Smatterings

In sharp contrast to Pantheist Mom's feelings, I was very annoyed when I had to turn on my headlights and turn up the heat as I left the house this morning.

Yesterday, C was given some grief at school about being an Obama supporter (and for the record, he was more wholly behind Obama before I was). He gave it right back to those kids, with facts. A couple of those kids were stunned to learn that there is a national deficit, one that has increased dramatically over the last 8 years, and the burden per citizen is in the tens of thousands of dollars. Among other things. I bet there were some interesting conversations when those kids went home last night. Awesome. But C and I also talked about not expecting any playdates (I don't know what they are really called at age 12, but not playdates) anytime soon, and he seems okay with that. We talked about trickle down economics and other economic and social issues - and I earned some "cool" points (very hard to come by these days with him) when I told him about a sign I made for a political rally in 1992 ("We've been trickled on enough!").

Our town is very conservative even though the state tends toward liberal. Even so, I see very few McCain stickers on cars. It seems people are planning to vote for him just because he's the GOP candiate, not because they are at all excited about him. It makes me so hopeful when I see Porsches driving around with Obama stickers.

Also, C tells me the mother of one of C's very conservative friends (this kid dressed up as Ronald Reagan for the 4th grade "Heroes" project) is considering changing her political party affiliation from Republican to Independent. Yeah, baby!

I met with M's teacher yesterday. I'm much relieved. We have some enrichment plans in place - math challenge packets, independent study packets, and the like. She said she has already been to talk to the teacher who has the high-end learning group about obseving some of her methods to help M and a couple of other kids in her class.

Speaking of learners on the ends of the spectrum, the local newspaper's Web site has shut down the schools forum due to some nasty and inappropriate commenting by a select group - and specifically one mom of a special needs student. I've mentioned this woman before; definitely has some anger management issues, regardless of whether her base issues are valid are not (some probably are - no school is perfect). At any rate, when I saw that a group of special ed parents had formed a committee for interacting with the schools, I steeled myself against what I assumed would be this woman's personal attack committee. I was pleasantly surprised and amused when I realized that this committee was formed by a group who want to make sure that this angry woman does NOT try to speak for them; they want to work with the schools, not in conflict with them. And now this angry woman is ranting against this parent group on a google group as vociferously as she does against the school committee. How to win friends and influence people, and all that.

Finally on the school front, the local paper last week brought the news that the (totally ineffective) principal of the lower elementary school (the one M just left) is FINALLY retiring. There is hope for S's years there. AND I don't have any kids there for the round of "we love you so much" retirement parties that are sure to go on, so I don't have to fake smile at her! Not such a nice sentiment from me, I know, but I think she really did M some disservice while he was there.

We have a small radio station the next town over that serves our suburban region. It's reach is about a 15 mile radius. Like many small stations, they produce their own ads for local buisnesses. All good and well, they are providing a service, all that - but some of the ads are so, so bad. Think of the worst smarmy radio ads you can think of, and multiply it. Among many attributes of these ads, it sounds like they have exactly one female voice they contract for the ads and her voice is so sing-songy and condescending that I cringe if I have the station on for local traffic reports and an ad comes on. And really that's all I listen to it for - the traffic reports on my early office mornings. Other times I've happened to tune in, there are some nasty liberal bashing talk shows ("Any one who votes for a Democrat should be stripped of their citizenship and deported." I wish I were joking.) and lovely stuff like that. It doesn't help that the mother of the annoying neighbor works for the radio station. Most regions seem to have one or a few small radio stations such as this one. What is it about little stations like that? They are so stereotypical that they are almost quaint, yet...not....

Other fun in town is that the police are doing their annual strong-arm fundraiser. They are calling everyone in town to ask them to buy tickets to events that never actually happen to raise funds for programs I've never seen run. But the implication is there: we know where you live and we want some money. My husband answered the phone this year and commited to $35 or something. But when the person showed up, I refused to give it. See, the person who showed up wasn't a police officer. It was this woman in a very ramshackle car who was dressed in torn shorts and dirty tshirt and REEKED of cigarette smoke. It was so foul. She had no identification on her and I asked what her affiliation was to the police department. She said she just knows some of the guys. So I said no, I would not give her the check.

I figure if the police are going to ask for money, they need to have the courtesy to pick it up themselves and present themselves in a respectable manner.

A few days later the phone rang. Caller ID said "unknown." I don't often pick those calls up, but that day I did. It was the police again, wondering what the misunderstanding was all about. So I told him - if you are going to collect money, do so yourself, and present yourself in a repectable manner. Also, from that day forward, I will not give a dime to anyone who calls me from a blocked phone number. If it really is for official police programs, you can call from one of the dozen or so police lines (overkill for our small town), and let residents know who is calling. Be up-front and clear, and I'll consider it in the future. The guy was kind of stunned, but said he'd take my suggestions under consideration.

I'm definitely not the police department's favorite resident right now.

Close on the heels of that episode has been an effort by the state to have civilians run some traffic details at construction sites, thus cutting off a major source of overtime revenue for police officers. The police unions, of course, don't like it. We're one of the only states (if not the only state) that has officers run all traffic details. It's overkill most of the time. In our town the officers often just stand around listening to their iPods for hours at a time on no-so-busy roads. If I could make $40 an hour just standing around listening to music, I would. However, in our current economic climate, I fully support the governor's effort to move this through. Millions will be saved.

And that's quite enough for today....