I just wanted to send my personal thanks to Senator Ted Stevens. For those who don't know, Ole Ted is an 84 yr old life long Senator from Alaska. He's a Republican. And now he has recently been indicted for concealing gifts and services of up to $250,ooo. Of course, he denies these allegations. But he is the prime example of the reason people are blindly following a promise of change. This indictment has actually been in the pipeline for years. And there is no doubt in my mind that the timing isn't just happenstance. It's a heafty blow to the republicans. Another reason to swoon voters to the other side. Granted I'm not saying what he did was right nor am I defending Ted. But thanks for helping your party to keep it's pristine image, Atta Boy!!
Our government is in DIRE need of change. I am a fervent believer in term limits. And I think that if we held people to shorter terms they would have less time to build these "you scratch my back; I'll scratch yours" relationships. Term limits would also halt a lot of lobbyists. "How?", you ask. Because they would have to start from scratch with people every few years. These lobbyist would have to build new TRUST with the incoming. And it would be a lot easier to track these "gifts" they give. It's really hard to go to a job that only pays so much, do it for a short term and come out a wealthy man/woman. I feel that this small step would help immeasurably in cleaning up Washington.
Also I have found a new blog site. www.hotair.com
Check it out. You can link it from my links in the right hand column.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Dinner Party
Last Saturday the Wife and I had a few guests over to enjoy a night a good food, nice wine and great company. It was amazing! We had such a good time. Starting early Sat morn we woke and started preparing the food for the evening. I had to get somethings done early so they could marinate and so some flavors would develop according to plan. While I was busy doing this the Wife started getting the house presentable for guests. It was still in kind of a disarray b/c of me working on the front bathroom. We took a break mid morning to go to our favorite wine store, Wine Authorities, and taste a few wines and ask some last minute pairing questions.
The party was set to start around 6. The guests started arriving and we mingled a little while I proudly showed off our new bathroom. Once everyone was here we opened the first of many wine bottles. Our first was Cremant de Bourgogne, A sparkling wine done in the style of Champagne. What Cremant is is the next step below actual champagne. This was our "gathering wine", a wine to drink whilst we mingle and I got the first food of the night ready.
I herded everyone towards the table as I prepared the amuse bouche, a french term for little mouth or small bite. The purpose of this "little bite" is to whet the appetite and get one in the mood to eat. For this, I had made a watermelon gazpacho. I put this in champagne glasses for aesthetic purposes. It was delicious and a nice compliment to the Cremant.
The first course was little tomato salad in a filo dough nest with aruglua tossed in citrus and aged balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes were sungolds and cherries that I had grown in the garden. With this course we paired Browns of Padthaway - Verdelho - 2004. It was slightly minerally and matched well to the acids in the tomato and citrus on the arugula.
For our second course, Cast Iron seared Scallop, Spaghetti Squash Pancake, Shaved Zucchini and Tarragon Yogurt. This was paired with Alma Negra - Sparkling Rose Malbec - 2006. This dish was amazing! The pancakes were the tricky part. I roasted off the squash and scraped the insides out (which looks like spaghetti, hence the name). After which, I lightly caramelized some onions and mixed that, along with one egg some bread crumbs, herbs and salt and pepper, together with the squash. In a saute pan I lightly melted butter and formed little "pancakes" and browned each side. They were soooooo delicious!
The entree for the evening was Costa Rican Coffee rubbed Pork Tenderloin, Wild Rice, Charred Vidalia Onion, with a Hard Cider reduction Sauce. This was paired with Bilton Wines - Matt Black - 2005. The Matt Black is a blend wine made up of 35% Merlot, 27% Shiraz, 23% Cab Sauv, and 15% Petit Verdot. It is a well rounded big red wine, not to bold and easy drinking. It matched well to the pork. I cooked the pork to medium rare to the surprise of some of the guests who had never eaten pork under well done. I love it that way, and now so do they.
The final course of the evening was dessert prepared by the Wife. She made Chocolate Souffle. This was paired with Iron Gate Winery - Once in a Carolina Blue Moon - 2007. It is a wine of limited production made from a blend of Traminette (45%), Reisling(29%), Sauv Blanc(17%) and Seyval Blanc(9%). The reason for it being so limited is in the spring of 2007 North Carolina experienced an out of the ordinary cold spring that almost killed some vineyards. The winemakers were forced to decide, either lose all the grapes and lose money that year or make a small batch that could almost be considered ice wine. They chose the latter. And for all the sweetness it offered it matched divinely with the souffle served with vanilla ice cream. The Souffle was the perfect ending to a great night of food. I don't think I've ever eaten one so fluffy and moist.
