This Is Why Public Schools Get Ridicule......

I was reading the headlines on Fox yesterday and came across a headline that caught my eye; Girl, 10, Arrested for using knife to cut food at school. So wondering if the headline was just to grab your attention or if there really was something to this, I went to the article and read the story. I only have one word, well two actually, that comes to mind...... *&$*# STUPID!!!!!!

This article is a prime example why our kids do not get a quality education in the public schools of this country. If the teachers and administrators put as much effort into teaching as they do into stupid stuff like making sure that a 10 year old little girl gets arrested for having good table manners then we would be the best educated population in the world. When I was a student in the public school system, teachers taught. Teachers knew their course of study and they were capable of teaching it. Yes there were some teachers that had not kept up with their field and their were some teachers that while very well versed in their areas were not proficient at decimating that information to their students. But I think the biggest difference was that if a student misbehaved in class the teacher put an end to it right then and there. Teachers controlled their classrooms, but also used common sense and good judgment.  Teachers were not afraid to interact with their students nor were they afraid to discipline them either.

When kids got in a fight, their lives were not ruined by calling the cops and having them arrested and charged with assault and or aggravated battery. The teachers or the football coach got a hold of them, even if that meant physically intervening and then either just sent them on their way or isolated them until tensions had eased and in extreme cases the individuals involved might actually be punished by having to run laps or write sentences (neither of which, by the way, injures the child).  Also, when I was a student it was no big deal, especially in high school, for you to have aspirin or Tylenol in your book-bag and even share it with a friend or teacher in need. Nor was it an issue to ask your teacher if they had aspirin or Tylenol. No one was going to be expelled for being in possession of drugs or arrested for distribution.

So here is the newest show of just how far down our public schools have gone. If you didn't read the afore mentioned story, a little girl had a packed lunch, which was steak, and included (this was probably a parent with common sense) in the lunch box was a steak knife to cut the steak up with. The little girl used the knife for its intended purpose, that of cutting up her food and was subsequently arrested by the police (I hope they feel really stupid, because if the support their actions then that is a whole other blog) and taken to the juvenile detention center and was charged with a felony possession of a deadly weapon on school grounds (Let me show you what I can do with a school chair).

Now I have to say that if this case goes any further, than the already ridiculously stupid path that it has taken, every resident of Ocala, Florida needs to think long and hard about their elected officials and their priorities in upholding the laws.

Putin Solidifies Power and Moves Forward

Well last week Putin led his United Russia to a landslide victory in the Parliamentary elections. And since then there has been even more whispering and wondering and chatter about whether he will try to run again in March or if he would name a successor. The name of a successor was ushered from Putin's lips yesterday and I can't say that I am very surprised by the choice.

World I would like to introduce the next President of Russia...........................................

Dmitri Medvedev.

Feeling a little lost? Not sure who this new leader is? Unless you have been following Russian politics and economics you are probably not familiar with this long time Putin aide and chairman of Russian energy giant Gazprom. Medvedev is from St. Petersburg and was a law professor and has been a Putin aide for many years. He has no real Kremlin support of his own and is not a big player in the power circle of Moscow.

In the last day there was some talk as to what naming such a weak successor meant for Putin's future, as well as Russia's, and there were some that even said that Putin wanted to leave all the power behind. Not sure how these experts got from all Putin's recent moves to him leaving public life. I have to say that I have seen nothing by Putin for the last 3 years that has signaled anything other than solidifying HIS power and increasing HIS control of the central government. Being a much classier and intelligent leader than Chavez, he doesn't appear to be making a move to change the country's constitution which bans him from running for a third term. However, he appears to have found a way around that obstacle, today the wires ran that Medvedev has asked that Putin serve as his Prime Minister.

Now if you didn't see that one coming, PLEASE don't call yourself an expert on Russia or her politics. I am NO expert and I have seen that coming for years not exactaly how it has played out, but I knew that Putin would not quietly retire from power. He has put too much into his goal of reclaiming Russia's past glory and expanding on it, to just hand her over to anyone without insuring that HIS path would be followed.

So the future of Russia after the March elections will have a solid United Russia power base in parliament with a new weak president in Medvedev and the ever strong and ever present Putin there in the fore-front as Prime Minister. And look for the roles of a strong president and weak premier to flip. And don't be surprised if that doesn't become the permanent face of Russia. A weak hand picked president by Putin with Putin running the show as Premier. Putin is determined to see Russia as the super-power that she was and he will not step out of public life until he is sure that her position in the world is secured to his liking.

Ex-wives usually know (them) best

Ex-wives usually get a bad wrap. They are called not-so-nice names and considered to be vindictive and irrational. Then again those claims are made by the men who screwed them over. I think ex-wives can be a good source of information about their ex-husbands. In the process of going through a divorce, as well as, having spent considerable time with the person prior to the divorce (unless you are Britney Spears) most ex-wives get to see ALL sides of the man.

And in the latest case, Marisabel Rodriguez is speaking out against Hugo Chavez's push to make Venezuela "more socialist," which she sees as a "road straight to totalitarianism."

Rodriguez has the intelligence to be concerned about one person being in control for such a long time. And she should be, as we all should be, no mater where we live or whom the person is. There is too much at stake to allow one person to be in control for a very long term. The risk is there that the power will corrupt them and that with this will arise a greed and hunger that will restrict and limit the freedoms and power of the people. The very real danger of this happening was present in Venezuela last week with the referendum vote on the Constitution. Some of the resolutions that were on the ballot would have given and extraordinary amount of power to an elected official.

