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Aug
18
Clean-up Friday
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That’s what one of my kids’ teachers called Fridays, a day set aside for the kids to get caught up on different work, especially if there’s been sick days, vacation days, special assemblies, fire drills and so on.
Here’s my clean-up work (with an apology to readers who really dislike several ideas in one post; sorry, but I just can’t find any more scrap paper right now and I already have several documents saved called “Miscellaneous links for later”).
1. Create an emergency back-up plan.
I have no recollection as to how I got to this site, but it does seem to include useful information. That is until you realize they want to charge you for the information. I mean, if someone wants to help you create a back-up plan, wouldn’t it be the Good Samaritan thing to do to just, you know – help you?
Oh, wait – I know – I think I got there because of some other site about keeping in touch with your kids at college, or making sure that they were safe or something linked to it. Anyway, looks like the kind of information you’d find in the Plain Dealer in the Arts and Life section from a wire service. (I do like my PD, but I’m often disappointed at the contect pulled from wire reports and then actually published; I suppose it has to do with efficiency, but we have great writers, freelance and other, in this area who could do such a better, fresher job, sigh.)
2. The National Institute of Standards and Technology site for kids
Again, it was just too many hours ago that I wandered into this site, called Taking America’s Measure. But it’s one of those sites that I look at, think, Hey! I’m going to do this with my kids! And never get back to. Except this time, a-ha, it’s in my blog and my son reads my blog. On second thought, that means he’s probably going to be working around my enthusiasm to be sure we never get to look at the site. A mother can dream.
Bonus for those still reading: ever want to know the official time but can’t remember what number to call or where to find it on the Internet? I didn’t know where to find it until I looked at this kids’ site, and you can have it now too, right here. How cool is that?
3. According to an email from Mike Cook who is now doing work for the Ohio Democratic Party (right, Mike?) and has also been affiliated with the Solon Democratic Club, every Thursday night is Young Democrats Night in Parma:
Thursday Night is Young Dems Night with the Ohio Democratic Party in Parma.
Every Thursday through the November election, Ohio Democrats will meet at the ODP field office at 5580 Ridge Road in Parma. Starting at 6:30 PM and going until 9, we’ll meet to make phone calls to Cuyahoga County voters. Help us support Ted Strickland, Sherrod Brown and the rest of the Democratic ticket.
After we finish our calls, we’ll enjoy food, beverage, music and conversation at the Blue Moose Saloon (right up the street from our office).
For more information, call (440) 884-3701. Hope to see you in Parma every Thursday!
I’m sure I no longer qualify as young enough for young Democrats, plus my kids have Hebrew school and that makes Thursdays a late night every week. But if you’re young and a Democrat, or thinking about being a Democrat, or hey, just want to meet other young people and visit Parma, there’s a place to go.
4. A few blogs have mentioned the new Check for Yourself blog that compares allegations made by Secretary of State and GOP gov candidate Ken Blackwell or his camp against the record of US Congressman and Dem gov candidate Ted Strickland.
Now of course this could just become a battlefield for rhetoric, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for a few days and see how it goes.
CJC also referred to this article about all the states’ failure (yes, every single one) in meeting No Child Left Behind’s mandates for having “qualified” teachers in their schools. I saw this information somewhere this week in relation to Ohio, but honestly, I can’t recall where I saw it and I’m too tired to google for it. Anywhere, there’s labeling and there’s labeling. I know my kid is gifted – and it doesn’t have anything to do with a test. Likewise, you know if a teacher is qualified or doing a good job – they do not necessarily need a certificate to demonstrate it.
Common sense, people, common sense.
7. Last but not least, something that has been staying on my Mac’s “dock” all week – because I didn’t really realize that if you minimize something to the dock, when you shutdown? It doesn’t disappear. That’s really cool I think for someone like me who likes to accumulate information and then eventually get back to it. Problem is, my dock is only so wide at the bottom of the screen.
Anyway – it’s from the Center for Media Research and says that NPR is the fourth most listened to…oh no – after all this time saving it? It appears I’ve managed to close it out! LOL. Ha. Oh well. Anyway – a lot of people listen to NPR, more than you might imagine. And that’s all she wrote.
