We found a swarm of bees in the parking lot this morning. With 
Michele sets some chairs out around the tree with tape from chair to chair and I let everyone know about the bees.
Update: When I left this morning at 7:00 they were still here, when I got back at 9:30 they were gone. You learn something new all the time.
On Friday Barry Young and Michelle Larson from KFYI did a special “Buycott” night at the Diamondbacks game against the Rockies, from the home of one of the great American public school systems (Denver) that said they were going to boycott us. To make it even better the D-backs won the game in the bottom of the 9th. Following the game there was a fireworks show outside the stadium.
Then after a 4 hour nap I made a run out to Bartlett while it was still cool (5:30 am). By the time I got back at about 8:00 it was 83 degrees. Summer is here, it should be over 100 today.
Update: I was reading through the list of the boycotting groups and found a general interesting thread. They are heavily Democrat, populated by hispanics/Mexicans, and/or make money from public funds dished out as a result of unchecked illegal immigration. For example: public education, government workers (here and in Mexico) and social worker/immigration lawyers. Those opposed tend to be the suckers who have to pay.
My second day of actual retirement I decided to take a nice relaxing hike up Shaw Butte. It was clear, cool (well not hot), and beautiful up there. A thought kept running through my mind, “snake on the trail”. I don’t know why, but sure as summer temperatures go over 100, as the trail curved around the mountain a buzz startled me. At first that snake was invisible but when it finally moved a little it came into view. I took out my new phone/camera/internet connection/gps/entertainment center (and on and on) and took a picture. About that time another group of hikers came up and we all stood around amazed at how invisible it was. If not for that buzz I would have walked right past it.
My retirement party was Saturday but the feeling isn’t like Shawshank. There is no open white beach or endless blue sky. It is more like The Great Escape, free but still operating behind enemy lines. Freedom and eternity have their limits.
It’s like the feeling you get when you drive past the old high school. A melancholy mood permeates the car as you consider how much your life was shaped, for better or worse, inside that fence. I can’t help but think that those experiences will live with me forever.
Why couldn’t this have happened before the election of 2008? The “Joe the Plumber” moment would have destroyed our “spread the wealth” presidential candidate’s chances for election. Instead we are facing a huge growth in government entitlements that everyone deep down knows can’t be paid for and two more years of a guy who won’t sign bills that shut it down. I hope we make it through those years.
According to a PEW survey in March only one in five registered voters trust the government to “do the right thing”. It isn’t just here but in the EU there is pressure to bail out the Greeks. But does anyone doubt that they will renege on the deal? Watch the riots. The government says one thing but the people and history tell a different story.
I read an article on the Huffington Post about 10 myths involving the financial system. It used the argument that governments were different than states or individuals since they could print money and therefore could never run out. The solution for Greece, presumably, would be to free itself from the Euro and revert back to it’s original currency. Problem solved.
But who in their right mind would buy the debt? How could the currency hold any value? Would you take your pay in drachmas? The only thing saving a meltdown in Greece is faith in the Euro represented by those stronger economies securing it. But who believes the Greeks will “do the right thing”? The German people understand that they are going to get burned and don’t like it.
Banks aren’t giving loans to people now because values have dropped and they don’t trust that they will be repaid. Why does anyone expect that the government is any more trustworthy than the citizens? Is it because they say so and can print money?
I was talking to a teacher friend the other day who happens to be the president of the local teacher’s union in our district. She is a staunch Democrat and we go round and round often. The other day she was complaining about how little teachers make. I pointed out that she made nearly $4000 dollars a month. That stopped her.
Then I asked where it all went. Why were her checks not enough? Then I asked if she had the full $4000 could she spend it better than the government? I could tell by the look on her face that it hadn’t occurred to her. If a person can answer that question it will clarify their politics. And for a Democrat, in particular, it will help them understand the tea party movement.
