Monthly Archives: November 2008

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). [Source]

It’s not shocking to me that the general public only scored 49%. I’m a bit taken aback by the fact that our elected officials trailed the general public. I mean, civics is their business after all.

However, even more shocking to me is that fact that I scored 75% (which is actually now below average since so many that care about the subject have taken the test). I’m not shocked that I’m below average, I’m shocked that my results were not more abysmal. Civics is not my strong point – at all. As much as I love to discuss politics, I’m woefully stupid when it comes to the political history of our nation.

I thought I was leaving that speciality to the politicians… Not so much, apparently.

Take the test.

I posted some old photos on Facebook the other night, including one of my brother, Brian. A lot of the friends I have on there were friends of his as well… or just friends of his that have kept in contact with me through the years.

I know I run the risk, when I post Brian’s photos, of someone that doesn’t know the story asking about him. There are some people I lost contact with that might not know he died and there are others that are going to be surprised to learn that I ever had a brother as they came into my life after his death. I’ve learned how to answer the questions about him over the past 17 years, but I still always feel a bit sorry for the other party in the conversation because I know they’re going to struggle to find the appropriate response to, “He died in 1991.”

However, I wasn’t prepared for a question from one of my best friends in high school asking what my brother was up to these days.

Okay, it was a long time ago and things can slip your mind. She’s a single mother to 4 children, including one special needs child – so I know she’s a little worse for the wear these days. And what was one of the defining moments of my life is likely to be little more than a blip on her radar, so I figured I’d cut her some slack. I thought that maybe a quick little email would trigger her memory.

No such luck.

When I wrote to her that Brian passed away, she responded that she was sorry to hear about it and how awful it was.

Seriously? Seriously?! She was at the funeral.

I haven’t responded to her because I just don’t know what to say now. In fact, I’m just kind of speechless. Some things are easily forgotten, but I wouldn’t have figured that attending the funeral of the brother of one of your closest friends would be one of them – no matter how much time had passed. It wasn’t like we were doing that kind of thing weekend after weekend in the 90′s after all.

???

Bryan’s been back to work for just a little over a month and rumor is that he’ll be laid off come Thursday. The plant has already laid off everyone with less than 3 years seniority… and the orders aren’t coming in, so there may just be some truth to the rumor. 60% of their steel orders are derived from the auto companies and we all know how well they are doing these days.

I, personally, think it’s a bit strange that they would layoff over 600 workers just a few days ago and then do another wave later this week. I mean, why not just do them all at once? It doesn’t make much sense – but when has U$ $teel ever made any sense? Our saving grace is that Bryan is high seniority, so if he is laid off, he’ll be one of the first employees called back. Thank goddess for unions and rules of seniority and such.

Bryan is bummed out. We were really starting to enjoy living as a two paycheck family again. I, myself, just can’t wrap my head around it. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t? Well, hooray, we’ll have Christmas this year.

I was offered a new job last week… a job that I really, really wanted. Problem was that it was a part time gig. I wouldn’t mind a part time job – I’d like to begin building my freelance clients in my off time, so part of me was about ready to jump. But we had a feeling that these layoffs might be on the horizon and I finally came to the conclusion that now is no time for me to go cowboy. I don’t know when Bryan’s pay will be steady enough that we can risk a little of mine and I have no idea how long it will be before I can build a steady freelance career. I have a hard time believing that anyone in Michigan can afford to pay a freelancer for anything right now.

I can’t help feeling that we are at a breaking point here in Michigan. I mean, honestly, how bad can it get? (I hate to pose the question because I don’t really want to find out.) If any one of the Big Three go under, we’re screwed. It’s not just the plant workers that will lose their jobs… it’s the white collar staff, the dealerships, the suppliers, the businesses that clothe and feed and house the workers.  It’s a hell of a lot of people. Nearly every person I know here is somehow related to one of the autos in some way, shape or form.

It’s reached the tipping point and it’s getting a little scary. Here’s hoping that someone in DC takes pity on not just the Big Three, but the hundreds of thousands of us that, unfortunately, are so dependent upon them.

This makes me laugh so hard. Sad thing is, I’m sure there are tons of people out there that will not recognize this for the satire it is.

I’m back from Mexico, which I will write about in detail at a later date. For now I want to encourage you to vote today.

I’ll be spending my day volunteering as a poll runner for the Obama campaign. It’s going to be a very exciting day.

Go Obama!