Today I would like to thank all the men and women who have served our country in any branch of our Armed Forces. On Memorial Day we pay tribute to all those soldiers who have gone from this world and remember them and their contribution to our Freedom. Today we pay tribute to those who are still here with us, who have given years of their lives to train and serve, to protect our country, to protect our rights, to protect our freedom, to allow us to live our lives without fear. Today is about the men and women who fought for us, who were wounded for us, who have scars that won't heal, who have dreams that won't fade. Today is about the American Soldier, to thank them, ALL of them, for doing what we cannot, for standing.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for making a decision to join the military. Thank you for going through the intense training to mold you into a soldier. Thank you for your years of service. Thank you for volunteering to be in harms way to protect us. Thank you for standing tall in the face of fear. Thank you for being willing to do all the things that a soldier has to do to be a soldier. Thank you.
World War II
Korea
Vietnam
Desert Storm
Afghanistan
Iraq
Thank you for everything before, during, and since.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations
Monday, November 11, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Common Core Protest November 18th
My son is in the 8th grade and because he is in advanced classes takes math and science at a 9th grade level. His math class, at least, is part of this recently implemented Common Core of Standards. Now, the CC (Common Core) looks good on paper and has some admirable goals, but at the heart of it, it is horribly flawed. It removes individuality, it teaches to a test, it was created by the wrong people, pushed through without the proper scrutiny and without enough input, it was untested and untried and yet it was applied nationally. Students are struggling, teachers hate it, parents are in an uproar. And lobbyists are having a field day with this nice, juicy issue to sink their teeth into.
I was invited to a group on Facebook with the goal of protesting the CC by keeping children home from school on November the 18th. This page is run very efficiently and looks to be highly organized by some very energetic movers and shakers. I've shown the page to my son and talked about the protest with him, about it's goals and about my reservations. My reservations are: Will skipping school around the nation really send the message that we're trying to send? Or will we only hurt the schools by way of funding troubles, and our children by missing school when now, more than ever, missing a day snowballs badly?
I've asked around looking for the opinions of teachers, but teachers are (understandably) elusive on Facebook. The creators of the protest assure their readers that this protest supports teachers, and is in line with what the teachers want, but until I hear from some real live teachers I'm just not willing to take that as gospel.
While looking through the group earlier today I see one of the organizers demonstrating protest signs to help fellow protesters see how they could be made. Her signs professed support for the Tea Party, Hatred for President Obama, and my favorite Common Core = Communism. My heart definitely dropped. Reading through the posts I did see another member post feelings similar to mine, which is that the Tea Party is NOT an admirable group to be aligned with, that this protest is not about politics for us parents, but about education, and that it should stay that way. I chimed in with my agreement. I was then informed that the Tea Party supports this protest publicly. I left the group immediately. I did comment, though I'm sure it was removed (I would have if I were her) that the Tea Party would like to see her barefoot and pregnant and making sandwiches. She did remark that she has Freedom of Speech and her signs can say whatever she chooses. She is correct -- and I support her right to do so. I also exercised my right, removed myself from the event, left the reason why in the box where it asked, and left the page. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. How lovely to find political support for the protest in Washington DC, how unfortunate that it's the Tea Party. Oh, and "Common Core = Communism"??? Now we're lowering ourselves to some very low levels of ignorance and sensationalism.
My son's school is having the Parent Teacher conferences the week prior to the protest, when the first report cards come out. I will have the opportunity, then, to discuss my son's work with his teachers. I will take that opportunity to ask his math teacher, who is being forced to teach using CC, what his opinion is about this upcoming protest. Though now I fully intend to send my son to school on the 18th, I am still a little bit on the fence about it. But the most important thing, in all of this for me, is my son's education. If nothing else, this protest allows me to show my son a real life example of critical decision making, peaceful protest, and how politics seep into everything.
I am not saying to other parents to participate or to not participate. I can only say, for myself, that I do not wish to be aligned with the politics being demonstrated by the organizers of this protest. Every parent should do what is right for their own family and what they feel is the best thing to do. I do sincerely hope that the protest is successful in it's goal of calling serious attention to the CC and hopefully get some real change happening.
I was invited to a group on Facebook with the goal of protesting the CC by keeping children home from school on November the 18th. This page is run very efficiently and looks to be highly organized by some very energetic movers and shakers. I've shown the page to my son and talked about the protest with him, about it's goals and about my reservations. My reservations are: Will skipping school around the nation really send the message that we're trying to send? Or will we only hurt the schools by way of funding troubles, and our children by missing school when now, more than ever, missing a day snowballs badly?
