...and to the banana republic, for which it stands...

Did you hear about the one where the U.S. Senate voted almost 2 to 1 in favor of confirming a tax cheat as our new Treasury Secretary? This would be the cabinet member who runs the executive agency that includes the IRS... you know, the agency that prosecutes people who don't pay their taxes. To see how your senator voted, check here.

Believe me, if we could abolish the income tax, social security tax, medicare tax, and the IRS tomorrow, I would be the first person to volunteer to sign the order. In the meantime, if I have to follow the government's confiscatory rules, don't also the government employees whose job it is to enforce those rules? If I failed to pay $34,000 in back taxes, do you think I could be Treasury Secretary too?

Now, President Obama and Senators like Republican Orrin Hatch chalked up Timothy Geithner's failure to pay as a simple "mistake." The problem I have with that explanation is that Geithner worked for the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Someone in those positions of power don't make "mistakes" on their tax return. If he truly did err, then wouldn't this be the ultimate proof that our tens-of-thousands-of-pages long tax code has become too complex? If the president of a Federal Reserve bank can't get it right, how the hell can I?

Of course, even after Geithner figured out that he owed these taxes (which go all the way back to 2001), he didn't balance the ledger until he was nominated by Obama. I can't believe I'm on the same side as Robert "Sheets" Byrd (D-WV), but he summed it up pretty well, saying, "Had [Geithner] not been nominated for treasury secretary, it's doubtful that he would have ever paid these taxes." The definition of character is often described as doing the right thing when no one is looking. Since Geithner didn't pay his back taxes until everyone was looking, it would seem that he was out that day when character lessons were offered.

Timothy Geithner will fit perfectly into the Obama administration.

Good Day to You, Sir

There's more than just the "white male" quote

It's January 7th of this year; Obama economic advisor and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich is testifying before a congressional committee about how to spend the taxpayers' money in order to "stimulate" the economy. At one point, Reich expresses his support of putting people to work by rebuilding and strengthening our infrastructure - bridges, roads, that kind of thing.

Reich's remarks to the committee (headed by that crook, Charlie Rangel of New York) reach an astonishing level when he belts out this little nugget:

I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers....

Now, the "white male construction workers" reference has gotten the most play from the talk radio shows and conservative pundits. What actually bothers me more is his concern that only highly skilled professionals would benefit. Good Lord in Heaven, do you realize what this man is saying? Divvying out taxpayer money to workers based on their skin color is more important than giving it to people who actually know what they're doing! And just to emphasize what they are doing: Building bridges! You know, elevated stretches of roadway that would make you fall a long way down if they collapsed due to shoddy or inept construction!

Here's an example of what could be the ultimate result of Reich's plan of action:



Remember folks, these words were uttered from a man who advises our Dear Leader on economic matters. This next four (hopefully not eight) years are going to be so damn interesting.

If you care to watch a rather depressing (for our pocketbook) conversation between Reich and Rangel - including Reich's infamous words - watch the video:



Good Day to You, Sir

Carnival of Education

It is up, it is running at Teacher in a Strange Land, and my post on my new classroom management tool is included. Is the management tool still working? Mostly....

Good Day to You, Sir

Obama's benediction preacher forgets that it is no longer 1963

Talk about being stuck in the past and expressing it in a most racist and cynical fashion. The Reverend Doctor Joseph Lowery ended today's inaugural benediction with an embarassing, cringe-worthy ode to identity politics, and he uttered it in a way that would make you believe that since the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, we haven't made one iota of progress at all.

In the name of context, I have linked the entire 5-and-a-half minute benediction, but the embarrassing part comes right at 5:00:

... and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back; when brown can stick around; when yella can be mella; when the red man can get ahead man; and when white will embrace what is right....

OK, I get it; he was trying to inject a little levity. However, I have two problems with what Lowery said. First was his use of future tense - he was talking about a day that has yet to arrive, where the minorities of this country are still being held down by the evil white man who has yet to "embrace what is right." And he is saying this at the inauguration of this country's first black president for crying out loud! Talk about anachronistic! Second was Lowery's obvious slam against whites. Could he have been any more racist - assigning nefarious intentions to an entire race? Perhaps the good reverend should remember that this country's electorate is still 70% white. For Obama to win, quite a few of us palefaces had to have voted for him.

For all the talk of a "post-racial" America in light of Obama's arrival in the White House, I see race relations in this country becoming paradoxically more sensitive and more vicious in the coming four years. Joseph Lowery's race-baiting benediction served as a frightening harbinger of things to come.

Good Day to You, Sir

Inauguration Day

In light of the fact that our new socialist demagogue is being sworn in as President today, I have chucked my Stars and Stripes, and from now on, I will be flying this flag from my house. Thanks for the Christmas present, Mom and Dad! Give the photo a click for a nice look at the flag's finer details.

There were quite the fireworks on talk radio today. Rush Limbaugh expressed his hope that Obama's presidency is not a successful one, and then an hour later, Michael Medved was taking Rush to task, saying that we should always wish our president well, because to hope for his failure is to hope for our failure as well.

Sorry Medved, I have to agree with Rush on this one. If Obama is successful in his endeavors as President, we are thus condemned to socialized healthcare (which means rationed or no healthcare), higher taxes, cap-and-trade global warming cultism, higher prices, and a return to the malaise-inducing goodness that was the Jimmuh Carter era. No thanks.

I wish you much failure Barack Obama. I hope you fail miserably.

Good Day to You, Sir

Bush ends his presidency on a good note

Nothing like waiting until the last minute. President Bush has commuted the decade-long prison sentences of U.S. Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean. Instead of spending the next ten years in prison, the two former agents should be released from prison by the end of this March.

A full pardon would have been nice, but I'll take a commutation. I'm sure the agents and their families will also. Did Ramos and Compean do wrong? Yes - they didn't report their shooting in the buttocks of a fleeing Mexican drug runner and they picked up some shell casings. Did they deserve 12 years in prison for doing this? Absolutely not. President Bush agreed. This case was especially galling in that the federal prosecutor in the case actually gave the drug runner immunity so he could testify against the agents, and while the case against the two agents was ongoing, the drug runner got popped again for running drugs across our border.

