Tag: #oklaed

Blue Serials (2/22/16) #OKElections16 Special Edition

~ Blue Cereal

White Rabbit

February is a Hectic Time in the World of Edu-slation.

There are deadlines to be met in getting bills heard in committee, and variations on several themes are simultaneously being bounced around in the State House and the State Senate. 

Parents are calling and emailing, bloggers are bullying and grawlixing, and even the legit news sites are scrambling to keep up with the madness. 

For those of you not fully immersed in the more fussified issues of the day, I’ve been maintaining an easy-to-use guide of sorts on the #OKElections16 section of this website. I thought it might be helpful TODAY, however, to boil even THAT down to a few highlights on some of the major issues in #OklaEd this week. Maybe you’ve heard them discussed, perhaps even offered opinions of your own, but deep down inside you know you haven’t had the time to actually, um… research. 

That’s OK. I’m here for you. There, there… let it all out. I’ve got you. All better?

Mad Hatter Tea Party

ESAs / Vouchers:

Tulsa World Editorial: Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program is constitutional, and still a bad idea – The Tulsa World (2/17/16) – If you don’t subscribe to the Tulsa World, you’re doing EVERYTHING wrong. No offense. 

A Week of Gains for School Choice Efforts – Nate Robson and Jennifer Palmer, Oklahoma Watch (2/16/16) – So… good times, eh?

Do ESAs Pass The Lemon Test? – David Burton, Idealistically Realistic (2/14/16) – Let’s talk constitutionality, especially since fighting so many losing causes is expensive – and apparently we’re broke. 

HB2949 and John Green – Claudia Swisher, Fourth Generation Teacher (2/14/16) – Who, exactly, is public education FOR?

The Blaine Game, Part One (Information) – Blue Cereal Education (2/6/16) – This one’s me, but GOLLY my stuff is THAT GOOD!

Top 10 Reasons School Choice is No Choice – Steven Singer, GadflyOnTheWallBlog (1/27/16) – And right in the middle of ‘Celebrate School Choice Week’! Singer’s not #oklaed, but he’s dead on with this one and it applies x1000 here. 

A Call To Arms – A View From The Edge (12/1/15) – A look at the rhetorical shenanigans surrounding ESAs/Vouchers

Chesire Legislator

Funding Education in Oklahoma

The Facts About Oklahoma Education – Oklahoma Education Coalition

As Legislators Weigh School Cuts, a Rising Outcry From Parents and Advocates – Jennifer Palmer and Nate Robson, Oklahoma Watch (2/19/16) – Turns out even in Oklahoma, people get touchy when they figure out you’re trying to screw over their kids even more.

James Frasier: Government cowardice to blame for Oklahoma’s mess – James Frasier, Guest Editorial in The Tulsa World (2/17/16)

10th Amendment & #OklaEd – David Burton, Idealistically Realistic (2/11/16) – With States’ Rights comes States’ Responsibilities… this is one of my favorite posts EVER on the subject of state government and public education.

Cut The Crap, Not The Budget – OKEducationTruths (12/17/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy, and don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining. 

Alice Croquet

General Budget Shenanigans:

Sales Tax Exemptions: A Puzzling Roster of Haves and Have-Nots – Warren Vieth, Oklahoma Watch (2/18/16) – The good news is, it’s not just Oil & Gas Bigwigs being catered to by state legislators. Or is that the bad news?

The tax shift rears its head – Gene Perry, Oklahoma Policy Institute (2/16/16) – When tax cuts for the rich don’t work, cut taxes for the rich MORE and go after the poor. What could possibly go wrong?

Thousands of Oklahoma state employees given raises despite budget woes – Randy Ellis, The Oklahoman (2/7/16) – This was the trigger to my complete and total meltdown later that day. 

Budget Trends and Outlook – January 2016 – Oklahoma Policy Institute (1/19/16) – Clear facts and visual aids about budget decisions in OK over the past five years. And I love good visual aids. 

The Oklahoma Budget Crisis Hasn’t Hurt Everyone – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge (1/10/16) – Funny how the same guy assuring us that brutal cuts are a great “opportunity” keeps getting substantial raises every year. Why can’t he have some “opportunity” as well?

Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dummer

Keep yourself informed and STAY INVOLVED.

All that stuff about your voice making a difference may or may not have a basis in reality when it comes to national elections or whether or not your wife can raise those kids however she pleases, but it DOES have impact in state and local politics. Remember – be polite, be informed, be concise, and move on. 

