Monday Musings...

Welcome to another week, sure to be filled with all kinds of "fun stuff".
The weather (in the Heartland) will see temps rising into the 70s today, and that will pretty much be the standard for the remainder of the entire week.
Like I said in last week's post...sure gonna confuse the hell out of the flowers and other plants that were prepping for the onslaught of colder weather.
Be funny to see the trees bud.
In any event, whatever the weather, let's begin our sojourn into this week with a look at what's happening...
*** Tonight's the night...and no this isn't a tribute to Rod Stewart. I was referring to the last presidential debate.

It could prove to be the most interesting of the lot, because tonight's topic will focus primarily on FOREIGN POLICY.
With recent events in Libya (as well as elsewhere in the middle East), the "discussion" might well be heated at best.

Fox News aired a special with Bret Baier last night (fortunately AFTER AMC's The Walking Dead...lol), that was an in-depth timeline of what happened in Benghazi when our embassy came under attack by terrorists.
I found this to be rather eye-opening, considering that contingencies WERE in place and SHOULD have been in place to allow for the extraction of our people there, should things become volatile...which they did.

Sources say the embassy was "relieved" of it's proper security team prior to the attack, and that only several members of any security team were left at the embassy.
Add to that repeated requests for MORE security leading up to the attack,and you've got some MAJOR holes in a policy that is supposed to PROTECT our people in country.
Here's a link to the video of the special:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/10/19/bret_baier_special_on_libya_death_and_deceit_in_benghazi.html
It IS 41 minutes in length...just so you know.
One thing's for sure...it's damn hard to deny the FACTS...and that's what this administration has been ATTEMPTING to do.
Like I said, the debate (tonight) should be quite enlightening in this regard.
Moving on...
*** And speaking of the "Living" Dead...Fort Wayne had many of it's city leaders doing just that...walking about our downtown on Saturday afternoon and evening, apparently staggering out from behind the Firefighter's Museum (in the parking lot).

Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121021/FEAT/310219919
This is the 5th time the event has been held, in lieu of Fright Night courtesy of the Downtown Improvement District...(undead are an "improvement"? )

People lined up to get a "makeover" into a member of the undead army (WHY would be my question)...

Oh, wait, it really WASN'T city LEADERS...just CITIZENS...must have been a typo...LOL.

They just LOOKED and ACTED LIKE CITY LEADERS when the folks were made over into ZOMBIES...!

(an easy enough mistake to make these days)

I have to admit that too many times, it sure SEEMS like we have a bunch of the "undead" running City Hall, at least when it comes to the state in which the SOUTH side is managed (or would that be MIS-managed?)

Face it, the mayor would LOVE to "put the bite on you"...(read your wallet).
And NO, Wifey wouldn't let me go down there and pracrice my HEAD SHOTS...(spoil-sport...).

I wasn't going to take my REAL gun anyway...just my .43 cal P99 PAINTBALL MARKER pistol.

No, that red dot on your forehead does NOT make you a HINDU...OR signify that the "coffee is done"...just a dead zombie, got it?
*** The local paper had some really off-the-wall stories about our educational system and how things have changed or are changing (and it's not for the better).

This first story link is about the GRADING SYSTEM:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121021/LOCAL04/310219927/1026/LOCAL04
And THIS link is about the new CODE OF CONDUCT:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121021/LOCAL04/310219891/1026/LOCAL04
Now let's begin with the "conduct" code and WHY it needs (?) to be changed...
This new approach is called the: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE POSITIVE INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORT.

(whatta frigging mouthful, hmm?)
Now if you can ascertain what FWCS really means by such jibberish, go the head of the class (and you will graded accordingly).
I think the one word you should all be focused on is the CULTURAL one, because that is setting the tone for education.
And I've stated here numerous times that some people ONLY embrace culture when they can get something for nothing...or get a "free-pass" BECAUSE of that culture.
(And no, it's got nothing to do with picking up some YOPLAIT at the local Krogers)
The aim is to keep the student in the classroom, rather than pursue suspension, unless a certain situation arises that demands it (like attempted murder on another student or teacher?).