President Bush was mealy-mouthed to the very end, but ultimately, he did the right thing.

Good Day to You, Sir

Nice to see she has her priorities straight

Behold, as a Maryland state senator makes an ass of herself by providing us with a textbook example of the Cult of Obama.

I haven't seen a statement this hilarious since the woman who was excited about Obama winning because now she didn't have to worry about putting gas in her car or paying her mortgage!

Good Day to You, Sir

I have a better idea: how about YOU tell your parents!

If you have taught elementary or secondary grades for any amount of time, I know you will recognize the following scenario:

Student disrupts your classroom, you warn student not to do that, student disrupts again, you send student out of your classroom to either another teacher's room or the office, after school is over, you call student's parents to let them know their child was being an unmitigated ass.

There have been days where I have spent two hours after school making phone call after phone call. Meanwhile, I pictured in my mind all those misbehaving students having a good ol' time at home while I was sitting in my classroom, away from my family, making phone calls. Over this Christmas Break just passed, I read something that gave me a revelation - why not have the student talk to his parents instead of me? The book from whence the idea came was Setting Limits in the Classroom by Rob Mackenzie, Ed.D. What Dr. Mackenzie suggests is that if you have to send a student out of the room, you send out that student with a pre-printed form letter that says the following:

From the Classroom of Mr. Chanman
Room ##, Unnamed Middle School
Social Studies


Date: ____________________

Dear Parent or Guardian,

This is to inform you that________________________________

was sent out of class today, and missed ___________ minutes of class

time because he or she continued to disrupt the class after repeatedly

being instructed to stop. The problem was handled at school, and

no further assistance from you is required at this time. However, too

many of these notices may indicate that your assistance may be

required in the future.

Please indicate that you received this notice by signing and

returning it with your child tomorrow. If you have any questions or

concerns please do not hesitate to contact me by email:

chanman@fakeemail.k12.ca.us or by telephone: (916) ###-####.

Thank you,

Chanman
Social Studies Teacher



Parent/Guardian Name (Please Print)


___________________________________________________________________



Parent/Guardian Signature


___________________________________________________________________

This is the exact letter (minus my redacted personal info) that I have given out this week on 12 different occasions, and I have gotten 11 letters back to me, signed by a parent. The difference in overall behavior in my classroom has been nothing short of remarkable. The first thing I noticed is that every single one of my letters has been given out in my after-lunch classes, and the 12 letters have been distributed among 7 different students. One of my 8th period frequent flyers has already received three of those letters! As I forewarn in the letter, that student is now becoming eligible for a phone call home and a possible parent conference being arranged. In the meantime, right there were three different phone calls I didn't have to make regarding that student, and in the four days of the school week that I handed out these letters, I left work on time because I didn't have to make a single phone call, except for two doubting parents who wrote on the letter that they would like a call back for more information. In both cases, it turned out that their kid had fed them a line of bullsqueeze about why they got in trouble, and I easily and pleasantly straightened out any confusion the parent may have had.

I think what made this letter work so well is that it took the responsibility for the students' actions out of my hands and put it into theirs. They would have to go home and face their parents; they would have to hand them that letter and explain why they received it; I wouldn't even be part of the equation. With the old method, even if the kid got a talking-to after the parent got off the phone with me, that just doesn't quite seem have the same impact when the parents are softened up by me first before dealing with their disruptive offspring.

For all I know, maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic; next week could be a disaster, and the letter could end up having as little impact as the traditional phone call home that I have used up until last week. Either way, I will definitely keep you all updated.

Good Day to You, Sir

Walter Williams must read my blog

Well, probably not, but I was pleased to see him articulate something I have been screaming from the rooftops, and that is this silly and dishonest notion that our current economic crisis was caused by "deregulation" of the mortgage and banking industry.

An example from Dr. Williams:

News media people, often plagued with little understanding, fail miserably in their duty to inform the public. This is particularly evident in their reporting on the current financial meltdown, suggesting it was caused by deregulation and free markets.

Professor David Henderson, research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, writes about regulation in "Are We Ailing From Too Much Deregulation?" in Cato Policy Report (November/December 2008). The Federal Register, which lists new regulations, annually averaged 72,844 pages between 1977 and 1980. During the Reagan years, the average fell to 54,335. During the Bush I years, they rose to 59,527, to 71,590 during the Clinton years and rose to a record of 75,526 during the Bush II years. Employees in government regulatory agencies grew from 146,139 in 1980 to 238,351 in 2007, a 63 percent increase. In the banking and finance industries, regulatory spending between 1980 and 2007 almost tripled, rising from $725 million to $2.07 billion. So here's my question: What are we to make of congressmen, talking heads and news media people who tell us the financial meltdown is a result of deregulation and free markets? Are they ignorant, stupid or venal?

For the rest of his column - hilariously titled The Media Think We're Morons - Click here.

Good Day to You, Sir

College is the new high school

So says writer of all things education, Diane Ravitch.

Good Day to You, Sir

Your government at work

When you listen to our current President, our President-elect, and our Congresscritters wax poetic about how they are working hard to keep our economy from going in the tank, that makes it all the more amusing when I find out about laws like the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSI).

This law came about in response to the 2007 lead paint panic from toys that were made in China, and CPSI was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives and by the Senate with just 13 nays. This law requires all home crafted toys to be tested for high levels of dangerous chemicals. That means anyone who makes toys and other products used by children (clothing, furniture, bedding) at home and then sells them on EBay/Craigslist, at county fairs, at trade expos, at church bazaars, and so on must pay an exorbitant amount of money (between $400 and $4,000 per batch) to have the products tested. In effect, this puts these entrepreneurs out of business. Meanwhile, goods coming from China - who caused this problem in the first place - keep on comin'.

Due to huge numbers of complaints from people who have taken the time to call or email the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is the executive agency that would carry out this law, there has been a tentative agreement to soften the requirements of the law, but nothing is set in stone by any means. For all we know, CPSI could still be implemented as written.

