tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66739899998591740662024-03-13T06:29:11.421-07:00My Secret Blogaholism...<b>My name is Greg Cruey... and I'm a blogaholic. I have other blogs. This blog covers a number of topics - politics, personal stuff, life in Appalachia (since I live there), languages and linguistics, the Internet and blogging, philosophy and religion, places I've been (or want to go), and whatever else I think about when I should be sleeping...</b>Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-49649267064762763922011-10-12T19:20:00.000-07:002011-10-12T19:29:27.414-07:00My phone at work (and the spy in me)...My phone is a valuable tool to me at work. Recently I’ve been keeping track of what students still need to take a particular standardized test in the note app on my phone. It’s my calculator, my timer, and the only watch I carry. It has my Google calendar (which is filled with mostly school related things). I have Dropbox on my phone: that holds a huge number of things (including schedules). I have alarms set on my phone that tell me my C&P is about to be over, or that the day is about to start, etc. I could go on…
<br /><P>It was recently suggested to me that someone thinks I could be a spy, and that when I have my phone out I’m texting my wife to tell her about bad stuff that’s happening. I find that thought humorous. But (for what it’s worth) below you’ll find a transcript of every text my wife and I have sent to each other since the teacher work year started. I don’t delete them. You’re welcome to look at my phone whenever you like (just ask and I’ll hand it to you). If you suspect that some texts are missing, say so and I’ll produce a bill you can take home and reconcile (text by text) with the list below.
<br />
<br /><font color=orange>Got it! :) 4:45pm Oct 8</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Where r u? 8:45pm Oct 7</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: I wondered 5:10PM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Home. I appreciate you not locking the backdoor. My keys never occurred to me. 5:01PM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Ok 7:48AM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I just remembered you’re going to Kimball. Don’t go to the boe just for my badge. 7:46AM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Don’t forget cabinet man today 7:34AM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: I’ll try 7:25AM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Will you try and get my badge today? 7:22AM Oct 6</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: K 4:12PM Sep 30</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>He’s gone. Email him… 4:11PM Sep 30</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Yes 4:10PM Sep 30</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>mr lane wants you to email him and let him know whether to come on Monday 4:09PM Sep 30</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>no net or phone since before the mouse 9:36PM Sep 29</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>text me when you’re. I’m beating up tucker… 4:29PM Sep 29</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>k 6:45PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Want me to wait till u get here? 6:44PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Moving 6:40PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Construction just before the rt 80 turn 6:40PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Stuck in Coretta. Wreck maybe. Can’t tell. 6:37PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Where r u? 6:36PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Yes leaving in a minute 6:34PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>U still in War? 6:32PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>lol 5:39PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: 6-8 teachers 5:38PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>What is “plan” on tomorrow’s calendar? 5:37PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: I guess 5:30 Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>That sounds like you’re at least part SIS instead of not SIS. </font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Not this time but he wants me to go eventually 5:26PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>So… Wednesday? Charleston? 5:24PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Must be a<font color=Navy>CCess mail. I’ll check it when I get upstairs/ 5:22PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Sent u an email. Yes, sitting here next to Billings. 5:19PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Did u go to Welch? 5:16PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: I’m going back to school for a bit 4:30PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>u still meeting? Let me know what u do. Love, greg 4:12PM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>sorry 7:41AM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: will you bring my hasp 7:00AM Sep 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I don’t know what this means 10:18AM Sep 14</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I gove up. dew we 6:34 Sep 23</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Where r ralph’s keys 8:01PM Sep 21</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: In flos office 4:11 Sep21</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Watching sandwiches bake. Where will you be? 4:10PM Sep 21</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: I would walk over there but carry all this stugg 4:40PM Sep 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: *phone number omitted* 4:36PM Sep 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Still no Ralph 4:36PM Sep 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Still no Ralph? 4:32PM Sep 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Waiting……… 4:31PM Sep 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>k 4:58PM Sep 16</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Leaving 4:57PM Sep 16</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>home 4:29PM Sep 16</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>*names of student government election winners omitted* 3:22PM Sep 16</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I’ve been asked to text you and ask what to do next. 5:08PM Sep 7</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>So u were right about my dr time. I looked on my way to the car. I made it. Waiting on a shot. New antibiotics. 4:00PM Sep 4</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Leaving 5:01PM Sep 2</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: K 4:29PM Sep 2</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Text me when you leave and I’ll consider actually getting dressed. 4:29PM Sep 2</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: K 10:33AM Sep 1</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Sitting in Dr Duty’s office near the florist on Fincastle. 10:32AM Sep 1</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I’m here 4:15PM Aug 31</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Leaving Welch. I’ll be a little late I guess 3:35PM Aug 31</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: I hope not 2:42PM Aug 31</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>While I know that game exists, I don’t really know the rules. I’m afraid I’m going to end up at the ER for antibiotics before Tuesday. 2:39PM Aug 31</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: just finished a game of duck duck goose 2:36PM Aug 31</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Me too 3:45PM Aug 30</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I’m out 2:56PM Aug 30</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Billings wanted me to ask you for the keys to mboyd’s old room. I forgot. 2:29PM Aug 26</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Ok 12:20PM Aug 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>I presume they’d bill our insurance. But I’ll ask. 12:20PM Aug 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Free? 12:18PM Aug 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Flu shots available on demand at CVS. Just walk in. 12:17PM Aug 20</font><BR>
<br /><font color=orange>Fyi Flo just told everyone that if they don’t have a laptop they should see you at 10am 8:12AM Aug 19</font><BR>
<br /><font color=Navy>CC: Can u come help me with a teport 3:33PM Aug 18</font><BR>
