Posted 10:34 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Schools infantalizing kids

I feel sorry for kids these days. The damnable public schools have become so politically correct and afraid of any trouble that they're positively warping kids, especially boys. Now, some schools are eliminating TAG on playgrounds. Hell, tag has always been the easiest, most popular playground game... no equipment, no organization... just running. It's a game that kids don't have to be taught; it just comes naturally with the energy that they have in so much abundance.

Sounds like a couple of kids complained that they were being chased when they didn't want to be. If one of my daughters had told me that, I would have had several suggestions, all of which would have been how to change their behavior, and certainly none of which would be to complain to the school.

It's so typical of schools today. They deal to the lowest common denominator. Any kid whining has "had their rights violated" and must be protected. When I was a kid, I was a skinny little shit, but I had to handle my own "situations", so I learned how to do that. Kids must learn how to stand up for themselves, and crying to parents and the school is not an appropriate response. I learned, and my kids learned too, that most kids who bully are not tough, they're just full of bluff and bravado. Standing up to them usually stops the bullying, often without a fight.

There's a little-known Norman Rockwell painting that I just adore, of a young girl waiting to face the school Principal. She has obviously been fighting and has a big black eye... but she's also got a big smile, obviously proud that she took on some bully and fought back. She might have lost the fight, but she won something more important... knowledge that she can stand up for her own rights.

Lots of parents take that away from their kids, and those kids are likely to grow up to be delicate, neurotic adults, forever at the mercy of others. That's about the worst possible lesson for a kid to learn, and it's one that schools should be anxious to eliminate, rather than caving in to.

Posted 9:24 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Who the hell is Michael Vick?

Someone asked me what I thought about the Vick scandal. I had to go search in order to even know what who he is (or was). So, a great athlete proves to be a scuzzy person. That's not new, especially over the past 20 years or so, as scandals about athletes have permeated our front pages. What's surprising to me is the number of professional athletes who don't turn out to be scuzz-balls. Take someone who's primary concentration in life is athletics, often to the exclusion of almost all other aspects of life, give him millions of dollars, heap on media coverage, and worshipful fans, and the temptation for that athlete to believe he's really god-like is powerful. He'll have the money to surround himself with ego-pumpers. He'll have beautiful and stupid girls groveling for his attention. He'll have the money and power to attract all sorts of wild schemes. He'll also begin to believe that he's in a class apart from the rest of humanity... a macho figurehead who can do anything imaginable and get away with it. I'm not surprised at what Vick and others did, or that he doesn't seem to act as if he did anything wrong. He's been taught that he operates in a different world from the rest of us.

I despise the very idea of dogfighting, but is it so different from the plethora of "ultimate" fights on TV every evening... or pro wrestling... or extreme sports... or COPS... or even the battles on so-called reality shows? I don't think so. There are obviously a lot of people who enjoy watching other beings being devastated. I'm not one of them, but I have friends who are, and it disturbs me. I know someone who describes their home as "violence-free" (no kid sword-fighting, no play guns, for example) but who are BIG Sopranos fans. What a complete mental disconnect!

While our society has "publicly" become more and more PC, claiming to be shocked at so many minor "offenses", it has also become rabid fans of portrayals of violence. I have no doubt that the school officials who expelled a young boy for making a rough pencil sketch of a gun then went home and watched violence on TV, never making the connection or comparison.

To Vick's deranged image, let's add some guilt for all the "BIG", "MAJOR", or "GIANT" sports fans who contribute to the deification of athletes. I greatly admire athletic ability, but I haven't "worshiped" an athlete since becoming an adult. Sports fans so often lose perspective on life. They compete with each other to be the "biggest fan", turning what should be entertainment into near-total obsession. This team "rules"... another "kicks ass"... still another "killed the opponent". Is it any wonder, then, that the subjects of their obsession would come to consider themselves well above normal human moral restraints?

Posted 12:21 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Ye gawds, Smith

It's been almost 2 weeks since I posted anything here. Here come the excuses... no they're not reasons, they're only excuses... I've been neglectful (whomping myself upside the haid). So, I've had a cold. I rarely get one, but I always have trouble getting rid of one when I do fall. It still isn't gone, but at least I'm back working out again. Ask any retired person if they're hurting for something to do and most will say "quite the opposite". True of me too. Being retired means you can do what you want, which opens up many paths that weren't possible when fully employed. So, I've been busy, with too many things to describe here.

Mark your calendars for a visit to The Museum of Russian Art sometime between Sept. 10th and Jan. 5th for a very special exhibit... Raising the Banner - The Art of Geli Korzhev. Korzhev is a favorite of mine... realistic, gritty, captivating, emotional paintings that have made him one of Russia's favorites. The exhibit will include paintings from The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. I promise you that it will be special. If you haven't been to TMORA lately, get there before the 3 current exhibits close on Sept. 1st. If you haven't been to TMORA at all, you're missing the best art museum experience in the area. That isn't just my opinion; when I volunteer at the front desk, I get to talk to people on the way in and on the way out. Most stop to make comments of praise before they leave... they're surprised and delighted.

