snarkius on Xanga

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Poor People Piss Me Off

This statement is ironic because my family is currently living at the sixty percent poverty level, but it is the other poor people that are driving me up the wall! If I seriously have to listen to one more person chat while we are waiting for the mailman to deliver the mail about all the useless junk and services they are going to spend money on so they can deplete their bank account so they can still qualify for food stamps, I am going to scream!
Christ, I never realized how much white trash I lived around. Apparently, I am an anomaly because I save most of my tax return. I feel guilty as fuck receiving that much money simply because I have children, so I try to make up for it by saving every bit and using it to stay ahead in life and off of government services. So what if we have to pay for our own food? Isn't the peace of mind of knowing that you money set aside for car repairs, dentist appointments, potential disabilities or lay-offs, or any other number of emergencies worth it? Ironically, one of the same people who has a habit of getting a new car every year using her tax return as a down payment had a habit of coming to my house to ask for toilet paper.
See, I do not like stereotypes. When I was on food stamps, these stereotypes would occasionally make me ashamed because I never wanted the cashier or people behind me to think I was one of those people. Those type of people are extremely annoying and give a bad rep to those of us who actually use government assistance for as assistance and not as a crutch for supporting a financially-irresponsible lifestyle. It is bad enough that we have to deal with the Midwest Republican Christian stereotypes. Do we need to perpetuate the poor person stereotype also?
The only reason I am still pissed off about it is because this group of women asked me what I planned on doing. Even though I usually feel uncomfortable discussing money in front of strangers, I went ahead and answered that we planned on having car and dental repairs, renewing our yearly renter's and disability insurance, taking a couple hundred out for personal fun money, and saving the rest. They looked at me like I was crazy! Someone then seriously had the audacity to tell me that I could have more things if I just spend the money and get the food stamps instead of saving the money and paying for food. If they did that, they would just to reapply for food stamps eventually anyways because they would blow through any savings they had.
I do not think that I am on my way to making friends with any of the other moms because I told them that I would rather have money saved for emergencies, spend it on an emergency, and then reapply for food stamps so I can replenish my savings than be that mom with the new car, perm, and manicured nails who whips out her Vision card to pay for groceries.
I could have been classier and polite, but my tendency to be a catty bitch kicked in. The cost of living here is really not that high. So when I hear people complain that they need their food stamps and cash assistance (obviously I am not including medicaid as medical costs are ridiculously expensive) it really irritates me. It is a personal pet peeve when people do not even try to have basic financial responsibility. No wonder conservatives want to cut social benefits. If I had to listen to this on a daily basis, I would want too also.

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Thoughts on Education

I have been having one too many hypothetical conversations with myself. The most recent was about dividing classrooms based on ability and test scores instead of at random or by parental choice.
I have several friends that are in the process of earning their teaching licenses. One thing that is being taught (or so I hear from them) is that all students should be treated equally and held to the same standards. Generally, a student will rise only to what is expected of them. If you do not expect them to amount to much, they do not and if you believe they are capable of great things, they will rise to the occasion. Therefore, you should hold all students to the same standards. If children were to be segregated by ability, those in the lower levels would fall even farther because less is expected of them and there would be a sense of superiority from those in the "smart classes."
The problem is that children are not equal and should not be treated as such. Personally, I excelled at reading, math, and music while failing utterly at anything involving applied sciences, art, sports, or computers. My school generally had two classes per grade in elementary and usually two or three teachers per subject in the higher grades. Even though we were not seperated by ability, it was clear very early on who had the ability and who lacked.
Children are not equal and if you try to treat them as such one of two things will happen. The most common is that the teacher teaches and spends the most time with the majority of students that are at a normal level. Those who are struggling will find themselves falling farther behind and those that are capable of more are usually bored and disrupting class while failing to learn how to deal with challenges. The other scenario is that those special needs students are constanty demanding the attention of the teacher at expense of the other students.
Why does holding students to the same level of expectation make any sense when children are capable of different levels because of nature and/or nurture? Of course if you divide the children by ability there will exist the upper and lower levels of ability in that class, but the gap would not be near as wide. The brightest would no longer be held back and allowed to realize their full potential while those on the lower end would be at less risk of slipping through the cracks and falling further behind with each grade level.
I am unaware of any schools that actualy do this so I am not sure if this would actually work in practice. The only thing I have based on real life is that of is my honor classes in college. I honestly felt like I flourished in those two classes surrounded by like-minded individuals that I could debate and discuss with. On the other hand, one of my professors preferred the seperation because other students in the standard classes actually got the chance to interact and discuss because the people like us were not constantly jumping in and crowding other students out.
If it works in college, why not high schools and even elementary schools?

