Spam in a Can

Those of you who are familiar with the history of the space program may well recognize the Mercury astronaut's reference to themselves. Though no astronaut, I could certainly sympathize after spending six of ten days curled into my car driving 4000+ miles out to Tucson, AZ and back.
Along the way I visited the 51st state. In fact I spent more time in the 51st state than I did in Arizona. I spent four days in AZ, but spent 6 days in "Inter-State", USA. Inter-State is that blur of Best Westerns, Days Inns, fast food, gas stations, on ramps and exits that twine across our country like asphalt ivy. Larger geography- states, regions and landscapes - doesn't seem to matter all that much; Inter-State is Inter-State. The occasional urban traffic scrum is even very similar whether it be Dallas-Ft. Worth, Memphis, or Atlanta.
The landscapes do change around the boundaries of InterState; the piney scrubland of Arkansas is very different from the vast emptyness of southwest Texas, and both are very different from the wooded highlands of Eastern Tennesee. The idea that smacked me in the forehead while driving west for three days is that the United States is one freakin' big country; 80 mph is a crawl in Texas (and it's even legal in some places). Three days in the car and I would still have had another day if I had wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.
In Texas, I saw stark evidence of the 20th century giving way to the 21st. Less than half of the Midland-Odessa oil wells were pumping while looming behind them on a distant ridgeline to the south were huge wind turbines set in long lines, new power for a new century. By an odd coincidence at nearly the same time I heard an NPR interviewer talking to T. Boone Pickens, putting his money where the wind is. Wind was the dominate idea of the westward leg of my journey as it knocked my car around while also letting me glimpse an oil free future.
I saw tumbleweeds living up to their name; I saw moutains and desertscapes dusted with powdered sugar snow, and everywhere I stopped I saw Americans just living their lives, getting through another day. Of course regional flavors exist, and that is certainly welcome, but we are one nation, one people. After another year of media driven, divisive blue-red politics, that was very comforting to see.
So the 51st state is a unifying rope, tying East to West and North to South. President Eisenhower had a good idea (though I do wish rail would get the same investment as asphalt does.). The United States needed, and still needs, the Inter-State, and I suggest you get out there and visit it every now and then, just take a little more time than I did. 47 year old legs don't recover all that quickly from being spam in a can for three days straight. Get out there and see this country of ours, pick a place you've never been, a friend or family member to visit, the Inter-State will get you there. For me, it got me to Tucson, Arizona, there to surprise my mother for Christmas, and, along the way, to deepen my appreciation for this country of ours. Bon voyage.

Time for a Change

So the best Elizabeth Dole can come up with after 6 years in the senate are juvenile, cheap-shot campaign ads?? You’d think she’d be able to run on her record, but when you have no record, I guess you have to get “creative”.
Sarah Palin has come on the scene 8 years too late. She would have fit in rather nicely with the Bush-Cheney crew. She took Wasilla from $1 million in debt obligations to $24 million. The librarian was fired after she expressed resistance to Palin’s ideas concerning banning books. In Troopergate, Palin used her pull as governor to try to get her state trooper brother-in-law fired. By reversing her position and now refusing to cooperate, Palin is demonstrating that Bush-Cheney tendency to duck investigations. National newspapers have published stories concerning her personal vendettas while in leadership positions. Palin uses a yahoo email account as governor so her emails won’t become part of the official record (secrecy), and she hired childhood friends into leadership positions in state government regardless of qualifications (cronyism). The Alaskan Director of Agriculture is a former real agent with no education or first hand experience in agriculture. The United States has had enough of this kind of “leadership”.
Which McCain do we believe, old McCain or new-old McCain? Offshore drilling used to be bad, now it’s good; Roe v. Wade used to be ok now it’s bad, then, Jerry Falwell was bad, now he’s good; lobbyists used to be bad, now they work in his campaign. He, a former POW, even changed his mind on torture; he was opposed, then caved to support Bush. He no longer supports his own legislation, the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill. Not only can he not keep his positions straight, he mixes up Sunni and Shiite, Iran and Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, thinks Czechoslovakia still exists and is not sure how many houses he owns. Republican senators, Bob Smith and Thad Cochran, Rep. John LeBoutillier, and other republicans he has served with have questioned his mental stability. He treats women rather poorly, including both his former wife and current wife, Cindy.
McCain-Palin really are more of the same – war without end, debt, cronyism, oil companies reaping record profits, and corporations before people. The United States cannot endure four more years of leaders without any care or concern for the future our children will live in. The 20th century is over; it’s time for a change.
That change is personified in Barack Obama. A proud Christian and family man, Senator Obama has achieved much in his life, nothing was handed to him, nothing was easy. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School where he was chosen president of the Harvard Law Review. After Columbia he went back home to help low income families in his community and, after Harvard, worked as a civil rights lawyer. His plan to cut taxes will help out Americans in need as well as the middle class. He has a plan to help the 40+ million Americans without health care, and his ideas concerning energy are practical and forward thinking.
Barack Obama has the right mix of talent, drive and compassion to lead the United States out the disaster of the last 8 years. We need a 21st century president with 21st century ideas, and with Senator Biden’s long years of experience in foreign relations to assist him, Sen. Obama can help our country reclaim respect and a position of leadership in the world.
Please vote Obama-Biden. The time has come, for change.

