2012 Conventions

In Honor of this week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida and next week’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina…

Shadow Days

John Mayer

Did you know that you could be wrong

And swear you’re right

Some people been known to do it all their lives…

Public Education

School started today so I would like to share a few thoughts about our public education system in the United States. I have listed a few web sites at the end of this article that I visited and would encourage you to do the same to find out some of the details of the current system and the direction public education in headed as well as a history of public education. Since I am an employee of a public school I have a perspective that perhaps the general public doesn’t have. It also means I should be guarded in some of my comments…

If you turn on the TV to your local news you are bound to hear somebody deriding the state of public education. To listen to them talk our public schools are full of under performing students and unqualified teachers leading them down the wrong path. The solution seems to be getting those kids out of those schools into a private school, presumably full of highly qualified teachers and administrators, and watch them flourish. Oh, by the way, take my tax dollars away from the public schools to help pay for the move. What is it that makes those private schools so attractive? Is it the high level of student performance? The lack of serious discipline problems? As a private school they have the ability to determine who comes there. There are accredited schools that must meet certain guidelines but religious schools are exempt from those guidelines. If you can remove students who are disruptive and remove the scores from students who don’t care, you can certainly increase the performance of those left. Public schools don’t have that luxury. There are extreme cases that lead to students being expelled, but generally speaking if you live in our attendance area we have to educate you. And it is important to do so. An educated community is more attractive to businesses looking for employees, crime is lower, and people generally enjoy living in places were education is valued and displayed. What really gets me is I teach in a school full of great teachers, in a district full of great teachers, led by people who really put the interests of children first. To hear, especially politicians, speak so negatively is disheartening at a minimum. The response usually is “We’re not talking about you; we’re talking about the bad teachers and schools.” That’s all fine and good but the policies they are trying to implement affect me too.  I love all the discussion about cutting the arts, too. In spite of all the evidence showing how music education and arts education benefits students, people still want to cut those programs first. I know times are tough and there isn’t a lot of money to go around, but to take what public education gets now and send it to private schools isn’t right either. If that’s what you are going to do then just eliminate public education all together and let people pay their own way. What kind of society would we have then? There are plenty of arguments for and against some of the policies I’ve been talking about but this isn’t really the time or place for me to go any further. I understand many of the viewpoints from both sides. Not all public schools are bad. I am a product of public schools and my children attend public schools. I appreciate all the people who get up each day and head to school and do the best they can with the students they are entrusted with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States

http://www.educationbug.org/a/history-of-public-schools.html

http://people.howstuffworks.com/public-schools1.htm

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/

Post Ten: Reflection

I’m approximately one month into this whole blogging thing and amazingly I am on post ten. I would not have been surprised if it would have taken ten months to reach the tenth post or at least ten weeks. Once a week is enough of a challenge to put together some thoughts in a coherent fashion so doing it more often is quite an accomplishment for me. Those of you who are actually reading these ramblings might think I come up with some strange topics. I was riding down the road the other day and realized how amazing the railroad system is and how much power a locomotive needs to move all the cargo it does around the country. Look for some interesting facts on that in the future. So ideas to write about really just present themselves during everyday activities. When I do write something I try to give a sense of why the topic might be important to me but don’t always give all the reasons or give an exhaustive presentation of facts so you, the reader, can think about it or even research it in your own. If these posts were to be submitted as papers to a college professor, I would certainly have to work on some of my sentence structure and vocabulary, but for the purpose of this blog, I don’t. In the future you can expect some general changes to the look and feel and/or method of operation for my posts. For instance, after this tenth post I will no longer put what number post I am on in the title. The layout of the page might evolve into something more user friendly or the description of the blog might get a revision, etc. I also may begin to promote the blog on my own a little. When I wrote the first post I only told by brother who has a successful blog and a growing following, just to see if people really do read his site. So the first readers only knew about my blog if they also read his. I hope this first month is just the beginning of something long-lasting and worthwhile.  

