I thought I posted this before but I've moved my nest. It can now be seen here  http://ruffledfeathers.sytes.net/  Sorry about the inconvenience.

Raven

Ok, it's been a while since I last wrote. Not that I haven't had things to say, its all about having the time. Instead of a particular topic it seemed like a good time to just pick a view things out that have caught my attention. Call it a new feature called

They are not serious are they?

First and foremost. This morning I am watching television, a rare occurrence for me I assure you, and during the news program they had a news alert. Ok, that got my attention. Perhaps something truly important happened that I needed to know right this second. After realizing what the 'Alert' was all about my first reaction was They aren't serious are they?  Not only have they determined that a Ted Kennedy going to the hospital was something worthy of a Special Alert? And not only a special alert but hours of up to the minute coverage?? Now I am sure that any other politician so much as had a hang nail we would have wall to wall coverage. ~cue sarcasm~ It's a politician for god's sake, it's not like it was a Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan story. Then it would have made perfect sense. I don't know what was worse, the idea there was so much coverage or the fawning I heard, and this was on Fox no less. Talking about how bipartisan he is? How he was so good at reaching across the aisle?? Excuse me? What planet exactly these people on? It got so bad I had to turn the channel and watch something else, anything else. And that is a big deal for me. I watch maybe one hour of television a week. Though I got lucky and watch a few hours on VH-1 Classic about the birth of Soul music. That was actually interesting.


Now the second piece. Since I still can't get links to work right here I will have to  paraphrase it. I will put the appropriate URL's at the end of post.


This is the opening of the article, should say it all.

No more tag or touch football for the students at Armatage Elementary in south Minneapolis.

The school now has an official "no touch" policy.

Originally the rule, circulated to parents Thursday, banned even casual touching such as hand-holding and hugging.

But Principal Joan Franks has now refined the policy to target aggressive and "unsafe" behavior such as play-fighting, pushing and shoving. And tag.

So let me see if I get this straight, it is no longer ok to let kids...be kids? Makes sense to me. ~scratches head~

I think this quote sums it up nicely. (Emphasis mine.)

In an interview Friday, Franks said: "We want to make sure every child has an equal opportunity to play without the fear of being hurt. If I have to err, I will on the side of safety."

Excuse me? An equal opportunity to play without fear of getting hurt?? Guess that means swing sets and all other playground equipment has to go, can't have the precious urchins possibly getting hurt on those. If I remember correctly, and I think I was a kid once long ago, kids did things that had an inherent risk of some sort. We could have fallen and gotten hurt. I know I did. I hate to break this news to the 'all-knowing and all-caring' types but life comes with risks. It is a shock I know but it has been know to occur.

A parents reaction:

"It sort of punishes the entire student body for the behavior of a few students and flies in the face of holding individuals accountable for their behavior," she said.

"Discipline the child or children instead of making a blanket policy that is unrealistic. If it's playground misadventures, let's have some policies that are specific to that."

Sums up the entire risk-free mentality quite well. Instead of dealing with individuals who cause trouble let's make an all encompassing rule. After all we can't hurt the feelings of the trouble makers now can we? What do we think childhood is, preparation for the real world? Perish the thought.

Third point. Again URL at bottom of point. This time it is the first in a two-part series. (Of course it is)
It has to do with the suspension rate from local high schools. The sub-headline sums it up.

Black students are far more likely to be suspended from school than are their white classmates -- and Minnesota's disparity in suspensions is twice the national average. Why? What are the consequences?

I read the article and didn't learn anything I didn't already know. To me it sounds very similar to the 'discussion' on why there are more minorities incarcerated or on death row. I've never seen these really mentioned as a possible reason, but maybe, just maybe, the reason there appears to be a disproportionate amount of certain groups punished is because they are disproportionately the ones causing the trouble/doing the crimes? Nah, that can't be the reason, how naive of me.

I find this little section precious. Again emphasis mine.

Cashon Richard, 15, was suspended a few times in middle school. "But it got real crazy this year," said the Washburn High School ninth-grader.

This year, Cashon -- who says he's a gang member -- has been sent home several times for fighting. But he's also been suspended for being three minutes late to class, for going to the bathroom without a pass and for sleeping at his desk. In all, he guesses, he has been suspended 15 times this school year.

