I have a new calling – budget manager for The City. I’m going to make up this year’s $8,000,000 budget deficit, and then some.

You see, The City planted a tree in my curb lawn on [...]]]> “No you listen! We live in a real world, come back to it.” – Padme, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

I have a new calling – budget manager for The City. I’m going to make up this year’s $8,000,000 budget deficit, and then some.

You see, The City planted a tree in my curb lawn on Wednesday. A small, baby linden tree to replace the mature, spreading maple that Padawan Learner loved to climb while he waited for Dad Windu to get home from work. The tree that some jackass distracted driver literally wrapped his giant SUV around nearly 2 years ago, setting it at a jaunty 65 degree angle for 9 months while The City waited “to see if it will make it”.

At 8:45 a.m., a City flatbed truck with two men inside pulled up in front of my house with a backhoe on the trailer.  The driver got out of the truck and watched as his passenger climbed up into the backhoe, backed it off and proceeded to dig a hole 3 feet wide and 1.5 feet deep. He returned the backhoe to the trailer and the two men drove away.

At 9:45 a.m., a City pickup truck arrived with two men inside. The driver got out and walked to the front door with a very valuable piece of paper: instructions on caring for my new, baby linden tree. Meanwhile, his passenger took two metal poles out of the bed of the truck and placed dropped them in the newly dug hole. They returned to the truck and drove away.

At 1:20 p.m., two City trucks arrived: a pickup truck (A) full of baby trees sticking up over the back and a water truck (B) filled with The City’s secret formula of water and baby-tree fertilizer. Each truck had a driver and a passenger. Now this is going to get a little tricky, so be sure to pay attention.

The two drivers got out of their respective trucks and watched while Passenger A placed the baby tree in the hole, arranged the poles and guy wires correctly, and covered the roots with the piled up soil. Passenger B stood at the ready with his over-sized garden hose. When the ground was firmly tamped, Passenger B soaked the disturbed soil area well with his proprietary mix. All four men returned to their respective trucks and drove away.

That’s right, The City paid 8 men to plant my small, baby linden tree.

Oh, I should add that two days previously, The City sent another man in a pickup truck out to rake out the bare area where my formerly lovely tree had stood and spread a healthy layer of grass seed down – right where the backhoe dug the hole for the new, baby linden tree on Wednesday.

Now using my advanced degree and keen efficiency skills, I have deduced that the planting of my new, baby tree on Wednesday could have been performed (with a reasonably adequate amount of waste, as required by all government entities) by a total of three men altogether – one per truck, with the stake dropping and instruction giving truck’s tasks handed off to the occupants of Truck B and Truck A respectively.

If we reduced the city workforce by these 5 men alone (6 if we include the counter-productive tasks of the guy who came on Monday to seed my soon-to-be-backhoe’d bare spot), I could immediately save The City approximately $150,000 (or $180,000) without any loss of service to City residents – assuming that each man is paid $30,000 per year.

What efficiencies would you put in place if you were able to get your hands on your city or county’s  Budget?

The inauguration is upon us. In a few hours the American people will have a new President, the Federal government will have a [...]]]> “It is clear to me now that the Republic no longer functions. … I pray you will bring sanity and compassion back to the Senate.”  -  Queen Amidala, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace

The inauguration is upon us. In a few hours the American people will have a new President, the Federal government will have a new agenda, and hopefully America will have a fresh start. I do not believe that all things will improve for all people in all ways because of this change. I do, however, believe we have the potential to move this country in new and better directions for many, if not most, citizens and residents. Time only will tell if we – President Obama, Congress, and the American people – take this opportunity to better our country, our states and our communities or fritter it away in politics-as-usual power plays, snarky back-biting, and selfish wastefulness.

I wish us all wisdom, self-restraint and foresight.

              Star Wars III: Revenge of [...]]]> Mace Windu:           “You are on the council, but we do not grant you the rank of master.”
Anakin Skywalker:  ”What? How can you do this? This is outrageous, it’s unfair.”
Mace Windu:           “Take a seat, young Skywalker.”

              Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

Proposal 8 looks to have passed in California. I am deeply sorry for them. Take a seat (in the back of the bus, please) GLBT citizens. You are no longer recognized as fully human in California. HOPEfully, that can be CHANGEd nationally now and this defeat will not much longer matter to you or to future generations.

      Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi

Dear Politician (or Politician’s Foot Soldier, where applicable):

Please go away. Feel free to leave literature wedged in my door handle; I promise that I will read it diligently and [...]]]> Admiral Piett: “Shall I hold them?”
Darth Vader:   “No. Leave them to me. I will deal with them myself.”

      Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi

Dear Politician (or Politician’s Foot Soldier, where applicable):

Please go away. Feel free to leave literature wedged in my door handle; I promise that I will read it diligently and consider your argument. Ring the doorbell once or twice, if you must. However, when I do not answer the door, and I’m probably not going to, please take the hint that I have a life outside of your election and move on to the next house. Do not, in any manner, take this as an opportunity to ring the door bell incessantly, bang on my doors (front and side) repeatedly, or peer inside my windows. Just leave the f#cking pamphlet and go.

I assure you that I am very well informed on the issues. I have read your website, looked up your voting record (if applicable) and considered your proposed legislative changes. In short, I have formed an opinion on your fitness for government already. I solemnly swear to not vote based on my friends’ opinions, my neighbors’ yard signs or any of the “Why my opponent will ruin our city, county, state or federal government” radio or television advertisements that are completely flooding the airwaves right now.

In addition, when I do answer the door and listen to your schpeel, please give me the courtesy of listening to my questions and actually.address.my.concerns. Do not simply restate the same 30 second soundbite that you’ve (obviously) perfected and already spouted. It does not make me think better of you.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this manner.

Most sincerely,

Obi-Mom Kenobi

These are my touchstones for a political candidate – local, state and national. This is what I want from the collective United State of America.

Choice or biology. I find it strange that people are still debating the topic of origin as it regards to homosexuality (or evolution, [...]]]> “Your insight serves you well. Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.”  Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi

Choice or biology. I find it strange that people are still debating the topic of origin as it regards to homosexuality (or evolution, for that matter). I can give you my reason for believing what I do, but I think author Eileen Cook does a more entertaining job, with her trademark humor thrown in for good measure. Here’s her take on the matter. I’ll start you off…   

“I don’t understand the recent debate on homosexuality and gay marriage. If sexuality was a choice, and you could choose to be gay or not, it seems that once you decided you could change your mind. If this were possible you would be flooded with telemarketers…”

                Star [...]]]> Luke :       “Listen, I can’t get involved. I’ve got work to do. It’s not that I like the Empire; I hate it. But there’s nothing I can do about it right now… It’s all such a long way from here.”
Obi-Wan : “That’s your uncle talking.”

                Star Wars IV: A New Hope

Dad Windu, the Padawan Learner and I went to our city’s community meeting last night to help direct the path of our city. Padawan Learner was a bit skeptical about going; the word boring was, perhaps, mentioned a few times. Ultimately, though, he enjoyed it after the two BigWig speeches were over. It was a working meeting, with the 300 or so people who showed up breaking into 6 groups that focused on different topics relating to making the city more appealing to residents and tourists, environmentally sustainable and cleaning up pollution.

We focused on the transportation segment, not surprisingly. For the first 30 minutes, our group discussed the desperate need our city has for bike paths, of which the city’s transportation engineer has historically been opposed for “liability” reasons. Additional issues of ways to increased tourism and a rather interesting idea for new bus shelters were also brought up. We voted on what we thought the most pressing concerns were and then moved on to a question put to us from the city for the next 30 minutes.

“How can we make the city more walkable?” Pages of ideas were generated. Some of the more popular ideas were: sidewalks where they are currently lacking; mid-street pedestrian islands for wide roads; the ability to manually increase the pause between reds to allow slower pedestrians to get all the way across; pedestrian bridges to for high traffic intersections and across highways; allowing plantings in the city owned right-of-ways (especially between sidewalks and roads); actual enforcement of zoning requirements (such as sidewalk maintenance by property owners) and start-up tax breaks for new businesses in the city’s neighborhood business districts.