<br />Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-55423732577910740442011-07-28T12:26:00.000-07:002011-07-28T12:47:10.793-07:00Florida, Kentucky and Drug TestingConservatives have gone viral recently in places like Facebook with this simplistic little diddy on drug testing welfare reciepients: <blockquote>THANK YOU FLORIDA AND KENTUCKY!!!! Florida and Kentucky the first states that will require drug testing when applying for welfare, effective July 1st! Some people are crying this is unconstitutional. How is this unconstitutional? It's OK to drug test the people who work for their money but not those who don't? Re-post if you want all states to do this.</blockquote>I love their rhetorical question: <B>How can this be unconstitution?</B> The question is followed by a piece of misinformation: <B>It's OK to drug test the people who work...</B> <br /><br />The truth is it's not always "OK" (I think that's code for "constitutional") to test people who work. In the private sector it's a contractional agreement that you enter into <I>before</I> you take a job. You enter into it <I>voluntarily</I> (since you could choose to go work omewhere else, instead). If you work for the government, the courts have ruled that you can be required to take drug tests if your job performance could endanger public safety. Washington can drug test air traffic controllers, but not clerical staff. <br /><br />Many of the viral status updates that Conservatives circulate make perfect sense - as long as you <I>believe</I> the little untruth planted at the heart of them (in this case,"It's OK to drug test the people who work..."). And if you're well informed on the issue, that little piece of untruth is usually easy to spot. <br /><br />The "drug test for welfare" issue has been around for a long time now. I wrote <A HREF="http://gregcruey.blogspot.com/2008/04/drug-testing-for-welfare-recipients.html" target=blog>this</A> about it over three years ago here.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-52305847550183260692011-07-25T20:29:00.000-07:002011-07-25T20:30:31.708-07:00My Undivided AttentionI was in a meeting some weeks ago where the first real order of business was to decide something like rules of order. There were various subtopics, but one in particular has hung around in my brain. In discussing what constituted courtesy and respect in a meeting, it was suggested that we give speakers in particular and the meeting in general our “undivided attention.” That idea was fleshed out with statements of protocol concerning side conversations, electronic devices, and so forth. You get the idea…<br /><br />The discussion (and especially the central phrase) bothered me; but I couldn’t decide why at the time. Recently it came to me: my attention is rarely undivided. Demanding my undivided attention for long periods seems unreasonable to me. <br /><br />I began to get clarity on <I>why</I> the issue bothered me while watching a trailer for the Facebook movie. In the trailer the movie’s main character is in a college administration office with some older, well dressed men. He’s fiddling with a few things while they talk. One of them, irritated, asks if they have his undivided attention. He responds that they don’t, but that they have sufficient attention from him to proceed. While the movie scene is tense and the statement in the movie is laced with disrespect, the underlying idea seemed to reflect the normal human condition to me.<br /><br />Very few things get my undivided attention for very long. I listen to TV and surf news sites on my laptop while my favorite shows get aired. I cook with the radio on, or with a laptop on the kitchen counter. I drive to work thinking about and planning the day that’s starting, while contemplating the scenery and listening to radio news. I mow the grass with an iPod in my pocket. Stray thoughts about the logistics of dinner, events on my calendar, my parents’ health, my wife’s birthday, etc. follow me up and down hallways at work and aisles in the grocery store. Then at the end of the day they often crawl into bed with me. <br /><br />The approach in my meeting some weeks ago wasn’t unusual. We came up with a few rules and made it clear that people were expected to comply. And that idea, compliance, is also part of the problem in my view. We teach compliance and then wonder why we don’t see initiative and creativity. Compliance is the Dime Store substitute for responsibility. When I speak or present something to a group I see two types of people. Some are engaged with me; and if they choose to glance at their phones and type a couple of lines in reply to someone, I don’t mind. Others aren’t engaged with me; and since they’re not, what do I care if they mess with their phones while a talk. The only real issue is whether they’re disruptive. <br /><br />Someone will say that it’s unprofessional. I’m not saying standards don’t exist. But the details that flesh out many people’s concept of professionalism are manufactured and artificial. And I suppose the bottom line is that I can pretend to focus with undivided attention on something if I must, but actually doing it is far more difficult – perhaps impossible.<br /><br />I don’t think I’m that unusually. Doesn’t everyone have something like a lazy susan in the middle of their brain that slow spins and constantly serves ideas previously cooked up? I’ve always thought so…Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-39155319378602182382011-07-17T18:10:00.000-07:002011-07-17T18:22:07.410-07:00Vern Presley get Democratic Nomination for Virgnia's 3rd Legislative DistrictOn July 15th the Third Legislative District's democrats met in Tazewell to nominate a candidate to replace little Willie Morefield in the Virginia House of Delegates. That candidate is Vern Presley. <br /><br />Repubican's out east bought the seat for Willie 20 months ago. Willie's kept it warm; but that's all he's done. The time has come to take the seat back. <br /><br /><center><HR width=40% color=blue></center><br /><br />Thomas Brewster for Vern Presley<br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2MX97j4CycE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />State Senator Philip Puckett for Vern Presley<br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CCtIBMmtPAE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Vern Presley accepting the Nomination (Part I)<br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jIM9EfKMAcs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Vern Presley accepting the Nomination (Part II)<br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w3bHKgPOXAg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-30337291224408005092011-05-06T19:07:00.000-07:002011-05-06T19:47:40.880-07:00My Samsung CaptivateSo now I have a phone...<br /><br />I knew smartphones were great things, but even with my tech background I hadn't really understood before exactly <I>how much</I> a smartphone can do:<br /><br /><UL><LI>My phone is a better camera than my camera.<LI>It plays music, and has more memory than the 8-gig iPod I've been carrying.<LI>It's a video camera (I'd been thinking of getting one of those anyway).<LI>It's a scientific calculator (trigonometric functions in degrees, radians or gradients, hyperbolic functions, factorials, permutations and combinations, 10 memories - and I'm not even sure what some of that means).<LI>It's a voice recorder, so I don't have to carry a micro-casette around.<LI>And it's the biggest flash drive I have.</UL> On top of all that, it's also a phone...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-53340142523296128772011-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:002011-02-27T12:19:54.873-08:00Democracy, Republics, and Revisionist Tea Party DrivelI've been involved in a number of discussions recently (many of them on Facebook) about how America is a <B>Republic</B>, not a <I>Democracy</I>. Proponents of this idea all seem to be Conservatives who are either involved in the Tea Party or at least smile on its activities.<br /><br />The video below got posted on one of my Conservative friend's Facebook pages this morning, and it's a classic example of the sort of compost they promote. We'll look at a transcript after the video.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="334" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N7cY7LfMSbk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><blockquote>When Benjamin Franklin existed the Constitutional Convention he was asked by a woman "Sir, what have you given us?" His immediate response was "A republic Ma'am, if you can keep it." Yet most American's today have been persuaded that our governmental system is a democracy, <font color=red>and not a republic. The difference between these two is essential to understanding Americanism and the American system.</font> Many Americans would be surprised to learn that the word "democracy" doesn't appear in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. Nor does it appear in any of the Constitutions of the 50 states. <font color=red>The founders did everything that could to keep us from having a democracy.</font> <UL><LI>James Madison, rightly known as the Father of the Constitution, wrote in essay number 10 of the Federalist Papers, "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulance and contention; have ever been found incompatable with personal security or the right of property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." <LI>Alexander Hamilton agreed and he stated, "We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of democracy." <LI>Sanuel Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, stated, "Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."</UL> The founders had good reason to look upon democracy with contempt because they knew that the democracies in the early Greek city-states produced some of the wildest excesses of government imaginable. In every case they ended up with mob rule and anarchy, and finally tyrrany under and oligarchy.</blockquote> <br /><br />The problems in this text are numerous. First, I've never understood why these people want to insist that democracy is incompatable with being a republic. Asking whether we're a democracy or a republic is like asking whether an apple is red or crunchy. Usually, apples are both. The two are <I>not</I> mutually exclusive. And while I hear a lot today about democracy, I don't think I hear more about it than I used to - and I don't hear <I>anything</I> about us <I>not</I> being a republic.