My thanks to those who came and let me use them as my testing grounds. Also for helping with clean-up and the dishes. You didn't have to do that. We look forward to our next dinner party, at which the Wife has decided will be a beer tasting. I'm real excited about the possibilities there.
If you would like to see pictures of the food and evening please click the link in the side column to On My Pole. This is the Wife's blog and she's the photographer.
The party was set to start around 6. The guests started arriving and we mingled a little while I proudly showed off our new bathroom. Once everyone was here we opened the first of many wine bottles. Our first was Cremant de Bourgogne, A sparkling wine done in the style of Champagne. What Cremant is is the next step below actual champagne. This was our "gathering wine", a wine to drink whilst we mingle and I got the first food of the night ready.
I herded everyone towards the table as I prepared the amuse bouche, a french term for little mouth or small bite. The purpose of this "little bite" is to whet the appetite and get one in the mood to eat. For this, I had made a watermelon gazpacho. I put this in champagne glasses for aesthetic purposes. It was delicious and a nice compliment to the Cremant.
The first course was little tomato salad in a filo dough nest with aruglua tossed in citrus and aged balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes were sungolds and cherries that I had grown in the garden. With this course we paired Browns of Padthaway - Verdelho - 2004. It was slightly minerally and matched well to the acids in the tomato and citrus on the arugula.
For our second course, Cast Iron seared Scallop, Spaghetti Squash Pancake, Shaved Zucchini and Tarragon Yogurt. This was paired with Alma Negra - Sparkling Rose Malbec - 2006. This dish was amazing! The pancakes were the tricky part. I roasted off the squash and scraped the insides out (which looks like spaghetti, hence the name). After which, I lightly caramelized some onions and mixed that, along with one egg some bread crumbs, herbs and salt and pepper, together with the squash. In a saute pan I lightly melted butter and formed little "pancakes" and browned each side. They were soooooo delicious!
The entree for the evening was Costa Rican Coffee rubbed Pork Tenderloin, Wild Rice, Charred Vidalia Onion, with a Hard Cider reduction Sauce. This was paired with Bilton Wines - Matt Black - 2005. The Matt Black is a blend wine made up of 35% Merlot, 27% Shiraz, 23% Cab Sauv, and 15% Petit Verdot. It is a well rounded big red wine, not to bold and easy drinking. It matched well to the pork. I cooked the pork to medium rare to the surprise of some of the guests who had never eaten pork under well done. I love it that way, and now so do they.
The final course of the evening was dessert prepared by the Wife. She made Chocolate Souffle. This was paired with Iron Gate Winery - Once in a Carolina Blue Moon - 2007. It is a wine of limited production made from a blend of Traminette (45%), Reisling(29%), Sauv Blanc(17%) and Seyval Blanc(9%). The reason for it being so limited is in the spring of 2007 North Carolina experienced an out of the ordinary cold spring that almost killed some vineyards. The winemakers were forced to decide, either lose all the grapes and lose money that year or make a small batch that could almost be considered ice wine. They chose the latter. And for all the sweetness it offered it matched divinely with the souffle served with vanilla ice cream. The Souffle was the perfect ending to a great night of food. I don't think I've ever eaten one so fluffy and moist.
My thanks to those who came and let me use them as my testing grounds. Also for helping with clean-up and the dishes. You didn't have to do that. We look forward to our next dinner party, at which the Wife has decided will be a beer tasting. I'm real excited about the possibilities there.
If you would like to see pictures of the food and evening please click the link in the side column to On My Pole. This is the Wife's blog and she's the photographer.
Friday, July 25, 2008
My requested response
It seems as though I have sparked a debate, which is what I hope to do on some of these posts.As I've said before I'm still undecided, so no matter what is said here doesn't mean I'm giving my final backing of one candidate. I'm just putting facts out there, and asking for opposing opinions.