Thanks for reading.
Mike

Hey DPI - Your Algebra 1 EOC is still worthless as a math test.

Our Dept. of Public Instruction latest version of the Algebra 1 End of Course Test, much like past versions, involves the reading of over 2500 words just to read the questions. That is the equivalent of reading Poe's Cask of Amontillado. Only about 18-20 of the 80 questions were true math questions; those would be questions that have instructions like solve, evaluate, and factor. The rest of the questions are either a paragraph with numbers and formulas scattered therein or a large matrix that takes up most of a page.
The Algebra 1 EOC is primarily a reading test with students' math ability a secondary concern. The test itself was 37 pages which is a little more than two questions per page. For a "math" test?!
Another problem is that many of the questions started with a problem type the student should be familiar with but adds a needless and irrelevant extension of the question that completely obscures the learning goal being tested. For students that don't read well or have recall problems, that is a pure nightmare. A teacher cannot cover all of those possible variations in a semester (90 min. class) or a school year (45 min. classes) , the concepts yes, but the all the possible extensions, no way.
DPI also plays games with the grading. A student can guess and score a 60; I have seen it. Ninth percentile will get a student a 60, just 10 points away from passing. Oh but here's where another DPI game comes in; a student must now score a 77 or better on the exam to pass the class. A student can have a 90+ average and score a 76 on the exam and be considered a failure. That student would have to retest. I have seen students with learning disabilities score 76's on EOC's after busting their butts doing their work for the whole semester/year only to be denied credit because of a single point on a stinkin' test on one stinkin' day. Oh sure they get to take the test again, but the damage is already done, damage that those students have been fighting to overcome their whole academic lives.
Teachers used to have the final say, but now teachers aren't trusted to decide which ones of their students have mastered the material. How would a doctor feel if every diagnosis had to approved by team of doctors in Raleigh that hadn't seen a patient in 10 -20 years?
The bottom line is that our tests don't really measure much of anything. Life isn't a multiple choice bubble fest with answers provided. A 2007 comparison of our tests to NAEP scores show that NC has improved a bit; we now rate a D+ score. So our students are forced to sit through one, two, even three (summer school) versions of this "math" test that really tests reading before it tests math, but the questions are not quite like the ones they've been studying all with a gun to their heads (the 77 cut off score) that is really a joke because you can get the 77 just by getting about half the questions right. Utterly pointless.
More info on high stakes testing from Alfie Kohn here including a nice quote from Paul Wellstone.
I am a teacher. I have to live with this garbage every year, every semester. It needs to change.
Thank you for reading.
Mike

A rose by any other name ....

