Educators

The Attack On Teachers And Librarians

Those individuals who dedicate their lives and careers as teachers and librarians are facing a crisis unseen in American history.

The Republican Party and the extreme right wing has declared war on teachers and librarians, promoting censorship and direct threats against those who promote free inquiry and tolerance!

The move of some state and local governments, and of some right wing media, such as Fox News Channel, One America News Network (OANN) and NewsMax, to threaten lawsuits and loss of employment to those who educate our children and to ban books and other materials some find objectionable, is an attack on the Bill of Rights and the promotion of truth and facts!

No wonder many teachers and librarians are leaving their professions, as state laws in Texas, Florida and elsewhere allow for parents or others to begin lawsuits, when such people are not qualified to dictate what the curriculum should be in schools, or to ban books and other materials on book shelves in libraries!

Does anyone promote that medical doctors, attorneys, accountants and others be subjected to ignorant parents and extremist elements to dictate their fields of work and what are acceptable policies and programs?

This blogger and author could not imagine trying to teach in the public schools at any level in today’s environment, where not only is there conflict over teaching of “Social Studies” and “Science”, but also even Literature, Foreign Languages, and most crazily, Mathematics!

Why should the state of Florida, for instance, be able to ban certain Math textbooks on the crazy idea that they contain CRT (Critical Race Theory), and they do not have any connection at all?

How can anyone deal with students at any level in any curriculum field without recognizing the role of teachers and librarians in educating students on issues of race and sexuality, which are and will be dominant factors in their future lives?

This attack on educators and librarians is a movement toward totalitarian and authoritarian Fascism, and the battle against such evil is joined, and must be fought to ultimate victory!

True Heroes: Supermarket, Pharmacy, And Transit Workers,First Responders, Medical Personnel, Now Many Becoming Part Of Death Toll Of CoronaVirus Pandemic

So much attention in the news is always about famous people, wealthy people, controversial people!

How about some attention to the true heroes who often work for minimum wage, and those who sacrifice at work every day without the CoronaVirus Pandemic, or with it, more noticed now!

The true heroes are unsung, including those who work in supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, gas stations, and many other “essential” fields of work!

The true heroes also are the transit workers, those who deliver the mail, first responders (police, fire, emergency medical), and the nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel, who are working long hours trying to save lives, and despairing at the high death count!

This is also a time to appreciate the efforts of teachers, who suddenly parents realize what a tough and thankless job they have in educating the nation’s children, as now parents must become teachers, and not take the educators of the nation for granted!

But notice, not a real tribute to all of these workers coming from the President of the United States. while Joe Biden, his opponent, has spoken plenty about the sacrifices of these different categories of workers!

But that is because Joe Biden, whether you agree with him on all public issues, is fundamentally, a decent, compassionate, genuine, sincere person with real empathy and concern for others, the precise opposite of the cold, uncaring personality of our President!

Joe Biden’s personality traits are exactly what we need in the Presidency, to heal the nation and move forward into an uncertain future!

June 19, 1953–The Beginning Of Awareness Of Public Affairs For This Author

On this day in 1953, this author gained his first awareness of public affairs at the age of 8 and a half, an age that most people will remember as their first major memory of life outside their own family life, and learning about the outside world.

On that day, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, accused atomic spies, were executed, an event still debated 65 years later as to its justice.

This author was watching television, and recall the shock he experienced over the execution that took place that evening.

So that was the beginning of awareness of public affairs, and it has continued through good and evil events for the past 65 years.

And to wake up this morning and witness the US government arresting mothers and fathers for trying to escape violence and threats of death in their homelands, and wishing to seek asylum, and being treated as criminals, and their children being taken away from them, even infants who are nursing, ails his heart and soul.

It makes him wonder what has happened to this nation, the country of the Statue of Liberty and place of refuge for immigrants, that we have now demonized these desperate people who just want a better life, and are being horribly mistreated by the likes of Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller, Kirstjen Nielsen, John Kelly and other racists and nativists who pursue the evil policies of a President who hopes all of us will give in, and allow him to become the first authoritarian leader in American history.

The answer is that knowledge is power, and that the American people will continue to resist, and the news media, bless them, are part of our constant effort to expose the truth and to pursue justice, and take down and prosecute the evil leaders who are destroying all semblance of unity in this nation!

Decent people in organized religion, and lawyers, doctors, social workers, educators at all levels, and just Americans who care about more than their economic wealth, will unite to overcome this cancer in our midst.

We cannot give up the battle, as otherwise it will consume us!

