RuOK?

On a Facebook thread with teacher extraordinaire Sandy Simonis (retired) and the discussion noting her “teacher language” veered to reading and a debate between sight reading and phonics. No expertise so I won’t comment other than to point to the link that seems a legit educational source. Suffice it that sight reading is learning to recognize the words.

Sandy sagely suggests reading to your child. Reading to yourself to show reading is a valuable activity. Turn of the electronics.

Then the subject turned from reading to spelling. One of Sandy’s friends wrote that she’s aghast at papers from students rife with spellings that look like stunted texting notes.

Spelling is both tyranny and freedom: Tyranny to be precise and freedom to communicate. And, I think Sandy’s right that great teaching begins with mom and dad.

(Boy, I hope the spell checker worked on this post!)

Imagine if you will that you have been harmed by another person; say a rear-end accident.

You were stopped innocently at a red light when it happened. Boom.

But, instead of having to sue and go to court and wait to be compensated, a settlement is reached.

That is the course of law today, every day, in which settling and avoiding court does no damage to our legal system.

But, by some strained reasoning, by recognizing its egregious failures and agreeing to a settlement quickly, BP is being “shaken down.” This talking point was dropped into the blogsosphere by Republican leadership (no, not just Rep. Barton but the Republican Study Committee and despite contradictions from Republican leaders Boehner and Cantor) where the delusional chant it mindlessly. The shakedown chant feeds the frenzied tea party over government “taking” and thus provides some sort of stretched validation of the “socialisms” threatening our nation.

Perhaps, it’s just a settlement. One party agreeing it was at fault and providing compensation.

Words are nutrition. Each day I receive a word of the day from wordsmith.org. Today’s was “asseverate,” which I’m cautious of using because it could easily go very wrong.

But, tagging along with “asseverate” was the following quote from Terry Tempest Williams:

This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, argue, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. To seek: to embrace the questions, be wary of answers.

The thought of being an active verb compels.  I like the last  phrase, as too many answers, particularly in political speech today, are too easy, too sharply reduced to the black and white. Easy answers should always be suspect.

But let’s have a little fun with this:

If you “want to participate,” I’m not sure I understand how denying debate works.

If you want transparency, I’m not sure how “secret negotiations” works.

The Republican tactics today baffle me. Secret negotiations likely translates to “what the lobbyists tell us to do.”

Americans widely want tighter regulations on Wall Street and the megabanks. Getting it doesn’t seem likely. Simon Johnson, co-author of 13 Bankers, writes today about Sen. Dodd’s maneuverings that favor Wall Street’s lobbyists.

So, now I have Johnson’s book in my hands. If the story is half the deceit, greed and fraud of Michael Lewis’ The Big Short then I’m in for another deep round of pissed off this weekend.

But, I think that’s what we need: pissed off folk. Not Tea Party misled pissed off. Pissed off and focused on breaking the bankers’ grip on our economy.

Dear Doctor,

I went into Village Hall yesterday to apply for a zoning variance to raise chickens so I could afford the cosmetic surgery like Sue Lowden’s I need and they just laughed. What should I do now? Do you take dandelion wine?

Signed,

Sagging Chin(s)

This bit of unintentional fun is brought to you by the good advertising folks at HuffPo.

A new voice for Geico?

What I like most about the web it the ability to provide content specific advertising that, in this case, is out of context. Many of the comments heap scorn on Geico, though I don’t fault the company’s actions. What Douglas (aka Lance Baxter) did was stupid, as he admits, and Geico is correct in distancing itself.

Frankly, what bothers me most is that FreedomWorks, which received D.C.Douglas’ call privately, elected to make it public, including releasing Douglas’ home phone number and inviting its members to complain directly.

FreedomWorks Matt Kibbe has the gall to then complain about hate speech, noting a 9/11 bomb threat to Freedomworks he said media ignored, and to call for civil discourse. Was releasing Douglas’ home phone number civil? No.

No word yet from Douglas on the temper of those complaints Kibbie spurred on.

Amazing creativity and well past time for a little fun. Trip on over to Vimeo and enjoy more.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7146136&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Battle of Branchage from seeper on Vimeo.

Are you disaffected because hope didn’t come true with the wave of a hand? If you drop out of the political process, what happens?

Those tea party mobs win. Those who obstruct win. Those sophists who lie win.

Hope endures only if you persist in its pursuit.