I agree with Jeni that you shouldn't judge a man by his name alone. But I do believe you should judge him by his history. And frankly Obama's history so far hasn't matched his promises for his future. Some of his history being relationships and voting record. In this the early stages of his campaign, how many relationships has he already had to denounce? And I know some will say those are in his past, but how far back do we stop looking. And a few of these aren't really in the past. Also, his voting record in the senate. I didn't realize that voting "present" counted as being against the war from the beginning. As any politician will tell you, if you stay home on election day, you have just cast a "yes" vote for the opposition. Does anyone here realize that Obama voted "present" over 100 times in his short tenure in the senate? He's been campaigning for almost two years now so that doesn't leave much time for him to have actually voted "present" now does it?
Also, would someone please persuade me as to why we should vote for a man (and his hateful wife) who at every chance have removed the American Flag from sight. Obama refuses to wear the lapel pin that every other member of gov't wears, and he has removed the flag from his personal campaign aircraft and replaced it with his "O". And how do you expect to lead and gain the respect of, men and women who swear to fight and die for you if you wont salute the flag that they swear to protect, Especially as the President. And I've heard that he says it's b/c some people/nations find our flag offensive. That's like saying I want to be the pastor of the church but I'm not going to teach/use the Bible b/c some people don't believe in it. All that being said, I do believe that if you don't agree with something you should change it. So I can understand wanting to make some changes.
I do wish that we could leave religion out of politics. But you can't! I firmly believe that what a man says he believes has true bearing on how he makes decisions. It can be seen in his character. It is obvious when a politician who has a surface level understanding of Christianity tries to act like he's been a devout Bible reader all his life. You can't fake it. By that same token if you have been a devout Christian and church goer your whole life, it can be seen in daily operations of your life and decisions you make. Our country is facing a crossroads in our moral standing. And we need to know what each man trying to run this country believes, how he believes, and how he carries out those beliefs.
And again, the decisions people make. This brings us back to history. What kind of decisions have John McCain and Barack Obama made? For that matter throw in Bob Barr. How many of these decisions have been good for our country? How many bad? Can someone please show me where Obama has made a good decision FOR our country. And I'd like an example of legislation he was the author of, not co-sponsor, sponsor, tag-along, please put my name on that good idea. I've heard he did a few good things while on the Illinois state senate. But nothing since becoming a national Senator.
I will rest here as not to become to long winded. I hope that this will help in the discussion. Because all I want out of this election is for everyone who casts a vote to have both sides of the story and make sure that we are putting the BEST man in the job, be he Liberal, Conservative, or Libertarian.
I agree with Jeni that you shouldn't judge a man by his name alone. But I do believe you should judge him by his history. And frankly Obama's history so far hasn't matched his promises for his future. Some of his history being relationships and voting record. In this the early stages of his campaign, how many relationships has he already had to denounce? And I know some will say those are in his past, but how far back do we stop looking. And a few of these aren't really in the past. Also, his voting record in the senate. I didn't realize that voting "present" counted as being against the war from the beginning. As any politician will tell you, if you stay home on election day, you have just cast a "yes" vote for the opposition. Does anyone here realize that Obama voted "present" over 100 times in his short tenure in the senate? He's been campaigning for almost two years now so that doesn't leave much time for him to have actually voted "present" now does it?
Also, would someone please persuade me as to why we should vote for a man (and his hateful wife) who at every chance have removed the American Flag from sight. Obama refuses to wear the lapel pin that every other member of gov't wears, and he has removed the flag from his personal campaign aircraft and replaced it with his "O". And how do you expect to lead and gain the respect of, men and women who swear to fight and die for you if you wont salute the flag that they swear to protect, Especially as the President. And I've heard that he says it's b/c some people/nations find our flag offensive. That's like saying I want to be the pastor of the church but I'm not going to teach/use the Bible b/c some people don't believe in it. All that being said, I do believe that if you don't agree with something you should change it. So I can understand wanting to make some changes.
I do wish that we could leave religion out of politics. But you can't! I firmly believe that what a man says he believes has true bearing on how he makes decisions. It can be seen in his character. It is obvious when a politician who has a surface level understanding of Christianity tries to act like he's been a devout Bible reader all his life. You can't fake it. By that same token if you have been a devout Christian and church goer your whole life, it can be seen in daily operations of your life and decisions you make. Our country is facing a crossroads in our moral standing. And we need to know what each man trying to run this country believes, how he believes, and how he carries out those beliefs.
