Politics
Scenes From The Dallas Palin Protest
Protesting Palin
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On October 3rd The Shmata Queen is going to revisit one of our favorite hotels in Dallas, the Fairmont. Only instead of enjoying an amazing visit with your’s truly she is going to do her civic duty to protest the overwhelmingly underqualified Sarah Palin.
Here are the details for those who are interested in joining us.
Date: October 3
Time: 11 A.M.
Place: 1717 N. Akard Street across from the Fairmont Hotel.
Stay tuned for pictures of the protest.
Is Your Life Better Now Than….
I am troubled by the presidential election. I don’t particularly like any of the candidates very much. And it is fair to say that I really dislike Palin. The more I see the more distasteful she becomes. Her inclusion on the McCain ticket just makes me shake my head.
It makes me want to grab John and ask him when he lost touch with reality. If you stop and listen for a moment you’ll notice that about one third of the 17 long term readers are gasping for air in disbelief as they never thought that they’d hear me say anything like that. Another third are cheering wildly, so much so that I can ask for all sorts of interesting favors. And then the third and fourth thirds….
Gotcha Shmata Queen, you can calm down now, I know that there aren’t four thirds in a whole. But don’t forget that I figured out a long time ago how to stuff a hole full of all sorts of really fun stuff, but I digress.
If you’ll pardon me for the stupid inside humor we’ll move on to the meat of the post. In a recent discussion with my son I spent a chunk of time trying to explain how to make an informed decision about who to vote for and why. Since he is only in second grade I tried to make it a very basic explanation.
I told him that when we evaluate the performance of our leaders we need to ask ourselves if our lives are better now than they were four years ago. Now to be clear when he gets older we’ll go into greater depth about how some events have a genesis that preceded the administration. But that is too much for him right now, he doesn’t need to know how to build a watch, just how to tell the time.
But as long as you are asking I have to say that I can’t say unequivocally that my life is better now than it was four years ago, or even eight years ago. In truth it is a hard question to answer because there are a number of factors that can sway it in either direction.
Since it is almost midnight I’ll take the path of least resistance and say that it is not as good as it was. From a financial standpoint it is far more challenging. My income has taken a dramatic hit and every month is a struggle. Ok, I can’t really go this route without adding a couple of comments.
My income is down from what it was, but even if it had stayed the same it would be harder. Now I have children in private school, back then I did not. My expenses have increased so if I am going to conduct a real analysis I should probably take that into consideration.
Back then I didn’t own a home, but I do now. And even though it has taken a hit,it is still worth more than when I purchased it. So I suppose that you could call that a mitigating factor.
From a career standpoint things have changed somewhat. I have taken on a couple of ventures that conceivably could yield exceptional rewards. So in theory if they pan out I’ll turn around and view this timeframe quite differently.
So where does that place this question of whether life is better now than it was. Good question. My gut response is that life is challenging no matter what is going on. If you quadrupled my income some things would become very easy, but I’d still have some serious concerns about what is going on.
I guess that what I am saying is that even though I feel like things are good, from a global perspective I am less optimistic and less confident. I am not a rah-rah kind of guy. I don’t care if the world likes us or hates us. But I do care about having confidence in our leadership and right now I just don’t.
So the answer is that I felt better when Clinton left office than I do right now.
Palin Versus Biden
The debate went pretty much the way that I expected it to. Palin refused to answer most questions and did everything she could to stay close to her comfort zone and talking points.
Biden had far more substance and was solid, not amazing, but solid. In the end I do not anticipate that this night changed too many minds. At best it reinforced the beliefs that people already held. If you disliked Palin it just proved that she is a vapid, empty and inexperienced cheerleader for McCain.
Private School Woes
It is a hair shy of 90 degrees outside, unless you are working inside your garage as I am. In that case you can add another 12 degrees or so. In any case I have chosen to take a short break from decluttering so that I can come and share a thought or two.
Not unlike so many others my children are enrolled in private school. Each year I look at my bank accounts and I wonder how long I can keep this up for. Each year I say that I am going to spend more time exploring options for a less expensive option and each year I somehow manage to keep them in the school.
If it sounds like a bundle of contradictory gobbledy-gook that is because it is. If you ask me to create a list of what I consider to be the most important elements of raising my children it is going to be simple and look something like this:
1) Health
2) Education
3) Love
4) Character
It should be noted that this is intentionally a simple list that could easily be expanded and elaborated upon. But for the purpose of this post it will suffice as currently constructed.
I am a product of public schools. I believe that a public school education is important and that when done right is exceptionally valuable. But the obvious problem for me is that my local public school isn’t up to snuff. It just isn’t good enough.
And there really aren’t a lot of good alternatives. It is not real easy to get your child into anything other than their home school, and even if you can the process is a pain. The private schools require a non-refundable deposit to secure a space. That deposit is required months in advance of when you find out if your child will be admitted to a public school that is not their local school.
In case it is not obvious the reason I titled this private school woes is purely financial in nature. The tuition is a big nut to crack. It is painful and requires making numerous concessions. The fact that education is so important makes it less painful, but it still doesn’t serve as a cure all.
Remove that tuition and we have money for many other things that are also important. Remove that tuition and I can probably retire between five and ten years earlier than the current projection of 186 years of age.
So when I listen to our candidates talk about their plans for the future I listen carefully. Not only am I gravely concerned about the economy, healthcare and foreign policy, but I wonder where education fits into the mix. Because I don’t hear enough about it.
I don’t hear the politicians screaming that our public schools do not have enough resources or do not use their resources well enough to make sure that our kids are the best educated in the world.
I stopped believing that race was a real factor in holding people back a solid 20 years ago. But socioeconomic status, that I believe is a problem. If you are poor you are screwed out of many things. If you are poor you have a harder time getting a good education.
And that education is the tool that you will use to elevate yourself and climb out of the muck.
Better public schools serve the greater good. A better educated populace is good for everyone. Not to mention that if parents like myself weren’t forced to spend a significant amount of money on education we could spread some of that dough into other places, helping the economy in the process.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the school my children attend. They are receiving an excellent education and I am thrilled. But every now and then I like to dream that there is a chance that I am going to be able to retire when I am still of sound mind and body.