So what is a name worth? Well, for me it was worth the 130 votes I didn't get Tuesday night. If you look in the Person County phone book you will find that a certain eight to ten last names run for several columns. Mine is not one of them. Name recognition is a key in voter decision making, and I just didn't have enough of it. The other gentlemen running for county commissioner have deep, multigenerational roots in the county, and a little more than two months just isn't enough time to introduce yourself to nearly 13,000 democratic voters.
So I lost my run for county commissioner Tuesday night, and I have done a bunch of coulda, shoulda, woulda thinking since learning the results. I did ok I guess, coming in a close 4th to three native sons, coming up 0.7% short. (please note that this was fourth out of five with the top three advancing to the general) Many people have asked me consider running again in 2010. It's too soon to give it serious consideration at this point; I am going to be very busy promoting the Democratic candidates right up until the election in November.
I consider it an honor and a privilege to have been on the 2008 Democratic ballot with the next president of the USA, the candidates who stepped up to challenge Dole, Brad Miller and all the other quality, caring democrats on down the ballot.
Likewise, I appreciate being included as a candidate at the recent Bloggers' Bash. Being on the speaking agenda with the statewide candidates was a highlight of my candidacy. Without my own campaign to worry about, I can get back to my familiar role as activist, agitator and all around political junkie, and BlueNC really has got the best "stuff".
Thank you for all the support and encouragement. Now let's get down to it and kick some elephant @$$ this year.
Thanks for reading,
Mike

When dollars are more important than votes

Admittedly, Person County is not an "A" list county in the world of statewide politics. Other counties have more votes, more money and are easier to get to. so it is understandable that we are not overrun with statewide candidates.
But this year we seem to be especially overlooked, ignored even. We have well over 12,000 democrats who vote rather well and are only 30 minutes north of Durham and the I-40 corridor so we are not that far out in the sticks. We have had multiple grassroots type democrats contact multiple statewide campaigns oer the last two months trying to get one to attend an event or two. With one exception, all have found other places to be, sometimes with good reason sometimes, .... well, not. We have had to beg for campaign materials, been brushed off, and given the run-around.
The one candidate who has, so far, attended an event was Richard Moore, and that was essentially for the reletively few "more established" democrats et al who can write checks. We have our "big" event coming up on April 22 and have only 3 statewide candidates who have expressed interest, and that includes the judicial candidates. Several campaigns have offered surrogates, which is fine, but they are only considered "possibles" at this point..
I have criss-crossed Person Co. putting up my county commissioner signs, and I could have very easily put up signs for another candidate or two. As county chair (until becoming a candidate) for most of the past five years, I have some experience in that area. I am also a teen democrat advisor; you'd think a campaign or two would have reached out based on that alone.
This will not change who I vote for or keep me from voting or any such nonsense as that, but there is a huge difference in simply having my vote and having my energetic and vocal support.
Yes I am whining; but the point I make is valid. Votes lost in May may well be lost in November, and all those dollars don't necessarily transliate into votes.
If anyone cares to send me some cheese, I'll take some smoked gouda.
Thank you for reading.

NCDP SEC Passes Gut Check, Sort of.

Today the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Democratic Party met in Hamlet, NC. Let me set the stage for the gut check. Due to some negative press concerning the naming of the Vance-Aycock dinner,which is the marquee fall event for the NCDP, a motion was presented by the district chairs of the 11th and 1st congressional districts to refer the idea of renaming the dinner to a select committee. You see, Mr. Aycock was quite the racist. The district chairs hoped for a committee with White, Black, Native American and Latino members to address the issue of just what, if anything, should be done concerning the naming of the Vance-Aycock.

Some tinkering was done through amendments to adjust the initial timeframe so as to have the committee complete its work prior to the convention in June and to impel the committee to come up with another name.

That's when yours truly steps into the picture. Seeings how the general topic was the naming of one of our signature dinners, I offered an amendment to have the renaming of the Jefferson-Jackson dinner be included in the motion. I am specifically concerned with the Jackson part of the name. The idea that modern democrats do anything to honor the name of a genocidal racist has bothered me for quite some time. Just let me remind you that it was Jackson who, in violation of existing treaties, forced the Cherokee from their ancestral home in and around the southern Appalachian mountains. The 17,000 or so Cherokee suffered greatly on their 1000+ mile walk during the brutal winter of 1838-39; 4000 Cherokee died of hunger and cold.

Jackson went out of his way to commit genocide. He has no business being honored by the modern Democratic party.