Padawan Learner, as we drove home, said that he found the process interesting and especially liked having an equal vote on the ideas. Several people in our group commented on how good it was to see him involved in the process and speaking up with his ideas. A good start to a lifetime of community involvement? I can only hope.

Michigan and Mississippi both have new legislation up that would effect homeschoolers. Neither is worth considering, let alone wasting valuable debating time.

For Mississippi, I offer you my emailed reaction: Dear Senators Jackson, Tollison and Carmichael:

Please reconsider any support you may have had for Senate Bill 2271, the mandate for educational testing of homeschoolers. [...]]]>

Michigan and Mississippi both have new legislation up that would effect homeschoolers. Neither is worth considering, let alone wasting valuable debating time.

For Mississippi, I offer you my emailed reaction:
Dear Senators Jackson, Tollison and Carmichael:

Please reconsider any support you may have had for Senate Bill 2271, the mandate for educational testing of homeschoolers.

Educators, parents and employers across the nation know the truth about testing. Specifically, mass educational testing is the least effective form of determining a child’s educational knowledge or level. It is used in traditional school settings for one very specific reason: when public money is spent on the public’s behalf they have a right to see that public money is being spent wisely and well. Across-the-board testing is the cheapest and most time efficient method of producing such "proof" in the educational setting. This is not, however, to say that it is the most or even at all educationally effective. Rather, it merely requires the least amount of time and energy on the school’s part to "peg" large numbers of children. How well it "pegs" those children is severely under question across the nation. Truly remarkable educational facilities evaluate their students based on a combination of relevant conversation and participation, demonstrable projects and observed progress over the course of a year. A few school room examples of quality evaluation methods are: discussion groups, topical student papers, a few relevant quizzes, annual portfolios, mandatory parental involvement in the classroom (especially for young students) and regular public open houses.

Homeschooling families receive no federal or state funding and will, therefore, quite determinedly spend their own money wisely and well. Homeschooling families have the luxury of time and interest in evaluating their children’s educational progress across the year and, indeed, across the years. Homeschooling families are the very best evaluators of their children’s educational strengths and weaknesses and have absolutely no interest in sending their children out into the world poorly educated. And we, very kindly, ask you to remember that fact.

For Michigan, I have only one comment (we did this last year, too):

Raising the minimum age at which someone can leave compulsory education from 16 to 18 will not in any way improve educational attainment, graduation rates, or work-readiness, as it only forces unwilling, disruptive and often violent students into the classroom, thereby forcing teachers to act as police officers.

What? You still don’t agree?
Try this on for size. The two states with the highest graduation rates in the U.S. (Maryland & North Dakota – both with 94%) compel attendance only to 16, while the state with the lowest grad rate (Oregon – 75%) compels attendance to 18.

How does this proposed legislation affect homeschoolers? Homeschooling is an educational undertaking which must meet state K-12 compulsory attendance rules. Is your homeschooled kid ready to go off to college or work full-time as an apprentice somewhere? Too bad, that’s not an acceptable K-12 educational facility and would be disallowed by the new guideline – without special approval from the local school district. Yeah right, that’s going to happen.

Still not convinced? OK, how excited are you about paying even more taxes to keep unwilling, disruptive and potentially violent 16-18 year olds in a public classroom? Hear that police siren? The school is probably on lock-down again. Son came home beat up today? Good thing you’re keeping that brute in school a few more years. Daughter come home afraid of being attacked in the hallway? Well, at least that delinquent isn’t out on the streets from 8-3. What, you’ve heard that the neighbor kid is selling dealing drugs in the bathroom? Oh well, kids will be kids. When California raised their minimal age limit, classroom disruptions increased so much that Californians had to build (and pay for) new school buildings just to corral them away from kids that really wanted to learn. Funny, that sounds an awful lot like a part-time jail to me!