| October 4, 2006 at 04:56:57 My Last Article! I'm Headed For Jail Time! Not My Fault! by Dale Hill | |
It's been fun while it has lasted, but I must admit that I will be going to prison for a couple of years. My fault. I knew better, but I didn't speak up.
As an educator in the United States, I am bound to a system of justice that says, if I know or even suspect a case of child abuse and don't report it, I am heading for the joint to spend some time thinking about the crime I committed.
In fact, in my 34 years, in the education business, I have reported nearly a dozen cases of pedophilia, and once I reported it, it was quickly out of my hands.
First the DHS people were at my door at school. I stepped out of my office, while they interviewed the student. Then the child, and all other children in the household are jerked out and put in a temporary shelter until placement is made. Then the investigation starts. Would you like to hear an example of such a case?
I was seeing a 4th grader who lived with his step-mom and dad, newly here because of the 80's oil boom.
The youngster came to my office, at least once a week and sometimes more, having been identified by his teacher as in need of counseling. He would always have lots of things to say, as we played checkers.
One day he came to my class, and the game scenario changed.
"Mr. Hill, I bet you can't guess how much money I have on me?"
"Five dollars."
"No, I have $14.47 cents!"
"Wow, that's a lot. Are you saving your money?"
"Yes!"
"Why are you saving your money? Are you going to buy a toy?"
"No, I am saving it up to run away."
When a student says that, it hits you like a freight train. The boy was dressed fine, and he had never had bruises on him. Odd! Unreal! What could I say?
"Why are you planning on running away?"
"My daddy is doing things to my sister what you shouldn't do until you are married. I am planning on running away and staying with my sister."
"I've got to tell someone else about this. I promise you will like them, and your dad won't know about it. Is that okay?" The last weekend he had stayed with his sister and her husband.
The boy stayed in my office and in 15 minutes DHS workers were there. After thirty minutes, they sent the youngster back to the classroom. The boy wasn't going home that night, and in fact, they had contacted the older sister, where they moved him. His sister admitted that her dad did the same to her, and that is why she got out of the house by marriage, as soon as she did, which was before she graduated from high school.
What about this boy's step-sister? She was in the 2nd grade and was NOT his sister. The mother picked her up at school and left town. So did the father. And that is the way it is in real life.
Dennis Hastert used to be a teacher. Rep. John Shimkus, Rep. Tom Reynolds, and Hastert are all professional and should be in deep water over this. They should lose their jobs, at minimum, and at most, spend a year or more in jail. That's the way it is, under child abuse laws, going back, long before 1998.
Foley? He should see some jail time. This "get out of jail free" card doesn't cut it, when someone fesses up to alcohol problems and quickly goes to "The Betty Ford Center, " doesn't cut it.
And me? I was lying. I'll be sitting at this MacMinni, hoping to see some Republicans pictures on the Internet.
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| September 25, 2006 at 06:20:44 Impeached! Bush Uncertifiable!! by Dale Hill | |
Is Bush Certified?
Teachers in Oklahoma are more qualified, their first year, than George W. Bush was after his 3rd year in the White House, and I think you would agree. Over the years in the education business, I've seen lots of new teachers. Today, teachers in Oklahoma are more qualified to walk straight into the classroom and are more qualified than Bush and his roll as a second term president. In fact, after Bush's first, untenured year, as president, he would have probably been required to choose a different profession. Something along the line of, ... maybe a prison guard?
In fact, Oklahoma has a teacher program that will, "Guarantee" that a teacher can walk right into class and be "lights-out" successful. By far, new teachers from Oklahoma are more qualified for their chosen profession than Bush was, after being governor of Texas.
To qualify to be a teacher in Oklahoma, a student in the first year needs to identify themselves as a candidate for teacher certification. Thus, even during their first year in the program, you can find those teacher-candidates observing in a classroom.
When I went to school, it was a 4 year program, though I chose to go with a 5 year program, or, should I say ... , my institution decided I needed an extra year. Now, every teacher has a rigorous, 5-year program, before they can ever hit the classroom.
Bush had absolutely no proven experience that would guarantee he would be a good president. Oh, you say, "... but he was the governor of Texas, and the state is the largest, land-based state in the United States." (Alaska, only Texans claim that title. Oklahomans don't and just snicker.)
What can I say? Mac Brown, the coach for the University of Texas' football program, had more influential experience toward a presidential job, than Bush did. On Bush's resume, would be the huge responsibility of thumbing up or down, residential members of those on death row, and he shined at that job.
Unfortunately, his experience as the grim-reaper in Texas has lead him into an unfavorable presidency, who takes the grim reaper roll, internationally, with no remorse from the death of his own soldiers or collateral damage deaths. In Texas, that skill lead to the memorial sound-bytes, "Bring 'em on!" and "Wanted, Dead or Alive!"
I was astounded how a new music teacher came right into her classroom and took charge. She took charge in the cafeteria and even on the play ground. No complaints. She didn't even ask questions. No timidity. Absolutely no discipline problems. But, you see, this teacher came from Oklahoma's Teacher Certification Process, which Dubya Bush and Bobby Knight would have never completed. So, how can we describe Oklahoma's teacher certification process.