<br /><br />Conservatives seem especially concerned to stress the idea that we are a <I>constitutional</I> republic. And so we are. But how does that, by itself, make us unique? Almost every country in the world today is either a constitutional republic or a constitutional monarchy - from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (whose current constitution was ratified in 2003) to the Republic of Zimbabwe (whose 1979 Constitution was amended for the 17th time in 2005). In fact, 124 of the world's 203 sovereign states include the word <I>republic</I> in their official names. <br /><br />Of course, what's in a name. Brunei's name, for example, includes the dubious epitath "Abode of Peace." If a republic is a state where most decisions are made with reference to established laws, rather than the discretion of some monarch or head of state, then North Korea is a republic in little more than name and most of the world's monarchies today have become psuedo-republics, with constitutions and the rule of law being the framework for their society. The term "constitutional republic" may be emotionally packed, but it is largely redundant. Name the three most important republics that <I>aren't</I> governed by a constitution or some similar body of code. You can't.<br /><br />Were the Founding Fathers <I>opposed</I> to democracy? Should good Americans have contempt for the idea of Democracy (as the video suggests)? This line of drivel seems fairly new to me. Abraham Lincoln surely didn't share it: <blockquote>Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people” ~ Abraham Lincoln</blockquote>Neither did Ronald Reagan.<blockquote>Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. ~ Ronald Reagan</blockquote><br /><br />Conservative voices in recent years haven't always embraced the message that democracy is something evil.<blockquote>Despite what the pundits want us to think, contested primaries aren't civil war, they are democracy at work, and that's beautiful. ~Sarah Palin<br /><br />But if there's an erosion at home, you know, Thomas Jefferson warned about a tyranny of an oligarchy and if we surrender our democracy to the tyranny of an oligarchy, we've made a terrible mistake. ~Pat Robertson</blockquote><br /> <br />I would suggest that the Founding Fathers were concerned that America not become more of a Democracy than was necessary, and they were resigned to the idea that if <I>had to be</I> a democracy. The actual quotes in the video are accurate - but the video's director is cherry picking the thoughts of the Founding Fathers. <br /><br />Jefferson was <I>resigned</I> to democracy as a component of American government.<blockquote>“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” ~Thomas Jefferson</blockquote>He wanted to ensure that democracy had its limits and didn't infringe too much on individual liberty. And Madison understood there was little risk of <I>pure</I> democracy ever replacing the republic.<blockquote>A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person. ~James Madison</blockquote>America has never had "a small number of citizens." Madison understood that pure democracy was impossible in a country the size of America (or the size of Liechtenstein, for that matter). <br /><br />As academics, the Founders were very interested in the democracy as a philosophy of government. Constitutions generally address the mechanics of government. I think the most humorous idea in the video above is that somehow James Madison's disdain for democracy was still an influential force when Oklahomans sat down to write their constitution in 1907 and Hawaiians did it in 1949. They excluded the word out of respect for the Founding Fathers? How about we say they excluded the word because it doesn't serve much functional purpose; it's not a technical term, in government. It's an ideal. <br /><br />The Founding Fathers saw democracy as flawed when they looked at experiments in democracy hundred of years earlier. But that brings up a problem with the Founding Fathers' views of democracy. There simply weren't a huge number of functioning government at that time where democracy could be observed. And the Founding Fathers made the same mistake those early democracies made: they gave every citizen the vote, but greatly restricted access to citizenship so that women and slaves weren't citizens. <br /><br />I know... You're going to tell me that those were the times. And you'd be right. That's why Jefferson said <I>this</I> in a letter to Madison on September 6, 1789.<blockquote>"...no society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation." ~Thomas Jefferson</blockquote>America is a great country - not because the Founding Fathers were right about everything (they weren't), or because we're a constitutional republic (there are plenty of people on earth who haven't been helped much by that form of government). There are many reasons America is great - among them, its work ethic (which is still pretty good) and its tolarance for pluralism (which the Tea Party sometimes appears to be trying to erode). <br /><br />The Founding Fathers did <I>not</I> do everything that could to keep us from having a democracy. In fact, they <B>gave us</B> a democracy - and they framed it in a republic in order to make it function well and last.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-13617413160221418642011-02-26T18:21:00.000-08:002011-02-26T18:54:20.775-08:00Shea the Plumber?I couldn't resist this brief moment from Thursday night's introductions at the redistricting committee meeting. Republican Shea Cook decided to inject a little humor (I think) and described himself as a part time student at Southwest Virginia Community College who was studying to be a plumber. As in Joe the Plumber? I'm not sure...<br /><br />In case you don't know, Shea has his own law practice and has been the GOP candidate for Commonwealth's Attorney.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="331" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0I7gbY8tXe0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><center>Text: <B>My name is Shea Cook. This is the first time I've had to serve on the redistricting committee and I'm looking forward to serving along with all of you. Like everybody here I'm a lot of things to a lot of different people. I'm a part time student at Southwest Virginia Community College. That's one of the things that I do. I'm learning how to be a plumber, and uh (laughter)... so I'm looking forward to working with you all and help as much as I can the people of Tazewell County. </B></center>Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-20859853863184715482011-02-26T14:51:00.000-08:002011-02-26T15:40:14.073-08:00Second Redistricting Committee MeetingTazewell County's redistricting committee met for a second time on Thursday night (Feb. 24). The meeting was largely informational. Members received data on precinct populations in 2000 and on voter turnout by precinct over the last decade. <br /><br />District population totals are available for the 2010 Census, but not for individual precincts within those districts yet. <br /><br />Here are the 2010 population totals:<Center><table><TR><TD>District</TD><TD>2010 population</TD></tr><TR><TD>Northern</TD><TD>9,157</TD></tr><TR><TD>Eastern</TD><TD>9,128</TD></tr><TR><TD>Southern</TD><TD>9,123</TD></tr><TR><TD>Northwestern</TD><TD>8,875</TD></tr><TR><TD>Western</TD><TD>8,795</TD></tr></table></center><br /><br />The redistrict committee has been given an ideal population that each district should be: 9,015. But there is an allowable margin of plus or minus five percent. So district populations <I>must</I> be between 8,565 and 9,465 by the end of the redistrict process. While a five percent margin is allowable, the Federal courts are more comfortable with a three percent maximum variation from the ideal population number. That would mean keeping district populations between 8,744 and 9,285. All five Tazewell County districts are within that range.<br /><br />With the districts all within the Federal "comfort margin," any redrawing of the count's district lines would have to be motivated by political concerns, not legal issues. <br /><br />When the committee meets again the focus will likely be on individual voting precincts. A number of concerns have been raised that could impact precinct lines. Some current voting locations are developing issues with handicapped access; compliance with handicapped accessibility laws can impact federal funding for election costs. At least one precinct was mentioned where some voters have asked to be relocated to another precinct because they have to drive across a mountain to reach their voting location. The county's implementation of the 911 system has resulted in the relocation of some voters from one precinct to another as GPS mapping data created more precise maps of where those voters lived. <br /><br />The committee will meet again in late March. Below you can view video of Thursday's meeting.