Check my brilliant Candidate Profiles to see if your Representative or Senator has been profiled, and know who your people are and how they’re voting. You don’t have to agree with me about everything, but if you don’t agree with me about most things, you’re probably wrong.

Bless you, my #11FF – Keep Being Amazing. You are more necessary than you’ll ever know to those you’d least expect. 

Blue Serials (2/21/16)

~ Blue Cereal

What’s The Point Of It All?

Pinocchio This weekly wrap-up, I mean – the ‘Blue Serials’ compilations appearing here most weekends?

That’s a fair question. I don’t always know until I’ve been doing something for awhile.

Mostly this is a ‘Best Of’ for the prior week in edu-bloggery. From time to time, however, I simply can’t resist highlighting other sporadic marvels of the wonder-webs. My love for YOU, esteemed #11FF, is such that I’m willing to bend both title and format in order to enrich your online edu-experience. 

You’re so welcome. 

So while this is a crazy wild week in state edu-slation, let’s set that aside for a few glorious moments and bask in a few things you simply SHOULD NOT MISS from the past week.

The Significance of a Diamond-Studded Bicycle, c1890 – Isabella Bradford of Two Nerdy History Girls analyzes a brooch. (Yes, the kind a lady would pin on her lapel.) You know I already have a thing for chicks on two wheels; add some primary source analysis (yes, a brooch is a primary source) and I’m in edu-blog heaven. Go read this – it’s short and sexy and you’ll feel smarter for having done so.

While you’re there, check out this post on the first guy to suggest that germs – tiny things we can’t see – were the underlying cause of diseases, and the mockery and backlash which followed. Yes, it’s almost science, but the MARVELOUS use of LANGUAGE in the primary sources (textual this time) nearly gave me a special moment.

When you’ve recovered, be sure to follow @2nerdyhistgirls on the Twitters and enjoy the shenanigans. They are a trip and a half, I assure you. 

Benjamin Franklin’s Madness-Inducing Machine – Ben Miller, on Out of This Century, introduces us to one of Franklin’s lesser-known inventions – ‘the glass harmonica’ – and it’s ability to DESTROY YOUR BRAIN! For those of us who grew up listening to warnings about backward masking in rock’n’roll, and the dangers of syncopated percussion on our inner workings, this is particularly amusing.

If you don’t cotton much to that psycho-musical mumbo jumbo, you might wish to begin with this post instead about self-defense for Victorian gentlemen in the unfortunate event they find themselves “assaulted by ruffians!” Either way, you simply MUST follow @oothiscentury on the Twitters and either destroy your brain or defend your honor. Heck, maybe you can do both. 

The Strange Company Newspaper Clipping of the Day (February 17th, 2016) – The pseudonymous Undine, purveyor of Strange Company, has a fetish for odd or inexplicable stories sticking inconveniently through the veneer of history. I particularly enjoyed this one, about an ossified man turned to marble by efforts to cremate his body – or so the story goes. I can’t help but think there’s an unintended metaphor here as well, for those of you deep-thinky enough to denude such things. Your daily online journey will be richer and weirder if you follow @HorribleSanity on the Twitters. 

But Blue – Isn’t This An “Education” Blog?

Yes, of course – the most educationalistic, in fact! 

Applying Essential Questions in Workshop by Cyndi Faircloth – from Three Teachers Talk – Don’t be put off by the uber-serious title of this guest post by Faircloth; this is golden teacher talk. While the specifics are about literature and ‘workshop model’ instruction, this is first and foremost PLC-style sharing. 

“After almost twenty years of teaching, I’m starting to think I might be getting the hang of it. I’ve used essential questions over the past few years, but they weren’t producing the deep discussion and analysis that I’d hoped for…” So she tried this and then this other thing but then WHOAH the learning descended and there was much rejoicing.

I find this mindset towards collaboration SO much more engaging than the usual buy-my-book approach (“WHY ARE YOU DOING THINGS THE OLD STUPID WAY WHEN I HAVE ANECDOTES ABOUT HOW GREAT I AM?!” – available now wherever insecure educators gather!) This post makes me excited even about the stuff I’m trying that’s NOT working, and where it COULD go.

And as long as we’re on the site…

Choice Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Personal Connection: A Reflection for a Do-Over – Amy Rasmussen, Three Teachers Talk – “So all afternoon and into the evening I’ve thought about thinking. I’ve thought about my students’ thinking. And I’ve determined the problem: Many of my students are not doing it.”

