I spend a lot of time dealing with people in my life.  At work, I come into contact sometimes with thousands of different people a week, ALL of whom may or may not share my own viewpoints on the world we all live in.  In retail I see it all and more often than not, I hear EVERYONE’S life story whether I want to or not.  It’s easy to be disillusioned about the world by some of the people who I see…from the wife beater disparaging his wife in public to the creepy skinhead showing off a white pride tattoo…do I think any of them should continue breathing?  No.  But am I going to advocate for their death?  Absolutely not.  Many of us can go through life and disagree with others and we can do so without resorting to violence to make or achieve our point.  It is not necessary for me to threaten people with their lives.  What is important however is that I can and do express myself without ramping up the rhetoric of violence.

I’m going to let Keith Oberman speak for me on this because he does it so eloquently and with so much passion and conviction.  The violence has to stop.  It has no place in our democracy or in our country.  Things must change in significant ways.  We are reaching a tipping point in this country, I can only hope that enough people have enough compassion for their neighbors that we can run the cup over with forward thinking progress rather than draining the cup with a bullet through the skull.

There is plenty of stigma attached to being gay, especially up here in the northwoods of Michigan.  At the same time there is a TON of stigma attached to being an atheist even that has become less of an issue over time, remarkably for me since I moved out of the promised land of Western Michigan and Grand Rapids.  For the record, I define an atheist as a person who does not believe in God.  Yes, it’s that simple.  I do not believe there is some supernatural being controlling things from above.  Nor do I believe there is some other supernatural being trying to direct me towards a place called hell by controlling my actions and thoughts.  Those of you know me well, none of this is a shock to you because I started to distance myself from religion years ago.  For those of you reading this that still believe, good for you, that is your prerogative.  Up until now though I’ve always left a little bit of room to believe that there might be a God, with a strong emphasis on the word MIGHT.  I’m not trying to make any sort of special statement through this post, I am simply acknowledging something about me that has been brewing for a good long time and I’ve decided before the years end to make it final because I’ve never really just come out and said it.  I am my own person, completely in charge of my thoughts, actions, and life and I’ll leave it to the words of Ricky Gervais to say the rest for me.  I don’t apologize for my acknowledgement, nor do I have any standing issues with those of you from my past who have tried to convince me of your God.  You don’t have to apologize for pushing me to consider it.  Yes, you failed, but I don’t fault you for it. Click the link at the bottom to read the whole essay.

Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.

Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -­- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

Click here to read the rest.

I likely won’t write again before the new year but I do want to warn you that I am moving this blog to a new hosting service after the first of the year which will cause some down time.  I’ve about had it with my current web host, Go Daddy.  Over the years their servers have become slow and unresponsive.  I don’t like what I’m getting for what I’m paying (which is about $200 a year for hosting).  I’m going to be moving this blog over to DreamHost which is where my newest blog kingfisherchronicles.org is hosted.  Their servers are much faster and they will be more responsive to my blog which is nearly 5 years old at this point (if you count the time I was not writing much).  Much has changed in my life over the past several years and I’m happy to say that this blog has managed to keep up and keep you up to date.  Have a good holiday and I’ll write again in the new year!

It was obvious from the start that the orientationally-challenged activists would attempt to blame [Tyler] Clementi’s death on his roommate. But the surreptitious filming of sexual activity, while an obvious breach of etiquette as well as the law in some states, is neither uncommon nor tantamount to attempting to destroy someone’s life. Nor should the online streaming be considered anything but a joke; American Pie is a comedy, not a horror flick, after all. The problem is not that American university campuses are intolerant of the orientationally challenged, as the subtext of the media coverage suggests, but rather that they are much too tolerant.

