Trip to a Tea Party...

I took a trip to Abingdon today because I hadn’t been to a tea party in, well, a couple of decades and I heard that they were having one at the Farmers Market Pavilion there, off Cummings Street. If you were there too, you probably remember me. I wore my Obama-Biden T-shirt.

The crowd was small and somewhat sedate, I thought. They were all seated around small tables with linen tablecloths and various types of fine China.

I sat down to sip a little tea with one of the other men there. He asked me why I was there and admitted that my shirt puzzled him. I told him I was reporting on the event for a local blog. He smiled and acted like he liked blogs.

Our table had some smallish, dainty European looking cup and saucer sets. Mine had some hot Earl Grey already in it. My new friend was drinking a blend of Orange Pekoe that the waiter said had ginseng in it. I lifted my cup with my right hand and used my left to turn the saucer over. Theodore Havilland. I had expected something British – perhaps Rathbone or Royal Doulton.

I asked my friend for his name, but he said that he didn’t really want his name to appear in the media in connection with the event. I told him I understood and we agreed that I could just call him Yankee Doodle. We talked for about 10 minutes, and the conversation progressed something as follows…

Me: Mr. Doodle, can you explain to me what’s going on here today?
Doodle: Please, call me Yankee…

That seemed out of place to me in Abingdon, Virginia. But whatever…

Doodle continued: This is a grassroots demonstration - an uprising, if you will, against the unfair tax policies of the new socialistic Obama Administration in Washington.
Me: But, hasn’t he just cut taxes?
Doodle: For some people. But just look at the way he’s spending. It’s clear he’ll eventually have to raise taxes to pay for it. And that’s not fair.

The logic was obviously well developed. I hoped I'd be able to keep up...

Me: So, you’re protesting over something the President hasn’t actually done yet?
Doodle: Oh he’s already spent a lot!
Me: No. I mean the raising taxes part.
Doodle: Oh… He will. You wait and see.

We sat in silence for a moment. A waiter came by and refilled my Earl Grey from a Johnson Brothers teapot painted in a Blue Willow pattern. So there was English china...

Me: So, why a tea party…?
Doodle: We’re following in the footsteps of the early colonials. They threw tea into Boston Harbor to protest the British policy of taxation without representation.
Me: But, aren’t you represented in Washington?
Doodle: Not really.
Me: Where do you live?
Doodle: Just up the road a ways, near Rosedale.
Me: In Russell County?
Doodle: Yes.
Me: Have you tried contacting Rick Boucher? He’s got a pretty good reputation for at least listening to constituents…
Doodle: He doesn’t represent me.
Me: But you live in the Ninth District, in the Congressional District he serves.
Doodle: He may represent, well, people like you. But he’s not my representative.
Me: So, you're saying that you get taxed without representation because you don’t claim Boucher as your Congressman?
Doodle: That’s right.
Me: Have you tried contacting Mark Warner or Jim Webb?
Doodle: Don’t much like them either…
Me: So, you really think this is analogous to the Boston Tea Party? Even though you have a Congressman and two Senators in Washington? And even though no one’s raised your taxes yet?
Doodle: We’ve already said that it’s clear that taxes will be raised. And as long as they’re not my people in Washington, they don’t represent me.
Me: You know they were duly elected an’ all?
Doodle: Perhaps democracy needs an overhaul.

At that point I decided that maybe it would be best to simply focus on the tea (which wasn’t that bad). I was afraid I’d be asked to join a militia if the conversation continued.

We drank politely for a few more moments and spoke of things like the weather and the preparation of our gardens for spring. I thanked my new friend for his time and left, thinking about the politics of it all.

Note: While the ideas of Mr. Doodle are authentic enough, if you really believe I wore my Obama shirt to a tea party on April 15 you vastly over-estimate my courage. You may want to brush up on the uses of political satire. Truth is, I spent much of the day playing Phase 10 (a card game) with my wife and inlaws in a small rural Appalachian town a good seven hours drive north from Abingdon. I did wear my Obama t-shirt, but only to a Wal-mart in Oakland, Maryland.

Hot Shower, Bronchitis, and Old Finnish Friends

I stayed home today. Bronchitis. It's been a rough winter and I think this is my third bout of bronchitis this school year. My doctor prescribed an antibiotic called Avelox (which worked well the last two times).

In the last 16 hours (since about 11pm yesterday) I've learned a few things. I've learned that if I lay down flat I may drown. I've (re)learned the simple truth that ibuprofen cures chills - temporarily, at least. I've learned that snoring just makes you cough more. I could probably add to the list.

At 2:00pm I sat down in the recliner and tried to take a name. I used one of the news channels as background noise...

