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September 23, 2005
Bad News Friday
As a part-time local musician, I know first-hand what it's like to get a gig lined up and then to have the whole event canceled. That has happened to me twice in just the past couple of months. I can't imagine, then, what it must be like to be one of the acts that were expecting to play this year's HarvestFest. I guess the economic news that seemed to be getting more positive in the last few months has been all but overshadowed by these hurricanes and their devastating effects.
NPR said this morning that Hurricane Rita was moving at about nine miles per hour across the Gulf — and that that speed was faster than the fleeing traffic was able to travel. Then we have the news about the bus occupants. Horrifying.
An AP story this morning says that a girl is being expelled from school because her parents are gay. Yes, it's a private school, and they have the right to deny admission to anyone for any [legal] reason, I guess; but the student didn't do anything "wrong." Why punish her? I'll never understand this fear of homosexuality. Do the school administrators somehow think that this student will "infect" others with some kind of "gay virus" that she "carries" from home? Go on, people, shield your young 'uns from even knowing the very simple fact that there are gay persons. Churn out those hyper-sheltered, brainwashed, irrational beings; infiltrate society with mindless sheep you can continually control. And people have problems with illegal immigrants from Mexico. For crying out loud..
..and as the tears flow, don't forget that the United States House of Representatives voted yesterday to allow Head Start programs to practice hiring discrimination based on the applicant's religion. Is there somewhere I can sign up to elect where my tax dollars are NOT spent? Unlike some, I have no problem with paying into the upkeep of society; but when the stewards of my funds then dole them out to organizations that [quite naturally and through no fault of their own, if you think about it] stray from Constitutional principles (disclaimer: I'm not a Constitutional lawyer), then I do have a problem with that. After this vote, I'm inclined to join the hardcore fiscal conservatives and say that we shouldn't be using federal monies for preschool at all.
Now, on this Jesse Register contract thing: why the sudden uproar? Didn't the School Board already vote much earlier in the year that, no matter when Dr. Register left, he would be paid throughout the end of his contract? I'm just not sensing the "smoke-filled room" that others are conjuring. I think they're just finding an excuse to whine about the fact that Dr. Register wasn't immediately marched to the edge of town by an angry mob as soon as he announced his retirement. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken about the prior contract arrangement.
Miscellaneous | By joe lance | 10:07 AM