This is a perfect example of our nanny government hurting the American people in the guise of helping them or keeping them safe. It is especially galling when it was not home crafted toys that had high levels of lead in the first place; it was toys crafted in factories in China - factories mostlikely manned by political prisoners.

CPSI goes into effect on February 10th, 2009. As the American people worry about what is going to happen to our economy this year, laws like CPSI are exactly what will continue to financially hobble us, and make it that much harder to recover from our current economic predicament. Shame on Congress (both Democrats and Republicans - although the 13 Senate nays were all Republicans) and shame on President Bush for signing this travesty into law.

If you want to read the text/summary of CPSI or find out who voted yea and nay, click here. If you want to read what the media has had to say about it, read this L.A. Times article or watch this newscast:



Good Day to You, Sir

"Iceberg right ahead!"

My last post spoke of the "iceberg" that is Barack Obama, as he puts himself in the way of the "Titanic" that is our country and our economy. Here is a perfect example of his doings which illustrates my point. With the help of a compliant and sycophantic Congress, Barack Obama is ready to "invest" (his word) quite a bit of taxpayers' money - my money, your money - toward trying to get the United States out of its current financial mess. Not that this so-called investment is going to help. Here is the money quote from the Obamessiah:

"At the current course and speed, a trillion-dollar deficit will be here before we even start the next budget," Obama said Tuesday. "And potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point."

Rather than confiscating and borrowing trillions of dollars of our hard-earned money, the one thing Obama and the Congress need to do is the one thing that they will NEVER do, and that is to simply get out of the way. Contrary to leftist belief, it was overregulation of the business and financial sector, not underregulation, that caused this mess in the first place. The last thing we need is more regulation and government meddling. That has been tried before. It was called the New Deal, and it failed miserably. Unfortunately, voters get the politicians they deserve, and the fact that our two primary choices this election cycle were Barack Obama and John McCain show that voters from both parties are pretty damn ignorant. For quite a while now, American voters gauge the effectiveness of a politician on whether or not that politician does something. The thought that government should, by and large, stay out of our lives is one that has never crossed too many minds of the American people. Hence, the situation you see today, and have seen more or less since the 1930s.

Good Day to You, Sir

"Titanic will founder"

As our economy continues to circle the drain and the dire announcements of the incoming administration continue to cause uncertainty, it is sometimes strange to notice that on the surface, nothing has changed. If you drive down the street, or look out the window of a Baja Fresh as I did while eating dinner with my wife, you will notice that people are still driving their cars, businesses are open and the lights are on, pedestrians still walk along plugged into their iPods.

This evening, as I noticed all of these sights while enjoying my Baja chicken burrito, the goings-on outside had an almost calm-before-the-storm quality about them. I happened to think of a scene from the 1997 movie Titanic, where the ship's designer, Mr. Andrews, tells Jack and Rose that Titanic is doomed:



Rose: Mr. Andrews... I saw the iceberg and I see it in your eyes... please, tell me the truth.
Thomas Andrews: The ship... will sink.
Rose: You're certain?
Thomas Andrews: Yes, In an hour or so, all of this will be at the bottom of the Atlantic.

Just remove the word "ship" and plug in the word "economy" or "society." People are wearing life vests, but they don't seem too worried, being on an unsinkable ship and all. They are blissfully unaware of the disaster that is about to overtake "all of this" - this beautiful ship that surrounds them.

I truly hope that none of my worries come to pass; that once again, the American people can weather the storm and succeed in spite of all the icebergs put in their way by scheming, power-hungry politicians, including a particular iceberg named Barack Obama.

Good Day to You, Sir

You call that a Ponzi scheme? Now this is a Ponzi scheme!

In the wake of Bernie Madoff's $50 billion dollar bilking of investors, the ever-enlightening John Stossel puts things into perspective:

If Bernie Madoff tried to foist Social Security and Medicare on us, he'd be arrested, prosecuted and thrown in the hoosegow.

There's one thing I can say on behalf of Madoff: He never forced anyone to participate in his scheme. That's more than I can say for the government. Through taxation and inflation, it forces us to pay for all its schemes.

Read the rest of Stossel's column for a heads-up on a $40 trillion dollar bilking of the American people. And it's the government who are the perpetrators.

Good Day to You, Sir

The Neverending Vacation

Hi! Remember me? Unlike many other teachers, my district gives three weeks off for the Christmas Break instead of two, so I am still lollygagging at home until the 12th day of this month. I guess "lollygagging" wouldn't be the word, as I have been tackling a monster To-Do list this week while my wife is back at her teaching job, and my kids are at pre-school. Yesterday, I had out the asphalt cement and the caulking gun as I sealed a hole in our rain gutter and installed some hand-fabricated (by me) sheet metal flashing on some exposed rafters that stick out of the side of our house and into the elements. You don't want dry rot getting a foothold there! I also installed a ceiling fan in my daughter's bedroom, but I can't get the lights to work, even though the blades turn fine. Ugh.

Today, I will be picking up red volcanic rock from our front area that we are redoing, and then I will be patching and painting some small holes in our walls. I made the holes a few months ago when we were hanging things and then we changed our mind as to where to hang. That left us with holes. If there is time, I will also be cleaning our back patio with my new gas-powered blower that my mother-in-law was kind enough to get me for Christmas!

So this last week is work work work at home, but I sure had fun for the first two weeks of this break! During the first week of the break, a family friend and I took our sons to my friend's grandparents' 2,000 acre ranch in the Sierra foothills east of Stockton. There are ponds dotting the landscape where we caught a couple fish and there are roads where we drove along the property and took in the sights. The ranch is in that part of the foothills I love where you feel like you are in a Steinbeck novel: Grassy rolling hills that undulate with spurs and draws, and are dotted with oak trees. Here are some pictorial examples:










Not a bad way to spend a December day.

Good Day to You, Sir

An author answers my critique

Several posts ago, I expressed my displeasure for an article written by Dr. Calvin Mackie which appeared in an edition of a monthly newsletter that is put out by the Association of American Educators (AAE).

