Education - History?

So I was getting ready this morning and my 13yr son lets out this 'OMG' that I'm not used to hearing him say ... at least not with the channel I watch in the morning ... followed by "that's just stupid!" Okay - now I was really curious ... and I was smart enough to click 'rec' on the dvr so I wouldn't accidentally erase it (like I normally do).

Here's what upset him - mind you this is a kid who cringes when I mention 'homeschooling' over the summer because that generally means 'history class':

An education panel in TX is deciding who they are going to be teaching about in Social Stucies/History courses & text books .... so here is a list of who's out and in (so far)

out
George Washington
Ronald Reagan
Albert Einstein
Mother Teresa
Marie Curie
Paul Revere
Jonas Sauk
Colin Powell
Florence Nightengale
Niell Armstrong
Carl Sagan

in
Oprah Winfrey
Steve Jobs
Michael Dell
Cesar Chavez
(all of these people have been evoked or supported Obama during the campaign - Obama wants to make a Chavez national holiday)

Now granted - you can only teach so much in class ... but still they can surely figure out a way to do several different history classes ....

World History
US History
Modern History
etc.

that type of thing.

Maybe split the eras up so that children are being taught different eras during different years instead of having them learning the same eras a couple of different times.

I think this is more that the teachers are getting bored with teaching the same old stuff - and hey, if they are learning about Oprah what would be better than a field trip to a local taping of the show?

For those of you looking at those names of the 'in' crowd - please notice they are all late 20th century figures -- and they accuse the Republicans of being narrow minded/sighted?

Jolly Joker

Okay this isn't really a joke - but its funny anyhow ...

Bill O'Reilly (that's not it, stop laughing) did a survey on his website and here's the results:

At This Point, Which Republican Could Beat Barack Obama?
Palin 30%
Huckabee 29%
Romney 25%
Gingrich 16%
(7500 participants, non-scientific poll)

Yeah - how interesting.

I'm thinking people chose her because it is just the more funny answer and not because they think she could really beat Obama ....

What is WRONG with People????

So I'm watching the local news and I can not believe what I'm hearing ...

First some 18yr old was found stabbed Saturday morning ... well it turns out that he and his friend were trying to mug someone and they chose the wrong person - who defended himself and left him for dead.

Not sure who of feel sorry for .... the person who was being robbed or the kid that got stabbed.

+++++++
In Tennessee some woman was walking thru Walmart when she saw this little girl standing there ... no one else around. She finished her shopping and noticed the girl still standing there ... so she went over to the 2 year old - too young to tell her name, too young to tell any information that could reunite her with her family - they put the girl in a cart and trucked her all over the store hoping she would point out her folks to no luck, the girl fell asleep in the cart.

they put the girl description over the speaker 5 times and still couldn't find anyone ... even searched the parking lot. They have no idea who this poor little thing is.

Surely someone must be missing her by now.

My guess is it was some desperate parent who felt they couldn't care for her anymore. We will have to see ... poor sweetie.

+++++++++++++++++++

The Absolute Worse Story is a local one about a man who .... oh it is just awful.

This man was dating a woman who had a 10yr old son ... this guy burned the kid with a clothes iron when he wouldn't come out from under the bed ... so the boy tried to escape from the apartment, and according to the newscast the boy's mother pulled him back into the apartment where the man proceeded to whip him with an industrial extention cord -- if you've never seen one, imagine a rope as thick as your finger full of stiff wiring -- so the boy decided to hid in the oven where he wouldn't be seen.

well the man figured out where the boy was - and turned the oven on! OMGs --- you would think this guy would never see the time of day again wouldn't you?

NO -- he had to pay $2100 bail and was charged with a Gross Misdermeanor of 'Molicious Punishment of a Child' (hopefully it wll go up), he was told by the courts to stay way from the kid ... but dang it! You know damn well this isn't going to happen -- the only reason he got arrested was because he threatened to whoop on the child again in front of officers.

yeah you read that correctly - had he not threatened the boy in front of the officers, he would still be free.

