Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Scam o' da' Month (Hidden From Morons)
I'm a big fan of things that are cheap. In this case, I found a way to get free food for three weeks! Jut go to http://www.rubios.com/beachclub/ and sign up. On your birthday you will receive a coupon in your email for $7.00 off at Rubio's with no purchase necessary. The coupon lasts about 20 days, and I just kept reprinting them and using one everyday. I figure I got about 15 free meals total, and I just kept going to different locations on different days, since Rubio's are springing up all over, they are easy to find. To keep eating free, just set-up dummy email accounts and keep joining the beach club. If you are smart and stagger your visits every few months or so you can eat for free a whole bunch of times.
A History of Hemp in 20 Minutes Plus Helpful Tips For Growers
From an absolutely amazing article considering it was from a mainstream news outlet (http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/How-To-Grow-Pot-Safely.html), not sure how long this will stay up in original form
How To Grow Pot Safely
By R. STICKNEY
Updated 4:45 PM PDT, Mon, Mar 30, 2009
Related Topics: Consider Joshua Rasmussen | Illegal Drugs | Marijuana
Thinking of growing your own? Consider the 'what ifs' that can expose your operation.
Fires and accidents have uncovered a number of hidden pot farms in San Diego homes. That lead us to think up a few tips for those contemplating growing indoors.
Tip #1: Check plugs and outlets
Consider Joshua Rasmussen and his mini pot farm of oh, 300 plants. He fell asleep in his Mira Mesa home one night and an attic fire broke out. While police are filing charges against Rasmussen, firefighters are looking into the source of the fire but they believe it may be the very equipment used in the indoor marijuana operation.
Tip #2: Opt for 'staycations.'
Consider the case in Pacific Beach. A couple decided to take a weekend ski trip out of town. What they couldn't anticipate is that while they're skiing at Mammoth, a neighbor will wreck his truck into their home and expose their bedroom greenhouse to the police.
Tip #3: Convince your parents to bill your electric to them
Consider the Floyd family of Florida. All four members were arrested by Jacksonville deputies because their montly electric bill was $300 to $400 more than any of their neighbors, according to a published report.
If you're looking for more information on how to grow marijuana indoors, check the
Related Stories
10 Biggest Mistakes Growers Make....
1. Don't Over water
Over watering kills marijuana plants. Water once the top few inches of the soil dry out.
Hydroponics is harder to over water because rockwool has such excellent drainage properties. As long as the rockwool cubes are not sitting in liquid it is virtually impossible to over water a hydroponic setup. A hydroponic setup could either be watered constantly as the drip method, or once to three times a day as in the flood and drain method.
2. Don't Tell People
Why? They will only be jealous. People love to feel important and that is why they will tell other people; because others will listen to them.
Keep it to yourself.
3. Touch/kill Germinating Seeds
Please have some patience. It sometimes takes 10 days for a seed to sprout. The paper towel method is not recommended because you must handle the seeds when transferring them from the paper towel to your growing medium.
4. Grow seeds from seeded marijuana
One of the greatest disappointments known to the growing man.
90% of what the final product will be is in the seed's genetics and has little to do with the environment the plant is grown in.
Many get their hands on the seed and think they have a gold mine. They will probably grow something like this: hermaphrodites, tall late flowering females coupled with early flowering males. This is because the only pollen that could have produced the seed was from a hermaphrodite or a very stunted and late flowering male the grower did not notice. Unless you are prepared for possible disappointment don't use "unknown" seeds. This is why people buy seeds from seedbanks.
5. Don't Over fertilize.
Fertilize after first 2 spiked leaves appear follow the label. DON'T FERTILIZE EVERY TIME YOU WATER!!!
Start with 25% and work your way up!
Leach the plants with lots of pure water every 2-4 weeks. Organic growing is recommended. Its tastes better and burns much better.
If the leaves suddenly twist or fold under, Leach and Spray with pure water for several days!
6. Don't Under fertilize
Under fertilizing is less common but it happens. If you are one of those people that likes to give the plant just enough nutrients make sure you use a organic soil mixture with blood meal and bone meal or some slow release fertilizer with micro nutrients.
7. Don't Start with Clones. (I personally don't agree with this, I use clones and cuttings)
Start with seeds. Bugs are a pain, So are plant diseases. Many growers are able to grow indoors without pest problems for years. If they do get pests they are probably not enjoying the change from their usual diet to marijuana resin! But as soon as you come in contact with others grow material (cuttings) it is almost guaranteed that its from a long time grower that has many different pests all eating marijuana and bug spray (and surviving) for hundreds of generations!... Think about it.
8. Don't Start Too Early Inside or Outdoors
For several reasons! If you are starting outdoors June 1 is perfect. But if I start earlier I will get bigger buds right? Probably Wrong!