Oh my glowing baby-in-a-manger. Can you be in love with two posts at once? (Did you just hear the pop song parodies sliding into readers’ minds all over the blogosphere?)

Every educator – especially ELA folks, but really everyone – should totally marry this blog. Subscribe, of course, and follow THE THREE on the Twitters – @amyrass, @litreader, and @jackiecatcher. You can thank me after you change the world even gooder as a result.

When #OklaEd Blogger Anthony Purcell issued his 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Challenge a few weeks ago, I’m not sure he anticipated the response. I certainly didn’t, but I loved the idea, so I compiled those of which I was aware two weeks ago right here on the weekend update. But good ones just kept coming in, so I kept adding them to the list. I’m pretty sure I’ve missed several along the way – please let me know if so! In the meantime…

Challenge Answered… – In this post on One Good Thing, Lisa Witcher tackles the #12345 Challenge and both reminds me how fortunate I am to know her and makes me wish I’d been half so poignant in my own response. Oh well, we can’t all be that good. Follow @MzWitch11 on the Twitters yourself – but be careful, she’s way insightful and it’s hard to get away with much around her. #OklaEd 

Five – This response by Rebecka Peterson of EPSILON-DELTA is one of my favorites – especially in regards to #4. Peterson is one of those teachers that makes me love the entire profession, despite knowing in my mind that few are of quite her caliber. But some are – and the possibilities that creates… well, heck – maybe we can change the world, kinda? Follow @RebeckaMozdeh on the Twitters, and ask her about her new little person.  #OklaEd 

Alright, my children – Illegitimi Non Carborundum!

We’ll be back to #OklaEd and #OKElections16 inanity and periodic glimmers of forward momentum soon, darlings. You’ve got this. You may not feel like it every day, but you’ve GOT THIS.  

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End #OklaEd

~ Blue Cereal ~ 5 Comments

We’ve been going about this all wrong. 

End1Oklahoma’s political leadership is NOT going to support public education. There won’t be increases to funding, or teacher raises of any real substance. Legislation in the next decade will be just like legislation in the past decade – more limits, more measuring, more changing the rules as often as possible. More hostility, more red tape, more blame piled on schools for spending so much time and energy on that exact same red tape. 

Why fight it anymore?

It’s not like it matters if we get 60%, 70%, even 80% of the public behind us. Calls to legis concerning ESAs were something like 4-to-1 against and it still went through committee. Once the Blaine Amendment is repealed and the State Constitution changed so that the OK Supreme Court can no longer declare anything unconstitutional, it’s pretty much over anyway. 

And yet we keep burning up those keyboards and spiking that blood pressure to accomplish… what? 

Not much. 

Thus my opening realization. We’ve been going about this all wrong.

Maybe they’re right.

End2Maybe private schools ARE better at everything. There are certainly a number of very impressive institutions around the Tulsa area, and I assume the same thing is true over in OKC.

Maybe choice IS good. Maybe competition spurs excellence, just like with fast food chains or cable television programming. Maybe we’ve been fighting to keep education stuck in the 20th century, and it’s time to move into the 19th.

Maybe vouchers DO actually save money – parents get their 80% of current per-student allocation and the rest is magical gravy. According to those unending ESA talking points, the more kids who leave public schooling, the better off the remaining children ARE as a result! How exciting!

And here we are, blogging and fussing and kicking and screaming to prevent that kind of progress. Progress that will make so many legislators happy. Progress that will save the state SO much money.

Progress that will be SO good for ALL of the children. 

Why keep public schools at all?

School ChoiceAssuming our elected leadership has the slightest idea what they’re talking about, any child stuck in a public school is being undereducated and underserved. Parents who CARE take their child and their edu-gift card and shop for something better. Parents who don’t… well, their kid is stuck in all of these sucky schools staffed by whiney unionized teachers and bloated administrations who won’t even voluntarily consolidate. 

So let’s do what’s best for ALL kids. Let’s end public schooling altogether. 

Every student’s family will have receive an immediate voucher to spend at a much better school of their choice. Religious, secular, big, small – whatever. The free market is god, after all.  

Granted, this could be a bit disruptive in the short term, but I have no doubt that the power of capitalism will overcome all difficulties. Religious institutions of all varieties will step up to claim their share – evangelical churches as well as more orthodox denominations, Catholics as well as Jews. The Islamic community will certainly be ready with top quality options quicker than most, and the Buddhists will presumably make less fuss than, well… anyone. 