What will happen when I retire in a few days as a public school teacher and don’t have to listen to the constant stream of nonsense about how bad things are? There is a vote coming up in Arizona on a one cent sales tax two-thirds of which will go to schools. If it doesn’t pass teachers in my district will take a 2 1/2 percent cut in pay instead of a 1 1/2 percent cut. The truth is that most will still have a job in an economy that isn’t nearly as kind to private sector employees. Teachers take pay cuts and maybe increased class size, businesses close down.
I know how difficult the job is, I’ve done it for 19 years. The problem is that it has been made even tougher because of what we in Arizona public schools have to deal with. We get the yearly blame for insufficient Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) because our students don’t score high enough. Last year it came down to our ELL (English Language Learners) and Special Ed. The issue is that besides huge numbers of ELL (no border control), EH (emotionally handicapped), and volatile students (many with learning disabilities due to trauma) we also have a high teacher turn-over. Most teachers stick around for a year or two and then decide that they don’t want the job. That’s understandable. It isn’t a lack of good teachers, it’s burnout or disillusionment with the reality.
Good education should be an alliance with a family, teacher, and student. As a teacher it often feels more like a minefield than a classroom. You go to war every day not to a friendly learning environment where people value what you teach. Why is that?
If only the federal government got it. Since when does it fall on a state to guard the integrity of our national borders?
Well the next step will be Obama and the Democrat Congress ramming through an immigration bill that will make everyone now here legal. Just more of the same.
THERE SHOULD BE NO DEALS UNTIL THE BORDER IS
SHUT DOWN!!
UPDATE: This just gets better and better. On Friday, April 30, the day before the big “immigration” rallies across the nation, a Arizona deputy was shot by Mexican drug smugglers in the desert just 50 miles south of Phoenix. SWAT teams were sent in along with “more than a hundred” police officers, helicopters were shot at by five “undocumented” individuals. You Libs, please boycott those racists in Arizona, as the facts come out I want you to make even more complete asses of yourselves.
Above is a picture from the American Border Patrol that shows a smuggler armed with what looks like a Mac-10 machine pistol at his waist. They take these pictures with hidden motion activated cameras along known smuggling routes.
UPDATE 2: It seems that there have been 17 people captured, 3 of them meeting the description of the drug smugglers (shooters). No doubt they are all just good American citizens camping out there in a smuggling corridor. Al Sharpton ought to get right down here to make sure their civil rights are not abused. I suggest he take a La Raza representative since I suspect he’ll need a translator.
I got into a discussion with a teacher friend about why us conservatives are so mean. We allegedly don’t care about others and are shirking our civic responsibility to take care of those less fortunate. To which I responded that it isn’t my problem. I asked why it was my responsibility to raise someone else’s kids. She then asked if I would just let them starve. I said, “Sure”. OMG, that did it! She said that the kids weren’t to blame to which I replied that she was correct, it was the parent’s fault.
I also said that it wasn’t my responsibility to buy them a car or a house. What I didn’t ask was why it was a stranger (me) who was somehow to blame? Why is it “civic duty” to steal by force of law from one family to give to another? If I choose to donate that is my decision but charity at gunpoint is robbery.
Further thoughts: She kept saying that it would lead to a “police state” with extreme solutions like the sterilization of deadbeat parents. A simpler solution would be to remove the incentive for freeloaders having kids. If a parent cannot take care of their children, instead of government subsidization of loser parents, the kids should be adopted out, not put in state supported foster homes, legally adopted into a functioning family. There are thousands of couples paying huge sums of money and even going out of the country to adopt. Why not let them adopt Americans? For a fraction of the cost, which the new parents would pay, much of the problem could be solved..
That rancher in southern Arizona was probably killed by a cartel sniper or hit man. Here we are how many years later with 10 – 20 million illegals and their kids living here drugs, poverty, and violence flowing across our borders and now some POS politician says we need to do something. As if this hasn’t been a festering sore for many years. Enforce the damn laws even if it means stationing the Army down there!!
Oh, I forgot, these are our future Obama supporters so we must make them citizens to continue our march to third world status. Silly me.
Update: Minuteman Civil Defense Corps cancels muster, announces dissolution I’m not sure what to make of this because it sounds like some individuals may want to take care of what the government won’t and some don’t want their name involved. But it seems a little ominous.