Its strange but usually true. ill explain. Plants started in early spring will get big but they will take significantly longer to start flowering. This is because at the peak vegetative period they sense the light cycles getting longer and longer, until June 21. But they don't realize that its time to flower yet. Finally in the middle of August the plant says "HEY" "time to flower already" and it produces buds in August and September or later they will be tall as trees but thinner buds due to the fact that the sun is not as strong in September. Now if the ganja plants were put out later, as soon as they get a foot off the ground they say "what's going on" I am just in early veggie and the light hours aren't getting longer in fact SHORTER" Then the plants go crazy and since the sun is so bright in July and August you get amazing 6 foot trees that are heavier than the plants started in April!!! in addition to finishing earlier the late started plants are not nearly as noticeable.
Indoors is the same for different reasons. The light cannot penetrate more than a foot or two. So flower when plants are a foot tall. If you wait longer because you want bigger yields, you will get smaller yields and wait longer for them.
9. Don't Provide A Bad Environment.
Always provide air circulation and fresh air even during the night cycle is fine. All the air indoors should be replaced every 5-10 minutes.
Humidity between 30-70% temp aim for around 75-85' Even seedlings need a gentle fan to strengthen the stems.
10. Don't Harvest Too Early.
I know its hard. You see the buds and resin forming at a rapid rate. The buds are potent and you feel tempted to chop em down! The only problem is that another 25% of the weight will form in 2 more weeks. Wait until the plants have totally stopped growing and the white pistils are at least 50-75% brown.
*NOTE: Outdoors if security is a factor make your own call on when to sacrifice the fields. Also take buds continuously in case of thieves.
How To Grow Pot Safely
By R. STICKNEY
Updated 4:45 PM PDT, Mon, Mar 30, 2009
Related Topics: Consider Joshua Rasmussen | Illegal Drugs | Marijuana
Thinking of growing your own? Consider the 'what ifs' that can expose your operation.
Fires and accidents have uncovered a number of hidden pot farms in San Diego homes. That lead us to think up a few tips for those contemplating growing indoors.
Tip #1: Check plugs and outlets
Consider Joshua Rasmussen and his mini pot farm of oh, 300 plants. He fell asleep in his Mira Mesa home one night and an attic fire broke out. While police are filing charges against Rasmussen, firefighters are looking into the source of the fire but they believe it may be the very equipment used in the indoor marijuana operation.
Tip #2: Opt for 'staycations.'
Consider the case in Pacific Beach. A couple decided to take a weekend ski trip out of town. What they couldn't anticipate is that while they're skiing at Mammoth, a neighbor will wreck his truck into their home and expose their bedroom greenhouse to the police.
Tip #3: Convince your parents to bill your electric to them
Consider the Floyd family of Florida. All four members were arrested by Jacksonville deputies because their montly electric bill was $300 to $400 more than any of their neighbors, according to a published report.
If you're looking for more information on how to grow marijuana indoors, check the
Related Stories
10 Biggest Mistakes Growers Make....
1. Don't Over water
Over watering kills marijuana plants. Water once the top few inches of the soil dry out.
Hydroponics is harder to over water because rockwool has such excellent drainage properties. As long as the rockwool cubes are not sitting in liquid it is virtually impossible to over water a hydroponic setup. A hydroponic setup could either be watered constantly as the drip method, or once to three times a day as in the flood and drain method.
2. Don't Tell People
Why? They will only be jealous. People love to feel important and that is why they will tell other people; because others will listen to them.
Keep it to yourself.
3. Touch/kill Germinating Seeds
Please have some patience. It sometimes takes 10 days for a seed to sprout. The paper towel method is not recommended because you must handle the seeds when transferring them from the paper towel to your growing medium.
4. Grow seeds from seeded marijuana
One of the greatest disappointments known to the growing man.
90% of what the final product will be is in the seed's genetics and has little to do with the environment the plant is grown in.
Many get their hands on the seed and think they have a gold mine. They will probably grow something like this: hermaphrodites, tall late flowering females coupled with early flowering males. This is because the only pollen that could have produced the seed was from a hermaphrodite or a very stunted and late flowering male the grower did not notice. Unless you are prepared for possible disappointment don't use "unknown" seeds. This is why people buy seeds from seedbanks.
5. Don't Over fertilize.
Fertilize after first 2 spiked leaves appear follow the label. DON'T FERTILIZE EVERY TIME YOU WATER!!!
Start with 25% and work your way up!
Leach the plants with lots of pure water every 2-4 weeks. Organic growing is recommended. Its tastes better and burns much better.
If the leaves suddenly twist or fold under, Leach and Spray with pure water for several days!