First and foremost, the outgoing teacher assessment is not based on grades only. A partial description is "an exemplary system for the approval and accreditation of teacher education institutions and programs. This new approach emphasizes performance-based criteria and assessments, focusing on what candidates can do in the classroom." 9/11 would, possibly never have happened if Bush had to conference with members of the outgoing staff for a year.
The final evaluation goes beyond a teacher test, which we have, but also from a "portfolio" of sources, both from the student's practice teaching observations and the student's professor. Once the student has a fat portfolio, which assures that she is ready to walk into that classroom, then and only then, does the future teacher have to pass their certification test.
Lucky for our kids, Bush and his cronies are not eligible to teach in our classrooms. Physically threatening a student would get their certification permanently withdrawn. Instead, following the state approved guidelines, the government poseurs would be trying to circumvent the program guide-lines or rewrite them.
Blow the whistle and send them back to the end of the line!
Dale Hill
Anadarko, OK 73005
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| September 25, 2006 at 10:13:56 Torturers Can Not Get A Teacher's Certification In Oklahoma by Dale Hill | |
Teachers in Oklahoma are more qualified, their first year, than George W. Bush was after his 3rd year in the White House, and I think you would agree. Over the years in the education business, I've seen lots of new teachers. Today, teachers in Oklahoma are more qualified to walk straight into the classroom and are more qualified than Bush and his roll as a second term president. In fact, after Bush's first, untenured year, as president, he would have been required to choose a different profession. Something along the line of, ... maybe a prison guard? Bush wouldn't have qualified, as well, because of his grade-point average.
In fact, Oklahoma has teacher programs that will, "Guarantee" that a teacher can walk right into class and be "lights-out" successful. By far, new teachers from Oklahoma are more qualified for their chosen profession than Bush was, after being governor of Texas.
To qualify to be a teacher in Oklahoma, a student in the first year needs to identify themselves as a candidate for teacher certification. Thus, even during their first year in the program, you can find those teacher-candidates observing in a classroom. When I went to school, it was a 4 year program, though I chose to go with a 5 year program, or, .. my institution decided I needed an extra year. Now, every teacher has a rigorous, 5-year program, before they can ever hit the classroom.
Bush had absolutely no proven experience that he would be a good president. Oh, you say, "... but he was the governor of Texas, and the state is the largest, land-based state in the United States." (Alaska teachers, please humor Dubya, because he still thinks Texas is bigger, Alaska is an iceberg, something he can play with on his own time, and the world is flat.)
What can I say? Mac Brown, the coach for the University of Texas' football program, had more influential experience toward a presidential job, than Bush did. On Bush's resume, would be the huge responsibility of thumbing up or down, residential members of those on death row, and he shined at that job. That, after all, is how he got his Texas Ranger Badge, so he could put up "Wanted, Dead or Alive" signs.
Unfortunately, his experience as the grim-reaper in Texas has lead him into an unfavorable presidency, who takes the grim reaper roll seriously, ... especially internationally, with no remorse from the death of his own soldiers or collateral damage, which includes women, children, babies in and out of the womb, and old people on welfare. In Texas, that skill lead to the memorial sound-bytes, "Bring 'em on!" and "Wanted, Dead or Alive!" Bush's goal in life is to be seen as a modern day General George Custer.
I was astounded how a new music teacher came right into her classroom and took charge. She took charge in the cafeteria and even on the play-ground. No complaints. She didn't even ask questions. No timidity. Absolutely no discipline problems. But, you see, this teacher came from Oklahoma's Teacher Certification Process, which Dubya Bush and Bobby Knight would have never completed. So, how can we describe Oklahoma's teacher certification process.
First and foremost, the outgoing teacher assessment is not based on grades only. A partial description is "an exemplary system for the approval and accreditation of teacher education institutions and programs. This new approach emphasizes performance-based criteria and assessments, focusing on what candidates can do in the classroom."
9/11 would, possibly never have happened if Bush had to conference with members of the outgoing staff for 6 months. Heck, they didn't even have a meeting about terrorism, the first 8 months of Bush's presidency, and now they are trying to blame it Clinton, who just "slam-dunked" the Fox hounds. The only time they gathered to discuss terror was AFTER 9/11, and their regime had been warned about ben Laden.
The final evaluation goes beyond a teacher test, which we have, but also from a "portfolio" of sources, both from the student's practice teaching observations and the student's professor. Once the students have fat portfolios, which assures that they are ready to walk into the classroom, then and only then, do the future teachers have to pass their certification test.
Lucky for our kids, Bush and his cronies are not eligible to teach in our classrooms. Physically threatening or torturing students would get their certification permanently withdrawn and let them spend a goodly amount of time in prison. Using cluster bombs, which are considered "Custer Bombs," is considered child abuse, in my books. They would serve their time, and then have to register, where ever they lived, as a "child torturer." But Cheney and Bush, during their stay, would be working toward redefining the state's approved guidelines; and the government poseurs would be trying to circumvent the program guide-lines or ignore them completely.
Blow the whistle and send them back to the end of the line!
| September 21, 2006 at 06:10:45 Surviving In A Bright Red State by Dale Hill | |
Blue Surviving In A Red State
How does a moderate Democrat survive in Oklahoma, where there is a right-wing Republican around every rock and black-jack tree in the state? In reality, Oklahoma is a heavily Democratic state where local voting is often Democratic, but federal voting goes red. For example, we have a voted governor who is a Democrat, while we send Republicans to Washington DC.
