Saturday, July 25, 2009

No Child Left Behind: Teaching Tales


No Child Left Behind: Teaching Tales

No Child Left Behind: Teaching Tales

The President and his educational secretary want to pay me based on my student’s performance on test. Lets get this straight: I believe that all children should be taught. I believe that all children can learn. I run my classroom so that all students get attention and their personal educational needs are met. That said, NCLB does not work and we need to stop putting all of our students in the same box. Here are some of my favorite student tales:

I teach a writing class and last year I had three such classes. In my final period of the day, I had 36 students. Half of those were students who did not speak English. One student in particular was very trying. We will call him R. R was born in the United States, but his first language is Spanish. He did not start school until he was six. His parents do not read in English or Spanish. He is on the fringes of a gang and has a bad attitude about school. For the first six weeks, he does not even come to class. After a call home, he comes sporadically. He cannot write a complete sentence and has trouble expressing himself in either language. He speaks Spanglish 80% of the time. When he takes test, he plays games and makes pretty patterns. His parents have no control over him and he has been arrested numerous times.

Another student is N. N is a 15 year-old soon to be mother. Her parents have thrown her out of the house because of the baby. She lives with an aunt. Her baby is due in January and she and her boyfriend do not have jobs. She was trying to get pregnant so that she could have someone to love her. I know this because she told me. She is afraid, but she is trying hard not to let her fear control her. She cannot concentrate on school. She comes to class every other day. Her belly is getting bigger. She eventually leaves school for three months after the Thanksgiving break. She does some home study, but no one is there to make her do her work. She has her baby and comes back but now she is even more distracted. The baby is at school with her in daycare. She cannot focus on her studies and her grades slip with all of her new demands.

G is an African-American male who at 14 is already over 6’ tall. He looks like a man. Most teachers are afraid of him. He does not read well. Gets kicked out of every class and has general contempt for teachers and authority in general. His main goal, once he is in class, is to get out. If he cannot get out, his goal is to disrupt. He does not sit in his seat. He does not do any work. If he can intimidate a teacher he will. His parents have four boys in high school and none of them go to class. They don’t care. No one cares. He does what he wants too, when he wants too.

Teacher merit pay sounds good and is politically correct, but it is a bad idea. We will lose good teachers because they teach in bad situations. Americans have this idea that teachers sit on their butts, get lots of holidays, and do not care about their students. That is not true for 95% of the teachers I know. They are hardworking dedicated professionals who only want the best for their students.

The problem is that we have been trying to teach G, N and R the same way for the last 50 years. It is time for a change and it is time for us to realize that not all students go to college and not all students are going to pass standardized test. Many students deal with grown-up situations. School and learning are the last things on their minds. They are hungry, being abused, neglected, or just simply alone. These things are not my fault and I should not be paid based on them. Policemen are not paid by the crimes they solve and firemen are not paid by the fires they put out. However, you want to pay me based on whether a student, who does not have the ability, can pass a test. Go figure.

Oh, by the way, I had all three of these students in one class. Grow up America.

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Racism in America: Three Modern-Day stories


Racism in America: Three Modern-Day stories

Who says racism is dead in America?

I just got through watching a documentary about a little town called Charleston, Mississippi. The heart of the story was that in 2007-2008 students at the local highs school were still having segregated proms—a black prom and a white prom.

Actor Morgan Freeman is from Charleston and he held a meeting at the school and told the student body if they would end the practice, he would foot the bill.

A couple of days ago, on of America’s best minds, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested in his own home by and officer who felt that he was being abusive. They arrested Gates, even though he produced an identification that proved that the home was his. Gates became belligerent and has been outspoken about racial profiling every since.

Now, a story comes out about these so-called “birthers” who are claiming erroneously, that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. They insist that he does not have the right to be President because he was not born on U.S. soil. Lou Dobbs has allowed the story to fester by his refusal to say the story is wrong. Now, all those who refuse to read for themselves are screaming the same stupid thing.