6. Don't Under fertilize
Under fertilizing is less common but it happens. If you are one of those people that likes to give the plant just enough nutrients make sure you use a organic soil mixture with blood meal and bone meal or some slow release fertilizer with micro nutrients.
7. Don't Start with Clones. (I personally don't agree with this, I use clones and cuttings)
Start with seeds. Bugs are a pain, So are plant diseases. Many growers are able to grow indoors without pest problems for years. If they do get pests they are probably not enjoying the change from their usual diet to marijuana resin! But as soon as you come in contact with others grow material (cuttings) it is almost guaranteed that its from a long time grower that has many different pests all eating marijuana and bug spray (and surviving) for hundreds of generations!... Think about it.
8. Don't Start Too Early Inside or Outdoors
For several reasons! If you are starting outdoors June 1 is perfect. But if I start earlier I will get bigger buds right? Probably Wrong!
Its strange but usually true. ill explain. Plants started in early spring will get big but they will take significantly longer to start flowering. This is because at the peak vegetative period they sense the light cycles getting longer and longer, until June 21. But they don't realize that its time to flower yet. Finally in the middle of August the plant says "HEY" "time to flower already" and it produces buds in August and September or later they will be tall as trees but thinner buds due to the fact that the sun is not as strong in September. Now if the ganja plants were put out later, as soon as they get a foot off the ground they say "what's going on" I am just in early veggie and the light hours aren't getting longer in fact SHORTER" Then the plants go crazy and since the sun is so bright in July and August you get amazing 6 foot trees that are heavier than the plants started in April!!! in addition to finishing earlier the late started plants are not nearly as noticeable.
Indoors is the same for different reasons. The light cannot penetrate more than a foot or two. So flower when plants are a foot tall. If you wait longer because you want bigger yields, you will get smaller yields and wait longer for them.
9. Don't Provide A Bad Environment.
Always provide air circulation and fresh air even during the night cycle is fine. All the air indoors should be replaced every 5-10 minutes.
Humidity between 30-70% temp aim for around 75-85' Even seedlings need a gentle fan to strengthen the stems.
10. Don't Harvest Too Early.
I know its hard. You see the buds and resin forming at a rapid rate. The buds are potent and you feel tempted to chop em down! The only problem is that another 25% of the weight will form in 2 more weeks. Wait until the plants have totally stopped growing and the white pistils are at least 50-75% brown.
*NOTE: Outdoors if security is a factor make your own call on when to sacrifice the fields. Also take buds continuously in case of thieves.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Parenting 101...Are Even The Basics Too Hard To Handle???
I've been following the whole "sexting" debacle for quite some time and all I have to really say on the so-called debate for punishing these children is: WHERE THE HELL ARE THESE KIDS PARENTS!?!?!?!?
It's gotten to be where the whole under 18 issue is becoming more prevalent because if we are going to charge a 14 yr old girl with child pornography for posting nude pictures of herself, doesn't it stand to logic that she must rightly be considered an adult for this to be a crime at all? I think we, as a country, need to take a serious look at just what constitutes a "crime" first of all, as nobody I know has ever been convicted of murder for committing suicide, nobody has ever been charged for kidnapping if they intentionally got lost, and I don't think even a sexual molestation victim was ever found from self-masturbation.
You see where I'm going with this...just the utter stupidity of law enforcement officials, who already are indoctrinated into merciless and compassionless robot clones of each other from day 1 of the academy, can't take the time to check their own pulse and remember they're human beings. Last time I checked, a whole lot of cops, judges, lawyers, and the worthless bureaucrats who are pushing Megan's Law to an all-time low probably have children of their own. I wasn't aware that stupidity and bad parenting were criminal offenses, because if they were our jails would be filed five to a cell and we'd have more orphans than even our burgeoning welfare state could handle.
Which brings me to a simple fact of life I think we can all appreciate. Law enforcement long ago stopped serving the community and started protecting itself. Take the case in point that just recently happened below:
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Is This The Cop's Voice From "Idiocracy"?
Oh my fucking god, this shit had me laughing hysterically, I almost fell out of my chair. Some practical advice, however, especially the hot shower tip. Fellas, if you get home from the club and are gonna screw any of these whores below, make sure you take a hot shower not only to get the sweat off the balls, but also to pump the junk.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Why Do They Keep Doing This? Why Do We Let Them?