Shabbat Shalom.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:35 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
18
Will that be cosmetic or prosthetic with your coffee?
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
I know I shouldn’t occupy myself with this stuff, but seriously? How will TSA agents determine if a woman’s gel-filled bra – on her body – is for prosthetic or cosmetic reasons? Of course, this part of the TSA advice says gel-filled bras are permitted through screening, but it fails to describe whether or not it’s allowed to be on your body as you go through screening.
If people lie about their age, use tissue paper to make their breasts or, ahem, other private areas, look better endowed, or spend time and money to get fake IDs and then use the fake IDs (think college students and bars), why in the world wouldn’t some people try to fake out TSA? What exactly will TSA do to cross-check and verify that a gel-filled bra is on the body of a woman because it’s a prosthesis, versus a cosmetic enhancement?
Finally, is there some evidence that women who need gel-filled bras as prostheses are less likely to carry explosive material in their bras than women who wear them for cosmetic purposes?
Lucky for me, I still just wear this.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:13 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
18
Clean-up Friday
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
That’s what one of my kids’ teachers called Fridays, a day set aside for the kids to get caught up on different work, especially if there’s been sick days, vacation days, special assemblies, fire drills and so on.
Here’s my clean-up work (with an apology to readers who really dislike several ideas in one post; sorry, but I just can’t find any more scrap paper right now and I already have several documents saved called “Miscellaneous links for later”).
1. Create an emergency back-up plan.
I have no recollection as to how I got to this site, but it does seem to include useful information. That is until you realize they want to charge you for the information. I mean, if someone wants to help you create a back-up plan, wouldn’t it be the Good Samaritan thing to do to just, you know – help you?
Oh, wait – I know – I think I got there because of some other site about keeping in touch with your kids at college, or making sure that they were safe or something linked to it. Anyway, looks like the kind of information you’d find in the Plain Dealer in the Arts and Life section from a wire service. (I do like my PD, but I’m often disappointed at the contect pulled from wire reports and then actually published; I suppose it has to do with efficiency, but we have great writers, freelance and other, in this area who could do such a better, fresher job, sigh.)
2. The National Institute of Standards and Technology site for kids
Again, it was just too many hours ago that I wandered into this site, called Taking America’s Measure. But it’s one of those sites that I look at, think, Hey! I’m going to do this with my kids! And never get back to. Except this time, a-ha, it’s in my blog and my son reads my blog. On second thought, that means he’s probably going to be working around my enthusiasm to be sure we never get to look at the site. A mother can dream.
Bonus for those still reading: ever want to know the official time but can’t remember what number to call or where to find it on the Internet? I didn’t know where to find it until I looked at this kids’ site, and you can have it now too, right here. How cool is that?
3. According to an email from Mike Cook who is now doing work for the Ohio Democratic Party (right, Mike?) and has also been affiliated with the Solon Democratic Club, every Thursday night is Young Democrats Night in Parma:
Thursday Night is Young Dems Night with the Ohio Democratic Party in Parma.
Every Thursday through the November election, Ohio Democrats will meet at the ODP field office at 5580 Ridge Road in Parma. Starting at 6:30 PM and going until 9, we’ll meet to make phone calls to Cuyahoga County voters. Help us support Ted Strickland, Sherrod Brown and the rest of the Democratic ticket.
After we finish our calls, we’ll enjoy food, beverage, music and conversation at the Blue Moose Saloon (right up the street from our office).
For more information, call (440) 884-3701. Hope to see you in Parma every Thursday!
I’m sure I no longer qualify as young enough for young Democrats, plus my kids have Hebrew school and that makes Thursdays a late night every week. But if you’re young and a Democrat, or thinking about being a Democrat, or hey, just want to meet other young people and visit Parma, there’s a place to go.
4. A few blogs have mentioned the new Check for Yourself blog that compares allegations made by Secretary of State and GOP gov candidate Ken Blackwell or his camp against the record of US Congressman and Dem gov candidate Ted Strickland.
Now of course this could just become a battlefield for rhetoric, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for a few days and see how it goes.
