Ramblings for the Evening (9/9/05)

(The following is my opinion, if facts are wrong then I apologize, but no suing.)
The Miseducation of Students:
This is utterly depressing to me. With the recent events of Hurricane Katrina, parents and "concerned citizens" are once again trying to change what can and can't be taught in our schools. Forget the whole Intelligent Design debate, this is much worse. After 9/11, these same people tried to change what could be taught in Social Studies and English classes. They believed that high school students were being inundated with too much imagery of death and war, so they wanted all aspects of war (such as Vietnam) removed from the curriculum. A teacher I know in California told me that the school board was actually thinking about removing World War II from the curriculum. WORLD WAR II! Hey, let's forget the last major conflict between multiple nations and the whole Holocaust thing, because, well, students are seeing TOO much right now.
Well, with the aftermath of Katrina, schools in Kansas are seriously trying to change the curriculum. No more Vietnam and don't talk about the Chicago Fire, the Great San Francisco Earthquakes, or the 1927 Hurricane in Louisiana. No, no, no, that would frighten these kids.
Look, this falls into the whole "abstinence sex education" thing. Regardless of how you feel about sex, the students need to learn about how sex works and how to protect themselves. If you want to tell them, "DON'T DO IT!" that's fine, but they need to understand what it is they could be doing. History is the same way. If we forget the past, we are doomed to repeat it. One teacher I know was told off by a parent, because he talked about 9/11. Wow! Should students just bury their heads in the sand whenever this happens? Another teacher told me that he was told by his administration not to talk about what happened to Nixon, because it's, "too political." Come on!
I don't know if I've talked about books being banned in a previous post, but I will be talking about it again. The fact that MacBeth was banned recently in certain parts of this country, because it has witches in it is preposterous. If I read Harry Potter, I am not a Satanist. Same thing with Shakespeare. Kids see alot of death in their video games and TV, so let them see it in books too. No wonder more kids are becoming illiterate.
Minnesota Drivers:
I've talked about this before. No offense, Minnesota, but no one here knows how to drive. Period. Today, as I drove home, a woman moved all the way from the right lane to the far left (going across two other lanes to do so) then slowed down to 45. I'm not kidding. The guy in the pickup truck with the Arctic Cat sticker (which, honestly, kinda screams white trash) and the whiskey plates (paired with the Arctic Cat sticker, that defintely is white trash) got upset. After almost rear-ending me, he zooms by on my right screaming AT ME, then (and this is my favorite part) he rolls down his window and throws a plastic bottle at my windshield. Granted it was empty, but that's hardcore....AND it's not my fault we were going so slow. Sheesh. Add to the fact that I witnessed an accident while a car was trying to merge on to the highway (big surprise), and I wonder what the heck people are learning in Driver's Ed? Hell's Bells. This is the only state I have ever been in (and I am a freaking NEW YORKER) where the drivers couldn't care less about the pedestrians. I was once tapped and knocked down by a cab driver in NY. He stopped, got out, apologized, and offered me a free ride home. Two months after moving here, I was bumped in downtown Minneapolis, and the driver got out and asked for my insurance card (if I had one) and my license in case there was damage. Not to me, mind you, but to his car. It was one of those moments where I looked for a big stick in order to hit him with...hard. I never found it. I say unto you, Minnesota Drivers, LEARN TO FREAKIN' DRIVE! Learn to merge, look around, and for God's sake: Leave you anger outside when you drive.
A Little Hypocrisy
Just a few hits of hypocrisy. Ok?
Jim Rome: You cannot talk smack about a guy making a homophobic and/or mysoginistic comments when you are still proud of the fact that you refered to Jim Everrett as, "Chrissy," called him, "a woman," and talk about how great it was. As I recall, that's what got you fired from ESPN the first time. Whenever you talk about that moment, you're being a hypocrite.
Americans: Countries around the world have donated a great deal of money toward the Katrina Relief fund. You may no longer sit there and bitch about how evil France is, when they have given money and you haven't. A colleague of mine talked about how the French are bastards. When I explained that they gave money, he said, "So?" I asked if he had given any money, and he hadn't. That's hypocrisy.
Oh, and I gave money, so if you try to tell me that I need to give more or give again, you can just shut up.
Christians: When you sit there and talk about how the "Islamic Extremists" are crazy and then you pray to a water mark on a wall that, "looks like Mary and the Baby Jesus," you're just as crazy. That water mark? I made it when I peed on the wall. The fact that it looks like Mary is coincidence. Granted, Christians don't blow people up (unless you count starting a war), but the fact that you give money to a guy on television saying that God talks to him shows how crazy and hypocritical you are. Oh, and at least the Muslims don't believe that they are literally eating the body and drinking the blood of the man they pray to.
The 20 Million Dollar Man: No. You cannot use that money to go to a space station. You must turn around and give that money to fixing our country. Sorry.
Waiter, My Soup is...Floating: In Orlando, Florida, a landlord is suing two restaurateurs for not moving into their new building. Why aren't they moving? Well, they claim the building is haunted. That's right, HAUNTED! People have seen apparitions around the building. The lawsuit wants the judge to decide if the building is haunted, aand if it is, then he or she has to decide if it would interfere with business. Come on! Make it the theme of the restaurant. "If you're soup floats on it's on, it's free!" "Ketchup seeps from the walls!" The fact that 2.6 million dollars is at stake here is even sadder. If you were the judge, what the heck would you think? "Ok, prove to me it's haunted...without using The Ghosthunters." Would he or she have to spend the night? Could this be like a Scooby-Doo episode, and it's really Old Man Caruthers? This is ridiculous.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend.