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Disgusting

I was browsing my stats and noticed an incoming link to my theme. Always curious as to what kind of sites used my theme I checked it out. I won’t provide the link here because the site I found was disgusting. The site is supposed to be an alternative “news” site but really was nothing more than a racist and bigoted site that talks about “niggers”, “kikes”, “evil Methodists”, and “fags.” Reading the titles of these posts made me want to throw up, and the actual posts and comments were worse. I guess the drawback to releasing a theme is you have no say in what kind of site decides to use it. I, for one, am disgusted by it’s use on this hate speech site.

EDIT: Just an update, I contacted the site’s host, DreamHost and they said they support free speech. This is understandable. I, however, doubt it has anything to do with free speech and more to do with them making money from a client. That’s just how DH operates. Even if the hate speech can incite hate crimes (which, if you look at the wikipedia entry posted in the comments by Mike, actually has happened). This lead me to post some terms in which I explain I have no affiliation with the content on sites using my theme. Kind of an obvious thing, but I just want to cover my bases.

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With Friendship, Distance Doesn’t Matter

About 6 months ago I met someone online. This person was a great person and quickly became one of my best friends. In the past, people with “best friend” status were usually reserved for people I grew up with, went to school with, or generally lived in the same area as me. This friend is none of these. She lives in Florida, we never went to school together, and we didn’t grow up together. I’ve never even met her. She is an online friend. With the increasing social aspect of the internet (we met in an online game), these things don’t matter anymore. Even though she is an online friend, she has become one of my best friends. I feel I can talk to her about anything, and I do. She genuinely cares about me (at least I hope :P ), and I care about her. Will we ever meet in real life? Doubtful. But I’m okay with that, it does not bother me. I’ve gotten to know her better than some of my real life friends that I’ve known for years, and I’ve only known her for about 6 months. She knows me really well also. We talk quite frequently and is someone I can always count on. You always hear the long-distance relationships don’t work, but the same cannot be said about friendship. Friendship knows no bounds, especially with a great friend like you, L-Feezy

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Senator Talent Gets an F

From the NEA:

Is Senator Talent working for public education? ‘F’ on report card says no

It is report card time for lawmakers of all stripes and U.S. Senator Jim Talent has some explaining to do. He got an F on the National Education Association’s 109th Legislative Report Card for the 2005-06 session of the U.S. Congress, released in Washington, D.C.

Talent’s score was 29 out of 100. The F grade is based on votes on key NEA supported legislation and criteria measuring a lawmaker’s commitment to public education via co-sponsorship of bills, behind the scenes work, accessibility and advocacy.

Talent, whose recent state campaign ads highlight his work, falls short of the mark when it comes to sharing the responsibility of helping make public education work for every child.

Among the votes counted in 2005, Senator Talent voted against the restoration of $4.8 billion for 48 education programs slated for elimination, including those addressing Career and Technical Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and education technology grants. He also voted against increasing Head Start funding and for massive cuts to entitlement programs in the budget reconciliation measure in late December of that year.

In 2006, Senator Talent voted against an amendment that restored funding for college prep programs, raising the maximum Pell Grant to $4,500, and providing up to $23,000 in student loan forgiveness to new teachers in high need schools.

On other lawmaking tasks of interest to Missouri public school workers, Senator Talent voted repeatedly against raising the minimum wage. He also refused to join the majority of his Congressional colleagues in co-sponsoring a bill to restore Social Security benefits that Missouri’s teachers and education support staff and their spouses have earned.

Senator Talent’s report card is available for NEA member’s inspection at http://www.nea.org/lac/senate.html.

Make sure you don’t vote for Talent this November and instead vote for Claire McCaskill.

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Potty Talk

No, I’m not talking about the four-letter words we all love to use. This time, I am in fact talking about going to the bathroom, more specifically, urinating. I know this may seem like an odd topic to blog about, but I’ve not been posting much and I decided to post this little thing I noticed about going to the bathroom. For those not offended by pee talk, continue to read. Read more

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Special Education

Looking for a teaching job for High School social studies is hard work. Very few positions are open because the field is full of people just like me looking for jobs. I ask some advice from many people on how to increase my chances of getting hired. On more than one occasion I was told to teach Special Education until a Social Studies position opens up. This I cannot do. Not because I don’t like special education students, that is not it at all. The reason is my degree is in History, not Special Education. What kills me even more is how many PE teachers teach Sp Ed. These teachers, just like I’m certified for history, are certified for Phys Ed and NOT Sp Ed. Am I the only one that sees a problem here? Students who need help the most are getting teachers who are only teaching them until a position in their actual field opens up. This does not seem right to me at all. Such is the way of the school systems I guess.