1. Joe Biden is a liar. I know it's true because Karl Rove said so.
   
2. Tornadoes have torn up parts of Arkansas and Tennessee (and they may be headed this way).
   
3. President Obama divested the U.S. of most of its sovereign powers at the G20 meeting by bowing before the King of Saudi Arabia. At least that's the view of Conservatives in the blogosphere (like the space aliens who roam the halls of Hot Air). Never mind that custom seems to dictate that one kiss the King's neck (or something like that) to swear loyalty in the Saudi Kingdom. I've seen the video and I think that if President Obama had intended it to be a bow there would have been more flourish. It was a two second event that probably won't have much impact on the course of history...
   
4. Oklahoma is on fire.
   
5. Two people are dead after an apparent murder-suicide on a community college campus in Michigan.
   
6. A construction worker in Indiana got buried when a trench he was in collapsed.
   
7. The president of Arizona State is an idiot and doesn’t want to give President Obama an honorary degree (the traditional reward for speaking at a commencement service). They still want him to speak, though. (Wonder if McCain will come.)
   
8. Pirates still have the ship captain near Somali.
   
9. Dead cats can bounce, or maybe there's a glimmer of hope of the economic front.

Eventually I fell asleep. I woke back up after a few minutes and coughed for a while. Then I fell asleep again. Perhaps I slept 20 minutes. I woke up cold. Socks to my knees, two layers of cloths including a sweat suit. Covered with a wool afghan. Cold.

I got up and took some ibuprofen and decided I'd take a hot shower. I went in the bathroom and shut the door. I don't know why I shut the door; no one else is here. But it seemed polite. Undressing was torture. I turned the shower to as hot as I could stand it and breathed the steam. Eventually I sat down.

In the early 1990's I lived in Canberra, Australia. Some of my friends were Finnish. Canberra had a community of about 2,000 Finnish immigrants. Most families had built their own sauna in their back yards. I would go to their houses and the men would sit in the sauna for 20 or 30 minutes (okay, sometimes an hour). They enjoyed keeping it between 75C and 85C degrees. That's 167F to 185F. When it was dry, I thought that was nice. A teaspoon of water on the rocks could drive me out (while they all laughed). I sat in the shower and remembered those days. Wish I had a sauna...

For now, the ibuprofen has kicked in and my wife will be home soon. Big Daddy's on Friday is a ritual. It's seafood night. I'll eat what I can and bring my leftovers home.

My LAST Class...

I start an educational technology class tonight in my program for certification in educational leadership. The certification will make it possible for me to work as a principal or to take a number of central office jobs.

The Syllabus doesn't look too stressful. Class finishes in May. Hopefully I'll be certified by sometime in June...

Should We Have Church on Saturday? Why Not? (But Then Again, Why?)

I’ve been involved recently in an ongoing conversation about “the True Sabbath.” Emphasis on the word true. Someone has suggested that the church I’m attending should have services on Saturday, since that’s the Biblical Sabbath.

Now, it wouldn’t bother me if we had our main weekly service on Saturdays. Or on Monday evenings. Or Thursdays. I don’t think the day of the week especially matters. It wouldn’t bother me to do it every eighth or ninth day. Tuesday this week, Wednesday next week. You get the idea.

But the argument is that we should meet on the Biblical Sabbath because, well, that’s what the Ten Commandments say. It’s THE LAW.

Now, the person putting forth this idea isn’t suggesting we embrace the entire Old Testament law. The idea seems to be that the Ten Commandments are a special part of Old Testament law. They’re separate, different from the rest of the law. I’ve listened to an explanation of how the Ten Commandments were written with the finger of God (which is true) and placed INSIDE the Ark of the Covenant (also true). The rest of the law, lesser commandments under this argument, was laid BESIDE the Ark of the Covenant in a lesser place.

So according to this argument, we should go to church on Saturday because the law (the Ten Commandments) says to. And since the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God and placed inside the Ark, they are different. They are still binding. And we should obey them because they are, after all, the law.

There are a number of problems with this argument.

The most obvious problem seems to me to be in Acts 15. Let me set that stage...

• Stephen has been martyred (Acts 7) and the Jewish believers of Jerusalem scattered throughout the region.
• Peter has been to the house of the Roman Centurion Cornelius and seen his vision about eating snakes and lizards (Acts 10); the first Gentile is converted as a result.
• And Paul and Barnabas go on their first mission trip and convert Gentiles in Cyprus and parts of modern Turkey (Acts 13 & 14).

Acts 15 begins with a statement about how some men from Judea who presumably at least pretended to be believers came to Antioch (the home base for Paul and Barnabas) and started teaching that you had to be circumcised “like it says in the law” in order to be Christian. In other words, to be a Christian, you had to become a Jew, first. After a few arguments with these men, Paul and Barnabas head off to Jerusalem to meet with the church leaders there and settle the matter. Peter is at the meeting. So is the Apostle James who holds the place of leader of the Church in Jerusalem.

