Since when did “clean the toilet seat after you use it” turn into abuse and punishment?
No one wants to sit on a toilet seat that has been urinated on; its unhealthy! When we use a public restroom, we instinctually check the stalls for the condition they’re in before using one. If the toilet hasn’t been flushed or if there is urine on the toilet seat or on the floor, we move to the next stall, often thinking that the prior user wasn’t taught to clean up after themselves, etc.
What’s happening with an art teacher, Catherine Saur, in Hartford is shameful. Suspending her for reinforcing healthy habits is not the message we should be sending to our students. Requiring our children to clean up after themselves is about self-respect, about respect for one’s health and the health of others around them. That’s a good thing.
Let’s reverse this situation. Suppose a teacher did not instruct her students to clean up after they use the toilet. Suppose one of the student’s — or even more — sat on a toilet seat that had been urinated on, or there was toilet tissue on the floor with fecal matter on it and the students were not reminded to wash their hands or flush the toilet or anything like that. No doubt, students would get sick. Once parents became aware of the condition of the toilets, all hell would break loose.
The media frenzy would be at a fever pitch. There would be petitions to close down the school. In addition to the Department of Children and Families (which Ms. Saur’s actions were referred to), the health department would be called in. Accusations would be hurled at the teacher for not caring enough about her students, and for being racist because black
Inside Story: Obama’s Middle East address
Watch this story. What’s your take on this?
Public office and radical religious right a bad mix for our country.
Our country was established on an ideology that promotes free speech, liberty, pursuit of happiness and the freedom to worship. That ideology still draws people to our borders by any means available — even at the cost of their own life. And yet, the rise of a contentious religious right, which often equates “my pew or no pew,” seems to be bent on destroying those rights.
It’s a shame that potential candidates feel it necessary to “give up” their personal religious beliefs to run for public office. It makes my head spin to think that we send our military to fight for “democracy” and defend these rights but then we have a political party whose base is bent on dismantling those rights here at home.
Look at former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. It’s a shame Huntsman finds it necessary to distance himself in any way from his personal religious beliefs because being a
Walmart can save the lives of workers in Bangladesh if they act now.
This is an important message from my friends at Change.org. It’s a story that is too familiar involving big corporations that send their manufacturing jobs to under-developed countries that don’t have labor laws in place to protect workers from abuse. By signing Change.org‘s petition, we have an opportunity to have an impact that, in this case, can save lives of innocent people who, like us, attempted to stand up for workers’ rights, demanding better working conditions. Here are the details: In the next few weeks, the Walmart Corporation will help decide if three activists live or die. See, Walmart relies on cheap subcontractors across the developing world, many of which force workers to toil in unimaginable conditions. Three Bangladeshis, Kalpona Akter (pictured at right), Babul Akhter, and Aminul Islam, had been fighting to help the workers at some suppliers in their country. Rather than treat workers fairly, these suppliers have filed false criminal charges against the trio.
|
Another Loophole. $3.6 Trillion from foreign depositors in US banks non-taxable.
IRS Building Washington DC
While the GOP continues its death march on the the middle-class, seniors, youth, the poor (which covers most of us), making Sherman’s “march to the sea” across the South pale in comparison, the IRS is looking at ways to get more money. How? Tax the currently nontaxable.
“Foreign depositors have placed an estimated $3.6 trillion with U.S. banks and securities firms. Much of the money isn’t disclosed to tax authorities in their home countries. iWatch News examined the problem in anticipation of a IRS meeting this week to suggest changes to federal banking policy that would close the loophole. U.S. bankers and their friends in Congress hate the idea. All 25 members of Florida’s U.S. House delegation — Republicans and Democrats alike — wrote President Barack Obama to say that the proposal could cause “irreparable harm to the U.S. economy” by scaring away foreign capital. My, but money talks.”
For those of us fretting over a shrinking budget, a stingy job market and rising oil prices, hearing about $3.6 trillion dollars sitting in our banks avoiding taxes does not go over well.
Heads Up! Another “Bell Curve Scientist” on the Loose
I’m at a loss for words that anyone in their right mind would allow such an article to be posted. As for the author and his beliefs … Note: the “silent comments” in the brackets are mine and not the author’s.
Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa | Scientific Racism
The Pseudoscience of “Black Women Are Less Attractive” | Author: Akiba Solomon, Colorlines |Tuesday, May 17 2011, 12:33 PM EST
Yesterday, the website of Psychology Today allowed an evolutionary psychologist named Satoshi Kanazawa to post a set of bar graphs meant to prove how black women are “objectively and subjectively” uglier than white, Asian and Native American women.
The post, which was an installment of Kanazawa’s “Scientific Fundamentalist” blog, was titled “Why Are African American Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”—until someone at Psychology Today tweaked the headline to read, “Why Are Black Women Rated Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women, But Black Men Are Rated Better Looking Than Other Men?” [sigh]
Celebrating Graduation Day on New York’s Highline
I wish it would stop raining! I really wanted to walk along New York’s High Line (the El (elevated train) that ran along New York’s west side from 1934 to 1980) tomorrow, but its going to rain. I wanted to share a moment of nature’s determination coupled with some forward thinking folks (Friends of the High Line) with No. 4 grandchild whose’ keenly interested in preserving (and saving) our planet.
She graduates from college tomorrow and I’m real excited as she is my first grandchild to graduate college (four others are in college and will be following her over the next four years).
To me, the High Line is a beautiful story of the power of nature reclaiming the landscape. Seeing the tracks covered with natural grasses and wild flowers was an inspiration to Robert Hammond and Joshua David in 1999 to take the first steps in preserving the train line and turning into a beautiful park.
The weather report for the weekend calls for scattered thunderstorms. If flowers can grow through concrete and steel, I can find a restaurant close by the High Line and moment of sunshine (or at least no rain) so that we can still take a photo or two on the Line commemorating No. 4′s incredible and relentless hard work (she made the Dean’s list, too!).
Indiana Schools Phasing out Sign Language for Death Students.
The assault on American education and our inclusiveness to recognize each precious child’s needs and celebrate our differences is growing in insidious ways.
Theocracy Watch: Dominion Theology. Should any religion rule the world?
This is one of five videos which I find informative and though-provoking. In a country that is grounded in religious freedom, the right to worship as one sees fit, dominion theology doesn’t fit.
Gov. Deal’s Office Bans FOX 5 from Immigration Bill Signing
On May 12, I shared a video story that I received from Common Cause about Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s (R) hidden campaign payments to a clandestine business owned by his daughter-in-law. All the information about the company was false. The mailing address and more. Georgia’s Fox 5 news also reported on this, as well as other local and national news media.
Gov. Deal wasn’t pleased about the release of the video or the story coverage. So, when he signed historic and controversial immigration bill into law the other day, all media were welcome to cover the signing except for Georgia’s local Fox 5. They were barred from entering the event.
The first video below left a lot of questions; especially since “a few” complaints against Gov. Deal involving his campaign finances were filed last year with Georgia’s ethic’s
War Crimes Prosecutor Seeks Gadhafi Arrest
Hopefully, prosecutors will be able to expand their warrant to include others in Gaddafi’s close circle. I believe that would start a domino effect of more top-level officials defecting.
New London CT. CT Lyric Opera Ends Season with Tosca
Connecticut Lyric Opera Concludes Season with "Tosca"
Tosca, the opera is filled with intrigue, secret police, love and betrayal, mystery, and a plot that thickens to a fever pitch. Tosca, the woman, the diva, the heroine who plunges to her death in an act of defiance. The music, Giacomo Puccini at his best.
CT Lyric Opera ends is season with Puccini’s Tosca on May 15 at 4pm at the Garde Arts Center in New London CT.
After the opera, there are lots of great places to eat, offering a diverse and eclectic dining experience nearby.
About the Center: The Garde Arts Center is “a complex of four adjacent buildings in downtown New London, the centerpiece is the 1,472-seat Garde Theatre, a historic movie/vaudeville house (1926). Built in 1926 during the golden era of the motion pictures and vaudeville theatres, the recently restored Moroccan interior of the Garde Theatre, along with the new seats and state-of-the-art stage equipment, provide an audience-friendly theatre venue in a warm and beautiful atmosphere.”