It is obvious that Clementi didn’t kill himself simply because his actions were made public; as a musician, no doubt he had been filmed before and some of those films may have even been put online. He killed himself because he could not live with the shame of knowing that everyone would be aware of his submission to what he apparently believed to be evil desires. While giving in to our desire for evil is something that we all do from time to time, it is also true that some desires happen to be more shameful or humiliating than others. For example, a man’s desire for his neighbor’s wife is sinful, but few consider it to be as appalling as his desire for his neighbor’s child.
…
And that is why his suicide poses a problem for the “morality is a human construct” crowd. Despite literal decades of preaching about the morality of homosexuality, despite the pansexual propaganda of the public and private schools, the knowledge that what he was doing was shameful and wrong still managed to penetrate Mr. Clementi’s mind. A normal man being forced to confront his immorality in such a public way might have reacted with anger, irritation, embarrassment, or amusement, but only one who is both psychologically disturbed and appalled by his own actions will destroy himself over it.
FULL PIECE: Gay rights killed Clementi [Vox Popoli]

There is nothing I hate more than writing about the bullshit that is inflicted upon the gay community but I personally think it’s important to write about it.  30 years from now, things will be different.  I’m no fool even if I am gay.  When I log in to my super-fast Internet in 30 years and want to reminisce, I can look back on the shit going on right now and be thankful that the people I care about are on the right side of the issues.

Back in the day, I could have told you right away that I was different.  I had no concept of my sexuality in any significant way before age 13 or 14 but I knew I was not like the other boys my age.  I could not really comfortably label myself as gay before I was 15 or 16 and by age 17 I had simply accepted it for myself even though I didn’t really come out until a year or so after that.  The month of September has been a deadly month for gay kids this year.  In just 30 days, there have been 3 suicides and boy with a broken arm that is continuing to be harassed.

• Seth Walsh, the Bakersfield, CA 13-year-old who hanged himself from a tree in his back yard after years of being bullied, died Tuesday afternoon after nine days on life support. Police investigators interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he hanged himself. “Several of the kids that we talked to broke down into tears,” Police Chief Jeff Kermode said. “They had never expected an outcome such as this.”
• Asher Brown, 13, an eighth-grader killed himself last week. He shot himself in the head after enduring what his mother and stepfather say was constant harassment from four other students at Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston Texas. Brown, his family said, was “bullied to death” – picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.
• Billy (William) Lucas, 15, a student at Greensburg Community High School in Greensburg, IN, was found dead in a barn at his grandmother’s home Thursday evening – he had hanged himself. Friends say that he had been tormented for years. “He was threatened to get beat up every day,” friend and classmate Nick Hughes said. “Sometimes in classes, kids would act like they were going to punch him and stuff and push him. Some people at school called him names,” Hughes said, saying most of those names questioned Lucas’ sexual orientation.
• An Ohio mom is disappointed that her son’s school didn’t do more to stop at least two boys who allegedly picked on her 11-year-old cheerleader son until the bullies beat him so bad they broke his arm.  She says the beating didn’t break his spirit however. Tyler Wilson has vowed to continue cheering with hopes it helps him get into college some day.  ”I’m going to keep going. I’m going to make a lifestyle out of it,” Tyler told ABC News affiliate WTVG.

All 4 of these stories have been getting airtime on the national network news channels.  This sort of thing is nothing new for gay youth.  Every day gay kids are beaten up, harassed, called names and generally tormented because they have identified as gay or others PERCEIVE them to be so.  It’s easy now as an adult to simply ignore all of this and that’s why I’m writing this post.  It shouldn’t be ignored.  I get really angry when I hear that another kid killed himself because he was fed up with being bullied over his sexual orientation.  That kid might have been me.

The memories I have left of grade school and middle school (with certain exceptions for my time at ABS) are not good ones for me.  We are again talking about a different time and a different era but I was routinely picked on at school by certain kids.  My involvement in music was a constant source of ridicule and teasing even into high school.  I was a sissy for being able to sing or play the piano, or I was just a dumbass for not getting into playing football on the playground.  I was fortunate that despite the daily combative atmosphere I had teachers and more importantly parents that I knew supported me and to whom I knew I could turn if things ever got to a point where I could not deal with it on my own.  It also helped that the kids I hung out with at home were different kids than those I went to school with.  The neighborhood was much different for me than my school life.  I was a pretty independent kid.  I didn’t really care all that much what my peers thought of me and even today, I’m not really all that concerned about what others think of me.  I’m not on this planet to please them or to make them happy.  I’m here for ME and to live MY life.

