Freedom Lost a Champion and Friend

Mary Travers, sexy symbol of folk music and tireless conscience of civil and human rights finally lost her heroic battle against cancer. The outspoken, harmonic champion of justice, freedom and love between our brothers and sisters died at the age of 72. Never flagging in her zeal for righteous causes, she had sung against Apartheid in Africa, the War in Vietnam, worker exploitation from coal mines to tomato fields and hatred around the globe.
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Mary joined Peter and Paul at the dawn of the 60’s. “Blowin’ In the Wind”, “If I had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” engraved their permanent spot in the American folk tradition as early as 1962/63. Forty years later they were still on the cutting edge with “Have You Been to Jail for Justice”, “Jesus on the Wire” and “Don’t Laugh at Me.” Perhaps their best know song, “Puff the Magic Dragon” that was a classic triple entendre which told of a little boy and a dragon, innocent imagination or smoking a ‘doobie.’ (Take your pick.)
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The group’s artistic genius was displayed by the immense variety in their musical message. Humor, folktales, moral stories, funny sing-a-longs, seasonal classics and themes of protest were all within their 20 album repertoire. Few groups have had had the ability to elicit rapt attention, anger, motivation, laughter and tears – sometimes all within a single album.
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Mary Travers, who spoke the least of the three on stage, was still sharp with her wit, and definitely the one who took center stage in the eye of the camera and audience. (She was even the role model for Jim Henson’s blond singer in his Muppet’s Band.) Personally close to each other, PP&M’s chemistry permeated the stage, their public protests and most of all, their music.
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I shall never forget the concert I attended in Tulsa’s Brady Theatre. Packed with hippies, used-to-be-hippies, three piece suits, moms, dads, grandparents and the curious we recalled dreams of the past and were rekindled in our commitment that that dream must never die. We stood with tear-streaked faces and raised our hands in honor as we joined in a spiritual pledge that we would remain true to “the hammer of justice, the bell of freedom and song of love between our brothers and sisters – all over this land!”
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God bless you Mary Travers. I celebrate your life. I weep at your passing. I laugh at your smiles. I promise I will never let the dream die!

Carpenter Socialism - Not Then! Not Now!

Some years ago, a Jewish carpenter quit his job, lived off handouts and spread a socialistic concept condemning his society for turning its back on God by refusing to care for poor and needy. He quoted Jewish reformers who had also condemned THEIR societies for refusing to care for the orphan, widow, needy, and the aliens who live among them. This un-employed Jewish socialist even told people to PAY THEIR TAXES”!!!!!!!!!! If that wasn’t enough, he went so far as to tell a man who wanted to do God’s will to “sell his goods and give to the poor!!!!!” That was a 100% tax!!! Thankfully, man was a good conservative anti-socialist and he refused to follow such folly. He’d worked hard and it was time to say an emphatic, “Drop dead!” to that socialistic invasion of his private property.
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Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the general public outcry rose up and they pressured the government to nail that Nazi-Before-His-Time to a tree. None of that socialism! Just as past generations had ignored such ridiculousness before him, they ignored this jobless socialist.
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Thank God there are so many again today who have not been duped by this unemployed Nazi socialist and his ideas. They don’t want the hand of the poor in their pockets taking their hard earned money. Like the crowd screamed at the dying Carpenter, if you can do what you claim, do it yourself!! We want a better life than your offering. Let the ppor bury the poor.
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May the do-gooders who push this socialistic agenda of helping the poor, the widow, the orphan and the alien among us be as ignored today as that unemployed, free-loading, socialistic, Nazi, son of an unwed mother (Where’s His birth certificate!!) was then.

Wanted: Blubbering Hystero-Moms

Hey! Where did the Blubbo-Muthers go? You know, the ones who boo-hoo'd their globby pasty eyes all over the TV cameras, terrified that their little babes were going to be brainwashed by the President. Taking a break from the right-wing dung-slinging purveyors of irrational hate and paranoia, they blubbered on about brainwashing, indoctrination and socialistic mind-control. But now they are as gone as a “fred” in the wind and harder to locate than a rational though on Limbaugh and Hannity.
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Well, whether they have run into the woods, crawled back under their rock or just retired to the basement of their intellectual outhouse, they’ll be back like a resurgence of the swine flu. Don’t waste breath telling them that Reagan and Bush did the same thing, they’re much too smart to be confused by the facts.
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Little do they realize how little danger they’re in. Ya gotta have a brain to get brainwashed.