The question becomes one of race. Some parents in Charleston, Mississippi forbade their children to go to the integrated prom because said one of them, “My daughter ain’t gone be grindin on no nigger, we didn’t raise her that way.” None of the parents who chose not to allow their children to go to the integrated prom were black.

Dr. Gates is over 60-years-old. What harm would it have been to step away from the pissing match with an old man and show some deference. I am assured of one thing: If Gates were white, he would not have been arrested. However, the police were responding a call that “two” black men were trying to break into a home. However, if Dr. Gates produced his identification the Officer should have shown deference and allowed him to stay home.

Finally, for those who believe that President Obama was born in Kenya. Go to Ancestry.com and the original birth record is there. Also, pick up some literature that tells the entire story. Racism is still going strong in this country and it is time that we begin a true dialogue on what causes it. Grow Up America.

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Friday, July 24, 2009

Racial Profiling: My own personal stories


It Happens

MY OWN PERSONAL PROFILING STORIES

Why did President Obama say Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley was stupid for arresting Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., because he was stupid. Whites do not understand racial profiling because it doesn’t happen to them. They do not understand the degradation that black men have experienced in this country for years.

The last time it happened to me was about four weeks ago in downtown Los Angeles. I was there taking pictures when two cops pulled me over. They were very polite and once they realized that I was not some drunk, they just gave me a fixit ticket. I drove off and thought, hmmm, maybe the LAPD has changed. The strange thing was I did not have my license and he did not ticket me for it.

At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, I was coming home from work when I pulled up behind a a Riverside County Sheriff’s officer and another car. The officer pulled over in front of both myself and the other car and pulled over to median, pulled in behind me, and then pulled me over. Two officers came up to me with their hands clearly on their weapons. I sat in my car and thought I was going to jail because I did not have my registration or insurance card in the car at the time for reasons beyond my control.

They approached the car and the officer asked me if I knew why he stopped me. I said no. He then asked me the standard question, “Do you have any warrants.”

“I said no.”

He said, “You’ve never been arrested?”

“I said nope.”

He then asked me for those papers that I did not have. My wife had the insurance card and my step-son had taken the registration from the car by accident. I called both of them on my cell phone and my wife headed down with the insurance card. I sat in the car and waited for the officer to get my information straight. When he came back he told me what he stopped me for. He said I had a brake light out. I was incensed.

I came home and started a phone calling campaign. I knew that this officer had stopped me because I was black. I called all around and finally I found out that officer who stopped me was a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officer who was on a warrant hunt. A warrant hunt is when an officer stops someone in hope landing a bigger perpetrator through warrant search. The problem was that I have never been arrested.

When I finished my calling campaign, I started a letter and e-mail campaign to find out where this guy worked. It turns out that he works in Indio. I wrote a letter to Sheriff office and even filed an official complaint. I eventually received a call from the officer’s supervisor who pointedly told me that I was part of a sweep for felons. The only reason these officers stopped me was because I would have a warrant. He apologized, but it did not assuage my anger.

I have never been arrested. I am college educated. I am a professional and I am a good father. I pay taxes and I work ever day, I have since I was 14-years-old. I have worked extremely hard all of my life. I am bilingual. I worked nine years for one of the largest newspaper in the country.

However, this happens to me all the time. I was once stopped in the middle of a street and when I asked the cop why he told me it was because I looked at him. I even wrote a story about this in the Los Angeles Times circa 1990 and it was later mentioned in an article by a Times editorial writer that included an incident with the Secret Service and future Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

This is not a figment of my imagination. I have no doubt that had Professor Gates been white, he would not have been arrested. Officer Crowley is a professional. Once Professor Gates showed him his ID, he should have walked away from a senior citizen who was tired, frustrated, and highly agitated because he was being asked to leave his home. He acted stupidly. Professor Gates may have overreacted. He may have even berated the officer, but the officer should have said thank you and then walked away. Instead he humiliated an old man for the sake of ego. Stupid.