Rodriguez is also proposing to shorten presidential terms. Something that she helped to put in place as first lady and part of the draft assembly. Stating that Chavez has been in office too long. She is not the only former ally to change their stance, former Defense Minister Raul Baduel rallied the former pro-Chavez party Podemos to vote NO. And a new group has entered the political scene, university students. All this will help change the dynamics of the political power in Venezuela and if successful there it may flow into other Latin American countries.

Iran is not nuclear free

The NIE came out this week and the mainstream media jumped on an out of context line and went full-steam ahead with it.

All the headlines read that Iran abandon nuclear program in 2003. Just another attempt to say that the current administration lied about intelligent reports just to suit their policy. Here are a couple little know facts about the NIE. First the NIE was written by policy makers and not analysts. Second the report states that one program, that of trying to develop a nuclear warhead for their missiles, seems to have been abandon. These two points reflect the media's refusal to tell the complete story.

If the Bush Administration were trying to lie about intelligent then why didn't the policy makers that wrote report toe the line? Now the Bush bashers, if so inclined, could read the whole report, with an open mind, and come out and say that in it totality the NIE states that we need to keep a close eye on Iran and that other programs are just covers for a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program. Now you have ammo that the Bush Administration is trying to push policy. Because you are so convinced that Bush is so wrong about everything. And lies about everything. Please look past your anger and hatred for Bush and look at Iran's history. Iran has a standing policy of being anti-American and anti-Israel and sees both as being the same entity. Iran wants to be a major player in the Middle East and the World, being a nuclear power would grant them that.

Does abandoning one program or goal, that of arming their missiles with nuclear warheads, mean that Iran has ceased its nuclear intentions or desires? Absolutely not. They are still enriching uranium that can be used for both peaceful and military purposes. And in today's world and political climate it is easier and cheaper for them to purchase the technology and weapons than to try to adapt current armament and develop technology on their own.

Do not think that China or Russia would not sell them the technology and resources that they would need. And making Iran a nuclear power would actually benefit both countries. And then you have the other angles to contend with if we turn our attention away from Iran and her intentions. If Iran becomes a nuclear power while Chavez is in power, you can bet that we would have another nuclear power to contend with.

So while you may not like Bush or some of his policies, keep in mind that there are power players in the rest of the world that are using the political division here to their advantage and if we blindly look at everything as a Bush conspiracy then we are giving countries like Iran carte blanche.

One Defeat is all you need when it Counts

YES!!!!!

I have been hoping for it and it finally came and it came when it mattered most. Way to go university students of Venezuela!!! They looked at the issues and decided that they opposed handing more power over to Chavez. Good on them for sticking to his preaching of democracy and giving it back to him in the ballot box. The results were close, 51% to 49%, but the opposition won. This was the first defeat that Chavez has suffered since taking the Presidency in 1998.

Many of the constitutional reforms that were part of the national referendum would have given Chavez power verging on dictatorship. Some of the most disturbing parts of the reforms including the appointment of governors and mayors as well as bringing the Central Bank under the control of the President. These are issues that caused Chavez dissent even among his most ardent supporters, including his former Defense Minister, Raul Baduel.

This single act by the voters of Venezuela may prove to the rest of Latin America that democracy is and can be alive and well. And one day later the fact that Chavez for the moment is accepting the defeat, at least until he can figure away around it, also gives rise to the belief that this may well be the century of the Americas.

Today In History---Cuba became communist

On this day in 1961 Fidel Castro announced that he was a Marxist-Leninist and than under his leadership Cuba would become a communist country. This statement came after the Bay of Pigs disaster, when the CIA did not follow through on their promises to support the loyalists. That would not be the last time that the US promised to support revolutionists or pro-American dissidents and then hung them out to dry. Then we shake our head and wonder why people in the world hate us.

After Castro declared Cuba communist it became a key pawn in the cold-war. The Soviet Union coddled the small island nation to attempt to place missiles within 90 miles of American soil. This stare down between the US and USSR was the closest that we came to a nuclear war. Most people do not remember the Cuban Missile Crisis or the 13 days in October 1962, when thousands of Americans held their breaths wondering if Kennedy could get us out of a nuclear confrontation.

On 28 October 1962 both the US and USSR agreed to remove missile bases that were close to the other's land mass. That was our bases in Turkey and their bases in Cuba. And so the cold-war continued until the Wall opened in 1989. With the end of the cold-war most people assumed that all communist countries would follow suit. That didn't happen, China saw the chance to become a big player on the world scene and step up to the plate. In it's shadow remain Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba.

Cuba is still only 90 miles from our shores and still communists. Being from South Florida I am a little more aware of Cuba's presence than most Americans and we also get more Cuban news here than the rest of the country. Cuban Americans here in South Florida have been holding their breath for months now hoping to hear the news that Fidel has passed. They believe that with Fidel out of the picture that Cuba will gain the real chance to be free and independent. I hope that they are right.

It will be a long road if they chose to take it. One of the things that most Americans don't realize about other countries around the world is that most don't allow their citizens access to a lot of the resources that we take for granted. Their text books are written differently and they view the world with certain taught basis. Just like we do. The difference is that we can make the effort to seek out different points of view and new information so that we may make informed decisions and create informed opinions about the world around us. So when the uncensored doors of the world are opened to the Cuban people they may find some things strange and even troubling, it may be easier to go back to the old ways if for no other reason than the comfort of familiarity. Venturing into the unknown can be a wonderfully scary thing to do and is not for the faint of heart. I happen to believe that the Cuban people are ready and willing and very capable to make this journey and we need to be open to helping them without pressure or influence.