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="331" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6tLke5CwdDg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="331" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m11i6_YjccY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="331" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m7REcPa-EqE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-12707163435853201972011-02-12T17:41:00.000-08:002011-02-12T17:48:56.810-08:00Redistricting Starts in Tazewell CountyRedistricting always has the potential to become a political fight. With last year’s census numbers now becoming available, the process has started in Tazewell County. Tazewell County’s redistricting committee met Thursday night, February 10, for an organizational meeting. The committee will eventually make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors (as I understand the process) and the BOS will vote on new district and voting precinct boundaries in the county. <br /><br />The meeting was relatively uneventful. As Chairman of the Board of Supervisor, Seth White was chair when the meeting opened. Philip Horton was elected to serve as chair and White turned the meeting over to him. Sandra Warden was elected recording secretary. There was some discussion about when meetings should be held; WVVA’s Greg Carter is on the committee but has to be on-air until 6:30pm in Bluefield. There was some talk about what data was available (2010 numbers for individual precincts were yet available on the 10th) and on where to find old data for comparison purposes. <br /><br />Tazewell County has actually seen a small increase in population. Unless there has been major movement <I>within</I> the county, there may be little practical reason to move many precinct or district lines. Tazewell County’s five districts are supposed to come out of this process with a relatively equal population: a margin of 5% difference is evidently legal, but not optimal if it can be avoided. Precinct populations are more a matter of tradition and geographic convenience. <br /><br />A number of issues were left undiscussed Thursday night (mostly because there was no reason to bring them up yet). The biggest movement within the county will almost certainly be the growth in population in the Pocahontas area of the Northern District. That growth is due to the new prison there, and the inmates count as part of the population. I will be surprised if the Northern District doesn’t lose a precinct to a neighboring district as a way of compensating for this growth. Which precinct? Your guess is as good as mine.<br /><br />Another issue not yet discussed is precinct consolidation. Tazewell County has 24 voting locations and 10 of them are in the more rural Northern District. It is in the best interest of the county and its residents to keep those precinct locations open. But finding election official to work inside each of those locations can be hard to do. I suspect that the voter registrar’s office harbors a secret desire to consolidate some of those precincts into a single location. Of course, the few locations there are to vote on election day, the farther people have to travel in order to vote and the lower the voter turn on. While the current member of the Board of Supervisors for the Northern District is a Republican, the district has traditionally voted for the Democrat. In a year when Republicans hold the Board of Supervisors, the temptation to close some of the Northern District’s precinct locations will be tempting. Seth White and Shea Cook are likely to see that as part of the fruits of victory from last year’s election. We’ll see at the end of this process whether the board is more interested in a political agenda or in what’s good for voters.<br /><br />Here's video of the meeting:<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="332" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hUadtLdFY_o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="332" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HkIC3jCCBpI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="408" height="332" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C5Bz0qzv8FE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><center><hr color=navy width=40%></center><br /><br />Full disclosure: I was appointed to the redistricting committee before the 2009 election. In Nov. 2009 Jim Campbell was elected to the Board of Supervisors – the first Republican to ever serve for the Northern District, I think. We spoke. He talked a lot about how he was going to try to be non-partisan and that he’d run as a Republican because he had to be in one party or the other. And he told me we could work together. Then he was sworn in and took his seat. And (without speaking to me about it) he had me removed from the committee as one of his first official acts. At the moment Barnes Kidd holds my old seat on the committee. Kidd was busy elsewhere Thursday night and could not attend.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-75944664647360057592011-01-26T20:00:00.000-08:002011-01-26T20:02:36.759-08:00Connectivity: My Problem with BloggingI haven’t blogged in months, and I think I just identified one major reason: connectivity. I have too much connectivity…<br /><br />I’m sitting here listening to the radio because the cable is out. I get my Internet over the cable. It’s how I check my email. It’s how I know if someone’s played a word in one of my Scrabble games on Facebook. It’s how I know the weather forecast (which changes rapidly here this time of year). It’s how I farm (on Facebook, of course); I’m at level 101 on FarmVille. <br /><br />Being connected is how I know whether the other teachers made it home today. We left school early this morning. From what I hear, the kids all made it home safely. Stupid me, I live in a neighboring county. So it’s a half an hour of driving to get from school to my house – through the strip mine across Gary 14 Mountain and then over Stoney Ridge. I had to stop after I got over 14 Mountain and shift to four-wheel low. Then there were wrecks on Stoney Ridge. So I sat about halfway up the north face of that mountain for almost three hours, wishing I was driving down the south face, about a mile away. Oh well, once each year it seems like we play chicken with God. Thirteen months ago we lost. Today I think it was a draw - which is to say that none of my friends went to the hospital as a result (as far as I know) and no one ended up sleeping in their car... <br /><br />And I’m taking time to blog about it because, well, I’ve lost my connectivity. I’d usually be sitting here checking the school closings on several different websites, half-watching the television, harvesting my FarmVille crops, looking through Google for educational games I can use, and browsing my reader for news and blogs. I <I>really</I> need to see the various responses to last night State of the Union (especially since I watched a rerun of Law and Order). But I can’t, since I’m not connected. <br /><br />So instead, I’m blogging. <br /><br />And I’m hoping that the radio gets around to telling me what schools are closed soon. When I’m connected I can get info like that <I>on demand</I>, and this irritating idea of waiting until they decide to tell me is for the birds.<br /><br />Well, maybe soon my cable company will figure out where in all this snow their line is broken and they’ll restore my connection. Then I can post this blog. Of course, that will happen <I>after</I> I harvest my carrots on FarmVille, check the school closings, and update my status…Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-31431373115918934442010-08-16T15:24:00.000-07:002010-08-16T15:53:04.980-07:00The drive back to schoolI believe it'd been 76 days since I'd driven the roads through Horsepen and on across Gary 14 Mountain, down through Skygusty to the spot at the golf course near Blackwolf where I can turn right and drive to Anawalt or turn left and head toward Welch. I wondered as I left for work today what it would be like. <br /><br />I was surprised a little. It seemed the road rose to meet me - as though I'd never stopped making the drive. <br /><br />I was pleased to find that parts of the road to Horsepen have been repaved. That made for a much smother drive. I saw a wild turkey as I started up the road into the strip mine on the slopes of Gary 14. The road seemed unchained, but some of the mountainsides had been moved around.<br /><br />On the whole, it was a nice drive. It's a road I enjoy. Maybe sometime soon I'll see a bear on the mountain...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-24063346197375144532010-08-05T19:03:00.000-07:002010-08-22T11:28:45.660-07:00Dennis Taylor: Who Should Shape Technology in WV?Today was the closing of the West Virginia Statewide Technology Conference. And whatever your preconceived ideas about the state (and about Appalachia in general) you should understand that West Virginia ranks at the top of the heap on any meaningful measure of the use of technology in schools.<br /><br /><A HREF="http://conference.wvnet.edu/speakers" target=blog>Dennis Taylor</A> was the conference's closing speaker. His speech was entitled, “Through the Looking Glass: A Decade of Technology Lessons.” Head of a Charleston law practice, Taylor has a long list of impressive credentials and experience with education policy and technology in West Virginia. So I expected something visionary. I was disappointed.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong. Taylor's speech was thought provoking. But I developed the impression early on that Taylor wasn't actually talking to me - that he was talking over my head to (or at) policy makers. A decade ago I was working in another state and hadn't given much thought to teaching in West Virginia. As I looked around the room I had to guess that a quarter of the audience was in high school a decade ago and perhaps half the people listening hadn't gotten their first teaching job yet. Taylor talked about past events in the state's technology history as though they were common knowledge to the people listening. They weren't to me, and I doubt I was alone in that.