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Drug fatalities mounting: End the War on Drugs


Drug fatalities mounting: End the War on Drugs

Legalize It

"Police in law enforcement understand the facts," said Aaron Zelman, President of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. "They know restrictive, prohibition type laws only breeds more crime."

I copied that quote from an essay on gun control laws. However, it really does apply to the issue of the drug war. Just recently, 12 bodies were found on the side of a road in the state of Michocan, Mexico. A threatening not was found beside the bodies.

The war on drugs has become a scourge for our society. Drugs are now the centerpiece of war in Mexico that has claimed over 8600 people have been executed in Mexico alone because of drugs. Isn't it obvious that our restrictive, prohibition type laws are only breeding crime.

Restrictive drug laws have caused countless deaths and allowed cartels to terrorize entire nations. The main problem is that it America's fault. We have an appetite for illegal drugs that cannot be satiated and government's heavy-handed tactics have only made it worse. We need to begin to take responsibility for our on weaknesses and change restrictive drug laws so that those who need it can get help.

I was adopted into a family of addictive personalities. There were five kids in this family and at one point or another all but myself were addicted to something. The oldest son is a crack addict, the next to oldest son died from food addiction and smoking addiction, the next son was killed in a crack house, and the daughter has been a hooker on and off because of drugs.


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Friday, July 17, 2009

The Right's Wrong Thinking: Gays and hate crimes


The Right's Wrong Thinking: Gays and hate crimes

Human rights should apply

The religious right is at it again. The Senate approved a bill that would expand current hate crime legislation to include homosexuals. Though the bill narrowly focuses on violent crimes and has nothing to do with free speech, here is what some conservatives are saying: "This is the first time you would have written into law a government disapproval of a religious belief held by the majority of Americans—that homosexuality is sinful," says Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. "It's more of a slippery slope argument than about the law itself."

"When you have pastors being called to testify about what they taught or preached to a person convicted of a hate crime, that's going to send a shock wave through the religious community," says Stanley. "It will lead to a chill on speech and free exercise of religion as it relates to homosexual behavior."

How do these modern day prophets divine this information? They do so by not reading the legislation. If they had read, they would have known that the bill is focused on hate crimes. This legislation has nothing to do with the First Amendment. It has to do with the safety of other humans.

You are, also, able to believe whatever you want about homosexuality. You can believe it is a sin. You can believe that all homosexuals are evil. However, what you are not allowed to do is to beat, harass, or kill another Human Being based on their sexual preference. No one is disapproving of your religious belief Mr. Stanley, instead what they are saying is that you do not have a right, based on those beliefs to harm another human being.

Finally, as a matter of common sense, if you stop preaching hate from your pulpits, then maybe you will not have to worry about whether one of your parishioners commits a hate crime.

Discrimination in any form is wrong. People ask me why am I so passionate about this? I tell them that it is not because it is my sexual preference, but because every man, woman and child deserve to be treated with respect.

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

I was an Illegal Immigrant


I was an Illegal Immigrant

Culture Shock

Illegal immigration is a thorny issue simply because there are people in the world who want to kill Americans. We need to close our borders, but we also need to have compassion on the people who are already here. I say this, because I understand what it is like to be a foreigner and not know the language. I was an illegal alien in Guatemala for one year. I know what it is like to have to leave your family behind in a third world country because there is NO MONEY to be MADE.

My family calls me the adventurous one because I am the only one who left Texas. I have always loved learning about people and cultures. I always knew that at some point in my life I would live in a foreign country and experience that culture for myself. When I met my ex-wife, I got that chance.

She came here as a child and when we wanted to get married we found out that she would be deported because she originally came here on a student visa. Even though we were about to get married, the United States was going to deport her back to Guatemala for 10 years. She spoke perfect English, worked for almost 12 years at the same job, and was a culturally an American.

