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Monday, August 30, 2010
Thank you President Carter
Well, another "activist/concerned citizen" rescued from North Korean detention by a former democratic
president..
Thank you, President Carter, for being willing to make the effort.
To those
of you thinking about testing the North Korean border in the future..be advised We are running out of former Democratic
Presidents that the North Koreans deem politically acceptable.. The Next U.S. citizen detained by the North
Koreans needs to be aware that the only thing standing between themselves and several years of hard labor, might
be former President Bush..
CSM
9:09 am pdt
Thursday, August 26, 2010
What is tolerance?
What is tolerance? It used to be that when you heard the phrase, what people were talking about was learning not
to discriminate against those currently being targeted by such activity.
Now it seems that the phrase has
been hi- jacked, and what many of those who now use it want it to mean is 'That we must now be tolerant
of those who hate or discriminate"
I think we need to restore this phrase meaning to what it used to
mean.
What do you think?
Colin Stuart McCoy
6:38 pm pdt
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
What about separation of church and state?
I have been asked about my last post, and whether I'm familiar with the provisions of separation of church and
state. Namely that the government shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of ect, ect..
The fact is that our government has over the past 200 plus years passed
multiple laws regulating what becomes perceived as being problematic religious practices. Human or animal
sacrifice, polygamy, faith healing on children where harm results, ect. (Pretty
much, the Government is required to take no position for or against the establishment of a religion or its practices.. unless those practices are found to cause harm.) {Also as to polygamy and related personal life stye choices, we only list it as an example of government action..we believe that activities in
which adults are the participants, that do not clearly harm others not wishing to be impacted,,,that these activities
are no ones business, especially government.}
and there's the rub..
I think we have reached
a evolutionary fork?, in the road..we now live in a society where the last safe refuges for many remaining discriminatory
thought processes lie within established religion, these areas of discriminatory thought must be eliminated with the same vigor with which we have approached other problematic areas of civil rights protections, many of which
were at the time also accepted religious tenants.
Consider this:.. when the process of tolerance becomes
not a process of reform in the effort to include, in an effort to stop discrimination, when the concept of tolerance
becomes a mutual support group for those that want to be able to discriminate..well then, I say the process
has has gone down a wrong path, and needs a kick in the pants or a shot in the arm.
There will never
be, under current control mechanisms a perfect human society, but solid room for improvement still exist in public sector/tax payer/collectively funded arenas. Fully inclusive.. no discrimination, no hate, non-hostile.
(The implementation of fully comprehensive protocols for the creation and maintenance of non-hostile environments
in these public/ tax payer funded programs..)
Keep in mind, legally private organizations use the concept
of their "private" nature in order to implement policies or protocols that are either clearly discriminatory
or promote same. Clearly, not only does the state of social degradation require it, but from a legal
standpoint...programs that are meant to serve the melting pot that is our nation, for that matter on a global
basis as well, programs that are public, that are funded by a process of taxation...Have a right, a mandate,
a need, to have in place zero tolerance policies towards discrimination, and hiring standards to ensure that these
public domains/programs are open to all, accepting to all, except those beliefs, or activities that are
inappropriately discriminatory.
Support of this process may begin with the loss of tax exempt status
for offending "private" organizations.
It should also clearly include provisions that
allows for quick and easy separation of those who adhere to discriminatory beliefs, supported by
public actions, from purely tax payer funded jobs..Why should a tax payer/citizen have to be faced with
having to deal with government employees who think they, the tax payer/ citizen/student, is a second
class citizen? Public schools, our courts, the military, are pretty clear examples of areas to be protected. This is a sticky situation for a lot of people, philosophically for me I have resolved these issues
along these lines... If a person has privately held beliefs that are hateful or discriminatory, towards categories
that have become recognized as protected, but they take no actions to publicly support/enforce/spread or negatively impact others with their beliefs, then there's not much you can do.
However when they take
action, when they promote or support their discriminatory beliefs openly, publicly, (on Face Book, ect) then protective action should be taken in some cases. It depends on the potential for harm towards those whom their
hate/ignorance targets. There are already protective measures available to deal with those that would promote,
or incite violence..but even this in a free society can become a blurry line. Protective action in these cases
often times has to wait until the process of words takes a clear step toward deed.
I believe that we
have areas/zones that are required to be fully inclusive, non-hostile. some of these zones are very sensitive,
like 'public schools" where we nurture and educate our young peoples minds.
