The Real Obama

It is a crying shame how the media is trying to play up the falsehood that Obama is not a citizen of the United States. After reading the "Enquirer" magazine recently, I only could shake my head. How could any decent individual publish such garbage and in addition the one who wrote that article and she happened to be female, should be ashamed of herself. Unfortunately, for those who are not informed and read on a regular basis, one could easily be persuaded and influenced with this faulty reasoning. As a teacher, I know that there are certain requirements that any American citizen must comply with before thinking about running for the presidency of this nation. Believe me, Mr. Obama has met all requirements. Unfortunately, some of our fellow countrymen just do not want him to be president and I thought that I would not have to mention this fact but because he is black, some of our citizens just cannot accept this. Initially, I tried to rule this type of reasoning out, but now I see there are some of us who just cannot accept this fact that he is our legitimate president and won the election fair and square.

However, as I mentioned earlier those who are not readers or should I say somewhat educated will accept everything at face value and it is to this group of people that people like Limbaugh and Beck like to appeal to because a truly educated person with common sense can see right through the sneaky and conniving approaches of people like Limbaugh and Beck. It is truly a sad state of affairs that after over three hundred and fifty years of servitude and racial hatred that remnants of it still exist in our great country.

My only advice is do not let those scoundrels and many more like them that are out there mislead a rational person into faulty thinking. Our country is of one nation and blessed with a multitude of various ethnic groups and nationalities, unlike many other nations that are basically homogeneous. We are a great nation and with God's blessings will continue to be so. We all just need to be aware of some of the devils who will always attempt to create disharmony and unrest to promote their evil agendas. We as a great American people need to be constantly vigilant and aware of the evil element whose only goal is to create chaos, disorder, and a general breakdown of our American political system which our forefathers so eloquently put together over three hundred years ago.

Footbinding In Ancient China

The custom of footbinding has been around in China since the B.C. period. It was first practiced during the Shang Dynasty and continued up to the last dynasty in China which was the Manchu dynasty in the first part of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, millions of young Chinese girls suffered through this inhumane treatment. It has been estimated that as many as two billion Chinese women had their feet broken and bound in order to attain the agonizing ideal of supposedly physical perfection. The sad part about this matter is that as recent as the period during the Communist revolution of the forties and fifties, footbinding was still being practiced.

Footbinding first started out as a practice among wealthy Chinese ladies seeking to attain a suitor. It was felt that in order to ensure a secure marriage and future, young girls needed to break the bones in their feet and then have them bound. The main reason here is that while the girls are still young, the bones are soft and break more easily. Bound feet were seem as a status symbol and the only way for a woman to marry into money and fame. Young girls were matched up with wealthy families and the number one requirement was that the young girl would be required to have small feet. Basically, what happened is that once a young girl's toes were broken, the toes were then bounded underneath the sole of the foot with bandages. By having the arch of her foot broken, this would force the toes and heel ever closer together. How painful this must have been!

As recent as seven years ago, there were still approximately 300 women with bound feet in some remote villages. One of the survivors, named Shou Guizhen is now a fragile 86 year old that was born into a rich family and married into fabulous wealth. Today, she regrets ever committing herself to this self-humiliating ritual of footbinding. Unable to move around freely and walking in an awaked position, she knew that in order to seek out a husband, she would have to submit to this painful experience. These small feet were often called "golden lotuses", especially among those who had foot fetish cravings. These hobbled feet served as another erogenous zone for many of the Chinese men.

It was difficult for the women to wash their feet because the bandages that were used to wrap them were approximately 10 feet long. In addition, the feet were washed once every two weeks, so one can imagine the stench that emanated from the feet. There is the story of one young Chinese girl who described the procedure. She was betrothed to a wealthy family and in order to ensure her acceptance, her small feet were broken. She relates how for more than two years her mother would clean and wrapped her small feet several times daily as it oozed puss daily. She described how difficult it was to sleep at nights and she would cry out in pain.

At the end of two years, her small feet or "three inch lotuses" began to heal but as she related in her writings, they looked like large dead caterpillars. And as a result, she was scarred for life. This footbinding ritual deepened female subjugation and made them more dependent on their men, restricting their movement, enforcing chastity, and finally made them incapable of wandering very far from their homes. The ironic part about this footbinding is that this type of torture was accepted among poor peasant girls in the countryside who hoped to improve their dismal futures.

