Bob’s Blog

I just want to express how happy I am that I was able to finally find this shirt in stock. I, needless to say, ordered it immediately. And the history and political science nerd inside of me can finally relax:

Watch what Ted Nugent has to say about Obama and Hillary Clinton”

Watch Sean Hannity’s refusal to denounce what Ted says and tries to change the subject and tries to put more fault on Obama and, believe it or not, John Kerry:

But, you should expect that from Sean Hannity, right? Right. But things get better. Just last month, Ted Nugent had this to say (courtesy of Salon):

 “You know, I’m an American. I love all Americans. And I would help any American pursue their dreams and their pursuit of happiness,” Nugent told Hannity. “But you find that the left, there’s a lunatic fringe on the left that literally are trying to force us to comply to their outline of life. And I find it just reprehensible that they would recommend violence, not to mention murder and shooting people and assassinating people. This is bizarre.”

In this next video – both Nugent and Hannity sit there and denounce everything Rage Against The Machine said, and said it was “over the line” and too much.

Hypocrisy much, Mr. Hannity?

I really can’t stand this man.

Bush ties Iraq and Vietnam and warns:

“The price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens,” he told war veterans in Missouri.

Mr Bush said the Vietnam War had taught the need for US patience over Iraq.

…

“Many argued that if we pulled out, there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people,” Mr Bush said. “The world would learn just how costly these misimpressions would be.

“Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left.

“Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens,” Mr Bush said, mentioning reprisals against US allies in Vietnam, the displacement of Vietnamese refugees and the massacres in Cambodia under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge.

Here Mr. Bush, let me give you the real reason why millions of people faced slaughter, genocide, and suffering. And it wasn’t because the US was being “impatient” as you so imply:

“The bombing of Cambodia by the US from 1969 to 1972, left 600,000 civilians dead, millions of refugees, tens-of-thousands dying from disease and starvation, and the Cambodian economy and culture in ruins. Cambodians blamed the US and the puppet regime of Lon Nol for the country’s destruction, and gradually sided with the guerrilla army of the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot, which finally defeated Lon Nol, and took power in April, 1975. Once in power, Pol Pot emptied the cities, forcing the people into the countryside. Virtually all educated people were killed and more than 1.5 million people perished in this “holocaust”. Only when the Khmer Rouge was ousted by Vietnam in 1979, did the terror stop. Washington took steps to preserve the Khmer Rouge as a counter force to the Vietnamese. International relief agencies were pressured by the US to provide food and humanitarian assistance to the Khmer Rouge, which had fled to Thailand, and the US sent military aid as well. In 1982, in an effort to isolate the Vietnamese, the US forced together the three contending anti-Vietnamese groups, insisting that the Khmer Rouge be part of the negotiations. Cambodia continues to suffer from the devastation produced by both the US bombing and the Khmer Rouge atrocities. Pol Pot is considered to still be the power behind the Khmer Rouge, which has a strong presence in Cambodia today, thanks to the US.”

Does any of that ring a bell to you, Mr. Bush? Anybody who would’ve paid attention to their college history classes would know this.

3 weeks ago, I started my first teaching job. From time to time, I’ll share some of the stories from my classroom. I hope to one day keep a set of memoirs on the experience and maybe, just maybe, publish them one day.

Right off the bat – things have been rocky. They’ve been rocky for a lot of reasons but one of the biggest lessons I learned today (and from the past couple weeks) is that the administration will not back you on everything and you are often left fighting battles alone.  You fight students, parents, and the administration all day, everyday. You come home each night and then fight with yourself whether or not you made the right decisions that day. Hindsight is always 20/20, but the only thing that will get you through is knowing you did the best you could at the time and nobody can ask anymore from you.

Education is an interesting thing. It is unlike any other profession out there in the world today. You are in control of other people and you shape their lives. You have the chance to either make or break someone’s future. It’s tedious and stressful but also very rewarding. With all of this said, one would think that the administration and teachers would be on the same page; you are fighting the same battles and are in the same boat together.

But at the end of the day, it is like every other job in the world. The administration has their own set of agendas and you have your own. You do what you can in the classroom and you try to make the right decisions but it gets turned around on you by the administration and you are then perceived as weak by students. You do what you feel is necessary; you are told to treat kids hard and to make them responsible for their actions but when you take those steps – it gets turned on you and you are reprimanded for it.

It doesn’t make sense.