CJC also referred to this article about all the states’ failure (yes, every single one) in meeting No Child Left Behind’s mandates for having “qualified” teachers in their schools. I saw this information somewhere this week in relation to Ohio, but honestly, I can’t recall where I saw it and I’m too tired to google for it. Anywhere, there’s labeling and there’s labeling. I know my kid is gifted – and it doesn’t have anything to do with a test. Likewise, you know if a teacher is qualified or doing a good job – they do not necessarily need a certificate to demonstrate it.
Common sense, people, common sense.
7. Last but not least, something that has been staying on my Mac’s “dock” all week – because I didn’t really realize that if you minimize something to the dock, when you shutdown? It doesn’t disappear. That’s really cool I think for someone like me who likes to accumulate information and then eventually get back to it. Problem is, my dock is only so wide at the bottom of the screen.
Anyway – it’s from the Center for Media Research and says that NPR is the fourth most listened to…oh no – after all this time saving it? It appears I’ve managed to close it out! LOL. Ha. Oh well. Anyway – a lot of people listen to NPR, more than you might imagine. And that’s all she wrote.
Shabbat Shalom.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:35 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
18
Will that be cosmetic or prosthetic with your coffee?
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
I know I shouldn’t occupy myself with this stuff, but seriously? How will TSA agents determine if a woman’s gel-filled bra – on her body – is for prosthetic or cosmetic reasons? Of course, this part of the TSA advice says gel-filled bras are permitted through screening, but it fails to describe whether or not it’s allowed to be on your body as you go through screening.
If people lie about their age, use tissue paper to make their breasts or, ahem, other private areas, look better endowed, or spend time and money to get fake IDs and then use the fake IDs (think college students and bars), why in the world wouldn’t some people try to fake out TSA? What exactly will TSA do to cross-check and verify that a gel-filled bra is on the body of a woman because it’s a prosthesis, versus a cosmetic enhancement?
Finally, is there some evidence that women who need gel-filled bras as prostheses are less likely to carry explosive material in their bras than women who wear them for cosmetic purposes?
Lucky for me, I still just wear this.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:13 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
18
Studebaker conundrum
Filed Under Politics | 6 Comments
So – I champion letting Stephanie and Sam Studebaker figure out their lives out of the eye of the public because, frankly, there’s nothing here to see folks, move along, when it comes to the need to elect a democrat in the Ohio 3rd.
However, as someone fascinated by what’s happened to this family and its connection – or perhaps lack of a connection – to the political life Stephanie pursued over the last several months, I keep checking in. Today, I checked the Montgomery Clerk’s Public Records Online and discovered that Sam has filed for divorce, with Stephanie named as the defendant. This labeling doesn’t necessarily mean anything other than he may have gotten his papers in first. But their entire tramp through divorce court will indeed be noted on that site.
So – leave it alone? Let them be just another statistic? Wait a few months and then review? Forget about it all together? Or follow it because the impact is yet to be seen and analyzing what becomes known might help in the future?
Personally, I’m most interested in knowing the role the run for Congress played in all this because I’m concerned about getting more women into elected positions. But I’m also in favor of the Studebaker’s being able to proceed down what is no doubt a painful road without unnecessary scrutiny.
What do others think?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:28 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | 6 Comments
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Aug
18
Elyria doctors focus of NYT front page story
Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments
Haven’t read it all yet. Anyone have firsthand knowledge, or good hearsay on this?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:53 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
18
Studebaker conundrum
Filed Under Politics | 7 Comments
So – I champion letting Stephanie and Sam Studebaker figure out their lives out of the eye of the public because, frankly, there’s nothing here to see folks, move along, when it comes to the need to elect a democrat in the Ohio 3rd.
However, as someone fascinated by what’s happened to this family and its connection – or perhaps lack of a connection – to the political life Stephanie pursued over the last several months, I keep checking in. Today, I checked the Montgomery Clerk’s Public Records Online and discovered that Sam has filed for divorce, with Stephanie named as the defendant. This labeling doesn’t necessarily mean anything other than he may have gotten his papers in first. But their entire tramp through divorce court will indeed be noted on that site.