I've asked around looking for the opinions of teachers, but teachers are (understandably) elusive on Facebook. The creators of the protest assure their readers that this protest supports teachers, and is in line with what the teachers want, but until I hear from some real live teachers I'm just not willing to take that as gospel.
While looking through the group earlier today I see one of the organizers demonstrating protest signs to help fellow protesters see how they could be made. Her signs professed support for the Tea Party, Hatred for President Obama, and my favorite Common Core = Communism. My heart definitely dropped. Reading through the posts I did see another member post feelings similar to mine, which is that the Tea Party is NOT an admirable group to be aligned with, that this protest is not about politics for us parents, but about education, and that it should stay that way. I chimed in with my agreement. I was then informed that the Tea Party supports this protest publicly. I left the group immediately. I did comment, though I'm sure it was removed (I would have if I were her) that the Tea Party would like to see her barefoot and pregnant and making sandwiches. She did remark that she has Freedom of Speech and her signs can say whatever she chooses. She is correct -- and I support her right to do so. I also exercised my right, removed myself from the event, left the reason why in the box where it asked, and left the page. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. How lovely to find political support for the protest in Washington DC, how unfortunate that it's the Tea Party. Oh, and "Common Core = Communism"??? Now we're lowering ourselves to some very low levels of ignorance and sensationalism.
My son's school is having the Parent Teacher conferences the week prior to the protest, when the first report cards come out. I will have the opportunity, then, to discuss my son's work with his teachers. I will take that opportunity to ask his math teacher, who is being forced to teach using CC, what his opinion is about this upcoming protest. Though now I fully intend to send my son to school on the 18th, I am still a little bit on the fence about it. But the most important thing, in all of this for me, is my son's education. If nothing else, this protest allows me to show my son a real life example of critical decision making, peaceful protest, and how politics seep into everything.
I am not saying to other parents to participate or to not participate. I can only say, for myself, that I do not wish to be aligned with the politics being demonstrated by the organizers of this protest. Every parent should do what is right for their own family and what they feel is the best thing to do. I do sincerely hope that the protest is successful in it's goal of calling serious attention to the CC and hopefully get some real change happening.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Freedom of Speech
I'm seeing a lot of chatter in social media lately about freedom of speech. The media cites freedom of speech and freedom of the press when they want to write about anything they think will sell. Parents cite freedom of speech when their precious snowflakes say things online that get them into trouble. Employees cite freedom of speech when employers create rules and standards to regulate what their employees can post online for public consumption. There are a lot of examples of people crying out about their freedom of speech.
Let's see what we're looking at....here is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
AMENDMENT I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
James Madison said:
"the people shall not be deprived or abridged of the right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
Okay. So what we are reading here is that as an American, living in the United States, we all have the right to say what we want to say, to write it, to publish it, etc. What we are NOT seeing is anything granting citizens the rights to be free of any consequences of what we say, write, or publish. You have the right to call your employer a bungling asshat on Facebook. Your employer has the right to respond to that, which may include termination of your job. Your daughter has the right to send hateful messages to a fellow student telling her she should end her life. That other student, or her legal guardians, have the right to bring charges against your daughter for saying those things. A newspaper has the right to publish what they see fit, and their readers have the right to not buy that newspaper, and the subjects of their articles have the right to sue for libel if the situation calls for it. You have the ability to yell 'FIRE!' in a crowded theater, but you are not free from the consequence of being arrested for creating a public panic.
So yes, you DO have the right to Freedom of Speech. However, you are not exempt from consequence. If you use your right to harm others you can be held accountable for it. If you use your right to vent your ire publicly you can be held accountable for what you've said. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from responsibility.
Let's see what we're looking at....here is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
AMENDMENT I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
James Madison said:
"the people shall not be deprived or abridged of the right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
Okay. So what we are reading here is that as an American, living in the United States, we all have the right to say what we want to say, to write it, to publish it, etc. What we are NOT seeing is anything granting citizens the rights to be free of any consequences of what we say, write, or publish. You have the right to call your employer a bungling asshat on Facebook. Your employer has the right to respond to that, which may include termination of your job. Your daughter has the right to send hateful messages to a fellow student telling her she should end her life. That other student, or her legal guardians, have the right to bring charges against your daughter for saying those things. A newspaper has the right to publish what they see fit, and their readers have the right to not buy that newspaper, and the subjects of their articles have the right to sue for libel if the situation calls for it. You have the ability to yell 'FIRE!' in a crowded theater, but you are not free from the consequence of being arrested for creating a public panic.
So yes, you DO have the right to Freedom of Speech. However, you are not exempt from consequence. If you use your right to harm others you can be held accountable for it. If you use your right to vent your ire publicly you can be held accountable for what you've said. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from responsibility.
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