And remember those zany atheists who wanted to build that devil bench on the capitol grounds next to the Ten Commandments? They’ll JUMP at the chance to have their own SCHOOL! Their science scores will be AMAZING!

End4Businesses of all sorts are welcome as well. Pearson, Holt-McDougal, and any number of Computer Bank Academies – probably the most cost-effective of the bunch. They’ll take all comers without fear or filters, knowing that one of their own primary arguments for ESAs is that private schools succeed because of FREEDOM. The kind of freedom which we’ll finally let ring, unshackled by the expectations and accountability previously crippling public schools. 

I’m sure there will be some growing pains for the first few weeks, but the important thing is that we’re finally making progress as a state – for the children. Individualized instruction. Choice. Excellence through capitalism – all while saving the state millions. 

I confess I’m not entirely sure who’s most likely to pick up the substantial number of students whose parents aren’t overly active in helping make such decisions. I’m curious what new strategies we’ll see in play to accomodate students well below grade level or manifesting emotional or behavioral issues.

It’s called “the invisible hand,” after all, because there’s no telling what unexpected wonders will unfold among the highest needs populations, or transient students, or kids on IEPs, or anyone who’s not white or Asian. I honestly can’t imagine…

End5But I guess that’s the same sort of uncertainty regarding market forces that’s been making me part of the problem rather than part of the solution, isn’t it? I need to let that go and believe (hashtag trustfall).

Of course, not everyone will so easily accept that we’d be willing to make this sacrifice. They’ll want to do things gradually, burdened by compromises and half-steps. We may hear voices not known for defending public ed extolling the essential role it’s always played and lamenting its loss – that’s what you do at funerals, after all. 

That’s why the onus is on US to do what’s RIGHT, whatever equivocating our political leadership suddenly manifests. This is where #oklaed, so proud of doing what’s best for KIDS rather than what’s convenient for US, must step up. No fear, no hesitation, no selfish second-thoughts.

We’ll all quit. 

Together, at once. Every classroom teacher, bus driver, librarian, nurse, counselor, janitor, cafeteria lady, building principal, district secretary, all the way up to those way-too-many district superintendents, everywhere in the state. We leave for Spring Break as scheduled, and announce that no one – not one single educator – will be returning.

end6This isn’t a strike. We don’t WANT anything for ourselves. There are no demands. We’re doing this for the children, so they can be free. We’re sacrificing our stubborn, unionized, lower-end-of-A-F ways and humbly confessing that we were wrong – state leadership is right. 

The kids will be better off this way – so get those vouchers cranking. 

Sure, a handful of us will end up working for the various private schools taking our place. Many will go out-of-state where we’d be already, if we had any self-respect at all. 

And yet… it won’t be easy for most, such a big change in such a short time frame. But setting aside our own wants and needs to do what’s best for children is kinda what we do. Surely you’ve noticed our collective martyr complex?

The dramatic improvement across the range of students – from the pastiest engineering lad with awkward speech patterns to the most impoverished student of color in the heart of the city – will make it worth a little discomfort and a few years of Republican smugness as they save the future once again. 

You might assume I’m using hyperbole, or trying to make a sarcastic point, but I’m totally not. Not this time. 

TEAMStart talking to your coworkers, superiors, and parents NOW. This has to be ALL or NOTHING.

I understand your hesitation. It’s terrifying. Huge. Many of you aren’t sure what you’ll even do if you’re not holding back the children with your unionized antediluvianism.

Stop being so selfish! Smarter, more caring people than you are TRYING to let children have CHOICE, and a BETTER EDUCATION! Get out of their way!

All the way out of their way. And let’s see what happens.

Blue Serials (2/14/16)

~ Blue Cereal

Happy Forced Affection Day! 

Yet another faux consumerist holiday built on male terror of ‘getting it wrong’ (or is that just me?) To be fair, it’s also a wonderful opportunity to belittle those without a ‘significant other’ and suggest they’re in some way inadequate or doing life badly based on our cultural need to demand reproductive rituals of all 320 million of our neighbors right damn now!

I’m rather blessed to have found a really good one and trapped her early. It’s been long enough now that it’s not worth the trouble of sheddin’ me, so she stays. I don’t usually do personal nods here, but since I’ve been exposed to the world as a vitriolic issue-blurrer, I might as well say “I love you” on Valentine’s Day.

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Sorry you’re stuck with someone ruining the children, honey. Oh – and can you pick up cilantro on the way home? The bunnies are out. 

