Arkansas Blog

Breaking News . . . While eight hummingbirds and I were tending to the sainted wife's deck Verbenas this morning, what to our wondering eyes should appear? A honeybee! Yes sir and yes ma'am, a real live honeybee. It's the first one we've seen on the place in three years!

Today should be a day that we remember that 3,000 of our countrymen were slaughtered for one reason and one reason only---they were Americans. Al Qaeda has said that they will slaughter more Americans if we allow them. We must continue to take the war to their backyard or they will bring it to ours.

This is worth the read and action!!!

Women have the privilege of voting as well as the obligation not to do it blindly. We have an obligation to become informed.

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because, why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social
studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.

History is being made..

Great post Jazzy!

"We can't continue an educational system that fails so many of our young people."----Obama.

Barack Obama's Plan

Early Childhood Education

* Zero to Five Plan: Obama's comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, Obama's plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
* Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both.
* Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.

K-12

*Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
*Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. He will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
*Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama will address the dropout crisis by passing his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school - strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.
*Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.
*Expand Summer Learning Opportunities: Obama's "STEP UP" plan addresses the achievement gap by supporting summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children through partnerships between local schools and community organizations.
*Support College Outreach Programs: Obama supports outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college.
*Support English Language Learners: Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school

Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's Teachers

*Recruit Teachers: Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.
*Prepare Teachers: Obama will require all schools of education to be accredited. He will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.
*Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, Obama's plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.
*Reward Teachers: Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.

Higher Education

*Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year's tax data to deliver the credit when tuition is due.
*Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid: Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application.

It's time for you to un retire Strange and go back to worker bee status.

I could use you tomorrow night in the concession stand for the Central/Lake Hamilton game.

Get out of the education business. That belongs to the states and not to the federal government. Federal money only gets wasted on beaureacrats and not on children.

I'm just enthralled looking at Gramps preggy left jaw, can't help thinking of that old movie

where a woman is cut open and a horrid demon baby pops out.

clicky for another good Garrison Keillor.

Did anyone catch the forums of Obama and McCain at Columbia, played from 8 to 9 PM on MSNBC?

It was a pleasant exchange. I finally saw that very bulging jaw which NoramBates has mentioned
a few times.

strangelove, get your message to local teachers and elementary school principals. Then take it to your Congressman. Maybe they can stop No Child Left Behind.
.

The federal bureaucracy existed long before Bush. It has been stealing our local money and squandering it in Washington. I should know, I worked there. We have a deficit and debt that will steal the future from our children and this is a hunk of that debt and deficit.

Lehman Bros set to fail. Is WaMu next?

Yep. The Lehman Brothers CEO has been shopping his firm for three months, and there aren't any buyers out there.

The amount of mortgage securities that are on that balance sheet must be horrendous!

Four married guys go fishing. After an hour, the following conversation took place:

First guy: 'You have no idea what I had to do to be able to come out fishing this weekend. I had to promise my wife that I would paint every room in the house next weekend.'

Second guy: 'That is nothing, I had to promise my wife that I would build her a new deck for the pool.'

Third guy: 'Man, you both have it easy! I had to promise my wife that I would remodel the kitchen for her.'

They continue to fish. When they realized that the fourth guy has not said a word, they asked him. 'You haven't said anything about what you had to do to be able to come fishing this weekend.What's the deal?'

Fourth guy: 'I just set my alarm for 5:30 am. When it went off, I shut off my alarm, gave the wife a slap on her butt and said:

'Fishing or Sex?' and she said: 'Wear sun-block.'

"We must continue to take the war to their backyard or they will bring it to ours."- Strangelove

97,000 dead Iraqi civilians had nothing to do with 9/11 Strangelove.

How you ghouls sleep at night is beyond me.

"3,000 of our countrymen were slaughtered for one reason and one reason only---they were Americans"- Strangelove

The 9/11 Commission Report said Bin Laden attacked because US had established permanent bases in Saudi Arabia (Islamic holy land), and perceived unfair treatment of Palestinians and Iraqi sanctions.

