What color are they?

The University of Wisconsin System is holding their 15th Annual Women of Color Awards consortium in April. The 16 award winners include: 7 African Americans, 2 Asians, 4 Native Americans, 1 Hispanic, 1 (unknown) and 1 Caucasion.

So why don't they just refer to the award as, "15th Annual Women Awards" or the "15th Annual Women's Rainbow Awards"? If there's to be an emphasis on diversification in our society (which there should be), why call attention to the word, "color"?

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"To Irc, With Love."

My first day of substitute teaching. October 22. Here's the title song (same name as the movie) from the greatest "teaching" movie, "To Sir, With Love" , starring Sidney Poitier (1967), sung by Lulu (girl on right of bust).

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A library that is F#%$KING AWESOME!! Shhhhhh!!

If you like to read or you like books or you like libraries, then you MUST read this post at The Avid Penguin. From there, click on the link "the Penguin" proves in his post.

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Obama says college should be affordable for everyone. Should it?

“We need to put a college education within reach of every American. That's the best investment we can make in our future. I'll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. I'll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don't have a million students who aren't applying for aid because it's too difficult. I will start by eliminating the current student aid form altogether - we'll use tax data instead.”
[Barack Obama, Reclaiming the American Dream Speech, Bettendorf, IA, 11/7/07]

The catch? The recipients of the $4,000 have to do a 100 hours of community work. Over a year's time. Now that's equal to $40 an hour. Tee hee. You've gotta be kidding me? I mean, at least give the plan some credence by creating the appearance that the student is really working for the money, huh? Try 500 hours of community work. That's $8 an hour...better than minimum wage, and it'll show the student is really sacrificing himself for his education. Or her education. Read about Obama's plan here.

My alumni center at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Do we really need to make college affordable for everyone? Making it part of the American Dream - something to shoot for, yeh. But that's different. Owning a home is part of the American Dream and we all know the sad, fucked up state of affairs that industry is in. Greed - by both the lender and the borrower. And the Democrats wanna help the assholes who lost their homes who shouldn't have signed the mortgage papers in the first place.

Do I believe everyone deserves the best education they can get? No, as a matter of fact. I think they should get the best education they can afford. I believe that today any education beyond high school is a privilege - not a right. And I don't think the government should be handing out free money to everyone and anyone - particularly in this day and age.

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1986 but I wasn't handed $4000 as President Obama is suggesting.

1. I come from a middle-class family. I received a $500 scholarship for graduating in the top 10% of my class. That's all the free money my hands touched. The rest was one loan. And I was in debt after graduating but I paid it off. "Best education"? No. Good? Yes. Would I have opted for Harvard? Sure. I got what my parent's could afford.

2. I worked for two years as an RA (resident assistant) which paid for my room and board.

3. I worked as a bartender for the student union my senior year. Learned to love green olives.

4. I graduated in 4 years. I didn't dick around. I took the classes that I needed, studied, partied and got out.

I'd like a new car. Should a new car be made affordable to me? It'll probably get better gas mileage than the one I'm driving and the environmentalists would eat that shit up. I need to get out of my current living situation. Why doesn't the government give me money toward an affordable one-bedroom apartment? It'll help me keep my peace-of-mind intact and I'll be able to get more writing done. The more plays I complete, the more work I'll have to submit for production and the more I can contribute to the arts in our country. The arts are big on Democrat's agendas.

I want, I want, I want. Two points, in particular, in Obama's plan that made me wince:

A. Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid. Why? I had to apply that way. If you can't fill out a 5-page, 127 question document, you shouldn't be attending college.

B. Help Students Become Aware of College Readiness. Another common reason that high school students decide not to attend college is that they discover they are unprepared for it in 12th grade. That's because the teachers are too busy teaching English to kids who can't speak it and the classrooms are too crowded. I know plenty of teachers. Overall, our K-12 educational system sucks.