At the time, I worked for a major newspaper and I felt stuck in an editing job and really wanted to get out. I thought it was a great idea to go to Central America because we would be able to fix her papers, I could learn Spanish, I would get the experience of living in a different culture, and I could get my teaching credential when I returned.

We arrived in Guatemala City on her birthday and in the town we would live in on mine, the very next day. Antigua, Guatemala is gorgeous little town that sits up in the mountains above Guatemala City. There were many people who spoke English, but to do business, you needed to speak Spanish. I had taken one Spanish class in high school. I had a basis to learn so I set out to do just that.

I taught English, did some freelance writing and photography, and even helped a guy from "Navy Intelligence" start a newspaper. However, by the end of April we were pregnant and I need to work right away. The prospects were grim and after seven and a half months of pregnancy the midwives we were working with told us my wife's blood pressure was rising and she needed to see a doctor. My daughter was born on December 30, 1999.

We lasted a year, but soon the government in Guatemala changed and that changed the economy. There was no money for anything. My daughter was almost two years old when I made the decision to catch a bus from Guatemala City to Moreno Valley, CA. I did have one problem and that was my visa had expired and I was going to have to pay a hefty fine for being Guatemala illegally. So, I told the embassy that my passport was destroyed by a dog and got another passport for $75.

I left on a September morning. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I remember just trying to survive the journey through Mexico because the Federales stopped the bus going north about ever 20 minutes. I arrived in Moreno Valley on September 10, 2001. I went to the beach that day and watched the planes fly into the World Trade Centers the next morning.

It took me two months and five letters to get my wife her visa and return to Guatemala the same way I came, three days on a bus. One of those letters made to Senator Barbara Boxer's office and she solved the problem of the my wife's visa. I was back in Guatemala before Christmas. My wife and daughter flew out of Guatemala a month after Christmas. I stayed another month.

So, that is the story of how I became an illegal immigrant. However, because of my education I was able to change things. Most of the people who come here from Mexico don't have any such thing. Take for instance, the little girl who rode up here with me on the bus. Her clothes were tattered, she was frightened, and she parked herself on the inside seat next to the only American on the bus, me. I also happened to be one of the biggest people on the bus. She was going into a world to cross a border that was dangerous and filled with pitfalls. She had no agenda, except she wanted to get to family in Jurupa.

Have some compassion America. Let's close the borders and accept the immigrants who are here into our melting pot. By the way, on the trip back to Guatemala, the Federales didn't stop the bus.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

My Healthcare Story


My Healthcare Story

Give us healthcare

It is time that Americans had healthcare. I am always hearing stories about people without healthcare and it makes me wonder how Americans can be against the idea. The truth is that we all have horror stories about healthcare, but this one caught my attention.

I am a teacher and I see all kinds of horror stories working in a poor school. However, when I saw one of my students walk onto campus with a swollen jaw it aroused my curiosity. It turned out that she had a toothache and it was getting worse. I asked her if she had been to the doctor and she said her parents couldn't afford it. I called her parents and they said that the father had recently lost his job and they were on the verge of having to move anyway.

Her mother then frightened me with this story. It turns out that the youngest child, a male, has a tumor on his testicle. If you are not aware, testicular cancer strikes young men under 30. He went to the doctor, but had not been back since because they do not have healthcare.

Recently, I read another story about a woman whose father was a doctor. He developed a serious illness and had to leave work and had NO health insurance. The medical bills wiped him out and his dying wish was to have universal healthcare for his children and grandchildren.

Grow up America. We need healthcare and we have to pay for it.

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Sunday, July 12, 2009

US policy on Gays in Military is like Saudi Arabias


US policy on Gays in Military is like Saudi Arabias:


Great Britain allows it. Australia allows it. Israel allows it. The Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand, Romania, and Switzerland also allow it. However, Americans cannot tolerate it. We are in league with Cuba, China, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. What am I speaking of, Gays in the military.