Is that why they bombed the WTC in 1993? So, in other words, we are at fault for 3,000 of our countrymen being slaughtered? Mojo, do you usually blame the victim for the crime? Were the people who jumped out of the WTC to their deaths responsible for that?

Hey, bleeding heart, where was your sensitivity when Sadam was gassing women and children in Iraq? Hey, bleeding heart, where was your sensitivity when Sadam was torturing Iraqi civilians? Hey, bleeding heart, where was your sensitivity when Sadam was running rape rooms?

Elwood: Caught the forum on AETN 2.2

Thought it not bad for the setting. Thought some of the questions could have been a bit pointier.

Also thought McCain slid around a couple or three without having his feet held to the fire, but I guess the PBS-type interviewers don't want to get too pushy or candidates will not accept such invitations.

And, granted, it was supposed to be a forum on service, not free-for-all a political/campaign interview.

Still, wish more of the population could have seen/heard Obama's responses. It's great when someone can explain something in more than a sound bite.

IMHO.

(Proof red; not guaranteed)

strangehate- you are the only one who has said "we are at fault for 3,000 of our countrymen being slaughtered".
No one else posted that. So why do you think we are at fault? Care to share your logic with us?

Correction, your post should read "countrymen and countrywomen". You don't seem to have much warmth for the fairer sex!

P.S.: I did think it rather telling that the issue of Obama's community organizing service was brought up and McCain was questioned about Palin's denigration of that service.

McCain squirmed a little, but not nearly as much as I would like to have seen him have to squirm by having that question pushed a little further. He got off far too easy on that.

That statement by Palin was, after all, an absolute denigration of the organization that hosted this event and all it stands for--which could be another reason she was in Alaska seeing her son off to Iraq instead of being in New York with the other candidates.

(Proof red, but not guaranteed.)

Sound---it was obviously a mocking statement of the absurdity of 'things' that have the nerve to insinuate that we are responsible for the slaughter of innocent people. Only some of the 'things' on this blog would be that stupid. Where is your shame!

Strangelove is a simplistic mouth-breather.

Bin Laden TOLD us why he did it.

From 1998, Bin Laden in his own words:

"First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless.

Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.

Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula."

So rev what are you a rev of, anti-semitism? Have you been channeling adolf lately?

Yea, I know, when you lefties get exposed for the anti-American hatred that you have for this country you always characterize the issue as 'complex'. It is a nice weasel word for you 'things'.

He, rev, how are your CAIR buddies doing? Got any plans for some more flight lessons?

SO YOU WORRY ABOUT THE MANY IRAQUIS KILLED.. BUT NOT THE MILLIONS OF INNOCENT BABIES,.

HE VOTED TO IGNORE AND LET LIFE BE SNUFFED OUT OF ANY BABY BLESSED ENOUGH TO HAVE SURVIVED THE ABORTION ATTEMPTS ON ITS LIFE.

FORWARD A CLUE OR 4 FOR YOU. SEE WHO THEY WANT ERADICATED.
SEEMS HE IS THE MOST RACIST OF ALL OF US. NOBAMA 08 (OR ANY OTHER YEAR)

> The most important aspect of the Obama abortion
> stance is he does not seem to realize, or even
> consider, that the majority of abortions are
> promulgated in the name of a subtle variety of
> eugenics, particularly eugenics embraced by the
> wealthy and the educated to eliminate the children
> of the impoverished and ignorant. The root of the
> Catholic opposition to abortion is in fact,
> subsidiarity: respect the individual,
> particularly the individual's desire to have a
> family whether or not we wealthy smart folks
> approve of their reproductive aspirations. When
> Western arrogance opposes the fertility, and
> fruitfulness of the poor this is a fundamental
> disrespect of people with little but the hope of
> having a family. Remember and remember again,
> Margaret Sanger -- the queen of abortion in
> America--was a eugenicist with a particular
> interest in the reduction of the numbers of the
> progeny of African slaves. Pro-abortion has
> always been anti-Black, and it still is. This is
> fundamentally opposed to the Catholic respect for
> Fruitfullness and Life of REAL Hope, as in Pope
> Benedict's view of HOPE, not the hope dope of
> Obama.

