Single Dads

9news, which is out of Denver and one of the bettter television news websites that I’ve seen, had a couple of features late last evening that caught my eye.

Bad news first.  Apparently, Denver Public Schools has decided to close a bunch of schools in the district.  Again. 

DENVER – Monday, the superintendent of the Denver Public School District unveiled his list of eight schools the district plans to close.

Says the superintendent of Denver Public Schools later in the article:

“We believe these proposals are a difficult, but an absolutely necessary step towards making DPS the best it can be,” said Bennet in a statement. “We are very excited about the new opportunities that we are creating and believe that our students will benefit greatly from these opportunities. At the same time, we deeply understand how painful school closures will be for the students and families at these schools, and we will work closely with them during the transition.”

Bennet says closing the schools will save $3.5 million.

Several years ago, I attended a well known high school in the Denver suburbs.  The DPS high schools, with their high educational levels, numerous students, and well coached athletic teams, were some of our fiercest competitors in both sports and academics. 

Now, a little over twenty years later, DPS has been reduced to using mid-90’s doublespeak - where the closing of low achieving schools and low enrollment is now called creating “opportunities”.  How tremendously disappointing.

But in better local news, Colorado has received a multi-million dollar grant for fathers and kids that might be seen as high risk.

DENVER – Men who need help with fatherhood now have access to dozens of free programs throughout the state.

Governor Bill Ritter (D-Colorado) and representatives with the Colorado Department of Human Services kicked off the “Be There for Your Kids” campaign on the steps of the State Capitol Monday afternoon.

The initiative is geared towards providing programs and resources for dads in a wide variety of circumstances, including single parenting, incarceration and children with disabilities.

This is the good news.  The website that contains the grant and program information is www.coloradodads.com.  Go out there and take a look.

Free programs for single fathers.  Educational resources taken from kids in minority areas.

One step up and two steps back.

The classic “Good news, bad news” scenario in government continues.  I read the headline of this MSNBC article with a happy heart and skip in my step… until I read the punchline.

WASHINGTON - Congress approved legislation Thursday adding 4 million children to a popular health care program, setting up a veto fight that President Bush probably will win but handing Democrats a campaign issue for next year’s elections.

Here’s my point.  Who cares if there is a campaign issue for next year’s elections?  Wouldn’t it be a better, happier result if the kids that need to have health insurance actually have it?

Here’s a touch more from the article, which I suggest that you read, because I would rather that nothing be taken too much out of context.

Analysts projected the legislation would allow about 4 million of the estimated 9 million uninsured children in the United States to gain coverage.

Sounds expensive, but for some reason, that seems ok by me.  You can call me Pro-Kid.  A few billion dollars for heath insurance for kids certainly looks positive on the surface.  Perhaps it’s time to do a bit of research.

I originally completed this yesterday, but it got enough of positive response that I thought that it might be a good idea to post it here.

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Yesterday was the anniversary of 9-11, which some Americans consider to be the most significant event in their lives .

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Six years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, most Americans view the plane hijackings that killed around 3,000 people as the most significant historical event of their lives, according to a poll released Monday.

Eighty-one percent of those surveyed said they see the attacks as the most significant historical even of their lifetimes, with more people on the east coast — 90 percent — choosing this view compared to 75 percent on the west coast.

The Zogby International telephone poll surveyed 938 people between September 6 and 9 and has a three-percentage point margin of error.

Thank Yahoo.

First, I’d like to say that 9-11 is most certainly NOT the most significant event of my life.  Number 1: Birth of my daughter.  Number 2:  Meeting my significant other.  3.  Birth of my nieces.  So.  To me, 9-11 is significant, it just pales in comparison to those events.

What I find notable about 9-11, however, is what events have happened since.  Here’s my list.
- One completely justifiable war (against the Taliban)
- One completely un-justifiable war (against Iraq)
- The wasting of an enormous amount of pro-American sentiment
- The pillaging of Bill of Rights and the Constitution
- The utter decimation of the health care system
- Virtual destruction of the public school system nationwide
- The creation of the Homeland Security Agency

When I think about how much money has been spent on the war on Iraq, I think of how the Taliban could have been completely wiped off the face of the planet, or how Osama could have been found, or how schools could have been improved, or how a national health care system could have been created.

The saddest thing about 9-11 is what has occurred since then.  We have wasted a lot of time, money, and lives.  9-11 is one of America’s greatest catastrophes… and the aftermath is one of our greatest disasters.  We should be ashamed.

When you are a single parent, frustration is a constant companion, which is oddly enough why no single parent should be lonely for even a minute. Besides the usual complaints: (more…)

People that have read this website before might remember previous rants on No Child Left Behind. Thanks to the Science Blog, I now have yet more ammunition against one of my least favorite federal programs.

Bruce Fuller, lead author and professor of education and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that the strong advances in narrowing racial and income-based achievement gaps seen in the 1990s have faded since passage of ‘No Child’. “The slowing of achievement gains, even declines in reading, since 2002 suggests that state-led accountability efforts—well underway by the mid-1990s—packed more of a punch in raising student performance, compared with the flattening-out of scores during the ‘No Child’ era,” he observed.

“We are not suggesting that ‘No Child’ has dampened the earlier progress made by the states,” Fuller said. “But we find no consistent evidence that federal reforms have rekindled the states’ earlier gains. Federal activism may have helped to sustain the buoyancy in children’s math scores at the fourth-grade level, seen throughout the prior decade.”

Give the article a peek. I find few topics more aggravating than the state of elementary and secondary education at the moment, especially in light of the fact that I actually feel compelled to send my daughter to private school for at least the first few years of her educational career. That costs money, and the idea of spending money at this level doesn’t quite drive me insane, but it HAS, along with child support, drove me to hold down two jobs and a freelancing position that I’ll have to share with you someday.

Come to think of it, having essentially three jobs might just be insane after all.

“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?”

Can political discourse in the media possibly get worse?

On the January 17 edition of Fox News’ The Big Story, host John Gibson, during a discussion with Manhattan Institute senior fellow John H. McWhorter and Young Democrats of America’s Malia Lazu about Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) — who on January 16 announced his decision to form a presidential exploratory committee — said: “And [Obama's] team works overtime trying to hide Obama’s dirty little secret. He is — get this — a cigarette smoker. The point is: What else do we not know about Barack Obama?”

I got this from Media Matters..via Digg.

I hate smoking, even though I’ve been known to do it.

Yet, somehow, I don’t see how Senator Obama smoking has anything to do with anything. Why should I, or anyone else, care? Do political opinion pieces really have to grasp at straws so badly?

Oh, and check out this graphic:

Dear LORD. You have GOT to be kidding. Obviously, that must be a joke.

Josh Gibson:

Obviously, your team does not work overtime to conceal your dirty little secret - that you are a political hack of the worst possible kind.