Many of my regular readers commented with their own frustrations about the article, and eventually, the criticism made its way to Dr. Mackie himself. I am pleased that Dr. Mackie took the time to leave a comment of his own, and I wanted to give him the floor by reprinting in this post the comment he left:

My People ... The only point I want to get over to my colleagues in the teaching profession is "Don't allow any one to take your JOY"! Teaching is a tough profession and guess what it isn't the only tough profession. We, teachers, act as if NO ONE can challenge us. There are good and bad in every profession, including teaching and we do ourselves a disservice by protecting and advocating for those who are not up to par. I didn't call anyone's name, school or district. I was taught if you throw a shoe in a pack of dogs, only the one that was hit howls. Corporations pay millions for people to come in and re-ignite the passion in professionals making much more than teachers in better environments. Teachers deserve and need the same type of professional development. So, don't take it personal, I feel your pain, I am with you and not against you. However, I will not allow those not engaged to define the profession I love. All that I am and will become is because of the teachers in my life.I am an educator, taught for 12 years on the college level, also taught pre-algebra for 6 years and I am in middle and high schools across America every week.

I have no reason to hide and my credentials are located at www.calvinmackie.com for anyone to examine. I would love to know the background of many on this blog.

Agree or disagree, I do commend and thank Dr. Mackie for stopping by to address our frustrations with his article.

Good Day to You, Sir

For your Christmas reading pleasure

It's that time of year again! Every December, the Media Research Center (see blogroll on left) releases its Notable Quotables, which documents the most laughable and outrageous examples of leftist lamestream media bias for the year.

I have linked to page one, but the final category is the Quote of the Year. I won't tell you what it is, but I have to say that when I read it, I got quite the thrill up my leg!

Merry Christmas and a bountiful 2009 to all of you. You keep on reading, and I will keep on blogging!

Good Day to You, Sir

What a tough guy

Believe me, there have been plenty of times I would have liked to have thrown something at our President, but there has been one thing about the shoe throwing incident that has bugged me, and finally, I have found an article that has properly articulated what I have been thinking:

But of course these Arab reporters know full well that they would never dare to throw a shoe or anything else at an Arab dictator, tyrant, emir, or king. If they did, they would be guaranteed a particularly unpleasant punishment, which would no doubt include painful amputations of various body parts. That is why Muntadhar al-Zeidi is a coward, for he knew full well that he can insult a western leader with impunity....

The ultimate irony about this shoe throwing is that beautifully illustrates the difference between the free world and the totalitarian regimes out there. If Saddam had been standing at that podium instead of Bush, do you honestly think that "brave" reporter would have thrown his shoes in the first place?

Good Day to You, Sir

Bush finally gives us his legacy

There is nothing like lame-duck status to bring out a politician's true colors. George W. Bush proved that today when he explained his actions and wishes regarding these lame-brained bailouts. Here is the money quote of the year:

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."

Our "free-market system" you say? You mean the one in which car manufacturers are told by the government what kind of cars to make and financial institutions are told by the government to whom they will lend money? That "free-market system"?

The tragedy about this is that if you think Bush's strategy is bad, just wait until our Marxist-loving president-elect gets into office next month. The next four years are going to one wild ride.

Good Day to You, Sir

Next time you feel like giving your opinion... don't

Being an agency fee payer and non-member of the CTA and NEA, I belong to the American Association of Educators (AAE) instead. The AAE sends out a monthly newsletter called Education Matters. I usually enjoy the articles they have to offer, but of course, I'm not always going to agree with everything, because that wouldn't be any fun now would it!

The November 2008 edition had an article entitled Teacher Buried at 70, Died at 25: Rediscovering Your Passion for Teaching, by one Calvin Mackie, Ph.D. Dr. Mackie is a former associate professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Now, I get what Dr. Mackie was trying to convey in his article, however, he did so in a very sanctimonious and uninformed manner. He began the article with his basic thesis:

Many teachers and other educators are neither motivated, inspired, nor prepared to accept and deal with the daunting challenges facing us today.

Undoubtedly true, says I. Of course, many are the exact opposite of that, but I digress. Moving further down the article, Dr. Mackie says:

Famous boxing promoter Don King (He's using Don King as a source?), when asked what is success, replied, 'Set yourself on fire and people will show up to watch you burn.'

It's funny that Dr. Mackie used that quote, because a long time ago, my mother, who is also a teacher, used that very same imagery when explaining how hard it is to gain her students' attention. She told me, "I swear, in order to compete with their television, video games, and iPods, about the only thing I could do to get my students' attention would be to set myself on fire in the front of the classroom...."

But Dr. Mackie has a different take: we teachers are the problem. He says,

Maybe our students are not on fire because we, the educators, are not on fire. Many of us have become fire fighters, pouring water on the fire of our children's hopes and dreams, rather than being the fire lighter, and igniting them every day to go beyond their limited view. Be honest, which are you: fire fighter, or fire lighter?

Excuse the hell out of me, but I do not go to work with the intention of drowning the hopes and dreams of anyone. I go to work every day, hoping this will be the day when I will be able to get through 30 seconds of my lesson without having to wait 10 seconds for the troublemakers to quiet down, then repeat that process over and over again every period, every day, all school year long. I go to work every day, hoping that this will be the day when I do get to teach, when I do get to light a fire in a student, instead of being a babysitter with a masters degree. Dr. Mackie seems to be putting the cart before the horse. He makes it sound like we teachers have some sort of bitter stick up our asses which then poisons the student body and makes them bitter as well, and uneducable to boot. Hardly. I go to work every day with a positive, I-love-to-teach attitude, and certain students do everything they can - intentional and unintentional - to beat it out of me by the end of the school day. Anything "fun", like a review game, that I have planned, the students quickly ruin it because they can't even stay quiet long enough to listen to the game's directions. About the only thing for which they will stay somewhat quiet is silent reading and note-taking; and note-taking is what we teachers are always told that students hate the most. I would quite often rather do something else as well, however, that is about all my students seem capable of handling.

Dr. Mackie then engages in a very inaccurate analogy:

Many educators, especially those occupying positions in institutions of higher education, are becoming like doctors in hospitals who do not want to treat sick patients. They only desire and admit the healthy, well-prepared and equipped students who they can nurture and graduate. Then, they spend a lifetime bragging about how their great, healthy, and well students never became ill.

