Dear Lord,
We thank you for what we have.
We appreciate what you have done for us.
Please, though, Lord, remember that we are weak
We cannot know what tomorrow brings.
We hope, but we also fear.
We aren't asking to get rich, Lord, we are simply asking to get by.
We've been promised hope by politicians and business leaders and evangelists
But that kind of hope is just for show, it's not the substance that we need.
So, Lord, if you can find a way to do it
Please remember us and bless us in spite of our weakness
Or perhaps have mercy on us because of our weakness.
Watch our leader, give them wisdom.
Watch our enemies, and allow them to open their eyes
And watch those who have their own avarice, greed and vanity in the forefront
Before the needs of those who want or suffer.
For this we pray, in Thanksgiving to You.
Amen
This story deals with a robbery. The 41 year old robber goes in to rob the Pizza Patron. He slaps a 17 year old, who was bigger than him. The kids goes nuts, knocks the guy out and starts wailing on him, when the other clerk says "Stop, that' s my dad." Yes, here's a girl who is working to earn money and deal old Dad and Mom are casing the joint for robbery. What is it that these people don't get? And now do you see why teaching is becoming so difficult, when we have parents who have no standards or ethics or morals and yet we are supposed to drag these kids to literacy in spite of their parents. Sheesh!
This isn't the first time that a prime athlete from a championship level high school team has had the path made smooth for them and it probably won't be the last. What I find troubling is how many administrators allow coaches to bully teachers into changing grades for star athletes. Many of these students are recognized for the athletic ability early in middle school. From that point on, it is a struggle between the easy life of allowing the system to cover or the real educational experience where you win and lose on the field and in the classroom. What is more problematic still is that the teacher who made this public had taken reasonable action to allow the student to bring up his grade, but the student seldom attended class. After the teacher returned the grade to a failing level, the student was moved to another, probably more amenable, teacher. A former English teacher from this same school confirmed this complaint and a petition of twenty teachers have met with the Dallas ISD officials for quite awhile to make this situation change. But in the end, due to site based management, administrators have a great deal of power in saying who will stay and who will go. The teacher that made this story public is going to see his job eliminated by, you guessed it, the administrator-Mrs. Dixon-who supported and instigated much of the grade changing. I know it seems like I am beating the same old drum, but people at some point we have got to stop glorifying athletics over academics. We aren't doing these students any favors by passing them up the line because at some point, their eligibility runs out. And without job skills, they will end up the walking wounded that haunt crack houses and show up on "Cops". I kid you not, I can see the writing on the wall with some of these students. It's pretty scary.
Part of the primary process is the winnowing of many candidates down to a few. This is becoming a truly odd primary for several reasons. First of all, Iowa and New Hampshire, for all their small town charm, no longer represent the vast middle American political spectrum. Back in the day when we were largely a rural economy with manufacturing centers, the combination of having largely rural Iowa and New Hampshire primaries calling the shots made sense. In a period when most of us live in or around large cities, the views of these small and most homogenous states don't reflect the concerns that hound most of us. What does an Iowa farmer know about the influx of illegal immigration on the economy of border states? What does a New Hampshire resident understand about the increasing need for improved infrastructure throughout regions that would swallow their small state in size? We are a federation of states, each supposedly with our own needs but with fair representation, allegedly, in Congress. So why then do we continue to put such blind faith in the caucus process in states that have so very little to do with the larger problems of urban centers that are remote to them? A better case could be made for having California or Florida as the first primary because at least there the mix of voters would better represent the nation as a whole. Instead what will happen is that candidates will gather and attempt to appease the voters in these two small states. In doing so, they will address things like education, healthcare and social justice-all areas in which these two states express a great deal of interest. Very little will be said regarding the war, taxation, spending or the other bugaboos that haunt states later in the primary season. After these first primaries, it is expected that candidate will drop out. I have my own ideas about that. As I see it, Obama wins Iowa and Clinton wins New Hampshire. The Republicans are a toss-up, with Giuliani being the compormise candidate. I am kind of curious if someone like Thompson might make it a floor fight OR possibly break from the party and run as an independent. Wouldn't it be interesting to see Thompson/Leiberman ticket? Now that would tick off both major parties, but at the same time could throw the election to Congress. I don't think that's a hot potato they want to handle because the ensuing political fallout will make Gore's hissy fit look like a hiccup. Strange days indeed.
