I can't help but marvel at Obama.  If I were in his shoes I'd probably be in a rubber room by now, freaked out by all the mega-crises heaped on my plate from Day One and the new ones that have popped up since then...exasperated by the bitching and moaning from the Left and the hatred and lies from the Right....and enraged by all the bad actors, domestic and foreign, actively working to defeat me at every turn for their own selfish agendas or just out of spite.  I'd be ready to pull a South Park Cartman and say, 'Screw you guys, I'm going home.'

But Obama seems unfazed by it all.  I can't help but marvel.  This is one cool, smart, and classy customer, and if anyone's up to the frightening tasks at hand, Obama is...no matter what the screaming ninnies of the world say. 

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I don't buy what the critics are saying, I think Obama's playing it smart by staying vague about what he wants in the health care bill.  "Must-have" specifics from the President would just give the Republicans and the special interests something more to target.   They might even mean the kiss of death.  Take the public option -- if it was the "Obamacare Public Option", I think it would be dead by now, because the opposition could have stirred the government-takeover pot even more than they have, with Obama's face on the proposal.  Instead, a public option (in some form or another) seems to be gaining traction as time goes on, bubbling up from various Congressional sources.  My sense is that Team Obama has made a smart decision to not try to lead the parade, at least publicly, until it's really rolling along and nearing the reviewing stand.   Don't lay your cards down until you have to.

And speaking of the existing public option for pre-retirement age folks, i.e., Medicaid and various state versions of it, don't you see a bunch more Americans headed there?   I don't see an end to the continuing losses of high-wage jobs in big corporations and manufacturing due to offshoring/globalization.  If those thrown out of work can find new jobs -- big "if" in many places in the U.S. -- chances are those jobs will pay far, far less, and may or may not come with health care coverage.  Meanwhile we're not nearly out of the home foreclosure woods, and the commercial real estate and consumer credit card default waves are coming.  We're in no position to spend our way out of recession, which will probably mean even more business closures and more job losses.   I don't care how many technical indicators point to recovery, it just doesn't look very good, does it?   I'd say we're on our way to having a lot more poor Americans who are going to get a public option for health care...the hard way. 

Last time things got really bad economically, it took a World War to turn it around.  I don't think we can handle another one, given all the WMDs on the planet these days.   The health care public option will seem small and quaint if we have to weigh the nuclear option.

I know I'm just kind of rambling here, free-associating worries...I'm not trying to a downer, but really, is there a light at the end of the tunnel that you can see?  I want to see one.  Show me the light! 

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An hour before President Obama’s live address to the nation’s K-12 students Tuesday morning, I found out our local school district had decided -- last week -- that the speech would not be shown in any of its K-6, K-8, or middle schools, nor to any High School students not currently taking either American History or American Government.

The school year has been underway since August 17 here in Phoenix’s Deer Valley Unified School District, and several notices have already been sent home with the kids: for school pictures, extra-curricular activities, the inevitable cookie dough fund-raiser, etc. But the DVUSD didn’t see fit to allow or direct its schools to send a note home to all parents informing us ahead of time that it planned to bar most students from hearing the Presidential stay-in-school-and-do-your-best message.

Instead, the district slipped a notice announcing the Presidential snub onto its web site sometime last Thursday.   The notice states that the district would provide advance notice – as in sending a note home, one presumes – but only to the few parents with children at risk for exposure to Obama, i.e., high-school kids taking American History or American Government this semester. This would give these parents a chance to "opt out" from the speech and have their children quarantined in a safe "alternate activity" for as long as it lasted.

Based on comments from a teacher last Wednesday -- before the district acted, as we now know -- my high-schooler hopped out of the mini-van Tuesday morning and headed off to homeroom fully expecting to be watching the President in another hour or so.  Upon returning home from the drop-off, I called my Fifth-Grader’s school office, just to make sure everything was a go on the elementary front. That’s when I found out the DVUSD Administration and Governing Board had decreed that neither of my children would be permitted to hear the President of the United States deliver the speech he prepared for them.  I could read about the decision on-line.

[I’ve cut-and-pasted the DVUSD web site notice below for your viewing displeasure. Read it and weep or shriek. I wanted to do both, and then some.  Sent the perps an email instead.  Also pasted below.]

I note in closing that the DVUSD high school my older child attends plays a recording of The Star Spangled Banner every morning. At the DVUSD K-8 school both my children have attended, the daily morning routine includes closed-circuit TV recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Declaration of Independence, as well as the National Anthem. And yet on Tuesday morning, Sept. 8, 2009, the President of the United States of America was persona non grata in the latter, and mostly persona non grata in the former. The things they teach in school these days, huh?   I’m going to go be depressed now.   Ta-ta from the land of the lost.    --Norm

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https://www.dvusd.org/pages_news_achievements/obama_back_to_school_speech_090309.html

President Barack Obama will address students nationwide on September 8 at 9 a.m.(Arizona time). Deer Valley
School District high school students enrolled in American Government or American History classes may view the
broadcast. Advance notice will be given to parents and an alternate activity provided for students whose parents
choose to opt out of this classroom activity. Students in K-6, K-8, and middle schools will not be viewing the
President’s remarks.