...the Catholic respect for
Fruitfullness and Life
of REAL Hope,
as in Pope Benedict's view of HOPE,
>not the hope dope of Obama.

strange put the dum in - oderint dum metuant

We allowed and encouraged American corporations to do business with Saddam in the 1980s. That's how he got chemical and biological agents so he could use them in chemical and biological weapons. Here's the list of some of the stuff we sent him (according to a 1994 U.S. Senate report):

* Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax.

* Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin.

* Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart.

* Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs.

* Clostridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness.

* Clostridium tetani, a highly toxigenic substance.

And here are some of the American corporations who helped to prop Saddam up by doing business with him: AT&T, Bechtel, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM.

We were so cozy with dear old Saddam that we decided to feed him satellite images so he could locate where the Iranian troops were. We pretty much knew how he would use the information, and sure enough, as soon as we sent him the spy photos, he gassed those troops. And we kept quiet. Because he was our friend, and the Iranians were the "enemy." A year after he first gassed the Iranians, we reestablished full diplomatic relations with him!

Saddam or a woman's privacy rights have nothing to do with the causes of the 9/11 attacks.

I thought that was the discussion?

mojo, I didn't get an answer from you. Do you have a problem with English? Maybe it isn't your native language. I can't speak arabic so you'll have to muddle through on English. How is adolf doing? Have you had a CAIR meeting lately? Come on. You are among friends. A lot of folks on this blog love to blame Americans for their own slaughter. Hey, got something else planned for us?

Wenn irgendwelche von Ihnen etwas Anschein einer Gewissenhaftigkeit hatten, oder, wenn Sie hatten, jede mögliche Andeutung, ein welcher Mann ganz über Sie war, Ihren Kopf in der Schande für Ihren Verrat hängen würden.

Dr. Strangelove

Eureka said: "Let them hate so long as they fear". By the way, that was a favorite saying of Caligula. Not really surprising that you would be familiar with that guy. Is he your role model?

You really, really, need some professional counseling.

The part of the brain that processes logic and reason has apparently left you.

Jake,

In your review of Obama's plan, I didn't see his position on charter schools mentioned. He says that he would double the funding for charter schools. I'm OK with that. How about you?

From 1998, Bin Laden in his own words:

"First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless.

Is this not the chickens coming home to roost? I am not defending Osama's actions, but he is saying you're ON MY LAND. And this has so often thru the centuries been the reason wars were started. Why is this so hard to understand? Why is it viewed as an un-American statement? FK'ing around in Saudi Arabia brought 9-11 to our shores. Defending Israel even when they're the terrorists brought on 9-11. Being the arms dealer to half the 3rd world countries on the planet brought on 9-11. Sticking our nose into other people's business brought on 9-11. How much clearer can it be?

Abortions had nothing to do with 9-11. Save that for another thread.

Heh, what's really sweet is Strangelove blindly accepts the party line and questioning their authority in his brain is akin to Nazism.

You just can't make this shit up.

TAKE YOUR THUMB OUTTA YOUR REAR DUBI

SAYS OPEN LINE.. WHO THE HELL LEFT YOU IN CHARGE.. MY ARENT YOU ARROGANT. CANT STAND THE TRUTH CAN YOU. APPLES AND CONCRETE BLOCKS. NOT. EXCEPT IN YOUR POST.
. GET ON THE BOARD ON THE WALL AND SIGN UP FOR A REMEDIAL MURTISHAW, INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH.

TELL MOJO TO GET HIS WORKIN. HE THINKS HES IN CHARGE WHEN YOURE NOT.

THINK YOU RE TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL ... WHATTA MEATHEAD. YOU ARE SUCH A DRIP.

Oops. Little Debbie factory let out.

g'nite.

.

Obama's web site was where I got this posting. Feel free to explore it for any and all information you wish.