I don’t really know the demographics of the people who read my blog but I know there are more people reading this than just my parents.  Some of you might be gay kids, some of you might be gay adults, some of you might be straight conservative Christians.  I don’t know.  What I do want to say though is that I would be lying if I did not admit that during my youth I contemplated the idea of suicide.  Growing up is not an easy thing to do and I’d be hiding the truth if I could not admit that I disliked 2/3 of my childhood experiences outside of my house.  It’s that other 1/3 though that has made me into the adult I am today.  Those experiences I had as a kid, especially the experiences that made me feel good about myself and about my life, shaped me into who I am today: someone that tries very hard whenever I’m given the chance to give a shit about the lives of other people.  My life got better and better as I grew up and as I got out of school and started living my own life.  And even today, each day is a new challenge and a new adventure and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s very hard for adult gay males to be involved with kids in any significant way.  It’s easier now than it used to be but straight society STILL sees us (especially men) as sex obsessed predators.  That’s a HUGE reason for why I got out of education and why I gave up my work with the boychoir.  It doesn’t matter how good a person I present myself to be, the assumption always is that it’s just not a good idea for me (gay men) to be around kids.  Even if I had the support of 99% of the parents of the kids I worked with, the 1% who couldn’t deal with it could potentially destroy a career over no other reason than their own bigotry and ignorance.  I wanted nothing more to do with that atmosphere.  Why was I continuing to try and live my own life by their standards for so long?

One of the things that I was missing in my childhood and the childhood of these kids who have killed themselves this past month was a healthy gay adult role model that was visible.  There was nobody I could look at and say “he turned out OK, maybe I can too” during those times when I was getting picked on for whatever reason.  I had the support of my parents and all these kids may well have had the support of their parents, but all of us left behind stories of being different and singled out.  The difference was that people intervened in my life at different times as I grew up and kept me going in the right direction, those boys were never given the chance to develop an idea that their lives might just get better if they just stuck it out a little longer.  Nobody helped those kids or their parents deal with what they were going through, nobody recognized the problem because homophobia and ignorance are still the rule, not the exception.  This has to change in our society.  Gay kids are not going to just go away and neither are gay adults.  This fear and ignorance has to be dealt with if we are ever to see a slow down in suicide rates.  If you didn’t already know, gay and questioning kids are 4 times more likely than their straight peers to commit suicide and 9 out of 10 gay kids report regular harassment in their schools for being gay or from others perceiving them to be gay.  I’ve posted these statistics before.  They are very reviling and very disturbing.

So I’m going to end this post with a video of a new project that has been started online.  Much like the internet, this sort of thing never existed when I was growing up and after spending some time watching these videos of people my age re-telling their stories of growing up gay, I wish something like this had been around for me.  It might have made things easier for me to deal with.  This project won’t bring back the 3 boys that took their own lives this past month but it’s a step in the right direction and maybe a small bit of hope for all those gay kids who have no support system and nobody to talk to.

If you are a kid or young adult reading this blog, there is a link on the sidebar to the Trevor Project.  Visit that web site and know that there is someone available for you 24/7 every day of the year.  Watch the intro vid for the “It Get’s Better Project” below and then click the video to go watch more on YouTube.  I won’t ever do a video cast of myself, this blog post will serve as my entry.

