Category: Political

A person who goes by the name of Ripper has been dropping an odd sort of comment spam here and there. He finds whatever post is supportive of Kerry or not supportive of Bush and writes in comments the fact that he or she, when doing a search on the site, doesn’t find the word “Breslan”. I think the assumption is that those who don’t support Bush won’t mention this event, because that will remind people what an ‘effective’ leader he is in the fight against terrorism. Or some such thing.

Let’s leave aside, for now, my amazement that some view Bush as a leader in the fight against Islamic terrorism, when such terrorism has actually increased rather than decreased during his tenure. Let’s ignore, for now, that the only decisive move he’s made among supposedly Islamic countries is invade Iraq –one of many, yes many, primarily Islamic countries not interested in sending terrorists against us. Instead let’s focus on Breslan.

What can be said other than it is inconceivable that anyone would want to go into a school and just start killing children. Unfortunately, we have experienced this ourselves in this country when disturbed young men have entered our schools and killed classmates and teachers, so we can share with Russia the pain of losing children to senseless violence–made more difficult because it occurred in a place normally seen as safe and secure (because, unfortunately, children are lost to senseless violence all too often in warfare, though usually in their homes or in the streets).

But my first reaction to this event is that there is nothing meaningful that I can say–my words won’t be heard or give comfort to the families, nor do I have any insight into why people would do such a thing. I remember reading or hearing once, long ago, and I’ve now forgotten the context, that certain native American people believe that one cries and rents the air with anguish when the loss is small, the hurt brief; but when the pain is beyond what can be imagined, one stays silent.

I was reading an email from a friend in Gmail when I looked over at the ads and noticed one for a hosted blogging solution, Blogharbor. I hadn’t heard of it before so out of curiousity I clicked on the link and went to the site.

It, like so many other hosted solutions, had a list of recently updated Blogs, and I thought I’d check them out. The first was a weblog called Blog for Iowa, quite a pretty site, and from the photo of Howard Dean on the side, most likely a Democratic leaning site.

The second one I clicked was a weblog for a 6th grade math class – Mr. George’s 6th Grade Math Blog. This should be fun, I thought, and clicked through.

Among the entries was one with a Problem of the Week, for extra credit for the students, as well as discussions about rocket club meetings, including photos.

But then I found an entry that referenced a Time article, Struggle for the Soul of Islam. This article is about the radical Islamics growing influence on what were more moderate Muslim communities.

From the email address given for the responses, ‘Mr. George’ teaches at Houston Independent School District, which says about itself:

The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Our schools are dedicated to giving every student the best possible education through an intensive core curriculum and specialized, challenging instructional and career programs. HISD is working hard to become Houstonians’ K-12 school system of choice, constantly improving and refining instruction and management to make them as effective, productive, and economical as possible.

Seventh largest school district in the country, and one of its teachers writes the following, in a weblog for his 6th grade math students:

I thought you would like this article from Time Magazine, or, if you are like me, that it would scare the begeebers out of you, and that you would appreciate at least knowing about it. Little did we know when President Bush let slip the biblical proportions of it as a “crusade” that the entire world is and has been engaged in this huge confligration.

What does it have to do with teaching math and lifelong learning? It threatens our livelihood. Those who disregard or forget about history are condemned to relive it. So, go back to your Bible for clues about how to fight it. Then, drop to your knees in thankful prayer that it has not touched you and your family more than it could.

 got very tired of all the stories about Bush and his National Guard duty during Vietnam. I feel there’s enough to know about George Bush now that I don’t need to go back into ancient history to get yet more data to crunch.

I’m also getting equally tired of hearing about Kerry and his experiences in Vietnam; either him holding these experiences up continuously; or others trying to take them down just as persistently. The events we’re arguing over happened thirty-five years ago. Thirty-five years ago I was a stoned 15-year old school drop out and runaway hitch hiking around the country, just before joining a religious cult.

Thirty-five years is a long time. Are you same as you were thirty-five years ago, if you’re old enough to remember that far back?

At this time, I’m not sure I would want to follow either of these men directly into combat; and I know there are people who I would trust in combat, but would not want as President. Unless we start getting real comfortable with the concept of “President Nader”, we have to pick one of these men–Bush or Kerry–to lead this country into the future for four years.

So I’d rather hear about the problems we’ll be facing in the next four years then who got shot in the butt, and who didn’t show up for their medical, thirty-five years ago.

I listened to the debate between Eric Muller and Michelle Malkin on radio yesterday. It was interesting to hear views normally only read.

Muller was very knowledgeable, but sometimes his legal background got in the way. For instance, when he asked Malkin to name one Japanese-American in the internment camps who was arrested for espionage, I think he was expecting Malkin to respond with the answer she did, but then he’d have time to cross-examine her response. Debates don’t work that way, and the issue was left hanging.

Still, he came off very confident about his background in the topic. Frustrated a couple of times, but confident.

I thought that Malkin started out fairly strong, but ended up sounding rather dogmatic and very defensive. It was as if she was reciting facts memorized for a history test, rather than arguing from any real depth of knowledge. She seemed comfortable until a point when the program had to break for commercial, and that seemed to rattle her. She came off sounding abrasive from that point on, only softening when she felt she received a phone call that supported her position.

I would say this debate did not end up a positive experience for Malkin. Perhaps this explains why last night she came out with a rather petulant sounding challenge for Muller and Robinson. The gloves are now off, but, frankly, does anyone care?

This dog has rolled over, and the bunny is dust. The blogosphere holds for no man or woman, and this story has done been played, and the drummer gone home for the day. He went home with the fiddler who played the good-night song for the saga of Kerry and the Swift Vote –urh– Swift Boat Veterans.

Good, golly Miss Molly, but politics is certainly getting mighty dull around here. With a Presidential election nine weeks away, I thought we’d have so much to talk about: Iraq and unemployment, health care, the deficit and the environment, gay marriage, racism and religious intolerance, and the growing nightmare of AIDs and genocide in Africa–not to mention there are still a lot of people in this world who don’t trust us.

Whatever reach was made between this topic and today’s events has been stretched beyond stability; popped, like the gum bubble of an overenthusiastic teen. Japanese internment as excuse for racial profiling has been chewed, and the flavor is gone; time to stick it under the table and move on.

Sigh. If this continues, I’m going to be forced to bring out the old squirrel photos in a desperate attempt at entertainment.