What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Welcome to the new norm in employer healthcare plans.
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2. An interesting read from a teacher leaving the profession.
From TheWaPo “To pursue this calling, I worked hard to earn the title of “classroom teacher,” but I became quickly disillusioned when my title of teacher did not in any way reflect my actual job. I realized that I am not permitted to really teach students anything. When I was in middle school, I studied Shakespeare, Chaucer, Poe, Twain, O. Henry, the founding fathers, if you will, of modern literary culture. Now, I was called to drag them through shallow activities that measured meaningless but “measurable” objectives.
Forced to abandon my hopes of imparting the same wisdom I had gained through my experiences and education, I resigned myself to the superficial curriculum that encouraged mindless conformity. I decided that if I was going to teach this nonsense, I was at least going to teach it well. I set my expectations high, I kept my classroom structured, I tutored students, I provided extra practice, and I tried to make class fun. At this point, I was feeling alright with myself. I quickly rose through the ranks of “favorite teacher,” kept open communication channels with parents, and had many students with solid A’s.
It was about this time that I was called down to the principal’s office with a terse e-mail that read only, “I need to speak with you.” Clueless, I took down my grade sheets, communication logs, lesson plans, and sat down as an adult still summoned down to the principal’s office. “I need to talk to you about these students.” She handed me a list of about 10 students, all of whom had D’s or F’s. At the time, I only had about 120 students, so I was relatively on par with a standard bell curve. As she brought up each one, I walked her through my grade sheets that showed not low scores but a failure to turn in work—a lack of responsibility. I showed her my tutoring logs, my letters to parents, only to be interrogated further. Eventually, the meeting came down to two quotes that I will forever remember as the defining slogans for public education:
“They are not allowed to fail.”
“If they have D’s or F’s, there is something that you are not doing for them.”
And then it gets worse. It’s time for some accountability in all areas of public education.
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3. This is probably the weirdest story I’ve read in a while. Is exorcism a “cure” for PTSD? Or is this just a cult type operation preying on those suffering from it?
From TheNYPost “The 2005 tragedy haunted him when he returned to his home in Savannah, Ga. At night, a tall, shadowy figure crept into his room. Sometimes the Black Thing would threaten to kill him; other times it would choke his dead best friend.
The dark figure, a “Destroyer demon,” punished him, he said, “for killing and for living.”
Without answers — his PTSD diagnosis offered little explanation — he went to the one person he felt could save him: a minister who offered $199 exorcisms out of his trailer.
Daniels, profiled in the book “Demon Camp” by first-time author Jennifer Percy, is just one of many deeply troubled soldiers suffering from the after-effects of war who are so desperate for respite they undergo exorcisms at a fringe Pentecostal retreat.
Bear Creek Ranch, in Portal, Ga., is ministered by Tim and Katie Mather, a husband-and-wife team that has conducted over 5,000 exorcisms, some of them on veterans.”
Like I said, weird.
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4. Facebook is being sued for trolling the private messages of users for advertising purposes.
From TheDailyMail “The social networking site, is accused of monitoring messages and website links sent between users so they can profile what people read online. This in turn allows the website, which has 24million UK members, to charge more for the information.”
“Facebook apparently tracked such messages so they could collect data on the interests of people who use the site. Advertising agencies and marketing companies are then allegedly sold this information so they can build up profiles of a person’s interests, and target them accordingly.
If the linked webpage contains a ‘like’ button, Facebook will activate this so any company who has been ‘liked’ will see the person is interested in their products.
Google, Yahoo! and LinkedIn are among six companies facing accusations of intercepting communications for profit.”
Facebook is denying the claims.
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Wandering Views 
Lots of stuff here: Re:#4 quickly.
That’s how they get their money. Who pays for facebook? You do.
“If you’r not the customery, you’re the product.” Everything that goes into the “cloud” gets monitered and reported.
Probably incuding this.
We need to be aware of it.