Young teacher, the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly
Knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s longing
This girls an open page
Book marking - she’s so close now
This girl is half his age
Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me
Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get
Sometimes its not so easy
To be the teachers pet
Temptation, frustration
So bad it makes him cry
Wet bus stop, she’s waiting
His car is warm and dry
Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me
Loose talk in the classroom
To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staffroom
The accusations fly
Its no use, he sees her
He starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabokov
Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me
-The Police “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”
It’s been around forever, immortalized by song and deed, but the problem seems to be reaching epic proportions. All across the country, students are being used as sexual playthings by the very people we place our trust in to educate these young souls. But why now is the media firestorm covering this topic reaching such a critical boiling point…and why do these people keep screwing our kids?!?!?!
Is it youth they are trying to catch, so enthralled with the helplessness of their victims? Is it a pointless power play that seeks to turn the tables on boys who will someday grow to be the men who have spurned them in the past? Or is it something more sinister, something less human that spur these female predators, who stoop to the lowest gutters of depravity when they seduce children sometimes decades younger than themselves?
Again, another case of a female teacher taking advantage of one of her students, this time a seventh grader in my own hometown of San Diego. Adrienne Elizabeth Feistel, a former teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary in the City Heights section of town, took the kindness that was bestowed upon her by the family of one of her young students and betrayed that trust by trying to steal the most valuable of all assets a child might possess: innocence. But wherein lies the blame, and what is causing this seemingly never ending outbreak of female teachers molesting their naïve, vulnerable pupils. Part of the problem may be public sentiment towards the issue. According to Whistleblower magazine When 43-year-old teacher Pamela Diehl-Moore tearfully pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old male student, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Gaeta sentenced her to probation, saying: "I really don't see the harm that was done here and certainly society doesn't need to be worried. I do not believe she is a sexual predator. It's just something between two people that clicked beyond the teacher-student relationship. … And don't forget, this was mutual consent " But how is a female adult taking advantage of a juvenile male anymore consent than when a male does the same to a female student?
Entire websites are devoted to this perverse culturally oddity that seems to be sparking like wildfire across America. Sites like www.schoolteachernews.com have an entire section exclusively about “scandals”, namely sexual scandals. As of the 27th of March, there have already been 100 scandals nationwide in the news. Probably half that many never make the news due to back-door severance packages and atypical dirty dealings to keep those in power from having their names drug through the mud. 2008 saw 479 scandals reported, an astounding number of abuses, and one that frankly boggles the mind. According to the U.S. Department of Justice In 2007, for every 1,000 persons age 12 or older, there occurred 1 rape or sexual assault. That’s a scary figure, given that approximately 260+ million people in America fit that broad description. If we were to say that there are about 250,000 or so rapes or sexual assaults per given year and a conservative estimate of 500 teacher related incidents, that still leaves a staggering number to contend with: one in every 500 crimes will be committed by a teacher. As I alluded to earlier, that leaves a lot of potential predators within a given community, and the sad thing is these are the people we have to trust the most. In my city alone, with about 12,000 teachers all told, that means that the odds are we will see one or two of these shameful incidents every year by the people who we pay to educate, protect, and nurture our children.
For those of you who still aren’t buying my likening of this madness as a precursor to the pandemic, check out http://www.hottforteacher.com. It is a fascinating site that refuses to play on our pedophilic fears and instead caters to the innate and perverse sense of wonder surrounding the teacher-student dynamic. And sometimes, if it weren’t so wrong, it would be so right…just look at some of the pieces of tail that were accused and convicted of “raping” young boys:
Finally, for those of you who need to know the gory details right down to a categorical smorgasbord of perpetrators, I present http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=39783, which will test your faith in placing your son or daughter in the care of anyone ever again.
Which brings us to the school that incubated the latest celebrity child molester...Rosa Park Elementary.It is not the best school in the city. The test scores speak for themselves, and Principal Peggy Crane might be the first to admit that overall performance has a lot of room for improvement:
2007 CST English-Language Arts Standards Test Score Performance
Grade Subject School Proficient District Proficient State Proficient
All English-Language Arts Standards 29.0% 47.0% 45.0%
2 English-Language Arts Standards 33.0% 50.0% 48.0%
3 English-Language Arts Standards 17.0% 39.0% 37.0%
4 English-Language Arts Standards 31.0% 53.0% 51.0%
5 English-Language Arts Standards 35.0% 46.0% 44.0%
2007 CST Mathematics Test Score Performance
Grade Subject School Proficient District Proficient State Proficient
All Mathematics 47.5% 56.8% 55.5%
2 Mathematics 43.0% 61.0% 59.0%
3 Mathematics 60.0% 61.0% 58.0%
4 Mathematics 43.0% 56.0% 56.0%
5 Mathematics 44.0% 49.0% 49.0%
The school sits smack dab in the middle of a fairly tough, lower income part of the city which, until recently, was plagued by higher rates of crime. Like most of the communities of University Avenue, this place is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, as the upscale spread that started in the Hillcrest area creeps its way eastward. Population stands at 65,450 as of 2005, although by looking around you know that is is larger than that by many thousand. Median household income is $19,393, which is far below poverty level. Racial makeup is approximately 47% Hispanic, 15% Asian, 34% African-American. Immigrants line the streets with their ethnic shops and a general bazaar atmosphere permeates as you leave Interstate 15 and head deeper into the heart. It’s a place of beauty and ugliness all at once, frequented by people who hardly speak English and born and bred San Diegans who come to patron the dive bars and savory family-owned eateries that dot the pavement.