So – leave it alone? Let them be just another statistic? Wait a few months and then review? Forget about it all together? Or follow it because the impact is yet to be seen and analyzing what becomes known might help in the future?
Personally, I’m most interested in knowing the role the run for Congress played in all this because I’m concerned about getting more women into elected positions. But I’m also in favor of the Studebaker’s being able to proceed down what is no doubt a painful road without unnecessary scrutiny.
What do others think?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:28 pm August 18th, 2006 in Politics | 7 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
18
Elyria doctors focus of NYT front page story
Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments
Haven’t read it all yet. Anyone have firsthand knowledge, or good hearsay on this?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:53 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
18
Kids are the hope of the future, right? At least, we like to say so. Here’s a triple dose of stories to help think about what we’re doing as adults to grow that hope.
First, from AZFamily.com, this article details how tripping over backpacks causes kids more injuries than wearing them. If you’ve got school-aged kids, you know what they’re talking about.
Now, it would be obscene of me to tell you just how many backpacks we’ve retired over the years because they wore out, didn’t fit everything, were too big, didn’t roll well, or were the wrong color (those go back to the store, as did some of the ones that broke). Even the high-tech mail-ordered one gets used for travel rather than for school. Make fun of suburban mothers, or urban ones for that matter, as we try to pick through the varities available. But switch places with one of us three to ten days before the school year starts and see whose life you prefer.
Here’s a guide from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Love the way they’ve protected the identity of the kids.
Next, a story from the Columbus Dispatch about the record number of kids who used the Summer Reading Club of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. According to the story, their participation was higher than any other similar program in the country. And the numbers were up by 10% over last years.
I’ve used the summer reading programs with my kids for years – usually the Cuyahoga County Public Library’s version. They ply the kids with stickers, pencils, maps, brightly decorated plastic bags for all those goodies and the occasional free book if your slip – indicating how you’ve completed a certain part of the program – is pulled from box. Now that my kids are a bit older and in camp more often than not, we don’t follow the program as diligently as we used to. But we still visit the library, and usually more than one branch, at least once or twice a week. We use the online resources from home and, when a book gets left in a school locker by accident, we see who has what nearest to us (okay, occasionally I’ve had to go to the book store for that).
Last but not least, Salon published a story about voter suppression called Salon’s shameful six. You’ll need to go through free registration if you don’t subscribe but it’s worth it. Sadly, Ohio is not alone in its struggles to make sure every voice is heard and every voice counts. Here’s the Ohio portion.
OHIO
The secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell, now the Republican candidate for governor, is using some new vote-suppressing tricks and, this time, he’s got a sweeping if confusing law, HB 3, to back him up. A coalition of voting-rights groups filed suit last month to overturn the law as unconstitutional.
Infamous for such schemes as initially demanding that all voter registration applications be submitted on 80 lb. stock paper, Blackwell also presided over what most investigators regard as the worst election meltdown of 2004. While the allegation that Blackwell helped “steal” the election from John Kerry is debatable, the view that he intentionally suppressed voting by Democratic-leaning groups is less controversial. That the Ohio election was a mess is almost universally acknowledged, although not by Blackwell’s office. His spokesman, James Lee, says, “The critics were wrong then, and they’re wrong now.”
This time around, the law that took effect in May allows the state to pursue felony prosecutions of workers for voter registration groups who turn in registration cards past a 10-day deadline. They face up to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine; late returns on less than 50 forms merit a misdemeanor prosecution. At first, Blackwell implied that the workers couldn’t even send in the forms by mail. Each registration worker also has to return the forms personally to the local elections board, which prevents voter registration groups from combining and checking large numbers of forms. “It’s made registration far more difficult,” says Teresa James, Project Vote’s election administration coordinator. In fact, Ohio ACORN, the Project Vote-allied group that focuses on low-income neighborhoods, suspended virtually all voter registration activities for two months. Now it’s gathering less than 20 percent of the 7,000 registration applicants it signed up monthly before the law was implemented.