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I am sure that our friend from Canada will show up soon to tell us how much better things are in Canada and how the Republicans and Tea Party have sabotaged the ACA. (H, I really like you, but you are becoming redundant)
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My husband cannot stand quiet. He has to have a radio or tv on at all times unless he is asleep. Recently he has watched a couple of those “ghost” shows. I notice that people who have no religious affiliation always call a priest or someone else to get rid of the ghost. They always pray to God or use Catholic rituals.
As far as using it to treat PTSD, my first thoughts are that it is predatory. My second thought is that several years ago I broke down. My life was a shambles, I just was at the end of my rope. I found my former priest and spent two hours in his office crying and telling him all that was wrong with my life. We went through the Reconcilliation of the Sinner from the Book of Common Prayer. I had begged God for forgiveness and to fix my life. Others had told me to quit beating myself up. It took hearing it from a clergyman, God’s representative for lack of a better word, to tell my I was forgiven and to move on. Perhaps hearing that God does forgive them is what these people need. I don’t know that an exorcism is exactly what they need.
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Hugh Ross’ Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men notes that almost everyone who claims to have seen UFOs has some wort of occult activities in their background, sometimes as light as horoscope reading.
He asks a pertinent question: since most UFOs are seen at night, how is it that so few are reported by people who work at night–astronomers and airline pilots? Wouldn’t they be spotting them left and right?
I wonder if that’s also true of people who claim to see ghosts?
What did Phos observe of the superstitious people she lived among in Gambia? Different culture, different expectations?
I’d run around if anyone asked me to participate in an exorcism.
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Make that away, not around!
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I posted on the Daily Thread that Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace” Heavy stuff there, and I don’t know what all it means but I do know that it means that forgiven sins are past and have no dominion over us. It is, in fact, sinful to drag up forgiven sin and dwell on it. God has wiped it off the books. We shouldn’t bring it back.
Satan tries to bring them back and torment us with them. But that’s our minds,
There are demons, just as there are angels. It is possible for demons to possess people just as in Biblical times. Nothing has changed but our attitude. It is scriptural for a gifted person to cast out demons, but I know of no case in which money was involved. I think that money corrupts the process.
Be wary of anyone who provides a Spiritual benefit for money.
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Why doesn’t this teacher go to work for a private school? She sounds like a good teacher.
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Sitting here with that worthless master’s degree in education that I have….just yesterday in church the young women in the row ahead of me was telling a friend behind me that she was switiching from education to nursing. I added my two cents worth and encouraged her to get out of education.
I am not impressed with the education system we have now.
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As an educator, I can relate to the teacher’s plight above. That said, I am glad I teach at a school in a somewhat conservative area in which the parents only complain about a student failing if it is indeed the teacher’s fault. In my experience, it has been students who didn’t do the work who failed my classes in 995 of the cases. I have a principal who would never be allowed to say such things to a teacher if he wanted to keep his job. Our school board does not want to pass students on who don’t do the work. It shows. I have some of the children of board members in my classes,and most of them are at the top of their classes.
But over all, our education system stinks, primarily because of the educrats in DC who haven’t been in a classroom in too long of a time.
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Little Sisters’ pushback.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/01/the-little-sisters-of-the-poor-fight-back.php
“Obama’s contempt for the deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics (and all Christians) should come as no surprise. As a candidate for president, Obama belittled folks who cling to their religion (or their guns).
“Even so, I never imagined that Obama would end up litigating against the Little Sisters of the Poor. Kind of says it all, doesn’t it?”
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Column from World, well-said by author D.C. Innes:
http://www.worldmag.com/2014/01/how_to_love_your_gay_neighbor
“…Sin complicates life. The mess it makes is a complex web of our own peculiar manifestations of the sin nature, our sinful responses to the blows we suffer from a fallen world, and the sins of others against us, and the million perverse choices to which we sign our names. Christ makes the crooked path straight, but not by broadening straight to include crooked. In addressing the crook in our neighbor’s hearts, Christians, like Christ, should be gentle, tactful, and understanding.