website link:
http://heatedsubjects.blogspot.com

Manny Pacquaio Demolishes Ricky Hatton

Well, all I can say, that was one fight that was witnessed over the world on May 2, 2009. Even though it ended than sooner than expected, it proved to all of the doubters that Manny is definitely a force to be reckon with. He literally destroyed Ricky Hatton. From the moment that the bell rang, he was all over Hatton. And I am sure that Ricky wil definitely respect Manny in any future endeavors.
It just was so unbelievable watching this artist at work. Ricky came into the ring and tried to establish himself by brawling which turned out to be his biggest mistake. He basically received a dose of his own medicine. Manny is no joke and his power attests to that. I mean Ricky looked so helpless in that ring and from the first time that he was hit, he was unable to recover. And then, in the first round when he was hit again, it was all downhill for Hatton. Manny was just to fast and furious for Ricky. Yes, Ricky had an impressive record but he never has fought anyone of the caliber of a Manny Pacquaio. Again, Manny was on Ricky like bees on honey and unfortunately, Ricky could not make that adjustment that he sorely needed to do. If you ask me, I would say that he is a one dimensional fighter and fighting someone like Pacquaio, one needed an arsenal of weapons to counteract the power and speed of Manny. Maybe Ricky should have trained longer and really look over Manny's fight clips because as far as I am concerned, Manny made Ricky look like an amateur fighter which we all know he is not. Pacquaio was just to much for him.
And especially in round 2, when Ricky was hit for the third and final time. That punch thrown by Manny will probably be the punch of the year. I mean, Manny really let it go and if one were to review the fight again, one will see that Ricky was already out once he hit the canvas and when he did hit the canvas if one remembers, Ricky's head hit the canvas twice or it appeared to do a double bounce so to speak. At that point, he was really hurt and when I looked into his eyes as I was watching the fight on pay per view, Ricky did not know where he was . His eyes were in a daze and he was just glaring out into space and if one remembers, his corner turned his head to one side and that indicated to me, he was really hurt. He probably laid in that position for at least five minutes, maybe more. At that point, Manny had established himself as the best pound for pound fighter in his division.
Floyd Merriweather Sr. should have at least said something in the post fight interview instead of quickly leaving the area. As much talk as he had done leading up to the fight, I am sure everyone at ringside and around the world was expecting some type of response from his camp.
Well, Floyd Merriweather Jr., are you ready for a Rumble In The Jungle? I am sure all die hearted fight fans can hardly wait for the next engagement between Pacquaio and Merriweather. It definitely will be rated as the "Fight of the Year". At that time, everyone will be able to decide who is truly the best "pound for pound" fighter in the division.
Now, Mr. DelaHoya, What do you have to say after you were beaten into submission?

Parent Accountability

The final missing piece of accountability clearly rests upon the parent. Without parents help, both students and teachers will be faced with an almost insurmountable task-educating our children and preparing them for the 21st century. There is no doubt that teachers, without reservation, depend upon each and every parent to assist them in both maintaining discipline and ensuring that our children are prepared for school daily. It is only through this joint effort between parents and teachers that we as a nation can ensure our generation of children will be prepared for this century.

Unfortunately, in many homes, many parents are not holding up their end of the agreement. Parents must insist and demand that their love ones do their homework, come to school prepared, get a good night's sleep and be functionally ready for school the next day. All too often, as a teacher, I see many children coming to school without adequate school supplies, sleepy, and homework not even attempted. Parents, we as teachers, need your help because we cannot do it all alone. We are all in this together and we sincerely need your help. The accountability piece is where parents must take charge and be held accountable for their children learning just as well as the teacher. However, this is not the case.

Many parents feel that all of the instruction and guidance must come from the school and this type of reasoning is farthest from the truth. The average child is in school for approximately six and a half hours daily and as I mentioned in one of my previous articles, the remainder of the day which is about seventeen and a half hours more, teachers have no control of the children at that point. This is why parental support is so dearly needed. With parents shouldering a portion of the responsibility alongside students and teachers, there is no doubt in my mind that our kids will be performing at their optimum performance and the arduous task of instructing our children will be just a little more easier and bearable. Don't you agree? If our students are to transition into responsible young adults, then there is no question that parents and teachers must do all that is necessary for our children to succeed. Parents represent the other piece of the puzzle that is needed to ensure completion. Once teachers, parents and students work together in unison like the cogs of a wheel finely tuned, true success will be realized for our children. Then one may say that accountability is everyone's job and with this combined effort, the issue of who is accountable will no longer exist. We are all accountable--teachers, parents, and students!!

Student Accountability

There has been much talk about teacher accountability which is definitely important in the nurturing of our children but on the same token, how about student accountability? With both of these entities (teachers and students) working in unison like the parts of an engine, our nations education goals and dreams will be realized. Students must likewise be held accountable!! As a teacher, on a daily basis, I see no responsibility on the part of my students and even the ones that I see traveling from class to class. Many of these students come to school late, no supplies such as paper and pencil, improperly dressed, and many of them sleep in class or busily listening to their ipods or texting messages to their friends. As a result, much of the instruction given by the teacher is missed in these classes. In addition, when teachers direct these students to put away their cell phones or ipods, many of these students immediately develop an attitude and all the teacher is trying to refocus them and get them back on task or the matter at hand and that is receiving the basic instruction that they need to pass their Standards of Learning exams. (SOL).