Even if people do manage to register, most Ohio election boards don’t know that voters are entitled to vote using regular ballots even if their driver’s licenses list old addresses. It’s a confusion created by a series of misleading or opaque directives from Blackwell.
“I think we could very well have a meltdown in November because of these confusing election rules and poll workers not knowing what to do with the new electronic machines,” observes Peg Rosenfield, the Ohio League of Women Voters election specialist. That’s already been shown by the voting crack-up in Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland, where the sudden switch to electronic machines in May led workers to lose 70 memory cards from touch-screen terminals and a six-day delay in counting 15,000 absentee ballots.
Key races: Democrats could take the governor’s mansion and unseat Sen. Mike DeWine and four House incumbents.
I regard the right to vote as an obligation and if I were Secretary of State (not a happening thing ever but we did discuss this briefly with SOS Dem candidate, Jennifer Brunner at her Meet the Bloggers session), I’d work with the Ohio Department of Education to make sure that the curriculum standards include hefty teaching on how your quality of life and your sense of ownership of this country and its government connect to the obligation to vote because it procures, secures and maintains both of those things.
Hope? It’s out there. I do know this. Kids seems to have it naturally. And as world-weary as we might get in our adulthood, we really shouldn’t ever forget that we can make a difference.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:23 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | 1 Comment
Print This Post
Aug
18
Studebaker conundrum
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
So – I champion letting Stephanie and Sam Studebaker figure out their lives out of the eye of the public because, frankly, there’s nothing here to see folks, move along, when it comes to the need to elect a democrat in the Ohio 3rd.
However, as someone fascinated by what’s happened to this family and its connection – or perhaps lack of a connection – to the political life Stephanie pursued over the last several months, I keep checking in. Today, I checked the Montgomery Clerk’s Public Records Online and discovered that Sam has filed for divorce, with Stephanie named as the defendant. This labeling doesn’t necessarily mean anything other than he may have gotten his papers in first. But their entire tramp through divorce court will indeed be noted on that site.
So – leave it alone? Let them be just another statistic? Wait a few months and then review? Forget about it all together? Or follow it because the impact is yet to be seen and analyzing what becomes known might help in the future?
Personally, I’m most interested in knowing the role the run for Congress played in all this because I’m concerned about getting more women into elected positions. But I’m also in favor of the Studebaker’s being able to proceed down what is no doubt a painful road without unnecessary scrutiny.
What do others think?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:28 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
18
Elyria doctors focus of NYT front page story
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Haven’t read it all yet. Anyone have firsthand knowledge, or good hearsay on this?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:53 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
18
Don’t trip over hope when you go to vote
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Kids are the hope of the future, right? At least, we like to say so. Here’s a triple dose of stories to help think about what we’re doing as adults to grow that hope.
First, from AZFamily.com, this article details how tripping over backpacks causes kids more injuries than wearing them. If you’ve got school-aged kids, you know what they’re talking about.
Now, it would be obscene of me to tell you just how many backpacks we’ve retired over the years because they wore out, didn’t fit everything, were too big, didn’t roll well, or were the wrong color (those go back to the store, as did some of the ones that broke). Even the high-tech mail-ordered one gets used for travel rather than for school. Make fun of suburban mothers, or urban ones for that matter, as we try to pick through the varities available. But switch places with one of us three to ten days before the school year starts and see whose life you prefer.
Here’s a guide from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Love the way they’ve protected the identity of the kids.
Next, a story from the Columbus Dispatch about the record number of kids who used the Summer Reading Club of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. According to the story, their participation was higher than any other similar program in the country. And the numbers were up by 10% over last years.
I’ve used the summer reading programs with my kids for years – usually the Cuyahoga County Public Library’s version. They ply the kids with stickers, pencils, maps, brightly decorated plastic bags for all those goodies and the occasional free book if your slip – indicating how you’ve completed a certain part of the program – is pulled from box. Now that my kids are a bit older and in camp more often than not, we don’t follow the program as diligently as we used to. But we still visit the library, and usually more than one branch, at least once or twice a week. We use the online resources from home and, when a book gets left in a school locker by accident, we see who has what nearest to us (okay, occasionally I’ve had to go to the book store for that).