According to the Rosa Parks Website, the School Mission Statement reads:
Each student has the right to learn.
Each teacher has the right to teach.
No student shall keep other students from learning or keep teachers from teaching.
Students are accountable for their own behavior.
No student shall behave in a way that hurts himself/herself or anyone else.
But is the credo working? Overwhelming, yes, as Rosa Parks is part of the highly vaunted social experiment known as the City Heights Educational Collaborative. Along with sister schools Clark Middle School and Hoover High, Rosa Parks is a study in the effectiveness of throwing additional money and resources in what had been an underserved part of the cities educational system. $30 million in funding over the last decade has produced mixed results, but ask anyone who sends a child to any of these schools and they will tell you it’s mostly been a rousing success story. But problems remain, and an article in voiceofsandiego.org (http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/12/20/education/857cityheights121208.txt) will testify to the fact that things are only partly rosy, with many thorns still sticking out and stabbing at the heart. So, how did a teacher like Feistel slip through the cracks into a school that could be considered a beacon of progressive educational reform and community action. How could the parents, and more importantly the administration, not seen this coming? Can the blame be linked to an apathetic public system that seldom claims the cream of the crop, especially when one takes into consideration the public griping the California Teachers Union is always doing about the pathetically low salaries they earn. But are teachers really underpaid, and is that why deviants like Feistel can slip through the cracks, where the demand for qualified individuals far exceeds the supply.
According to the BLS, the average public school teacher in the United States earned $34.06 per hour in 2005. When you figure in total hours worked, it comes to about $47,000 a year (remember, most teachers take summer session off, when they don’t pull a paycheck). This is a salary that has the average American teacher regarded as middle class, and given that a Bachelor’s Degree and teaching credentials are standard fare, they are paid about what they would be worth in other fields on the open job market.
The average public school teacher was paid 36% more per hour than the average non-sales white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty and technical worker. Full-time public school teachers work on average 36.5 hours per week during weeks that they are working. By comparison, white-collar workers (excluding sales) work 39.4 hours, and professional specialty and technical workers work 39.0 hours per week. Private school teachers work 38.3 hours per week. Some argue that private schools further thin out the pool of higher quality applicants, but surprisingly public school teachers are paid 61% more per hour than private school teachers, on average nationwide. Teachers hardly seem to blame for the rising occurrences of a few bad apples among their ranks getting frisky with the student population, but what about the administrators above the teachers. These are, after all, the people that hire candidates and place them in positions easiest to do damage to impressionable youth.
Enter current Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier.
Grier was essentially an untouchable golden boy in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he could do no wrong. Ironically enough, Greensboro holds the dubious distinction of being the place where teachers go to die. It pays the lowest wages in the country to these poor souls while Grier, who took credit for programs he never initiated and fudged statistics in his favor regarding the improvement of his students, brought in a salary in excess of $250,00 per year.
On one Blog, a responder who called herself Aunt B said:
Our junk apparently is your treasure, San Diego.
As a teacher in GCS, I'm ready for a superintendent that remembers what it is like to be in a classroom. Not an upper crust that sits in his golden throne, refuses to let media in to his inner sanctum, and vacations around the world. I'm ready for an educator, accustomed to being a public servant and willing to make the difficult decisions for the children, not his resume.
Guess Terry will need to sell his NC beach property for San Diego Beach Front. Good thing he sold his Greensboro home long ago in preparation for leaving Guilford County.
Another blog commentator who goes by the name of Stormy, irate that Grier had been presented the 2008 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year Award stated:
I assume this award was based on a criteria based upon accomplishments, rather than a political process or popularity vote. Your article said that Grier was cited for winning based upon three accomplishments: "The organizations credited Grier with halving the high school dropout rate to 3 percent, increasing student participation in higher-level courses and formulating an incentive plan that pays math and reading teachers extra to work in low-performing schools."
