It's Time

I made my Choice

               This week made up my mind on the upcoming Presidential election. Up to this point, I’ve waffled on who I was going to vote for. It seems that there was little concrete policy displayed that would help to make a decision. The personal attacks, by both candidates, made me continually change my choice, usually against whoever made the last attack.

                The Democratic Convention didn’t do a lot to help me make my choice.  There wasn’t much enthusiasm or passion during the convention.  The speeches were less than inspiring and followed the political rules; they certainly didn’t seem to be part of a change agenda.

                My opinion changed on Thursday night.   Barrack Obama went to the stage as a politician and came off the stage a viable President. Obama went to the stage with an articulate argument for his candidacy and concrete explanations on his plans for his Presidency.  He also stood up to the McCain attacks, and fired back with plans and facts to support his arguments.  I finally felt that he might be ready to lead. With Joe Biden, with his foreign policy credentials for his running mate, he has a partner who has certainly never had a problem saying what he thinks.    He certainly won’t be a yes man.

                Friday morning, John McCain picked his V.P. and that sealed the deal for me. Sarah Palin seems to be a great person.  I applaud her choice to have her son, even knowing the problems that the family would face. She is very popular in Alaska largely, it seems, because of taking on corruption in government. However, a July 2008 poll, by Rassmussen, shows her popularity dropping. There is a lot of corruption in government and I certainly support taking it on, but that attribute alone, is a pretty low standard for picking a V.P.

                People are applauding Palin’s refusal of the money for the “Bridge to No Where “.  But when you dig dipper, you find that the State of Alaska kept the Federal money.  Palin just didn’t want to have the State of Alaska have to pay their part of the bill. Palin’s first political campaign for city council was based upon support for a sales tax increase to improve safety. Palin also worked to pass a tax increase on windfall profits made by the oil companies. These two items hardly seem the credentials of a conservative Republican.

                Palin does have the credentials on social issues. She belongs to the NRA, she is anti-gay, and she is pro life. She has also appointed boards to look into Climate change. She has worked against the Polar Bear being declared an endangered species. She is pro oil and pro drilling. These all are current hot button issues and she makes the Conservatives feel good.

                I guess I’ll be indelicate enough to bring up the biggest point that bothers me. John McCain is 72 years old.  He has had several bouts with cancer and is constantly monitored for outbreaks. The chances of McCain dying in office are magnitudes greater than an Obama death. Should that horrific thing happen, do we all really think that a politician with less than two years as the governor of Alaska is ready to lead our nation?  Do we think that she is ready to deal with foreign leaders?  She has only been out of the U.S.twice in her life.  And those trips only comprised one trip to Irelandand another to Germanyand Iraqto meet Alaskan National Guard members?

                It seems that we need to take a hard look at this choice.

NASCAR, Listen Up!!!

Here comes another guilty pleasure blog. I love NASCAR Racing. Yes, I admit it; they say that’s the first step to getting help. We’ll see.

                Kyle Bush has been labeled as the “Black Hat” this year; he’s the descendant of such great “Black Hats’ as Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt. These were people who would do whatever it took to win a race, they would race so hard that they would wreck or win. As they became veterans, and began to beat the establishment, these racers began to be hated by the fans. The fans felt that they didn’t show the proper respect for the established stars, they’d punt them off the track to get around them, they would fist fight in the pits if they felt wronged, whatever it took. The fans began to love them and root for them, they became fan favorites. People came to the races, just to see what would happen, it was never dull. Those were the “good old days.”

                Today’s NASCAR is a corporate dream, and a fan’s nightmare. The drivers have become corporate spokesmen, and they can’t show any personality, or it may hurt the sponsor’s image. I really believe that part of the reason that Tony Stewart became an owner, was that he was tired of hearing his owner complain about his behavior. Now, he’ll only answer to himself.

                Last week, at Bristol, Kyle Bush, and Carl Edwards had a great battle towards the end of the race, Edwards put the bumper to Kyle towards the end of the race to move him out of the way. After the race, Kyle drove in to the side of Edward’s car; Edwards retaliated, and drove in to the side of Kyle’s car. The fans went wild, ESPN has shown it every 20 minutes since, and I’ll bet attendance and TV ratings will be up his week at California. California has always been a tough sell for NASCAR, I bet the management is loving this controversy.

