This morning Kim mentioned that she noticed that she was no longer listed in the side-bar. Honey this is for you:

KIM IS MY FIANCE WE HAVE 2 CATS (REGAN AND SHOE) A LIZARD (PHOEBE) AND A FISH (IGGY.)

KIM IS MY FIANCE WE HAVE 2 CATS (REGAN AND SHOE) A LIZARD (PHOEBE) AND A FISH (IGGY.)

I rarely post something related to politics, but as I have a degree in the subject matter I am certainly more qualified than most to discuss these issues, so here goes.

On September 11, 2001 the United States was the victim of the worst terrorist attack this country has ever seen. It seems amazing that with all of our resources and allies that we did not have enough prior knowledge to act, and perhaps prevent the attacks. It is no secret that the 9-11 commission is currently meeting to discuss the attacks and the events leading up to them. Richard Clark testified last week that the Bush administration did not do enough to prevent the attacks. There are timelines available on-line that thoroughly describe events related to Afghanistan and Al Queda reaching back to the late 1960's. According to information gathered by news organizations both Israel and England warned the US of an impending attack ON US soil. The commission is meeting staunch resistance from this administration. Why? If they truly have nothing to hide why will the United States National Security advisor not testify before the commission with the cameras rolling? President Ford himself testified before a similar commission regarding his pardon of President Nixon, and other administrations have cooperated much more with these types of commissions than the Bush administration.

The united States National Security Advisor is hiding behind executive privelege. It is disgusting, to say the least. Richard Clark wants all of his correspondance with Miss Rice from January 2001-9/11/01 to be declasified. This needs to happen, but it probably won't since the White House has what amounts to the final say when it comes to declassifying documents.

The Bush administration is scared, and rightfully so. In the last 4 years this country has seen an economy in a severe recession, a president who was not technically elected, two wars, a large-scale terrorist attack resulting in the death of 3000 people and the list goes on. This all needs to stop. This president is not a good one, it has little to do with the fact that he is a Republican and everything to do with the fact that his admininistration projects the image of infallibility. This is something that no-one can claim and honestly particularly not a politician. If we truly are a democracy then the public needs to have access to the complete story, and needs a president and cabinet willing to let the truth come out.

As mentioned above they are scared. I guess it has something to do with the fact that if Watergate was grounds for impeachment proceedings as was oral sex, what are the lives of 4000 grounds for if he is indeed responsible? The 4000 number comes from the number of soldiers killed so far in Iraq and the 9-11 victims combined. One last thing, the pentagon will not let the offical death-toll of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians be updated. It has not been updated in 3 months. Why?

I was just threatened by a student. I was disciplining another student and the student who threatened me goes "man, somebody needs to shoot him." She said she was talking to another student, but the other student says she was not speaking with him. The girl just stormed back in the room, grabbed her stuff, and slammed the door.

If something happens to me, please tell the cops to look at the person with the initials K.G. in my eight period class. Its more than likely just talk, but it would not be the first time that someone thought something was just talk that came to pass.

We basically never do anything on Friday, and today is no exception. We are listening to old Aerosmith, and the kids are surfing the web. There have been a bunch of students walking around outside of my room for the last 45 minutes, and i just walked outside and found sunflower seed shells all over the floor. I hate those things, mainly because they end up everywhere-they have actually been banned from the school system. I went in the boys restroom to see if the kids were in there, and I found a binder spread open on the floor like someone had been sitting on the floor working, except there was no one in the restroom. What a strange thing to find.

I did a bunch of school-work last night and more this morning so hopefully I will have most of the weekend to do what I want to do (i.e. watch hard-core p*rnorga@phy and make mix cd's of my favorite new-age songs.)

I got to school today and received an email telling me that I was going to observed today. The woman came in and stayed for about 45 minutes, talked to me a bit and then left. It went pretty smoothly. Afterward, I went on the warpath. The kids were pissing me off and I was going nuts, mainly because I gave them an answer on a test and some of them still got the problem wrong. The answer was even written on the board. How dumb do you have to be to mess that up? My assessments are due tomorrow and I am not looking forward to compiling them this evening.

Now I am listening to Rush "2112" and avoiding work at all costs. I just ate lunch and boy did it suck. I hate it when I bring a lunch that I end up not wanting. Of course I only get about 20 minutes for lunch so I don't even have time to go out and get something else.

My Dad and I enjoyed Dawn of the Dead, my opinion is that its not as good as the first but its still entertaining. He was, according to my Mother, very excited that I was coming to hang out with him. I did not realize that the gesture meant that much to him. I will have to make more of an effort to go and hang out.

This friday will be my last day here. In related news, over the weekend I received notification that I have been accepted into the substitute teacher poole in Henrico county, so everything is working out. I am in the process of telling all of my classes that I am leaving. Most of the students are upset while one just celebrated. I have not really taught anything since I gave my notice, nearly a month ago. I have totally lost my will to teach the subject matter and particularly lost the will to be in this school.

I am going down to Williamsburg after school today to see the new Dawn of the Dead with my Dad. I have heard some good things about the film and I am looking forward to it. In somewhat related news, I just convinced Kim to accompany me to Tom Savini's haunted house thing outside of Pittsburg this fall.

Go over to Monkeys Throwing Poo for a disturbingly personal post. My family is falling apart yet again. I am not feeling sorry for myself, but I honestly wonder why things have been so hard for us? I have seen near-deadly car accidents, other accidents, near-deadly illnesses, heart-attacks, strokes, disease, crime, substance abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse other kinds of abuse and the list goes on. This list would not seem that bad except I am only talking about what has happened to the three of us (myself and my parents).