<br /><br />A couple of things about the tone of Taylor's speech bothered me. I've already pointed out that I didn't feel like he was there to speak to the audience in front of him. Taylor obviously felt like he was dealing with serious issues that could devastate West Virginia's economy and education system if handled incorrectly. I don't question that analysis because, well, he's right. But his approach was to use <I>Alice in Wonderland</I> as a reference point or allegory for the current situation. As someone not completely familiar with the issues, I thought that was distracting and that it reduced audience’s perception of the seriousness of the issues. <br /><br />I was uncomfortable with the way that Taylor used the term <I>politician</I> as though it was a derogatory term. He tried to sound like a populist and got a round of applause for saying that technology decisions should be left to the educators and not made by politicians. My problem with that is this: many of the "politicians" in the state legislature <I>are</I> educators (or at least used to be), and I thought they did a <I>damn good job</I> when faced over the last few months with a demand from the Governor to make significant changes to the state's education laws in a big hurry so that we could chase after Race to the Top funding. <A name="educator">I'm not honestly convinced that the people at the Higher Education Policy Commission and the West Virginia Department of Education have much more claim to the title of <I>educator</I> than do members of the legislature or of the Governor's office who deal with education law and policy. I'm an educator because I <I>teach</I> kids. The bureaucrats at state agencies who haven't turned in any lesson plans in the last decade aren't much closer to being actual educators than a member of the House of Delegates who serves on the Education Committee.</A> <br /><br />Taylor wants bureaucrats to make the technology decisions, and for us to think of bureaucrats as educators. After years of state control my county, and after watching the WVDE push for education reform issues in the legislature that I lobbied against, I find it difficult to stand up and clap when someone advocates more power for the bureaucracies.<br /><br />Dennis Taylor made me think. I like it when someone does that. I'll read his <A HREF="http://dctadvisors.com/Blog/" target=blog>blog</A> now. But today's speech left me feeling a little used, and perhaps patronized. The issues he brought up are of great importance. I worry that many of the real educators in the room may have been sucked into his conclusions about how the issues should be resolved…Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-82026472672947581182010-08-03T11:13:00.000-07:002010-08-03T11:21:31.863-07:00Sean Tuohy: Christmas EverydayJust finished listening to <A HREF="http://conference.wvnet.edu/speakers" target=blog>Sean Tuohy</A>, opening speaker for the WV Statewide Technology Conference. Good speaker.<br /><br />Tuohy and his family are the subject of the movie <I>The Blind Side</I>, and his message was simple: give cheerfully. Christmas (according to Tuohy) is the best time of year because people do just that - they give cheerfully. And if we could just learn to do that constantly, we'd have Christmas everyday...<br /><br />Tuohy was both enjoyable and inspirational. That's a good combination at the start of a tech conference.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-24599429538260024372010-08-03T05:24:00.000-07:002010-08-03T06:58:03.170-07:00The End of SummerSummer always seems fleeting, and this year it actually is a little <A HREF="http://gregcruey.edublogs.org/2010/07/27/west-virginias-new-school-year-will-it-work/" target=blog>shorter</A> than in years past. In many ways it was typical: we spent some time at the beach, visited Gatlinburg, mowed the grass, took the dog to the park, planted tomatoes and watched them grow, went to see the in-laws...<br /><br />As a teacher, I suppose I measure summer differently than most people. But maybe not. The concept of <I>summer</I> is shaped by your local school calendar in most of America. I think most of us listen to the local meteorologist announce the coming of the summer solstice (June 20th or 21st) and think of it as trivia. Weather trivia. By <I>that</I> time summer's two weeks old.<br /><br />And by the time the weather person gets around to talking about the autumn equinox (September 22nd or 23rd) marking an official end to summer, I'm already up to my neck in lesson plans and content standards, and I'm starting to wonder whether we'll have any snow days before Christmas.<br /><br />Today I'm in Charleston at the <A HREF="http://conference.wvnet.edu/" target=blog>West Virginia Statewide Technology Conference</A>. I'll be here until Thursday. Friday starts a four-day weekend, then it's off to my county's teacher academy for four days. And even though we will almost all have been at those training sessions, August 16th is considered the first teacher "work" day. <br /><br />When I got in my car and left home for Charleston, summer ended...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-55806819814507978082010-07-22T17:56:00.000-07:002010-07-22T19:40:10.233-07:00Dinner at Donnie's PlaceOur favorite restaurant is closed for the week. Cheryl and I usually eat at Big Daddy's (a nice little diner about a quarter mile from our house) twice a week. But every July they close for a week. So we decided to try Donnie's Place in town.<br /><br />I said on Facebook that Donnie's was an interesting experience. We haven't been there in three or four years. The menu has changed (no more alligator). The name has changed. But it's the same owner, the same basic atmosphere...<br /><br />Tonight was a Karaoke contest that was slated to start around eight. We didn't know that. Donnie's is a seat-yourself place. Just about every table had a "reserved" sign on it. We found one table. It was five til seven. The waitress was there in about three minutes with our menus. <br /><br />As far as I could tell there was only one waitress. She was nice enough. She was very busy...<br /><br />I ordered the special (a 12 ounce NY strip), Cheryl got the seafood plate. We had our drinks and salads in just under five minutes. Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, shredded cheese. There was also bread and butter. <br /><br />We ate our salad, talked, waited, watched the place fill up with people, and waited a little more. It took our food just over 40 minutes to arrive. My stake was good. The seafood was okay. <br /><br />We decided that although the food was okay, people don;t go there primarily for the food. We left just as Karaoke was about to start. $33.50 plus a tip...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-90269210546129428892010-07-21T21:33:00.000-07:002010-07-21T22:00:46.790-07:00A bad year for birds...Over the past several years we've had the pleasure of watching families of birds get raised in two different cedar bird houses in our yard. Last year our Eastern Bluebirds raised a brood and them lay a second clutch of eggs. It was the first year they’ve laid two clutches. We left for a week at the beach, expecting to find newborns when we returned. We found the eggs gone, instead...<br /><br />Why do bird's eggs disappear? We suspected a young boy in the neighborhood, but we didn't know for sure. And we forgot about it. This year the bluebirds moved back into the their house and the tree swallows moved into the other house. <br /><br />The bluebird laid eggs. The eggs disappeared. There'd been a hard frost. We though maybe the eggs froze. More eggs appeared. They also disappeared. It was a puzzle. <br /><br />The tree swallows had more luck. They hatched babies. Then we got up one morning and the house door was open and little pieces of the nest were scattered across the back yard. A raccoon, perhaps. Or maybe a cat. I can fix that for next year by putting a bungee cord around the house to hold the door shut.<br /><br /><center><HR width=35% color=maroon></Center><br /><br />Today I think I figured out where my eggs went. We can home from a trip to town and looked out the back door to see a five-foot snake with its head in the house. <br /><br />Snakes don't generally bother me a great deal. I'd just as soon let one get away as kill it. That one was different. But unfortunately I couldn't get across the yard quick enough. It escaped into the high weeds that border the yard. <br /><br />So now I have this winter to decide how to keep snakes out of my bird houses...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-59346919270361080292010-07-17T20:52:00.000-07:002010-07-17T21:55:08.883-07:00The Complications of BloggingI'm preparing at the moment for a <A HREF="http://www.wvnet.edu/conference" target=blog>conference</A> coming up in Charleston, WV. I somehow managed to get myself invited to present two workshops (concurrent sessions) at the annual West Virginia Statewide Technology Conference. The conference is the first week of August. I get to talk about blogging for two 50-minute sessions. Then a couple of days later I get to speak to a room full of geeks about <A HREF="http://twitter.com/gregcruey" target=blog>Twitter</A>.<br /><br />Ironically, I've neglected my own personal blog over the past couple of months. There are reasons for that...<br /><br />I wrote a post back in April for this blog. May was a busy month. June was a busy month. Now it's July. But being busy doesn't excuse a blogger from writing. If anything, it's suppose to mean he creates more content. Blogging is based in life experience, after all.