                NASCAR turned around and fined the drivers and put them on probation. Obviously, warning everyone that they will brook no personality in the sport. They are wondering why attendance, and ratings, are dropping, well here’s a big reason. NASCAR has made the cars interchangeable so that you can no longer cheer for a car that you could buy; now they want to take all personality away from the drivers.

                NASCAR’s history is a little like big time wrestling, the original drivers were moonshine drivers, bad boys who broke the law during the week, and raced on the weekend. They all had biographies that people knew and loved, and people went to see “their” driver. The cars were the same cars that they drove to the tracks; the drivers were accessible, and vocal. It was great, and it became one of the leading sports. Why mess with the formula that got them here.

                I don’t want to see death matches, but what’s wrong with letting the drivers show their competitive spirit? Come on NASCAR lighten up, maybe even have someone write scripts like big time wrestling, Well, that may be a little too far.

GOOD LUCK

Change would be good

Wow, after all the talk about change and mavericks in this Presidential election, it certainly seems to be politics as usual, only more so. What happened to the civil discourse that was promised? What happened to changing the way campaigns are run?Isn't it great that the "Swift Boaters" are giving the Republicans their talking points.

                The biggest issue of the week has been how many houses does McCain own.  Is he so rich he’s never counted, or is he so old that he can’t remember how many he has? The current commercial seems to ask both questions. The competing commercial questions how Obama was able to afford his mansion in Chicago,some say financed by a convicted felon, saying people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. How does any of this stuff advance the decisions on America’s future? Of course, the conservative radio hosts have counted up the number of houses owned by every prominent democrat going back to FDR? Who cares?

                Let’s face it; we’re saddled with two candidates who weren’t the front runners in their respective parties. The public was so hungry for something new that they voted against the status quo, begging for someone to come forward and come up with new ideas that would take the country in a new direction. The public listened to the candidates speak during each of the primaries, and heard soaring speeches filled with the rhetoric of change. As soon as the ink dried on their presumptive wins, the candidates rushed to the center, dropping their rhetoric at the door like overcoats. They can’t admit they’ve changed their minds, so they try to twist the logic, parsing their words to that the new policy seems to be an evolution of the original idea.

Iraq has tired of our occupation and has made plans to toss us out and this has given McCain the win his surge policy needed. We leave with honor as Iraq shows us he door, and closes it behind us. Within 10 years they’ll be wailing about the American devil, and using our oil money to revile us. The only question is what about the 100 year occupation, will they let us stay or not? Of course the next big question is, will McCain take on the conservatives and name a V.P who will help him carry a state, and not someone who meets the conservative litmus test of Pro Life. Will McCain suddenly become aware of economics and come up with a real policy rather than trying to make excuses for the failed policies that have gotten us here.

Obama has lost the centerpiece of his campaign. We’ll be leaving Iraq by the time the next President assumes the office, so what will Obama have to do for the first 16 months of his Presidency, if he’s the one. Of course, he backed away from that too. With naming a Vice-President and having a convention will he have time to make concrete policies to address the real issues of the day, or will he depend on soaring rhetoric to sweep him to the White House.

As I guess you can tell, I’m disgusted by a campaign cycle that I had high hopes would be the start of something different. I guess the world of politics is harder to change than I had hoped. I‘ve gone from hope to despair, it’s another lesser of two evils vote. I’m so tired of this. Now I just heard that Biden is the V.P. choice, wow what a new direction.

GOOD LUCK

Why a Hate Policy?

                It seems that the first reaction when something bad happens in a community is to pass a new ordinance or policy to make that action illegal. Why do we always have this knee jerk reaction to solve a problem? Shouldn’t we step back and look at the factors that led to the problem, review the laws that are already on the books to address the issue, and then review how those laws were used to address the problem?  If we need to, we can then make changes to address the failure. That seems to make more sense than just piling another ordinance on the heap.

                In the case of the recent issues at Rodriquez High School which led to the new Hate Policies, it would seem that civil rights laws and existing policies that the School District already have in place would have been sufficient to have addressed the problems. The real issue is that it takes leadership with the fortitude to address the problem head on and be a force to change the behavior.  It appears to me that this where the District may have fallen short. Everyone is so afraid of being held accountable and possibly sued, that they are very hesitant to step up and do the right thing. Many times the people who should step up don’t because they feel that they won’t be supported by management. That’s wrong.  If we put people on the front lines to enforce our policies, we need to stand behind them when they do the things we ask.

