Traffic jam, Detour ahead, Expect delays

Jackie Pester likes it when I write about my commute on the beautiful Dunlap Highway (L-51). Here’s a sad one. As you may already know, I try to maintain a strict policy of transparency and candor. After all, you never know when the White House will call and you always want to be able to lay your record out on the table so that there aren’t any skeletons in your closet that the Senate confirmation hearings will drag out. Besides, you’re bound to read about it in the Denison papers eventually anyway, if you haven’t already.

A couple weeks ago, it was such a gorgeous day, and there weren’t a lot of farmers out disking yet, I just sort of forgot myself. I was driving along, enjoying nature’s Spring fashions- the buffing trees, the greening hay, the many calves and I thought to myself…

"This is SO much nicer than L.A.- no traffic whatsoever, I rarely even see another vehicle and have never seen a police car along this route in three years.

"Oh, wait, there’s actually ONE car in the oncoming lane. Say, I wonder what make and model that is anyway, most everybody around here drives GM, no, no this looks more like a Ford product…

"As a matter of fact, I bet that’s a Crown Vic-

"Aren’t those the ones used by the highway pa-

The trooper was very nice and very patient with me. After this past week with Minnesotan prisoners escaping to the Loess Hills, I’m glad that the Iowa State Patrol is in our area after all.

Speaking of highway trouble, you have no idea how much trouble I go through on the Information Superhighway trying to get this column to you every week.

Take last week’s column for instance. Usually I write this on Friday during my free period and try to email it in to Ann or Bonnie after school before I go home. Goes without saying that we didn’t have school on Good Friday. Since we had an early dismissal on Thursday, I thought I’d just write it up and send it after school Thursday and still get home early. But the best laid plans run awry.

Since they’re building a new school right next to the old one in Dunlap, they decided to cut the power almost immediately after all the students cleared out. Dang, fall back on plan ‘B.’

I got up just as early as I normally would have on Friday so that I could write it on the old home computer. But alas, since with two small children, we never have time to use the internet at home and we both have access at work, we canceled our service, thinking we’d save the $14.95 a month. Okay, need a plan ‘C’- got it! The farm! Mom-in-law’s at work, Dad-in-law’s out doing whatever farmers do before they can plant. They won’t mind if I email it from their place.

"Oof! Won’t connect. Ah ha, connected! Oof- cut out on me. Yeah, back on!"

"What’s this? Can’t access Hotmail account? What about ‘disabled Cookies?’ No problem, I’m a technologically literate guy, I think I know how to ‘enable cookies,’ here we go…

"What? Come on you hunk of sillicon!!" Grrr, half an hour later I’d gotten no where and was supposed to have met Bethany & the girls at Wal-Mart to get Grace’s birthday picture taken. I gave up and drove in to the big ‘D.’

We had to hustle back to Charter Oak to make the girl’s hair cut appointments. I gingerly ask Cindy if I can up load the column from their home computer.

"Sure, why not?" she offers.

"Thanks a million!" I scramble up their stairs to get it done and get on with life. No such luck. Beautiful new computer, Windows XP or NT or XL or something other than Windows ’98. The thing tells me that it can’t read my floppy disk because it’s "unformatted."

Now I am technologically literate enough to know that if I had reformatted my disk it would erase everything on it, including the column. Sigh.

"Why don’t we just drive up to Mapleton and give them your disk?" asked Bethany. Because Mike has all Apples at the Paper and I write the column on a PC. Macs can’t read PC disks anymore than new PCs seem to be able to read old PCs. Somehow Cyberspace interprets things, if I email it to them, they can read it. Make sense?

Now we’re on to Plan ‘D,’ I think. It’s hard to keep track. Anyway, we needed to go back to Denison for groceries, so we thought we’d use the good old public library computers. Thank God for American Democracy and God Bless Dale Carnagie, or was it Andrew Carnagie?

Library computer # 1- On the internet, into Hotmail! Hot dog, the furthest I’ve gotten so far. Compose mail, attachments…

"Program has executed illegal operation, fatal error, program will be shut down"

"AAAAURGH!!!"

Library Computer # 3- On the internet, into Hotmail, attachments…. "Internal Error"

"Doh (like Homer Sipmson would say), okay, okay, think, it’s probably some kind of a safety/security block, there’s probably a way around it…." So I decide to open the document and cut and paste it into the email instead of attaching it. No dice, no way to get into the floppy drive- wait! Aha! I open Microsoft Word (the program) and get into the document from there. Cut, paste, send! Alleluia, at last!

So then Tuesday morning I received an email from Bonnie about all the errors in the dumb thing.