In these area/zone we
have always tried as a society, since the civil rights movement started gaining needed victories, to be very sensitive, as sensitive as our growing awarness would allow.
In these areas we do not allow the same types of
free speech that is acceptable in the town square, because it would have the effect of creating a non-acceptable
hostile environment. (See districts policies against hate speech and discriminatory behavior, bullying ect.)
I believe in these captive audience settings that ensuring that these areas/zones people who through their
own actions are discovered to be discriminatory in their thinking, should not be allowed to taint the learning
environment by their presence as an employee, a presence that many would feel intimidated by.
(And just to be clear the issue being addressed has to do with staff not students, or parents, codes of
conduct are already on the books for these folks.) Higher standards of conduct has aways been enforced towards
those seeking "employment" in these instances.)
A hostile environment cannot be created in the tax payer funded, public sector. If the only way to reach this accommodation, without creating an undue hardship
upon the organization, is to remove them from a particular position, then under these narrowly defined
conditions removal is acceptable.
Although where workable, I would accept the compromise position related
below.
Although I would have to think long and hard before I would let my children attend or support financially
in any way a university that had as one of it's instructors a holocaust denier or supporter of hate based organizations.
So..
We have some interesting case studies that cover actual events at some of our nations universities. I believe this is a more suitable environment for the possible employment of people with discriminatory
beliefs, when no acceptable alternative exists...
At the University level we have cases where professors are holocaust deniers or possible high ranking skinhead supporters. In these cases we find the universities
while protecting the free speech rights of these instructors have been made to offer the exact same classes, taught at the exact same times, by teachers not supportive of hateful or discriminatory beliefs. I would find
this an equitable compromise...at a university, which is privately funded to a large extent..I do not know
how well this solution would work in a k-12 environment, or say other government public service providers? Nor
would I find such a solution in a k-12 environment personally satisfying.--but I could live with it as a transitional
solution.
With devastating budget cuts.. school districts or government employers may be able to put
forth the "hardship" protocols/provisions they simply can't afford to hire enough non- discriminational
thinkers to accommodate/ provide alternative non-discriminational class rooms in support of a hiring program
that regularly hires people who discriminate, or belong to discriminatory groups. (So
to be clear, use the hardship clause to avoid having to hire, or continue to employ discriminating thinkers
in the first place.) Some other reasons that the university system is better suited to more vigorous free
speech protection efforts for teachers, when warranted, is that the student body is more mature and able to participate in the level of dialog required, two as being more mature, on an intellectual or experience level
these students are generally more capable of standing up for themselves, or detecting when a line of inappropriateness
has been crossed, also as being significantly privately funded, students as customers can take their money
elsewhere, whereas in a k-12 setting you have a captive audience that in most cases would find relocating
to another school a significant hardship, just on transportation issues alone.
Under the auspices of
free speech you may have to put up with the occasional Klan rally or other hate speech event...a necessary evil in a free society...
Common sense clearly requires that public environments required to be non-hostile be made that...
Believe me, even with a shift in the direction we explore, there will still be plenty
of private sector areas for the die hard discriminationist to promote their beliefs.
CSM
10:58 pm pdt
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tigard Tualatin School District another troubling situation not addressed?
Recognizing the growth of such sources as face book, as well as other "social networking" Internet
resources.
Also recognizing that as parents we are required by law to have our children in school, most
parents if at all possible will choose a traditional school type setting over, say a home school situation if at
all possible because we think it may be the best suited, for the purpose of giving our kids a social network, community building experience/opportunity.
(Although the parents this writer has met, that have fled the Tigard, Tualatin
District in favor of home schooling..Not wanting their children to become forced into becoming one of the twenty
percenters that do not make it through to graduation, because they have not received the
support they require, or have fallen prey to the various aspects of cultural bias in the district, or have
been worn out due to the fact that the district lacks the interest in having effective dialog over the issue that
effect them.
I have found that these parents have universally shown they have the creative
ability to compensate for what ever positive potential may be missed? by not having their children
in what has become for them a negative environment/experience.)
Also let us not forget the premise that there are
laws requiring that public school environments be non hostile places for children from all across the demographic
spectrum.
So here is the problem..In our Public School systems, you have faculty members/staff
proudly displaying their affiliations with religious and social groups that clearly follow practices, or beliefs considered
to be discriminatory, or sending out news letters that proclaim or divulge the same information...
Anybody
thinking about the negative impact this environment would have on students that belong to a particular demographic
group that is discriminated against by these aforementioned social groups or churches? I think this process creates
a hostile environment for some students or families.