Let's see, suspended for fighting, late to class, leaving class without pass and sleeping at his desk. I definitely see how he was targeted because of the color of his skin. ~cue sarcasm~

And this last one, for now, gets point for creativity, but loses them immediately for stupidity. Again headline sums it up nicely.

Witnesses say man warned to move away before he jumped into wood chipper

 And they say it was a suicide attempt. Uhmm I hope so. Again creativity points, but negative intelligence points.

Well that's all for now, its been a slow day. Stay tuned for another episode of: They are nor serious are they?

One last added one. Couldn't resist this one. This can also be filed under: Who cares?

U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S. from Monday

URL's since I can't get links to work.

1) No touch rule:
http://www.startribune.com/nation/19033559.html?page=1&c=y

2) Suspension Gap:
http://www.startribune.com/local/19034034.html?location_refer=Local%20+%20Metro

3) Wood chipper suicide attempt:
http://www.twincities.com/north/ci_9289725

4) U.N. racism investigator
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1684309820080516

It has always been said and assumed that Democrats have the mindset that they know better than us common citizens. But why argue such things when we can simply hear from them themselves. From the donkey's mouth as it. Note of reference: Senator Larry Pogemiller is the Senate Majority Leader for the DFL (Democratic-Farm Labor, the Minnesota's Democratic party). Without further adieu I give you the 'wisdom' of Minnesota Democrats. EDIT: In the spirit of fairness here is the complete audio. Does it help clear things up? You decide. http://www.looktruenorth.com/images/mp3/pogemiller1.mp3

Sorry still cant get links to work directly here yet.

I really do not know what to say about this. I simply shake my head whenever the topic of 'race' and 'racism' is raised. There is a whole lot I have to say about those two tasty morsels but will take me some time to formulate it all together since it goes against everything that it is spoken about it in today's society. While I found a few of the comments herein quite interesting, especially when he speaks against those applauding affirmative action. Especially when he called them ignorant and despicable. If anything goods comes of this whole 'controversy' of the Rev. Wright, Obama, et al maybe we can have a 'true' discussion of 'race'. But I have my doubts, that would have to involve discussing the truth about 'race'. We can't have that. Too much invested in it and too much to gain from it. I hold out hope. Enjoy. I found it here first.  http://www.pheistyblog.com/ So credit goes there.

 

As I mentioned previously I have begun to get more involved in grassroots politics. The most recent thing was our State District Nominating Convention. It was held the evening of March 10^th. I went not only as a Delegate from my precinct, but the Chair of it as well. I had no idea what was going to happen or what to expect. My step-son (the genius) went along with me as a guest. I invited him for two reasons. The first, to get his first real taste of the political system, he will vote for the first time this upcoming November, and secondly it also allowed him to complete a project he had for his high school government class. There were assigned to go to something that showed the government system at work. It could have been a city council meeting, a school board meeting, etc. After informing his teacher of the Convention he stated that it would fulfill the project as well. So in a sense it was a ‘two-for’. I got to share something I love with my step-son and he got to do something for school. A win-win situation.

Upon arriving at the site of the convention, a church, we had to sign in. There were quite a lot of people there. The seats were arranged per district and there was a section for Alternates and guests. A little information for those who may not have a clear understanding of conventions, delegates and alternates, I know I didn’t when this all started. The Delegates and Alternates were elected at the February caucus. Our particular district was allowed 5 delegates and 5 alternates. We only elected the delegates, no one else expressed interest. So really it was a matter of 5 of us volunteering and we automatically became delegates. Many of the other precincts had a much more lengthy process. The largest precinct had I believe 26 delegates and 26 alternates. So as you can imagine there was great competition. I am learning what it was meant when someone had said that is a lot of competition to be a delegate, at any level. I am just lucky I live in the smallest precinct. Hooray for me.

If any delegates from a precinct did not show up at the convention then the alternates would be seated in order. (1^st alternate, then 2^nd alternate and so on). One of ours did not show up, and since we had no alternates we only had 4 delegates. If at any time a delegate left the convention alternates would then be seated. So even if a person goes to a convention as an alternate they have to know what’s going on because there is always a chance of being seated. I did find out after the convention that some precincts did have to seat some alternates and some did not. So it was possible for an alternate to be there the whole time and never be seated (and hence be involved in the voting process). Not exactly what I would call a fun time. That’s why I was quite proud of my step-son; he sat there the whole convention. The convention was scheduled from 7 – 10 pm (signing in began at 6:30). The convention was finally adjourned at 11:45 pm.