Thoughtful consideration of students, parents, and employees was given in reaching this decision:

• Our primary and ultimate mission is classroom instruction.
• Viewing the President’s remarks should be within the context of curriculum and instruction.
• Traditionally, videos or CD’s and curriculum activities are viewed in advance and approved by the Governing Board.

Parents and children may view the President’s remarks and discuss the work sheet questions together as a family by
viewing the broadcast at www.whitehouse.gov or www.ed.gov.  It is also scheduled to air on CSPAN.
 

Deer Valley Unified School District • 20402 N. 15th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85027 • 623.445.5000

Sept. 8, 2009

To the Deer Valley Unified School District Administration and Governing Board:

We are deeply disappointed that our children were denied the opportunity to watch and listen to President Obama’s live address to America’s schoolchildren this morning. We are bothered greatly by the Deer Valley Unified School District Administration and Governing Board’s decision to snub the President and deprive most DVUSD students of the chance to be a part of such a positive educational experience.

The lack of judgment reflected in the decision is appalling and alarming. Barack Obama is not merely the duly-elected leader of the United States of America, he is a shining example of how far a kid can go and what he or she can achieve armed with an education. Yet you decided that a message from this President to the nation’s K-12 students about working hard and staying in school to achieve success in life was not one that should be heard by any DVUSD K-8 student, nor by any DVUSD high school student not studying American History or Government this semester.

We are stunned you decided not to actively notify all parents of your decision beforehand, choosing instead to slip something onto your web site and only providing advance notice to the few parents whose children were eligible to see and hear the speech, for purpose of "opting out". Where was our opportunity to "opt in"?

You have shortchanged our children and placed the Deer Valley Unified School District squarely in the lunatic fringe camp. You can’t re-create the excitement of a live, nationwide Presidential speech, but you can mitigate your embarrassing and shameful mistake by arranging a district-wide re-broadcast for the intended K-12 audience. We sincerely hope you do so, and soon.

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In the run-up to President Barack Obama’s address later today to American school children, the most insightful explanation of the anti-speech hysteria/paranoia that I heard came from former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, of all people.   I’d never heard much from Santorum during his mercifully-brief time in office that impressed me; mostly, he infuriated me. But there he was on Fox News last Friday night, explaining everything. How delightfully unexpected.

And let me give some credit to Fox News Channel, too. Appropriately enough, I was tuned into FNC after returning home from Barry Goldwater High School here in Phoenix, where I’d watched the BGHS Pride Regiment Marching Band lead the football team to victory in the season opener (A,U,H,2,O – Go Bulldogs!)   There was some unknown-to-me Fox News anchor, another in the endless parade of attractive blondes that FNC trots out, interviewing a mother who was a member of the anti-Obama speech crowd. Far from egging her on, the Fox hostess was politely trying to reel in and otherwise re-root the poor frightened mom in reality, reality being defined as the idea of the President of the United States speaking to schoolchildren is not something that should freak anyone out.

So the fearful mom was excused, and Rick Santorum appeared. The FNC blonde asked him what the Obama speech hullabaloo was all about. Santorum very gently and accurately hit the nail on the head. He said Obama is a polished and very gifted speaker, and some parents are threatened by that.

Bingo, and how very sad.

I remember a time not too long ago, when I couldn’t stand that man in the Oval office. His name was George W. Bush and my feelings were rooted in the many ill-advised, illegal, and otherwise idiotic things he did as President. Bush scoffed at and ignored the 9/11 warning signs, then used 9/11 to blunder us into Iraq.  He squandered the budget surplus he inherited and tax-cut his way to huge deficits.  He whiffed on Katrina.  He held daily Bible study sessions in a White House that should have been schooling itself on the U.S. Constitution, not the Book of Revelation. I could go on.

I shared my extreme dislike of Bush 43 with my children on a regular basis, detailing the many reasons why. And the insult on top of the injury, I would add, is that the guy is an embarrassment to us all -- he can’t even string two coherent sentences together.  I’d have my kids watch and listen to Bush 43 whenever he showed up on TV, to prove my point. He never disappointed.

Contrast that with today’s Obama loathers. What do they have to be so upset about, yet -- what are the outrages? Obama inherited an economic meltdown in the financial and housing markets, and in trying to restore the capitalist kings to their thrones, he’s accused of being a Socialist. He inherited an illegal torture program or two, and in trying to return the U.S. to some kind of lawful place in the world of civilized nations, he’s accused of threatening National Security. He inherited a deteriorating health care universe featuring skyrocketing costs and ever-climbing numbers of uninsured and underinsured citizens, and his attempts to fix the mess are somehow part of an evil plot to have the government run everything in your life. I could go on.

So pity the poor parent who’s freaking out and venting to his or her kids about how scary and dangerous and foolish Obama is. When Obama comes on TV, they change the channel. A few, like that woman in Iowa, just might up and sell their TVs because they can’t stand to watch that man, and he’s always on the box. Either way, the last thing these Obama-hating parents want is for their kids to actually just listen to him, unimpeded. Because far from making their case, that would blow it out of the water. Their kids would see and hear a well-spoken, intelligent man and maybe come away thinking that it’s Daddy and/or Mommy, not the President, who have their heads up their ass.