It Gets Better Project

There were 3 possible outcomes for this trial (from the Prop8 Trial Tracker Blog)

1. LOSE – Prop 8 is a permissible act of the people acting legislatively.
   Well, I’m not sure how much I need to explain this one, but it’s the worst case scenario for us.  In this situation, Judge Walker would be saying that the people, acting as the state’s legislature, had a “legitimate” interest (any interest really) in regulating against marriage equality, and that Prop 8 was rationally related to that interest.  This is the so-called “rational basis” test.  Now, the Defense of Marriage Act recently failed that test, but that doesn’t mean Prop 8 couldn’t pass.
   Of course, this doesn’t mean the case is over, just that we are on hold as we move forward through the system
2. Win – The implementation of Prop 8 is unconstitutional.
   This is how we win, without getting everything we really want. This would clearly be a win for our community in the state of California, but would provide relatively little precedent value for other states. The basic rationale here would be that by allowing the 18,000 couples to be married, and not future couples, the state has violated the equal protection of those couples who were not able to wed. This rationale was suggested in a couple of the amicus briefs filed on behalf of the plaintiffs. It could be seen as something of a middle ground, but let’s be honest, it will not satisfy anybody who opposes marriage equality. And it further muddies the underlying issues when what we really need is clarity. Could it happen? Yes, it very well might. But this rationale would be a lame attempt at Solomonic baby-splitting that would present more questions to be answered by other courts.
3. WIN – Prop 8 is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and/or the Due Process Clause
   This would be our ultimate victory, and really, what Olson and Boies are going for in this case. As I presented above, there are two possible rationales, and I’ll discuss those below. But skipping over the logic, the net result would likely be the complete nullification of Prop 8. However, Judge Walker is likely to issue a stay pending appeal, especially if he overturns Prop 8. In other words, don’t make wedding plans just yet.

We got the 3rd which is the best of the 3 and now sets the stage for the eventual appeal to the 9th circuit court of appeals.  This win, going int0 an appeal is far better than going in with a loss.  As I’ve said before, this fight is long from being over but this is a huge step in the right direction.  You can expect to see over the next several weeks cries of judicial activism on the right (never mind that this judge was appointed by a Republican president) and hollering about the “will of the people”.  This very decision however expels the idea that any majority has any right to VOTE FOR discrimination against a minority.  If the decision is affirmed, it may easily nullify every state Constitutional ban on gay marriage that exists today (Michigan’s included).

The appeal process is expected to take up to 2 years to reach SCOUTS.  By that time however, it is likely that additional states will have acted to affirm same sex marriage or begin work on repealing bans.  It is sometimes tough to say but as California does, the rest of the country tends to follow.  It is the largest state with the largest economy with some of the heaviest hitting political clout you can get.  It’s not going to be all roses and rainbows but the trajectory is clear.  Marriage will be an option for me in my lifetime if I wish to choose it and that, ultimately, is what it’s about.  My right to choose my mate, to choose the person I love.

And this is acceptable?

From the Huffington Post today (as well as in many newspapers around the country):

A recent New York Times/CBS poll confirmed the obvious: Tea Party activists are overwhelmingly white, male, conservative, lower-income, and GOP-leaning. Nearly all passionately believe that President Obama is shoving the country to socialism. All lambaste the federal government for giving the company store away to the poor. The poor in this case are blacks. That race lurks perilously just beneath the surface with Tea Party activists is beyond dispute. To many the equation is government programs equal hand outs to undeserving blacks and the poor and that in turn equals money snatched from the pockets of hard working whites.

Read the Rest of the scathing poll here and learn many of the rest of the reasons that you should abstain from teabagging.

HERE is the actual Poll the was conducted.

And HERE is the New York Times article.

Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes…

Here is the rest.

Sometimes we don’t notice our victories until long after a battle has been won.  Over the last couple of years, gay marriage has secured territory most people didn’t even realize was contested, and its loss will be far more devastating to gay marriage opponents than their victories in all the court cases and all the elections in the world.

I’m talking about sweetness.

Our opponents demonize us — sometimes subtly, sometimes explicitly, but viciously and relentlessly.  Their chief weapon is sex – ours, not theirs — overlaid with a self-righteous piety that is funny when Dana Carvey does it, and wrongheaded no matter whose pursed lips it leaks out of.  But while everyone from the Pope on down has been focused on the inherent disorders and immorality of homosexual sex, another front in the gay rights battle opened up: Gay teenagers in love.

