Other 'selfs'
The Jan. 16 Journal featured an article on the front page by Michael Alison Chandler on self-esteem, "Empty praise said to make students less likely to excel." After reading this article, I said a big "thank you." For years, I have worried that parents and teachers were so focused on self-esteem that a number of other "selfs" were being neglected. I hope that parents and teachers will read this article and remember that there are many other "selfs." Some of them are self-respect, self-responsibility, self-control, self-reliance and self-motivation.
I believe that by focusing on some of these "selfs," we will be able to create an environment for our children that will encourage them and teach them how to become more productive students and citizens. I believe that we can lessen the impact of the current environment that tends to foster unrealistic expectations and create one in which children will understand that an occasional failure is part of life. They will learn how to cope with it, learn from it and move on. They will have the opportunity to take genuine pride in their true accomplishments.
BARBARA WATKINS DAYE
Boone
Abuse of power
House Speaker Thom Tillis has admitted that he got legislation enacted as retaliation against teachers who oppose Republican cuts to education. This is an admission of blatant abuse of power. Government is not a tool for legislators to settle grudges or to punish legitimate dissent. Because we have rights, one of which is freedom of speech, his actions to suppress this right were also unconstitutional.
Another of Tillis' sneaky tricks is to hold midnight voting sessions. Their purpose is to keep any opposition in the dark and allow only the "right" people to vote, thus ensuring passage of the Republican agenda. It appears that Republicans believe their ideas cannot stand the light of day nor be subjected to free discussion. If this is the case, how good can these ideas really be?
Democracy is all about people coming together with many differing ideas, listening, discussing, then compromising to get the best for all the people. Apparently Tillis doesn't understand that.
What we have here is not democracy; it is political thuggery. North Carolina deserves better.
ELIZABETH L. SANER
Kernersville
Politics as usual
My, my. It seems as if columnist Chris Fitzsimon ("A confirmation, not a surprise," Jan. 14) wants us to believe the N.C. state legislature is possessed by demons, stating: "It's a radical, out-of-control crowd of ideologues who will do anything to ram their right-wing agenda through." He implies that "The unannounced special session, held at 12:45 in the morning with one Democrat in the hospital and two others absent for health reasons" was a horrible idea. (Personally, I'm glad to see the boys working so hard.)
I believe our past honorable governor, Mike Easley, did the same thing to pass the state lottery (one Republican was in the hospital, another on a honeymoon) by a slim margin; touché! This lottery, by the way, was to boost education, so don't blame the Republicans; blame the gamblers for money shortfalls.
As for all the other items mentioned, good or bad, we must have money to pay for them. The people sent a clear message in 2010 to stop the spending and live within our means. If we don't have the money, then we have to allocate our resources as best we can.
I can see that Fitzsimon (probably a Democrat) and I (an independent) probably won't agree on this, and that's OK. If we did, we'd both be wrong.
JAMES R. CRAWFORD
Rural Hall
Finish the Thought
Last Saturday we asked readers to complete:
"A president should only dump his vice president in favor of a new running mate if …"
"… it enhances his chances of being re-elected, which I surely hope it doesn't!"
FRANK SCISM
"… he feels strongly that due to negative public opinion of his vice president, his re-election chances would be substantially lessened. However, in the case of this president, his followers would re-elect him even if it was found that he was a Martian raised by immigrant parents from Venus."
RICK STEGALL
"… the decision is made only for strategic reasons — to make room for a promising presidential prospect in 2016."
BOON T. LEE
"… the vice-president is Joe Biden, Dick Cheney or Dan Quayle."
DAVID STOCKMEISTER
Ms. Saner:
ReplyDeleteI'm sure glad that liberal Democrats don't employ any type of 'thuggery' as you call it. Otherwise, liberals in a place such as this forum might try to expose my true identity, and call me hateful names. I might even get scared and stop posting my political views for those reasons.
Yes, Ms. Saner.....isn't it wonderful how liberals never do anything wrong?
It just never stops.
Those who throw stones shouldn't be surprised when stones are thrown back.
DeleteThose who giveth geteth.
Yes, Arthur. It's also a whole lotta fun to sit back and watch ol' Tim ack da fool.
DeleteHas anyone even noticed that Tim won't flinch an inch when he's called every name in the book, but will cry like a baby when he's called Tim?
. . . and why do you think Tim deleted his blog, then created a new inaccessible blog? Think we might have hit it into the ballpark?
DeleteThings that make you go hmmmmmmmm . . .
It's a perfectly respectable name too.
ReplyDeleteGoes to show you, some folks can dish it out but they can't take it.
¡Órale! I betchoo El Vato Tim leans like a cholo, too!
DeleteI've never tried to expose anyone's true name in here. The only one that has tried to do such a despicable thing, is our resident liberal nutcase. Shows you what type of class she has. I think that's why I nicknamed her after Rielle Hunter.
DeleteI should have known that you're one those cholas. That's how dey ack.
DeleteFor all you gringos and gringas out there. Here's what cholas do.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAScnBsWxaA&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL2DBACF9A01D81DA3
Like you said, Arthur . . . can talk the talk like nobody's business, just CAN'T walk the walk if his life depended on it . . .
ReplyDeleteJust like a Hater Repugnican.
Chola.....I'll bet you weigh 300lbs.