Dr. Mackie, when you talk of healthy patients and sick ones, they both have one thing in common: they want to be in the hospital! They want to do what it takes to get better or stay healthy! To expound upon your analogy, I work in a hospital where too many of my sick patients refuse to read the literature I give them that tells them how to get healthy. I give them a prescription that requires they take the medicine home a few times a week and ingest it there, but they refuse to do so. Many times, a parent will want me to let the sick patient make up all those prescriptions that the patient refused to ingest over the last few months. The problem is that you can never swallow that many pills all at once. To make matters worse, the sick patients do everything they can to sabotage the healthy patients and make them sick as well. And when, after all this, the patient is still sick, the patient's parent calls me or emails me and demands to know why the patient is still sick. Sorry parent, but I'm not allowed to follow your little patient home and ensure that he takes his medicine, and I am severely limited in my ability to keep your sick patient out of my hospital so I can stop him from infecting the healthy patients. When doctors encounter patients like this, the patients are not allowed back in the hospital!

I only have the short bio to reference regarding Dr. Mackie's job history, so I don't know all of his teaching experience. However, I would like him to know that teaching a bunch of apathetic general-population students in a public middle school is quite a different experience than teaching highly motivated mechanical engineering students at a private college where the annual tuition is in the neighborhood of $25,000.

Stick to what you know, Dr. Mackie.

Good Day to You, Sir

Even Hitler is in foreclosure!

Good Day to You, Sir

Thanksgiving in the desert

In a very much appreciated gesture, my mother-in-law rented a condo in Palm Springs, California, and invited her immediate family (my wife and kids, and my wife's sister and her family) to spend Thanksgiving there.

From Sacramento to Palm Springs is about an eight-hour drive, and we wanted to get there as soon as possible and avoid holiday traffic, so my wife and I packed up the night before, woke up at 4am, put our sleeping children in their car seats, and we were on the road by 4:40am. We rolled into Palm Springs just after 1pm. I had never been to Palm Springs; all I really knew about it was its ritzy "Golden Age of Hollywood" reputation. My final analysis of Palm Springs is that I would never want to live there, but it was certainly a beautiful place to visit.

As soon as we rolled into town, My attention was naturally drawn to the mountains that the city is literally jammed up against. They are those steep, rugged, rocky, almost treeless leviathans that make you almost forget that you are in a desert. Observe:





The pinnacle of these mountains is the 10,800 foot San Jacinto Peak. In front of the peak however are many smaller foothills that were accessible enough for my brother-in-law and me to take our children (age span: 2, 4, 4, and 6) on a hike one afternoon. Here are some of the highlights of that trek:

My daughter the mountain goat trying to catch up with the big kids.

Almost there!

My kids and I enjoy the view.

Whoops! The sun is beginning to set; time to head back toward the car.

The sun goes down fast around here.

My son takes one last look at the sprawl below before we start heading back into it.

On one of our days in Palm Springs, my sister-in-law and her family went miniature golfing, my wife took her mother and my daughter shopping, which left me alone with my son. Rather than sitting around the house twiddling our thumbs, I took him to the Palm Springs Air Museum. I took more pictures than I could possibly care to post, but here are some of the highlights:



The highlight of our visit was their fully functioning B-17G Flying Fortress. This World War II bomber has always been one of my favorite airplanes. For a further thrill, my son and I received a personal tour of the interior of the aircraft from one of the docents. I would show you pictures, but it was so dark in there, my camera flash didn't carry very far. I used my son for scale to show how absolutely cramped it was for the gunner who stuffed himself into the ball turret on the belly of the B-17. I can't even imagine how naked I would have felt in that thing as a German ME-109 raked the underside of the aircraft with machine gun fire.

The museum was dedicated to mostly World War II-era aircraft with the building divided into two wings: one for aircraft from the European Theater and another for aircraft used mostly in the Pacific Theater. Here are some of those airplanes in no particular order:

P-51 Mustang

P-47 Thunderbolt

P-40 Tomahawk

Dauntless Dive Bomber

My son loved the model aircraft display!

He was even more intrigued by the display of the many firearms used by the different countries that participated in the War. He's such a boy!

On display outside was a German 88mm anti-tank/anti-aircraft/anti-personnel artillery piece. American soldiers hated this weapon probably more than anything else in the German arsenal.

After a hard day of playing and visiting, we would all go home to the comforts of a rather plush condo. The two most inviting aspects were the master bathroom and the backyard. In the master bathroom was a tub and shower that reminded one more of a Roman bath:

And then in the backyard was something that looked like a mini-swimming pool, but was actually a hot tub. It even had a waterfall!

Even if it was just for a week, it was nice to experience how the other half lives! However, after a total of 16 hours on Interstate 5, we are ready to stay home for Christmas!

Good Day to You, Sir

What is the price of a life?

Apparently, $798 for a 50" plasma television. At a Wal-Mart on Long Island, New York, prices weren't just rolled back on plasma televisions and digital cameras; life became cheap as well. I can't find the proper words to express how appalled I am at the ignorant fools that you see in the photo at right. Undoubtedly pictured in that crowd are some of the chuckleheads and knuckleheads who were so revved up to get some good day-after-Thanksgiving deals, that they literally tore down the front doors and then trampled a Wal-Mart employee TO DEATH as they all madly rushed into the store. TO DEATH! Excuse me, but you have got to be fucking kidding me. To add to the gruesome ambience, shoppers continued to shop and walk right past the dying man as other store employees worked to save his life, AND the shoppers began complaining when it was announced that the store was being closed because of what had happened.

Have large segments of our country's population become that unfeeling and callous? Is this something new in our nation's history, or has there been some other period I have missed when life was this cheap, and people were this trashy? I truly feel embarrassed for my country that something like this could happen. What a wonderful way to kick off the celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ.

Good Day to You, Sir

Pop that balloon!

I had to cheat just a little on my week-long break from blogging. Damn my wife's laptop and its wireless connection!

