Random ramblings from February
I got a disturbing email this morning. A friend from high school sent out a mass email asking us to pray for her best friend who Is recovering in the hospital today, a victim of domestic violence. The best friend is an acquaintance of mine. I would hesitate to call her a friend since I haven’t had contact with her since our 10 year high school reunion 10 years ago. Prior to that, I hadn’t seen her since we were in our junior or senior year of high school, so it would be hard to call her my friend as well. The links to the two stories are here: http://www.riograndesun.com/articles/2010/02/18/news/doc4b7c46ea6f84a714742537.txt Rio Grande Sun
http://www.koat.com/news/22586611/detail.html KOAT Channel 7
The domestic violence thing is what bothers me. Both my wife and my sister have been victims of domestic violence. I have no doubt that there was a history, however subtle, of domestic issues for this acquaintance and I’m sorry that for whatever reason she wasn’t able to leave. My hope is this woman recovers and is able to move on with her life. I would ask that you offer prayers to a god I’m not on the best of terms with on her behalf.
On another topic, I’d like to rant a little about politics. We live in a great country that is currently being hamstrung by it’s political system. Regardless of political affiliation, it should be obvious that we have a problem and it needs to be fixed. Too many decisions are being held up for the simple reason that “the other party” introduced the idea. It’s no wonder that the world looks at us with disdain, we can’t seem to accomplish anything without subjecting it to some ridiculous political shenanigans.
Two things I would like to encourage all of you out there to do:
1) Get acquainted with the issues. Take the time to actually read both sides of the argument and fact check what you hear. Don’t waste time just listening to some talking head like Glenn Beck or Arianna Huffington, unless you’re willing to research what they are telling you and see if it’s actually factual or just their spin on it. We live in a world where this kind of fact checking is easy, take the opportunity to find out the truth instead of just drinking the Kool-Aid provided by people trying to sell themselves.
2) Get out and vote. Prove to your senators and representatives that they work for us, the people of the United States. There is no accountability in the capitol these days and it needs to change. The best change may come by getting the career politicians who will only tell you what they think you want to hear, yet don't actually do anything.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Random rants
So it's been almost 2 years and I have a lot to rant about right now.
I just finished reading "This Book is Overdue. How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All" by Marilyn Johnson. I highly recommend this book to anyone in the library profession or anyone who wants to get a better idea of the kind of people who work in libraries. Good stuff including the notes which indicates that a librarian who worked for the famous New York Public Library managing the Bronx branch left because of the pay. It's unfortunate that in the most expensive city in the world a Master's degree holding librarian was making less than $35,000 a year. This is especially galling when there were people in her system making mid to high 6 figure salaries. When the economy picks up it may be the libraries that start to suffer the most because librarians are like any other employee - we want to be paid commisserate with our skill set. It's a small wonder there is such great competition in Florida for the academic librarian positions given the low salaries for public library positions which require an M.A. It's not like getting an M.A. in Information Studies costs any less than getting an equivilent degree in Computer Science, Business or any other field.
Point number 2: The absurd continuing arguements about high-speed rail. A person commenting on a recent article about the stimulus money spent on high-speed rail in Florida indicated that not enough people commute between Tampa and Orlando to justify the expense. Data from the state department of transportation estimated that the average annual daily traffic leaving Tampa going into Polk County was ~80,580 units and it rose to 148, 000 units by the time it reached the Central Florida Parkway. Those numbers came from the year 2000 and it was expected to grow to 141,326 and 186,695 by the year 2020. Despite the current downturn, it should be expected that with a robust economy those numbers may be on the conservative side. To claim that not enough commute was typical of someone who failed to do any research into the matter. In addition, the creation of a high-speed rail corridor would create jobs and reduce pollution and automobile emmissions.