“But gentleness must have an end in view. You cannot love someone without understanding a person’s good and the human good in general. To love someone is to help move the person through the Savior toward what the Creator has revealed is righteousness and holiness.
“So a discussion of what is simply right is not insensitive to people’s complex practical needs. It is a precondition for properly addressing them. It’s not uncompassionate. Indeed, there can be no effective compassion without it.”
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1. Kim, I swear I wasn’t going to comment but then i saw your comment and ….. I wasn’t really surprised by the video. The fundamental flaw of the ACA is profit driven insurance companies, and since somebody has to make up for the sick and others who private insurers are forced to carry, ordinary wage earners will contribute and it will be a greater percentage of their income to insurance than the wealthy. The mandated insurance then becomes a regressive tax. Some states are creating a public option which will bring premiums down as a public option won’t have a profit motive. Vermont I think is going the right way with a single payer.
2. Since we don’t hold students back a year (repeat, fail, etc.) there’s no point failing a student. I can give a student an R ( for remediation needed) but not an F. However, an R implies the need for special ed., IEPs, etc when in most cases students just don’t do the work. A few years ago, Ontario may a few changes to its report cards and the one favoured by teachers was the introduction of the “I” on the report. “I” officially means insufficient evidence to evaluate student’s ability/understanding but for most teachers it simply means incomplete work. Parents respond more when their student receives an “I” as it indicates extreme problems with work habits. Teachers of course have to prepare the parent ahead of time that work isn’t being completed, allow for extra time, detention, etc. I’ve already laid the ground work for at least one student to receive a few Is.
I can relate to teacher’s meeting with the principal. Each year we are reminded during staff meetings to make sure all children succeed and if they don’t we need to ask ourselves what else can I do so they will succeed. If students don’t succeed, we’re not doing something right. Of course, five minutes later the discussion will turn to social skills including responsibility and yet no-one will mention the contradiction.
4. Facebook — is anybody actually surprised here?
Two interesting article on gun control. The first is a feature on gun journalist who lost his job for discussing the idea of reasonable limits on gun ownership in his column. And the second link is a compare and contrast between conservative attitudes to the right to vote and the right to bear arms.
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/when-conservative-logic-supports-a-progressive-cause-guns-voter-id/
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hwessi,
Is it the government’s job to make sure people have medical care?
Does it say that in the constitution of Canada?
Does it say that in the constitution of the United States?
I drive Nevada Highway 140 a couple of times a year to visit my brother in Nevada. (There is a wild Burro sanctuary there.) If I saw a car on the side of the road I would stop to see if they needed help. It can be dangerous to stop to help people but that road is not well traveled. I can drive it and see 1, 2 or no cars. It is the loneliest road I know. There is no law to say I have to help a stranded motorist, but I would.
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Did I really say “hwessi” instead of hwesseli?
I am sorry, truly sorry.
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But I do really like you H.
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Does it say the government must build interstate highways, regulate the sale and age of liquor consumption, provide commerce or agricultural subsidies, etc yet it does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxing_and_Spending_Clause#General_Welfare_Clause
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Thanks Kim. And at work, I’m simply known as H by the other teachers … I have no idea why.
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Michelle, I have some pertinent observations, but it is more confidential than the nature of this blog allows for. If you like, I could email you.
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I can say however, that I have seen mental hallucinations caused by physical illness (i.e. delirium), mental illness (schizophrenia), drugs and demonic influence – and any health professional who had seen what I saw would acknowledge that the manifestations of the latter are distinct from any of the former. I also would say that anyone who practices exorcism for a living had better read what Peter said to Simon the Magician about trying to buy the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Roscuro – For my own reasons, I would be interested in your pertinent observations. If you would like to share them with me, you can email me at keko161@live.com.
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