And again, the decisions people make. This brings us back to history. What kind of decisions have John McCain and Barack Obama made? For that matter throw in Bob Barr. How many of these decisions have been good for our country? How many bad? Can someone please show me where Obama has made a good decision FOR our country. And I'd like an example of legislation he was the author of, not co-sponsor, sponsor, tag-along, please put my name on that good idea. I've heard he did a few good things while on the Illinois state senate. But nothing since becoming a national Senator.
I will rest here as not to become to long winded. I hope that this will help in the discussion. Because all I want out of this election is for everyone who casts a vote to have both sides of the story and make sure that we are putting the BEST man in the job, be he Liberal, Conservative, or Libertarian.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ummmmm..........
So it's been a while since the last blog. It kinda feels like forever ago. This is how busy my week has seemed. I'm just a milisecond away from finishing the bathroom. The tile has been laid and is gorgeous.
The final problem has been replacing the toilet in the place it last occupied. In trying to level the floor to put the tile in, I found that my foundation wasn't all that level to begin with. So the toilet rocked a little. To fix that, I had to go get shims to place under it. Once that problem was taken care of the next problem showed up.The floor is now higher, which meant that the connecting hose from the wall to the toilet is now NOT long enough. I found this out by trying to connect it anyway, turning on the water to the hose and finding an ever so slight leak, (YEA!). So now back to the hardware store for a longer hose. "That should do it", I tell the wife. WRONG (as if you couldn't see it coming).Now from all the jostling about of this 13+ year old toilet, all of the seals are deciding that they are old and worn and will leak. So again, off to the hardware store we go; all this little extra spending to the wifes extreme delight :-( All the while I'm reassuring her that the toilet is old and things like this come up. The good news is all of these things I'm learning will make the next bathroom easier, and some of the things I've already bought have enough to do both bathrooms. So we'll see tomorrow how things turn out. We need to have the bathroom ready to go b/c we are having guests on Saturday, which brings me to the other thing that has made the week run by.
This Saturday the wife and I are hosting a dinner party for some friends. A little thing we like to do ever so often. I create a menu, The Wife comes up with dessert, we pair wines with each course, and for fun Wife creates a beautiful printed menu for each of the guests to have. It's great fun. ( we want to do a beer dinner next) Anyways, this year my garden has been doing great so I'm doing things that will allow me to use fresh garden ingredients. After the weekend I will post the menu. I don't want any of the guests ( if any of them reads this) to know ahead of time what's in store. That's part of the fun for me. They come and put full trust in my hands. Each time I do one of these I try something I've never done before, as does the Wife with the desserts. So we'll see how they like it.
Just because I can't not say something political. Al Sharpton has been found guilty of all kinds of tax evasion and fraud. This makes me giggle inside. Also, the Federal Minimum Wage has been raised to $6 something an hour. More of a rant on this later.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Taboo
No, I'm not talking about the board game. Why is it that we shy so quickly away from talking about the things that we should be talking about as a nation. Of course, I'm talking about politics. Why can't we talk about it. Why has it become such a foux pas (I'm not French so that's probably misspelled).
We sit content to let MSNBC, CNN, FOXNews, and others do the talking for us. We take small soundbites and use them as our total opinion. This I must say is something I'm very guilty of. But we only let a little bit seep at a time as to not offend anyone. Just about the only time you hear political disscussion going on is from people on the same side of the argument. What good is that doing?? We need open and honest discussion. Especially from people of oposite veiw points. How else can one form an educated opinion with out all sides?? Sure the large news networks cover a vast majority of the issues, but they don't and can't cover it from where you and I live. Or, how we feel it will affect us. Those networks aren't going to cover the mayoral election for every town in America.
We as a country need to stop being scared of this topic. And embrace each other especially for the differences we share. We need to stop looking through the glasses of Republican/Democrat, and look at it as our America. We need to discuss who is running and on what platforms. Why those platforms are right or wrong for our city, state, and nation. And if they are wrong what can be done to fix it. Maybe it's just been looked at too long from the same angle. We need to get away from the mentality of you are on the other side of the isle, therefore anything you think, say, or do cannot be of/add any value to my life and opinion. Moreover, we need to see that each side wants to see our nation come to be the best it can be. We need open discussion to get there. And we can't wait for Washington to do it.