There were 3 main areas to be covered at the convention.

The first, and primary thing, was to endorse a candidate to run against the 1 term Democratic Incumbent in November, Paul Gardner. His seat is known to be quite vulnerable. He only won it in 2006 by 51 votes. In 2006 both the Republican Representative and State Senator lost. Only the House seat is up this year and the common theme of the convention was to retire Paul Gardner.

Our area is known to be more conservative than not, so it was quite a disappointment to lose in 2006. There is a lot of passion to regain the House seat, and in the future the Senate seat. This became even more evident when the House had just recently overridden the Governor’s veto of the “Transportation Bill” aka the 6.6 Billion dollar tax increase bill. They were only able to do so because of 6 Republicans who voted with the DFL. (In Minnesota the Democrat party is called the DFL: Democratic-Farm Labor.) So every single conservative Republican vote is needed. As a side note, at least 3 of the 6 Republicans who voted to override did not receive the endorsement at their nominating convention. All of them did suffer some sort of repercussions such as removal from certain positions by the party. This will make things interesting come this fall. In Minnesota we also have another practice I really do not understand. There is a nominating convention and a party endorsement, but we also have a primary in September to determine the candidates for November.

Normally then an endorsed candidate would run primarily unopposed in the primary, however there have been times in the past when a sitting politician did not receive the endorsement and ran in the primary. I believe there have been a few times the endorsed candidate actually loss the primary. I know once the sitting Republican Governor did not get the endorsement and ran in primary. I think he won, I could be wrong. I explain this to give a little background on the way things work up here, as well as laying groundwork for something I will mention later on.

The second thing on the agenda was Resolutions. This seemed the most tedious thing but is quite an important thing as far as a political party is concerned. During the February caucus people could submit resolutions to either add to or change something in the official party platform. These resolutions were then voted on by the precincts and those that passed moved on to this convention. This is true grassroots; this is where the platform of a party is created. Whatever is in a party’s official platform was formulated, voted on and accepted at the grassroots level. First step would be the caucus level, then the nominating convention level, from here the district level and then the state level. We voted on resolutions that had passed the caucus level. The resolution committee had to go through them all, consolidate ones that were similar in nature and generally streamline things. We were voting on the idea or concept within the resolution, not the wording. That would be worked out at the higher levels. This was something a lot of people didn’t grasp right away. There was a lot of debate about the wording of some resolutions, but once we got the idea we were voting on ideas not wording it proceeded well. A lot of the confusion I think stemmed from the fact that out of the 167delegates (and 167 alternates) I think all but about 60 or 70 of them were new people like me, so we were learning the ropes.

The third thing on the agenda was the electing of delegates and alternates for the District convention in April. Our particular State House District (53A) split between two Congressional Districts. The 6^th (Rep. Michelle Bachman-R ) and the 4^th (Rep. Betty McCollum-DFL). My district (6^th) was allowed 10 delegates and 20 alternates, the 4^th allowed 9 and 18.

The main event of the night was the endorsement. There were three candidates. A candidate had to get 60% of the votes of the delegates to get the endorsement. That was 100 votes. One of the rules of the convention was that after three ballots the lowest vote getter would be dropped. There was some discussion about this rule at the beginning of convention. It was proposed that it be changed to when a candidate failed to attain a set percentage of votes they would be dropped. This proposal was voted down. I think this was mainly due to time constraints. We were only to have the area until 10 pm, it was only the flexibility and graciousness of the church that allowed us to remain until we had a nominee at 11:30 and after 8 ballots.

The three candidates were Laura Merickel, John Kappler and Mady Reiter. Two of them had never held elected office before but were long time participants in the political process. Either as a lobbyist (as in Laura’s case) or a long time campaigner and supporter (as in John’s case). Mady had been elected to a city council twice and into the State Senate twice. She was our Senator that lost in 2006.

