Pass National Health Care With Public Option Now

Website Wednesday: and Substitute Teaching

I’ve done a lot of substitute teaching, primarily in grades 7 through 12, and almost full time for one school system (It was because I was either very good at it or I never said “No” to the 5:30 a.m. call.)

I really enjoyed being a sub. It always kept my teaching fresh and I was never bored.

The only part I didn’t like (but it was essential for this age range) was that I had to come in like “gang busters.” That is, I came in tough, strict and no nonsense. “Sit down, be quiet, here’s how we’re going to do this.”

I hated that part and it usually gave me a headache but in a short time the class and I were in sync. They were learning, we were liking each other, and they had figured out I wasn’t such a meanie.

This part always amazed me: that they took to my no-nonsense initial strictness. I gave them direction and they followed.

Which brings me to last summer and Barack Obama.

I didn’t think about this until yesterday (before the Dems lost MA but after they lost NJ) but Obama played a Kerry summer and I missed it.

What is a Kerry summer? Remember the summer before the 2004 election when the swift-boaters grabbed the media headlines? All that summer, the dialogue in my house went something like this:

Well, Kerry will respond shortly.
Well, he’s not going to say anything now since it’s the July 4th weekend.
Well, he’s probably realizes that no one follows politics in the summer.
Well, wait until after Labor Day. He’ll come out swinging.

Well.......you know how all that turned out.

Kerry really never responded to the smears. Perhaps a few of his minions did but the damage was done and the meme became that brave soldier, John Kerry, was a fraud.

And so it went for Obama this summer with the nutty tea baggers and the birthers (and all the racists who are attracted to any anti-Obama movement.) They set the battle lines and the Democratic politicians, on the whole, didn’t think they were worthy of a response, let alone a battle.

Big mistake. Nature and politics abhor a vacuum. If reason doesn’t fill it; some idiot surely will.

I had two choices when I walked into all those strange classrooms as a sub: I could have wrung my hands and moaned: Oh, you bad, bad people. What can I do? Or I could have taken charge: I was there to do a job and we were going to do it the right way.

I took the second choice. Unfortunately for our nation, Obama didn’t make that choice.

Now on to Website Wednesday. I had a frivolous one picked out but after yesterday I’m pushing education:

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/

I know I recommended free online university courses before but this page is different. This is part of the blog of Online Universities.com and if you click on the Home page, you'll get the typical: what are you interested in studying, etc. and you'll be sent to suggestions for non-free degree programs.

Here, however, you'll just find out a lot of stuff. Like the first heading: 50 Important Facts You Probably Forgot Between 5th Grade and College. You'll review "i" before "e" and just what is a subject and an object. Or, under Social Studies you'll learn what Manifest Destiny means to the US or what are the state capitals in the US. A lot of this is simple stuff we have all probably forgotten or only remember vaguely. It's like instant learning but, hey, what's wrong with that? For answers, you'll get sent to Wikipedia, About.com or smaller websites like emptyeasel.com for the answer to What is Cubism? Definitely, this page fulfills the promise of "Something for everyone."

Before you leave, scroll down to: 100 Best (Free) Science Documentaries Online.

You can watch Super Size Me or learn about genetics, space, geology, nature, technology, etc., etc. etc.

Oh, and don't forget to scroll through the blog archives. Good stuff here also.

Enjoy learning as it should be: work and fun.