So, let's review those accomplishments. One, He gets credit for a 3% dropout rate when 2/3rds of the students never graduate (this doesn't compute). Four of the high schools in the district were cited by a national publication as "Dropout Factories". Several of those schools are being threatened with closing by Judge Manning if they don't improve. This represents accomplishment? Two, he gets credit for increasing the number of students taking AP test, when the taxpayers pay $700,000 per year for the test, and the pass rate is abominable. (Most districts do not pay for tests for students, but many reimburse upon successful completion.) This only counts to get listed in Newsweek as having the best schools in the nation, based upon taking tests, not passing tests. Third, he gets credit for Mission Possible, which is a program without a record of success as yet. Yes, he implemented a potentially good program, but we really haven't seen any results reported as yet, have we? They may be there eventually, but it is going to take a few years to really call this a success.
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/debatables/2007/11/terry_grier_superintendent_of.shtml
http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/grier-gets-giddy/
According to an article in the Union Tribune under Grier's leadership, Guilford County Schools made significant academic strides including dropout rate that declined by half to 3 percent. The percentage of high school students graduating in four years was also improved to about 80 percent from 66 percent. In addition, the number of students taking college-level Advanced Placement exams went up to 8,393 in 2007 from 2,864 in 2000. But how much was he responsible for? If you believe the pundits, not much, as he was more of an authoritarian, autocratic dictator than the shining heart he claims to be.
Dr. Grier claims to be trying to lower the drop-out rate here among his many other agendas:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/station/features/Dr__Terry_Grier__One_Year_Later_San_Diego.html
But is Grier really to blame for coming here and cashing in? Perhaps the culture of arrogance was started in 1998 with the beginning of Alan Bersin’s reign as superintendent. A former lawyer with no formal training in education, Bersin was the type of iron fisted administrator that would use bulldog tactics to attempt the forceful improvement of our fair school system. In an article about Bersin in the San Diego Jewish Journal in 2003, clues began to point towards unwillingness from the top brass toward working with the field generals in the battle for classroom success. "It's been that style of leadership since day one," complains Terry Pesta, current president of the San Diego teachers' union and a 30-year teaching vet. "Everything's been dictatorial. It's 'Our way is the only way.'"
Pesta went on to claim, "Morale among our members is at an all-time low. It's almost not that teachers are being evaluated on how well they teach, but on how well they're being a team player." Thankfully to most in the teacher’s union, Bersin moved on to pastures where a bull of his stature could trample ground underfoot without fear of repercussion. In 2005, he accepted the position of State Education Secretary; After all, he had the full backing of an actor playing the role of governor. In an article for the Union-Tribune in the same year, the insults…and defensive maneuvers…began in full force. "I'm not a governor that represents the unions," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. "I represent the people. And I'm most interested in improving education."
But Bersin’s detractors couldn’t keep their mouths shut. Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, showed little restraint in hiding his disdain for the head honcho. "Bersin's legacy as superintendent of San Diego Unified School District has been one of divisiveness," Ducheny clambered, obviously irate that a man who had done next to nothing to improve the school system as a whole, and possibly made it worse by alienating the teacher’s union. "His controversial approach combined with his narrow focus on test scores has angered both teachers and parents. To make matters worse, there is still no credible evidence that his so-called reforms made any significant impact on student test scores."
So has education improved, and more importantly, is the toxic environment that resides within the hallowed, sometimes rotting halls of our public schools any better at nurturing and protecting our children? The San Diego Unified School District has 227 schools, serving over 130,000 students with about 7,000 teachers. The average class size is right around 19 students, meaning that the overall quality is pretty good, not the horrible situation you might expect from the second largest district in the nation’s most populated state. According to Melissa McEwan (http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/10/so-called-public-school-plague.html), the problem really does lie in the system and the administrators, who not only cover for these abusive teachers, but also have the gall to allow them to continue their criminal ways at other schools, much like a catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct might flee the community he lives in only to find a place at another church in another town.
In summation, I think that you have to look at a whole variety of factors. Society as a whole is sick, this much is obvious. Some experts point to the decline of the American nuclear family, and I think to some extent they are right; Parents just don’t have the time or energy to really care anymore. Also, you have to look at this epidemic from a historical perspective because a certain percentage of people in power have always broken the laws and done whatever they wanted because they thought they would be able to get away with it. Men have also historically undermined the right of women to some extent, dating all the way back to the times cavemen quite literally beat their women into submission in order to propagate the species whenever, and with whomever, they pleased. The fact that a growing number of female teachers are featured in the news could be explained away as some demented example of reverse sexism, a la Demi Moore’s character in the movie Disclosure. Whatever the case may be, a few simple coincidences popped up in my research:
1) Teachers are underpaid for the amount of stress that comes with the job, but are probably accurately paid per hour when you add in benefits and the fact that they have tremendous job security once they’ve paid their dues and provided they don’t live in California.
2) The fact that teaching is an honorable profession and pays fairly well overall means that quality people are attracted to this profession and people of questionable character probably don’t slip through the cracks all too often.