The FWCS high school admin, one Faye Williams-Robbins is behind all this "new stuff".
Yeah, if a kid acts up and should be sent to the Principal's office (or the school disciplinarian, as we had in MY day), just give him/her another seating assignment (so they can carry on in another spot in the classroom). Or how about "community-service" inside the school itself?
Well, that would prepare them for picking up trash along the roads in a prison work crew...right?
This (imho) seems to be a way of FORGIVING some bad behavior based SOLELY upon a child's CULTURE (or upbringing, if you will), and that's being a tad discriminatory, don'cha think? In some ways, this even smacks of Obama's "social justice" agenda...on a younger scale, obviously.
Now, about that GRADING system...
THIS "new deal" is intended to reduce unprepared students...
How, you ask?
A FWCS teacher can NO LONGER dock a student's grade for SKIPPING CLASS...or give "extra credit" for canned goods for a food drive or touchdowns scored in Friday's football game.
Now, I don't know about these specific extra-credit gigs (which should never happen to begin with), but ALLOWING a kid who skips class to also SKIP PUNITIVE effects of his/her bad decision?
Yeah, go ahead and say it...

((...WTF???...))
Again, we have Faye Williams-Robbins implementing a system SHE believes will better prepare students for "the real world"...
How the f$ck will that happen if they get a pass for skipping class?
What EXACTLY does that "teach" them..if anything except to SKIP WORK and still expect to GET PAID for doing so?
(which DOES NOT happen in the REAL WORLD...does it, folks?)
Last year, FWCS hired a GRADING expert, one Tim Westerberg, from COLORADO...where they have MORE "medical marijuana" establishments than STARBUCKS (seriously)...a libtard's DREAM state.

So what does THAT tell you about the "direction" that FWCS is heading?
(and yes, FWCS is predominantly left-leaning)
The story states how the grades will be determined (somewhat), and little is mentioned about work HABITS per se.
Guess grading work ETHICS is on holiday there, too.
What gets me is the whole "test anxiety" thing...
WTH is THAT all about?
Sure there's ALWAYS test anxiety...that's why you do something WE used to call S T U D Y !
Anxiety is NOT something just found in school, either.
Life is FULL of anxiety, but the manner that YOU handle it determines your success...OR failure.

And if you feel that no matter how MUCH you study, you're going to fail...then you get a TUTOR, or (God forbid)...ASK QUESTIONS.
What I can't wait to see is how gloriously these "new" systems will crap out, because all that is REALLY needed is a return to the GOOD OLD-FASHIONED method of teaching to ALL the kids...no self-esteem stroking, no mainstreaming kids that should be in other educational venues for their special needs, and none of this "culturally-based" garbage that discriminates in favor of one group.
Funny, we NEVER had such lunacy in the schools when I went...and we graduated MORE kids with HIGHER AVERAGES, and a LOT fewer dropouts...wonder why that was?
*** Lastly today, again, we see evidence of the whole "change for change sake" that the leftists LOVE to shove down our throats.
We NEVER seem to want to review things from our recent past which seemed to work a helluva lot better than anything that's being dreamed up these days. And we did so much with a lot LESS than what goes into our educational system today (with little net results in the positive columns).
Could there be another factor at work here...such as the diminishment of the traditional FAMILY in some parts of our society?
I tend to think so.
When you bounce the grades for minorities and the unemployment rates, the truth comes out.

You have a portion of society held to differing standards, and while that seems "fair" to some, it's unfair to many, especially those in the minority communities.
You USED to have MORE minorities passing, graduating and finding work when they had minority staffed schools teaching those children in minority communities.Then again, you had MORE minority (traditional) FAMILY UNITS.
With a breakdown of civility AND morality, it's little wonder we see even more evidence of our educational system now GRASPING AT STRAWS...(like I mentioned last week).
And it's precipitated by the LEFTIST PROGRESSIVES among us, who would take us down a path we dare not consider...all in the name of fairness.
Thing is, when you substitute THAT equality for what is supposed to be REAL equality, some become MORE EQUAL than others.
And that's something to think about.

Do have yourselves a great week.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE (and educated) out there, America.