                A recent opinion piece in the newspaper tried to tie this policy in with a laundry list of racial equality issues that seem to have been an issue with the author.  I can hear his heartburn and frustration with the way racial issues are handled in the community today. I think that there is great frustration and distrust on both sides of this issue. I continue to hope that as our civilization evolves there will come a time when rather than lashing out at each other because we fear what the other side says and does, we’ll come to the point where we will understand differences and work to accommodate them.  We need to strive for a system that finds a way to have everyone succeed and excel. The past is past.  To continue to rehash the past 200 years without learning anything or changing anything, isn’t moving the discussion forward. Too many people on both sides continue to point out the differences without acknowledging and building on the things that are being done right. There is a philosophy in management that a good manager needs to find and reward the people doing things right, as well as pointing out the things that need to be changed.

                Let’s stop piling laws, one on top of the other.  Let’s celebrate the people who do the right thing.  And let’s be secure enough to do the right thing, whatever the consequences.

GOOD LUCK

It's Time for School to start

It’s time that the Fairfield Suisun Unified School District and this community decide to undertake a massive shake up in the way that their schools teach. I read the recent test scores for the schools in this District and I’m upset. I’ve been an activist parent for 15 years and for all those years the District has had problems with their test scores. Many teachers and administrators have complained that they think it’s wrong to teach to the test.  Well guess what?  We all have to meet objectives that we may not think are fair, but those are the rules and we need to conform.

I don’t want to make a blanket indictment of all the District’s schools.  There are schools within the District that are doing a good job.  When the school assessments come out, you will see that some succeed and some fail. The only problem is that it seems to consistently be the same schools in the same places on the score cards.  Where is the change?  When will all schools here succeed?

As an education consumer in this District we had to be smart shoppers throughout our children’s careers. We reviewed test scores, talked with parents, talked with administrators, and then decided where to place our children. We then went to the District and refused to accept any school other than the one that we had decided upon.   Others need to be that demanding.   Your children are our future!

Schools are communities. Parents, teachers, children, and administrators all need to work together and make a commitment to excellence. Keep in mind, the expectations of the District and the State are bare minimums of acceptability. For the children to get the proper education, you need to find those people who go above and beyond the minimum. People, who are in education because it is their passion, and not just a job, are the ones that get things done. Go to a Parent-Teacher conference, and you can tell who is trying and who is just going through the motions.

Everyone thinks Charter Schools or vouchers will be the answer.  I don’t believe that is true. I think the way to improve the schools in this, or any District, is for parents to take an active role in their children’s education and accept nothing but the best. My experience is that behind every successful student is a team of parents, teachers, and administrators that are committed to that child’s success. Throwing money at the problem is not the answer either.  It requires a team committed to making sure that the money is spent effectively. Each school site has a Site Committee which gives input on how discretionary funds are spent. These committees go begging for parents that are willing to be part of the solution. PTOs, PTA, and other parent teacher organizations are rarely really a force in the school.  They may do some fundraising, but they rarely take an active role in shaping the school. That needs to change.

One of the most important yardsticks of any community is the quality of their schools. Parents pick a community based on the schools; businesses choose to place their facilities in towns where there are good schools; cultural centers arise where there are good schools with creative students who can support the arts. It’s time that this community step up, say enough is enough, stop whining, and start working together to make the changes that need to be made.

GOOD LUCK

Neighborhood watch

Recently, I attended a Neighborhood Watch meeting for the Fairfield Police Department. I was amazed to see the program that the police started years ago, and recently updated by Chief Rainey. As a long term citizen of Fairfield I wasn’t aware of the depth of commitment by the city and the citizens to reducing crime in Fairfield.

                Neighborhood Watch has been active for a number of years in Fairfield, with the advent of the Internet; the program has been updated so that neighborhood team leaders get monthly crime reports for their area. Now they know what’s going on in their community. The block captains also know the other captains and have email amongst them so that they can communicate and coordinate.

                There is a Crime Free Multi Unit Housing program that has cleaned up issues in the apartment complexes. This is a three phase program of education and certification of apartment managers to clean up problem areas and improve property values. There are a number of properties in the city that have been certified and others that are working towards certification.

                There is also a Quality Neighborhood Team program that is a partnership between the police and the community in problem areas. This program has led to programs such as student education, reading programs and other programs for at risk youth. The police are working with the community and are having an impact.