But Let’s Talk About Love and Commitment, and Voices and Power. 

They’re not so unrelated, are they?

Identity, Power, and Education’s Algorithms – Audrey Watters, writing on Medium.com, starts off talking about changes to Twitter and ends up wrestling with the many ways power and the dominant narrative force and reinforce themselves in education and other realms. This one made my brain and my soul hurt at the same time – usually a good sign I need to pay closer attention. Follow Watters on the newer, more capitalistic Twitter at @audreywatters. 

Burn It Down – Tom Rademacher, of Mr. Rad”s Neighborhood, tackles a similar theme much closer to home. “Whiteness is f***ing up schools. Whiteness is creating failure. Whiteness is blaming the victims of racism and genocide for being victims of racism and genocide, and suggesting what they really need is to be around a lot more white people… Yes, the system is failing them. Because it is supposed to.”

I know, right? The thing is, if it makes you mad just reading that bit, he’s already hit a nerve. So read it all. Several times. I triple-dog-dare you. *makeschickennoises* Follow Mr. Rad on the Twitters at @MrTomRad.

Risk and Rules – It’s not every week that we turn to Curmudgucation to LIGHTEN the mood, and this one isn’t exactly a knee-slapper, but Peter Greene has written a great post about the tricky and ever-shifting balancing act between rigid expectations / mandated outcomes and all of the instinctive, seat-of-the-pants, people-serving guesswork we do with it, through it, or instead of it.

Beauty, the Rip, and Expectations – While we’re at it, a more recent post also from Curmudgucation about expectations and messages. IF YOU SKIP EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS WEEKLY WRAP-UP, READ/WATCH THIS ONE. Later, of course, you’ll have to deal with the shame and self-loathing which naturally result from missing the other amazing things shared this week – but at least you’ll have this one. Follow Greene on the new, more Facebooky Twitter at @palan57.

And Now I Simply Must Talk #OklaEd.

The House Edu-Committee hears the first of the eleventeen or so Vouchers/ESA/Tax-Supported-White-Flight bills put forth this session on Monday (2/15/16). 

As you call, or write, or visit, please remember – we’re trying to convince them we’re professionals and stuff like that. Be clear, concise, polite, and precise. They’re busy this time of year – the good ones, the bad ones, the useless ones, and the ones with tons of potential. Modify your strategies accordingly. 

We need to woo them, not earn spots on Maury Povich with them. Oh, and read these before you begin:

10th Amendment & #OklaEd – David Burton of Idealistically Realistic explains why “states’ rights” implies and intends “states’ obligations.” This one should be celebrated across the edu-nation, especially in states who – like ours – proudly seek an ignorant, incarcerated, and impregnated populace with all their lofty might, because… federalism! Follow Burton on the Twittering at @psalmofdavid. #oklaed 

Please Stop Digging! – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge. The public at large may not realize that while some are still calling for teacher raises or better support or whatever, most of us at this point are simply in fetal positions wrapped around as many of our kids as we can shield, begging power to put the whip down for awhile. We get it! You gave all the money to your wealthy donors! You hate us because… equity is communism, or something! Put down the shovel and step away from the bloodied remains of what was already a broken system…

Miller puts it more professionally, of course – he’s not as unreasonable as I am. Just between you and me, I don’t think he even deserved to be slandered in that MiddleGround piece. I’m WAY more destructive to the youth of America than he could be on HIS BEST DAY. If you don’t believe me, follow Rob on Twitter at @edgeblogger and see for yourself.  #oklaed 

Two Things: Call Me A (Civil) Naysayer – Rick Cobb, aka OKEducationTruths, the third member of the #OklaEd issue-blurring, vitriolic trifecta of hurtful commentary, brashly and unprofessionally uses partisan political ideology like facts, quotes, figures, and a hair metal video from the 80’s, to question the sincerity and practicality of all these faux calls for ‘teacher raises’ and this sudden ‘support’ for public education in Oklahoma. And he’s doing it on a forum to which CHILDREN have access! The rest of the internet is so pure, and he has to go ruin it for everyone. Be corrupted by Cobb on the Twittering at @okeducation and decide for yourself which of us is the MOST evil. (Hint: ME.)  #oklaed 

The Blaine Game, Part One (Information) – by Me, The Unbearable Blueness of Cereal. I don’t normally link to myself here, but this is my best shot at explaining the background issues to the ESA/Voucher debate starting up again on Monday (2/15/16). I’ll also keep updating the #OKElections16 page related to ESAs/Vouchers, which reminds me that I have a few things to add even today.  #oklaed 

Meaning I Gotta Go!