Read the rest here.

First:  Mississippi Prom Canceled after Lesbian’s Date Request – From USA today and nearly every other national Media outlet in the country.  This is a story about Constance McMillan of a small town in Mississippi that sought to bring her date, another girl, to the prom so she could be uncomfortable at the prom right along with everyone else.  The school board ended up denying her request and also, canceled the prom entirely to avoid having to allow her to bring her date.  Their position was that she was quite allowed to attend, just not with another woman.  With the FULL support of her parents, She and the ACLU sued the school board and yesterday a Federal judge ruled that Constance’s civil rights were violated and the school board acted inappropriately.  During all of this parents organized a “private” prom since the school was no longer going to have one.  Guess what, Constance was not invited.  This story is not over and you’ll hear more about it.

Second: Derrik Martin GOT the OK to bring his boyfriend to his prom in a little town in Georgia, the school board not really even discuss the matter only saying that they had no policy against it.  How did Derrick’s parents react to the news?  They swiftly kicked him out of the house.

There is one thing that I want to focus on here in both of these stories and that is the parents.  EVEN in 2010, parents all over this country continue to forcefully kick their children out of their house because their child had the self-confidence and courage to come out of the closet.  I bet you didn’t know that one of the largest groups of homeless youth’s are GLBT kids.  Throughout my life I have met a number of people who have not spoken to their parents since high school because their parents could not deal with their sexuality.  It really troubles me that this 18 year old senior, who is an honors student and already has a scholarship to a university in the fall now has to prepare for the next phase of his life with no support from his parents.  On the other hand Constance will not have the same issue.  She also is 18, an honors student and headed to collage in the fall with the full support and encouragement from her parents.  It should bother EVERYONE reading this blog when this sort of thing occurs.

I was pretty fortunate.  While I’m sure that my parents had to make adjustments in their thinking when I came out to them and I know that each of them had various concerns, not once did I ever have to deal with any of the coming out process without their support. Coming Out is a big deal, especially for a teenager.  50 years from now it might not be but even today, it still is.  Those of you that are straight will NEVER fully appreciate what it takes and what it means to come out and I say that with all due respect, it is simply not something you will ever experience.   I was 17 or 18 and I had written a lengthy letter through which I came out to my parents.  I spent a good 2 months writing that letter, and re-writing it and during that time I had built my own alliances with my friends in case things went the wrong way once I came up with the courage to give my parents that letter.  I had a place to stay if I had needed it, I had a support group of people outside of my own family if I needed it.  Well, I never needed to utilize any of that because while it did take some getting used to, my sexuality did not define my existence to my parents.  It was not a simple process for any of us but it was not an issue that would end our relationship or traumatize it beyond repair.  I was still their son and especially as a minor, they still understood that they had an obligation to put up with me until I was at least 18 or until I got out of high school.  They of course continued long after that and continue to support me today.  Derrick is never going to have that sort of support from his  parents and he’s at an age when honestly he might need it the most.  I know that was the case for me, I needed my parents more after high school than during it it seems.  His relationship has fundamentally changed because his parents are unable to accept their son for who he is.  It’s sad and it should upset you to know that this STILL occurs in this country in 2010.

So, the next time you are talking amongst your friends and one of them tells you they just kicked their kid out of the house because he was a queer and well Jebus just don’t like them queers you know, think long and hard about will happen to that kid and why your friend suddenly doesn’t love him or her anymore.  It should make you really question that friendship.

According to a Harris survey to be released tomorrow, 24% of polled Republicans say they believe the president is the anti-Christ.

Are you shocked?  I hope not.  This is coming from the party that has officially fallen off it’s rocker.  In the last 2 days, they’ve called Barney Frank a faggot to his face, they’ve yelled BABY KILLER to rep Stupak, and they have obstructed anything and everything they possibility could over the past several weeks to try and prevent the passage of Health Care Reform.  Which passed anyway.