USA Today is reporting that our Allies stance on Gays in the military is much more open than ours. However, the tide seems to be changing according to U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy who said, 'I take it as a personal affront to our warriors to say that other countries' soldiers are professional enough to handle this and Americans aren't is really a slap in the face.'

Over 30,000 soldiers have been removed from American military roles because of their sexual orientation. We refuse to allow those willing to serve access to the military because of our closed minds. Isn't it time we came into the modern age and should we not bring our military with us.

Stop the idiocy of 'Don't ask, don't tell' and lets allow those who are willing to serve our country to do so with pride.
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Dick Cheney is a traitor


Dick Cheney is a traitor

Charge Dick Cheney with Treason and George Bush with idiocy

We know that the Cheney Administration, come on lets call it what it was, stole an election. We know that they capitalized on our fears after September 11th and attacked Iraq without merit. We know that they arrested Muslims and put them in prison for years without so much as a hearing. We know that they tortured them.

Now we find out that the CIA had secret programs and it was Dick Cheney who told them to keep them secret.

Charge Dick Cheney with treason. I would say charge George Dubyuh Bush with treason too, but I fear he is just an idiot. Dick Cheney is a profiteer. He committed war crimes and he broke the Geneva Convention. If he were from Bosnia, Somalia, Cuba, or Venezuela we would be calling for his blood. However, because he is an American, even those who know that what he did was wrong refuse to speak out.

Americans have a habit of rationalizing heinous crimes when we are the ones committing them. We rationalized slaver, segregation, and hate crimes against blacks. We rationalized the annihilation of Native American societies. We rationalized the anti-Semitism of Hitler until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. We rationalized after we were defeated in Vietnam and we rationalized when we entered Iraq this time.

Even after we found out that the Cheney Administration lied to us about Iraq, the mainstream media did not cry foul. If it had not been for the internet and the bloggers, the story would have died. Still, the most liberal Americans I know were the only ones asking the hard questions and they were being called traitors.

The real traitors in this scenario were Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and others.

It is time that Americans stop rationalizing and put these criminals away.

As for Dubyuh, he was a puppet. He should be charged also, but it is to bad you cannot throw someone in jail for being an idiot.

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Get Rid of Handguns




Get Rid of Handguns: "HubPages

Handguns Kill

The Los Angeles Times has a story about a guy named Bruce Pardo. Pardo had an interesting Christmas Eve. He dressed up as Santa, rang the door bell at his ex-wife's home and shot nine people and himself with five 9-millimeter handguns. The first person he shot was a nine-year-old girl who was running to greet Santa. He shot her in the face.

Pardo had planned well, according to the article. He had five 9-millimeter handguns and had taped $17,000 in cashed plastic-wrapped to his body. He also had an air pump filled with octane fuel. He also had an airline ticket in his shoe. He spent months amassing a small arsenal. The thing about this guy was that he was charming and likable to the outside world, but a terror to his family.

This guy went to the same store over a period of five months and bought five handguns worth a $1000 dollars each. He had to wait 30 days after each purchase according to California law.

Now I am from Texas, and as such was raised around guns. I can handle all types of guns really well. I am not against people having guns, but I am amazed at the fascination with handguns. Handguns are meant for one thing and that is killing or harming humans.

Since this is true, I despise the National Rifle Associations desire to have them. I, recently, did a comparison of gun deaths in Canada and the United States. I chose Canada because Canadians have guns but not nearly as many deaths. Canadians hunt, target shoot, and go shooting on ranges also, but they do it with rifles and shot guns. It almost takes an act of Congress for a Canadian to get a handgun. Why, because handguns are used to kill people. Hence, here is thenumerical comparison:

Canadian Firearms Centre:

