RobBob

way to tell 'em trask

Speaking of which, I'm going to have to leave you wankers in couple of hours to go facilitate a PTO meeting. I'm sure we'll have lots of exciting dialog. I'm going to open up by claiming that all the men in the audience have bribed me to keep the meeting to 45 minutes.

Let's also place some blame squarely on the shoulders of parents for today's mess. Lack of discipline is a core problem that IMO is often made into a medical problem like ADD. How many of you were like I was, in a post-WWII first-grade classroom of over thirty kids. One old battle-axe teacher who ruled with an iron hand, no assistants. She had us divided up into reading groups within a month, according to ability and she was pretty damn accurate as I remember in her assessments of the kids. If old Mrs. Y. were faced with thirty-some of today's first-graders, who are unused to discipline, play violent playstation 2 hours a day, etc., I'm betting she couldn't handle them.

I'm lucking out so far with a charter school that basically is there as an inclusive, tuition-free alternative to the snobbish private school alternative. We do donate time to the school, but in return we know that parents of the other kids are also committed to some service time, and are like-minded about learning, discipline, etc. Hope it lasts in its present form.

Sisu, you've hit the nail on the head. If you run a business, then you almost intuitively focus your efforts on meeting the needs of the 80% of your customer base that is "standard." You know that if you spend too much money and focus catering to the needs of the "special interests," then you risk failing the 80% core group. That is what's happened in the public school system. And because in this generation both parents work, public school also serves as a daycare, so politically it is harder to vote in a system that separates the special interests, be they ESL, "exceptional," discipline problems, etc. Who can justify putting a normal, bright young kid into the stew that many public school systems represent today, if one can afford not to?

I would argue that reality---that is, the reality of what is in the best interests of children---is being totally overlooked here. Go ahead, spray away. Call me a gay-basher (I'm not). Tell me that all that matters is love and support of a child. It isn't. Part of what a child learns growing up with a man and a woman is a frame of reference for who girls and boys grow up to be. The kid has that frame of reference in the two people who are most central to his life: His mom and dad. They are role models, they are information sources, and if they do reasonably well as partners, then he has a good frame of reference from which to build a relationship himself with someone of the opposite sex when he's an adult. Same-sex adoptions are about the adopting parents and not about the adoptees. Love ain't enough to give a kid the tools to operate confidently and comfortably in this modern world. Those of you who can't see the big picture on this subject are either extremely naive about childrearing, or can't take your militant "my rights" glasses long enough to be objective about it.

local radio station just made a dedication play of "PYT" for Michael.

ahh, and the old telescope on the waterfront...best viewing is on warm summer days...

What's wrong with that picture: There's a cat on your premises. What's right about it: At least the cat is outside.

The original "It's My Life" by Talk Talk was a good song, and enjoyable to hear again once-in-awhile. Why must it be re-made by some teeny-bopper with a shrill Britney whine? Now we're less likely to hear the original version again.

Girls, let this thread be proof to you that it is unfortunately true that all of the good, straight men ARE taken. This happened about two years ago, and a year later, the 100% gay guys announced that they were taken too. Now all you've got left is a sorry stew of bi-bi's, metrosexuals, she-males, trannies and other assorted girlie-boys...and the boys like necro and traskie who admire them.

Oh there was plenty to look at, O_W. But you are right---I probably should have called it a vicarious opportunity. I started to whistle Girl From Ipanema softly while this little scene was playing, but I decided not to intrude. Willstrickland and lummox have shown that they do not normally read my posts, for if they did they would have known that I am a good husband and am not trolling the world, picking up women and "banging them in the bathroom." Instead I am documenting for the gentle cc.com reader what I think is an interesting snippet of life.

I'm drinking in the Crown Room, getting my courage up for a bumpy ride home. There is a wealthy Mexican chica in her 20s sitting directly across from me, crossing and uncrossing her leggy legs as she lectures the polite and lecherous old man next to me about how she's on top of life. The gal is full of shit, like most children of the ultra-wealthy, but she's a healthy-looky Gata in Botas. The old guy is salivating as he speaks in a fatherly way about his own travels in her home country, and listens to her talk about her boyfirned and how she's not ready to marry him. I look again at her and wager she'll be married with two kids inside of five years. Your faithful reporter, off to his flight, RobBob

oooh, catbird heard the report....but that's about 2 generations from now.

I just spat Pepsi onto my computer screen...

What are they thinking? I was listening to an NPR story about the declining female birth rate in India. Gender-identity scans are illegal there, but performed nonetheless, and apparently rich and poor alike are having females aborted. The dowry system and the old belief that males are income-providers keep driving this trend, even though India has a large %age of women in its workforce and in positions of power (not to mention the high %age of hotties too ). There are communities where the birth rate is as skewed as 75 females per hundred males. Stoops. Cut that shit out!

I fancy myself somewhat versed in Sun Tzu and his Art of War, and this guy's assertion that Iraqis are following a strategy uniquely attributable to Sun Tzu is a stretch.

Necro, your writing style resembles Michael Moore's more with each passing day.

MWM, seeking both cc.com women to perform naked crevasse jumps in good style for photo shoot. Jumps will be made similar to form shown in photo below. Invigorating opportunity to begin modeling career. Cocoa provided after shoot.

I'm over here on the East Side.

Now Jim, if you were the good environmentalist that I thought you were, you would have convinced the gov'mint to ditch those gas-guzzling F250s, and replace them with Tacomas or such.

lummox, you ever gonna quit flirting with women and ask one of em out? Before your palms grow over?

and the answer is...No. What matters most is the attitude of the person who owns them. As far as fake ones, I submit that fake boobs are like fake orgasms. Why bother? And who wants to be with someone who's faking it? Seriously, I think it's bizarre and troubling that as a culture we have set a body standard that requires plastic surgery to meet it. Isn't that sick?

The Mercury Mountaineer is more-closely related to a minvan.