3) School administrators are, for the most part, out of touch with what goes on in the classroom, are overpaid, and treat the school system as part social experiment, part networking circle to ascend to positions of higher pay/greater influence.
4) If San Diego can be looked at as a microcosm of all public school systems, it can be theorized that declining conditions and apathy will continue to drive the number of these sexual dalliances higher and higher.
5) In short, if finances allow, send your child to a good private school…and beware of religious schools taught by overly friendly priests!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Staring At The Spearhead Of Hate
Well isn't this just grand, 2010 is right on the horizon, the beginning of a new decade about to be capped by the World's greatest celebration of sport, and ugly hatred rears its head again. When the incumbent government of South Africa decided to deny the Visa of the Dalai Lama, they not only crushed the hopes of so many living within Tibet, who desperately wanted a world stage to voice their plight, but also cemented the will of communist China on a new continent. You heard me right, South Africa, which for centuries suffered from an apartheid system that made non-whites second class citizens, now appears to be on the verge of an invasion in political doctrine from the Great Red East.
South Africa, which is world famous for diamonds that are pulled from the earth only to leave pools of blood behind, has turned its back on one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time in the name of commercial interest and for the sake of a partner that seeks to influence the most powerful nation on the most important continent in regards to future resources. While the U.S. pursues hopeless interests in a Middle East that will never accept us, let alone love us, China slowly but surely is buying power and friends on a continent that has vast untapped oil fields, undeveloped mines of precious metal, and enough instability and corruption running through its veins that its citizens can't or won't put up much of a fight.
What can be done about this situation, or is it just politics, and more likely business as usual? Desmond Tutu, ever the optimist in regards to human nature, could be considered the meter stick for what is going on in this country. "If His Holiness's visa is refused, then I won't take part in the coming 2010 World Cup-related peace conference. I will condemn [the] government's behaviour as disgraceful, in line with our country's abysmal record at the United Nations security council, a total betrayal of our struggle's history," he said. He is right, this is a slap in the face of all those, black and white, who died in a dream that started in Soweto in 1976. By abolishing one form of abuse for another, those living under the ANC-backed regime in South Africa are not truly free. To have a truly free society, one must have freedom of the mind, the ability to be exposed to different points of view, to feed off the life experiences of somebody that is so very much not you or what you are used to. When the black population of South Africa was given freedom, it shifted a large volume of wealth to a very small, elite minority of black millionaires, not really doing much to alleviate the rampant poverty that still remains in the country.
So the question that begs to be asked is whether this is a South African problem or an African problem. It's no longer a black or white problem, but now a red and green problem. Death and money are the issues that make South Africa, and the entire continent, a powder keg waiting to explode. Why is the world showcasing the most watched sporting event in a country that very clearly is the spearhead of hate. Hate for the whites, hate for the blacks, hate for the poor, hate for the rich...the answer is, of course, this giant pool of money that fluffs up our man-made and false economic system that teeters on the brink of annihilation, like some house of cards with the souls of men attached to them. In the future, the untapped resources of an abandoned world will be carved up by the power players in both east and west, and the 2010 world cup will be a celebration not of sport, but of commerce and excess, of fat cats and the dirty masses of helpless rats they feed on.
Reflecting the country's apartheid past, poverty was concentrated among blacks, particularly Africans. Sixty-one percent of Africans and 38 percent of mixed-race 'coloureds' were poor, compared with five percent of Indians and one percent of whites, according to the report.
So, what is the pulse of this country, a place where soccer can be played for millions of adoring fans in state of the art stadiums, but infants as young as five months have been raped (how is this physically possible, first of all, and secondly that may be the sickest person I've ever heard of >>>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1703595.stm).
It's a country that very obviously has immense disparities within it, perhaps more than any other country, and that's to be expected. When a white, christian, imperialist society decides to come ambling along the coast in warships, peppering the fishing villages with cannon fire and basically stomping a mudhole in a way of life that existed for thousands of years before, there is going to be tension.
Africa in general is going through some serious regression...case in point a "witchhunt" going on in Gambia, which is on the west coast and far, far away from South Africa. Point being stuff like this is going on:
Then, we can go to the shamocracy that is Zimbabwe and the blatant assassination of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife Susan in what was an attempt on his life. He, naturally, wanted to share power with incumbent "dick"tator Robert Mugabe in the ministries of importance, but we all know that a power sharing scheme will never work when one man is a politician and the other a thug.
Perhaps nothing screams in the face of moral responsibility than the current situation in Madagascar, which has experienced a change in power that the AU likens to a wholesale offering of power for money. Check out http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/03/thoughts-madagascars-coup-detat, for a first hand perspective of the debacle.