Everlong

Foo Fighters

Hello
I've waited here for you,
Everlong…

Breathe out so I can breathe you in

Hold you in

Post Nine: Olympic Tears

As I am sure you are aware the Olympics comes around every four years and this year I have gotten quite involved in what has been going on across the pond. Even as a kid I can remember watching the Olympics and really appreciating the competition and the sense of national pride that accompanies this event. I enjoy the summer games more than the winter version probably because I was more likely to participate, even if just causally, in many of the events you might find in the summer games. We could go out in the back yard and play basketball, run races, play volleyball, race our bikes, etc. but there wasn’t much of an opportunity to snow ski, play ice hockey, or ice skate. Because of that I at least have a feeling for what it takes to win a race or a game in some of these sports. What I don’t really have a feeling for is the incredible dedication to training that these athletes have. All I know is I never had it or have it now. When you think about what these Olympic and professional athletes in general do to prepare themselves to be successful it is quite amazing. There is a trade off to be that successful in a particular sport. The sacrifice required is more than most people, myself included, are willing to make.

Unfortunately, I missed the opening ceremony this year. I simply forgot it was on. I’m sure I will have a chance to see it replayed again in the future if I choose to take the time to watch it. I spent all day Saturday, however, watching events. From that day to today, every time I watch I gain more appreciation for what these athletes are accomplishing. What led to this post was the tears that you see on the faces of the competitors, tears of joy and tears of pain. The Americans have won several medals gold, silver, and bronze. Everyone who competes wants to win. Sometimes you are just not good enough and taking home a silver or bronze medal is a great accomplishment. Other times it isn’t. For example, when Michael Phelps finished second by .05 of a second in one of his races, he was clearly disappointed (and should have been). In the women’s synchronized diving competition, the American duo finished a distant second to a dominate Chinese team. But the clear elation on their faces for taking home the first Olympic medal for America in a diving event in several years was worth watching. But the tears that really stand out so far were given by the women’s gymnastics team. When Jordyn Wieber realized that she was the third best scorer for the USA team and therefore would not get to participate in the individual all around competition (because only two from each country can advance which is a dumb rule) she was visibly shaken. It was at that moment that she realized that all the hard work was not going to result in an individual medal. Anybody watching had to feel sympathy for her. Those tears of pain came through the television and struck me. The positive side of it all was team USA still had the chance for a team medal and she would be a big part of that. Later in the week when they competed as a team she was a big reason they ended up winning the gold. But with one person left to go on the floor exercise, McKayla Maroney (I think), stepped up for her routine. She had just landed on her head in the warm-ups and now was the last one between a gold medal or a silver medal. When she stuck her final landing and realized that even with the unpredictably of Olympic judges, she had just secured a gold medal for Team USA, she started to cry. Once again I was touched. It was so rewarding to see them as a team overcome setbacks and live up to the expectations placed on them before these games.

There have been great American moments in swimming both for men and women and in other events so far as well. I still get goose bumps whenever they show the medal ceremony and the American flag goes up highest and the Star Spangled Banner plays. When these games are over I hope the USA has the most gold medals and the most medals overall, but what I am really going to take away from London 2012 is the incredible dedication of these athletes, their coaches, and their parents as they represented the greatest country on earth. USA! USA! USA!

Who Has the Right?