                Chief Rainey and the City Council have set up a Gang Injunction program that will give the Police the ability to help control gang activity.  This will force the gang activity out of Fairfield. The Council has also recently passed a law to handle the health and safety issues on abandoned properties; they will be holding the bank, which holds the mortgage responsible for keeping the property in shape and safe.

                The Police have set up an Academy where they give citizens a taste of the training that a police candidate faces. This is a nine week course, open to citizens, which allow them to learn about the equipment and policies of the police. The Department also started a junior Academy this year, which has done the same thing for the youth in the community. This is also a starting point for youth who will become cadets with the Department. It also is a way to improve relations between the Department and the youth of the community.

                A concern that was voiced in the meeting concerned what happened to those apprehended under these programs. As you read the newspapers about court cases concerning crimes in our community, we see a reticence to prosecute, as well as a failure to convict in a number of cases. If we are putting all this time, effort and tax money in to cutting crime in the community, the judicial and courts system needs to acknowledge public sentiment and actively prosecute these individuals. If we, as citizens, see that this isn’t happening, we need to realize that judges and prosecutors are elected officials, and answer to the voters on a regular basis. We need to keep score and be sure that the right people are in the right places, doing the will of the electorate. Remember we get the justice we deserve.

GOOD LUCK

MEMO TO THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN

                The Iraq War is coming apart as the centerpiece of your campaign. Maliki and the commanders on the ground, as well as GW, have pretty much cut the ground out from under you on that score. It’s time to fire up the Straight Talk Express 3.0. Here’s the framework for this new campaign.

                John goes before the American people and tells them that the days of $3.00 gas are over. The Americans have had thirty years of warnings of an upcoming energy crisis. The gas lines of the 70’s were the warning salvos, and we slept through them. Now we need to face the music. We need to move forward and we need to conserve at least 20% of our use starting immediately. Businesses need to allow telecommuting and work from home days immediately. Carpools and mass transit use, where practical, are mandated. If you need to be at work, you work 4/10’s. The 20% reduction will increase supply, cut speculation, and reduce prices. Besides who wouldn’t want to work from home once a week?

                We also immediately cut the tax credit for corn ethanol. Let’s face it, it makes no sense to use food to make fuel, when food prices are increasing exponentially. If we are going to use ethanol it must come from non-food products, preferable waste products. That helps with the green vote

                We need to realize that we need to balance the possibilities of environmental issues versus the needs of the economy, and both need to be heeded. Nuclear power has never led to a death in the U.S and we need to start building nuclear power plants to provide the electricity that we need. The government needs to streamline the permit process so that the plans can be reviewed and the plants started. The government needs to insure the catastrophic liabilities of nuclear power so that investors are willing to put up their money to build these plants. We need to build a storage facility for nuclear waste and then work to reprocess the waste. On drilling, we need to start drilling wherever we can find oil and hold the oil companies responsible for the environment. If the oil companies try to sell the oil on the open market we need to let them know we are willing to nationalize the oil, as it is a National Security asset. They can work with us, or they can let us take over.

                We need to stop giving no bid contracts to Halliburton for wars! We need to give no bid contracts to the Universities of the U.S. to develop solar, wind, and tide technologies that are economically feasible. We then take these patents and sell them to companies to build these systems. We explain to foreign countries that we are going to have to tighten our belts for a few years, and we’re going to spend our foreign aid in this country for a while. Once our economy is back on track we’re going to then start spending in the world; right now we just can’t afford them.

We need to take the NAFTA agreement and expand that to energy. We need to form an OPEC of the Americas, that takes all forms of energy as a package and uses this to help raise the economy of Central and South America by taking this high tech south of the border for production and implementation in the huge areas that have no population, with the high tech designers, brain power and money coming from the North. The Southern economies are thus invigorated; there are good paying jobs and no reason for people to stream across the border for work. Immigration is solved. The Americas have plenty of energy assets and can take on OPEC as an equal.

                The final part of the straight talk is that all of this will take 10-12 years to bear fruit, so we need to elect McCain for three uninterrupted terms where he doesn’t have to spend his time worrying about reelection.                There it is guys; feel free to use it. I certainly believe this will raise McCain’s profile in the media. I’m willing to sign on as a consultant for the right price.

GOOD LUCK