commonplace to me, and that is tragic.

Luckily, some people out there have not forgotten what a travesty it is that America lowered itself to the level of torturer, and they are trying to get the country to fight to regain our dignity and respect around the world.  This will happen only if the country prosecutes those responsible for authorizing the use of torture.  Some organizations are pushing hard for this prosecution, but it won’t be easy. 

I just finished reading The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer, which not only documents the acts of torture, but also names the people involved in sanctioning the acts (and also those who tried to stop the downward moral and legal spiral).  I would recommend that all citizens take time to become knowledgeable of this recent period in America’s history, one that destroyed our reputation around the world and damaged the souls of many of our citizens. Learn about how members of the Bush administration subverted the legal system and America’s system of checks and balances to get what they wanted.  It is disturbing.

If you become informed and are interested in joining the movement to bring the guilty to justice, many organizations are working to make that happen, such as the one below.

Formal Petition to Attorney General-Designate Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in War Crimes.

Sponsored by Docudharma.com and Democrats.com.

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It is state assessment time again.  As a teacher, I feel qualified to discuss the effects of state assessment pressure on the school system.  I am not just speaking for myself, but for many of my friends and family who are also teachers and share that pressure.  I do not hesitate to say that a majority of teachers would be thrilled if the state and country lessened the importance put on state assessments.  Teachers (who are the true education experts, remember) do not believe that these test give any indication of their students’ knowledge or capabilities; they only show how well we have taught the test material.  And who is to say that this material is what will make students successful in life?

Creating successful citizens used to be the goal of education, and still would be, if we could decrease the amount of time, energy, and resources put directly toward the material that the state uses to measure success.  Talk to a teacher (especially one that taught before the assessment mania), and ask him/her about teaching in the current school environment versus the past.  You may see eyes glaze over with a wistful look as he/she remembers what it used to be like to teach–when teachers could still convey their love of subject and of learning to their students.  Now, we have to find creative ways to work in any material we may think is crucial to a complete education, while being absolutely sure to cover the specific skills targeted by the state test.

Maybe if I didn’t teach a tested area, English, I wouldn’t feel so bitter.  If I taught art, music, technology, ag, woodworking–any area other than English, math, science, or social studies–I could still enjoy my profession.  These teachers miss out on all the meetings, emails, scheduling mandates, and other directives with which we core teachers are inundated throughout the school year, and no one comes into their classrooms and tells them what to teach.  They are trusted with these choices, as educated professionals should be.

For new teachers, I can only hope that they are not entering the profession with a truly heartfelt desire to instill a love of learning in their students.  If they are, I wonder how long they will last when they realize that schools want high test scores, period. Teachers no longer need to worry about what students THINK, because all that matter is what they can DO on the test.  If, when they leave school, they can’t really think creatively or can’t problem solve or can’t understand reading for its own sake, don’t be surprised.

As for what the students think about these assessments, I can say that high school students perform to the best of their ability because they have accepted that that is what the school wants and needs.  However, according to the elementary teachers, the amount of stress felt by young children, who can’t understand the politics of it all, is very distressing. In the past, elementary teachers were envied by high school teachers because young students still had that pure joy of learning.  No longer.  Do you know that kindergarten students are tested and can be assessed as behind?  In kindergarten?  Forget about naps, recess, and milk time.  We need to get those five-year-olds on board before it’s too late!

If I sound disillusioned, it’s because I am.  As a senior teacher, I will continue to do as I am told for the time I have left, but I must say that I no longer love my chosen career; now it’s just a job.  I will always hope for the best for my students, but can’t say that I am giving that to them, through no fault of mine.

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As I listened to the Biden/Palin debate, I was offended by the patronizing tone of Palin. I fully realize that she was coached to be the link to the middle class, but I am the middle class and I’m not an idiot. If she wants to be one of “us,” there probably are better strategies than talking down to us. Dropping her g’s on verbs does not make her sound like me; it makes her sound unintelligent. Saying things like “gosh” and “gee” don’t make me feel connected to her; it makes me want distance. Her most offensive effort to sound like me was her “Joe Six-Pack” and “Soccer mom” labels for middle class men and women. Not every middle class person is a beer-drinking, grammatically-inept oaf who can be swayed by someone acting like she is just another one of the “guys and gals.” Sorry, Sarah, but the middle class contains some very intelligent and knowledgeable people whom you are not fooling.

For someone who is vying for the second highest position of power in this country, Palin should come across as MORE intelligent and knowledgeable than the average citizen. It will not insult me if Palin is more intelligent than I am; that is a qualification for any person running for VP of this country. Palin’s effort to sound down to earth scares me into thinking she really isn’t up to the job (not that I actually thought she was qualified before the debate).