The only thing I want is some support. Not just from teachers – you’ll always have that. Teachers stick together. We’re in the trenches everyday and we know those kids more than anybody in the front office does. Teachers will always support you and your decisions because they know. They know how much of a pain kids can be and how much they can ruin your day. And they know you handle each situation the best you can and why you have to pick your battles.

But I’d like to have some from an administrator, someone who is going to back you in your struggle against both the students, parents, and fellow administrators.

But it seems as though that fight will often be alone and it’s something I’ve gotten used to rather quickly.

Where was this chapter in my college education books, again?

Believe it or not, but the Bush Administration is actually doing something right (gasp!) The hunger problem in this world often goes overlooked and is a complex problem. One of the reasons why there’s such a problem is greed and corruption within NGO’s.

 Overhauling US Food Aid

Now Congress is considering overhauling this system via a Bush administration proposal that would allow 25 percent of food aid to be distributed as cash grants. That move is opposed by shipping companies and agribusiness giants such as Archer Daniels Midland, as you might expect, but also by prominent congressional Democrats and nongovernmental organizations such as Feed the Children and the American Red Cross. Why would these groups be against helping the poor more efficiently? Turns out that when food shipments finally get to where they’re needed, they’re often given to ngos, which turn around and sell them to raise money. In the last three years alone, the groups sold off $500 million of American food aid. (Save the Children has criticized the practice; care has pledged to stop it.)

It’s the fact that, unlike a new teacher from a year ago at the high school, I did not quit on the first day of classes.

whatever happened to this Dick Cheney.

It’s easy to understand and see why people just simply don’t care about what our government does anymore. It’s frustrating and it angers me. But I understand.

You have a presidential administration that has not given an ear to what the people say; they have defied anything that does not fit into their group think. You have both parties who simply do not care about the people enough to make a real, honest change. That’s not to say every politician is like that, but generally speaking – politicians only care about two things: 1) Money and 2) Re-election. Who do we have running for president that is actually honest and will create a real, necessary change for this country?

The two political parties in this country are a lot like pro-wrestlers. It’s all a show. They argue, they’ll fight, and they’ll say nasty things to one another in front of the general public. But at the end of the night, they go home together and pat themselves on the back.
It was different in the 60’s.

You had hope and optimism brought on by the likes of John F. Kennedy and the remnants of World War II. You were inspired to do something and be a part of something very much bigger than you or I. Vietnam was something different and unique. People protested and cared. LBJ and Nixon didn’t listen for a long time, but eventually they gave in.

Who are our political heroes today? Who is inspiring my generation to do more than blog? Who is inspiring the the next generation to join the army? Who is inspiring us to be proud of America and not be embarrassed at times? Who is inspiring us to believe in what this country was founded on?

Despite the fact that the Liberal Movement in the 60’s and 70’s failed and led to what we have today, it’s still something to look back on and remember fondly. Nevermind the hippies. Never mind the STD’s. Never mind the copious amounts of drug use. There was a genuine anger and yet optimism. There was a genuine passion about all things government. People were willing to take a bullet.

And yet. Now we are in the same situation as Vietnam and we as a nation do not have fraction of the anger. Maybe it’s our 9-5 jobs. Maybe it’s us picking up our kids each day after school and trying to feed them and take care of the house. Maybe it’s the lack of information and knowledge held by the general American public because we’d much rather watch American Idol than read Time Magazine. Perhaps it’s just that we’re beaten down by our government and politicians and that we are at the point of, “Do you expect anything less?”

For as true as the phrase, “You get the government you deserve”, it’s also hard to care about a government that doesn’t care about you.

Congratulations, Democrats. You have once again laid down for President Bush and the Republicans. This is the change that was promised by the elections? These are the Democrats that we voted for to change the course of direction in this country?

They’re spineless cowards. And they fear a man with only 28% public favor.

Neither party deserves my support. And they don’t deserve yours either.

The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government’s terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order.

The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. Earlier in the day, President Bush threatened to hold Congress in session into its scheduled summer recess if it did not approve the changes he wanted.

The legislation, which is expected to go before the House today, would expand the government’s authority to intercept without a court order the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States who are communicating with people overseas.

I like to think of myself as a good writer and speaker. But Henry Rollins definitely has a knack for words and can say things that I only wish I could. Here he puts every thought I’ve had on the current state of the country and this administration into one nice little clip.

Watch.

That my friends, is truth.