Dr. Bob Colburn screwed up so much with his big mouth, in Oklahoma, he should have been "Rode Out On A Rail," a la, "O Brother Where Art Though." The man claimed that there were whole school districts which had been taken over by Lesbians. This is absolutely ignorant, but it wasn't enough of a gaff that the voters shredded his candacy.
Colburn shouldn't have a teacher in the state of Oklahoma voting for him. The man openly said that he would like The National Education Association and Oklahoma Education Association listed as a victim of a homicide. It has taken me aback that the man is working with Barack Obama in some areas of positive changes. Yet, every Baptist teacher in Oklahoma voted for Colburn. SOP when comes to Oklahoma politics. So, what can a Democrat in Oklahoma do to make some waves and, thusly, help make changes?
If you watched The Situation Room, where Wolfe Blitzer is the man, you've seen J. C. Watts hold the flag for the Democratic Party and watch James Carville hide his face in embarrassment, because of Watts attempt to come off as an intellectual. How did Watts, a father of several, but will never be up for the Father-Of-The Year Award, become a Sentor from Oklahoma? I'm wondering if anyone in the Senate even knew about this dead-beat dad. Watts became a Senator on his name recognition, one of Oklahoma University's greatest quarterbacks. After graduation, Watts, easily obtained a Baptist preacher's license and was a great draw by Baptist Youth Church events across the state. From there it was down hill to the Senate.
The Daily Oklahoman is as right-wing as the John Birch Society, yet the newspaper will allow letters-to-the-editor from "professional letter writers" such as me, to grace its editorial page, ... within reason. A writer can push the envelope a bit, too far, though, and can get banned from having any of their thoughts read in The Oklahoman. Now, I know that the editorial page has changed editors and upgraded, but I haven't tried to see if my ban is still enforced. I count it as a battle award.
A Democrat can find their article or LTTE, read on the pages of The Oklahoma Gazette and The Oklahoma Observer. I have had many articles published in The Oklahoma Observer, and it is bright blue in a state that is bloody red. If a Democrat wants to read Molly Ivins or Dale Hill, you will find them here. It is quite easy to have your article published by Frosty Troy. But ... Troy will accept subscription holder's articles, above non-subscriber, but is the paper of choice to read Ivins and other, liberal, non-Bush enthralled Americans. I've even had an article published in the Oklahoma Observer that spear-headed a change in how we handle early childhood learning in our state
The Oklahoma Gazette is shopper's newspaper. This is the one where you find the issue about "all the best eating places in OKC," or "the best hamburgers in Oklahoma," which by the way, is at Mears, Oklahoma. Don't expect to be paid by these two, but you can have your writing read. Of the two, The Observer is the way to go, if you have some editorial thoughts that need vented. The Observer survives on a shoe string budget, and it is worth your time for a Democratic haven in a state where the majority of your friends think you are going to hell.
Funny, I had a Republican friend who considered us as best friends, since we had so much in common. He played the fiddle, and I play the guitar and the harmonica. We both sang in the choir together and both struggled with faking the bass part, while playing venues of varying persuasions outside of church.
After retirement, I grew a beard, "like the LIBERAL you are!" His only problem with me was, "Hill, you are a 'baby killing Democrat.'" I wasn't chosen to be a pall bearer at his funeral - just Republicans had that honor. Me? I took it in stride. It is possible that, when I die, I could well not find enough pall bearers for my funeral. But, ... there are a few of us in Oklahoma.
| September 19, 2006 at 08:10:55 Lest We Forget; Hymnals and Katrina by Dale Hill | |
No, I didn't write this song. Wished I had, but I didn't.. Here's the full chorus of the song.
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
I have a friend who went to New Orleans for a National School Board Workshop, which used to be held there annually. His thoughts about New Orleans was, "There is something, inherently evil about New Orleans." Yep, the man is a Republican. Me? I laughed my head off. I'd be willing to bet that all those poor folks who lost their lives, had a deep and prevailing belief in Jesus and God. Some of the greatest spirituals have their roots in New Orleans.
The words to Lead Me To Calvary, were written by Quaker, Jennie Evelyn Hussey, New Hampshire, 1921 copyright. The music to the poem was written by William J. Kirkpatrick. Since the source I am using, puts the song copyrighted in 1921, and before 1923, that means it probably is public domain, and I can use it to "Garage Band" my dog Sassie, the greatest Blues Dog in the world, singing it with my Chrome harmonica. She loves to sing The Blues and loves to sing church songs as well.
There's a universal truth in this song, and it lies in the center of the chorus:
Lest I forget Thine Agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Have you noticed that we aren't getting much news over the television about Katrina?? I wonder why? Could it be that Rove is playing mind games on the US people, again? Katrina was Bush's disaster to win or lose, and with his actions over the 7 day period, the man was a total failure.
In those days, Katrina proved that Bush was incompetent, as well as Cheney, ... and Rice, big time. Katrina should be "the elephant in the 2006 races." I cannot believe any African American would vote for any Republican on the ballot. Blacks should be reregistering as Democrats. Would it have taken Clinton 4 days to show up? I mean, Bush and his administration were out smoking joints or something, when Katrina happened.