The most nervous time for me was when I actually had to get up and speak. I was on the three member nominating committee that had spoken to all three candidates prior to the campaign. It was our job to ask them questions and basically vet them out. Our chairman could not attend the convention and the third member is a sitting County Commissioner and would be speaking already that evening. So I was asked to speak on the committees behalf and I accepted. Like I said jump in with both feet. I had not spoken in front of that man y people since my high school graduation in 1984, I was a wee bit nervous. I had to speak of the committee’s purpose, who was on it, what we found and to share any pertinent information with the convention. Other than finding them all to be strong Conservatives the biggest piece of information I had to share was the fact that two of the candidates had agreed to the endorsement process while the third (Mady) had stated she wanted to keep her options open. Based on some of the reaction I heard from the crowd I knew that was not a popular idea among the delegates. That’s the way it played out. I can’t say for sure that played a big part in people’s decisions but the fact was that after the third ballot Mady had the lowest total. In fact she lost votes over the three ballots. (Side note: Even if we had gone with the percentage threshold as was suggested she still would have been dropped. The suggested threshold was 20%)

In between the votes, while they were being tabulated, we voted on the resolutions. Laura held the lead through the first three ballots. Once it was narrowed to two John took the lead. The finally on the 8^th ballot John received enough votes to get the endorsement, and there was much rejoicing.

http://johnkappler.com/ (Tried to make this a link but wasn't cooperating. Take a look I think he will do a great job. We need more like him.)

As for the election of district delegates those of us who voice our interest at the beginning of the convention had to go up to the microphone and give 30 – 45 second talk and why they should be a delegate. So I got to talk in front of the crowd twice. We would not find out until sometime after the convention if we were elected or not. What I found out about me was quite surprising. We had to vote for exactly 10 delegates. They then fell in order. The highest vote getter would be 1^st delegate and so on, after the 10^th delegate would be the 1^st alternate etc. The 10^th delegate received 25 votes. I received 22. I am the 5^th alternate. Hooray for me. So now I get to go on to the District convention in April. (I have already volunteered to help with the registration that evening.)

All in all I greatly enjoyed the experience and look forward to future experiences. And what about my step-son, the genius, who sat around for almost 5 hours doing nothing? I asked him the next day what he thought and this the nutshell of what he said.

It was a lot more laid back than he expected, not super formal. Not a lot of people standing around in suits. It had more of a getting the community involved feeling. It actually gave him a more positive outlook when it came to his voting. It showed him that a person can become a part of the process.

I know this was a bit long-winded but I hope you have a better understanding of some things. It is amazing what can happen when a person stops just whining about things and gets involved. Stay tuned for the next installment of Raven the ‘political insider’.

I just had to share this. This is something my step-son made for his government class. I'm quite proud of him.

It is not difficult to whine and complain about something you disagree with, in fact it takes no effort whatsoever to do so. The more difficult task is actually doing something about. You may not always be successful in changing or affecting things but at least you have done something to back up what you think or feel.

A perfect example of this is a story about some friends of mine and the 1992 Presidential election. The months prior to the election they could not say enough bad things about how the current state of the country and how Clinton was going to get so many good things done. We had quite a view spirited discussions. Of course most of them could be described as Logic vs. Emotion but then most discussions like that can be. Quite simply the ‘Left’ is the politics of Emotion and the ‘Right’ is the politics of Logic. This may not always be the case in practice but more often than not it is.

We agreed to disagree on most things. The first time I stopped over at their house after the election I asked them who they voted for. Their answer was they didn’t. So instead of actually doing something about what they felt they did nothing. To them, like many people, the act of complaining is enough for them. Not for me.

I have always had very strong opinions and beliefs. In fact I believe I have had conservative leanings before I knew what Conservative meant. Mrs. Raven has been the primary listener to my rants and complaints. She shares them with me so it is very much preaching to the choir. That is the main reason I started this whole blogging thing, to have a place to release all the thoughts churning around in my mind. If one person begins to look at things differently after reading anything I have to say great. If not, I won’t be disappointed. It is not like I am going to change who I am. I am quite sure there are people out there who would most likely believe they are offended by something I may believe or say. Again not something I am overly concerned with. In today’s society it is just as easy to be offended as it is to complain. Many people who claim offense probably couldn’t say why they were anyway, u just one more tragic consequence of the ridiculous concept known as ‘Political Correctness’.

I have taken things one step further. Instead of simply whining and complaining about politicians and government I decided to get involved. If I can slip a little logic into things we really can’t be worse than we currently are. I have become active in the local Republican Party. Just on the local level, but that’s where everything should begin anyway.

