Cant Keep Quiet!

There are gossips and then there are gossip whores.  A gossip will reveal facts or rumors about a person to others.  Most of us have gossiped at one time or another.  I consider a person a gossip whore if they intentionally create lies about someone and then pass it on to anyone they can find as if it is true.  I don't particularly like habitual gossips but I hate gossip whores.

One of the people I work with at my school is a gossip whore.  Unfortunately, she works in the office next to mine.

Our enrollment numbers are lower than expected.  This has forced my school to cut several teacher and support staff positions.  This was on top of the cut that had to be made last year and the likelihood of more cuts for next year.

Today was a bad, bad day because this was the day that people would be notified if they were being cut.

We've known since Monday that this was happening today, but the principal has been very tight lipped about who would be cut.  I'm still not sure what I think of this new principal but I applaud how he didn't leak any information about the people being cut and told them in person in private.

Since Wednesday, though, one person that I work with has been telling people that she's been told that they or someone they work with was being cut.  The people being cut would change slightly depending on who she was talking to.

Out of the ugliness of her heart, she managed to increase the drama and stress of an already bad situation.

Last night I got a call from a person in my office because of what this gossip whore had told someone else.  This bitch person told people that a particular list of people were being cut and the person who called me was on the list.

Besides the fact that this bitch person didn't know a damn thing, the people she named read like a wish list of people the gossip whore didn't like.  It took some time for me to convince my friend that this bitch person didn't know what she was saying and that she was not as likely to be cut as she was told.

This bitch person spent the vast majority of this day going around and around shoving her nose into the business of others trying to find out who had been cut.

I was hoping that this particular bitch person would get cut . . . no such luck.

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Let's jump into the wayback machine for a few minutes and head all the way back to March 11, 2008.  This was the day that Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, sent a memo to reporters that stated

…It is critical, as we prepare to face off with whomever the Democrats select as their nominee, that we all follow John's lead and run a respectful campaign focused on the issues and values that are important to the American people.

Throughout the primary election we saw John McCain reject the type of politics that degrade our civics, and this will not change as he prepares to run head-to-head against the Democratic nominee….

…Throughout his life John McCain has held himself to the highest standards and he will continue to run a respectful campaign based on the issues. We expect that all supporters, surrogates and staff will hold themselves to similarly high standards when they are representing the campaign….

That oh so honorable campaign lasted until July 2008.  Now McCain's campaign is wallowing in the gutter.

The McCain campaign's latest hairball of an ad borders on the obscene.  By now you have probably seen or heard McCain's Education ad.  If not you can see it on YouTube.com.  I refuse to provide free play time for the ad by putting it up on my blog.

The ad claims that Obama is responsible for "legislation to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergarteners."
Here's what FactCheck.org has to say about this ad:

It's true that the phrase "comprehensive sex education" appeared in the bill, but little else in McCain's claim is accurate. The ad refers to a bill Obama supported in the Illinois state Senate to update the sex education curriculum and make it "medically accurate." It would have lowered the age at which students would begin what the bill termed "comprehensive sex education" to include kindergarten. But it mandated the instruction be "age-appropriate" for kindergarteners when addressing topics such as sexually transmitted diseases. The bill also would have granted parents the opportunity to remove their children from the class without question:

SB 99: However, no pupil shall be required to take or participate in any family life class or course on HIV AIDS or family life instruction if his parent or guardian submits written objection thereto, and refusal to take or participate in such course or program shall not be reason for suspension or expulsion of such pupil.

The bill also called for all sex education course materials to include information that would help students recognize, among other activities, inappropriate touching, sexual assault and rape:

SB99: Course material and instruction shall discuss and provide
for the development of positive communication skills to maintain healthy relationships and avoid unwanted sexual activity. … Course material and instruction shall teach pupils … how to say no to unwanted sexual advances … and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one's judgment.

The bill passed in the Health and Human Services Committee with Democrats, including Obama, voting along party lines in support of it. But the measure promptly stalled and died in the full Senate, and no action has been taken on it since late 2005.

All emphasis is mine.

The McCain campaign's attempt to put some sort of perverse reasoning on Obama's support of the failed bill is disgusting.

It can also backfire on McCain.

McCain is criticising Obama for supporting a bill that would teach children to recognize inappropriate behavior and pedophiles.  David Sirota expains that logically the argument can be made that McCain is declaring "his support for child molestor rights."

Do I honestly feel that McCain supports the rights of child molestors?  Of course not.  However, if he and his campgain is going to make ungrounded and disgusting claims against Obama, then he better not claim that he's running a clean, honorable campaign.

By the way, if you're interested in the actual article from Education Week about Obama you can read it here.  If you read it, you'll notice that it is not nearly as daming as the McCain ad wants you to believe.

Technorati Tags: McCain, Obama

Sad, but true.

Technorati Tags: schools

For some reason, Orange County Public Schools flipped the schedules for middle schools and high schools this year. Yeah, yeah I know that the change will supposedly save money for transportation. At least that's what the school board told us.

In the long run, though, I think the district will end up losing money.

First of all, they didn't flip the schedules exactly.  High schools now start half an hour to an hour later than the middle schools started last year.  We have to arrive at work at 9 am and don't get off until 4:30.

So what happens if we need to see make an appointment for a doctor or just about anything else?  Well, we'll have to take 1/2 day off.  Hell, if we have to take a half day to go to the dentist we might as well take the whole day to get everything else done that we didn't have time to do thanks to the schedule change.

Today I had to race to my vet's office to get my dog's special dog food.  I barely made it there before they closed.

Previously, if one of my pets were sick I could call and make an appointment for the afternoon and not miss any work.  Now if I don't take time off then they will just have to wait until Saturday when I have only 1/2 a day to get them to the vet.

Or take time off to take the pet to the vet.

If I need to take myself to the doctor or the dentist, I'll have to take time off when previously I could do it after work.

Yes, I understand that middle school teachers had this problem last year, but I don't think it was quite as bad.  Remember, high schools are starting and finishing even later than the middle schools did last year.

The district has guaranteed that the need for substitutes will be higher this year.  Since people only get 6 days of personal leave (that has to be asked for at least 5 days in advance), they've also guaranteed that more people will be calling in sick.

That doesn't even take into account that these days seem to be the longest I've ever worked.

I really hate this new schedule.

Technorati Tags: Orange County Public Schools

Yesterday I went to get some blood drawn for a minor blood test. Nothing major.

The gentleman drawing my blood seemed to do just fine. Today I'm not so sure.

First off, let me say that I'm not an easy person when it comes to getting blood. I have small veins that tend to move. Once, when I had to have some surgery done, it took three people to get the IV established. The first was the nurse assigned to get me set up for the surgery. The second was the "IV Queen" who they told me could establish an IV in a rock. The final person was the anesthesiologist.

Because I can be so difficult, I expect a bit of bruising.

I definitely got bruising.

The actual blood draw wasn't the big culprit, though. The adhesive that the man used to attach the cotton caused the problem.

When I tried to take it off last night I couldn't get it to come off from the inner side of my elbow. Finally I got an edge up on the outer side of the elbow. I then ripped it off because I was sure that would hurt less than slowly peeling it off.

Today I have these lovely red marks on the inner part of my elbow. It looks awful in person. This picture only hints at how bad it looks.

It also hurts. A lot.

I hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon.

OUCH!!!

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