DeleteTillis and his lowlife pals came into office promising to fix the economy and other matters...instead they have devoted far too much time to meddling in people's private lives.
ReplyDeleteBut never fear...the voters are not quite as stupid as they sometimes seem. The latest polls show that Republicans in the state legislature have approval ratings 20 points lower than President Obama and not that much better than the lowly US Congress. Only 27% of NC voters approve of the job they are doing, so it is reasonable to expect that many of them will be evicted from the legislative building come November.
DotNet
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: It was a very good article. I heard on the radio this morning that the number one wish of parents today for their children is that they grow up to be happy while the top wish 50 years ago was that their children grow up to be responsible adults. Sooner or later a person has to deal with failure and will discover that there are people out there who are better at various activities, subjects or sports. Once you get out into the real world, there are no medals for simply doing your best or just showing up. You have to be able to produce the expected results. This is what drives me nuts about the Tim Tebow fans. Sure Tebow's a great role model and he works hard and he's trying his best, but he had one of if not the worst QB rating of any QB in the NFL this past season. His last regular season performance against KC alone would have gotten any other QB benched if not released. It's all a reflection of the old "doing your best is all that matters" attitude that has really harmed our youth.
LTE 2: "Government is not a tool for legislators to settle grudges or to punish legitimate dissent." - in total agreement. Tillis' actions regarding teachers were petty, vindictive and immature. Legislatures should represent the best interests of all citizens including those who oppose you.
LTE 3: The R's are indeed not alone in pulling off political shenanigans. "...we must have money to pay for them" - correct since by law NC is required to have a balanced budget. However, this would have been made much easier in a severe recession if the penny sales tax had not been left to expire.
Finish the thought: Got a chuckle out from Mr. Stockmeister's response. I'd say if there are health issues or some scandal that makes the VP too toxic to continue on the next ticket.
On another topic, Perry is dropping out. Hate to see this because his performances at the debates were what made them so entertaining. "And..uh..uh...uh...oops!"
"But never fear...the voters are not quite as stupid as they sometimes seem."
ReplyDelete-Rush
I don't know Rush, you seem like a REAL nitwit to me. I don't think you are pretending.
We've got a 'chola' and a 'nitwit' trying to tell people how to vote. No wonder the country is going to Hell!
DeleteI'm sure this won't last long. As soon a Perry heads home to Texas, he'll straighten his State out. From Public Policy Polling:
ReplyDeleteObama's approval rating in Texas: 44%. Perry's approval rating in Texas: 42%: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/01/perrys-standing-diminished-in-texas.html
I'll bet you any amount of money you want that Obama doesn't carry Texas.
DeleteI'll bet Perry has actually lost support since his run for president. He's made a fool out of himself.
DeleteObama lost Texas in 2008 by a 56-44% margin, so does not expect to win there in 2012.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to win Texas, because then you would be associated with some of the worst people in recent times, such as Dick Armey, George W. Bush, Tom Delay, Billy Sol Estes, Ricky Perry and John Tower
You don't want me to tell you about the nitwits that come from California, do you?
DeleteThe PC Police are always out on patrol.
ReplyDeleteCan't use the 'cougar' as a mascot for a school, because it's disrepectful to women.
Pretty soon you won't be able to breath with liberals around.
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-fears-cougars-mascot-will-offend-women.html?intcmp=features
@the Fired Volunteer: That day can't come soon enough.
DeleteFor many years, Reynolds High School was known as the Black Demons, represented by a silhouetted black demon head, with horns, like this: ^_^. Now they are just the Demons, represented by a head that looks a lot like Jerry Lewis in "The Nutty Professor", with horns.
ReplyDeleteWake Forest College was originally known as "The Baptists". Since that is obviously a pejorative term, they became the "Demon Deacons". Now they are just the "Deacons", which to my mind is a pejorative, meaning "mindless, superstitious fools", but I guess they don't see it that way.
NC State was originally "the Farmers". They still are in the minds of UNC fans, but somehow that also became a pejorative, despite the fact that most of the farmers that I have known have been way smarter than the average Tar Heel fan.
Speaking of Tar Heels, they were originally "the White Terror", as in the Ku Klux Klan. And NC State, after they shed their "Farmer" tag, became "the Red Terror", which obviously, in the later panic about communism, could not be used. In the 1920s, after a particularly embarrassing loss in football, a student wrote a letter to the NC State campus newspaper referring to the disorganized football team as a "wolf pack". Obviously, the school was not doing a very good job teaching animal behavior, because a wolf pack is extremely well organized, with a clearly defined pecking order and even a rigidly set method of hunting. The "Wolfpack" label stuck only to the football team until the 1940s, when an attempt to apply it to all NC State sports teams was aggressively opposed by the chancellor, who lost.
Stanford used to be the Indians, but now they are merely "the Cardinal". The Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins were criticized for their nicknames, but, as always, money prevailed. And speaking of money, Florida State pays a fee to the federally recognized Seminole "native American" tribe for use of that name.
Personally, I am offended by the local North Forsyth Vikings. My Viking ancestors from Denmark almost never lost in their raids on the British Isles…North Forsyth almost always loses in any endeavor.
But the above story is highly misleading. After the Cougar name was rejected, the local school board originally chose "Assholes". They had to back down, however, when Bucky objected.
¡Qué chistoso, Rush!
Delete