So, Sarah, don’t call me “Joe Six-Pack,” please. It’s insulting and I don’t drink beer. Now, I might accept the title Kathy Chardonnay.

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I teach high school students, and I have been hearing a new term this year–”hater.”  When a student is being rude to someone, I’ll hear a comment about being a “hater.”  This term is very negative to teens today, which I like.  I will hear something like, “Why are you being such a hater?” and other students chime in toward the recipient of the remark.  It seems like there is a new outlook among our youth about getting along and not being hurtful toward others.  This is good.

Now, I will take this a step further and say, “Don’t be a hater; be a Democrat.”

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I watched both the Democratic and Republican conventions this year with more scrutiny than ever before. My intense interest existed because I feel that so much is at stake in this election. Never has our country been in such a sorry state in so many areas. What I saw were two every different conventions.

First came the Democratic convention. At the end of every night of convention viewing, I felt hopeful that America will not stay in this state of disrespect, disarray, and discouragement. The speakers and attendees were enjoying themselves and each other, an effective representation of how members of this diverse nation can and should get along. Shots of the crowd showed people of our various races, ages, genders, economic levels, and social background. Most importantly, the speakers talked about the ability of our country to change back to the America that we once were–a country striving for equality for all citizens in all areas of life, a country that does not thrive on war and strife, a country whose goal is to continually improve the lives of all its people.

Then came the Republican convention. During that week I went to sleep angry, discouraged, frightened, outraged–name the negative emotion, and I felt it. Shots of the Republican crowd showed an overwhelming representation of white males, mostly past middle age. I saw a few gray-haired women and two blacks. However, what bothered me most were the speeches, especially Wednesday night. Rudy Guiliani was rude, mocking, and sarcastic toward Senator Obama, and the crowd loved it!  That reaction especially bothered me–that people would laugh and cheer for such hateful, hurtful speech.  Then the unknown VP nominee, Sarah Palin, spoke, and she was just as rude.  How can someone so new to the national political scene feel that she qualifies to be critical of any other politician, much less someone with the years of experience of Obama and the respect that he garners?  But, once again, the Republican loved her.

What I viewed the last two weeks scares me because I saw a side of humans that I can’t understand.  Perhaps, because I grew up in the hippie era, I remember the ideas of peace and love and I believe in them.  I do not understand the ideas of hate and hurt.  I saw people that do understand these destructive ideas, and the fact that they could control my fate and the fate of my country is abhorrent to me.  If only the people in the Republican audience would have booed the negative attacks of the speakers, my faith in people would not be so damaged and I would not fear America’s possible future.  We will all have to work very hard to assure the election of Obama.  I don’t know absolutely that he is the perfect man for the job of president, but I do know that the Republican party does not represent our true American values.

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At a recent town hall meeting Senator John McCain seemed to agree with an audience member’s statement that America needs to reenact the military draft. As I watch the conversation, I see a man who loses interest in what the woman is saying and therefore can’t give any other response than to say that he agrees with everything she has said. But maybe he did hear it and does agree with her statement of need for the draft. Which is more frightening–that McCain supports the draft or that he can’t attend to a two-minute question? I think that both scenarios are frightening and that voters need to LISTEN AND WATCH CAREFULLY. Why didn’t McCain address her topic of the treatment of vets? That was her question. If you watch the video of this discourse (watch here), you will see a distracted-looking McCain, who gives a standard reply, as if the long question was just too much for him. And he should be our president?! The following is the transcript of the questions and answer.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Senator McCain I truly hope you get the opportunity to chase Bin Laden right to the gates of hell and push him in as you stated on your forum. I do have a question though. Disable veterans, especially in this state, have horrible conditions; their medical is substandard. They drive four hours one way to Albuquerque for a simple doctor’s appointment, which is often canceled. Our VA hospital is dirty; it is understaffed; it is running on maximum overload. The prescription medicines are ten years behind standard medical care; we have seven hundred claims stacked up at the VA office in Albuquerque; some of them are ten and seven years old waiting to be processed; in the mean time these people are homeless. My son is an officer in the Air Force, and I am a vet and I was raised in a military family. I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have illegal aliens having a Medicaid card that can access specialist top physicians, the best of medical and our vets can’t even get to a doctor. These are the people that we tied yellow ribbons for and Bush patted on the back. If we don’t reenact the draft I don’t think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

MCCAIN: Ma’am let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said and thank you and I am grateful for your support of all of our veterans.

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How can anyone listen to, or worse yet, take seriously the rantings of Rush Limbaugh?  Sadly, I have family and friends who do exactly that, and I am embarrassed for them. Just this week the undeserving radio talk show host made another unbelievably ridiculous statement. He was, of course, bashing Obama, which is his job, but can’t he do it with some discretion and intelligence so that his fans can support him without automatic rejection from others?