<br /><br />A lot has happened in the last three months. The last month of school was hectic. We have a new kitchen. I've done a lot of writing other places. We spent a week at the beach and a few days in Gatlinburg. <br /><br />At the point in time that blogging becomes a source of income it starts to get hard to blog for free on your own personal blog. Much of this blog has been about politics in the past. I'm not particularly enthused with local politics at the moment. That makes it harder to write about. <br /><br />Blogging is supposed to be personal. That creates problems when you can't really talk about the personal issues that affect you most at the moment. The last couple of months have forced that dilemma on me, as well. <br /><br />I will share this personal tidbit. Every summer a small game of musical chairs takes place in the school system where I work. I turned in a bid sheet for a job working in Title I. I suspect that someone already in Title I will get the job - not because they're already in Title I, but because they have more seniority than I do. And at that point I'll bid on their job.<br /><br />And I'll try and pick things up this week. Maybe I'll come up with a few pictures of the new kitchen. And perhaps I can talk about how our bird houses did this year...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-13677193021225897572010-04-20T21:02:00.000-07:002010-04-21T20:06:35.711-07:00A Christian Nation?Is America a Christian nation?<br /><br /><A HREF="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-palin-sparks-church-state-separation-debate/story?id=10419289" target=blog>ABC News</A> has a story about Sarah Palin's statement that America is a Christian nation. In her words, God has shed his grace on this country. And the idea that a national leader could say that America <I>isn't</I> a Christian nation? Well, Sarah Palin thinks that's "mind boggling." <br /><br />I can't resist saying (quite sincerely) that I'm not sure how much mind Sarah Palin has to boggle. It might not be a difficult task.<br /><br />Of course America is a Christian nation. Most of its citizens think of themselves as Christians - about 78% according to the Pew Research Center. Pew includes Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and a few other little groups in their numbers that I don't really think of a Christian. But still, three out of four America's are Christians. <br /><br />And I think of myself as a Christian. <br /><br />Sarah Palin (among others) would like you to think that as a US Senator, Barack Obama told the 2006 Call to Renewal conference that America is <I>not</I> a Christian country. Here's what he <I>actually</I> said:<blockquote>Moreover, given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.</blockquote> <br /><br />You can see the whole speech <A HREF="http://www.barackobama.com/2006/06/28/call_to_renewal_keynote_address.php" target=blog>here</A>.<br /><br /><center><HR color=maroon width=40%></center><br /><br />I think the idea that America is a Christian country is undeniable. Did the Founding Fathers intend for us to have a Christian <I>government</I>? That's a different issue. I've written before about the exchange between <A HREF="http://gregcruey.blogspot.com/2007/07/euclid-ben-franklin-and-american.html">Jefferson and Franklin</A> in the preparation of the Declaration of Independence. But there's plenty of other evidence that the Founding Fathers didn't intend for us to have a religious government. It was to be part of our freedom that, as individual citizens, we get to maintain the country's status as a Christian nation by our private, personal behavior and beliefs - without the help of government.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-57140335984427603132010-04-14T15:06:00.000-07:002010-04-14T15:23:48.790-07:00Fun with Comments...I received a comment recently about my post, <A HREF="http://gregcruey.blogspot.com/2010/04/reading-mount-vernon-statement-todays.html" target=blog>Reading the Mount Vernon Statement: Today's Conservatives Want You To Think They're George Washington's Cousins...</A>. The comment was anonymous, and it was just a short piece of sarcastic dribble. So I rejected it in accordance with my policy on <A HREF="http://gregcruey.blogspot.com/2010/02/moderating-comments.html" target=blog>moderating comments</A>. But after thinking about it, I decided the comment provided me at least a few talking points. Here is the comment:<blockquote>Bravo, Comrade! Bravo!<br /><br />WE, you know, the 'collective' need to just keep thinking this way!!!! <br /><br />You're a CLASS ACT! Keep right on with your message; your <font color=red>(sic)</font> right on target!!<br /><br />Bravo, Bravo, Bravo </blockquote>It's a nice succinct comment that employs one of the most common strategies conservatives use: if you can't argue with it (or if doing the working involved in making a <I>real</I> argument requires too much effort) just make fun of it instead. <br /><br />I wrote 1300 or so words - US political history, analysis of the Mount Vernon Statement, and opinion. The commenter (who can't be bothered to identify himself or herself) doesn't contest a single point of history as I presented it. All they have to offer is sarcasm - and a little bad grammar (the <I>your</I> should be "you're").Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-29372228150290181832010-04-10T09:25:00.003-07:002010-04-10T11:42:32.284-07:00Reading the Mount Vernon Statement: Today's Conservatives Want You To Think They're George Washington's Cousins...I recently read through a document called <B>The Mount Vernon Statement - Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century</B> (you can read it <A HREF="http://www.themountvernonstatement.com/" target=blog>here</A>). The MVS was signed back in February by 80 conservative leaders on the estate of President George Washington.<br /><br />Depending on which bloggers and commentators you follow, it was either “sheer brilliance” or “a steaming pile of excrement.” Some saw it as a unifying document for the various strands of conservatism; to others it was so vague as to be meaningless – a rehashing of traditional conservative platitudes in a somewhat more libertarian vocabulary.<br /><br /><Center><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/3415046416_4ed64221df.jpg" width=375 alt="Mount Vernon, Va"></center>Image Courtesy of <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapadgett/3415046416/" target=blog>Laura Padgett</A><br /><br />As I read through it, the first thing that struck me was simple. Why did they have to use <I>Constitutional</I> as an adjective instead of a noun? <I>Why</I> isn’t the sub-title simply “<B>Constitutionalism: A Statement for the 21st Century</B>?” I suppose the answer to that question is that the MV Statement is written by conservatives for conservatives, and they can’t just leave the “C:” word out. But it’s really not about constitutional conservatism (which some would argue is an oxymoron), it’s about conservative constitutionalism – and the conservatives bring their own slant to the Constitution, their own exegesis and hermeneutics. <br /><br />At the heart of the MV Statement is this proclamation of five “first principles” for conservatives:<blockquote>A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.<UL><LI>It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.<LI>It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.<LI>It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.<LI>It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.<LI>It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.</UL> </blockquote>While libertarians were represented among the 80 conservatives present at the signing, many libertarian bloggers have complained that the first three principles are contradictory to the last two. They claim that you sacrifice individual liberty when you emphasize community and religion. They feel that any role for America as the world’s policeman simple goes beyond the powers expressed (or even implied) in the Constitution. <br /><br />Outside the libertarian fold, many see the statement as somewhat cynical. The signing was attended by 80 Bush-era politicos – people who really do believe in individual liberty (except for <I>habeas corpus</I> and the right to privacy) and in limited government (meaning that they can limit <B>taxes</B> and limit <B>regulation on business</B>, but <B>expand</B> the military and the government’s role in social policy to their hearts’ content). They claim that personal liberty is under attack, that the government is tossing aside the Constitution and simply doing as it pleases – yet they cite not a single example. It’s hard to believe they expect to be taken seriously. And their document may be a simple effort to put a saddle on the tea party and see how far they can ride it. <br /><br />I tend to agree that the Mount Vernon Statement is vague. The five-point foundation for the document is almost ecumenical.<UL><LI>Who among us <I>doesn’t</I> believe in limited government? We simply disagree as to where those limits are. In the blithering hyperbole of today’s political environment, people yell “socialism!” because they’ve never lived somewhere where you can’t legally buy a beer or kiss your wife in public, where women can’t drive (at any age) or where there’s an internal security act that allows for your indefinite detention without charge or trial, or where the government can tell you how many kids to have (and make it stick).