Month: November 2006

This, from Glamour, so it must be so:
Police in your dream are a symbol of security in your life. Even if your dream involved trouble with them, it signifies that you will get unexpected help with a current problem.

Peter, Bonnie and I bought a snow blower last night, so a pleasant winter is almost a certainty.

Continue reading Mild Winter, Guaranteed

Much to his credit, my son was quoted twice in the local papers this week about the shortcomings in the Mashpee Public Schools.
Both he and his wife have become grassroots activists for change and improvement, and since he’s blogged about this, I won’t recap the details.

Continue reading Uphill Battles and the Mashpee Schools

For 3 years, 8 months and 7 days, the US fought in World War II: from December 7, 1941, the “Day That Will Live in Infamy” to August 14, 1945, VJ Day.
As of this date, November 11, 2006, the US has been engaged in the Iraq War for 3 years, 7 months and 22 days, the time lapsed since March 19, 2003.
The US was engaged in the Korean “Conflict” for 3 years and 1 month, from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953.
In short, the US has waged war in Iraq longer than in Korea and, as of a little after this upcoming Thanksgiving Day, longer than in World War II.

Continue reading History Lessons on Veterans Day 2006

Bush admitted in his press conference yesterday that his fear-mongering about terrorists rejoicing if the Democrats won the midterms was just “campaigning”.
In an equally unlovely moment, Rush Limbaugh admitted not only on the radio but in the prime spot on his website that he’s just been “carrying water” for the Republican party, which has consistently betrayed his Conservative beliefs.
So, what’s the deal with this tidal wave of recent public fessin’ up, particularly by rich right-wing Protestants?
Must be a liberal media/Papist plot.

I want to spend a little – no, a lot – more quality time with the exit poll pages on cnn.com, but on light perusal, my belief that in order to win, political parties need to appeal to unmarried voters (about 1/3 of the electorate) certainly held true this past Tuesday.

Continue reading Heard of “Family Values” Lately?

Stan Jones, the Libertarian candidate for Senate, may have tipped the balance in Montana.
With 91% of precincts counted (there was a problem with a vote-counting machine, so the final results have been delayed), Jones has 3% of the vote – more than enough to have given the win to Republican Conrad Burns.
Meanwhile, Yahoo!News is reporting that all precincts have been counted in Virginia, giving Democratic candidate Jim Webb the victory over George Allen by less than 8,000 votes.

OK, so my Libertarian pipe dream of national domination will never come true, but at least the results of the midterms were a defeat for Bush and Rove, with the Democrats picking up 21 seats to win control of the House and taking six state governorships away from the Republicans.
The 28 states that will be led by Democratic governors include Ohio, whose voters trounced the loathesome Ken Blackwell, and New York, which elected corporate reformer Eliot Spitzer.
Regardless of political party, one can only rejoice at the crushing defeat of Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, one of several far-right nuts who politicized the Terry Schiavo case last year, not to mention the despicable Katherine Harris of Florida.
At this hour, Democratic Senatorial candidates hold narrow leads in Virginia and Montana, with a recount likely in Virginia.
Among the state referenda, propositions, and amendments on yesterday’s ballots, South Dakotans defeated what would have been the most punitive ban on abortion in the country, and Missourians approved stem cell research.
In a semi-failed attempt to “energize their base”, Republican right-wingers had put bans on same-sex marriage on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. Republicans won contested governorships in 3 of these, with the Dems winning 2. The Virginia senate race at this hour is still too close to call; Wisconsin kept its Democratic incumbent.
Closer to home, I’m disappointed that Rhode Island voters turned down casinos and that Massachusetts voters rejected Questions 1 and 2, which would have allowed the sale of wine in grocery stores and cross-party political endorsements, respectively.
Mercifully, there were a minimal number of reports of dirty tricks and potential voting machine irregularities this time, thus sparing us the banana republic ignominy of 2000 and 2004.
Now it’s up to the majorities at both the federal and state level to make the changes some of us, evidently most of us, have been waiting for. Will the results of yesterday’s elections end the hammerlock on national politics by the religious wrong? Only time will tell.

Your editorial on the Mashpee Public Schools’ handling of a threat by a fifth grade student misses the point.
You said it yourselves: “What do we pay our principals and administrators for if not to assess each incident and take appropriate action?”
The key word here is “appropriate”.
Yes, the school should have alerted the police, who have the authority and responsibility to investigate whether or not this child has access to weapons.
Yes, the school should have removed the student from the premises and obtained a psychiatric evaluation – SOP in other districts – before allowing the child back in class.
Yes, the school should have investigated whether this little boy was the victim of bullying.
None of the above was done, not even notification to parents until several days after the incident.
As for the teacher: I don’t know her personally, but would be very surprised if this public school veteran has refused to return to her classroom based on this incident alone.
What I do know is that this employee’s unwillingness to return to the workplace is costing the taxpayers $75-80/day in stipends for a substitute.
When you consider how much work it takes for the Quashnet School PTO to raise $400+, that’s a lot of bake sales to compensate for the administration’s egregious mismanagement.
By the way, it would be helpful in the future for your editorials to give all parties equal time, and include quotes from everyone involved, not just the school superintendent.
After firing 6-7 teachers, hiring of at least 2 unqualified administrators with high 5-figure salaries and the recent DOE criticism of the Mashpee schools, the superintendent has very little credibility with many of us.

This week, my granddaughter’s school made the news on the local talk radio station, the local paper and two Boston TV stations.
A 10 year old in one of the fifth grade classes had made threats against his fellow students, and the school administration, including the superintendent, tried to sweep it under the rug.

Continue reading Ineptitude