I have a couple of Yahoo trolls that bring me messages about "Katrina, Bush too late," and "Katrina, FEMA." So, I am not off the air over Katrina. I'm afraid all of the TV networks have finished their final video of Katrina, though, thinking that it is now over, and we should move on. Time to move on!! Katrina is still living as a behemoth monster in New Orleans and coastal areas and everywhere else it slammed into.
I don't know about you, but I am going to be taking the networks to task with this thing. Every 2 days, we should be updated on the progress along the Gulf Coast, "Lest I forget their Agony." The agony down there will never go away, so we should be reminding our news sources to still cover it. Anderson Cooper is in Afghanistan, right, because that is where the action is, NOT!! The action is still along the coast and the millions of displaced Americans are still, slowly trying to come out of the catastrophe.
Katrina was this administration's storm to get right or get wrong, and we should not let the American people forget about this tragedy and what Bush's Administration did not do. This administration should be held accountable for Iraq, Afghanistan, and ... Katrina/Ritta, a real crime against American citizens by a sitting president and his administration.
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| September 14, 2006 at 07:10:00 American Airlines - It's Time To Sue ABC by Dale Hill |  |
American Airlines - It's Time To Sue ABC
Long before a handful of religious "hatefuls" schemed to take down the Twin Towers, we had a "run-in" with American Airlines and their check-in system. Unlike the "nitwits" who acted like American's check-in ladies, I can honestly tell you that it wasn't that easy to get on one of their planes. So, ... here is my story, only difference is, this actually happened.
As an "In Home Short Term Delinquent Shelter," the juvenile judge had a run-away teenager sent to our house. She was 16 years old. The teen had a boyfriend who was much older than her, and he owned a decent sized rap sheet. Her parents wanted her back home, immediately, if not sooner.
It seems her boyfriend's cousin was getting married so she up and walked out of their house, school, and state and ended up down here. The girl, also, had planned on staying in Oklahoma with her boyfriend. The juvenile workers had to wait two days, to get the tickets, and I was supposed to get her on the American Airlines the next day at 2 PM.
We arrived in plenty of time and, with my girl in tow, we went to the check-in line. It was our turn.
"Let me see your ticket." She reads the ticket information and looks at the girl.
"Can I have some ID, please; something with your picture on it."
"I don't have an ID." The teenager wore short jeans that were cut-off just below her buttocks and her tank top, hit her just under her breasts.
"Then we can't let you on. We don't know if this ticket is actually yours, and we need proof of identification."
"I don't have any," the girl repeated. A big problem! Anybody who looked at her, could tell she wasn't hiding a bill-fold, a purse, or an ID. Sooo, Brother Dale takes action.
"Come over here, " I ordered the check-in lady. "This girl is a runaway, and she will be on that plane. When she lands in Indiana, her parents will be waiting for her. Your job is to get her on that plane and make sure she doesn't get off the plane until the plane lands in Indiana."
So, ... do you think the check-in ladies got it?
Better believe it. They stamped her ticket, and one of them walked us to our terminal. The lady at the terminal had been notified. So we were treated like First Class. When the plane was ready for passengers, the ticket lady made sure we were boarded first. Well, ... not so fast. They let her on, and told me that I COULDN"T get on, since I didn't have a ticket.
I pulled the ticket taker aside and said, "Listen, I have promised this girl that I will take pictures of her in the inside of the cockpit with the pilots, and I am going to keep that promise." I had taken pictures of her walking into Will Rogers Airport, took pictures of her at the check in, and took pictures of her looking at planes at the terminal. My way or the highway!
Yep, ... they let me in, and the pilots were great, and I took some great pictures of her in cockpit. This was long before digitals. That was it. They compromised and let me in just behind the pilots, and I left. Then I took pictures of the plane flying out, into the skies.
Once I had the film developed, I sent one set to their address, and we kept the other set. My address was on the envelope, so I "kind of" expected to get a card or a telephone thank you. They didn't. So I called them to see if she got home safely and if they received the envelope. Daddy was not nice to me, a guy who did him a favor.
So, ... what do you think? In reality, when a teen is a runner, it can strain a family, big time, so I really wasn't surprised, American Airlines was a life saver, and they didn't and don't need the idiotic scenes of the terrorist getting on their plane. I hope American Airlines sues ABC, for portraying their employees as anything less than professional.
| September 12, 2006 at 14:33:22 Really, What We Have Learned After 9/11? by Dale Hill | |
What We Have Learned After 9/11?
This 9/11 has been jumped on, like Bush on Saudia Arabia, by all the media, both by national and cable news stations. I watched the first half of ABC's "9-11" and was not impressed. I doubt that ABC will get a higher rating on Monday night. For sure, I'd rather be watching the beginning of Monday Night Football, to see new graphics and listen to "Bocephus's" lyrics of "Are You Ready For Some Football?"
But I do think we have learned a lot since The Twin Towers' criminal event, and I believe we can quantify those as well. So here are mine?
1) Dubya's administration will go down in history as the worst presidency in the United States history
2) If we didn't know it then, we know it now, that there is a lot of money to be made in going to war
3) The Bush Administration could care less about the lives in other nations, including children, women, and old people and our own soldiers. Who sends an army into battle, unprepared?