I caught a good bit of Barack and Michelle Obama's ooey-gooey interview with Baba Wawa tonight. There was one little statement from the Chosen One that stood out:

"I'm not a miracle worker."

That's pretty funny when you think about what he had to say earlier this year on the night that he locked up the Democrat nomination for president:

"...I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth...."

Have we changed our tune a bit?

Good Day to You, Sir

Turkey Time-out

I will be away from home and presumably sans computer for the next week, so my few dozen readers will have to find some way to cope with my absence. I am sure I will have something profound to say upon my return.


I wish you and yours a bountiful and pleasant Thanksgiving. I know I thank God every day for everything I have.

Remember, the Pilgrims had a feast to thank God for getting them through that first year; they weren't thanking the Indians. Now that you have had your history lesson, go pig out!

Good Day to You, Sir

Change the Clintons can believe in

From the Office of the President-Elect (love the podium seal), names of Barack Obama's political appointees are beginning to be released, and something seems very familiar about all this. Let's see some of the names so far:

Transition Team Director: John Podesta - Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel - Bill Clinton's senior advisor
Attorney General: Eric Holder - Bill Clinton's Deputy Attorney General
Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton - Bill Clinton's wife
White House Counsel: Greg Craig - Bill Clinton's Special White House Counsel


It gets better. On Friday afternoon, the Obamas announced that their daughters will be attending a private school in Washington D.C. called Sidwell Friends, which is the same school that Chelsea Clinton attended. This decision is particularly galling, as Barack Obama is supposedly a big supporter of public schools and is an opponent of vouchers or any other program that could rescue students from failed public schools. Did all you Obamamaniacs out there really think that the Obamas would put their kids in public school? Apparently, there was much speculation that this would be the case. The "good for me, but not for thee" mentality is alive and well.

Good Day to You, Sir

It's just that easy!

If you are still using rabbit ears to get reception on your television, you will have to convert to digital by February of next year. If you don't go with a digital carrier like Comcast or Dish Network, you do have another option: a converter box.

In this faux public service announcment, watch this nice old lady show you how easy it is to convert to digital:



Good Day to You, Sir

"A little something for the ladies"

I just came across an absolute hilarious website/blog that uses old department store catalogs to showcase "fashion atrocities" from the 1970s. The photos and the commentary of the photos are gut-bustingly hilarious, as is the name of the website: PlaidStallions.com.

Please check it out and behold the ugly truth that people actually used to dress like this.

Good Day to You, Sir

How did Obama get elected?

From the votes of ignoramuses like these:



After watching this, I know what some of you might be thinking: "You could get a group of McCain voters who are just as ignorant." Maybe. First of all, McCain wasn't elected; Obama was. Secondly, I could confidently make the case that one of the reasons McCain didn't get elected was that many Republican/Conservative voters were overly informed about what kind of quasi-leftist toady McCain really is, and the only reason he did as well as he did was due to the conservatism of Sarah Palin. However, the makers of this video didn't just leave it to 12 Obama voters outside a polling place in order to make their point. They also hired Zogby International to conduct a poll of people who voted for Obama. The ignorance of those polled was just as astounding.

For more info, and for a rundown of the results of the Zogby Poll on this issue, go to HowObamaGotElected.com.

Good Day to You, Sir

McCain vs. Obama: No Contest. No, really... no contest

With a line like this...

If you are detecting some anger on my part, it is because I was given the choice, in its purest form, between Stupid and Evil last week. And Stupid is so stupid he doesn't even recognize Evil when they wake up in bed together and his hind end is sore.

...you have to read the whole article.

Good Day to You, Sir

Life's little dramas

It's been an adventurous week, starting Veterans Day Weekend with the trip in which I took the photos featured a couple posts ago. The fam and I drove up to northeastern California to spend a couple of days with my parents. While there, my two-year-old daughter came down with some sort of 24 hour stomach flu that sent her to the toilet several times in order to expel the contents of her stomach.

I returned to work on Wednesday, and at lunchtime, I thought it odd that I only wanted to take a couple of half-hearted bites of my lunch. By the time bedtime for my kids approached, I was waylaid to the couch, shivering and aching, even though I lay curled up dressed in fleece pajamas and thick socks. I prefered to lie down, because sitting or standing up made me feel more nauseous. Before he went to bed, my four-year-old son told me, "Daddy, I feel just like you do." How sweet, I thought to myself, that he is feeling empathy for his dad. I went to bed soon after.

Just after midnight, I found out just how empathetic my son was being. I awoke to that unique cry that he emits when he is about to vomit: a high pitched wail accompanied by a sense of panic and urgency. I have heard that unmistakable sound before, and in my sleep-induced stupor, I was hearing it again. My wife must have also instinctually recognized the sound, as she was out of bed ahead of me and dashed into my son's room. As I was swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I heard my wife's panicked yell to grab a trash can. I snagged the round plastic IKEA trash can from our bathroom and half-stumbled into our son's room. My wife had her hands cupped together and raised to eye level as my son, who sleeps in a loft-type bed, was vomiting into the fleshy little bowl she had formed. I thrust the trash can under my wife's hands, and she immediately opened her impromptu cup to allow the vomit to plop into the bottom. My son then proceeded to add even more to the collection at the bottom. My wife slipped away to wash her hands (muttering, "I feel so violated" on her way out) and I stood there holding the trash can up as my son continued his business. As I stood there, the pungent odor of my son's vomit began to waft into my nostrils, while at the same time, I began to feel a wave of nausea wash over me as I suddenly realized I was now vertical. "Oh no," I muttered to myself, as the intensity of the nausea increased with each passing second. Not long after, I reached the tipping point and brought my mouth to the very trash can I was holding, and began throwing up into it just as my son was giving his final heaves. As I continued to "vominate" (as my son calls it), I glanced at my son, who was watching me with a look of half-consternation, half-fascination on his face that still bore the chunky residue of his exertions. After I had nothing left to contribute to the trash can, my wife and I cleaned up everything as best we could and put our son in bed with us for the rest of the night. He threw up a couple more times before morning mercifully arrived. Thankfully, our daughter peacefully slept through the entire affair.