How can someone do this?? How could that mother keep her child in that enviroment?

I don't understand people sometimes.

RECALL: Baby Strollers

Maclaren Baby Strollers, one of the major stroller companies (especially those mulitple child ones) is recalling strollers made from 1999 until present.

According to the news owners are to call the manufacturer to get a 'repair kit' which fixes the hinge point -- it has been reported that dozens children have lost fingers which have gotten pinched when the strollers collapse because they are not locked in place completely (not hard to do ... have you ever set up a folding table or chair to find that it wasn't quite as open as you thought it was?)

I tried to get to the Maclaren website to get the exact information but could not connect -- in fact according to the error message I got, it no longer exists.

But if this is the case - how the heck do you get in touch with them?

According to the National Post online - this is the official statement from the company:
------------------------------------------------------------

Consistent with our unwavering commitment to child safety we are providing U.S. consumers notice of a voluntary recall of all Maclaren umbrella strollers sold in the U.S. In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, we are providing free of charge to all affected consumers and retailers a kit to cover the stroller's hinge mechanism, which poses a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller.

The affected models include Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, Techno XLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller.

Maclaren USA's Umbrella Strollers meet all U.S. ASTM & JPMA compliance standards. These certifications guarantee our umbrella strollers meet the maximum safety standards available. The voluntary recall is to alert the operator when opening or closing the stroller of the possible risk of injury.

Safety is our first priority and through this voluntary effort we urge consumers to contact us immediately to obtain the kit which consists of hinge covers designed specifically to fit all Maclaren strollers.

Maclaren stresses all operators read the instruction manual prior to use which contains valuable safety tips and service recommendations

------------------------------------------------------------
Now I make no guarenttees that you will get thru -- I've tried and couldn't get it to work ... but it could be that so many people are contacting them that their servers have crashed.

It should also be noted that this recall is for strollers sold in the USA only

Unemployment Rate

They have come out with New unemployment numbers - which takes into acct people who are NOT on the unemployment roles ... either those who used to work part-time or have just given up finding a job because they are so frustrated with the market.

Total Unemployed
(including PT & those who have stopped looking)
17.5%
16+ Million People
source: bureau of labor statistics

WOW - that is really high ... but they never tell you this number.

Health Care Reform bill

I found this stat on tv and thought it was significant to put up.

It is for the Stupak (D-MI) Amendment which permanently prohibits any government funds from being used to pay for abortions ... yeah you read that correctly, he is a Democrat

Party ___Yea _Nay Pres NV
Democrat __64 _103 ++0 __1
Republican _176 __0----1+) 0
Independent
TOTALS ++240 _103 _-1 __1

this makes sense to me -- after all they want to make 'sin taxes' for things like smoking, obesity, drug use, etc ... why shouldn't there be a penalty for an unwanted pregnancy? And as much as I would like to say 'except in the case of incest, rape, or danger to the mother's life' I think the prescript craze in CA for medical-marijuana shows exactly what would happen.

I'm just saying there has to be a way to make sure the system doesn't get abused.

So my question is .... who are the two chicken-shits who didn't really vote? C'mon, take a frickin' stand -- stop 'playing it safe' to save your jobs.

Leiberman Foot in Mouth?

This will be interesting to see ... if you all don't remember Leiberman by himself, perhaps you remember him running as VP with Al Gore? or perhaps you remember him as the man who ran as an Independent because his party would not support him after he stood firmly behing Bush for going into Iraq? you might even remember him as the senator who got a 'firm talking to' by Barack Obama (after BO got the pres. nomination) for not voting along the Dem party line.

Now he is on "Fox News Sunday" saying very un-Democratic-party things ...