4) The Bush Administration, like a small time thief, can lie about anything and everything, in an effort to point the blame on someone else and can, thus, become the biggest criminal in modern history.
5) The Bush Administration "doesn't care about The Constitution."
6) The Bush Administration "doesn't care about Black People."
7) Smart bombs aren't smart.
8) The United States can use torture, just like terrorists, ... and justify it.
9) We can use weapons of mass destruction (WMD), just as Saddam did.
10) The United States Military can justify the use of Cluster Bombs, as a perfectly acceptable means of fighting war.
11) We have learned that a significant percent of the United States can be duped into believing going to war is the right thing, twice.
12) That a president can lie out of both sides of his mouth, at the same time.
13) That Cheney IS NOT the most important Vice President in the history of the United States.
14) Our voters can be fooled, twice in a row, over the same issue and in the same way by the same moron.
15) Our government does not take care of its citizens, when it is on vacation.
16) It is possible that a president and his staff to be on vacation, during every disaster in our nation.
17) Like the MAFIA, our presidential administration can issue "hits" on individual American Citizens.
18) Our president can put other nations well being above our own and get away with it two times in a row.
19) Our president is incapable of grasping a positive international policy.
20) We can no longer trust the voting process in the United States.
This in not close to being exhaustive. I am sure you can think of an another 20 that I haven't listed.
| September 8, 2006 at 23:14:44 When The Levees Broke - an HBO Special by Dale Hill | |
HBO Katrina Special
Its called, "WHEN THE LEVEE's BROKE"
Get you DVDs ready and hit HBO to watch their Special on Katrina. It's on HBO, so your young children don't need to watch it. The language is raw, and the scenes are visually devastational, but it is a slam-dunk documentary against George Bush
The documentary has footage not seen on CNN, although, CNN is Katrina's savior, as it was to Rita victims. Most of the documentary covers New Orleans. The video contains lots of still photos and tons of tape. Some of the video is from CNN. No, Cooper Anderson, but Solidad is photographed as she walked through the Dome, which was empty. Death smells were still part of the smells in the complex, as well as excremant and urine.
Later, they show the inside of the Dome, when it was full and when the top was blown open. The footage is raw and unyielding, but it needs to be studied.
Bodies. Believe me, the documentary covers the dead bodies everywhere. It shows the boats and rescues and shows the heroes, The Coast Guard. Nothing good is said about Bush, Cheney, and FEMA. It shows Bush saying, "You're doing a great job, Brownie!" Twice, right after each other.
The doc shows people and more people. The music is now dire and symphonic. It is raised then lowered. Then in the bleakest part, it snaps back to the music on the streets, "Oh When The Saints Go Marching In." Incredible stuff.
Harry Belafonte speaks his feelings. This was taken from an interview, earlier.
HARRY BELAFONTE: "I call President Bush a terrorist. I call those around him terrorists, as well: Condoleezza Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales in the Justice Department, and certainly Cheney. I think all of these men sit -- and women -- sit in the midst of an enormous conspiracy that has been unraveling America for the last eight years -- six years. It is tragic that the dubious way in which this president acquired power should have begun to unravel the Constitution and the peoples of this country."
It also has some footage from NBC. It dwells on Houston and what Grandma Bush said, "So this is a really good deal for these children." It doesn't show her saying that she will donate computers and software as long is it is from her son's business.
My hope is that HBO will show this for the next two months. Kanye West's "George Bush doesn't like black people" is shown over and over, with different peoples thoughts. You gotta see the way they handle this. Its got my man, Al Sharpton, discussing West's comments.
The documentary has lots of wonderful music in it. It makes me whish I were raised in New Orleans. If I had been, I'd probably be a street musician with my singing Blues poodle, sitting in a lawn chair with a hat full of money setting in front of me.
Our school children go to school in air-conditioned comfort. The New Orleans' school buildings are hot and clammy and missing thousands of students. "Levee" bounces around the country and interviews a lot of displaced "Orleanders" and their plight.
Watch for Cheney getting a taste of his own medicine. "Go fuck yourself." LOL
This documentary should be seen by everyone. It is moved from HBO channel to other HBO channels. HBO has done an exceptional job on this piece. Documentaries like this are worth the watching price, of HBO. Of course, this doc will not change the Bush toe-suckers, but it should galvanize any fence straddlers.
| September 7, 2006 at 12:14:16 by Dale Hill | |
Have you ever wondered why George W. Bush has a 1,550 acre ranch in West Texas? He doesn't raise cows, horses, llamas, alpacas. or sheep, but he does lease it out to a cattle baron. What motivates a man who buys a bunch of land, that he has no intention of using? I don't know? It has some creeks on it, but, from what I have seen, he's not a fisherman. Is there a lake on it? I'm not sure that Bush even hunts on his land. We do know that Cheney doesn't hunt on it. Chances are, after this year, Cheney can kiss a bird hunt on Bush's land goodbye. Bush has enough land in Texas to hide Ossama Bin Laden - for a couple of months, at least. Maybe he bought that ranch so he could claim that he is a cowboy. Now there is good reason for you to sing "Momma's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." - Waylon Jennings. But there are other questions that I have about George W. Bush, besides that.
