Stop everything you are doing and comment on this post.

A fellow xangan bet me she could get 3000 credits before I could get to 15,000 credits.

So leave me a comment and if you can a mini but the comments will help out.

Voters of a small town in Arlington, Oregon have voted to recall their mayor after photos were found of her posed on a fire truck in her underwear.

The population of the town is about 500 and the vote was 142-139.  Kontur-Gronquist had the photos taken in a contest for fitness.  A relative put the photos on Myspace hoping to improve her social life for her.

The photos were taken before her election but she decided to leave them on Myspace after she was elected mayor.  Here is the link:  Link

The vote was so close.

If the vote were even and you could cast the deciding vote, would you have recalled the mayor for the photos?

I have lost my ability to stand up for myself.  I no longer tell people what is on my mind.  When someone walks all over me, they hear nothing from me.  I feel over the last 6 years, I have slowly allowed my boundaries to fall. 

It happened in a way that was unnoticeable to me.  In one public way, I didn’t speak carefully.  And at the age of 30, I paid a price for not speaking carefully.  The intentions of my heart were not evil but I was very candid with a lady from my work.  I paid such a price for that candid thought that I measured my words more carefully after that incident.

The problem is that over the next 6 years, I would develop a pattern of being way too cautious.  When someone would say something inappropriate, I would just take it.  In my mind, I was being Christian.  I wouldn’t speak back and wouldn’t point out anything that was inappropriate.  Instead I would just take what ever was done as an insult. 

And over the last few months I have come to a place where I am realizing I don’t speak up for myself anymore.  In the name of Christianity, I have allowed myself to become a doormat.

But as I try to make sure I swing the door back in the opposite direction, I want to be careful.  I want to make sure that I don’t swing myself back to the other extreme.  I don’t want to express things just because I am in a position where now I can.  I want to have the balance of pointing out things that are incorrect without doing it like there is a chip on my shoulder.

My desire is to carefully push back without punching back.

A lawsuit has been filled by the owner of the SAT and PSAT against a Dallas-area test-prep company.

The owners of the SAT and PSAT are saying that their security has been breached and that the test prep company received “stolen copies of the SAT and PSAT, a practice exam, to give students an unfair advantage.” 

Now the owners of the SAT are saying the high school students who took the prep course may have their scores thrown out.  Here is the link:  Link  I received this story from ChIcKaRoO831

On the one hand, it doesn’t appear that the students are at fault.  On the other hand, it does look like the students had an unfair advantage.

Do you think the student’s test scores should be thrown out if it is found that the test prep company had copies of the actual test?

The other day I linked one of our troops preparing young men to go out and fight the war.  I asked people to go over and give him encouragement.  I received a few messages that I want to paraphrase.

The comments went along the lines of “I can’t support the troops or I don’t feel comfortable supporting the troops.  They volunteered to be in the military and therefore they have decided to fight in an unjust war.” 

I thought about this for a bit.  The war in Iraq began in March of 2003.  That means a great deal of our military has been in a position to reenlist during this time frame (Enlistments are usually either 4 years or 6 years long).

If the war is unjust and troops have volunteered for an unjust war, are those who continue in the military unjust?

Let me give you a hypothetical.  Imagine that you were taken captive by the enemy.  Imagine that they asked you questions to determine where your fellow troops position were so they could bomb them.

Now imagine you wanted to throw them off so you gave them the wrong information.

Would it be a sin to lie in that situation?

I was having a conversation with Ktandie about education.  Here is part of a comment she made to me:  “See– it seems as if you have that common perception that academia is the only suitable route.”

My dad stopped going to school after he was kicked out in high school and my mom had to drop out of school her senior year.  My dad later took the GED test.  My mom finished her high school by taking night classes when she was around 30.  My parents did not think going to college was important.

At one point or another in my childhood, I began to think the only route to success in life was to go to college.  My oldest son struggles in school.  I have sent that message on to my kids telling them that a college education and graduate school will open up more opportunities for them. 

I know people who have done very well that have not gone to college.  But most of my friends who have an education are making far more money than those who have not received an education.

So there is a tension.  The tension is to let your children know that an education can provide openings for them.  But still recognize that maybe an education in college isn’t for everyone.

I must admit I have been telling my children they just need to go to college.

Is a parent sending the wrong message if he/she communicates that his/her child needs to go to college if he is going to have the best opportunity for success?

A 13-year-old boy set up a Myspace account for his middle school principal portraying him into a child molester.

The student did not use the principal’s name but gave him the headline “Your Princeypal.”  He placed the principal’s photo on the site and “identified him as the Hillside Middle School principal.  He put the principal’s interest as “giving students anal” and “jacking off in my office.” 

The student was suspended and then later expelled for “malicious harassment.”  His parents are saying “disrespecting teachers outside of school is an age-old tradition, and one from which teachers neither need nor deserve protection…It would be naive to think that even the most popular principal is not the subject of student ridicule and parody.”

The parents want his actions to be declared “off-campus speech.”  Here is the link:  Link

Do you think the student should be expelled for something he did off-campus?

I was reading an article that indicated that “adolescents and preteens are swearing more publicly than ever.”  Here is the link:  Link

Almost every time I mention cursing as a topic, people will say they don’t understand what the big deal is about cursing.

Is there any real reason to stop young kids from cursing?

A photo of Barack Obama dressed as a Somali Elder has been circulated all over the Internet.  Barack Obama’s campaign is accusing Hillary Clinton’s campaign of releasing the photos.   Here is the link:  Link

Do you think references to Barack’s middle name and photos of him in a Somali Elder garb make people more hesitant to vote for him?