Just about the time TPS does something well, it goes through an orgiastic reflex and shoots itself in the foot. For years Jack Arnold and Bob Currington labored over a Code of Student Conduct. The Code was concise, ultimately clear and best of all, was consistent while providing individual flexibility.
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Every year several Board members complained that the Code was not consistent enough. There were different consequences in different schools for the same offense. Well, they fixed it alright, with a typical Board solution. NO consequences!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The new Discipline Response Plan (DRP or better described DRIP) is a comic masterpiece that could be sold on late night cable TV as Acronyms Gone Wild. T.R.A.I.C.E Satellite, T.R.A.I.C.E. Academy, DRC they threw in everything but an IUD and STD.
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The clear consequence categories have been replaced with a confusing mish-mash of confused contradictions, shrouded in vague generalities, wrapped in smoke and mirrors. Clear consequences have been replaced by a nauseas glut of bookish jargon called Tier I, Tier II, Tire III and Tier IV, guaranteed to bring uncountable tears to anyone who is actually IN a school and is actually WORKING WITH STUDENTS! Clear consequences have been replaced and unworkable maze and endless list of time prohibitive activities that would require an entire staff of counselors for every referred student. Clear consequences have been removed and replaced with unworkable demands that require hours of additional paperwork.
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Specific scenario: 14 year old Johnny grabs Suzy’s breast in class. Suzy is humiliated and in tears. It is no longer a sexual offense!!!!!!!!!!!! Instead, we have a teacher conference with Johnny to inform him this is not an expected behavior or we have a team meeting to be sure Johnny understands the Life Skills or we set up a parent conference (if the parent cares to attend), or we review Steve Covey's Seven ........WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!!!!!!!!!! What idiot removed this sexual offense from the list of sexual offenses!!!!!!!! If I MY child was sexually abused at the hands of another student who had been reminded of his Life Skills the last time he sexually abused a classmate, I'd sue Tulsa Public Schools for every dollar I could get. AND I WILL RECOMMEND THE SAME TO ANY PARENT TO WHOM IT THIS HAPPENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Specific Incident: A principal called me to say that at a recent principal's meeting, the presenter of the ridiculous Discipline Response Plan refused to answer the question of what specific consequences should happen to two students who have a fight. This Discipline Response Plan is NO Discipline, with NO Response and has NO plan!!!!
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Dr. Ballard said, and I believe he was sincere, that misbehavior would not be tolerated. This NO Discipline Response Plan assures the failure of Dr. Ballard's pledge to teachers. Lounge talk has it that high school principals are trying to respond with some common sense. Let’s pray, for the sake of every student, teacher and administrator that this is true and that they are successful.

A Few Thoughts from the First Dog


It’s a dog’s life was surely penned by some mongrel mutt, sniffing the butt of a registered poodle in the park or a yellow cur leaving a relic on the courthouse lawn. When you’re a Heinz 57 no one has expectations of you, cares about you or pays any attention to you. You can tear holes in the neighbors trash bag and dine on week old delicacies and when you’re done, roll contentedly in a pile left from the mutt three doors down. No one cares if your name is “Square”, “Pooter”, “Barfie” or “Dammit”.
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But when you’re the damn First Dog with a pedigree longer than most Ivy League college Presidents and have an address of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s a lousy life. I couldn’t even get a dog’s name. Any dog across the street with the name of “Bo” is named “Bo” because “Bo” is “Bo”. Period! I’m named “Bo” because of some family great uncle “Diddlie”. Well, hey, that bites! If I was a mutt, enjoying the real dog’s life they’d name me after great Uncle Barney who was the town “alkie” and name me “Moonshine” or “Boozer”.
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I can’t even take crap without being chained to a Secret Service agent, spied on by twelve security cameras and followed by twenty two reporters. You try take a crap with an audience of millions and see if you smile about a dog’s life! When I’m done they don’t let me sniff it or roll in it. I’m lucky if I even get a chance to scratch around it.
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Then, they send me to obedience school. Hell, I was born with better behaviors than Chris Medlock, Sally Kern or Anna Falling. I’m groomed more often than Tom Colburn, combed better than Newt Gingrich and shampooed more often than Jim Inhofe. God knows I smell better than Sean Hannity and unlike Rush Limbaugh, have never been a drug addict.
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And this is a dog’s life? I want to hike my leg on the FOX News van, howl at James Dobson and everyone knows Sarah Palin still needs a good bite in the ass (but I know she’d bite me back.) But no, they chain me to the Secret Service agent, I wag my tail and run in a prescribed path. I have to pose for the cameras, posture for the media and God help me if I just once broke away and buried a bone in the White House Rose Garden. I’d probably find one of Dubya’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.
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Neutered at six months and house broken. It’s not like I shot my best friend on a hunting trip or tried to sell a Senatorial seat. Why weren’t THEY neutered?!?! And as for house broken, I hear Representative Sullivan from Oklahoma isn’t doing so good in that category? I’m sorry but this “dog’s life” thing is lost on me. Let me dig for a while a find the liberties buried by Dubya or the integrity buried by Mark Sanford. (Now there’s one to neuter!) I want to run on the Mall with Republican dogs, Democrat dogs and Ralph Nader. I want to eat an Easter egg, dig up tomatoes in the Presidential garden and go to Oklahoma to bite Randy Brogdon.
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But I aim to get them back. You think it raised some eyebrows when Michelle patted the Queen on her back. Just wait til the old lady visits the White House. I’ll be the only one on this side of “The Big Pond” who has ever looked up the Queen Mother’s skirt. And I won’t tell any of you if she’s really the queen or a king in drag.