Last but not least, Salon published a story about voter suppression called Salon’s shameful six. You’ll need to go through free registration if you don’t subscribe but it’s worth it. Sadly, Ohio is not alone in its struggles to make sure every voice is heard and every voice counts. Here’s the Ohio portion.
OHIO
The secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell, now the Republican candidate for governor, is using some new vote-suppressing tricks and, this time, he’s got a sweeping if confusing law, HB 3, to back him up. A coalition of voting-rights groups filed suit last month to overturn the law as unconstitutional.
Infamous for such schemes as initially demanding that all voter registration applications be submitted on 80 lb. stock paper, Blackwell also presided over what most investigators regard as the worst election meltdown of 2004. While the allegation that Blackwell helped “steal” the election from John Kerry is debatable, the view that he intentionally suppressed voting by Democratic-leaning groups is less controversial. That the Ohio election was a mess is almost universally acknowledged, although not by Blackwell’s office. His spokesman, James Lee, says, “The critics were wrong then, and they’re wrong now.”
This time around, the law that took effect in May allows the state to pursue felony prosecutions of workers for voter registration groups who turn in registration cards past a 10-day deadline. They face up to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine; late returns on less than 50 forms merit a misdemeanor prosecution. At first, Blackwell implied that the workers couldn’t even send in the forms by mail. Each registration worker also has to return the forms personally to the local elections board, which prevents voter registration groups from combining and checking large numbers of forms. “It’s made registration far more difficult,” says Teresa James, Project Vote’s election administration coordinator. In fact, Ohio ACORN, the Project Vote-allied group that focuses on low-income neighborhoods, suspended virtually all voter registration activities for two months. Now it’s gathering less than 20 percent of the 7,000 registration applicants it signed up monthly before the law was implemented.
Even if people do manage to register, most Ohio election boards don’t know that voters are entitled to vote using regular ballots even if their driver’s licenses list old addresses. It’s a confusion created by a series of misleading or opaque directives from Blackwell.
“I think we could very well have a meltdown in November because of these confusing election rules and poll workers not knowing what to do with the new electronic machines,” observes Peg Rosenfield, the Ohio League of Women Voters election specialist. That’s already been shown by the voting crack-up in Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland, where the sudden switch to electronic machines in May led workers to lose 70 memory cards from touch-screen terminals and a six-day delay in counting 15,000 absentee ballots.
Key races: Democrats could take the governor’s mansion and unseat Sen. Mike DeWine and four House incumbents.
I regard the right to vote as an obligation and if I were Secretary of State (not a happening thing ever but we did discuss this briefly with SOS Dem candidate, Jennifer Brunner at her Meet the Bloggers session), I’d work with the Ohio Department of Education to make sure that the curriculum standards include hefty teaching on how your quality of life and your sense of ownership of this country and its government connect to the obligation to vote because it procures, secures and maintains both of those things.
Hope? It’s out there. I do know this. Kids seems to have it naturally. And as world-weary as we might get in our adulthood, we really shouldn’t ever forget that we can make a difference.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:23 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
18
Don’t trip over hope when you go to vote
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Kids are the hope of the future, right? At least, we like to say so. Here’s a triple dose of stories to help think about what we’re doing as adults to grow that hope.
First, from AZFamily.com, this article details how tripping over backpacks causes kids more injuries than wearing them. If you’ve got school-aged kids, you know what they’re talking about.
Now, it would be obscene of me to tell you just how many backpacks we’ve retired over the years because they wore out, didn’t fit everything, were too big, didn’t roll well, or were the wrong color (those go back to the store, as did some of the ones that broke). Even the high-tech mail-ordered one gets used for travel rather than for school. Make fun of suburban mothers, or urban ones for that matter, as we try to pick through the varities available. But switch places with one of us three to ten days before the school year starts and see whose life you prefer.
Here’s a guide from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Love the way they’ve protected the identity of the kids.
Next, a story from the Columbus Dispatch about the record number of kids who used the Summer Reading Club of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. According to the story, their participation was higher than any other similar program in the country. And the numbers were up by 10% over last years.