Sammy Hagar

Everyone's a victim, everyone's to blame
And we are all so different, yet the same
Oh, and everyone's the master of their own destiny
As long as one of us is chained, none of us are free

One

Creed

Society blind by color
Why hold down one to raise another
Discrimination now on both sides
Seeds of hate blossom further
The world is heading for mutiny
When all we want is unity
We may rise and fall, but in the end
We meet our fate together

Post Eight: Judicial System

Our Sunday School lessons this past quarter have focused on Justice and how we are expected to administer it fairly. This past Sunday we talked about how Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, set up a system of courts in and around the cities where the people lived as well as what might now be called an appeals court. His focus was eliminating corruption in the justice system. One of the things we talked about was our current Justice system and how complicated it seems to be. While we hope justice is blind and that everyone gets a fair trial, that doesn’t always happen. Clearly there are cases where bribes are given, people or judges condemn for the wrong reasons, or people get away with murder. Aside from that, however, just navigating the justice system can be overwhelming and nearly impossible without a lawyer. Sometimes what appears as the rich getting off unjustly might just be a matter of them having a lawyer smart enough to make sure his client gets a fair trial. For instance, take two people, one rich the other poor. Both have been accused of committing separate crimes that neither committed. If both are acquitted most of us would say the rich guy bought his freedom while the poor guy must have just been innocent. On the other hand, if the poor guy gets stuck with a well-meaning, but inexperienced lawyer he might not win his case because of some oversight that a well paid lawyer would never let happen. Lawyers are great targets for jokes or other negative comments, but having a good lawyer when you need one is very important.

One of the things that makes this country great is judicial system we have in place to protect the rights granted to us in the constitution. Now clearly, there are reforms needed. I don’t suggest that everything is perfect with our system, but we are in a better position than many other people in places around the world. My point today is not to offer all the changes/corrections I think are necessary, but rather to point out that sometimes, even when you are innocent, having to navigate the system can be daunting and unwise to take on alone. Thanks to all the good lawyers out there. All those jokes we tell really aren’t about you!

Here is some more information on our court system both at the federal level and the state level.

The Federal Court System

The Constitution grants Congress power to create and abolish federal courts, although the United States Supreme Court is the only court that cannot be abolished. Congress also has the authority to determine the number of judges in the federal judiciary system.

In general, federal courts have jurisdiction over civil actions and criminal cases dealing with federal law. Jurisdiction can overlap, and certain cases which that may be heard in federal court can instead be heard in state court. Federal courts can only interpret the law in the context of deciding a dispute. A court cannot approach an issue on its own or in a hypothetical context. 

http://people.howstuffworks.com/judicial-system1.htm

Click on the following link to view a diagram of the Federal Court System.

http://www2.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/court.html#sca

South Carolina's Unified Judicial System
South Carolina's unified judicial system is headed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who, along with four associate justices, is elected by the general assembly to a 10-year term. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal. A five-member intermediate court of appeals for criminal cases was established in 1979, but legal questions (specifically, about the election of general assembly members to four of the five seats) prevented the court from convening until 1981; the court became a permanent constitutional court in 1984.
Sixteen circuit courts hear major criminal and civil cases. As of 1999 there were 154 circuit court judges, all of them elected by the general assembly to six-year terms. The state also has a system of family courts for domestic and juvenile cases. In addition, there are magistrates' courts (justices of the peace) in all counties, municipal courts, and county probate judges.

http://www.city-data.com/states/South-Carolina-Judicial-system.html

South Carolina Court Structure
State High Court	Court of Last Resort Supreme Court
Intermediate Court	Intermediate Appellate Court Court of Appeals
Trial Court	Court(s) of General Jurisdiction* Circuit Court (3) Court(s) of Limited Jurisdiction Family Court (3) Magistrate Court (23) Probate Court (3) Municipal Court (number in parentheses are judges in Spartanburg county)

http://wlwatch.westlaw.com/aca/west/statecrtorg.htm

In light of today’s post on the Justice System…

Folsom Prison Blues

Johnny Cash

When I was just a baby my mama told me. Son,
Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns.
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry…

My Own Prison

Creed

I hear a thunder in the distance
See a vision of a cross
I feel the pain that was given
On that sad day of loss
A lion roars in the darkness
Only he holds the key
A light to free me from my burden
And grant me life eternally

Should have been dead
On a Sunday morning
Banging my head
No time for mourning
Ain't got no time