When my wife and son went back to bed after the big cleanup, it was about 12:30am. I had about three hours of sleep under my belt at that point, and my adrenaline was up from what had just occurred. I knew I would not be going to work the next day, so I went ahead and typed up my lesson plans, and faxed them to my office, heading back to bed around 1:00am for a couple more hours of fitful sleep. Later that same morning, my wife and daughter headed out the door to work and school, and my son and I stayed home to recover; more from lack of sleep than anything else. We shared quite a few good laughs as he and I recounted the absurdity of what had occurred in his room a few hours earlier. How many times did he tell me with wonderment, "Wow Daddy, I've never seen you throw up before!"

But the week was by no means over.

Fast forward to this morning (Friday). As part of my daily ritual, I went in to feed Franklin, our goldfish of nearly two years, who had been named by our son in honor of the turtle of the childrens' book series (Franklin the turtle also has a goldfish). Unfortunately, after swimming happily in his little aquatic home since December of 2006, I found that Franklin had chosen this morning to go to that great fishtank in the sky. I informed my wife of Franklin's passing, and she immediately told me not to tell our son, and to hide the body from him until we all got home from work and school in the afternoon. This would turn out to be excellent advice. As my son got dressed, I clumsily fished Franklin's still form out of the tank, placed him in a ziploc bag, and put him in the refrigerator.

When we all got home this afternoon, my wife whispered to me to put Franklin's body back into the tank before I broke the news to our son. I did so, and then went into our office/den where my wife was checking email and our kids were playing. I sat on the couch and beckoned my son over. I told him, "We need to talk about Franklin. I'm so sorry, but he died today." My son looked confused for a second and then asked me, "Daddy, are you teasing?" I replied, "No buddy, I'm not teasing." My son quickly turned around and walked down the hall to where Franklin's fishtank sits. I followed right behind him and waited behind him as he stood before Franklin's tank. Looking down at my son, I could only see the back of his head, but there is a mirror behind the fishtank, and I could see my son's face in the mirror as he gazed at Franklin's motionless body floating head-down in the tank. My son's forlorn face quickly began to scrunch up as the tears began to flow and his sobs quickly began to flow as well. My wife had arrived on the scene at that point, and my son fell into her arms as he cried for his dead pet goldfish.

We held a burial ceremony in the backyard, where we buried Franklin alongside the house, right below my son's bedroom window. My wife even picked a flower from a plant in our backyard for our son to place on Franklin's little grave. It was sad enough that my wife even got a bit teary as our son bid an emotional farewell to his beloved pet. After dinner, we went to a nearby frozen yogurt shop to celebrate Franklin's life, and to assuage the grief of our little boy, and also his little sister, who, upon seeing the anguished cries of her big brother, had taken up the mantle of grief as well, and had also begun crying for Franklin.

Sometimes, I think God put goldfish on earth as a way to provide a small and more easily understood introduction to the idea of mortality that our precious and innocent children must one day face. And for that purpose, Franklin finally had his day in the sun... and the refrigerator.

Good Day to You, Sir

A conservative screenwriter's journey to Afghanistan

“We fought the Soviets because they had no God, they believed in nothing,” they said, as the [in]terp[retor] translated. “They were your enemies, and they were our enemies. We respect you, especially Christians, because we have the same God. We know you’re here to help and we need your help because we are poor. The fighting of the mujahideen destroyed everything. Day by day, since you came, our lives have gotten better. But if you move your base here, the enemy will attack us. Stay far away. Stay in Kalagush. Send us your help from there....”

This is a wonderfully well-written and informative piece for City Journal written by Andrew Klavan. Give it a look-see.

Good Day to You, Sir

In remembrance of Veterans Day

In honor of all who have served our country - whether in wartime or peacetime - I wish all of you a somber and heartfelt Veterans Day, and ask that you give just a moment of your time to think about what those millions of veterans out there have sacrificed in order for this country to survive.

Good Day to You, Sir

Images of my favorite season

For as long as I can remember, my favorite season of the year has always been Autumn. I love the cold mornings and the warmer, but crisp afternoons. I love the changing colors in the trees, and the smell of wood smoke emanating from people's fireplaces. Where I grew up in the forests of northern California, I also fondly remember the somewhat acrid but pleasing aroma of burning piles of leaves.

Sacramento's change of season isn't quite as glorious as it is in the mountains to the east and north, but there are plenty of deciduous trees in this city that still give it a go. One of those trees resides on my front lawn, and here is a picture I took when it began to turn:

For a true feeling of Fall, you must get out of the Central Valley and go into the mountains. One of my favorite places is the volcanic countryside of northeastern California. The following photos were taken yesterday on Highway 89 between Mount Shasta and Burney.

I have seen better days to photograph my favorite mountain, but Mount Shasta is always willing to look dramatic. Meanwhile, when I turned to my left, I saw this dramatic scene:

The weather in northeastern California during the fall can be predictably unpredictable. One second it's sunny, then the clouds move in, then it's sunny again. Then you get some thunder and lightning. The changing weather and lighting conditions makes for great photography, especially when its sunny in one area, and shady in others, like this scene of a dry lake bed, for example:

I had to pull over to take this photo when I saw the cloud shadows falling on the hills in the background. To my right, I caught this image:

Northeastern California is so desolate, but is so beautiful. In the spring, everything you see here is green, but you can't beat the fall for dramatic photography. Speaking of dramatic photography, I will end this montage with my biggest weakness, which is evergreen trees silhouetted against the dusk sky. I never get tired of taking these kinds of images:


That's all I have for you until my next adventure into the wilderness.

Good Day to You, Sir

Why did McCain lose?

For the same reasons I listed when the Republicans idiotically nominated him. However, my words pale in comparison to the simple eloquence of Ann Coulter. Hate her if you wish, but you dare not ignore her:

Republicans lost this presidential election, and I don't blame the messenger; I blame the message. How could Republicans go after B. Hussein Obama (as he is now known) on planning to bankrupt the coal companies when McCain supports the exact same cap and trade policies and earnestly believes in global warming?