I’ve used the summer reading programs with my kids for years – usually the Cuyahoga County Public Library’s version. They ply the kids with stickers, pencils, maps, brightly decorated plastic bags for all those goodies and the occasional free book if your slip – indicating how you’ve completed a certain part of the program – is pulled from box. Now that my kids are a bit older and in camp more often than not, we don’t follow the program as diligently as we used to. But we still visit the library, and usually more than one branch, at least once or twice a week. We use the online resources from home and, when a book gets left in a school locker by accident, we see who has what nearest to us (okay, occasionally I’ve had to go to the book store for that).
Last but not least, Salon published a story about voter suppression called Salon’s shameful six. You’ll need to go through free registration if you don’t subscribe but it’s worth it. Sadly, Ohio is not alone in its struggles to make sure every voice is heard and every voice counts. Here’s the Ohio portion.
OHIO
The secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell, now the Republican candidate for governor, is using some new vote-suppressing tricks and, this time, he’s got a sweeping if confusing law, HB 3, to back him up. A coalition of voting-rights groups filed suit last month to overturn the law as unconstitutional.
Infamous for such schemes as initially demanding that all voter registration applications be submitted on 80 lb. stock paper, Blackwell also presided over what most investigators regard as the worst election meltdown of 2004. While the allegation that Blackwell helped “steal” the election from John Kerry is debatable, the view that he intentionally suppressed voting by Democratic-leaning groups is less controversial. That the Ohio election was a mess is almost universally acknowledged, although not by Blackwell’s office. His spokesman, James Lee, says, “The critics were wrong then, and they’re wrong now.”
This time around, the law that took effect in May allows the state to pursue felony prosecutions of workers for voter registration groups who turn in registration cards past a 10-day deadline. They face up to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine; late returns on less than 50 forms merit a misdemeanor prosecution. At first, Blackwell implied that the workers couldn’t even send in the forms by mail. Each registration worker also has to return the forms personally to the local elections board, which prevents voter registration groups from combining and checking large numbers of forms. “It’s made registration far more difficult,” says Teresa James, Project Vote’s election administration coordinator. In fact, Ohio ACORN, the Project Vote-allied group that focuses on low-income neighborhoods, suspended virtually all voter registration activities for two months. Now it’s gathering less than 20 percent of the 7,000 registration applicants it signed up monthly before the law was implemented.
Even if people do manage to register, most Ohio election boards don’t know that voters are entitled to vote using regular ballots even if their driver’s licenses list old addresses. It’s a confusion created by a series of misleading or opaque directives from Blackwell.
“I think we could very well have a meltdown in November because of these confusing election rules and poll workers not knowing what to do with the new electronic machines,” observes Peg Rosenfield, the Ohio League of Women Voters election specialist. That’s already been shown by the voting crack-up in Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland, where the sudden switch to electronic machines in May led workers to lose 70 memory cards from touch-screen terminals and a six-day delay in counting 15,000 absentee ballots.
Key races: Democrats could take the governor’s mansion and unseat Sen. Mike DeWine and four House incumbents.
I regard the right to vote as an obligation and if I were Secretary of State (not a happening thing ever but we did discuss this briefly with SOS Dem candidate, Jennifer Brunner at her Meet the Bloggers session), I’d work with the Ohio Department of Education to make sure that the curriculum standards include hefty teaching on how your quality of life and your sense of ownership of this country and its government connect to the obligation to vote because it procures, secures and maintains both of those things.
Hope? It’s out there. I do know this. Kids seems to have it naturally. And as world-weary as we might get in our adulthood, we really shouldn’t ever forget that we can make a difference.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:23 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
18
Mel Gibson sentenced
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He pled no contest through his counsel, two of the three charges were dropped, he has a year of AA to do, his license is “restricted” for 90 days (no other specific info on that), and it was in front of a second judge because the first recused herself – she is a neighbor of Gibson’s. He also has to pay a fine. He’s offered to do a PSA on drinking and driving. No news on whether they’re taking him up on that.
Also no news on whether he’s accepted the Temple of the Arts invitation to address the synagogue on Yom Kippur.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:48 am August 18th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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