Can’t stop now, don’t you know…don’t go

I’ll admit it, I was never a huge fan of Knife Catchers, I occassionally read it and enjoyed the snark, but I didn’t follow it on a regular basis.   However, I was disappointed to read on Michele Ellson’s site that the blog owner, L. Opine, has shut down the site, seemingly for good. 

When reading this initially, I had assumed, like probably most people that she shut it down because of a potential lawsuit, however, according to L. Opine herself, she wrote in Michele E.’s comments the reason why she shut it down was:

…No lawsuit, just threatening idiocy from some realtors, and general tiredness about having to explain what I wrote over and over to people who were too willing to cling to their erroneous interpretation of what I wrote, or why I did what I did.

Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Seriously, I was going to stop talking about the anti-bullying curriculum, I really was, after all there is quite a bit going on out there, cops leaving K-9 dogs in cars, Troy Lancaster’s killer’s conviction, etc and so forth.   But as I was going through my comments this morning, this particular message struck me because it’s something that has been brought up repeatedly during the course of this controversy and has bugged me all along:

… These little kids are not mentally developed for being able to comprehend and engage in philosophical and moral debates – hell it appears members of our school board don’t have that level of understanding and tolerance!

“Little kids” are smarter than opponents of this curriculum have made them out to be.   While everyone likes to talk about how smart their children are, even from birth, the notion that elementary aged children are too naive to comprehend philsophical and moral debates is just offensive.   They get it.   And unlike adults, when complex issues are edited to be explained in the simplest terms as in a lesbian is a “woman who has a romantic relationship with women.”   The large majority can accept that without knowing the mechanics of how that works in the plumbing department.

“People always think something’s all true”

I imagine in movies where the protagonist triumphs over adversity in front of an audience there is often the stage direction line written in, “Crowd breaks out in thunderous applause.”

That is exactly what happened last night when the School Board voted 3 – 2 (Mooney, Tam, Jensen — for / McMahon, Spencer — against),  to adopt the anti-bullying curriculum.   I was watching from home and as soon as the vote was made the volume level on my television peaked to the point where I literally had to put it on mute so that I wouldn’t wake my kids.  

It was clear when the Board Members began their comments and questions which had already made up their minds about how they were going to vote.   Tracy Jensen and Ron Mooney were clear locks for the curriculum simply based on the questions asked.   Trish Spencer was the mouthpiece for every kitchen sink opposition question that has been thrown at this curriculum, a clear vote against.

Propping 8

SF Gate is reporting that the court has upheld Prop 8 — meaning that the amendment to the California Constitution banning same-sex marriage is valid.

However, the silver lining in that dark cloud is that the couples that were married prior to the law taking effect are still married.

Boo yeah.

Seriously though, explaining this contradiction will be more confusing to our children than explaining to them that Billy has two mommies or Sally has two daddies. Maybe Schoolhouse Rock can do a short explaining it. Call it Constitution Contradiction.

Whatever happened to fairness and equality

Best quote of the weekand literally made me LOL (not say the letters LOL but chuckle aloud), in fact, going back and finding and reading it again made me laugh again this morning.   A combination between just being fed up with the entire business of the anti-bullying curriculum, the ensuing shitstorm around it, and my frustration because as hard as I have been trying to be understanding of the opposition’s position, I just can’t.   Quote:

You are so concerned about what goes into other people’s mouths, I thought that I would return the favor.

Thanks ANT.

Hey, let’s play Safety Specialists!

I don’t think anyone would argue that our public safety departments don’t do a damned good job keeping us all safe from harm and able to sleep peacefully in our beds at night.   

Neal_J touched on what is at issue, particularly given the ballot initative that the Firefighters Association has submitted signatures to get qualified for the November election:

…the real problem is that neither Alameda nor California can afford its personnel at current compensation levels in the long-term.

Public safety workers are, by far, the largest group on the City payroll. Inarguably, both police and fire provide an invaluable contribution. But their invaluable contribution should not warrant unsustainable compensation…

Hodgepodge

When I was young I was a big fan of Jeopardy, their Hodgepodge category was always a mystery because it always seemed to have a lot of misc “Potent Potables” answers in it every time I watched.

Here is a hodgepodge of Alameda related items.  

First off, good news for beach goers, the group Heal the Bay has done its annual study of California beaches and there few worries for Alameda beaches.   Check out the scores:

Beach	AB411 (April – Oct.)	Dry Year-round	Wet Year-round
Alameda Point North	A	A	A+
Alameda Point South	A	A	A+
Crown Beach Bath House	A	C	A+
Crown Beach Windsurfer Corner	A	A	A+
Crown Beach Sunset Rd.	A+	A	A
Crown Beach 2001 Shoreline Dr.	A	A	A+
Crown Beach Bird Sanctuary	A	A	B

Side by side

I always feel a little odd when I have to criticize public safety officers, like it’s something incredibly verboten.    Because they are such an important part of any city and have this hallowed aura around it I always feel the need to caveat anything that I say by saying, first, that I totally support whatever public safety department I am then going to criticize.

Perhaps at some point I will feel the need to get beyond this compulsion, or perhaps I will get beyond thinking that other folks think that I hate x, y, or z department because I am criticizing it.   Trust me, this comes from a place of love and respect.  

First things first, did anyone at Bay City News even want to make any attempt to do any orginial reporting at all?  Seriously.   I mean, they might have well have thrown up the Press Release from the Firefighters group and just called it a day.   Changing a few words or shifting a few paragraphs does not a news report make.   Here is a side by side comparison of the Bay City News “report” and then the Press Release, try to guess which is which:

Purple Elephant Haze

The most recent edition of the Alameda Magazine has a story about the Medical Marijuana joint (no pun intended) that surreptitiously opened on Webster Street a while back.   To recap, the Pot Club, Purple Elephant opened without anyone in the City actually understanding that they would be dispensing weed.  Last November the City decided to place an emergency moratoriumon any pot clubs coming to the City until they could sort out who to regulate these types of businesses.

The hearing tonight at the City Council is an appeal by the owner of Purple Elephant to appeal the revocation of their business license.   While I’m not that happy about a pot club open and operating in my hood — yeah I’m a little NIMBY that way — I do understand that it is a necessity for some people and I’m sympathetic to the argument that it’s safer for those vulnerable folks to have a safe and clean place to get their, um, medication.   However, from all accounts there appears to be quite an abuse of the system.   From the Alameda Magazine article:

Well, not marching, they’ll dance at us

Just as a reminder, the big meeting over the anti-bullying curriculum is happening tonight, 6:30 p.m. at Kofman auditorium.  With all of the google alerts that have been popping up asking people to get out to the meeting, it looks like it will be quite the event.   I’m not sure if the School Board has decided whether to just keep on chugging along tonight until it all ends, or if they are going to continue it another night.

Probably chugging on would be the best bet otherwise they’ll just get more people to get more people to come out then this thing will be going on forever.

The best roundup of our own controversy and Castro Valley’s — the Castro Valley School District is being sued because a lesbian pastor spoke at Castro Valley High School’s Diversity Day – can be found at Mombian.   At the pinnacle on the over-the-top rhetoric meter are allegations that were made by parents that the pastor gave:

…step-by-step instructions on how to become gay and transsexual.