Their conclusion? The law has been preached in every city since early times and they shouldn’t burden the new Gentile believers with it.

They give some other advice. And what is lacking from the other advice is the fascinating part of this discussion. In a letter to the Gentile believers in Antioch, James tells them to avoid sexual immorality, not to eat the meat of strangled animals, not to eat meat offered to idols, and not to consume blood.

There is no mention of keeping the “true” Sabbath. Acts 15 leaves me with the impression that, as a Gentile, I should be more concerned with the ingredients in my pepperoni than with whether or not my church meets on the “true” Sabbath.

I know. Someone is going to say that the Apostles at Jerusalem didn’t mention keeping the Sabbath because the Gentile Christians were “keeping” the Sabbath. I’m not sure there’s much evidence for or against that idea. But the Sabbath is mentioned exactly twice in the epistles of the New Testament - the first time in Colosians 2:16 where Paul tells his readers not to let people judge them based on whether they “keep” a Sabbath day.

Should YOU feel obligated by the ten Commandments to go to church on Saturday so as to keep the Biblical Sabbath? It depends, I suppose. Where were your ancestors while Moses was on Mt. Sinai getting the law from God? I suspect that mine were roaming the deciduous forests of Northern Europe - probably mixing elk blood with their liquor and gutting their neighbors from rival tribes with dull flint knives. If yours were at the bottom of Mt. Sinai making idols out of their jewelry, perhaps you should keep the Old Testament’s Sabbath. Perhaps.

Just remember this… The “true” Sabbath is described in Hebrews 4:9 as a rest that Christians can enter into. It takes some real hermeneutical gymnastics to arrive at the conclusion that Christians today are obligated by the Ten Commandments to have church on Saturday as a way of “keeping” the Biblical Sabbath.

Certification Update: Five More Years

I was pleased this week to get my new West Virginia teaching license in the mail. For the first time, my WV license is good for more than one year. In the past my license has invariably had something on it that required an annual renewal - some provisional certification of some kind. Now I can stop worrying about getting that piece of paperwork in every year.

My Georgia license is good through 2012. In WV I have until 2014.

Not Your Garden Variety Ear Infection (and other notes)

I took today off and went to see my doctor. I've had some discomfort and a little pain in my right ear for a few days (okay, a week) and it is getting worse. He told me I had otitis media bullous myringitis, which is Latin for a blister on my ear drum. He said "oh my" a lot while he looked in the ear. And he told me that it could become extremely painful and potentially put me i the hospital. I'm on a Z-Pak and on an antibiotic called Ceflin.

Tomorrow I have a two-day workshop in Charleston, WV on how to evaluate personnel in the WV school system. I leave here about 5:30am and spend Friday night in Charleston. The workshop finishes up at 5pm Saturday. I should be home by 9pm.

On Saturday we traded Cheryl's Subaru Imprezza in on a Chevy Avalanche. The 2007 Imprezza was nice, but it was small and, well, uncomfortable. It had just under 30K miles on it. We got $11,000+ in trade-in. The Avalanche is also a 2007 (used, obviously). It had about 18K miles on it. New it was $55K. We got it for $23.5K. So it was a great buy.

Life is a little hectic, otherwise. It's that special time of year when we write the individualized education plans for all the students in special education. We're trying to prepare the paperwork for a visit from the Office of Educational Performance Audits (OEPA). And in April I start my last class for certification as a principal/school administrator.

So life is busy...

The Day in Charleston

I slept at the Holiday Inn Express next to the Civic Center in Charleston, WV last night. Wifi access in the room and a free breakfast were influencing factors in that choice. Plus it's about 100 feet to the door of the Civic Center, where the WV Reading Research Symposium is being held.

I sat the clock for 6:31am. It sounded like a space ship landing in the room. I hit snooze. It went off again in 9 minutes. I looked at it with with my left eye. It said 7:40. I jumped out of bed and began running around in circles. It took me about five minutes to decide that I'd managed to add an hour to the time on the clock somehow, and it was really just 6:40. Oh well.

Breakfast was acceptable. Toasted English muffins with Shedd's Spread, a prefabricated omlete with American cheese, and all the sausage patties I could eat. The dining area was absolutely full. I ate standing.

We had dinner on our own. Chicken curry, naan (a flat bread), basmati rice, and an appetizer tray from Sitar of India (702 Lee Street here in Charleston). It was the first Indian food I've had in maybe a decade. I have a few leftovers too eat later.

Well, the Internet is down right this minute. So I guess I'll have to post this in a little while. ...but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

(You can read about the academic side of the Symposium here.)