His comment supposedly explained why people support Obama (with the distortion that only Limbaugh can concoct).  According to Rush, Obama is supported only because people are afraid of rejecting a black man.    “It’s — you know, it’s just — it’s just we can’t hit the girl. I don’t care how far feminism’s saying, you can’t hit the girl, and you can’t — you can’t criticize the little black man-child. You just can’t do it, ’cause it’s just not right, It’s not fair. He’s such a victim.”

How insulting is that statement to all Americans!  The underlying thought here is that many (male?) Americans would like to “hit the girl” but can’t because it’s not acceptable.  And then he compares that attitude with people (whites) supporting Obama only because society says it’s not right to criticize blacks. (The support has nothing to do with Obama’s intelligence, common sense, sincerity, or patriotism.)  Put these ideas together, and you have Rush as a misogynist and racist white male, seemingly talking to other white males only, who share his opinions.  Sorry, but that, to me, hits too close to the Republican party ideology (the good old boys club), and that party should be ashamed.  If I were a Republican, I would distance myself as far as I could from Limbaugh and his bigoted beliefs.

I don’t know how many Republicans are hearing and analyzing the ridiculous remarks directed at Obama and his supporters during this campaign season by many Republican pundits and even by their candidate.  I get the impression that they are content to blindly follow the party, without questioning what is really being said.  From what decade do Limbaugh’s comments come?  Surely not the one we live in.  Hasn’t America come further that this?  I believe we have and that the majority of U.S. citizens no longer want to “hit the girl” or support the idea of blacks as victims.

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I just returned from a trip to the Denver area, and one of the aspects that I and my daughter enjoyed was the diversity of the people we encountered. In this little home town of ours, most people seem very alike and not really interested in changing that. We found it very refreshing to experience the “melting pot,” if only for a few days. I had only been home from Colorado a few hours when I heard a news story about a principal in Wichita who had established a new school rule banning children from speaking anything other than English (the full story here– kake.com). The Catholic school’s principal, Sister Margaret, said that Spanish was being spoken outside of the classroom by 6th-graders in a derogatory manner and she was trying to prevent bullying. Of course, some parents are suing, claiming that the school is discriminating and trying to deny these kids their heritage.

Okay, once again, people–let’s think this through. Yes, diversity makes America great, but it is the positive aspects of all of the cultures that we want to embrace. If anyone is using a difference to hurt others, then that is wrong! We should be especially vigilante with our children and show them how to maintain and share their heritage, while being good American citizens. Instead of suing the school, which validates the unacceptable behavior of the kids, the parents should sit their children down and rebuke them for possibly making their race look bad in the eyes of others and for treating their classmates badly. The bottom line is teaching respect, and bullying is not respectful, in any language.

The story made me remember a brief encounter at the Denver Zoo, which I didn’t even give thought to at the time. The zoo was full of people from all over the world, all speaking their native languages, and it seemed very natural. At one point, while looking at the orangutan, a Spanish-speaking mother turned to me and asked in English if I thought the ape could see us. I answered that I thought he could, but didn’t really know. She turned back to her children, who were surrounding my two-year-old grandson, all enjoying the great ape together, and returned to speaking to them in Spanish. No problem–nice exchange. I believe that the kids were speaking Spanish to each other, which might have baffled my grandson, but he was having too much fun–other kids and strange animals–what more could a child want? Nothing. Certainly not a conflict started by adults, which will only teach discrimination, not stop it. Let’s move on, America, and teach our children how to coexist and appreciate each other. My grandson will only learn to view difference as bad if he is taught it by adults.

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I started this blog because a friend of mine who works for the paper suggested it would be a good outlet for all my frustrations with work, community, country, people, etc.  It seemed that I was always upset about something that I saw as obviously ridiculous.  However, now that I can vent, I don’t seem to be upset about anything.

I have decided that it is the result of summer.  This season has a strong effect on me for several reasons.  First, it is too HOT!!  I hate the heat; it angers me, distracts me, and slows me way down.  I become obsessed by it’s irritation, more than by anything else.  Second, because I teach, summer is my down time, and I mean DOWN–not a lot going on in the gray matter.  Also, I’m not around people not of my choosing, so I’m pretty content.  Third, I don’t listen to talk radio every day as I do during my daily plan time at work, so I don’t hear all of the bickering about current events.

I guess that during the summer I kind of check out of the rat race and choose what I want to be involved in and who I want to be around. I felt a need to explain this, out of guilt for being a lazy blogger.  Stay tuned, though, because I’m sure things will heat up again.  Did you hear about Obama’s prayer?

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