There was a time in my life, in the not to distant past, when I was able to agree and even support many of the things Republicans claim to be about.  Small Government, states rights, immigration reform…. I can say that in a lot of ways I still agree with those principals but there is one thing that all those are not:  They are NOT part of today’s Republican party.  This party has done so much damage to itself over the past year that it’s going to be a very long time before they can regain any sort of dominance in Washington.  The Republicans have been taken over by TEABAGGING fools, who have no agenda other than obstructionism, who wanted to put Sarah Palen in the White House, and who scream the fact that they are racists homophobes every time Fox News puts them on the TV.  Then there is Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh, I can’t even go there because I don’t want to lose that much peace from my life.

If you’ve not read it, check out an editorial today in the New York Times – An Absence of Class, he hits the nail right on the head.

Today on the Huffington Post

Firing all the teachers may feel good – we’re Americans, kicking people when they’re down is what we do – but it’s not really their fault. Now, undeniably, there are some bad teachers out there. They don’t know the material, they don’t make things interesting, they have sex with the same kid every day instead of spreading the love around… But every school has crappy teachers. Yale has crappy teachers – they must, they gave us George Bush.

According to all the studies, it doesn’t matter what teachers do. Although everyone appreciates foreplay. What matters is what parents do. The number one predictor of a child’s academic success is parental involvement. It doesn’t even matter if your kid goes to private or public school. So save the twenty grand a year and treat yourself to a nice vacation away from the little bastards

Click on the link above to read the rest.

I get so sick of the bullshit in the papers and on line criticizing teachers for ‘failing kids’.  Bullshit.  The only teachers who are failing kids in this country ARE THE PARENTS.  Yes, there are bad teachers, AND bad doctors, lawyers, and scientists but come on if you are going to take the time to write in to the newspaper editor, at least show your kids that you know how to use a spell checker or that you can FINISH a fucking thought in a single sentence!  So, the next time you get an urge to criticize a teacher, stop and think for a minute about what you are doing.  Is little Jimmy’s failure to learn his times tables the fault of the teacher OR is it YOUR fault for failing to make sure little Jimmy got home after school to DO HIS HOMEWORK!  OR, is it YOUR fault for failing to drill them into his head like you were asked to help do by the note you got from the teacher BECUASE YOU YOU COULD NOT BE BOTHERED TO SHOW UP FOR PARENT / TEACHER CONFERENCES!

One reason, among many others that I got out of the Education thing for myself was that I had a very difficult time understanding the lack of involvement of parents in their kids lives because it was SO foreign to me. Growing up I couldn’t shit without one of my parents asking me about school and about my life and good Lord there were times when I absolutely HATED their incessant nagging, prodding, and scornful stares and I would slam my books on the table and leave for coffee at Denny’s just to piss them off more. My parents were doing their jobs, THEY were being teachers, never mind their own backgrounds.  THEY were demanding accountability from me and THEY were going to stand by me and help me even while frustrated with me to make sure that at the VERY least, I got my ass through High School with an education.  Yes, I know everyone has shit going on in their lives but come on, you do not have to be a scholar to be a teacher to your child, you only have to be there and show that to your child.  They will know your expectations, you don’t even have to explain what they are,  that’s the beauty of a parent / child relationship.  The kid WILL come to you for help even when they know you won’t be able to give them the answers.

Lack of parental involvement is the #1 reason that our education system in this country is shot.  It is not however broken and it is not un-fixable.  It is also not the sole responsibility of teachers in this country to raise YOUR CHILDREN.

Here: The closet door cannot be fixed once it’s kicked off of hinges. Virginia’s AG has just told the homophobes to get out the torches and pitchforks!

And Here: “Virginia is For Haters”

The idea here is certainly not to offend the better taste of my extended family living in Virginia but certainly they don’t live in a bubble.

Click THIS link to go to the Bill Moyers Journal web site to view the video.

Below is a YouTube preview of the broadcast.