John Phillips writing in Car and Driver April 2010:
“Some look at things that are and ask, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and ask, ‘Why this?’”
Describing the body of the Pontiac Aztec: “A body that resembles Janis Joplin’s during her most devoted heroin years.”
Or the Dodge Shadow: “Who would have thought that someone could create a car guaranteed to make your wife shout, ‘Wow, my mother was right!’”
Of the cockpit smell in a Hyundai Pony: “A curious mixture of wet dog, WD-40, and liquid Maalox.”
I remember the looks of disdain at the “fear mongering”. Ha Ha! Look it up.
Dictionary.com Socialism - a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
Concise Encyclopedia of Economics Socialism—defined as a centrally planned economy in which the government controls all means of production—was the tragic failure of the twentieth century. Born of a commitment to remedy the economic and moral defects of capitalism, it has far surpassed capitalism in both economic malfunction and moral cruelty.
social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members.
[Capitalism provides for] private ownership of the means of production and allows individual choices in a free [market] to determine how goods and services are distributed. Socialists complain that capitalism necessarily leads to unfair and exploitative concentrations of wealth and power in the hands of the relative few who emerge victorious from free-market competition—people who then use their wealth and power to reinforce their dominance in society. Because such people are rich, they may choose where and how to live, and their choices in turn limit the options of the poor. As a result, terms such as individual freedom and equality of opportunity may be meaningful for capitalists but can only ring hollow for working people, who must do the capitalists’ bidding if they are to survive. As socialists see it, true freedom and true equality require of the resources that provide the basis for prosperity in any society. and made this point in (1848) when they proclaimed that in a socialist society “the condition for the free development of each is the free development of all.”
Think government control of banks, health care, automobile industry , energy and just keep going. Watch what they do not what they say.
My eldest son J is always on the lookout for an idea for a script or short story so he has on occasion asked my wife or me for some ideas. Here is what I’ve been thinking.
Imagine a mix of The DaVinci Code, Godzilla, War of the Worlds, and Independence Day. It would have intrigue, world-wide ramifications, true evil, a life and death struggle, science as our savior, and best of all a cause that could unite the world and lead to lasting peace. We have this story hardwired into us dating back to WW2 movies, Star Trek, and Saturday morning science fiction shows. The basic plot is part of our world-view so it is easy to sell.
Consider a threat so dire that it will wipe out all of humanity and leave our planet uninhabitable. The evil is us, not a comet streaking toward us. It consists of greedy men who do whatever they can for power and money. But it isn’t that simple, they are empowered by those who are addicted to what they are producing.
Fortunately there are those who see through the conspiracy and by science are able to lead a way out but that path may destroy the former world and with it the cabal of evil and break its spell. Now the challenge.Who are the good guys and what is the evil?
One scenario would have the hero played by a guy who looks like Dick Cheney fighting an evil terrorist organization bent on the destruction of the world as we know it. He would have at his disposal the latest in military hardware. On the other hand we might select a Will Smith look-alike fighting to save the planet from the scourge of global warming caused by the evils of capitalism (and guys like Dick Cheney). His Manhattan Project would involve breakthroughs in green energy followed by the sharing of that knowledge with the United Nations.
Most Americans,especially men, prefer the flash and roar of explosions followed by the ghastly death of the bad guys and the knowing looks of our comrades-in-arms as we survey the rubble and contemplate the future. But there is a segment who lean toward the chick flick endings where the bad guys are sent to prison, the scales fall from the eyes of those deceived and we all join hands around the world and move in together.
When you start getting short there are several ways to count the days. First of all, in total days from today, it is 69. On the other hand if just school days count then it’s only 47 but if it comes down to days with kids it is only 46 but four of them are half-days so it’s really only 44. But I also have 25 sick days that can be used, well at least some of them. On top of that I finished my last recess duty a week ago so my mornings won’t be hectic anymore.
Tuesday I got the retirement paperwork done with the state and then on Wednesday with the district. There isn’t much more to do except finish up all the loose ends that go with the end of the year. There will be one more progress report, another report card, an awards assembly, AIMS testing, finishing my group PLC with three other tech teachers, and cleaning out my stuff. Well there is teaching involved too.