  • There are an estimated 7.4 million firearms in Canada, about 1.2 million of which are restricted firearms (mostly handguns). In the U.S., there are approximately 222 million firearms; 76 million of the firearms in circulation are handguns.
  • For 1987-96, on average, 65% of homicides in the U.S. involved firearms, compared to 32% for Canada
  • For 1987-96, the average firearm homicide rate was 5.7 per 100,000 in the U.S., compared to 0.7 per 100,000 for Canada.
  • For 1989-95, the average handgun homicide rate was 4.8 per 100,000 in the U.S., compared to 0.3 per 100,000 for Canada. Handguns were involved in more than half (52%) of the homicides in the U.S., compared to 14% in Canada.
  • For 1989-95, the average non-firearm homicide rate was 3.1 per 100,000 people in the U.S., compared to 1.6 per 100,000 for Canada.

Why do Canadians have less murders by guns than we do? It is because Canada really restricts who gets handguns. Guns kill, and those who hold on to these archaic ideas that you need a gun to protect yourself are delusional. Stop making excuses for failed policies. Owning a gun is not a right, it is a privilege and we need to start looking at it as such.

By habueld






Han" Sphere: Related Content

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Gays Deserve HUMAN Rights: Two Gay Bashing Incidents


Gays Deserve HUMAN Rights: Two Gay Bashing Incidents

What Does The Church Do With Hermphrodites

People are going to begin to think I am some kind of Gay Rights Activist and maybe I am because I do not see gay I see human. Now comes two stories that have me wondering has the world gone insane or do we really live in a society where people could be denied their basic human rights.

First I must digress, I find the entire idea of two guys having sex very a-natural idea, to coin a phrase. By that, I mean that it is not something that I would do, but if we examine the food chain, we encounter it through out. I am a follower of Christ, but organized religion has shown itself to be the beast, or the AntiChrist to me. This Beast would deny other humans basic rights while it fans the flame of hate and war around the world.

It's not the body, it's the head. The people who follow the agenda set aside by organized religion allow others to think for them. That head has denied people their basic human rights for an innumerable amount of reason. Can we just name a few: Africa (almost the entire continent), India, Vietnam, Korea, countless islands, Hawaii, women, African Americans, Irish, Scottish, French, Mexican, all of Central America, Spanish, gypsies, whores, muslim. They truly are sheep led to a slaughter, whether it be theirs or yours.

Now we find out that a young seaman has been murdered at Camp Pendlenton and that it allegedly could be because of his sexual orientation. Andrew Provostwas found shot to death in a guard station while he stood sentry. The Navy has someone in custody but has not yet released the details of who and why.

The other incident happened in Fort Worth, Texas where the police raided a gay bar and seemed to get offended when the patrons gave them a few obscene gestures. This group of professional law enforcement agents bashed one guys head in and injured his brain causing it to bleed.

In both incidents, professional people who carry guns for a living do not seem to deal with the issue of people having sex with whomever they choose. The military I can understand, but police officers getting offended by gestures and losing their cool is inexcusable.

It is time that we realize that homosexuals have always existed. They are not new to the planet and we cannot go around 'stoning' them, no matter how much we may disagree with their preference and YES it is a preference. For those that do not think so, I have two questions. What do you do with people who are intersex, meaning that they have both sexual organs, neither functional usually? And do you remember choosing whether you were attracted to the opposite sex?

Gays are human and as such, they should have every right given to them as a member of the race.

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Saturday, July 4, 2009

Niggahs No Mo



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Niggahs No Mo

We ain’t niggahs no mo!

400 years of slavery where our women were raped

We were beaten, starved, and lynched

400 hundred years of being degraded

With a word that was formed out of brutality

 

I can’t understand why the sons of Royalty

Would label themselves as animals

I can’t understand why the root of mankind

Would continue to dishonor those who came before us

We ain’t niggahs no mo!

Term of endearment

Tell that to Malcolm X

Because we are brothas

What family kills itself?

 

Every time we acknowledge the word niggah

We accept a chain that was intended

To destroy our souls and to delete our humanity

It allows us to see ourselves as less than animals

It helps others justify their guilt

We ain’t niggahs no mo!