You don't make a team, not sure your grade is reflective
of your effort.. perhaps your just not comfortable being around people that think your just not acceptable to "God?" "Heaven?" your just a lessor/misguided human?
People doing the discriminating will of course say, wait your exaggerating
the potential problem, the harm ect... those of us who have studied history know full well, and the evidence is
clear, people who discriminate on any basis currently covered under federal protections or being considered
for same....have regularly done far worse to those they "look down upon" than just negatively impact that
person scholastic experience..processes to correct such harms can be less easily implemented in a public k-12 system than in a university setting.
Most public School Boards get the fact that they are running a Public
School Program, not a Private School Program... As do most public school administrators.. Unless they have been
sought out and hired by school boards that have subtly gone "rogue"?
The issue discussed here
today is a problem that is being repeated in other little "stepford" townships across the nation.
In Oregon we are faced with the additional issue that soon our public school employees may
begin to wear religious items in the work place to a greater extent than allowed before.
A reason given,
to promote free speech and tolerance. Basically that we need to be tolerant of the existence of some
peoples discriminatory religious affiliations, I guess, I'm not sure that is the actual reason though...My concern
is that it is actually another attempt by our courts to undermine the progressive elements of our communities.
I also believe that what it may actually do, and this would be a good thing, is promote a different
kind of free speech exercises, a discussion about the discriminatory shortcomings of the various social
and religious groups.. and then help promote reform in same.
It could, unfortunately, also, provided
the right social forces create a very negative outcome, or environment for some students/ families, and thus
our communities.
I am not comfortable with the negative impact that this process may have on
some students that belong to discriminated against demographics.
I think this is a process that may
be better suited for the town square, the universities.
I also tend towards my continued belief that the public school system needs to operate under the mandate of our constitution/anti discrimination laws. As
such, because of the clearly discriminatory nature of some of these social groups, and religious organizations
that bringing them into a public school environment violates that mandate and threatens the progressive advancement
in civil rights, and (thought processes) that so many have fought and struggled for.
Those
that fail to learn from the lessons of history?
Current surveys/studies indicate that within a generation, 30/40 years, all these issues of discrimination being tracked by us in our dialogs, will have been
resolved in favor of those being discriminated against.
I think it would be a positive if our more conservative/discriminatory
community elements re-evaluated their positions and made this evolutionary process as painless as possible
for those currently being discriminated against.
What is the solution? A more vigorous vetting process
for those that seek to work in a public school position. I.E. a person who is known to be a card carrying anti
Semite, or Klu Klux klan member would probably be passed over in the hiring process. We need to advance the awareness levels, the sensitivity levels of those doing the hiring today...If a person does not support full
anti discrimination protocols, as demonstrated by their personal affiliations, they should be precluded from being
an employee in a public school setting. Just my opinion, although as with universities, providing separate but
equal non-hostile, non-discriminational alternative classrooms could serve as a trans- itional compromise position.
Serve on a public school board, forget it..need not apply..make it a position requirement. Part of the
bylaws of any institution accepting tax payer provided financial support. The reason why this position is more restrictive
then that for public k-12 employees, is that I see no similar compromise position as being available to protect
the public from the hostility or harms associated with a school board comprised of such thinkers., but I am open
to suggestions.
What if they are members of a police department, running some kind of "Dare" program.. (although these programs have faded out in the more progressive communities as research has shown mixed
or failed results in the programs studied.)
I want to add that in Tigard, Oregon the DARE program appears
to be pretty solid? I have not seen any of the issues most often criticized in such programs, present.
Where I have a problem with this and similar programs lies in who is doing the "instructing". In this
case a local police dept. with a dubious - or very week record of demonstrating a consistent awareness or support
of very important civil rights, non-discriminatory awarenesses, in my opinion, as supported by documented
events.
Are there not other non-police affiliated folks capable of teaching these courses?
I have
also always been very uncomfortable with the concept of uniformed police being in our schools, I have always found
it to be more than just a little creepy. If a police department will not demonstrate through public disclosure that their members adhere to anti- discrimination protocols, or supports systems.. They are to be denied
access to public school property and the students therein. (Police officers have been fired, and their terminations
upheld for their support or membership in discriminatory organizations.)
For example, they think the Boys
Scouts are a great social club...the Boy Scouts are a discriminatory group of folks..(As operated in the
U.S...A potentially wonderful program that is slowly being wiped out by the DISCRIMINATORY nature of it's current
managers/policy originators), thus access to school grounds or students denied.
