Let me just preface this rant by saying that I read at least one national newspaper and one local paper daily, and I substitute teach...
I heard on NPR this morning that Al Gore won the Nobel Peace "for (their) efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". I really don't know what to say about that, "What the heck" comes to mind...I heard that the British distributed a copy of 'An Inconvenient Truth' to all of their secondary schools recently. I also read how a parent sued to have a disclaimer put on the video about how it's 'highly political' and 'factually incorrect' in many cases...
The front page of the USA Today for 10/12 has a story about Mexican airlines which cater specifically to immigrants hoping to cross into the US. The airline, known is "Aeromigrante", flies passengers from southern Mexican cities to border towns such as Tijuana or Mexicali. Now to me, this just seems like a load of bull. Why are we, meaning American citizens, putting up with this invasion from the south? I mean, how much more blatantly obvious can a problem be? Let me tell you how this affects me personally...Say I want to go hike in some of the millions of acres of beautiful nationally owned forest land in Humboldt County or really anywhere in the US. If it's during 'growing season', I have to be worried about stumbling into some Mexican drug cartel's backcountry pot growing operation. Even if I was carrying a handgun (which would be illegal for me to do!!!), the drug cartels are packing AK-47's and assault rifles. Now I'd bet just about anything that these guys aren't here on work visas. We need to crack down on this crap! And just a side note, you guys need to look into the 'Amero', there have been a couple stories in the NY Times lately about how the government wants to unite the US, Canada, Mexico, and Central America into some sort of American Union...kind of like the European Union...Say goodbye to wealth and prosperity.
Anyway, not to focus on news too much, people seriously need to read more newspapers...like national newspapers and need to read more than the headlines. The scary stuff is hidden away behind the headlines.
In subbing news...If the kids I've been teaching lately are any indication of the overall state of the youth in America...then we're in trouble folks. I'm in California and the wind usually blows west. Granted kids usually eat extra sugar and drink two RedBulls before class if they know they have a sub, but kids these days....What's up with every kids having an i-pod and a cellphone in 6th grade. Kids are literally too wired. Parents need to wise up and take that damn i-pod away, turn off the freakin' computer, and make these kids read books.
I was at the alternative-school a couple of days this week and I was absolutely floored. This is a school for kids who have been kicked out of their original school for fighting, truancy, lagging behind academically, and just generally not giving a damn about all that is good and true in the world. Now I am fairly open minded and I go into these rooms with no preconcieved notions, but damn...those were some bad kids. People always complain about how the US lags behind other countries in education or about how their isn't enough money for schools. For starters I would say, and this is an educated assumption, that most other countries don't have alternative schools or have schools that coddle the bad kids. Everyone talks about how China is gonna be lightyears ahead of us in science and math...do you think that schools in China put up with kids that don't give a damn, kids that come to school stoned out of their minds, or kids that disrespect authority figures? Hell no they don't!
I was in a middle school program a couple days ago. These kids were seriously bad kids. Have you ever been cussed out by a 7th grader? I have, multiple times. I was thinking to myself, "Damn kid, you're pretty much screwed in life". But I would be wrong, because say this kid just doesn't want to do anything in life, except sell drugs and collect welfare checks...He can...And that's the problem! A large majority of those kids didn't want to be there, so they don't do anything except cuss, complain, and cause problems. Now wouldn't a better use of taxpayer money be to fund advanced classes for the kids that do want to learn and excel. And at the same time we should stop funding the programs that enable people to just leach off of society. Maybe that's extreme and maybe it's a biased opinion, but hey-this is a ramling rant...
Maybe next time they'll be something of substance...but seriously though...read more newspapers and be a skeptic.
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Ben,
I have been so solemn today that I could just SCREAM on the top of my lungs. I can't get a grip on myself lately. I can't figure out the word to describe how I feel exactally, but I decided to read your blog because I was interested on Justine or your thoughts so I ended up at yours and it really moved me. I want to talk about all of what I have to say but I sometimes can't sit at a computer too long and sometimes I don't know how to explain how I feel. FIrst off, your section on worldly newspapers. I have been reading up a lot on all the different stories, especially the ones that are hidden on page 5 or 6. I dont 'know much in terms of our government except that I feel it is going to get stronger from this war after Bush is done in office. I am against war, because of course I want peace not war, but but let me tell you that I am reading and learning a lot about it now that I have time.... I am so torn up by all the things that are going on. I feel so helpless hopeless and cold at times.
Right now I too am working with the Special Ed, but its not special needs its special ed, which entails a lot of kids that just don't give a s@!@ about life and abotu what is going on.. I have been cussed at, laughed at, and disrepected almost everyday. Its a battle man, and I don't know what to say about it but that we as people are supporting kids like this because we are paying for schools and extra helpers to come in and baby these kids until they look at the damn sheet of paper and actually read it and wnat to learn it.
Almost all don't even know how to do some basic math and read books that are 20 pages long. Only becuase they talk about dropping out and not wanting to be there, but they do show up. These kids are in Highschool.. I mean its not hard if you think and you use your head. These teens of our youth are sad pile of events. Its funny that you talked about the "incovenient truth" and how it was passed by the boards to show in public schools because one of the classes I am in showed it and they had an entire series on it for like 3 weeks with papers projects and different testomonial theories, I think its a really good thing for kids to open up there minds and really get a grasp on what others perspectives are. But, the other irony is my mom would be one of those moms fighting to NOT show the movie at all. She is a woman with a lot of opinions and thinks it is a one-sided point of view film. I really need to get a stronger opinion on it I guess.
Well, off to check up on my Grandpa, its been a blessing living at home, but its a really hard place to be. I feel like I could jump right out of my pants, I feel trapped.
Sarah Jane Badfellow
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