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Why Republicans and Democrats Will Never Compromise

I think most people will agree that moderate candidates are the best. However, since the people that show up to the primaries are usually slightly more left or right, we get the further left and right candidates on the ballots to vote for. It is not pretty when:
Republicans believe in economic freedom, but restrict personal rights in the name of morality.
Democrats believe in personal freedom, but more economic restrictions in the name of morality.
Seriously, how are two parties like that ever going to come to an agreement?

Tuesday, 04 October 2011

Dear Canada, Please Invade America

After watching College Humor's 1812 video, I realized they were right and I remembered almost nothing about the War of 1812. Feeling foolish, I went to the ever trustworthy Wikipedia to catch up on history. One of lines mentioned the period following the war was known as the Era of Good Feelings because the war forced the divisionary parties that were tearing the country apart to work together and this lasted for some time.
Both the Republicans and Democrats are pissing me off and tearing this country apart. So we need you to invade us so maybe our main parties will go back to being friends for a couple decades or so. Come on, we both know that you want to own both sides of Niagara Falls!
Let us not forget that a proper war tends to drive America's economy up.
If worse comes to worse, we all become Canadian (yay, I like Canadians!), however, I doubt that would happen because (and I mean this with all corny redneckness intended) AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!!

Monday, 18 April 2011

Saving Your Daughter from Molestation One Push-Up Bra at a Time

Mention anything about push-up bras and make-up being marketed toward the pre-teen group and you inevitably release a plethora of comments boiling down to one thing:
8-12 year-old girls
+make-up
+push-up bras
=miniature sluts that are inevitably going to be raped and abused by the evil stranger pedophiles.
The irony is these same women will scream and fight for a women to be able to wear anything--even dressed like a slut to the nines--and not be blamed for getting raped. So if we break this down:
Over 18--Dress the way you like. It is no one's fault but the person who assaulted you.
Under 18--Your parents let you out like that? Gee, no wonder you got raped. Your parents should be locked away along with the bastard that did it. Really, what did you expect going out of the house looking like that?
Another thing I find entertaining is people frequently misunderstanding the definition of a pedophile. Pedophiles are aroused by pre-pubescent children. Child porn dealing with actual children and not teenagers has them looking as young as possible because that is what is sexual arousing for that fetish group.
So those bras and make-up that are causing heart palpitations among women need to be viewed in a new light. If anything, those items are pedophile-repellant because, quite frankly, boobs and eyeliner just do not do it for those people.
If you really want to prevent sexual abuse, stop blaming Abercrombie and Fitch and look a little closer to home. Most abuse and rape is done by acquaintances not strangers. Talk to your children if you are really worried. So much information is available that there is no excuse not to.
If you do not want your children wearing padded bras and make-up, then do not let them. That is entirely your choice as a parent. However, don't you dare try to claim that parents who let their children do that are practically child-abusers for the setting them up for abuse, rape, and teen pregnancy. You are not doing anything but expending negative energy that could actually be put towards more productive means of preventing abuse.
On a side note for those who do not believe in padded bras for children, just think about the fact that you are saving girls at one of the most emotionally-sensitive times in their life ridiculous amounts of embarassment in air-conditioned school rooms. Nothing is really more embarassing than nipples showing in front of ten-year-old boys.