Obama's Education Speech

I have to admit, I cheated.

I read Obama’s speech last night before watching it live this morning, so I had plenty of time to let my feelings marinate. I wanted to make sure I delivered a well thought post this morning, and hopefully not just some heated ramblings that don’t make sense.

For those of you who do not feel that:

A) Education is important
B) The children of today will play a major factor in all of our future’s
C) We need to do anything to promote the importance of education and school retention…

PLEASE, STOP READING MY BLOG, LOG OFF, AND GO WATCH TELEVISION.

Fact: Obama wanted to address the youth of today in regards to the importance of their education

Issue: American parents are in an uproar for multiple reasons, all having to do with Obama overstepping his boundaries, and forcing his “socialistic ideology” on the nation’s school children.

Here is the deal. First off, as I proud supporter of our country and the Commander in Chief (regardless of who it may be at the time,) I say, if the President wants to speak to our school kids, let the man speak. Are you honestly going to tell me that it’s ok for your kids to watch South Park, Family Guy or The Simpsons but you don’t want them to listen to the President based on your political views? Are you trying to mold your kids into a miniature version of yourself, or are you simply trying to ensure that only your viewpoints, ideas and impressions are forced upon your kids? If that is the case, then you may as well lock them up in a room and segregate them from the outside world forever. If you honestly believe that only your feelings, views, political preferences, religious choices etc. will impact your children, then I have some very sad news for you. In my opinion, as a parent, what you try and force on your kids (or try and shelter them from, conversely) will be more likely backfire on you as a result of childhood rebellion and the increasingly powerful role of: media, peer pressure, social pressures etc.

Ok, enough about parenting, I’m not even a parent so “What do I know” right?

Are you a fan of math or numbers? How about these numbers:

Our country has a 30% high school dropout rate! What does that mean exactly? It means that in this country, 1.2 million high school freshmen will not be high school seniors. 1.2 Million? Now it’s time for some critical thinking. Of those 1.2 million students who will not graduate, how many do you think will make it “big” via either: sports, entertainment, family inheritance, or just sheer luck? My guess is not that many. Let’s use a nice round number and say 5%, although I don’t think it would be that high. 5% of 1.2 mil = 60,000. That means that 1,140,000 students, for whatever reason, will not graduate, will not get a proper education, will more than likely not get above average (if that) jobs, and will not contribute to our society and economy in an above average (if that) way. The above statistic is an actual statistic, a real number. To me this means that we (as parents, educators, family, friends, citizens, etc.) have not done the greatest job at promoting the importance of education to the youth of today. Guess what people, Obama sees it too. If we don’t continue to educate our students and urge our kids to pursue their full potential, sooner than later we will have nothing to argue about.

Why was there such an uprising over this speech? Obama’s message of personal responsibility and accountability tied into a stern message and real life stories of the importance of education was nothing more than a higher level attempt at what all parents and educators should be doing on a day to day basis. Do you not agree with what he is saying? Do you think that your kids should not be responsible to themselves and their community/country? Do you not think your children should be accountable for their actions and their future? What’s most interesting to me is that people complained before the speech was given and before the speech was even posted to the public! That is a key indicator that people are only complaining because they don’t like Obama! Give me a break!

Obama says “Every single one of has something to offer…” Do you have any idea the impact that can have on a struggling student, a disadvantaged kid or a troubled teen? Can you believe that some parents actually kept their kids home from school so they wouldn’t have to hear that? Do you know how cool it must be to be a young student and to have the President of the United States address you and your friends? What happened to the kids who stayed home? Do you know the last time a President addressed the students directly? 1991, 18 years ago! It has been 18 years since a President thought it would be a good idea to engage the people who matter the most for our future! “No one is born good at all things, you become good at things through hard work.” Tell me; is that a “socialistic” message that you do not want your kids to hear? Does it make more sense to have them miss a school day to stay at home to listen to you rant and rave about the things that are wrong with this country?”

Obama urges students “Don’t give up on yourself, don’t give up on your country” as he explains the importance of education as it pertains to family, community and country. Do you mean to tell me that promoting self-actualization (Google it) is a bad thing? Unfortunately, self-actualization comes far too late…if ever these days!

If you pulled your kid out of school today, chances are you did so because:

A) You can’t get over the fact we have a black President
B) You think socialism is a political party and you don’t like it
C) Nobody is going to tell your kids what to do, except you of course

Either way, you made a huge mistake. If you are egocentric enough to believe that your children can reach their full potential with only your help, then you should run for President because you are obviously the all encompassing genius with all the right answers.

In closing, change does not happen overnight people. You voted for him, you got him. Give the guy a break. Can you lose weight overnight? Can you save a million dollars overnight? Can you impression your kids with your wacked out political views overnight? No, you can’t. Effective, sustainable change takes time, energy, resources and support. If you really want to effect change that will make YOU happy, quit complaining about the President, write your local congressman and start making positive changes within your own community.

By the way, I didn’t even vote for Obama.

SDG&E! Are you trying to make my sh*t list??

Ah it's a beautiful Sunday this fine labor day weekend isn't it? As I sit on my patio with the crisp sunday paper and a hot mug of instant coffee, feet perched, birds chirping... you get the idea right? So as I peruse through paper undoubtedly preparing for almost certain bad news (as all newspapers seem to bring,) I find myself at the "B" section or "Our Region" morsel of the Union Tribune, a somewhat disturbing headline catches my eye: "SDG&E wants higher rates to cover costs." Now unless you have been living under a rock, in a coma (medically induced or otherwise,) or on a mission in some obscure part of the world, you know that SDGE has been on the hotseat for the California wildfires. The instant I read this headline, the synical skeptic Josh awoke from his glorious slumber prepared to fight yet another battle. My first thought "well of course you are SDGE, of course you are." Are you kidding me? Just the fact that they publicly announce the fact they want to raise rates is concerning. The idea that they explain they want to raise rates to cover the cost of the $740 million lawsuit they settled on...unF'N believable! Here is how I imagine some big wig at SDGE explaining to the board how to recover from this situation:

" Well team, remember that when speaking to the public or even our families, we can in no way come off as if we accept blame for the wildfires. While tragic, we just can't put ourselves at risk. What we will do however is settle in court. The alternative is a lengthy uphill battle which can potentially end in disaster. How can we afford to settle you ask? Don't worry, Big Daddy has a solution. After we settle, we will make a case to raise our rates by $29 million to help cover the costs. Now keep in mind, this only mean about 70 cents per month for coastal customers and 23 per month for inland customers based on a 500 kilowatt hours. How much is 500 kilowatt hours you ask? Well for example, a random single person named Josh Davila uses about 300 kilowatt hours per month- he is a full time student, is rarely at home, never runs the A/C and is good about not wasting energy. You can use that as a benchmark. Now I know what some of you are thinking- won't people get mad at a rate increase? I mean after all, the water rate is going up as well, the economy is in the perverbial crapper and the unenmployment rate is at an all time high? Good point, I have a reasonable explanation for that as well, please do not broadcast the following information outside of this boardroom. Luckily for us, SDGE is part of the larger Sempra energy corporation and realistically customers do not have any other options when choosing their electric providers. Sure there is Southern California Edison, but they do not service all areas and furthermore, have you ever heard of anyone actually switching electric providers?"

I have some questions for SdG&E: If you "weren't at fault" for the wildfires, why did you settle? Also, you actually expect me to accept the fact that you are now proposing to charge more to the people who lost their homes in the wildfire, to cover the cost of the wildfires? Something doesn't seem right to me here.