After so much ranting and raving, I suppose I come back to square one of this whole piece, which is to say I vehemently oppose the awarding of the world's premier sporting event to a country that bathes in despotism. At one time, sports and competition were meant to foster brotherhood and harmony, a place where we could all attempt to play on a level field and give it all we had. In the case of next years convoluted, corporately backed and disgustingly expensive display of power and money under the mask of unadulterated love of the game, I won't be there. In the cesspool of continued inequality that is South Africa, we cannot have a fair discourse on why we hate, we will all be too busy sitting next to each other under the guise of common interests and passions.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work
Knowing, the Mayan Calender, Doomsday Theories...
Alright, so I went to see "Knowing" starring Nicholas Cage tonight and besides being an awesome movie, maybe one of the best I have seen in a long time, it got me to thinking about all things existential and metaphysical. I won't give away the movie, but let's just say that the end is a doozy, leaves nothing to the imagination (which is good, because the point of a good movie, especially a sci-fi movie, is to put somebody's imagination on screen in tangible images), and really makes you question the big things in life. Can it all end? Why am I here? Is there a point to all this or do I have to just go on faith that something is after my inevitable death?
I decided to do some quick research on the theory that a massive solar flare could spark up without us knowing (I know, cheap shot...) and wipe out all life on earth. Furthermore, because our sun is and has been so stable, what are other E.L.E. (extinction level event)type catastrophes might befall us within our lifetimes, and more importantly those of our children. The chances of an external, non-human factor for our demise are exponentially smaller than something as mundane as a good, old-fashioned nuclear war or a super germ being unleashed accidentally by some scientist who hadn't thought to make a cure. The movies, and theories, of a true doomsday are endless but the fact remains that it will all end for all of us, and we have to hope there is something better than this struggle in a weak, flesh and bone vessel for our souls that is this life.
That being said, it's always smart to prepare, and you have to give some credence to the Popol Vuh, an ancient text that was held sacred by the Mayans and told the story of our creation from "tree people", i.e. primates, to the complex creatures we are today. The date December 21st, 2012 has always been a harrowing date. It was the traditional "end of days" for the Mayans, the time when our earth sits exactly in line with our own sun and the center of the milky way galaxy. Science fiction has theorized all manner of fantastical events that will unfold for us on this day, including solar flares, the end of the spinning of earths molten core, the appearance of a rouge black hole, the collision of our planet with either Venus or mars, etc...but what can we really do about it?
First, educate yourself about some of the potentials. Check out http://www.greenoverrun.com/9-examples-of-apocalyptic-extinction-level-events.html, which will give you a small taste of the sensationalism surrounding the so-called ways we can kiss it all goodbye.
The only real way we can stop something like an asteroid colliding with earth would be to set-up not only an early detection system, which would be a stretch given that astronomers are only watching about 1% of all appreciable angles of visible space at any given time. Secondly, we would have to have a deflection apparatus in place, maybe a volley of nuclear missiles could do the trick, but it would be a crapshoot for any object over about 6 miles in diameter. The chances of this happening are very slim, but we should hopefully have some sort of contingency plan in place within the next 20 years. With China shooting for a moon visit by 2020 and seeming to have the capacity, capability, and motivation to accomplish that feat, look for whoever succeeds Obama to start pumping more than the paltry sum NASA currently gets currenty ($17.6 billion for 09') to a total closer to the amount JFK authorized in 63' (about $25 billion in adjusted dollars). It is absolutely vital we start to look to our aerospace industries as the total world population races towards 7 billion people, because eventually as we get closer to about 20 billion people, the argriculture industries are going to be at capacity and people will literally be killing each other to eat. In other words, we will someday soon (probably the next 100 years unless an agressive population/birth control program takes root) need to start seriously relocating a significant amount of the population off-planet.
Also check out http://thembonez.blogspot.com/2007/09/surviving-2012-and-planet-x.html, which is further 2012 mythos, but highly entertaining if implausible. All this crap is driving me nuts and I need to recharge the cranium, but keep reading, be prepared for stuff, and enjoy life to the fullest. Moral of the story is keep doing what you're doing, live for today and plan for tomorrow, spend time with your loved ones, and above all else take comfort in not knowing. Ignorance truly is the most sublime bliss of all...
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Mission Statement
Q. What is the purpose of adding one more blog to the endless sea of opinions floating out there?
A. Like the old saying goes, "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has them and they all stink," however, some people are vegetarians so they aren't that bad, while other people eat california burritos everyday, so their bathrooms smell like something has died and started to decompose. In other words, this bathroom will have a relatively sweet smell to it, and at the very least be funny, interesting, and hopefully thought provoking.
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