Analysis: Palin's words carry racial tinge
SOSDD WRITES: "Palin is a smear artist, even the right wing extremist Michael Savage called her the boomtown floosy who's face suddenly appeared as our savior on a pancake at Ihop. After Mcain loses Palin will have a bright future as another guns babies and jesus clone of the repubes " BECKY: Michael Savage is not exactly an Obama supporter either. He called McCain "a putz" when he sent Barack Obama a message of congratulation for winning the candidacy at the DNC. Why isn't Palin's record as Mayor of Wasilla being reported? Not only was she the queen of Earmarks in those days, but she entered the Wasilla City Council when the town of 5,000 had zero debt. She left 7 years later, leaving behind a $22 million deficit in the tiny town. Her attempts to fire the popular local librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, sent Emmons to the local press to complain of Palin's attempts to ban books. Palin's "small town values" include that Wasilla is the Crystal Meth capital of Alaska and possibly the prostitution capital of Alaska as well. Her own personal family values include purposely giving birth to a severely retarded Downs baby, and forcing her 17 yr old pregnant daughter into an early marriage. Oh, BTW, check out Todd and Sarah's marriage certificate. The Palin's were married 7 MONTHS before little Bristol was born! So Sarah didn't practice abstinence before marriage EITHER but still preaches it. (20 hrs ago | post #635)
'Bride' and 'groom' being restored to California marriage forms
GOOD LORD thinks PROP 8 represents a moral and ethical cause. The opposite is true. Prop 8 represents discrimination, prejudice, heartbreak, fear, xenophobia, hypocrisy, and ignorance. It will not stop people from being gay. God made them that way. He must have done this for a reason. Prop 8 is a slap in the face of every gay and lesbian youth, man, and woman. It's a 19th century admonition to be "seen but not heard." Even fundamental Christians have gay and lesbian members and relatives. How do you think they feel when supporters are lobbying to deny them equal rights? Let's move forward in our civilization, accept that 2 in 20 people are gay or lesbian and that they will only enhance our community when they can form committed, public relationships that are legitimized by government code. NO ON PROP 8 (20 hrs ago | post #314)
Teachers asked to remove Obama buttons in class - Santa Cruz Se...
BLONDE WRITES: "Becky, I have no intention of satisfying your curiosity. Besides it is more fun having you wonder who I am and looking over your shoulder at every blonde head … if I even AM Blonde. HAHAHAHAHAAA" BECKY: Knock yourself out with your immature game. There is nothing wrong with my head of hair BTW. I still get people stopping me in supermarket lines asking "How did you get such beautiful hair?" My standard reply line is "Skin disease." (I have vitiligo so much of my blond hair has turned pure white as a result). (21 hrs ago | post #501)
Ryan Coonerty encouraged younger voices in local government - S...
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO DBS: Why don't you get a life? Hounding me with your inane personal comments is not a fit preoccupation for one such as you. Really. (21 hrs ago | post #68)
Santa Cruz gets chalked up - Santa Cruz Sentinel
DBS WRITES: "Karen, don't you know the "rules"? Becky has the ability to change the past, to suit her screwball purpose of the moment. " BECKY: But I'm not the one who is trying to "change the past" am I, Karen? (21 hrs ago | post #285)
Santa Cruz gets chalked up - Santa Cruz Sentinel
KAREN WRITES: "I've tried to figure out for years if you know how ridiculous your statements are or if you could possibly be this self-deluded and mush-minded. At the moment I'm leaning toward dumb as a rock. " BECKY: Dumb as a rock? But since you didn't refute my statement, I suppose that means it still stands. Just lapsing into name-calling are you? Really, Karen. You are better than that. (21 hrs ago | post #284)
Ryan Coonerty encouraged younger voices in local government - S...
So you have basically conceded that LOBA reported that Measure G--the raise in the Minimum Wage initiative--would only have raised payroll taxes from businesses in Santa Cruz by 0.8%. I certainly don't hear any evidence to the contrary. Nor did LOBA even bother to study whether raising their workers wages would have helped their workers. Ironically, higher wages lead to lower business costs as workers stay in their jobs longer requiring less retraining. (Yesterday | post #66)
Santa Cruz gets chalked up - Santa Cruz Sentinel
Becky Johnson wrote: But then THEY came on after we did, so they couldn't actually know. KAREN WRITES: "It's nice to see that you've figured that one out. I think that I'll bookmark it for the next time you tell me how it was before you got here. " BECKY: You must be referring to when Jane Imler asked you to help her with the kitchen and you helped yourself to the kitchen. Before my time like that? It's true I wasn't with HUFF when that happened. But years later, Jane sat down with me and told me the whole story. Some real interesting details, too, Karen. (Yesterday | post #280)
Santa Cruz council candidate Craig Canada seeks to improve serv...