If one can't afford a four-year college, try a technical college or a two-year college. Learn a trade. Join the military. Put it off until you can afford it. Go to school for a year than work for a year. Those options have always been available. They still there. Here's an idea - why don't individual states stop giving money to illegal aliens to attend college? Sounds like a brilliant fucking idea to me. That would free up additional monies for each state - free for students who are actual U.S. citizens. Two years ago in Wisconsin, for example, a Mexican advocacy group was bitching because the state was cutting funds it was giving to illegal aliens to attend college. Excuse me? "Cutting"? How about "NO MONEY PERIOD"? And in May last year, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and senate Democrats submitted budget proposals to provide in-state resident tuition to illegal aliens who attend UW system schools or technical colleges. I don't know if this was in addition to what was already being given illegal aliens, but the state assembly Republicans defeated this. I've been told by Kark Van Roy's office (State Assembly, 90th District, R-WI) that the Democrats and Doyle will be resubmitting their proposal again this year. Why - I haven't the slightest idea. But I've got a call in Doyle's office to find out.

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Bully got you down? Snitch via the Internet.

Six elementary schools in the Salt Lake City, Utah school district are now offering children the opporrtunity to anonymously "snitch" on bullies via an Internet website. A Brigham Young University student created the site in the hopes that students who might be scared to rat on someone might open up on the site.

What's wrong with just telling a teacher? Or informing parents? The Internet as a parental unit? I'm against this idea and I'll tell you why. For as much as the Internet can aid in the education of children, it can cause harm. Underage access to porn sites, sexual predators, computer hacking and identity theft. The next thing you know children will be given the opportunity to make anonymous calls via the Internet, saying, "Mr. Jones touched my penis", when, in fact, Mr. Jones didn't touch Johnny's penis - Johnny just has a gripe against Mr. Jones and Johnny wants to get Mr. Jones in trouble.

Mark my words...this is a bad direction to take regarding this situation. Mark my words.

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California continues to give handouts (diplomas) to illegal aliens.

(Someone please explain to me the rationale behind this because I don't get it.)

(reprinted from North County Times, Temecula, CA, June 7, 2008)
California bucks immigration enforcement trend

While other states move away from giving illegal immigrant college students state benefits, the California Legislature appears to be pushing to give them more access to colleges and universities. Last month, North Carolina's community college system said it would no longer admit illegal immigrants.

But in California, where illegal immigrants are allowed to enroll in state colleges, some lawmakers are backing a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to qualify for state financial aid and fee waivers. An estimated 65,000 illegal immigrants graduate from U.S. high schools each year and could potentially attend college, according to a study by the Urban Institute, a Washington-based economic and social policy research organization.

Those students often are at the forefront of the nation's debate over immigration reform. Some see the students as a burden on the state's strained resources. Others see them as victims of the nation's broken immigration system. "These students are being severely impacted by inhumane immigration laws, and I think our educational laws need to change to ensure that all our students have equal access to education," said Arcela Nunez-Alvarez, who heads the National Latino Research Institute at Cal State San Marcos. Under a 2001 law, illegal immigrant students are given the same tuition discount as other state residents who attend UC, CSU and community college schools.

Late last month, the state Assembly approved Assembly Bill 2083 by Assemblyman Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. The bill would give illegal immigrant students access to state grants, scholarships, work-study and loan programs, which are now denied to them. (Nunez...another poor excuse for a politician. Núñez was born in San Diego, but lived in Tijuana, Mexico until he was 8 years old. His parents, (Pablo Nuñez and Soledad Aréchiga) who were illegal aliens from Mexico, became citizens sometime later. On October 10, 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that Núñez had allegedly spent tens of thousands of dollars of campaign money for personal expenses, such as $1800 for a meal at a Parisian restaurant and $5000 for wine from Bordeaux. The Sacramento Bee Bee has alleged that Núñez played the race card when questioned about his use of campaign funds by saying, "Everyone's done it like this," and "The difference is there are some in politics who want to judge me in a certain manner. Because of the fact I am Mexican, they think I have to sleep under a cactus and eat from taco stands.")