Look Who's Running

for

State Supt. of Education

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The rumor mills are cranking out possible GOP candidates for State Supt. of Education as the righteous party of discarded ideas seeks to reclaim Oklahoma education from the liberal dark side of godless sinners, homosexuals and other American-hating Democrats.

1. Sally Kern, America's favorite pick to term limit out of the human race would naturally have every student supplied with a handgun, require every student to take a class on how to identify homosexuals and grant a graduation diploma in exchange for their signature on her God Bless Evangelical Christian Fundamentalist Pledge. No need for any text books other than the King James Version of the Bible (with the dirty parts in Esther, Genesis, and Song of Solomon removed.)
2. Jim Inhofe, leading proponent of the deportation of all scientists, has a plan to reduce education expenditures by millions through the elimination of science from all school curriculum. Reading texts will be supplied by the John Birch Society and history curriculum by the National Rifle Association. High school seniors who score well on final exams will be taken on fun-in-the-sun swimming outings on the growing hot springs at what used to be the Polar Ice Cap.
3. Sarah Palin, another GOP money-saver could return big bucks to the State's coffers by resigning half-way into her term citing the reason that she did not want to be a lame-brain, er... duck, er duck-brain, oh, quack. Yes, quack and that brings us right back to Sarah Six-Pack. Her sex education program could consist of a 17 second commercial at the end of the morning prayer over the school intercom. "Amen. Just say, No. And only sleep with your partner in your mother's house where you won't have sex, but if you get pregnant, we'll call it an Immaculate Deception and tell everyone how much in love you are and are going to get married until AFTER the election." Students would be home schooled and when asked questions on a state examinations, taught to avoid answering them and just saying the questions were just proof that the tests were given to humiliate them in front of the liberal media.
4. Ginger Tenney, biggest savings ever to the state. Rewrite the state constitution to allow every district superintendent to own teachers as chattel property, eliminate all healthcare and benefits, force teachers to live in school buildings, bunk in locker rooms and be given food stamps and WalMart coupons instead of salaries. She will stand staunchly for teacher rights (the right to serve without pay, the right to return to the 80 hour work week, the right to relinquish all responsibility for or time spent with their families.) Having written the book on speaking out of both sides of your mouth, she will save additional state dollars by being able to speak to several groups at one time.

Democrats could not be contacted for comment as they were too busy trying to figure out how, with such a field of opponents, to let this golden opportunity slip through their fingers.

Cheerleading...Yea, Right!

Cheer "Leading" ?

Back in the day when I dressed in my slacks and button-down shirt and attended the football game with Horace Mann and Red Grange, there were uniformed classmates who stood on the sidelines with megaphones to lead the fans in organized cheers. They pepped us up for the action on the field, they knew the score of the game, what cheer to call and it correlated with the progress of the contest.

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Push 'em back, Push 'em back. Waaaaaaaaaaaay back. (We were on defense.)

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Through that line. Through that line. (We were on offense.)

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Hi-dee, hi-dee, hi-dee hi. Ho-dee, ho-dee, ho-dee ho. We're the gang from Wheaton. And we're ready to go. Now Glenbard is rough and Glenbard is tough. They can beat anybody, but they can't beat us. (Before the game has started.)

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Lean to the left. (And we would)

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Now cheerleading has as much to do with leading cheers as an "Escourt Service" does with escourting. Cheerleading in a multi-gabillion dollar industry aimed at who can perform the wildest gymnastics possible while showing as much of little girl's breasts and crotch as possible. Cheerleaders have no idea what the score (of the game) is, they throw pom-poms around like the Paris Follies Bergere and put on a perfomance to music that has no more to do with the athletic contest than virgin has to do with Virgin Islands. High school cheerleaders are racking up injuries equal to the football players and their folks are spending enough money to pull third world countries out of our current recession. It's not their fault, it's what the market wants.

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I'm not advocating that we change what the current cheerleaders do. Ain't no one this side of the Pearly Gates gonna do that. I'm not sure anyone the OTHER side of the Pearly Gates can do that. But I do suggest we change the lable to more aptly fit the activity. Let's just call them the rich-assed little titty-boom gymnastic exhibitionists and then start a new thing where uniformed and covered students lead the spectators in cheers to pep up the fans in the stands and the team on the field.