How could we go after Obama for his illegal alien aunt and for supporting driver's licenses for illegal aliens when McCain fanatically pushed amnesty along with his good friend Teddy Kennedy?

How could we go after Obama for Jeremiah Wright when McCain denounced any Republicans who did so?

How could we go after Obama for planning to hike taxes on the "rich," when McCain was the only Republican to vote against both of Bush's tax cuts on the grounds that they were tax cuts for the rich?

And why should Republican activists slave away working for McCain when he has personally, viciously attacked: John O'Neill and the Swift Boat Veterans, National Right to Life director Doug Johnson, evangelical pastors Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and John Hagee, various conservative talk radio hosts, the Tennessee Republican Party and on and on and on?

So many times - especially during the debates - Barack Obama would state his position on something, and I would be thinking to myself, "Great what is McCain going to say to that; he believes the same thing."

When given the choice between a Democrat and Democrat-lite, why not just go for the Democrat. That is exactly what often happened in this election.

Good Day to You, Sir

Guess who helped pass Prop 8?

The most divisive proposition on the California ballot this election year was Proposition 8. Voting "Yes" on the ballot meant adding to the California constitution that only marriage between one man and one woman would be legally valid. Voting "No" would let stand a decision by the California State Supreme Court that marriage between homosexuals is considered valid.

Proposition 8 was passed by the voters of California with a fairly comfortable margin of 52%-48%. Some people who are not from California could easily be pretty confused by the victory of Prop 8, what with California's liberal reputation and the San Francisco/West Hollywood reputation as well.

Part of the explanation for the passage of Prop 8 is not where you would initially look: California's black and Hispanic voters. The same black and Hispanic voters who voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, also voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prop 8. Blacks favored Prop 8 by a margin of 70%-30%, and Hispanics were about evenly divided. This is especially ironic when you think about supporters of homosexual marriage often comparing their plight to the black civil rights movement.

The biggest split among the voters on Prop 8 was between old and young: older voters supported it, younger voters opposed it. Does this mean that ten or twenty years from now, we are going to have to vote on this matter all over again? This is a big drawback about messing with the constitution - state or federal - with a majority vote rather than multi-step amendment process.

Good Day to You, Sir

The Obamessiah's minions celebrate

I have never seen anything like it. The day of the election, I endured talk of Obama among my students all day long. Talking about it is fine, but it didn't end there. They were singing songs about him. They would be walking into the classroom singing, "Obama, Obama, Obama."

The next day, after ObamaObamaObama had won, the first thing I heard when I stepped onto the campus from the parking lot were some celebrating students yelling amongst themselves, "Gimme an 'O'! Gimme a 'B'! Gimme an 'A'!" and so on. Throughout that day after the election yesterday, I had to endure another round of singing about Obama; literally, singing. When I was in the 7th grade, Reagan was reelected. You couldn't find a bigger 7th grade Reagan fan than I, but I distinctly remember never singing songs about him. By 8th period, I could stand it no longer and reminded my celebrating students, "I just want to make sure, you guys do know he is just a man right?" I even told them the story I blogged about recently in which Peggy from Florida was already looking forward to a President Obama who was going pay for the gas in her tank and the mortgage on her house. I told the students that Peggy is going to be mighty disappointed in six months or so when she figures out that what she is hoping for is not going to happen.. or at least I hope.

All this celebrating by my students, and I already know from past conversations and class discussions that all that my students really know about Obama is that he is black. In the end, that was all that mattered.

Good Day to You, Sir

12th Psalm - Plea for Help in Evil Times

Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
those who say, "With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own--who is our master?"

"Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up," says the LORD;
"I will place them in the safety for which they long."
The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

You, O LORD, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.

Those are some high expectations

I'm sure this one is making the rounds, as it is on Drudge this morning and is all over YouTube. Check out what an Obama supporter expects from her Messiah. You will see the news clip, and there will be some nice commentary from the radio host who ran it.



God help us all if this man wins the election tonight, because Peggy's expectations are typical of the people who are voting for him.

Good Day to You, Sir

This is why there is an age limit for voting

I held a mock election in my classes on Friday; all my 7th and 8th graders were given a list of most of the major candidates for president, including third party candidates from the Libertarian, Green, and Constitution parties.

After a quick review of some of the major views and positions of the candidates and their parties, the secret ballot was underway. I was not surprised with the results.

Among the 152 students who voted that day, 115 (76%) voted for Barack Obama. The runner-up was John McCain with 21 votes (14%). The rest of the votes were a smattering for Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party, Ralph Nader, one for Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, and one for "Gummie Bears." When I announced the results, the students began cheering and gloating and they were rather surprised to learn that the rest of the country isn't quite so skewed in Obama's direction, what with the 3 to 5 point spread in some polls.

That Obama would win my classroom election was a foregone conclusion; for weeks, my students have been singing the praises of Obama while wearing oodles of pins, buttons, and t-shirts. The entertaining part is when we debriefed near the end of each period by asking for volunteers to explain why they voted for a particular candidate. Since 3 out of 4 students voted for Obama, the candidate for the Democrat party took up most of the conversation. It quickly became apparent that

a) Most had no real clue why they preferred Obama other than the color of his skin.
b) Most believed the most vile misinformation about John McCain and Sarah Palin, and the number one reason they didn't like him is because he is "too old" to be president.

You name a lie, rumor, or innuendo about McCain, and I heard them all on Friday: He's racist, he wants to kill everyone, his running mate is "retarded." Meanwhile, reasons for wanting Obama included the oft-repeated mantra that he wants to "change things," because he wants to pull our troops out of Iraq (which is at least a legitimate reason, even if you disagree with it), and of course, because he would be our first "African-American" president.

If you are wondering why I am not mentioning what any McCain-supporting students had to say, it is because I couldn't get any of the 21 who voted for him to say anything. The peer pressure to support Obama was overwhelming all day. That is why I made sure I had a secret ballot instead of a show of hands.

So, my middle school students overwhelmingly voted in favor of Obama, which didn't surprise me, due to their youth, ignorance, and inexperience. On the other hand, tomorrow, roughly half the electorate will vote for Barack Obama. What's their excuse?

Good Day to You, Sir