<LI>What politically active American <I>doesn’t</I> believe in individual liberty (as he perceives it)? We can disagree on how that applies to gun laws or to our right to choose a life partner, but we <I>all</I> believe in it.<LI>We all believe in capitalism and entrepreneurship; we simply disagree about how much it should be taxed and regulated. <LI>Freedom from tyranny for starving children in Asia or Africa pulls at the emotions of most Americans (though we may not agree as to what to do about it).<LI>We all love our families, our communities, and our religion (though we may disagree as to exactly <I>how</I> government should go about protecting those things).</UL>The statement could easily unify most Americans if the word <I>conservative</I> was deleted in a few places.<br /><br /><Table align=right><TR><TD><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/253969457_cb97b5c730.jpg" width=225 alt="Jefferson Statue, at the Jefferson Memorial"><BR>Image Courtesy of <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chadh-flickr/253969457/" target=blog>chadh</A></Td></TR></table>Perhaps the most disingenuous (though dangerous) aspect of the new conservative push is its effort to rewrite history. I once watched a preacher in Georgia hold up his King James Bible and called out: “Brothers and Sisters, if the King James Version was good enough for <I>Paul and Silas</I>, then it’s good enough for me!” Scattered <I>amens</I>… Who needs newer, more modern translations, right? Of course, Paul and Silas had both been <B>dead</B> for over 1500 years when James I got his popular Bible translated. But many in the congregation seemed unaware of that. <br /><br />Today’s modern conservatives take a similar approach to rewriting history. They hope you're unaware of history. They want to pose as having historic ties of some kind to the “republicans” of early US history – like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But these men were members of a political party that called itself the <I>Democratic</I>-Republican Party. Jefferson saw the small time farmer (not banks and commerce) as central to American life. And when the Democratic-Republicans broke up in the 1820’s, the modern Democratic Party was born - and its first candidate, Andrew Jackson, became President. Other factions of the defunct Democratic-Republicans founded the short-lived National Republican Party, and later the Whigs. And when the Whigs fell apart as a political party (another 30 years down the road), some (including Abraham Lincoln) joined a new party that had been founded in 1854 – the Republican Party of <I>today</I>. <br /><br />The modern conservatives we have now would like to shape <I>that</I> Republican Party, but they themselves have been around with their unique mix of beliefs only since the 1950’s – since William F Buckley, Jr. of the <I>National Review</I> and Robert W Welch, Jr. of the John Birch Society. Their claim to have ties with the Founding Fathers is fabricated and their presentation of early American figures (like Jefferson) as “Republicans” of today is at best misleading. <br /><br /><Table align=left><TR><TD><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/3429996054_a9e73779ea.jpg" width=225 alt="Alexander Hamilton" hspace=5><BR>Image Courtesy of <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/3429996054/" target=blog>Cliff1066</A></Td></TR></table>Part of the irony is that today’s modern conservatives have more in common with the Federalists – Jefferson’s political opposition – because of their focus on commerce and banking. They seem to <I>know</I> that, and they express admiration for Alexander Hamilton (founder of the Federalist Party). Yet it was Hamilton who tried to minimize the power and role of states in the new union by having the federal government pay off state debts from the Revolutionary War. Hamilton was the most powerful voice of early American history in <I>favor</I> of a strong, active central government. He came just short of calling for the abolition of the states and thought the Bill of Rights was unnecessary. His <I>Federalist Papers</I> paved the way for courts to interpret the Constitution so that federal powers could be seen as <B>implied</B> when they weren’t explicitly spelled out. <br /><br /><Table align=right><TR><TD><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2296941702_427a6e9127.jpg" width=225 alt="William F. Buckley"><BR>Image Courtesy of <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/96683394@N00/2296941702/" target=blog>The Gifted Photographer</A></Td></TR></table>The reason modern conservative keep referring back to the Sharon Statement of 1960 as a model for their new Mount Vernon Statement is simple: their history doesn’t actually go much farther back than that. They just want you to <I>think</I> it does. If they rub their statues of Thomas Jefferson against their shirts often enough, perhaps people will begin to think they really are related…<br /><br />Take your pick: When today's conservatives say they are the political heirs of the Founding Fathers, they are either being deceitful or they are deluded. <br /><br />And that sound you hear? It’s George Washington turning over in his grave. Having dedicated his life to change and formed a new nation (along with a new model for nation-states) more or less from scratch, it’s hard to make him out to be much of a conservative. And having lived and died without affiliation to any political party, it’s hard to see him as the approving voice for the sort of partisan bickering today’s conservatives seem to thrive on.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-22733298988663198302010-04-08T21:36:00.000-07:002010-04-08T22:03:53.816-07:00From Winter to Summer (and Back Again)Just a few short weeks after our most recent snowfall (a couple of inches back in mid-March) it was in the mid-80's for a couple of days this week. It looked this morning like some of the apple trees are starting to blossom. And the grass will have to be mowed earlier in the year than usual. But now a cold front has come through and the mercury has fallen back down into the 40's for a day or two. We'll see what else April has in store for us...Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-6864874920869533652010-04-01T20:25:00.000-07:002010-04-08T21:03:04.976-07:00What to Call Tea Ba… ah, er… Tea PeopleIt was pointed out to the recently that Tea Party Activists don’t appreciate the term “Tea Baggers.” I hadn’t really thought about the terminology much myself. I knew there was some reference to an obscure sexual preference, and I saw it discussed once in an out take from <I>Sex in the City</I>. I don’t really want to discuss it here. Go look for it on Wikipedia or something if you really want to know…<br /><br />I put the whole thing in the same category as the iPad joke on Mad TV (see the video). Steve Job’s iPad is a few weeks old. The Mad TV clip is three years old. Maybe Jobs wishes there were more women in the room when the iPad was named. But no one’s going to change the name now. And iPad has become such a powerful brand name in such a short period of time that no one really thinks of any feminine products when you talk about the iPad now.<br /><br />Where did the term <I>Tea Bagger</I> come from? There’s a picture out there in cyberspace from one of the early Tea Party events: a kid holding a sign that says "Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You." What do you call people who “tea bag” people? <B>Duh.</B> Tea Baggers. <br /><br />And the term stuck. I think some prominent figures in the movement used that term early on, but I can’t find the video. I could be wrong about that…<br /><br />The movement has been around since February of 2008. And it’s made it into a few dictionaries. According the New Oxford American Dictionary, a Tea Bagger is "a person who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as ‘Tea Party’ protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)." The word was a finalist in 2009 in that dictionary's contest for "word of the year."<br /><br />So the term <I>Tea Bagger</I> is probably here to stay. Tea People need to get used to it, and accept the fact that almost no one is thinking of some kind of sexual activity when they use the term (unless a Tea Bagger decides to remind everyone of that old – and now secondary – meaning for the term). <br /><br />Is it a friendly term? That’s a different question. Obviously, any time you call an individual or a group by a name they don’t really like, that’s not a positive term. And to be perfectly honest, when I use the term <I>Tea Bagger</I> it’s not because of my profound respect for Sarah Palin’s intellectual abilities, or because I support the agenda of the Tea Party in general. I admit, <I>Tea Bagger</I> is a vaguely derisive term. And that’s okay on a blog. Blogs are supposed to have an agenda. Blogs are editorial in nature. I don’t like the Tea Party. You should be able to tell that when you read what I have to say.