Abbie Hoffman Moment

Foo Fighters Rickroll Westboro Baptist Church

Lol! Westboro Baptist Church decided to picket a Foo Fighter concert in Kansas City, but the band rode by on the back of a pick-up truck blasting Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", hence the term "rickrolling", thereby completely upstaging them! Foo Fighters did something similar in 2011, when Westboro Baptist Church picketed them in Topeka. They dressed up in wigs and played "Keep It Clean" for Westboro.

People In Kansas Boo Governor Brownback

Surprise, surprise. The republicans who thought Brownback was nifty when he led some silly-assed public prayers (some people will fall for anything) are now disenchanted with his Republican approach to the educational needs of children. The only reason the grownups here can be blamed is because they were all warned that the education budget would take a big hit if Brownback were re-elected; the real victims are the children.

A solution that has been resisted, so far, by Northeast Kansas is consolidation of all the public schools in Kansas. Instead of a bunch of small, largely disenfranchised and independent school districts run by uneducated morons with more interest in downloading porn than in educating children, school districts could be divided by counties; the way other states manage schools. All counties would answer to the state for all matters, from curriculum to finances. Academic requirements would be the same at all schools, rules would be the same for everyone, and there would be no push to keep tiny, under-performing schools open for nostalgic reasons, despite their inefficiency. Requirements for teachers would also be the same at every Kansas school; no more hopping from one "independent school district" to another when a license or qualifications to teach are lacking in one district, but not another. We could also eliminate any unnecessary positions held by untalented former teachers, such as "curriculum adviser". (What the hell is a curriculum adviser, USD 380? Just fire the dumb bitch!) because every school would teach the same subjects. Think of all the money that could be saved if every county just had one school board, instead of three or four! Marshall County Kansas has two and a half school districts and school boards! Half of USD 380 is in Marshall County, the other half in Nemaha County, for a county with less than ten thousand people! Just cut off the dead wood and employ one school board.

Rather than booing Brownback after voting for him, maybe Kansas should look long and hard at the way other schools in the nation are run. Stepping out of the comfort zone of doing things that don't work and amount to nothing, such as public prayer and multiple school districts in each county, will probably help a lot more than blaming a politician who's been bought and sold by the Koch Brothers, for the problems in Kansas public schools. Maybe someone will start picketing Kansas Department of Education to stop answering to politics and make some of these changes for our children.

National Government Shutdown Day

There is a group of Kansas citizens who have been protesting sporadically outside of Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins's Pittsburg Kansas office since the Government Shutdown began on October 1. They have decided to make the most of the situation, and use it as an opportunity to remind Jenkins that even though the rivers tend to flow Republican in Kansas, (no pun intended, there actually IS a Republican River in Kansas) there are still many voters affiliated with the Democrat Party and the Republican Party who are not happy with Jenkins's tendency to bow to the Tea Party, and sell out to the Koch Brothers whenever the pressure is on. So they have put together signs and banners with various messages; "Tea Time Is Over" has been a popular one, and peacefully protested this past week.

This is a great idea, and it is heartwarming to see that Kansans care enough about the misdeeds of those in authority to speak up about it. It could be taken to a higher level, though. Instead of being afraid when the media puppetry suggests doom and gloom, and makes the recommendation of being afraid, we could make a celebration out of it. Now that operations that have been shut down are slowly but surely getting re-opened, one by one, as the need and public outcry dictates, we can all see that a lot of this "shutdown" business is really an outlet for congressional and senatorial drama. It's a shame our representatives apparently never excelled in drama or forensics when they were in high school, and are acting out now, using the rest of us as a "forced audience" of sorts, but it seems this is the sad result of failing to learn cooperation and communication skills and failing to grow up. Boehner, we are all looking at you, here. When we want  drama queens, we will look to the Kardashians, not to Congress.

Suppose, every year, the government shut down on October 1 in order to remember and celebrate October 1, 2013? It could be a day that we close everything except "essential" services and gather outside of city halls and government buildings everywhere in the nation. We could barbecue, sell hotdogs, and create a carnival atmosphere, encouraging the drama espoused by Congress right now. Anyone with a gripe about a flaw within local or national politics would have the opportunity to picket, and draw attention to his chosen cause. We could also stage Revolutionary War reenactments. Schools, of course, would be closed on National Government Shutdown Day. Instead of furloughing government employees, we could give anyone who wanted to work on that day an option of taking the day off, or participating in a drive to register potential voters. Not only would National Government Shutdown Day be a celebration and an outlet for repressed angst, it could be educational and constructive.

The only guideline that should be strictly enforced is possibly that there should be no violence, just constructive fun, as the Fourth of July is celebrated. No one can be hanged in effigy, and no destruction of property can be tolerated. Instead, we can write petitions requesting that officials go back to school, switch to more suitable careers, or resign. In more serious cases, National Government Shutdown Day can be a day when we write petitions and complaints to initiate recalls and investigations of those officials and elected servants whose performance is truly unacceptable. Violence, however; is never a constructive direction for change.

As an added bonus, the weather is usually very nice in the beginning of October, and conducive to nonviolent gatherings. Mild weather is great for picnics. When school re-opens the following day, classroom discussions could take place nationwide for the purpose of teaching children how their government works, and about what happens when it does not work.