(Wait! There's more...)

A similar bill ---- known as the California Dream Act, named after a federal bill that would give illegal immigrant students legal status ---- was passed by the Legislature last year and was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. This year's bill, which is now in the state Senate, was approved in the Assembly largely along party lines, on a 46-31 vote. North County's all-Republican delegation voted against the bill on the Assembly floor. Assemblyman Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad, said he doesn't want to give any state benefits to illegal immigrants. "If someone were to take two years off to serve their country and then decide to come back to college and his seat is taken by someone who is not a citizen of this country, that is not an acceptable scenario to me," Garrick said.

The assemblyman said he would also support barring illegal immigrants from attending state colleges. Several North County legislators have repeatedly failed in their efforts to roll back the state's in-state tuition policy for illegal immigrants. That's largely due to the Democratic-dominated Legislature, which has effectively blocked Republican efforts to curb school benefits.

In California, schools don't ask a student's immigration status when they apply for admission. They are allowed to apply for lower in-state tuition rates, but are not eligible for state and federal financial aid benefits. On the other hand, some states are pushing even harder to bar illegal immigrant students from entering their colleges and universities. The issue became a matter of debate recently in North Carolina. Last year, the community college system in that state chose to allow illegal immigrants into its 58 schools. Under a previous policy, the decision was left to individual campuses. The change was supported by Gov. Mike Easley, but it provoked heavy criticism ---- especially from the leading candidates running to replace the outgoing governor. That led the community college system to seek an opinion from the state attorney general's office on whether the admissions policy was legal under federal law. Attorney General Roy Cooper's office recommended the community colleges drop the lenient admissions policy, and suggested they follow stricter guidelines under which illegal immigrants were not eligible for a public post-secondary education.

Both Easley and the community college system asked Cooper's office to seek formal guidance from federal authorities. Federal immigration officials last month released a statement saying there is no law prohibiting the state from educating illegal immigrants at public colleges and universities. Another state that is cracking down on illegal immigrant students is South Carolina, where Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill Wednesday that bans illegal immigrants from attending public colleges. William Gheen, who heads Americans for Legal Immigration, an anti-illegal immigration group based in North Carolina, said he hopes other states follow South Carolina's example. "The momentum for immigration enforcement is clear in the states," Gheen said. The South Carolina law is one of several passed by states in recent years. The other states include Arizona, Oklahoma, Georgia and Colorado. Arizona's law, approved by voters through a ballot measure in 2006, prohibits illegal immigrants from paying the less expensive in-state tuition rates. To attend a state school, they must pay the heftier out-of-state-fees.

Gheen said that a major reason why illegal immigrants come to the country is to give their children access to U.S. schools. "We must turn off all incentives for illegal aliens, and access to American colleges is clearly an incentive for illegal alien families to come here," Gheen said. In 1994, voters in California passed one of the harshest anti-illegal immigration laws, Proposition 187, which would have barred illegal immigrant children from attending all public schools. The law was ruled largely unconstitutional. Last year, Schwarzenegger vetoed the California Dream Act, saying that extending benefits to illegal immigrant students would put further strains on the state's budget. Given the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit this year, the governor is likely to veto the bill again if it makes it to his desk. However, some local Latino professors say not educating these students may create problems down the line and waste their valuable talents. Gheen said advocates for illegal immigrant rights are using children to further their goals. "I find it particularly distasteful that in their desperation they are using children as pawns," Gheen said. "They are playing on Americans' sympathies to get what they want." Palomar College Professor John Valdez disagreed. He said he sees students' disappointment every day. "I have encountered students that are bright and talented, but who become frustrated because they can't continue their education," Valdez said. "And it's depriving the country of these bright and talented people."

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