Change

You know, just because someone promises change, that doesn't mean it's change for the better.

SEIU: Thanks for the laughs

Even though I am a die hard conservative, I am a member of several unions due to my jobs. Since I am a public teacher, I am a member of WEAC and the NEA. Since I work for the Brewers, I am a member of the SEIU. It is through the SEIU that I have received two glossy Obama mailings and two different calls. I kept the mailings. Why? For the laughs, of course! When I read it, I had to be sure I was looking at someone who was running for the President of the United States of America because it read like someone running for a state senator's seat. Let me quote a few lines (my comments):

"The son of a single mother (is this an allusion to a virgin birth?), Obama worked himself through college, got (not earned) scholarships and went to Colombia and Harvard. After college, Obama passed up offers from Wall Street (I'd love to know what) and went to Chicago where he was a community organizer (is this where he developed his good friendship with Tony Rezko?), working with a church-based group (I wonder if they got assistance from President Bush's faith-based initiative) to help neighborhoods recover from steel plant closings (but as a politician he wants to have the government take care of this). From job training to after-school programs, Obama has always fought for what's right (why do peace-loving liberals always claim they fight?).

"As an Illinois State Senator, Obama brought real tax relief to working families (Bush tax cuts, anyone?) and secured health care for 154,000 uninsured families (how???). In the U.S. Senate, he introduced the Patriot Employer Act, which would provide tax credits to companies that hire and keep American workers (but did he have the leadership to get it passed?), and he helped pass laws that guarantee benefits and better care for our veterans (in other words, he voted 'yes' on someone else's bill).

"As President, Barack Obama will make America work for American Workers (funny, I thought American workers made America what she is, not the reverse).

After reading this, I was completely underwhelmed. Did you notice there is no time frame for any of this? How long did he stay in any position he held? How many days did he actually serve in the Senate? Let me get this straight:

1. He turns down a job to work in a community organization,

2. He goes to the Illinois State Senate and secures health care for 154,000 (out of 12,419,293 as of the 2000 census)

3. He introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate (which didn't pass) and voted on several bills (I know he was more involved, but his is his own publication!)

Wow! This just screams something, and it's not presidential! I'd tell the SEIU not to send me anything more, but then I'd miss out on soooooo many good laughs!

Our First Geocache

On Saturday Fatime, Brett, Katherine and I went to Pike Lake. Katherine and Fatime were like a couple of fish swimming around, and Brett was like an octopus with all of his hugging.

After our swim, we decided to go geocaching. With GPS in hand, we went into the wood to find our treasure. Unfortunately, we failed to be prepared for the mosquitoes. Nevertheless, we forged ahead and Fatime found the geocache off of the hiking trail. Special thanks goes out to Lisa and Ryan for trying to help us identify Poison Ivy. I'm not sure if we saw any, but none of us broke out in any type of rash.

Summer Films

This has been quite the summer for movies. My personal favorite is The Dark Knight, followed by Iron Man. I know, two comic book movies. But if you have seen either one, you must admit that both films have several things in common:

1. They both have a great cast. Look at the caliber of actors in both films. Iron Man: Robert Downey, Jr., Gweneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges. The Dark Knight: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman (I hope he receveres from that car accident), Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyldenhall, Michael Caine. Many of these actors have either academy awards or nominations behind their work, and I thinks some of them will receive at least another nomination from these films.

2. They both took their characters seriously. Iron Man could have turned ridiculous, however, the director decided to tell a serious story about a flawed character trying to make peace with himself and the world around him. I don't think The Dark Knight could get any more serious that it already is. But what a brilliant plot.

3. Both films, whether the directors intended them to be or not, are conservative. Iron Man showed a character that wanted to do what was right and realized that he had to do it through strength. The Dark Knight faced terrorism and refused to give in to the terrorist's demands. He chose to do the hard thing and is willing to be hated for it. Kinda reminds me of a certain president...

This fall/winter promises some great movies as well: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Quantum of Solace (the new James Bond film), and, of course, Madagascar 2!

Welcome to the Real World

You know, for someone who teaches technology to high school students, you think I would have had a blog up before now. I'd like to say that after seeing several cool family blogs like Adam's and Lisa's families blogs I was inspired to do one, but that would not exactly be the truth. Actually, what motivated me was a class I'm taking this summer on blogs, wikis and podcasts. But that doesn't matter now that we are up and running. So, as Mr. Mister once said, "Welcome to the Real World, there's so much to do..."