Like that the officer in Tx may have become an Islamic Extremist and that this was part of some terrorist plan (I don't think it was, I think it was from someone who was trying to get a 'section 8' to get out of going overseas) ... the thing that makes me sad is that he keeps calling it "the worst act since 911" ... not so sure of that either.

while he does agree that health care needs to be reformed, he doesn't agree with the 'public option plan' and he is afraid of the debt - he feels that people just can't afford that part of it and that it will send the country into a deeper recession than Bush ever did, in fact by the way he was talking he thinks that it will send generations of Americans into a recession -- geez!!
That's not a 'recession' that's the USSR in the 70's and 80's where they didn't even have bread on the shelves and you were lucky if you had a room within an apartment to yourself.

UGH!

But I'm thinking that he will be getting called up 'to the hill' and given another firm chatting to by BO & NP!

Health Care Reform bill

Well the idiots in Washingtion have forced it thru the House, with only 2 votes to spare ...

Now you have to remember that if they hadn't pushed thru the 1/2 rule (instead of the 2/3 majority rule that used to be in place and was the way the founding fathers wanted it) there would be no way this would have gotten any where.

the vote?

Party_____Yea _Nay Pres NV
Democratic_ 329 _39
Republican ___1 -176
independent
totals ++++++220 215

Yes as you can see - there was a republican defector (supposably because the abortion part was taken out) but 39 dems stuck to their principles on this and couldn't bring themselves to vote for it ...

did the dems not learn a thing from this last round of elections??

people don't want to pay 60% of their meager incomes for programs that are already available!

Oh well - what can we do ... maybe we will be lucky and it will get held up in the senate until after the next election.

we should alll be scared

Obama: 'Now's the Time to Finish the Job' on Health Care Reform

President Obama urged the House on Saturday to "finish the job" in passing its version of a sweeping health care overhaul after he met privately with Democrats.
"This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people has placed in us, even when it's hard -- especially when it's hard," he said from the Rose Garden of the White House. "This is our moment to deliver."

Okay - so now they are all push push push ... (and I have to say I'm a bit put aback by the comment of 'finish the job' ... it sounds so omnimous)

As much as I would love to have 'free' health insurance for everyone (you know it ain't really free, right?) ... I don't want the situation I heard of Rav ... a woman there was saying that their health system is so different that they wait until there is something seriously wrong with you before they will do anything ...

this means you have to get sicker ... to the point to where you could die ... before giving the medicine becomes 'cost effective'.

Take the flu ... after the initial illness, many people are finding themselves with a horrid cough some of those are developing in bronchitis - an illness treatable with antibiotics, but it can either cure on its own or turn into pnuemonia without them ...

pnuemonia is unlikely to clear on its won with out antibiotics so that is where they focus the antibiotics. it is only then when you might likely die that you get the help you need -- if you can get it on time.

Look - I didn't ask for this from this person ... nor did they say it because they are against the Presidents health care plan ....

they volunteered the info ....

and this is the system we want to go to???

You know those antibiotics you get when your child has an ear infection? forget it until the drum ruptures ...

or the yearly flu shots so many people get now? well those are possible because of the current American health system - its not because of other countries ... its the research & funding provided by American companies and corporations.

This is why when the American labs fell behind in their production of the flu shots this year the whole world felt the deficit ... why would we give that up?

why?

Numerology Class

Okay here are that latest stats from this morning:

October Jobless Numbers
Unemployment rate 10.2% (they expected 9.9%)
190,000 jobs lost in month alone (non-farm payrolls)
Avg workweek = 33 hrs ... but this means that when economy picks up is that employers will be giving more hours instead of hiring more people
and people got a whole whopping 5cents more per hour than they did before -- whoo hoo

but these are the worse numbers since 1983 .... hmmm, Reagan was in charge and he was skewered over the numbers ....

I have to wonder if the news organizations will treat Obama with the same zealousness they did Ronny ...

On the bright side, Congress just passed unemployment extensions - again. so lets give them credit for that -- but I have to wonder what stats they are looking at that they think it will take people that long to get people into jobs again.