SkyD Evening Reads, Step 1: Turn Water On
Posted: September 19, 2012 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, open thread, Republican politics, Republican presidential politics, SDB Evening News Reads | Tags: closing polling places, High school students way of the future, Voter ID laws, we are fucked! 47 Comments »
Good Evening
Before we get to the evening news reads, I have to tell y’all a tale…it is true, every word.
This afternoon, I had to go down to my son’s high school for a Freshman orientation…yes, they have been in school since August 2nd. Anyway, the teachers ushered us into this small classroom…where the lights were shut off. (Must be money-saving thing since it was after school.)
This was a regular classroom, not a special ed or the health class. (See, I have to preface this story with a few details because it is ridiculous and unbelievable.)
The woman, whose classroom we were standing in, began talking. I was looking around the room for any hint as to what kind of class this was. This teacher was also the college prep guidance counselor and she was going on and on about how every student is going to go to college. Blah, blah, blah….they have funding to make sure every kid applies to college. Yadda, yadda, yadda…and all the while she was talking, right behind her back was the day’s lesson. I kid you not…it was a step by step instruction on how to wash hands.
No shit…if I could have taken a picture I would have. On the board were eight steps, and the first one was…
Step 1: Turn Water On.
Followed by…
Step 2: Put Soap on Hands.
Here we are, in a high school classroom. It is not special ed…it is not health…or hygiene, and on the board is this crap. I mean, if you are going to teach kids about the importance of washing hands…teach them why they need to wash them, you know like e.coli… staph…MRSA, etc. These are HIGH SCHOOL students, not kindergarten or first grade. What is on the lesson plan for next week? “How to wipe your ass?”
Step 1: Pull pants down.
Step 2: Sit on toilet.
I am just wondering if the last step of “How to wipe your ass” goes something like this:
Step 6: Wash Hands, see notes from last week’s class.
And as I am watching this woman tell these parents that every student will apply and go to college…my mind is thinking, WTF? If you are teaching these kids how to wash their hands step by step, we will be lucky if they even graduate high school.
Fortunately I went to this “orientation” with my friend, who like me had the same “What the hell is this shit?” expression on her face. She whispered into my ear, “This doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in me whatsoever.” For what it is worth, we got out of going to the kids classrooms… since they are taught by the football and girls softball coaches, and the coaches didn’t stay for the meet and greet.
This classroom is the future my friends, don’t it make you feel great?
Alright, now for a few newsy links.
Did you see, Romney is “gawds” answer to those people, you know…the poor worthless Americans he dissed in his leaked fundraising tapes.
Romney says he would represent `100%’ of Americans
Mitt Romneysaid Wednesday that he would represent “100%” of Americans, striving to dampen a controversy that has dogged him since Monday, when video surfaced of him saying nearly half the nation’s voters were dependent on the government and would never support him because he would not be able to convince them to take responsibility for their lives.
“My campaign is about the 100% in America. And I am concerned about them. I am concerned about the fact that over the past four years, life has become harder for Americans,” Romney said. “… this campaign is about helping people who need help, and right now, the people who are pool in this country need help getting out of poverty. The people in the middle class need help because their incomes have gone down every year for the last four years.”
The GOP presidential nominee spoke at a Univision forum where he was asked whether he regretted the statement he made to donors in a recording that was disclosed Monday by Mother Jones. He did not respond to that part of the question.
I really hate Mitt Romney.
And why should he even bother representing all Americans, when you have things like voter id laws and polling center closures to deal with the unwanted electorate. (This news item is about a county next door to Banjoville.)
Habersham consolidating from 14 to 2 polling places
While it won’t happen in time for the November General Election, Habersham County is proceeding with consolidation of its 14 polling places.
On Monday, the commission voted 4-1 to consolidate the county’s current 14 polling places to two.
