Breaking a Rule

[Buckrub]

I'm gonna break an unwritten rule, and post something verbatim from another site. I can already hear the responses.

1) This can't be true, you are just making this up.
2) This is biased, it really didn't happen this way.
3) You don't have all the complete story. If you did, it'd make more sense.

OK......well........maybe so. But this is just not what I think we ought to be doing. If there ever is some kind of 'rebellion', this is probably the kind of thing that will cause it. Folks I talk to are just getting tired of the Haves-Caused-I-Earned-It vs. the Have-Nots-Get-It-Anyway conflict that's going on.

If true, this isn't directly the fault of this Administration. But I'll say this.......of all the Administrations that I vehemently disagreed with (Carter, Clinton, 1/2 of Bush), the current one is the first one I ever knew that seems to have a direct goal of dividing this country. The others might have been misguided, but seemed to want to get us all to agree (one way or the other). This one doesn't. They want to divide us.

I think they're amazingly efficient. They may not be directly responsible for the below action.........but I think they foment it, justify it, and agree with the concept. I honestly don't know whether apathy or insanity is my best choice for dealing with the next few years.

____________________________________

The wife came to me this past weekend and said she needed to tell me something, but, she had been waiting because she knew I wasn't going to like it. It seems that after some back and forth and contradictions by the folks at my son's school, they simply admitted to my wife that our son is a victim of affirmative action. He is in the third grade and has always made straight A's. After being tested for the schools gifted and talented program, and being told by his teacher that he was going to be placed in the program, we received a letter in the mail that said he was not accepted. We did not even tell our son about the letter. A few weeks later he was approached at school by the administrator of the program and was told if he received the letter to disregard it because he was probably going to get in. Confused and concerned, my wife went to the school to get to the bottom of the situation, and that is when she was told in almost the exact words that he did not get in because he is a white boy, and they are full up on white boys right now. He might get in next year if someone moves away or something. Are you kidding me? I felt like sending him to school with chocolate icing on his face. I am not a racist, I have raised my son to be indifferent. Some of his good friends are African Americans. It chaps my a*@, however, that he is not being given an opportunity he has earned because they have to reserve spots for minorities, especially if there aren't even any minorities who currently qualify. The test for their program should be given to kids and only their first initial and their last name should be on it. Their acceptance should be based solely on their grades and nothing else. I am still contemplating what we should do, but, I am certain they are not going to like me very much. I just fear if I cause a stir the school will make life hard for my son. I've been told ,ever though it was the truth, the administrator could be fired just for saying it. I don't have a problem with her, just the broken system.

[Thumper]

As usual, there are two sides to every story. This is a LONG read, but it offers the "flip side" to the issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/education/in-one-school-students-are-divided-by-gifted-label-and-race.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Now, on a different but related note (and I've told this story here before), about 15 years ago, the company Lynn worked for, sold out to a competitor. They "moved" the company to their headquarters in Wisconsin. She was offered a job there, but I had my company at that time and we owned a house here ... and besides, we didn't WANT to be Cheeseheads! ;)

Seriously, relocating was out of the question. Now in THIS (smaller) town, jobs are scarce. Unless you want to commute to Tampa or Orlando, it's really slim pickings. She was unemployed for about 4 months until she found the job she wanted (she's STILL there). During the 4 months she was unemployed, her medical insurance lapsed. When she started at her new job, there was a 90-day lag before company medical insurance kicked in. Lynn had always been totally healthy and had never been in a hospital in her life ... until she'd been at this new job for 2 1/2 months! One day her boss called and said she was acting "strangely" and I may want to pick her up and have her checked out.

When I arrived, she was walking around like a zombie, bumping into things and when she talked, she made no sense. It was a bit scary and I'd never witnessed anything like that before. I took her straight to the Emergency Room. They put her in a room and ran the usual checks, then found her blood pressure was "through the roof"! (she'd never had any b/p problems previously) and she was in danger of having a stroke. They gave her some meds and held her there for observation. Her b/p never dropped. They kept trying different meds until her b/p finally stabilized, then sent her home with a Rx for b/p meds.

Ok, we knew her insurance had lapsed (ironically, the only time she'd EVER been without medical insurance) and she had another 2 weeks before her new company insurance kicked in, but heck, she was never even admitted into the hospital and there was no real medical procedure (like surgery, stitches, etc) performed ... mostly just a basic medical check-up and a few pills. She was in the ER for about 3 hours if I remember correctly. I drove her and she walked in on her own, so there was no ambulance or outside medical emergency personnel involved, so we figured whatever the bill was, we could handle it.

Well, a few weeks later we received a pile of frigging bills totalling $67,000 !!!!! WTF??? I was in a panic! I started digging around for any "programs" we might be eligible for to get some help. I did find one and we went in for an interview. I'll just cut to the chase ... she "qualified" for financial aid, BUT ... it was only available for minorities! What? Right about that time MY b/p was about to shoot off the scale! Although I was about to put my fist through the wall, I listened to what the lady had to say and it was made clear to me ... if Lynn were a "minority" ... she'd be eligible for the program! I looked at that lady like she was from Mars and blurted out, "She's F'ing Japanese! That's not a minority?"

We received NO assistance I might add. (YOU tell me what a minority is) I then went to work on the phones. I had a stack of bills I needed to wade through. We received bills from every conceivable medically related person and company in town. Who were these frigging people? And what did THIS company do for us? The stack of bills was unbelievable. I called to try negotiating EVERY bill we received. Many would offer a substantial discount IF I paid right then and there ... TODAY! As far as I know, I have no limit on my American Express and I put it to the test. Of course the biggest bill was from the hospital itself and they would not budge an inch. It was all or nothing ... and "nothing" meant a collection agency. In the end we ended up with close to a $40,000 medical bill and we eventually paid every penny of it. To date, I don't think I've ever been through anything more frustrating.

[Chicken Dinner]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[Chicken Dinner]

But, two negatives do make a positive.

[Big Muddy]

Affirmative Action is a wide-spread cancer on this nation....when my son was entering college(medical field), he applied for numerous grants and scholarships....you wouldn't believe the stipulations attached to them....on the applications, where he had to enter his "race or ethnicity", if he had written "I am a black-mexican-arab-orangutan", he would have qualified, instantly.

[LW]

Three rights make a left.

[Buckrub]

These lefts make an abomination.

[Buckrub]

Not directly related, but this is funny:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/04/democratic-rep-ridiculed-for-fumbling-facts-on-high-capacity-magazines/

And somewhat related, but this was overheard on the radio this morning:

"I am not worried about North Korea, we have enough weapons to wipe them off the map. The real enemies of America are Republicans, Tea Party members, and domestic terrorists."

[quercus alba]

Ecclesiastes 5:8
"If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter:"

Tain't nothing new, been that way since the beginning of time. My boys had to deal with it and they grew up fine. Ain't right but right usually don't have anything to do with it. The Good Lord will sort it all out in his time