I just plain f@cking hurt. I feel like I am going to start crying any moment. I am not posting this for you to feel sorry for me so please don't. I just need to get some of this off my chest.

This school is one of the most ridiculous places on the planet. I gave a student a pass to use the restroom, and got bitched out by the security guard because she was in the hall during a "clean sweep," this is when they clear the hallways of all students without a pass. What is the problem? She had a pass. What the hell is going on around here?

Directly afterward, I said to my students: "by the way next friday will be my last day, and I have no idea who your new teacher will be." One of the kids asked if I was leaving because they made me mad. It was really hard to lie and say that wasn't the reason. I have done so much for this school: taught incorrigibles, broken-up fights, discovered who started a fire, relayed messages about upcoming fights that I heard students talking about etc... The reason that no one wants to work in inner-city schools is not solely because of the students, though that is a factor, but rather the administrations flat-out suck.

In other news, I am thinking of going to see the new Dawn of the Dead after work today. I am torn between wanting to see it today, and wanting to wait a while. The NY Times said that is sucked, but that's no surprise. I want to go see something to cheer me up but maybe I will

I added a few more sites to the paranormal section.

I found a different buyer for the truck, who offered me $150 plus shipping. This is more than I expected to get for it. The guy seems straight-up and says he will pay me later today. I already stopped the auction. It makes that last potential buyer seem like a scam-artist as well as an a$$hole.

I heard back from the guy and he was kind of an a$$. First of all he in incredibly abrupt, barely writes anything in the message no hello, no signature etc.., and then he basically tells me I'm asking too much money. His first message to me said the following: "can i do a buy it now?" and nothing else. I really should have written back and said: "Does the auction have a buy it now option?" Email is a form of communication the same as any other and you should always be polite, especially when you are asking someone to do something that they already made it pretty clear that they were not intending to do.

Sometimes I really hate selling stuff on ebay.

I have put my Clod Buster which is a raido control monster truck for sale on ebay. I started the bidding at $99.99, including contoler, instruction manual and a battery. I am getting a lot of hits and one guy asked me if he could buy it now. I emailed back and said I would stop the auction for $130. Still a really good deal. New the kit for the truck was $200 and it has basically never been used and includes the extras - I always preffered my other trucks even though they weren't as big. I have not heard back from the guy yet. My Mom brought me my other trucks too, I might take one of them out sometime soon.

I just heard a rumnor about who might play Lollapalooza this year. I am not sure how much I believe what is being said, but 4 of the rumored artists are Jane's Addiction, Pixies, The Cure, and Morrissey. If this does happen, is seeing all these bands on the same stage worth putting up with the morons that generally attend this festival?

Today is a half day for the students. The staff is having a luncheon and departmental meetings afterward. I tried to contact my department head and find out if I am suppossed to attend these events, but he never called me back. I am torn between wanting to punk-out or attend. I am thinking that punking-out will be the way I will go. I hate meetings and since I am leaving the school, the discussion will more than likely not concern me. The drive to go home and listen to country music and read is much stronger than the pull to attend a boring meeting.

In other news, I am listening to metal in the classroom right now. Yesterday we listened to Buddy Holly & Patsy Cline. Today its Marshall Tucker and Buzzov*en. These kids heads are going to explode one of these days.

I sent off my substitute application last night. I am proud of myself that I was able to get it out so quickly. I only received my transcript Tuesday. Hopefully I will hear from them next week and will be able to get everything set up before my last day here.

In other news i had a former student approach me yesterday and say: "Why did you have me kicked out of your class?" I told her that she demonstrated that she was unable to behave herself, and that my classroom was not the place for her. She reponded: "... but I only cussed you out once!" I didn't even know what to say.

Last night I had my advising appointment, where I found out that I only have 2 classes left for my teaching certification. Both are offered this summer so I signed up for both and by August, I will be done with the classes I need for my certification. That means all I have left to do is take the Praxis II and find a district to hire me without doing my student teaching. I refuse to pay to do student teaching and I am confident that the experience I have is enough to get me hired with a provisional licensce. As soon as that happens I will not have to worry about the student teaching. I also found out that my experience over the last 1 1/2 years will probably be enough for the college to waive my practicum requirements. This does not mean I have my Masters, just that I have taken the necessary classes to become certified. I am probably going to take some time off, before completing the 5 classes for my Master's, considering one is basically a thesis.

In other news, I did purchase the Dawn of the Dead DVD yesterday. It was $11.99 at Best Buy and the transfer does look incredible. Those of you who are saying to stay away since it is not the *real* Dawn of the Dead, let me tell you the quality of the transfer alone makes it worth the little amount of money that it will set you back.

I received my transcripts yesterday so the substiutute application will be going out late this week or early next week. I am in the process of getting my references straight for another opportunity-my professor from last night agreed and I just left a message for the last of the 5 references. Hopefully that will be out by early next week as well. I still think that 5 references is excessive, but oh well.

The live journal is now called Monkeys Throwing Poo, the address is the same.

I am scared about leaving the comforts of the city schools-that's sarcasm, but excited by the prospect of not having my skin color constantly brought to my attention. Prejudice in any form is wrong, and it really sucks to be on the receiving end. I guess I was naive, when I din't realize how much some african-americans dislike white-men. It seems that with some folks, no matter how cool you are you will always be nothing more than white.

The thing that really bothers me about this is the fact that in the media you only hear about prejudice against minorities. I know very few prejudiced white people, and have encountered a lot of prejudiced African-Americans. Prejudice is not any different when it is directed against white people, and I really wish that someone in the media was speaking out and letting everyone know that prejudice goes both ways.