Educators Should NOT Be Responsible For Security, Or To Carry Guns!

As an educator, it is clear to this author that it is totally insane to expect or suggest that educators, whether teachers or administrators, should have as part of their responsibility, to carry guns, and be ready to use them against someone who is violent in a school situation!

Educators are not paid enough, and are mistreated and disrespected enough as it is, and particularly in Republican controlled states, and now they should become security guards as well?

Many educators would object to the concept that students would be aware that they have deadly weapons on their person or nearby, as that is NOT the proper educational environment, whether elementary school, middle school, high school or a college or university!

Education is designed to reach reason, humanity, thoughtfulness, consideration of the value of human life, It is not designed to act as police officers or military personnel. And many teachers and administrators might over react in a crisis, and lead to the death of more people as a result, including themselves!

Under no circumstances would I ever consider learning about guns, as I have no desire to do so, and no educator should be expected to do so!

Hire uniformed police officers, full time, and military veterans as well, as long as they have been fully investigated as to whether they might have psychological problems, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from combat!

The job of educators is to educate, not be a crime fighting force!

So Texas Congressman, Republican Louie Gohmert, himself a certifiable whacko lunatic, should be totally dismissed as reckless and dangerous, with his ridiculous suggestion of the arming of educators!

Medicare Will Decide The Election: IF Obama Wins Florida AND New Hampshire Of “Battleground” States, He Wins The Presidency!

Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet The Press just demonstrated how close Barack Obama is to a victory for the White House.

Showing an electoral vote map with 237 electoral votes in Obama’s camp and 191 in Mitt Romney’s camp, Todd demonstrates that there are NINE true “battleground” or “swing” states, and if Obama wins Florida and New Hampshire, he has the second term he wants in the White House! And the issue of Medicare, brought to central focus by Paul Ryan and his budget plans on that program, will be the center of the victory of Obama for the Presidency!

Even if Romney wins the other seven contestable states—Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada—he would lose the Electoral College 270-268, due to Florida’s 29 electoral votes and New Hampshire’s 4 electoral votes!

But, to assume that Obama would really lose all seven of those states is also delusional, as it is certain that he will win some, and probably, most of them!

This author has been saying this for a long time, and has found some readers of this blog, conservative and Republican friends and associates, and people on Fox News Channel and talk radio, act as if only the public opinion polls, which often show a close race in many states and nationally, should be paid attention to, but that is NOT the case!

The election is decided by the Electoral College, NOT the popular vote nationally,and do not forget that George W. Bush LOST the popular vote in 2000, but was declared the winner of the Electoral College! The same happened to Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, and John Quincy Adams in the past!

But to conclude that, somehow, Barack Obama will lose the national popular vote, with the Republican alienation of Hispanics-Latinos, African Americans, women, young voters, the middle class, senior citizens, gays and lesbians, the poor, labor, educators, consumer advocates, environmentalists, and secular voters—in each case, the majority, not all of any group, of course—indicates that those believing what they do are indeed delusional, and cannot be helped by ordinary medical intervention!

Florida Republicans Attempting To Prevent Young Voter Registration And Prosecute Teachers Who Promote Good Citizenship!

The Republican Party of Florida and Governor Rick Scott are in the process of promoting prosecution of teachers who encourage their high school seniors to register to vote, the ultimate lesson in good citizenship.

The new voter registration law in Florida, very similar to that in other GOP governed states, makes it much more difficult for people to register to vote, requiring government sponsored ID cards; making it harder for college students to vote on their campuses; cutting down the number of days of voting ahead of Election Day; requiring people who change counties to cast a provisional ballot at the polls, which might not be counted; discouraging the League of Women Voters from promoting registration due to a demand that all signed applications must be handed in no later than two days after applications are completed; and assessing fines of up to $1,000 for delayed submission of applications.

Two teachers are facing fines for having missed the 48 hour deadline for student applications, which prosecutes teachers for promoting good citizenship, and discourages new, young voters.

It is clear that the GOP and Governor Scott are trying to intimidate minorities, young people, the elderly, and the poor so as to manipulate the vote to favor the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012. This is a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the 14th Amendment; the 15th Amendment; the 19th Amendment; the 24th Amendment; and the 26th Amendment; and is being pursued in court as a corrupt attempt to fix election results in Florida, as well as elsewhere, by the Obama Administration.

Meanwhile, however, two teachers face fines, and this is another slap in the face to educators, who already have been shown lack of respect by other legislation in Florida which demeans their profession!