Last fall I attended two of the local meetings and liked what I saw and heard. Being in Minnesota you can imagine how tough it is to be a Conservative, let alone a Republican. It is not a place exactly flowing with conservatism. In February I attended my first caucus. I was one of many, many first timers to the caucus. Our area is not exactly large but we had about 700 people in attendance. I believe they said in 2006 it was about 1/2 to 1/3 of that. I am the kind of person that once I get hooked on something I tend to jump in head first. Which is why at the end of the night not only did I come home as a Delegate to our Nominating Convention but also as our Precinct chairman. We have about 9 Precincts in our District. (MN House District 53A) Ours is one of the 2 smallest. It may be small but it a good place to start since I really don’t know yet what I have to do as Chair, but I know I will find out.

I am beginning to slowly move on the edge of circles where politicians and the politically active travel, and I like it. I will still complain, whine and get angry about things I don’t like, but now I am also doing something to hopefully make changes. It is the American way.

The world is a large and more often than not a quite confusing place. Each person views it and life in their own unique way. Is there a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to view it? It depends on who you ask.

It is this variety of perspectives and experiences that prevents life from being boring. Try to imagine life if everyone looked at it the same way. Not exactly the epitome of Utopia to my way of thinking.

Along with perspectives come opinions. It goes without saying the world does not lack for opinions.

Here you will find both.

This is neither the first time nor the first place I have placed my thoughts, perspectives or opinions out there for all to see. This is merely the newest, and perhaps the last or perhaps not. As with much in life not much is certain. All that is certain with the Raven is that I am never at a loss for opinions.

It will come as no surprise considering current events that many of my opinions deal with politics. But much will also be said of culture and current events. To me everything is interconnected in one way or another anyway so it is nigh impossible to speak of one thing without it relating to something else.

The World as seen through the eyes of the Raven is viewed in a long view, the big picture perspective. It is much too easy to get bogged down with minutia of a certain aspect of a subject, all the while ignoring the affect it has on the larger scheme. Much like the ripples in water life is not a vacuum.  

Do I claim the perspective and views of the Raven are somehow ‘better’ than the next persons? Absolutely not. I do however claim them to be based on intelligence, experience, common sense and logic.  Logic is the guiding force in my thinking, my opinions.

Logic does however appear to be rapidly threatening to be added to the Endangered Species list. Thought based on logic and reason is slowly, or perhaps not as slowly as I hope, giving way to thought simply based on how one feels. While this is easier it is also quite detrimental. But let’s not worry about that when it is more important how a person ‘feels’ than what actually may make the more logical sense.

Side by side with logic on its way to the wayside is common sense. Again simply accepting something based on common sense is now giving way to accepting something based on how it makes a person feel or worse yet basing it on how somehow else may or may not feel.

How would I describe the Raven? I tend to try to avoid labels. To me labels are appropriate for food and clothing and not much else. However society has a tendency to be obsessed with labels, whether or not the labels are even accurate. This to me is one of the biggest impediments we have to fixing anything in the world today.

But, since we live in a World of ‘labels’, I can be easily labeled ‘conservative’. I have no problem with that considering the other ‘labels’ out there. It would however not tell the whole story about me, as labels never do. Just as there is many things I believe and agree with that are considered ‘conservative’ there are just as many things that I do not agree with, hence the problem with ‘labeling’. Labeling tends to lead to stereotypes and grouping of people. Yet more impediments to anything constructive.

I am also very sure of myself when it comes to the way I perceive things and what I believe. Which is why I am sure some could also affix the label ‘opinionated’ to me. Which if you think about it is not a bad thing. Everyone has, or should have, an opinion so in that sense we are all ‘opinionated’. It is how these opinions are formed and the manner in which they are shared that the differences lie. A person can hold strong opinions without coming across as ‘arrogant’. That is what I strive for, hopefully successfully. Yet I do not usually worry too much about how a person takes what I say. Worrying about how something may be taken does nothing more than stifle discourse and the sharing of ideas. One more of the many legacies of the dark cloud of ‘Political Correctness’.

One does have to know that others are entitled to their opinion, and that there will always be more than one way to look at things. Having an open mind is never a bad thing, which is why I have no problem discussing topics with people who have opinions different than my own. However, if it becomes clear to me that the other person is merely parroting things they have heard or basing their opinions on something other than their own thoughts and beliefs, or it denigrates into personal attacks, I quickly tire of the discussion. Continuing such things only leads to frustration.

The world is a large, confusing, sometimes chaotic but always changing place. I wouldn’t want it any other way.