 

Term of endearment

Tell that to James Meredith

Because we are brothas

What family kills itself?

 

I reject the moniker of hate

It existed in the past

But it does not apply to me

I am a powerful Nubian Prince

Whose legacy was written

Before history was recorded

I am not a nigger anymore

 

Term of endearment

Tell that to that to those four little girls

Because we are brothas

What family kills itself?

 

It's time that we realize

That Bob Marley was right

We can ‘emancipate’ ourselves

By throwing off part off the yoke

That binds us to a past of violence

We ain’t niggahs no mo

by Bruce Bean


The poem above was written out of anger. I respect hip-hop and rap artist. I respect their message, but I refuse to listen to most of their music. The reason is simple and it has nothing to do with profanity or their their misogynistic lyrics. It has to do with what leads to their hate of women and that is the use of the word niggahs or any of its variations.

Now, I am not like many people who believe that the n-word should be banned form the planet forever. As a writer, I can see some context in my own life where I would have to write the word because that was what someone said. However, I fault those in the rap community with making the use of the n-word casual among a generation who do not understand its implications.

An example: I took my daughter and two other girls swimming at a public school and saw a group tennis players sitting on the court talking. They were a mixed group and probably representative of todays society. There was only one African-American among the group, two whites, an asian, and a couple of Hispanic kids. They were all males. One of the white kids was speaking and he said "Niggah, fu sho." He said it and then they all saw me and the conversation stopped.

As a teacher, I hear this all the time, but the most disturbing case that I have ever seen involved a student from another country. His parents were West African. He lived there until he was seven years old, yet, here he was seven years later and he had become a niggah to his friends.

I asked him about it and he said simply, it's how I grew up. Now black people have called each other a variation of the n-word for centuries. The question is when will we stop? The word was created to brutalize a people. It was used to rape our mothers and dehumanize our fathers. Yet, young princes and princess's of African heritage use it as if it were a badge. It is not term of endearment. It is a term of hate and you will make it as casual as using the word "Dude" is on a California beach.

Using the word niggah allows rap artist to justify calling our women bitches and hoes and degrading them on stage. Using the word niggah allows us to shoot each other and murder our future. Using the word niggah allows others to justify their brutalization of people of color because they say, "They are just animals anyway." Many of our brothers and sisters have died and niggah was the last word they heard.

Lets cut off this yoke of bondage. I hope my poem did not offend you.

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Dangerous Palin


Dangerous Palin

Danger America Danger

I am not a fan of extremist. Extremist on the right frighten me because of their religious agenda and the extreme liberals they are annoying because sometimes they just do not make sense. Although, at this point in my life I much prefer the hippies to the "Drill, Baby, Drill", crowd. The latter can not see the idiocy of electing a woman Vice-President who has less than one year experience as a governor.

Now comes the news that our favorite Wasilla native is not going to finish her first term as governor because "she can affect more change outside of the Governor's office." Did you notice that she did not say outside of politics.

Most media pundits believe that she is gearing up for a run at the White House in 2012. If that is the case then that makes a danger to every American. Her extreme religious views and rhetoric isolate us from the rest of the world and make us appear to be bullies. Palin's lack of knowledge about how the world works will be a detriment to America's standing with other countries.

She quit her last job because of her ambitions. Yet, two more years as Governor of Alaska would have helped her become a more experienced executive. Her ambitions are lead her to delusions of grandeur. Those delusions will lead us to another president like George who actually believes in the failed policies of the Republican party.

Palin knows just enough about international politics to make her a danger to herself and to the rest of this country. Her extreme religious views cloud her judgement and could make her believe that she is the instrument of God in the start of some holy Armeggedon. This jihadist attitude will lead us down a path that could lead to nuclear arms being used during this generation.