“We spent several months looking at alternatives,” said Interim Elections Board Chairman Pete Davitto as he introduced the issue before the commission. “Quite frankly, I first started looking at having five voting locations, one for each of your [commission] districts. That really didn’t work out. I looked at having six geographically-spread voting locations. We were told that the preferred number was two.”
“After lengthy discussion – I believe last month I told you it went on for almost a year – we determined that two was possible,” Davitto said. “We based that on Rabun County’s reduction from nine to one. Our recommendation at this point still stands that we reduce it to two locations. Those two locations encompass approximately 80 percent of the citizens of this county.”
“Are some citizens going to be upset with it?” Davitto said. “Of course. Are some citizens going to have to drive a little farther to vote? Of course. I’m one of them. I live in Batesville, and we’re recommending the Batesville polling location be eliminated.”
Are you fucking kidding me? Aren’t these polling places staffed with VOLUNTEERS? What about these old folks who have difficulty driving 30 miles of mountain roads to get into town? Oh yeah…they are part of the 47%…so who gives a damn about them.
This is an open thread, let the commentary begin!
Sima
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
fiscalliberal
grayslady
mablue2
NW Luna
peggysue22
quixote
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Since it is an open thread, Ten new charges sought against accused Colorado gunman: report | Reuters
Arctic Sea Ice Stops Melting, but Record Low Is Set – NYTimes.com
Have a good evening!
Oh this is good, from Mike Luckovich of course:
roflmao … I wonder if Terry Jones will burn a few korans over this so that our soldiers overseas will be more unsafe … perhaps Westborough Baptist will go harass folks at funerals or bomb a few abortion clinis ?
Maybe he should burn a copy of The Gnostic Gospels.
lol … most of those got burned in the 4th century along with who knows what else once they determined what they wanted folks to believe …
Oh well, so much for the priesthood
I meant one the recent editions. I have several.
You should see some of the comments Luckovich is getting on his facebook page.
Frankly it’s a wonder anything of the Gnostic Gospels and related writings survived! I’m glad some fragments did.
LOL!!!! That’s fabulous JJ
I thought it was too mouse!
So, Minx, have our tolerant fundies called for a fatwa yet? Is Luchovich on the list of folks that will have their houses subjected to arson, their children stalked, and calls for his head to employers?
His facebook page had some loonies saying things about that cartoon. But I thought it was freaking awesome, and I told him so too.
ah, they closed out the comments on his web site and zapped them.. I can imagine he’s getting police protection as we speak …
I love that they’re getting panicked quotes from the Coptic conference in Rome, ‘There’s something about this fragment that strikes me as not being completely convincing somehow,’ ‘There are thousands of scraps of papyrus where you find crazy things, it could be anything,’ and my personal favorite, ‘There are all sorts of really dodgy things about this. This looks to me as if any sensible, responsible academic would keep their distance from it.’ Put your snap judgment in laymen’s terms, scholars.
Take heart, the Book Club met tonight and out of 11 of us only one is voting for Mittens but is voting for Elizabeth Warren. Mitt got the one vote because this lady loathes Obama with a passion and believes he has set the nation on the wrong track. Rather than argue we let her have her say.
I just want to add that you Front Pagers are on a “serious roll” these past few weeks. It is mucho appreciated!
Not to say that you aren’t always up to snuff but lately you have all become “barnburners”!
I think that Kat and BB have been unbelievable lately too Pat…and the comments we’ve seen have been very much appreciated too.
You have been great, too JJ! I don’t know what I’d do without all the wonderful cartoons you find and your terrific sense of humor.
I tell you BB, it has been a struggle to keep up on all the disturbing news lately. I must say this Romney leaked video free fall did perk my spirits up a lot. I wish I could have taken a picture of that chalkboard. I still can’t believe the ‘optics” on that one.
I think people realize that loathing Obama for his caucus thuggery in ’08 and backtracked promises once in office does not have to mean support for Romney.
Especially as Romney continues to prove himself far, far, worse than merely “2% worse than the Dems.”
Forgot to add:
I think that’s why we’re getting so many hits and new commentators here, which is fabulous!