I'll take that as a "yes"

On January 31 I posted I had to laugh. Rene' commented on the post on February 1, and in a reply to her that day I asked this question about her "Tell Tazewell County" site:

I can't actually figure how to go back and look at things I said then, no matter how I toy around in Google (or at your site). I'm guessing they're gone. So, DO YOU have them printed out in a folder somewhere...?

Five weeks later she hasn't responded to the question.

Pajama Day

For the first time in my life, I wore my pajamas to work today. I say that I wore my pajamas, but I don't wear pajamas at home. Shorts and a t-short. But to celebrate the completion of our school's Accelerated Reader goals, we had a "pajama day" and the kids who'd achieved their goals wore pj's today.

I learned just how hot read flannel can be. It was 60ish outside today. The kids thought that seeing me in pajamas was a hoot. I carried a teddy bear (named "John L. Lewis") and almost every kid in the building held it at some point.

At lunchtime we read "bedtime stories" in the cafeteria...

FOIA

On February 12th I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with county government. I asked for documents connected to the interview process for filling the seat on the Board of Supervisors for the North District. Here is the text of that request:

Hi Mr. Spencer,

A newspaper article (in the Telegraph, I believe) quoted Mr. Anderson last week as saying that each of the seven candidates being interviewed for the BOS seat would be asked the same set of questions. It also said something to the effect of that the interviews were being held in executive session in order to protect the appointment process and prevent any candidate from gaining an unfair advantage by hear the others go first.

Since that process is now over, I'd like to request a copy of that list of questions under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA; § 2.2 -3700 et seq. ). I understand that the proceedings of an executive session are protected (to the extent that they do not violate any open meeting laws). But I'm assuming that this document existed in a file somewhere before the executive session began, and probably continues to exist in that same file, even though the executive session is over. So that list of questions would not be covered by whatever protections are afforded to the discussions that occur in an executive session.

As a separate, second FOIA request, I'm asking for a.) any records that were kept by the Board or county administration listing questions that were asked of individual candidates as a follow up to their answers to questions on the list covered in the first request and b.) any records that were kept by the Board or county administration regarding the answers to interview question from the individual candidates.

I make these two requests separately because of their different standings. The first request (for a simple list ofquestions that probably existed independent of the executive session) seems to me to be aimed at obtaining a document that could easily be established to be a public document. I realize that the second request covers documents that are more tentative in nature regarding their public availability.

I would also like to request that all charges for supplying the records I have requested be estimated in advance. I understand that if you determine that the charges are likely to exceed $200, I am obliged to pay that amount before you continue to process my request. If you have any questions or require additional information in order to process this request, please do not hesitate to contact me at this email address. My job situation as a teacher makes it difficult for to take phone calls during the work day, but I would be happy to give you a call if via email you tell me that we need to speak about the request.

If any of the documents exist in MS Word form, I would be quite happy to have them simply emailed to this address. If a hard copy needs to be mailed instead, my address is 1732 Mundytown Rd North Tazewell 24630. If this request needs a handwritten signature in order to be considered valid, let me know and I'll print this, sign it, and mail it.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this. Hope you're well.

Regards,

Greg

GK Cruey

I sent the request at 10pm on February 12th (the interviews were on the 11th). I sent the request (as you can see) to our county Administrator, Jim Spencer.

Jim sent me a reply from his Blackberry at 6:30 Friday morning (I was impressed), telling me he'd pass the request on to the Board of Supervisors. He checked his mail on a computer somewhere (presumably his office) about ten 'til eight that morning and I got a receipt for the actual email.

Despite the flack as Earl (Cedar Bluff Review) gives Jim, my guess is that Jim earns every penny he makes from the county...

On Thursday I got a letter from County Attorney Eric Young telling me that the documents I'd requested were not public document. Despite that, he told me that the BOS had seen fit to send me "a list of some of the questions given to the interviewees."

I got a list of seven fairly predictable questions. Which is not to say they weren't good questions. Why do you want to be the Northern District Supervisor? Questions about priorities, etc.

I also received six pages from Bill Wimmer with a note from Mr. Young saying that Bill had decided to send me his notes. Bill's notes were written on the list of questions; each sheet had a candidate's name at the top. I called Bill to thank him. I also spoke with Mike Hymes (who told me that if I really wanted his notes he'd send them to me).

What I really want is for this process to take place in public.

Mr. Young's letter is clear: "I write to inform you that those records are being withheld."

So far everyone has been professional, polite, and gracious. I've gotten more than I actually expected. But the position of BOS's across the state seems to be that it's perfectly acceptable to carry out the process of filling a seat on the Board by meeting in private to discuss it. As Tom Childress has said repeatedly, we are not hiring a custodian; and this has happened twice in four years.

It would be nice to find a way to change this practice and bring more transparency to local government on this issue...