C+V=G? SILENCE = DEATH

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel

Jon Ryker: I oppose the notion that poor people can't contribute and can't be responsible and must be carried by their "betters". I know this isn't true, because I've seen it and lived it. I've also lived with the paternalistic attitude that kills the spirit, and is the core of the problem in this district. If you aren't willing to ask what is necessary from everyone, you will not succeed....
There is no way to tell good parents or good students from bad when the district leadership demands nothing of anyone and covers up the lack of learning. When you get the district standards up to where they should be, you can start to see what parents, kids, and teachers are actually doing their part and which ones aren't. None of that doom and gloom is at all inevitable....we as taxpayers control how this district behaves through the school board....if you want a better school system, vote people in in November who have high expectations for the administration, teachers, parents, students, and taxpayers. This has concrete ramifications at all levels, including, how school books are paid for, which is the venue in this morning's discussion.....if you believe people to be inferior because of income, they will, after years of socialilzation like this, prove to be so. The good news is that high standards work just as well....and high standards are income-independent....
I'm paying tons of taxes for having no kids in school. I'm also paying for the books that many kids throw away because they are not charged for them. It will cost less if the kids don't throw the books down in the hall...to make that happen, you must charge for them....this has the additional advantage of putting a tangible value on what's IN the book...

Ann Longo Actually, you can't fail the child for its parents failure to pay for the book. Jon, you're talking about running the public schools- which are public by constitutional amendments- as private schools. That is exactly the mentality that will take this country even further towards becoming the largest third world country. The right to a public education has nothing to do with the ability to pay for that same education.
Jon Ryker Incidentally, I don't know of any right to a free public education.....first of all, it's not free....somebody pays....second there is nothing in the founding documents about that that I'm aware of....there is certainly no role for the feds in it in the founding documents.....this is yet another example of the feds butting in and ruining things.....in a district where they spend 15k per head, they are limited to 300k in book spending....why, because the feds fund it.....it doesn't have to be that way.....this district put its priorities on other expenditures......namely, directors and associate directors....they could fund books any number of other ways.....of course, with the kids unable to read them, spending a lot on books isn't a priority for them....
And Ann, not for anything, but when I was growing up and books weren't funded by the feds, everybody rented books, and if you lost a book at the end of the year or if you didn't pay your book rent....you didn't get your grades and you did not progress.....many of us were considerably poorer than the people we're talking about here...the books got paid for and weren't lost.....because there was a price for losing them.....also, the vast majority of kids could read them.....because education was valued, at least to a basic level.....
Ann Longo If you charge a fee for the books, you may be challenging federal guidelines regarding free education. That said, you can hold the charge off as negated unless they do not return the books at the end of the term.

Jon Ryker That's what I said....you get the money back if you don't damage the book....although, we never got it back when I was growing up, and everybody had to rent books.....over the course of 5 years, the books got paid for....almost no one, rich or poor, lost a book....they certainly didn't just drop it in the hallway......basic human psychology: what is free is not valued....drove past the projects today....most windows have satellite's anchored outside them....
I can promise you that anybody can come up with 50 bucks over the course of a year for something they know is coming, if it is valuable to them. Now, a more interesting question is not whether people could afford to do that, which they clearly could (they have cell phones and cable), but are the books worth 50 bucks in rental? Another interesting question is, even if the books are good, are they worth 50 bucks if you don't require the students to learn to read so that they can be used?

Ann Longo I'm done. The mentality expressed by others here seems to be of a 'survival of the fittest/richest' brand. This conversation has become a waste of time.

 Of Liberty and Justice for All

Michael W. Connett - Covington, KY.

{August 23, 2004 – Cincinnati, Ohio} The skies are clear, bright, beautiful and beckoning as The Freedom Center Choir sings in anticipation of the arrival of the Parade of Light to approach from the formerly un-free South Bank…

I felt it was important to be here and be visible as a Gay American, because this North Bank of the river does not represent Freedom for me. I came with a glimmer of hope that my people would seize the opportunity to express their personal pride, our continued quest for Freedom and stand with our African-American brothers and sisters even though many of them continue to stand with our oppressors.

The crowd was, for the most part, attentive and respectful for the evenings activities. The Chief Guardian Angel whom I consider a mentor, Oprah Winfrey, believes in the mission of The Center and that Cincinnati – for more reasons than one can count- is exactly the place it needs to be. While I understand it in my head I find it hard to wrap my heart up in this celebration of crossing over to The North Bank.

What about the racial unrest and the April 2001 riots? What about the 1993 passage of Issue 3 that continues to haunt us as Article 12 of this shiny city to the north’s City Charter? A city where folks are afraid of their downtown after dark and where even an event dedicated to The Black Family couldn’t escape the wildings of its own youth? What about our fellow Americans concerted efforts in 2004 to actually write discrimination into our venerable Constitution?

My people were there in numbers, but blended into the crowd who seemed oblivious to this fact that the North and South Banks of the river had swapped ideologies. I enjoyed the entertainment, took note of the inclusive presentation of the struggle for freedom that continues today and was ultimately disheartened that my people and our struggle were not mentioned even once. Not by the people on stage and not by my brethren in the audience. By the time the prayers had ended and they prepared to light the Flame of Freedom I could contain myself no longer. This night could not pass without at least one reminder that We ALL are NOT FREE here on The North Bank. So in the stillness of the night before the Diva’s sang and the Flame was lit I bellowed out that reminder: "REPEAL ARTICLE 12". Then I turned and walked back over the river to the safety of The South Bank listening to the most appropriate song of the evening "The Impossible Dream"...

"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else." - Clarence Darrow

Copyright©:
The Michael W. Connett Living Trust