Pierce…
Paul Ryan and the Jesuits, Cont’d
I am hoping that Charlie gathers up all of his postings from the election and turns it into another book.
You were the one who turned me on to Pierce and I purchased his most recent book and have been an ardent fan ever since.
Wo if we should ever “break up’ I will still be grateful for your pointing me in the direction of Charles Pierce who had made me laugh out loud on days when I did not think it was possible.
Charlie is simply wonderful in every way that counts! I’m hoping internet relationships last a lot longer than this interminable election. It’s been almost five years now I think since I started reading all of you. Good times and bad, they’ve been better because of it!
I hear you.
Some of us banded together in 2008 when we discovered that as Hillary supporters we were considered “taboo”.
After the election some of us began to see Right Wing talking points along with links filtering into the room. Within a matter of time there seemed to be more emphasis in praising the Right without allowing the critique and some of us took leave.
No matter how much I disliked Obama and going back on the promises he failed to defend, I have never been a Right Wing sympathizer under any circumstances and less so when I began to watch the obstruction of any policies, programs, or issues that would have served as a benefit to the nation at large being carried out by the GOP.
Obama may not have been my first choice but there was no way in hell that I could find any comfort in turning to the Right as a solution, more so after 2010 that brought the Tea Party into existence.
So much hate, bias, bigotry, aimed at one man when the country needed both parties working together made me sick to my stomach and that has never gone away. I felt I was watching racism unfold before my eyes and was hard pressed to believe that it was being done as openly as it was.
This party as it now is poses a danger to democracy but as has been pointed out today in these postings, the lunatics cannot be allowed to rule the asylum.
MY memories of ’08 haven’t dimmed much but realism crept in and I couldn’t follow the wingnut shift either. Basically my beliefs haven’t changed a lot over my life. Still an FDR Democrat and gonna stay that way
Same here, and I’m not going to change that just because of a serious disappointment four years ago.
I also.
Blessed be, but it has indeed been close to 5 years!
Oh no! Pierce discovered that Romney fund-raiser host Marc Leder drove a treasured Massachusetts hangout (Friendly’s ice cream shoppes) into bankruptcy.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/marc-leder-friendlys-12864415
That was funny!
Looks like grasshopper learned well from the master of the rape, pillage, destroy model of ‘private equity’
Gawd, I loved Friendly’s when we lived in Conn…oh that was good stuff.
The Fribbles were fab!
That might drive a few votes, I do know some Romney leaners who haven’t stopped griping since they’re no longer in walking distance to fishamajigs and wattamelon rolls. Woe betide this guy if we find out he had anything to do with the downfall of Brigham’s.
Merry band of “moderate: assholes who blocked the Veterans Jobs Bill.
This is an amazingly good article by Ezra Klein in Bloomberg. I’d like to think Beltway Bob may have grown up a little.
What Mitt Romney Doesn’t Get About Responsibility
Hey, Jon Stewart Blasts Fox News Over Romney Video: ‘Chaos On Bullsh*t Mountain’ | Mediaite
Colbert, in a top hat and tails, was wonderful last night making Mitt’s statement “elegant”.
Is this it? http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/419186/september-18-2012/mitt-romney-s-secret-video
That’s the one!
That was funny Ralph…see you all in the F8ck pit…and the shrimps too.
That was brilliant and contained a better take on it than we will ever see on CNN!
“Aren’t these polling places staffed with VOLUNTEERS?”
No, they get paid. Some states pay by the hour and others have a lump sum that varies from town to town, with more for positions like clerk and warden and somtimes bonuses for longevity. It probably averages out to $100-$300 or so. A lot of states also require training courses for poll workers and you get paid for those too. They can’t make changes like that without getting approval from the DOJ, so hopefully they’ll take a hard look at the proposal.
Thanks for the clarification Seriously, I thought they volunteered their services.
I did it for a couple of years. The pay wasn’t much, just pocket money.