Religious extremism frightens me because "the end times" are near. We have enough religious nuts running around the country without having one as our President. Sarah Palin is just too dangerous for America.

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Friday, July 3, 2009

Teacher Merit Pay is criminal


Teacher Merit Pay is criminal

We need to reform our education system. Most Americans would say this is true, but as a teacher, I am really tired of Washington elite trying to blame me for poor test scores. Obama wants to pay me based on my students' test scores. Mind you, that this year over 75% of the 10th graders that had my classes passed the California High School Exit Exam. I had several students who do not speak English pass it. So, I would not suffer with merit pay. I just think it is wrong.


Let's take my school as an example of why merit pay based on test scores is wrong. I work in western San Bernardino. We have three active gangs at our school. Over 90% of our students get free or reduced lunches and 78% spoke another language as their primary language. We have a population that works out to be about 70% hispanic, 18% African American and about 12% other populations.


I get students in 10th grade whom:


Cannot write a sentence

Do not know how to use end punctuation

Do not know that sentences are to be capitalized

Come to school 3 days a week

Go on vacation for a month at a time

Pregnant girls. This year I ad a 9th grader who had one child and another on the way. (we have a daycare on campus)

Abused (One kid's father broke his arm and three of his fingers.)

Emotionally disturbed

Attention deficit, hyper-activity disorder

Have not ever read a book

Refuse to do homework

Don't take standardized testing seriously (they make patterns on the test)

Threaten violence

Drug problems

Alcohol problems


Not to mention that I have classes with 35 to 40 students in them on a daily basis. So, I may see all of the above problems in one classroom. If not for excellent classroom management skills, I would spend most of my days being a referee. For some teachers, there is little time for instruction.


Now, my question is how are you going to blame me for low test scores? If I do my job, prepare interesting lessons, give homework, stay after school to tutor students, and show improvement every year as a teacher, I should be paid. To pay me based on students scores with a population like ours would be criminal.


I would love to have a couple of these egg heads come to my classroom and teach for a day. How can schools be better reformed? Do away with top heavy districts where most of the money is put into administrations that run by people who are completely out of touch with the students they serve. Give the money to the school principals who have their fingers on the pulse of their school and know what the real needs are. This would reform how things are done. Not paying me based on Joe's test scores when: he didn't come to class, didn't complete his homework, thinks the test is a joke, and is distracted by simply trying to survive.



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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Bill Clinton's Dumb Idea: Don't ask, don't tell

I am a fan of Bill Clinton's. I think that he was probably the smartest president of our generation. However, for such a smart man, he really did do some dumb things. Take his affair with Monica Lewinsky for instance. How dumb can a decision be, right? One of his dumbest decisions, however, was not to repeal the ban on gays in the military. Instead, he started "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which basically says that no one will ask you if you are having sex with another man and you should not tell anyone you are doing so, either.


Interesting idea, but it has failed miserably. In the 16 years since that rule was implemented, we have lost 13,000 military personnel. Now, I am a bit dyslexic and math is not my strong suit, but I do believe that a military that is fighting wars on two different fronts might be able to use 13,000 people.


Do not misunderstand me, I still get a little queasy when I see two men holding hands. I'm a little old fashioned. However, I work with gay people, I live around gay people and I have to tell you that I know a couple of my queer friends who I would rather go to war with than anyone. Most of us come into contact with gays on a daily basis and if they did not open their mouths about their sexual preferences, sometimes we would not even know. Still, we would deny them basic human rights.


I am not interested in what other people do in their bedrooms and the reason is that I do not want anyone in mine. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.


Now, I do not know about you, but that is pretty self-explanatory. We are all humans and our forefathers fought for this country next to men who were gay. There were even some women in those groups who fought in the revolutionary war as men and after the war continued to live their lives as men. We need to get over our petty grievances and remember that we are all humans and all humans should be treated fairly.


"Don't ask don't tell'' was dumb idea from a very smart person. There is a lesson in there somewhere.


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