And now today, as I write this (a week before you read it) guess what? The PC in my classroom can not connect to the school’s network, let alone the internet. But, hey, it’s done, at 9:10 am on Thursday the 24th, before kids show up for class, it’s done. If only I had a way to get it there.
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Easter Sonrise

I can’t believe how many people half-believe. Whether you eaves drop, overhear or engage people in a conversation about religion it’s amazing how pessimistic some folks are. I can’t believe how many people have resigned themselves to the fact that they’re headed for Hell.

They resent religious people for being too hypocritical and sometimes they resent God for not wanting them, but they just figure they’ve been too bad to get into Heaven, so "what the Hell?!"

If you’re one of these people, can I let you in on something? It’s not how good or bad you are, it’s not what you know- it’s all who you know. God does want you, He loves ALL of His children, but He won’t ever force you to love Him back.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ~2 Peter 3:9

That’s why He sent Jesus, to die and go to Hell, so we won’t have to. And since Jesus defeated death and the Devil on Easter, we don’t have to worry about how many mistakes we’ve made or how bad we’ve been, all we have to do is accept the free gift of His love, forgiveness and salvation.

Surely you’ve heard John 3:16-

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Well, let me play Paul Harvey and give you "the rest of the story."

First of all, did you catch that there is no catch? All it says there is "whoever believes." I knew a girl in High School that knew without a doubt that she was going to Hell because she’d had an abortion. So, she said, "I may as well be bad, because I’m already going to Hell."

Listen, thank God you don’t have to be good to get to Heaven because no one could ever possibly be good enough their entire lives to earn their way to Heaven.

Jesus said in Matthew 5, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother, will be subject to judgment…"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

It’s our sinful-human nature to be selfish and short sighted. We’re base animals who’re only interested in gratifying our own desires. Romans 3:23 says that "ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." All the goody-goody hypocrites included.

But remember all John 3:16 says that we have to do to be saved is to believe.

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast. ~Ephesians 2:8-9

Nobody is a better Christian than anybody else. Now, once you believe that Jesus is who He says He is, God the Son, you probably want to learn more about Him and even try to be more like Him. Just like being a recovering alcoholic or a recovering drug addict, you’ll still have the same cravings, but unlike an animal, you’ll recognize that there are consequences for your choices and that "being bad" hurts other people and damages your relationships.

I want to make it perfectly clear to you this Easter that God does not want ANYONE to go to Hell. That’s why He came in the form of Jesus and sacrificed Himself in our place. Hell wasn’t even created for humans. Matthew 25:41makes it very clear that Hell was intended only for Satan and his demons, not for you.

You know John 3:16, but have you ever read John 3:17-19?

"17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil."

I hope this sheds some light on the subject, Jesus is the light of the world.

Now you know, the rest of the story.

Happy Easter!

Smaller is Better

Years ago when I was in college to become a teacher and dating an Iowan, I was impressed with Iowa. Iowa was famous for the high quality of its education. Iowa was known for quality schools, quality teachers, and successful students. Oh that it were still so. Schools are struggling to stay open, good teachers are leaving our profession in droves in hopes of making a better living. Students have taken on a fatalistic attitude, believing that they haven’t got much of a future and if they do, it must be in a bigger city in another state.

Boyer Valley and Maple Valley passed bond issues to build new facilities, but they’re freezing budgets and cutting their staffs and programs. East Monona is facing its extinction. What challenges does Charter Oak-Ute have to face?

The best thing Iowa has always had going for it is size. Smaller is better. There seems to be an idea going around that we should eliminate all Class 1A schools (any under 2-300 students). Some people see the natural evolution being that there should only be one public high school per county.

In California parents are adamantly fighting to reduce class sizes. The idea being that a lower teacher-to-student ration means more individual attention. The Glory of Iowa was the one-room schoolhouse.

In a March 31, 2003 Editorial, the Des Moines Register argued that we could offer students a broader variety of elective courses if the smallest schools were merged into regional Über -schools. Students get lost in huge institutions. Teachers and administrators become bureaucrats.

More students have more opportunity to be involved in more extracurricular activities, in smaller schools. Students who might never have been in Student Government, plays, Band, or Cheer and Drill at a school of over a thousand students are often involved in not just one but two or three of these activities in a school of 200 or less. Athletes who’s ride the bench along with fifty other third-stringers get to be starters at small schools. Simply put, would you rather your child be a little fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a little pond?

Small schools can broaden their offerings in a number of ways. The best could be simply by partnering with our small towns and small businesses. Internships, field trips, workshops, seminars, clinics, work study programs, these are all things that non licensed teachers can offer and if they do, they will benefit as much as the students. Hospitals, nursing homes, caterers, retailers, accountants, manufacturers and machine shops all have something to offer.

Another way would be for neighboring school districts to cooperate with one another. In suburban Phoenix, some schools operate as "magnet" schools. In other words, if there are three schools within so many miles of each other, one may have a great Fine Arts program, (music, drama, etc), another may have the strongest Industrial-Ed program, still another might offer the most advanced computer courses. By coordinating their schedules, students enrolled at one school can shuttle to another to take classes not offered at their own school.