<br /><br />That makes the term <I>Tea Bagger</I> inappropriate in a straight new context. So what term do you use on page one of a paper? I’ve seen Tea Partiers and Tea Partyers; I’m not sure who will settle the spelling dispute… Tea Party Activists? That probably also works. I actually like that better. <br /><br />I occasionally write other places where my political opinion isn’t supposed to impact the content. So I use that term there. When you see the term “Tea Party Activists” in my writing you’ll know I’m trying to appear objective about the movement. <br /><br />So if I use the term "tea bagger" from time to time, I have the dictionary definition mentioned above in mind, and it's not some weak attempt at a double <I>entendre</I>. I won't make too much of an effort to appear objective (by confining myself to terms like "tea party activists") very often. That would be hypocritical of me…<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lskbO1k9VO0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lskbO1k9VO0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-52901855513125595892010-03-22T18:15:00.000-07:002010-03-22T18:26:16.549-07:00Morgan Griffith Running in the Ninth DistrictI recently submitted the following letter to the editor to a number of local and regional papers...<br /><br /><blockquote>Dear Editor:<br /><br />Morgan Griffith (R-Salem), the current Majority Leader for the Virginia House of Delegates, has decided to run for Congress. And he wants to represent us here in the Ninth District, even though he’s never actually lived in the Ninth District. I guess after getting little Willie Morefield elected out here with their money, Republicans from the Eastern part of the Commonwealth think they can just start sending us their candidates! Well, as a resident of the Ninth District, I resent it. <br /><br />Why does Morgan Griffith believe the people of the Ninth are incapable of representing themselves? The Census hasn’t even been taken yet and state GOP leaders are already preparing to redraw our lines to fit their political needs. They can’t find a resident Republican in the Ninth District to run for Congress here, so they’ll import someone.<br /><br />Morgan Griffith is a city boy who will serve the region poorly. He has little insight into our needs or our values. We don’t need his hypocrisy out here; Griffith is one of those GOP ideologues who likes to talk about how much he hates the stimulus and then show up at ribbon cuttings for projects funded with stimulus money. His home town of Salem has benefited more from Stimulus money than any place in Virginia outside Richmond. He’s gotten $1287 per person in Stimulus dollars for the people he represents there.<br /><br />We don't need a political opportunist from outside the Ninth District to represent us in Congress. If Griffith wants to run for Congress, let him run in the Sixth District, where he lives. We don't want a stranger representing us.<br /><br />Greg Cruey<br />Adria, Virginia</blockquote>Since submitting the letter, I've realized that the US Constitution allows any resident of Virginia to represent the Ninth District - regardless of where they reside in the state. Griffith doesn't need redistricting to redraw the Ninth around his house, after all.Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-42601865999140460602010-03-22T17:52:00.000-07:002010-03-22T18:10:16.511-07:00Boucher's Vote on HR 3940 (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)HR 3940 (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday by a vote of 219 in favor to 212 against. My Congressman, Rick Boucher, voted against the bill. I'm told that he waited until after the bill had its required 216 "yes" votes (and had passed) before he cast his "no" vote. <br /><br />Boucher published a statement on the reasons for his vote. Takes some time to read ther, <A HREF="http://www.boucher.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1916:boucher-statement-on-health-care-reform-legislation-march-21-2010-&catid=33:2010-press-releases&Itemid=41" target=blog>here</A>.<br /><br /><center><hr width=40% color=teal></center><br /><br />I understand Boucher's complaints about cuts to Medicare funding. I'm sure there are a number of people in Congress who are now looking around and thinking that it would be nice to find ways to restore those losses within the budget process. There will be time to do that; maybe it will happen. As the economy continues recovery, Federal revenue will increase. Budgeting is an ongoing process...<br /><br />Did the original Senate Bill include some distasteful deals? Yes. But it was also clear that the reconciliation package would remove those.<br /><br />It is disingenuous and problematic for Rick to say that he is voting against the bill (HR 3590) because it doesn't include meaningful tort reform or relieve the disparity in Medicare funding between urban areas and rural areas. It is disingenuous because we certainly <B>wouldn't</B> get either of those things if the bill hadn't passed. It is problematic because Rick will probably be provided with many more opportunities now to vote against other bills because they <b>don't contain</B> those things. In fact, if he continues to use those criteria he may <B>never</B> vote in favor of another bill for the remainder of his time in Congress.<br /><br />I was asked repeatedly by one of Rick's people if I'd be unhappy with a "no" vote from him if the bill passed anyway. Wonder what Rick would have done if it hadn't passed without his vote - 215 to 215 with his vote left to cast...?Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673989999859174066.post-493877008918636922010-03-18T17:54:00.000-07:002010-03-18T18:13:21.958-07:00Is President Obama a Socialist?<A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2009/db20090522_329825.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5" target=blog>Business Week</A> (we all know what a liberal rag that is) ran a story last year that I recently stumbled upon and thought was both entertaining and informative. It asked the question: Is President Obama a Socialist? <br /><br />The simple answer is <B>no</B>. And, judging from the article, <I>no</I> is also the complicated answer, the short answer, and the long answer. It’s the <I>reasonable</I> answer.<br /> <br />Let’s define Socialism. Socialism is an economic and political theory that advocates state ownership of major industries as a tool for distributing wealth more evenly in a society.<br /><br />While Rush Limbaugh and others like him on the Far Right get political mileage out of implying that President Obama is a Socialist, the real Socialists of the world beg to differ, according to the Business Week article. <blockquote>They say if the Obama Administration were establishing a true socialist state, we'd have at least a $15-an-hour minimum wage (instead of the current $6.55 federal minimum) and 30-hour workweeks. Every American would be guaranteed employment and health-care coverage. Oh, and homeless people would be occupying vacant office buildings in cities and vacant McMansions in the suburbs.</blockquote>Business Week talked to Frank Llewellyn, national director of the New York-based Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the largest U.S. Socialist party, and to Frances Fox Piven, a professor of political science at City University of New York (CUNY) and an honorary chair of the DSA. They also talked to a representative of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) in Chicago and the Socialist Party USA in New York. In their view, President Obama is not trying to take over private sector industry and turn it into something run by the state to benefit the masses. Instead, he is “scrambling to rescue and preserve capitalism.”<br /><br />How influential are these Socialist political groups? The Socialist Party USA has 1,500 members. The <I>much</I> larger DSA has a whopping 7,000 members. By comparison, Wikipedia says there are about 55 million registered Republicans and 72 million registered Democrats in the US. The <A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/coffeeparty?ref=ts" target=blog>Coffee Party</A> has 172,000 fans on Facebook and the Tea Party Patriots page has 115,000. <blockquote>On Mar. 6 (2009) a New York Times reporter asked Obama whether his domestic policies indicated the President is a socialist. Obama laughed, replying "the answer would be no." In a later telephone call to the paper, Obama said enormous taxpayer sums had been injected into the financial system before his election. "The fact that we've had to take these extraordinary measures and intervene is not an indication of my ideological preference, but an indication of the degree to which lax regulation and extravagant risk-taking has precipitated a crisis," Obama told the newspaper.</blockquote>While the bailouts of 2009 may have given the federal government an ownership stake in a few industries, the Obama Administration never tried to take over the decision making process in at any major company. At worst, the administration may have stepped in and voiced an opinion on some management practices (particular those tied to executive compensation).<br /><br />Of course, bank regulators come in and take over banks that are insolvent. Is that Socialism? We haven’t thought so in the past. And bankruptcy courts usually tell businesses how they can structure a plan to pay off their debts. Is that Socialism? Again, we haven’t thought so in the past.<br /><br />It’s tempting to say that Rush Limbaugh doesn’t actually know what a Socialist is. But that’s obviously not true. He may be a Far Right ideology, but Rush is smart. He knows what a Socialist is. He knows Obama is not one. And Rush would like to expand the definition of Socialism to <I>change</I> that – at least in the public mind. <br /><br />In the words that one prominent politician used recently, the idea that President Obama is a Socialist – well, that’s “barkings from the nether reaches of Glennbeckistan…”Greg_Crueyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03015142517840853629noreply@blogger.com3