In this an election year we need open discussion more than ever. Especially this election. There are so many subjects that need to be touched by everday America. As an undecided voter I yearn for these discussions. I'm looking to be swayed. But everytime I approach the subject I am cast out (by people's eyes) and scorned. "No political talk we don't want to ruin the evening". Ruin the evening?!?!? How can my thirst for knowledge and my opinion on what is great for this country, which includes you and yours, ruin an evening. (As an aside, I do know that I'm very opinionated about certain things but I've never ruined someone's evening).
We sit content to let MSNBC, CNN, FOXNews, and others do the talking for us. We take small soundbites and use them as our total opinion. This I must say is something I'm very guilty of. But we only let a little bit seep at a time as to not offend anyone. Just about the only time you hear political disscussion going on is from people on the same side of the argument. What good is that doing?? We need open and honest discussion. Especially from people of oposite veiw points. How else can one form an educated opinion with out all sides?? Sure the large news networks cover a vast majority of the issues, but they don't and can't cover it from where you and I live. Or, how we feel it will affect us. Those networks aren't going to cover the mayoral election for every town in America.
We as a country need to stop being scared of this topic. And embrace each other especially for the differences we share. We need to stop looking through the glasses of Republican/Democrat, and look at it as our America. We need to discuss who is running and on what platforms. Why those platforms are right or wrong for our city, state, and nation. And if they are wrong what can be done to fix it. Maybe it's just been looked at too long from the same angle. We need to get away from the mentality of you are on the other side of the isle, therefore anything you think, say, or do cannot be of/add any value to my life and opinion. Moreover, we need to see that each side wants to see our nation come to be the best it can be. We need open discussion to get there. And we can't wait for Washington to do it.
In this an election year we need open discussion more than ever. Especially this election. There are so many subjects that need to be touched by everday America. As an undecided voter I yearn for these discussions. I'm looking to be swayed. But everytime I approach the subject I am cast out (by people's eyes) and scorned. "No political talk we don't want to ruin the evening". Ruin the evening?!?!? How can my thirst for knowledge and my opinion on what is great for this country, which includes you and yours, ruin an evening. (As an aside, I do know that I'm very opinionated about certain things but I've never ruined someone's evening).
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Start of the Discussion
The other night the wife and I took Pax for a walk. On this walk we got started talking about the possible next president. (We are not both of the same political affiliation). As I was making statements about things on which I'd heard, she accused me of making blanket accusations of candidates, which is true. But I feel more knowledgeable because I do listen to talk radio and read more about politics than she. But since she was right I have started to do research in order to have more information in my arguments. All this to say that over the next few days/weeks I will be discussing the issues as brought forth by the 3 major candidates. Yes I said 3. Our political system is failing miserably by only having been a two party system for so long. It has been like watching two sloths fight it out, slow and predictable. Now the Libertarians are making a name for themselves, more so than the Green Party ever did. With each post in this series I will discuss my feelings about each issue and then provide a link to each candidates page on the topic of the day to where you can get your own info and make your own decision. (Please do not only read the views of your party as this makes you a near sighted moron).
For today's topic: EDUCATION
It seems to be the consensus that our educational system is extremely broken. All the candidates agree<> that something needs to be done to bring America to the front of education in the world. Currently we are far behind the rest of the world. Examples: we rank #26 in student problem solving, #12 in reading ability, #24 in math and #19 in science. None of these are good numbers considering they only poll the top 40 developed/developing countries in the world.
Now each candidate has his own ideas how to change this. Bob Barr and John McCain are on a similar path by exerting we need to let parents choose which school their child may attend instead of the old mantra of " you live here so you child goes here". This doesn't allow for children who are out performing or under performing to have the opportunities to get the proper help or motivation. What both of these candidates are suggesting is letting the parents decide what school (or home school) is best for their child's need. Bob Barr takes it even further to say those who choose to take their child to a different school/home school can take their tax credits with them to that school or keep those credits at home. Thusly schools that perform better will receive better funding.And schools that do not perform well could end up closing. This would help in making our schools better, causing them to function in a competitive free market. We need our teachers/principles/school boards to work harder on educating, not just passing our children. John McCain has something similar but not to this extent. Bob Barr also believes in disbanding the Dept. of Education and bringing control of schools to at largest state level, but best case a city level.