SAMANTHA WRITES: "I'm quite sure that when the police received the call from Pizza My Heart the instantly said "Wait!! This must involve J. Craig Canada!!On our way to the restaurant let's start spinning our dastardly plans to ruin him!!" BECKY: Who knows what they thought? Look at what the SCPD did. 1. arrived at Pizza My Heart 2. found no eyewitnesses 3. questioned Canada and Eby 4. both accused the other of assault 5. arrested Canada and refused to take the complaint of Canada because "Eby was calm" This is not spin. These are the undisputed facts of the case. This is the core of why the jury was so confused by the case and why it resulted in a hung jury. It was wrong of the Sentinel to use the allegations against Canada in this article about his candidacy for City Council. The jury hung. The case was inconclusive. It was a SENTINEL smear job, pure and simple. (Yesterday | post #113)
Santa Cruz council candidate Craig Canada seeks to improve serv...
BURRITO WRITES: "You know better then to talk to a juror, especially since you KNOW the defendant! Give us all a break. " BECKY: Guess again. I was under no prohibition to speak or not speak with any juror, defendant, witness, etc. The JUROR was under a prohibition to not talk about the case with me or anyone else. The defendant and and the lawyers were also likewise prohibited from speaking to jurors. The fact that I knew Craig Canada had nothing to do with it. My problem was that I did not want to be accused of jury tampering. By the way the judge acted, he looked like he was gunning for me. However, the conversation was innocent, NOT about the trial, and the judge satisfied himself of that. I WAS able to attend the entire trial (minus opening statements) and hear all of the witnesses testify, so I know a LOT more than any of you do about the case. I also spoke to four jurors afterwards. But you still think that you know everything and that I just "twist facts" and "lie". You'll have to do better than name-calling. Really. That gets you zero points in a debate. (Yesterday | post #112)
Ryan Coonerty encouraged younger voices in local government - S...
ROBERT WRITES: "Becky, was that 0.75% net, or 0.75% MARGIN points? There is a huge difference between the two. " BECKY: Sorry. I was pretty imprecise there. One set of experts said Measure G would have cost between 0.5% - 0.8% of the net sales. LOBA said it would have increased the PAYROLL COSTS in the entire City of Santa Cruz by 0.8%. Nor was any business identified which would go out of business as the result of its passage. BURRITO showed NO INTEREST in the benefits a higher wage would have provided the workers nor the effect their higher wages would have on boosting the local economy. Note, HE claims he is a business expert yet expects me (NOT a business expert) to act like an MBA. see: http://www.communi tybenefits.org/dow nloads/Academics%2 0shred%20LOBA%27s. pdf (Yesterday | post #64)
Teachers asked to remove Obama buttons in class - Santa Cruz Se...
BLONDE WRITES: "If teachers are willing to wear different buttons on different days - or wear ALL buttons at the same time - that is starting a conversation. But, you know and I know that most, if not all, teachers in Santa Cruz ONLY want to wear Obama buttons. That, my dear, is BIASED. " BECKY: Now you're totally bats!! You OBJECT to teachers wearing a button expressing their true beliefs, but think its okay to force teachers to wear a McCain button even if you're voting for Obama for balance? Or wear all buttons at the same time (including ones you oppose) just to communicate confusion. See what I mean about a slippery slope? The best solution is to allow teachers to choose for themselves if they want to wear a political button in class. Some will. Some won't. NONE will fail to teach their students because of it. NO administrator, parent, or student should have the authority to tell a teacher to wear or not wear a button. There are arguments on both sides. I DO understand that a classroom is a captive audience. But that's true when you are teaching ANYTHING in the class---not just the occasional time (and it is very infrequent) when a teacher will share with the class their personal opinion or who they might be favoring in an upcoming election. On Wednesday, a 6th grade girl asked me who I was voting for in November. BLONDE thinks I should keep it a secret. What is the difference between my telling her "I"m voting for Obama" than if I wore a button that said "Educators for Obama?" In both cases, they are a captive audience. In both cases, I am expressing my personal bias or point of view. In both cases, I have more influence in their lives than an ordinary person walking down the street because I am in a position of authority as their teacher. I get that. Yet the simplistic solution here was to tell (ask?) teachers not to wear buttons. This solves nothing. I think teachers are smart enough to be able to teach children who have conservative parents, liberal parents, religious parents, atheist parents, vegetarians and meat-eaters, wealthy and poor, native and newcomer despite their own personal political choices---be they expressed or kept private. Of course it would be wrong to use a classroom as a platform in which to indoctrinate kids into the political mindset of the teacher. However, a a blanket judgment decreeing that no teacher should ever share a personal belief or opinion in a classroom is neither legal, desirable, nor practical. And yes, there are very few teachers who support John McCain. McCain doesn't support education and teachers the way Obama does. Most teachers, who care about their students education, and the quality of education the average American worker will have once they graduate from high school, support Obama. (Yesterday | post #492)
Teachers asked to remove Obama buttons in class - Santa Cruz Se...