How much easier it was for parents like me back in the day, but how much worse it was for the country; thank goodness the brains are now in the White House and the idiocy is on the outside. Some people need to stop freaking out long enough to grasp that, both to give the President a chance to help the country, and to preserve whatever credibility they have left with their children.

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What a delightful three-day TV weekend of watching athletes smash balls, not each other, at the U.S. Open Tennis tournament in New York.  Forget the men, it was the women's side of things that rocked.  A game Venus Williams coming up just short against a surprising Kim Clijsters.  And of course match after match featuring the out-of-nowhere 17-year old American kid, Melanie Oudin, a one-girl Eastern Bloc wrecking crew.

She beat Serbian Jelena Jankovic, then Russian Elena Dementieva, the No. 4 seed, and then on Saturday, Oudin took out America's Russian sweetheart, Maria Sharapova, seeded only No. 29 as she comes back from injuries, in a great match.   Sharapova tried to rattle the Georgia teen at a critical point in the deciding third set with a strategically called injury time out, giving Oudin several minutes to think about the game that just got away in high-profile Arthur Ashe Stadium before a national TV audience, and wilt.  It didn't work.  Oudin came back to gut out the next game, and banged her way to victory.  Then Monday, Oudin beat  another Russian star, 13th-seeded Nadia Petrova.  Can she keep on winning and maybe make it an all-U.S. final with the one and only Serena Williams?   Can't wait to find out.   Yes or no, there's more great tennis on tap from Flushing Meadows, where the women in the sexy outfits are the stars hitting the great shots on the court, not sideline props cheering on the juiced-up goons dishing out the cheap shots on the football field.  You go, girls.

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Ban all TV, Radio, and Print media prescription drug advertising.  Instead, restrict it to health care professionals and their publications and make it all research trial- and patient-based.  While we're at it, hike the penalties for bribing doctors with junkets, grants, speaking fees, and cash.
 
Really, why should drug manufacturers be allowed to use Madison Avenue to try to sway you and me?   We’re not talking about cars or beer.  We should get our information and recommendations from medical doctors based on their professional opinions, not from paid actors based on our TV viewing habits.   And these expensive marketing campaigns don't just raise the cost-per-pill, they sometimes lead people to badger doctors literally to death, insisting on that new wonder drug they saw on the TV (Vioxx, anyone?). 

Finally, I think we can agree that we can do without all those annoying and often excruciating TV spots featuring old guys running off to pee, four-hour erection warnings, and glowing endorsements for drugs that "rarely" lead to side effects such as Death.

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1.  Like recently-deceased Liberal Icon and Right-Wing punching bag Ted Kennedy, one or more of the public figures below have struggled with a weight issue and another problem over the years.   Evaluate each choice as the fat or skinny ass-end of this sentence: "Ted Kennedy and alcohol go together like…".   Circle all that are true.

1. Bombastic Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and Oxycontin.
    
2. Caustic Conservative author Ann Coulter and Obnoxycontent.
    
3. Moralistic Conservative radio host Bill Bennett and gambling.
    
4. Evangelical Conservative Fox News Channel host Mike Huckabee and his ego.
    
5. Fox Broadcasting Company cartoon character Homer J. Simpson and donuts.
    
6. Former Republican House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and French Fries.

2.  Following a gathering where alcohol was served, an elected official caused an accident which resulted or could have resulted in the death of another.   He then made himself unavailable for several hours, presumably to sober up prior to submitting to questioning by law enforcement authorities.  This elected official was:

1. Ted Kennedy, Senator from Massachusetts, after driving off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969.
    
2. Dick Cheney, Vice-President of the United States, after shooting someone in Texas in 2006.
    
3. Both A and B.

3.  You know exactly what happened on Chappaquiddick Island on July 19, 1969 because:

1. You were there.
    
2. You just know.
    
3. Rush Limbaugh was there.
    
4. Rush Limbaugh knows everything.

4.  Ted Kennedy "got away with" Chappaquiddick and served another 40 years in the U.S. Senate because:

1. As Washington Times columnist Andrew Breitbart writes this week, "the media didn’t call him on it. The fix was in."
    
2. As Drudge Report editor Andrew Breitbart Tweeted last week, that "special pile of human excrement" was not a "GOP".
    
3. After he pleaded guilty to the legal charges brought against him and received a suspended sentence, Massachusetts voters re-elected him in 1970, and then again in 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000, and 2006.

5.  You're convinced you are a better human being than Ted Kennedy was and you're certain Almighty God will agree come Judgment Day, because:

1. Nobody ever wound up dead any of the times you drove drunk.
    
2. You’ve spent more time trying to help the poor, the sick, and the elderly and comfort the grieving than Ted Kennedy ever did.   Not to mention money.
    
3. Ted Kennedy was a Liberal and God knows, Liberals are the worst.

    

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