Now Obama has gone into the most detail in plan on his web site. Breaking education into all levels, and dealing with each one individually. For the up to 5 yr olds, he wants to start educating them to get ready for school. This is a good idea. I think in some areas parents don't do much to prepare their children for school and they start out at a disadvantage. However Obama does say he will bring affordable high-quality child care for all working families, a lofty goal and probably and empty promise. Next he offers funneling more money into schools and No Child Left Behind. He says that we shouldn't just be preparing students all year to answer a standard test and not educate them. I fully agree with this. But we should get rid of the standard test; other wise it's just blowing smoke. The test should be how many of a teacher's students passed on to the next two grades. This way we institute a checks system. In most high schools you wont need two grades worth b/c you typically have a different teacher for each subject,therefore no one teacher has all the grades for a certain student. If that teacher passes X% of student in so many years a raise will be considered. Otherwise why should we pay a teacher more who isn't doing his/her job.
Next Obama wants to recruit more Math and Science professionals to teach. This is a great idea, but how do you get them to opt for a teacher starting salary over what they would receive in the competitive market. He also has good ideas on how to prepare and keep teachers. Lastly he tackles college. He offers tax credits and ease of applying for grants and loans to entice more kids to attend. I do believe we need more highly educated peolpe in America if we are to compete on a global level.
One of the problems with schools today is the government is so scared that we aren't having as many children move upwards and graduate that hey have dumbed our schools down. The answer is not bringing the bar down it is moving the bar up. This is why our schools are producing the numbers you saw in the opening paragraph. We need parents who are involved in their child's life to make them work to achieve these levels, not parents who complain that little Jenny's homework was to hard.
As promised here are the links. You decide for yourself who's right
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ce50b5-daa8-4795-b92d-92bd0d985bca.htm
http://www.bobbarr2008.com/issues/education-home-schooling/
For today's topic: EDUCATION
It seems to be the consensus that our educational system is extremely broken. All the candidates agree<> that something needs to be done to bring America to the front of education in the world. Currently we are far behind the rest of the world. Examples: we rank #26 in student problem solving, #12 in reading ability, #24 in math and #19 in science. None of these are good numbers considering they only poll the top 40 developed/developing countries in the world.
Now each candidate has his own ideas how to change this. Bob Barr and John McCain are on a similar path by exerting we need to let parents choose which school their child may attend instead of the old mantra of " you live here so you child goes here". This doesn't allow for children who are out performing or under performing to have the opportunities to get the proper help or motivation. What both of these candidates are suggesting is letting the parents decide what school (or home school) is best for their child's need. Bob Barr takes it even further to say those who choose to take their child to a different school/home school can take their tax credits with them to that school or keep those credits at home. Thusly schools that perform better will receive better funding.And schools that do not perform well could end up closing. This would help in making our schools better, causing them to function in a competitive free market. We need our teachers/principles/school boards to work harder on educating, not just passing our children. John McCain has something similar but not to this extent. Bob Barr also believes in disbanding the Dept. of Education and bringing control of schools to at largest state level, but best case a city level.
Now Obama has gone into the most detail in plan on his web site. Breaking education into all levels, and dealing with each one individually. For the up to 5 yr olds, he wants to start educating them to get ready for school. This is a good idea. I think in some areas parents don't do much to prepare their children for school and they start out at a disadvantage. However Obama does say he will bring affordable high-quality child care for all working families, a lofty goal and probably and empty promise. Next he offers funneling more money into schools and No Child Left Behind. He says that we shouldn't just be preparing students all year to answer a standard test and not educate them. I fully agree with this. But we should get rid of the standard test; other wise it's just blowing smoke. The test should be how many of a teacher's students passed on to the next two grades. This way we institute a checks system. In most high schools you wont need two grades worth b/c you typically have a different teacher for each subject,therefore no one teacher has all the grades for a certain student. If that teacher passes X% of student in so many years a raise will be considered. Otherwise why should we pay a teacher more who isn't doing his/her job.
Next Obama wants to recruit more Math and Science professionals to teach. This is a great idea, but how do you get them to opt for a teacher starting salary over what they would receive in the competitive market. He also has good ideas on how to prepare and keep teachers. Lastly he tackles college. He offers tax credits and ease of applying for grants and loans to entice more kids to attend. I do believe we need more highly educated peolpe in America if we are to compete on a global level.