There are concerns about Charter Schools:

1. The 2007 study, "Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools" by Gary Miron and Brooks Applegate of the Western Michigan University Evaluation Center, is based on the authors' analyses of data collected in surveys of charter school employees from around the country conducted from 1997 to 2006.

The study results indicate that as many as one out of every four charter school teachers leave each year, which is double the typical public school attrition rate (11 percent). Moreover, attrition among new teachers in charter schools is close to 40 percent annually, a figure that is critical for charter schools given that their percentage of teachers under 30 (37 percent) is more than three times that of traditional public schools (11 percent).

2. A study from the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education published in January 2006 found that students in regular public schools do as well or significantly better than comparable students in private and charter schools.

This large-scale study, financed by the U.S. Department of Education, compared 4th and 8th grade math scores of more than 340,000 students in 13,000 regular public, charter and private schools on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called "the nation's report card."

Rresearchers Christopher Lubianski and Sarah Theule Lubianski examined math, not reading scores, because math is considered to better measure school effectiveness, while reading is more influenced by family and other outside factors.

3. In November 2004, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) released its own analysis of the data, which confirmed AFT's conclusion that charter school students, on average, score lower than students in traditional public schools.

NAGB also looked at the role of teachers and found that the scores of students taught by uncertified teachers in charter schools were significantly lower than those of charter school students with certified teachers. Likewise, charter school students with inexperienced teachers did significantly worse than students in traditional public schools with less experienced teachers.

Additionally, research shows that charter schools have a higher enrollment of blacks and disadvantaged students than other private schools.

Simply put, charter schools are not the panacea people say they are. Although some are successful, a look at the larger picture shows some problems people should look into when exploring the option of sending their child to charter schools.

It is likely that Obama is taking a somewhat neutral view on charter schools similar to the one from Jeffrey Henig of Columbia University:

"The accumulated evidence to date does not support the claim that charter schools are better than traditional public schools. But that is not the question we should be asking.

Some charter schools appear to be quite good; others are undeniably bad. The same is true of traditional public schools. Test scores for charter schools overall are lower than those for traditional public schools.

In my book Spin Cycle: How Research Is Used in Policy Debates, I look at the wildly disparate claims that appear in the media. Some point to charter school gems and proclaim they render traditional public schools as obsolete as manual typewriters. Others highlight disturbing stories of charter schools that are amateurish or corrupt, of sudden closings leaving students in the lurch, of resegregation by race, ethnicity, religion, and class.

Disagreements about what the evidence shows often stem from different predictions about the future. Proponents say charter schools' performance will improve as newly hatched schools get their programs adjusted and weak schools are weeded out. But it is also possible that charter schools will flag over time, as early leaders burn out, private funders get distracted by other causes, and small and intimate operations struggle with the challenges of sustainability and growth.

Charter schools qualify as an interesting development in U.S. education, and there is much we can learn from careful research and clear-headed analysis. Whether, overall and in the long term, they will make things better or worse will depend on the interplay of market factors and government actions yet to unfold.

Rather than pitting charter and public schools as sector vs. sector, we'll do better to think of charters and traditional schools as components of a broad public education system, ultimately responsible for democratic processes and open to change and adaptation as we feel our way along toward better schooling and a better society for all."

Correction: The earlier Obama plan came from his website.

The charter school research was from various reports and sources.

Breaking News ... my honeybee is back this morning!

Some of you old timers may enjoy this one. Clicky

"Do you have a problem with English?' Posted by: strangelove

This is from the same English genius who wrote:

"The Russian's know that we aren't going to challenge them militarily." Posted by: strangelove September 11, 2008 06:09 PM

Perhaps you should change your user name from 'strangelove'' to 'misplaced apostrophe.'

Funny how things have not changed since before the Civil War in the Democratic party.....juat thinking out loud agian...

Quarterhorse:

You got that half right: "outloud," yes; "thinking," no.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

"Things have not changed" in more than 150 years? In the Democratic Party, or anywhere else. That is a clear mark of mental retardation.