This spring break, instead of just kicking back, I’ve worked on a half-dozen computers. The contrast in work environment is so much more relaxed. There has been time to get out to ride and hike. Saturday Howard and I are doing an in and out at the Canyon just before the one-year pass expires that I bought last year when J and I rode up there. Brad even took a couple of hikes up Shaw Butte with me. Life is good!
It seems like too long since I’ve written about riding. Just too much happening. I retire from teaching in 53 days (but who’s counting?) Oh that doesn’t mean it’s time to sit back and relax, people aren’t allowed to do that these days so it means another start, but that’s ok. There will be about a month that I can take off and forget about the regular stuff.
I’ve heard that the back roads through New Mexico are nice so it looks like Vicki and I’ll head out through Safford, Arizona and go up through Santa Fe. That little town of Madrid that was used in Wild Hogs is along the way as are a fair number of old Spanish missions. There is even a memorial to Vietnam veterans that looks interesting. Some passes in the Rockies will get us up to Denver where a niece and nephew have been kind enough to invite us to stop by.
My brother-in-law and his wife live in Omaha so we will go through there. And I have a buddy who lives in Quincy, Illinois who said to stop by. Our son and his wife live in Nashville but I don’t know how their schedule looks this summer. To make things even more complicated a teacher friend said to stop by his home in Montana just north of Yellowstone and south of Glacier Park. That’s one I don’t want to miss. It may take some time and planning, but planning is half the fun.
Now that the fall of the hoax of Global Warming has become common knowledge we can let out a sigh of relief, the world isn’t overheating. Beyond that, our way of life is still ok, not perfect, but fixable without destroying civilization. We can get on with growth by shutting down big brother.
It is becoming apparent that Americans will not be sucked into the freedom robbing politics of the statists. We can solve the problems out there without a federal government making us all serfs. All that is left to do is take back that power. Support the party of “HELL NO” by voting for those with good ideas that don’t increase the size and power of the government.
Solving our economic problems is not impossible, but trying to solve them by expanding the state is. We may have to start over but thankfully we have a roadmap called the Constitution.
I think it may have been Limbaugh who said it but it’s one of those things that everyone who lives here understands. Whether from the left or the right we all just want to be able to live our lives without the government intruding. The good news is that our Constitution sets up a form of federal government that makes it possible. Our political impasse has occurred because we have allowed that government too much say. It was never supposed to be that way.
The states were where the details could be worked out as in the differences found in Utah versus Nevada. The local populations were to decide most things which allows for more freedom. This truth is being rediscovered and is catching the imagination of a new generation, a return to our roots.
If you ever get a chance to attend a Tea Party look around. There are ideas to agree with and those to toss out but the Constitution is handed out everywhere.
I read a lot, usually economics and politics. What is bothering me is the consistent state of the argument. Maybe it’s just the way it is.
In real life having a job and money flowing allows you to take on debt that doesn’t seem exceptional because “things are good”. But in real life if things stop being good you can just get rid of that extra car or cancel the subscription, no big deal. In politics everything is a big deal.
We are in a situation where somewhere between 9.7 and 17% of us have lost our jobs and we can’t cancel the subscription. In fact, instead of doing what we need do, cut costs and downsize, we are told that it is the worst thing to do. Guys like Krugman say we should spend more!
Our situation should clarify why “the government” should not be getting into things that can’t, without pain, be eliminated. We currently have a group of people in power who want to not only spend more but expand the programs that make our situation worse. We can’t afford the “health care” system we have so it needs to be expanded? We can’t afford the “education system” we have so let’s make it bigger? Social Security is going bankrupt so we want people who are living in the country illegally to be included? It is a tough economic situation and small businesses are struggling so raise taxes? We can’t afford the government we have so let’s make it larger? Two hundred miles to go and 1/4 tank of gas. If you just drive faster you can get there before it gets to empty. The nonsense goes on and on.
People say they want change. I’d like to see some.