One of the problems with schools today is the government is so scared that we aren't having as many children move upwards and graduate that hey have dumbed our schools down. The answer is not bringing the bar down it is moving the bar up. This is why our schools are producing the numbers you saw in the opening paragraph. We need parents who are involved in their child's life to make them work to achieve these levels, not parents who complain that little Jenny's homework was to hard.
As promised here are the links. You decide for yourself who's right
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ce50b5-daa8-4795-b92d-92bd0d985bca.htm
http://www.bobbarr2008.com/issues/education-home-schooling/
Monday, July 14, 2008
live free for life, and you don't have to contribute a dime
As you all know my generation and all those following have just gone ahead and given up on the idea of any money coming to us from Social Security. Now I know that social security was set up as a way to help people after working age. Back then most companies rewarded loyalty of long term service by giving those employees a retirement package which supplied them with money until they died. When companies started realizing the dollar was more important than the people, they started letting people go at later ages so they wouldn't have to retire them. (shady and underhanded I know, but we love our big corporations. At least the gov't does b/c that's who pays them off, and that's another blog) Anyways, back to social security. The baby-boomers are now hitting retirement age. And well that's where most of the money you and I are putting in will be going, that is until last week. Last week our lovely Democrat controlled Congress decided to funnel more money out of Social Security. Do you wanna know where it's going? Of course you do. Are you ready for this...........IT'S GOING TO ILLEGAL ALIENS! That's right! All those poor, old, illegal aliens who crossed the border illegally and are to old to work and have NEVER put one cent into the Social Security fund are now eligible to receive money from there. Can anyone please explain to me why our Congress, who supposedly represents our feelings, thoughts, and beliefs would pass such a bill. I don't know one person who is ok with it. NOT ONE. How can these whiny Democrats reject the idea of a personal savings plan and then turn around and hand what little precious money we do have to people who don't deserve it?? HUH?? And that's right I said don't deserve it. I don't believe in coddling people. You want what I have? Do the same work I did to get it.
Did I oversleep the revolution?? Are we now the United States Of MEXICO??????
Did I oversleep the revolution?? Are we now the United States Of MEXICO??????
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Durham BULL
There's nothing quite like a baseball game in the summer. And nothing more refreshing than drinking a beer while you sweat your little buns off watching the game. We sat in Right field, or shall I say the sun's favorite place to shine. It was hot and the slight breeze only teased of cool. It was shaping up to be an easy win for the Bulls. Then we hit the 8th. The visiting team was about to watch it's hopes of comback slide away. UNTIL what should have been the last pitch of the 8th for the Red Wings, and the Ump went blind. A ball thrown obviously over the plate, it could even be seen from where I was sitting. But he called it a ball. Bases loaded now. And of course the next batter wailed one out of the park and now we're tied! One more batter and now the Bulls are behind. WHAT??!! And so with determination that one call can't ruin the game the Bulls step up and tie the game to force extra innings (4 more to be exact). Skipping ahead we're now in the bottom of the 13th and both teams have added a few more runs but the Red Wings are up by 1. Now we have one out, a man on second, and the batter has a full count. And wouldn't you know it, guess who strikes again. Not the batter, the numbskull of an ump calls it one though. This time the ball is obviously high. But again blindness strikes. As the batter turns to trot towards 1st base the ump calls "Strike Three, you're out". WHAT?? Our batter striken by disbelief turns and expresses his opinion of the pitch, wich rewards him an ejection from the game. The third base coach in an effort to intervene and calm things (and get in his opinion of the pitch) also gets ejected! Could someone remind the ump that there should be something of benefit of the doubt going to home team. Or did he forget who pays? It should go without saying that we lost . The worst part, in my opinion, is that we were sitting so far away that I could not properly express my feelings to the ump of his outstanding performance.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The First One
So this is my first blog ever. I'll keep it short. Today is Saturday and it's been a nice one. Mel and I almost finished tiling our guest bathroom. This is a project that we've been wanting to do for about a year now. And, well, one bathroom down and one to go.... When it's all done I'll post pictures. For our evening plans Mel's work has rented a pavilion at the Durham Bulls Park. I do enjoy a minor league baseball game. I've been to at least 5 already this season. But anyways I said I'd keep it short. Until later.
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