When I introduced my motion, I thought it would be a mere formality. The Vance-Aycock renaming seemed to have a lot of backing, surely this group of progressve democrats would recognize the sense of putting the issue of honoring racists completely behind them.

I was stunned at the volume of the nays shouted in opposition to my amendment. Someone, thankfully, had their wits about them and called for a division, a recorded vote. This was the Gut Check I mentioned previously.

As it turns out 167 members of the NCDP Executive Committee think it is ok to honor a genocidal racist. Other than lend his the first letter of his last name to form a rather catchy name for a signature event, what did Jackson do that was so great? Perhaps it's because of the donkey; he is the genius that come with the symbol for our party, an ass. Lovely.

Thankfully 194 members of the Executive Committee thought as I did, that it is time to put the racist overtones inherent in the names J-J and V-A behind us. Certainly racism will linger in the minds of many people for years to come, but we had the opportunity today to at least take a couple of racists off our marquis and we blew it.

That's right; the motion was put in limbo by an ill timed and ill advised quorum call which came up short. The motion, therefore, was not agreed to and any progress on the renaming issue was officially lost.

This issue will come up again; I will make sure of that, as, I am certain, will many of the other true progressives who voted for my amendment.

I very much hope that the 167 democrats who voted against the J-J amendment will reconsider which is more important, blindly continuing a flawed tradition or starting a new tradition without the hypocrisy of pretending to be an inclusive party while honoring extreme racists such as Aycock and Jackson.

I do wish to thank all those SEC members who supported changing both dinners' names. I do believe we will prevail the next time this issue is raised.

Saving our Schools, a Report

The first Saving our Schools forum was held Nov. 13 at Southern Durham H.S. from 7:00 - 9:00. The event was sponsored and planned by the Young Democrats of NC, and major congratulations are due to Zack Hawkins and Melissa Price.
State Senator Floyd McKissick moderated the event for panelists Dr. June Atikinson, Superintendant of Public Instruction, Donald Berringer, Durham County NCAE, and Durham County School Board members Minnie Forte and Steve Schewel. The attendance was probably less then hoped for, but about 25-30 people were there to soak up the comments from the panelists and to ask them a few questions at the end of the procedings.
I was quite impressed with the knowledge, caring and committment levels of all the panelists. After a couple years of negative news concerning the Durham Bd. of Ed., Forte and Schewel were a breath of fresh air. I was further impressed with the level of funding the schools in Durham obviously enjoy, at least compared to my home, Person Co. One of the Durham folks commented that they were able to put an "extra" nurse in place at Southern H.S.; we have two nurses for the whole of Person County.
Some quick takes:
Frequent high stakes testing was viewed by all panelists as a bad thing, though assessment in general was viewed as necessary.
Statewide drop out rate was a major concern. Dr. Atkinson spoke of instilling the college dream in children as early as possible.
Durham county seemed to have very good programs worked out in collaboration with Duke and NCCU. They also had, or would soon have, "academies" for the construction and medical science professions.
Dr. Atkinson viewed technology as useful especially as regards connecting with today's students, e.g. having teachers give lectures as podcasts or in some other downloadable format.
Training new teachers and retaining the ones we have were mentioned as priorities on a couple of occasions. Improving teacher pay was mentioned as well.
Mr. Berringer stressed reducing class size and allowing elementary teachers some quality planning time.
Dr. Atkinson, Ms. Forte and Mr. Schewel all made mention of forming partnerships with parents and the greater community. Durham Co. has a full time parent liason, and they send a bus out to collect parents on conference days. The idea of a parent getting on a bus to go to a school conference still brings a smile to my face. No excuses!
The Manning decision was mentioned along with school accountability. Forte and Schewel were positive about it since being on Judge Manning's radar was the impetous for much of the improvements they have made in Durham recently.

I am glad I attended. Being around people who care about schools and our future, the children, is refreshing, as is having close contact with state and community leaders who are working to improve our schools. I am doubly pleased the the YDs are the ones getting these discussions going. If I recall correctly, YDs are planning six or so more of these Saving our Schools forums in various locations across NC. Please keep your eyes and ears open and attend one of these events when convenient; providning young people with an education is a necessity, making that a quality education takes commitment from the whole community.

Thanks for reading.

Mike