What drives a president who likes to lift weights, every day. Bush isn't a boxer, football player, and his job description doesn't involve lifting, though we have found out that Dubya thinks that rolling up his sleeves makes everyone things he is working "HARD!" In prison, there's a lot of the inmates who lifts weights to show other inmates how tough they are. In Oklahoma, though, I understand that the inmates no longer have a weight lifting area. I don't blame them.
We thought it was a good idea to have a weight bench, around here, while we housed juvenile delinquents. Put, the dang thing on our front porch. Of the hundreds of teenagers we had, only one was interested in lifting, and he would want me to come out and watch him. His dad was in prison. Sadly for him, is that he was a cute kid, and in prison, ... well, in prison, cute boys make cute girls.
We do know, Bush likes to go mountain biking. His ranch has canyons on it, for sure. Here's the low down on his ranch, from cryptome.org/bush-ranch.htm
"Prairie Chapel Ranch is a 1583 acre (6.4 km2) estate located seven miles outside Crawford, Texas. It is the home of President George W. Bush. Then-Governor Bush bought the land in 1999 shortly after earning a $14.3-million profit from the sale of the Texas Rangers. Based on fair-market land prices at the time the deal was closed for an estimated $1.3 million.
The land includes seven canyons and three miles of frontage along Rainey Creek and the Middle Bosque River. It is a part of land settled in the mid-19th century by German immigrant Heinrich Englebrecht, who raised turkeys and hogs there and donated some of it to found the Canaan Baptist Church (the "Prairie Chapel").
President Bush uses the ranch for vacations, occasional meetings, and entertaining foreign dignitaries. An August 7, 2001 article in the Washington Post noted Bush spent all or part of 54 days, including many weekends, working and relaxing at the ranch between his inauguration and Labor Day 2001. In 2002, the ranch was wired for what Bush described in a 2003 tour of the ranch as "real time, secure videoconferencing" to be used for his briefings from the CIA and Dick Cheney."
We do know that Bush isn't that good at trail biking. That's a lot of land to check the fences on, every week; maybe he leaves the fences to his guards. I've wondered if Bush has special guards who drive around the parameters of his ranch, daily, looking for possible terrorists? Or, how many Mexican immigrants pass through his land to get to Waco.
Jay Leno and other programs have tried to come up with a Bush look-alike, but so far, they haven't come close. Jay's man is too tall and his face is too long. He tries to talk like Bush, but he hasn't gotten it down. Not enough, "See," or "You see." Bush uses that a lot, especially at press-conferences. Maybe it's because he thinks he knows more than anyone else. No one is laughing. On the other hand, Bush could be using, "You see, ..." because he feels inferior to other Yale and Harvard graduates.
Have you noticed when he walks, his arms hang out, like a Texas Ranger, ready to draw. That's called the "MATT DILLON" syndrome, his hero. I've been around people that do that, and it seems they want to make themselves look tough. It's like an image that says, "Let's draw." To be honest with you, Bush reminds me of the Iran president. You know, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the dude who has dared our U.S. President George W. Bush to a "direct television debate." Challenge? That sounds like something Bush would do. I figure President Mahmoud has watched the Bush/Kerry Debates. Instead of drawing guns, he is daring the president to a televised debate.
There is another quirk of Bush that no comedian has caught on to, in 6 years. Like me, Bush shares a double jointed lower, jaw bone. When the pressure is on him, he will, unconsciously, disjoint his left jaw bone. I'm not sure what percentage of people have that trait, but Bush shares that with me.
And what's this about foul language. It doesn't make any one look tough, though it obviously makes Cheney FEEL tough - a shot of adrinalin by using the F word or the S word. This was Cheney's excuse for the use of it. "Well, it made me feel better." You want your children to use foul language at school, use it yourself or better yeat, let them listen to the president. Children should look up to our president, but, Bush, ... I'd suggest not.
So, ... what do I think causes Bush to have to lift weights, talk tough, act like he is "big time Matt Dillon?"
Sometimes a person of short stature wants to overcome it, by acting big and tough. Surely, that can't be the reason for his testronic actions and attitude. But I am sure that Bush has screwed up his brain, when he and Cheney won the office. They THOUGHT that being the president, meant that they were the boss. Yep, Bush has the "presidential boss, syndrome." That syndrome is very close to the "delusions of grandeur mental illness." What's your guess.
| September 5, 2006 at 08:01:18 by Dale Hill | |
Neocons Just Can't Multiply
If I am anything, I am a free-lance Christian writer. I love to read the Bible and apply its wisdom to our modern times. After Communism fell, the radical, religious right, (Can you say, John Birch Society.), turned their hatred from "The Commies," to public schools, "humanism," and now the Democratic Party.
I had a friend named Howard who sang in the choir with me. We both struggled with singing bass. No professional training; our ears had calouses on them. We had a lot in common, even though he was 16 years older than I was. He played the fiddle and the piano by ear. The piano he could only play in two gears, F and C.
At every choir practice, he would come in and sit down next to me, frown, and llama spit, "Hill, you're a baby killer! I cannot imagine how you could claim that you are a Christian and be Democrat. Baby killer!" I have brother that says the same thing.
To both I say, "The day you develop a vagina and a womb, is the day that you have the right to express your opinion on a woman's right to choose."
