Post 132

Good morning blogizens...

First on my radar today is a survey from my kids school... Little background... The school my kids go to failed to meet the state average for the 2nd straight year this year in ISTEP testing.  As a result there's a bunch of things they have to do... they have to allow parents to transfer their kids to a school that did meet the state standards without penalty (really? Your school isn't performing well so we'll let all the good kids go someplace else so you can do even worse...)... They also have to send out a survey to parents to try to develop a school-wide improvement plan... ok this makes sense... except...

Yes this is the survey they sent home about improving the school.  First step to improving the school is leading by example.

"Students receives quality instruction in reading and writing."  DISAGREE.  Students receive quality instruction in reading and writing.  Simple subject/predicate agreement here folks!

"Students are challenged to do his/her best work."  DISAGREE.  Students are challenged to do their best work.  Direct object should match the subject.  If the subject is plural (students) then the direct object should be plural (their, not his/her).

"Parents have amble opportunities for parent involvement."  DISAGREE.  Do they expect us to wander around on a nice walk?  Spell check is NOT an adequate replacement for proofreading.

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Yeah the Colts lost.  They fought well and surprised a lot of people just by making it to the playoffs.  By the time they kicked off on Saturday they had placed 19 players on the Injured Reserve list ending the players' seasons.  We had 4 different players at the Strong Safety position including Ken Hamlin who started Saturday who was signed as a free agent on December 22.  Gee I wonder why they were able to play so well against us... Maybe because we had such new players we could do anything except an absolute basic defense.

And of course when your offense or defense is banged up, that trickles down to your special teams. Case in point, Taj Smith who was called for "running into the kicker" on a crucial punt in the 4th quarter.  Taj Smith was signed as free agent on November 30... 

You know it is what it is.  It sucked to lose but everyone will get healthy over the off season and we'll try again next year.  Oh and next year... We host the Super Bowl here in Indy.

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So of course the big news is what happened in Tucson.  

If you've been living under a rock for the past few days... A nutjob walked into a Safeway grocery store where Representative Gabby (or Gabbie, I've seen it both ways) Giffords was having a constituent meeting and opened fire.  Giffords was one of 20 people shot - 6 were killed.  Giffords received a gunshot to the head with the bullet passing through her brain.  She was rushed to the hospital and underwent immediate neurosurgery.  She's currently in a medical-induced coma and in critical condition.  

Killed during the attack was:

US Federal Judge John Roll, 63
Gabe Zimmerman, 30, an aide to Rep Giffords
Dorwan Stoddard, 76, who died trying to protect his wife
Phyllis Scheck, 79
Dorothy Morris, 76
and Christina Taylor Green, 9. Christina wanted to go into politics when she was older and was just elected to her elementary school student council. She was born on 9/11/2001.

There's a lot of talk about the gunman's motive.  I'm not ready to pin the blame on rightwing vitriol, but I can tell you it sure as hell doesn't help.  Look at the history here... Rep Gifford was one of the Representatives in Sarah Palin's "crosshairs" (see my blog from March 26, 2010).  Palin also recently tweeted "Don't retreat, reload!"  Giffords' office had its windows smashed in following her vote on the Health Care Reform.  During the 2010 election, Giffords' opponent, Jesse Kelly, held campaign events where voters could come out and shoot a fully automatic M16 with him.  In 2009 at another constituent meeting a man 'dropped' his handgun while meeting with Giffords.  Just north of them in Nevada, Sharon Angle running for the Senate suggested people might have to use "2nd Amendment remedies".  At a speech in Phoenix, about a dozen people came to the President's speech with assault rifles on their backs.  In New Hampshire people openly wore handguns on their belts outside where the President was speaking.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  -- 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution

I believe in the 2nd Amendment.  I believe Americans should have the right to own handguns.  But there has to be a limit.  There has to be a point where we stop and say, Ok, WHY do you want a 15 round clip for you 9mm Glock?  What is the point of it?  The gunman Saturday was able to shoot 20 people with a 9mm Glock in an extremely short amount of time.  People at the scene were able to subdue him reportedly when he stopped to reload his weapon.

Le sens commun est fort rare. -- Voltaire (Common sense is quite rare)

The NRA is quick to oppose any law that might restrict gun ownership.  Let's use some common sense.  Take for example the assault weapons ban.  Assault weapons have 1 singular purpose, to kill and maim people as quickly and efficiently as possible.  That is what they are designed to do, nothing else.  Why should the average citizen be allowed to have such an item?  What reason could they have to want it?  We don't let them having explosives.  We don't let them have nuclear material.  We don't let them have rockets or bazookas.  Common sense, people.  Let's fucking use some.

And yes... let's tone down the vitriol... I'm a Democrat, a bleeding heart liberal.  But I don't hate Republicans (most of them at least) and conservatives just because they think a different way than I do.  I didn't like George Bush.  I thought he was a horrible president.  Did I think he was a horrible person?  No.  I honestly think he tried to do what he thought was best for the country and that in its own perverted way is rather admirable.  I think his ideas for what was best for the country was fucked up, but you know I don't think there was malice there.  People vilified him, compared him to Hitler, just as people do to Obama now.  Chill the fuck out people!  Left and Right wing extremists have taken this all WAY TOO FAR.  EVERYONE needs to dial it back.

We are not labels – we are people.
We care deeply about our country.
We are frustrated and concerned about the tone of politics.
We are passionate about addressing America's challenges.
We are Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Most importantly, we are Americans.
We believe hyper-partisanship is destroying our politics and paralyzing our ability to govern.
We may disagree on issues, but we do so with civility and mutual respect.
We believe in the vital civil center — a place where ideas are judged on their merits.
We believe that together we can make the future better and brighter — and give us what we all deserve — a government and a political system that works — one driven by shared purpose and common sense.
We believe our politics can change, so that government will work again and produce better results.
The consequences of inaction have never been greater, because the issues we face have never been more serious, more complicated, or more dangerous.
And yet, we have a crisis of governance – A crisis that compels us to work together to move America forward.
We must put our labels aside, and put the issues and what's best for the nation first.
A promising future awaits us.

-- Declaration from No Labels.

--
JP