If our nation is to continue to remain a superpower, some type of student accountability must be expected on the part of our students. Students are required to come to class and ready to learn and as mentioned earlier stay focus in classes. Students as well as their teachers must share this sense of responsibility, however this is not happening. Too much emphasis is placed upon the teacher which I feel is truly unfair. How about the students? Yes, as mentioned in my previous blog, teacher accountability is of utmost importance but how are we to ensure that our students also are delegated some degree of responsibility. How can a teacher be held fully accountable for a student once they leave school at the end of the school day?

Students are in school approximately 6 1/2 hours a day. The other 17 1/2 hours of that day, many of these students are basically out of their realm of control unless they stay back after school for activities such as band practice, sport events, or after school tutoring to name a few after school events. The large majority of the students not staying back after school are in many cases wandering the streets or doing whatever they desire and many times parents do not have any knowledge regarding their where abouts. Unfortunately, a percentage of these students are staying out all hours of the night, partying, no parental supervision, and sadly in many cases, they are raising themselves. What's going on? They must be held accountable for their education and that is the bottom line. It is totally unrealistic to make scapegoats out of many excellent teachers when some level of accountability should be expected from our students. I have seen many fine teachers literally walk out of their classrooms simply because of many students attitudes and refusals to make any effort to complete classroom work. Believe me, teachers are truly in the "trenches" and this is the reality of the situation.

Lastly, in my next blog, I will talk about parental responsibility which is the missing link in the accountability issue. We are all in this together. Isn't this true? Any comments or replies will be greatly appreciated.

Teacher Accountability

Yes, I am in full agreement that there should be accountability for teachers who are teaching our children. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who are incompetent and these type of teachers need to be scrutnized carefully and why not, they are entrusted with teaching our children. As parents of our children, we expect no less from all of our teachers. If they are ill prepared and irresponsible, they definitely should be removed from education.

However, I do have one concern regarding accountability for teachers. Yes, they will be held accountable but how about the parents of our students. Teachers cannot do it all. Students are in class approximately 6-6 1/2 hours per day, Monday to Friday. After these students leave school, teachers do not have additional contact with them until the following day. It is at this point where parental involvement is so important. Parents must ensure that their children are regularly doing their homework, getting a good nights sleep, eating right, and reducing the amount of television time. I say this because I, myself, am a teacher, and daily I see all of the previously mentioned issues occurring in my classes. Students are tired, not focus, hungry, and some have even told me that they regularly stay up all hours of the night watching television or playing video games, sometimes until two or three o'clock in the morning. How can anyone expect their children to succeed in school with them not being properly prepared each school day? For me, as a teacher, this has become a daily battle and we need all parents help to redirect our children.

Undue emphasis has been placed upon all school personnel that our children be prepared for the 21st century and a solid education is at the top of the agenda. But we need all parents help to work with teachers and other school personnel which will definitely assist us as a teacher, parent, and finally a community to realize our goals of educating our children in this century. Parents should likewise be held to some sense of accountability and with parents working alongside with teachers, all of our dreams and aspirations for our children will be realized. Yet, I do not see this happening in many of my classes and speaking to my colleagues, they also report the same problems-namely no parental responsibility or involvement. Believe me, as teachers, we need all parents assistance in educating our children ensuring they will become productive citizens in our society, and not become liabilities. Speaking for my colleagues, I know that most of us are regularly making phone calls, holding conferences with our students, and constantly keeping parents aware of different issues that may affect their children. Personally, I do not feel some parents are holding up to their end of the agreement where teachers and parents work closely together in educating our future leaders of our country, namely the United States of America. Believe me, all parents help is dearly needed and now!! With teachers and parents working together, we both will be accountable for our children and ensure that our country will continue to reign as a great world power. I solicit all parents, guardians, and anyone else deeply involved in the upbringing of our children to please work closely with your childrens teachers. We truly need your help and support!

AIG Rip OFF!!

It is sad what is happening to our country. I just read that today is the day that AIG is paying their top execs over $112,000 each as a bonus!! Considering the trouble that our country is already in, is this fair? And to think of all the taxpayer money that has been used to revive this company really leaves a sour taste in one's mouth. There is truly no shame in their games that they are playing.

Think about all of the unemployed and laid off people, people losing their homes, the homeless and poor, the list just goes on. There is definitely some wrong with this picture if the U.S. is to be a superpower. Are we really ? Our education system is falling apart and we rank near the bottom of the top twenty nations in science and math. This is just another embarassment for our nation. What is the rest of the world thinking of us now?

This is $165 million dollar in bonuses that they are paying out of the $170 billion dollars that AIG received from the government. What is going on people? Someone explained this to me. It just does not make any sense, especially after AIG lost over $61.7 billion dollars!! And guess what, this calamity of events all happened during the Bush Administration. He should be ashamed of himself. No, he is comfortably living in Texas as a multimillionaire !!