Happy V.D. The day is what you make it – choose to love someone in some way, or yourself better than you have been. Then go teach the %#&* out of those little @#%$ for the same %#$*{“|= reason – stubborn, reality-free, idealistic, chosen love. They need you now more than ever – that’s not feel good motivation-talk; it’s simply so. 

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RELATED POST: For far more updates to the #12345 challenge than I ever anticipated, check out last week’s Blue Serials (2/7/16). They just keep coming in – and they make me feel SO much better to read. 

What A Wonderful Opportunity!

~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

MeltdownYou may remember less than two months ago when Oklahoma Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger proudly announced the initial wave of the state’s budget woes – $900 million less projected revenue for the next fiscal year and a massive “revenue failure.” 

“The fact that we find ourselves in this position is providing us with a tremendous opportunity,” Doerflinger told reporters. “I’ve been talking for years about the structural problems the state faces. Now, we find ourselves in a very challenging situation. Panicking about the situation is not productive. We need to use this as an opportunity to do the things we otherwise might not have the will to do.”

As it turns out, the things they might not otherwise have the will to do meant massive cuts to public education and other services, but thousands – literally, numerically, THOUSANDS – of raises and new hires for state agencies. For the chosen bureaucratic favorites of our ‘small government’ Republican leadership. 

As quoted by news9.com:

Doerflinger says the purpose of the freeze, primarily, was to add another layer of scrutiny to personnel decisions, especially those with the potential to impact the budget.

“And it’s caused conversations to occur.” Doerflinger stated, “And a higher level of scrutiny, as agency heads made decisions about hiring.”

OK. But… THAT’S NOT A FREEZE.

A freeze is when you stop doing something because you can’t anymore. What Doerflinger is describing is actually another layer of red tape in an already bloated process. At best it’s a ‘minor chilling’ of some sort. 

Do any words actually MEAN THINGS to these people?

Doerflinger also announced in December that the budget crisis would mean AT LEAST a 2% – 4% cut ACROSS the BOARD. He neglected to add “Except for us. We’re going to be fine, because $#%& you commoners.” 

He neglected to mention that they’d still prioritize eliminating any lingering revenue from the top sliver of the most successful in the state. If we can’t tax ourselves into prosperity, then eliminating taxes altogether means the state now has ALL the money, right?

As you watch me having my daily rhetorical seizures and you tire of the whining of educators around the state, please keep in mind that for all the talk of how helpless and hopeless and impotent and incapable state leadership suddenly insists they are in every possible way, they are 

Objectively

Literally

Undeniably

Entirely

Intentionally

Maliciously

So full of $#&* I don’t know how they can walk without exploding. “It’s an opportunity,” he says – knowing damn well that at best it’s another excuse to do exactly what they did when oil was selling at 3x and 4x what it is now – funnel everything in their grasp to the chosen few, the elite specials, and piss on the rest of us. 

We have a crisis, sure – FOR YOU. For the stupid and the busy and the easily frightened. For those of you too tired or in denial or simply unwilling to deal with the layers and layers of inanity. YOU have a crisis. You probably don’t have the time or energy to deal with it, however, because you’re trying to get through the day unbroken. 

The elite leadership and their power structure don’t have a crisis – they have a bonus check. New work buddies. While you’re moving to off-brand mac’n’cheese, they’re lamenting having bumped into a higher tax bracket. 

The Oklahoman, OKC’s major daily, recently called for #OklaEd bloggers to be more ‘civil’ on our #OklaEd website that allows people to use Twitter (they apparently aren’t much for the Interwebbing or the Facegramming). Using their best lofty old men-in-suits accent, they scolded us for not being more reasonable as we mutually address the challenges that blarglemugglefarfehnugen.

I have some civil discourse for them, for Gov. Fallin, Mr. Doerflinger, and everyone else slinging their pompous patronization around while smugly snickering at the unwashed masses and their sad state – er, as it were. 

Kiss my big fat angry blogging ass, you sick twisted lying $#%&ers. You may beat us all while we’re here, but if you’re anywhere close to correct in all that theology you sling around to justify sh*tting on people, then ‘freezing’ is the precise opposite of what will soon be your biggest concern. Don’t worry, though – think of it as an amazing ‘opportunity’.