BLONDE, why don't you just pop over and say "Hi" to Robert and me when we're at the next HUFF meeting? You chat with me night and day in here and won't even say "hello" when we meet in public? What's up with that? Rustle up a little courage. If you actually stand by what you write in here, why not continue the conversation in person? BLONDE WRITES: "No, Becky, you are the person who (like my 4th grade teacher) presents lessons that only demonstrate their (YOUR) point of view." BECKY: You have no idea how I structure a lesson plan. You assume a teaching style based on your worst paranoic nightmare, not on any actual facts or anecdotes by my students or fellow co-workers relating my actual performance in class. Since I have been trained in classic debate, I understand that you cannot win an argument unless you can articulate the arguments which are opposed to your own. Therefore, even when I do take a position (bias) I STILL present the arguments on the other side(s). BLONDE WRITES: "See, you already admitted that you thought my biased teacher did a great job with her two-day lecture on Hiroshima where she left out the rest of WWII." BECKY: You have written nothing to dissuade me from that opinion. Your teacher cared about you and your education. Your teacher tackled a very difficult chapter in American history and taught you to emphasize with the real victims of the Atom bomb---kids just like you and your classmates! She taught you empathy. She taught you to not blindly accept decisions made by your leaders. She probably taught you how to listen, to read, and how to write a persuasive paragraph. She taught you spelling, and a slice of history. She knew that you would learn the bigger context involved in WWII in the 10th grade where you would be (and were) taught the underlying situation that led to Pearl Harbor, the declaration of war against Japan, and ultimately the dropping of the Atom Bomb. And all YOU took away from it is "she didn't teach me about Pearl Harbor!" and "My mom got her in trouble." You learned SOME kind of lesson, all right. If teachers are willing to wear different buttons on different days - or wear ALL buttons at the same time - that is starting a conversation. But, you know and I know that most, if not all, teachers in Santa Cruz ONLY want to wear Obama buttons. That, my dear, is BIASED. " (Yesterday | post #491)
Election Digest: Oct. 7, 2008 - Santa Cruz Sentinel
KAREN WRITES: "I'm pretty sure that he asked you why you said it and made that accusation in the first place if you didn't know whether it was true or not." BECKY: I first heard about this from Craig himself. I heard him say he had submitted it on the deadline. In his blog he says that he mailed it on the deadline it was supposed to be received by. Craig was telling me the truth all along. I made a mistake. Now I've corrected it. No cynical attempt to mislead. I never said it was easy to get to the truth. (Thursday | post #21)
Santa Cruz police arrest teacher suspected of soliciting teen f...
ROBERT N WRITES: "Isn't it already a requirement in obtaining a use permit for a business that serves food or drink that they have a bathroom FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS? You are implying that businesses should let anyone that walks in their door avail themselves of any services, paying or not. We do have bathrooms for other people. There is one in the Soquel Garage and another in the Locust Street Garage. There is one at the Metro Station. " BECKY: No, we don't. Not even coffee shops who sell a product that is both a laxative and a diuretic. And I am NOT implying or saying businesses should be required to offer their restrooms to anyone who walks in off the street. Don't put words in my mouth. We have some public restrooms. None open 24 hours. We do NOT have anywhere near enough. How does the lack of bathrooms downtown make the downtown hospitable, inviting, or even hygienic? (Thursday | post #100)
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