Because of social/political failures
in our society we now have police officers in our public schools. Why should parents or students have to
deal with authority figures/with guns, that are discriminatory in their awareness's, or civil rights sensitivities.
Side note:.. I would love to have my son in a program that does the activities that the Boy Scouts do, I
think it would be fun, good for him. ...but again Boy Scouts discriminate so that won't work for us. Got to put
your money where your mouth is... In Tigard, Oregon the price you can be made to pay for such principle can
become a life destroying process for your family.
Please look around... the system failures that are
opening stress fractures all around you have been largely produced, or expanded by those that engage in hateful
processes.
When you study the actual history of our nation, and the harm caused by those carrying little black books around or maybe other symbols, like crosses ect..when can we expect a process of intellectual honesty
to kick in to challenge the "magical" or destructive thinking?
I should probably be careful with
what I say.. I live in Tigard, Oregon.. My children will now probably experience increased processes of exclusion,
or assault, my wife will probably be accused of all manner of hateful things, and be called vile names by
the local vigilante groups.. Perhaps I'll be framed for crimes not committed?
Historically, so very
often, when you put people together in large enough groups, and these people possess, intellectually dishonest reasoning/processes..And then what you do is create or recreate barriers that protect these damaged processes
from being properly discussed....You end up with the inquisition, or people being burned at the stake, or
maybe some management types will equate the ordination of a woman in the same criminal/sin category as those
that are pedophiles??
You end up with a planet that is dying, and a global economic system completely
incapable of meeting the needs of humanity!
Colin Stuart McCoy
10:05 am pdt
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
USA a Nation Governed by Liars, Hypocrites, and Haters?
I sure hope everyone is paying attention to the confirmational coverage that is coming out of various media
sources..
I.E. specifically CIA's interrogation tapes that were not turned over to a congressional investigation
because they were not supposed to exist!!
Generally, how we have become a society that honors those
that promote hate with the most zeal and populace fervor...
Additionally the recognition of the hypocrisy
between our faiths? and our actions?
I find these issues to be of the greatest concern when you study
the extent that these processes behaviors have infiltrated the personnel that staff our tax payer funded agencies..schools.. courts...local and national political operations.
Lets emplace some blue ribbon panels to study the problem
;-)
Or perhaps we should form our interactions around committees..
Both of these processes are
typically emplaced when some wish to avoid liability or responsibility for processes reflective of individual
failure or incompetence.
CSM
10:53 am pdt
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Legalize all drugs?? A case study in favor..Portugal.
I have long been an advocate for ending the life destroying era of the drug wars in the United States. History
has shown us that prohibition type efforts lead to violence and the growth of other processes that undermine a free society.
I saw a story today about how Portugal had legalized "all" drugs if you are a
user.. with less than a ten day supply in your possession. (They did this ten years ago)
Drug dealers
and smugglers still face serious fines and jail terms.
Drug related crimes are down, the number of heroin
addicts has been reduce by more than half, and HIV related rates of infection have been reduce by aprox 90%.
CSM
7:19 am pdt
Tigard Tualatin School District has four schools that fail fed standards
Two middle schools, as well as both High Schools in the district failed federal standards related to students
with disabilities, and I believe students using English as a second language..(Federal - No Child Left Behind Program)
All the elementary schools passed, which was a surprise to some..."perhaps" it was because their reading departments are/may be allowed???..
To keep lowering the reading material grade
level upon which students are being tested, until student can read the offered passages at the rate/ proficiency
targeted??I.E. 3rd grade students scores posted for reading grade 1.5 level materials??
CSM
7:02 am pdt
Sunday, August 1, 2010
FBI cheats
It took me a while to get to this...but did everyone catch the reports concerning the tests FBI personnel were
required to take, and pass, in order to demonstrate that they were fully knowledgeable about codes of conduct,
laws and regulations regarding U.S. civil rights..so that they, the FBI personell would not violate said rights, laws, or regulations in the performance of their duties/interactions with citizens and residents of the
United States..
Apparently a significant number were unable to pass the tests without cheating...and
were caught doing so.
Unfortunately, totally predictable!
Colin Stuart McCoy
And yes,
at least they were caught, so we must make note of the continued existence of operational integrity at some level
within the organization. I wonder where the people that blew the whistle on this situation are working
now..if they have jobs?;-)
8:45 am pdt
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