Howard would grumble about it, open his folder, and we would do our thing, including some fun, "non-written" musical harmonies. Howard was an educator and once was a principal, and I respected the man as a devoted, professional educator and a Christian.
While we shared the choir, we also shared music in other distinct ways. I play the guitar and am a big time harmonica player, both diatonic Blues, diatonic melodies and harmonies, and ... the chromatic harp. For years we would meet at the old folks home and sing every Tuesday. With no professional voice training, I finally had to quit, because the singing gave me a permanent sore throat. Howard had retired from teaching years earlier.
The first thing I did, after I retired was let my hair grow out and dawn a beard. The man hated it, even though Gillette Blue-Blades hadn't been invented in Jesus's Day! Howard would whisper, "Hill, your nothing but a baby killing hippy!" and I would laugh. It really burned him that I voted for Al Sharpton, because, "... he does a great James Brown!" and I supported Jesse Jackson. I have a never worn, "Jesse Jackson For President" t-shirt, which I would mention to him, often; and Howard simply could not handle the fact that I was probably the only white guy in our area who voted for Sharpton.
Howard had heart problems in his golden years and had to quit the choir, while I had to quit earlier for medical reasons. The man chose to use some quack remedies to "open his arteries," which cost him a couple of thousand and then he had a medical stint opening up an artery. He died, suddenly, while tuning a piano. I miss Howard; I truly do, but Howard is the very description of tons of religious right-wing Christians, who qualify as modern day Pharisees. In my whole family, I am the lone striped sheep, who votes the OTHER way. As Will Rogers once said, "If I look up, and I share the same political agenda as everyone else, it's time to change my politics." (Paraphrased)
After the first Bush election, an email landed on my desktop from my uncle which demanded,"Describe to me as if I were a blind man, how you could vote, as a Christian, for Al Gore."
After I chewed him up and then regurgitated him, and then hit him with a digital ugly stick about Bush, his email read:
"I don't like how you describe our elected president!"
"Then call out the state Republican Mafia!"
I'm off his, pass-on list, now.
"Momma, " one of my nephews asked. "What do Democrats look like? Do they have horns?"
In our family, the reasoning is, you can't be a Christian and be a Democrat. If Jesus were here, he would "just have to be a Republican!" Not so! Jesus ministered to the down and out of the society, as the Pharisees criticized him for not meeting their "FUNDAMENTAL" approach to their religion.
"Democrats have killed 44 million babies!" my brother vibes.
"You baby killers," sneers my brother, who daily, attempts to slam me over the Internet, with politically, high pitched, emails. Yet, "Bro" sees nothing wrong with the genocide in Iraq, brought on by a stupid decision by a stupid president. We have been doing this long before computers. The only difference is, we remain in contact every day, some times as many as 10 to 15 political emails fill my in-box, full of hate from Thailand.
So how do I deal with the right-wing Republican Pharasee, these days? I simply say, "I have a ball bat by the door. If one of my daughters decides that she would rather have an abortion, I'll use the ball bat to rearrange anyones face, like Hank Williams Jr's song, "Attitude Adjustment."
Can I, really prove that right wing, Christian Republicans can't do multiplication? Easy!
Matthew 18:21-22 (Darby Translation) Darby Translation (DARBY)
Public Domain: A Public Domain Bible
21) Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? until seven times?
22) Jesus says to him, I say not to thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.
That includes abortions. So multiply the above, by the number of Bush lovers, and we can figure out how many times they must forgive women and families who choose to have an abortions. But our modern day Pharisees can't handle those two verses because they simply can't handle multiplication!
"Ya' gotta love it!"
(c) Dale Hill 2006
| September 5, 2006 at 07:51:51 by Dale Hill | |
When Cows Vote
Oklahoma just voted in a run-off election for several positions. I'm not looking forward to the November elections with all the dead-head rats that virtually all of the candidates tug along with them. The first and most redundant issue in every campaign is GOD. In Oklahoma there are more Baptists than there are people, and candidates, almost always feel obligated to bring up "Falls Creek," the big Baptist sponsored camp near Davis, Oklahoma. We've been there, and we aren't Baptists. It is one of the most beautiful Parks in Oklahoma, even though the Baptists claim it.
All political commercials in Oklahoma are made by oceanographers - you "sea" one and you've "sean" them all.
"Hi, my name is Mary Fallin, and I believe in God, my family, and Oklahoma; and I am running for Congress." Her commercials rival the "Head On" commercials for redundancy, and they grate against ones senses as her fingernails would on a chalk-board. Fallin was our Lieutenant Governor and is now running for the vacated seat of Rep. Ernest Istook, who has been the Forrest Gump of the DC crowd. Fallin claims she has done a lot as the Lieutenant governor, but she's done about as much as Istook has in House of Representatives, which isn't much...
I can remember a time when Oklahoma always voted Democratic. Now the state always is the first one on all regular networks and cable networks as going bright red. Thus, there is no need for prognostication when it comes to Oklahoma. It is easy for me to vote; I just blacken the dot under Democrat and vote for all Democratic politicians running in the state. It is pretty darn embarrassing, for our state, because we always send the dumb and dumbest to Washington D.C..