Point 3: To those people who are complaining that the democrats haven't done anything to help the economy. It's going to take time to fix problems that are 8 to 20 years in the making. Many of the seeds of the current economic recession can be dated back to the 1980s and a president named Ronald Reagan. Keep in mind that the ancient Greeks discovered that "trickle down" economics was a fallacy because people are greedy. Cutting taxes on people with high incomes does not create jobs, it just ensures the rich will continue to make more money.
Point 3a: Quit complaining about the spending of stimulus money - President Bush signed the initial bill with Republican support and that money was mostly spent to ensure that overpaid bankers got bonus checks.
Point 4: No Child left behind is a disaster. Teachers are no longer allowed to "teach" but they are required to spend only set amounts of time on too many subjects and give homework to kids who are not ready to handle the responsibility. Teachers no longer have "teachable moments" explaining questions to children when the child has an inquiry because they don't have the time. There is no flexibility in the classroom. You will teach math for 30 minutes, then 40 minutes of English, take the kids to resource (music- if available -, P.E., Library, etc.) It's no wonder there is a shortage of good teachers - they don't get to "teach" and they don't get paid worth a darn either. If they really want to fix education, focus on the basic skills - Math, Reading, and Writing - and raise the minimum standards and pay for teachers to a reasonable amount.
I just finished reading "This Book is Overdue. How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All" by Marilyn Johnson. I highly recommend this book to anyone in the library profession or anyone who wants to get a better idea of the kind of people who work in libraries. Good stuff including the notes which indicates that a librarian who worked for the famous New York Public Library managing the Bronx branch left because of the pay. It's unfortunate that in the most expensive city in the world a Master's degree holding librarian was making less than $35,000 a year. This is especially galling when there were people in her system making mid to high 6 figure salaries. When the economy picks up it may be the libraries that start to suffer the most because librarians are like any other employee - we want to be paid commisserate with our skill set. It's a small wonder there is such great competition in Florida for the academic librarian positions given the low salaries for public library positions which require an M.A. It's not like getting an M.A. in Information Studies costs any less than getting an equivilent degree in Computer Science, Business or any other field.
Point number 2: The absurd continuing arguements about high-speed rail. A person commenting on a recent article about the stimulus money spent on high-speed rail in Florida indicated that not enough people commute between Tampa and Orlando to justify the expense. Data from the state department of transportation estimated that the average annual daily traffic leaving Tampa going into Polk County was ~80,580 units and it rose to 148, 000 units by the time it reached the Central Florida Parkway. Those numbers came from the year 2000 and it was expected to grow to 141,326 and 186,695 by the year 2020. Despite the current downturn, it should be expected that with a robust economy those numbers may be on the conservative side. To claim that not enough commute was typical of someone who failed to do any research into the matter. In addition, the creation of a high-speed rail corridor would create jobs and reduce pollution and automobile emmissions.
Point 3: To those people who are complaining that the democrats haven't done anything to help the economy. It's going to take time to fix problems that are 8 to 20 years in the making. Many of the seeds of the current economic recession can be dated back to the 1980s and a president named Ronald Reagan. Keep in mind that the ancient Greeks discovered that "trickle down" economics was a fallacy because people are greedy. Cutting taxes on people with high incomes does not create jobs, it just ensures the rich will continue to make more money.
Point 3a: Quit complaining about the spending of stimulus money - President Bush signed the initial bill with Republican support and that money was mostly spent to ensure that overpaid bankers got bonus checks.
Point 4: No Child left behind is a disaster. Teachers are no longer allowed to "teach" but they are required to spend only set amounts of time on too many subjects and give homework to kids who are not ready to handle the responsibility. Teachers no longer have "teachable moments" explaining questions to children when the child has an inquiry because they don't have the time. There is no flexibility in the classroom. You will teach math for 30 minutes, then 40 minutes of English, take the kids to resource (music- if available -, P.E., Library, etc.) It's no wonder there is a shortage of good teachers - they don't get to "teach" and they don't get paid worth a darn either. If they really want to fix education, focus on the basic skills - Math, Reading, and Writing - and raise the minimum standards and pay for teachers to a reasonable amount.
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