Not to mention the satellite video learning network already in place. Students who’s school only has a French teacher can take Spanish classes in the ICN room (Iowa Communications Network).

The Register made the argument against their own position by accusing proponents of smaller schools of measuring "quality more by dedication of the staff, sense of community and safety, low dropout rates" and better ACT scores.

There is a way to help maintain and maybe even improve small schools. There is legislation in the Statehouse right now that hopes to help get a fairer share of money to smaller schools and cut your property taxes in the process. Many communities fund their schools through property taxes. This leads to serious differences in the quality of school building and resources. In the L.A. area for example, Beverly Hills has much nicer facilities than Compton. It’s not because of segregation, it’s because properties in Beverly Hills are more valuable, so there are higher tax revenues in their school district. Poverty breeds poverty.

House File 626 will level the playing field. After a small increase in state wide sales tax provides property tax relief it’s revenues will go into a pool and distributed to all schools on a per student basis. Advocates claim that this will help guarantee a good education for kids, regardless of their family’s income level, or where they live.

Please write your State Representatives and Senators and ask them to fight and vote for "Infrastructure Equity and Property Tax Relief.

Quotations from millionaire publisher/former U.S. diplomat to France may provide blueprint for nation-building after Iraqi conflict

"How few there are who have courage enough to own their Faults, or resolution enough to mend them!" ~ Ben Franklin, 1743

I admit it, I’m not always right. In the last two columns I alluded to the likelihood that the war with Iraq would go quickly. It looks like my assumption was wrong. Whether it’s because of loyalty to Saddam, fear of Saddam, or resentment of foreign intrusion, not all Iraqis appear to be appreciative of our efforts to liberate them.

In last week’s column I talked about a "sanitized" image we were receiving of the war, that made it look exciting, like a video game.

Since then it has become difficult to watch or even listen to war coverage. Now, I think we’ve been subjected to too much harsh reality. It’s certainly something I’d like to shelter my toddlers from.

As of my writing this last Friday (March 28th), we may still have not found a "smoking gun" that links Saddam Hussein’s regime to Alqueda or September 11, and we may not have uncovered stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but we have found pretty condemning circumstantial evidence. There were the thousands of chemical weapon protective suits, why would they need those?

Then there was the mistreatment of American P.O.W.s. Not only was using them for propaganda purposes a violation of the Geneva Convention, but from all appearances, the Iraqis have executed them. If I dragged my feet about going to war, that convinced me that we have no choice now but to finish the job.

According to British military officials, Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra, in Southern Iraq, fired mortars and machine guns Friday on thousands of civilians trying to leave that besieged city.

Surely after we’ve been there longer, providing aid and food, more Iraqis will warm up to us and realize prefer the devil they don’t know to the one they’ve known for more than two decades.

A greater problem may be the rest of the Islamic world. Winning the peace will be far more complicated than winning the war.

My opinion is that too often, American foreign policy has been like the eagle who dropped a quill. An Indian brave finds the quill and uses it to craft an arrow. Then he shoots the arrow at the eagle. Whether it was supporting despots to contain Communism, oil companies and the CIA meddling in the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan or favoring Israel over the Palestinians, we haven’t made a lot of friends in the Middle East over the years.

"He that sows thorns, should never go barefoot." ~ Ben Franklin, 1756.

The aftermath of the Second Gulf War will be a tremendous opportunity to change the way we are viewed in the region and the world..

First of all, we have to bring our European friends and allies back on board. The U.N. is still the best apparatus we have for providing aid and structuring any sort of a government in Iraq. This will also go a long way in restoring our stature throughout the world. At one time Muslims saw us as a bad guy, now seems like everyone does.

"Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults." ~Ben Franklin, 1756

The other thing we need to do is stick around and help, no matter the cost.

Today is an important anniversary. On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan into law. This program channeled more than $13 billion in aid to Europe between 1948 and 1951. It sparked economic recovery in Europe, devastated by World War II, it also saved the U.S. from a postwar recession by providing a greater market for our goods. The White House estimated the cost of 30 days of war with Iraq at approximately $80 Billion. What would happen if we spent just $20B on food, medicine and shelter for the Iraqis and the Afghans?

According to then Secretary of State George C. Marshall "Our policy (was) directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist."

President Kennedy had similar aims with his proposals for the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps. If we sell people weapons, eventually they’ll use them against us. If we bring them doctors and farming and bridges and dams and canals they will consider us friends rather than bullies.
"Where there is Hunger, Law is not regarded; and where Law is not regarded, there will be Hunger." ~ Ben Franklin, 1755, "Wars bring scars." ~ Ben Franklin, 1745