For example, Senator Dr. Tom Colburn, one of our DC new-comers to represent Oklahoma, described one Eastern Oklahoma school district as being so full of lesbians in high school, that teachers had to go to the restrooms with the girls to keep them from being groped. When the school district countered, he then, pulled out the school's ACT scores and misused them to describe the district. Colburn also tried to put-out a hit-contract on OEA/NEA, hoping someone would kill those organizations, So, Colburn should be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records, as the politician who had the biggest hit-list America. Unfortunately, Dr. Colburn won, and we sent him to the Senate.
Yep, this is the same Colburn who cried over how important the Senate hearings were as they questioned the nominees for the Supreme Court. Then, he showed just how interested he was as a member of the committee when Jay Leno pointed him out doing a crossword puzzle to keep himself from falling asleep.
Under the Bush term, Oklahoma has lost thousands of jobs, with the last biggee being the closing of the GM car plant located in Midwest City. Our own area has had 3 important sources of jobs, close down, with one going to China. And we wonder why Bush has never stumped for the American Indian vote.
Oklahoma has a good record, though, on our voting machines, since they are tabulated digitally, but leave a paper trail which can easily be tabulated on a ballot double-check. Our last governor, Keating, hardly put his foot on the ground, long enough to leave a print as he headed for Washington D.C. to get a lucrative job there. The only good governor we've had was Henry Bellmon, who, as a Republican, voted his conscience rather than his party.
My advice? Don't waste your time marking each name on the ballot; just fill in the dot below Democratic. Heck, ... even our cows in Oklahoma are Republican and Baptists, and they vote that way, too. So, be sure to watch out for stampedes on the way to your voting district. And remember - Democrat.
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| September 2, 2006 at 22:12:25 One Step From The Classroom to Iraq by Dale Hill | |
One Step From The penthouse to the outhouse!
I have no doubt that our college students today, are more knowledgeable and sharper than we were in the '60s. If I had had a computer when I was working on my undergraduate degree, I would have killed. With the Internet available, today's students can research more quickly and, for those of us who were "typewriter challenged," now even we could "clean some plows," like the golden-fingered electric typists back then cleaned mine. But, in one instance, our 60's students blows today's college students out in space. I am talking about "non-lemming" politics, where today's college students are, simply, clogging up the political discourse as Bush regime loyalists thunder across the US higher education campuses. Where are the Students for a Democratic Society when we need them?
So it zooms through cyberspace that the CIA and the FBI have been going through college students' files across the nation, trying to "identify" possible terrorists, under the pretense of fighting terror. Would we have put up with that nonsense in the 60's? "Project Fight Back" is a government snoop program looking for unpatriotic college students - those who support "Fascism and Hitler." Not in our life time! It was the SDS'ers who raised the student awareness of the war in Vietnam. It seems there is no resistance to our illegal occupation of Iraq, right now, and no resistance to a government which is intrusively, prying more and more into our actions and our lives.
It started at the University of Oklahoma's Student Union with booths set up to sign up students against our occupation in Vietnam. The students were much like I am today, heavily bearded, no care for the fraternity controlled dress codes, and verbally ready to challenge ROTC types, and students in favor of the draft and the war. I suppose, the big difference is that there is no draft, today; but students may rue the day that they didn't become more aware of this adminstrations disregard for their privacy.
It was amazing back then, to watch the student body awareness go from inside the student union and spill out onto the campus. Soon, we were having sit-ins and picketing, to do away with ROTC as a mandated, 2 year service by all male students. Maybe it had to do with the revival of folk music. There is no doubt, today's students simply do not measure up, when it comes to confronting Bush and company pilfering through their private lives. College students, above all else, should take the lead in seeing that today's government is what it is, an administration, out of control, which has caused thousands of deaths because of a half dozen chickenhawks, whose policies could have killed as many as 250,000 people, a high-end estimate by a British group that came up with the number by going block to block on random blocks in Baghdad, to see how many neighbors no longer exist.
The information is every where, yet the students are ignoring it. Today's student union booth-members, now have blogs and are doing a great job in keeping the horrors out and front, but there absolutely is nothing like having "old worn out tennis shoes and well worn t-shirts" in the student unions across the nation.
How can we overlook the children killed, directly by bombs and indirectly by playing with live, unexploded, cluster bombs? We hear all the whining from the military about how all the good they are doing, isn't making the news. I regurgitate at the thought. All the good deeds in the world cannot bring back the innocent civilians and children killed by cluster bombs and our occupation of Iraq. I truly believe there were alternatives to war, to flush out Saddam. I thought, at first, the gathering of troops on the border of Iraq, was a brilliant faint to scare Saddam and family out of Iraq. I was disgusted when our troops were ordered to head for Baghdad - an army unprepared for what they were asked to do.
Idiots in the military kicked out 200 gay military members who were trained as Arabic translators, the most important job in Iraq. This whole war was handled by rank amateurs. The professional soldier in the Pentagon is now a joke, and we are staring, darkly into the worst presidency in the history of the United States.
College students, rise up! It is time to form an SDS, before you lose your right to refuse to choose between the Iraqi desert or Baghdad. Is any war worth killing one small baby or an elementary student? What kind of hypocrites do we have who scorn women who choose to terminate a fetus, while cheering as our bombs kill already born children. Only fools and stooges give up their rights of privacy. It's only one step from the penthouse to the out-house!