Posted 7:47 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Ensnarled in the online web of discovery

As occasionally happens, I did an online search for something... I think it was for "The Gables", a long-time nightspot at Franklin and Lyndale, before it became Rudolph's. I once lived half a block away. Amazingly, I didn't find anything about "The Gables", so I branched out to "Marvin Rainwater" who I thought I remembered seeing there, and to "Poor old Calijah" which I thought I remembered hearing him sing that night. Failing to link Rainwater and Calijah (which was recorded by Hank Williams), I somehow got onto Gordon Lightfoot (thought I might have confused the names Lightfoot and Rainwater). Nope, he didn't record "Calijah" either.

I still don't know who I heard at the Gables that night, but it was probably Rainwater, who now lives in northern Minnesota, still sings and records, even though he's in his 80's. Gordon Lightfoot is 68, and not only still records, but is on tour (he'll be here later this month).

I've never been very good at knowing who recorded what... even songs I know the words to. Such turned out to be the case with Lightfoot, who wrote and recorded some very big and most appealing songs, such as "If you could Read my Mind", "Rainy Day People", "Beautiful", and (that's what you get) "For Loving Me". Oh... and the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

While I was listening to that song yesterday, word was getting out that a vacationing family found a life ring from the Fitz, 200 miles from where it sank 32 years ago. Freaky.

While I was ensnarled in the web of discovery, all starting with "The Gables", I naturally found some trivial but interesting information, such as the fact that auto dealership scenes in the movie "Fargo" were shot at Wally McCarthy's Olds dealership in Richfield, one of many businesses and homes the city stole through eminent domain to give for the massive and ugly Best Buy headquarters campus. Oh... and the Trashmen had an album cover shot in front of that dealership (when it was Lindahl Olds). And... oh, there is no end once you get ensnarled in searching.

Posted 9:47 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

How dry I am...

Went, with my daughter and a long-time friend of hers, to do a little hoofing around Minnehaha Falls on Monday. We were amazed to see that nothing is "falling". The falls is dry; completely and totally dry. So, if you have been curious about what was hiding under the water, now is the time to find out.

Posted 11:34 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

the story just gets worse

After the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, I wrote (in No Force, No Fraud) that 20 other bridges in Minneapolis were considered less safe than the one that fell. St. Paul has a lot of bridges too, and at least one that could be far worse. It's the Lafayette bridge across the river from the south into downtown St. Paul. It's the one that worries the inspectors.

I don't think I've ever been across that bridge, but it's very long; not just across the river, but with long, high land spans at each end. take a look You can see why this one worries them... two piers in the river, barge traffic under it, busy road on at least one side, steel I-beam construction also from the 60's, and it's said to noticeably shake under traffic.

Latest word is that there are at least 100 bridges considered less safe than the one that collapsed. A HUNDRED? And Minnesota isn't unusual? I'm certainly not known for trusting government to do anything right, but this is outrageous.

Posted 6:00 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

On your watch

You know... stuff happens, accidents happen, whatever can go wrong will go wrong, the best-laid plans of mice and men, to err is human, etc. We have lots of explanations to use when the shit hits the fan. Americans are also very forgiving, especially of public officials (not they they give a whit).

Harry Truman, with more honesty and guts than any "public servant" since, announced that "the buck stops here"... meaning at his desk. Can you imagine any current politician, at any level, taking responsibility for anything that went wrong on his/her watch?

A freeway bridge just fell apart here yesterday, dropping a still-unknown number of people some 60 feet. Simply put, bridges are not supposed to do that. They are supposed to be overbuilt, with redundancy, to cover all possible "normal" circumstances. That means excessive snow, very high winds, and heavy traffic should not cause problems. This bridge fell apart under favorable conditions. That should be a problem for somebody whose responsibility it is to make sure that cannot happen.

This bridge was built to a standard that has since been raised, but responsibility for it being safe to use still lies with those in our state government. MNDOT designed it, and is responsible for it, and the officials they report to are also responsible, right up to the Governor and the legislature.

Have we heard even the slightest hint of anyone sounding responsible, or even angry that this could have happened on their watch? Anyone saying that "we will find out who is responsible" or "somebody's head will roll for this"? Certainly not. There is no talk of responsibility or blame. Rather we have mass news conferences in which every official even related is given opportunity to reassure us that they are doing everything possible to help. They're patting each other on the back, and congratulating their collective efforts. They're proud of their effort at handling the aftermath of the tragedy that should never have happened. Statistics are flying to convince us that this bridge, although sub-par, was no worse than so very many others. Little consolation, and it doesn't get us any closer to who might have prevented it.

In watching these officials, I cannot help but wonder whether, within each, there is thought of perhaps finding themselves Giuliani'd... tranformed into a hero by dealing with a tragedy.