Brushfire of Freedom

Voice of Adams

by Babe in the Woods

It’s been rather quiet around here, I noticed. I’ve watched as friends trickled away one by one to their new colleges, new opportunities, new lives. ‘Tis the season of saying goodbye to all of our college-bound students. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate doing, it’s saying goodbye, and the only reason I contain this selfishness is because I know that a) I’ll be doing the same soon anyways, and b) they’re off to get educations that will enable them to do great things with their lives.

That being said, there’s more and more kids now making the decision not to go to college. In 2004, 40% of low-income kids went on to a four year college, a number reduced from 54% in 1992. Personally, I think the decision to not go to college is a great one as well. Pop culture has fueled a mentality that everybody has to go to a four year college after high school to make good lives for themselves. In reality, this is far from accurate. Too many people end up buried in student loans and only begin to realize while in their Economics 101 class that there was a cost-benefit analysis that should have been considered before entering college. Is all this debt really worth a degree? And don’t get me wrong; a lot of the time the answer is yes, and plenty other times the debt is reduced with scholarships and other financial aid. But there are plenty of jobs for which a college degree would be completely unnecessary, and we’ll always need people to work those jobs too. 

With the recent recession, people have been more and more considerate of how they spend their money, and the same has held true for the big ticket items like college. One of my friends was accepted to a state college but recently started considering other options, like joining the military. I have to say, I was quite proud of her for really thinking things through. “I’m just not sure what I want to do yet,” she explained. I think there’s a good point to be made with this statement; college is a very expensive time-killer if you’re really unsure about your future.

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Copyright 2011.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

Brushfire of Freedom

Voice of Adams

by Babe in the Woods

To families in Memphis, the title of this article is a phrase they’ve heard far too often lately. In fact, they have been watching for a few years now as the Memphis City Schools Board of Education battled with the city over funding discrepancies. Within the last year, and the last month especially, the feud has only intensified.

The issue at hand goes back to a central problem that the whole country has been struggling with lately, a tendency to allow debt to steadily build up until it’s too late. It’s like America has been playing musical chairs, a fun game until the music stops and someone’s left without a chair, and lately the music has been stopping. 

The context of this story is probably not a unique one in the country. Essentially, the Memphis City Schools sued the city back in 2008 over a funding problem and since then have been relying on the board’s savings. Flash forward to 2011, and the board is now claiming that the city owes them $151 million, which includes $78 million needed for the upcoming year. Late July of this year saw a new debate arise when Memphis City Schools said they would not begin the 2011-2012 school year until the city had paid them $55 million. This issue has since been settled, but of course not with a deal that involved a $55 million payover. The city school district has also addressed their debt with a hefty list of proposed budget cuts that included the complete elimination of band and choir, sports, and foreign languages, among countless other expenses, essentially all cuts that would leave the city with fewer schools, fewer employees, and a bare-bone curriculum. Thankfully there has, as yet, been no followthrough on the majority of these cuts--although there will be fewer schools in operation this year--but there’s much to worry about when such a list even has to be drawn up. 

The funding issue comes in part from way back when the schools of Shelby County, although part of Memphis, were drawn up as a separate school district, so property taxes could be distributed by geographic location to the appropriate school district. The poorer inner-city make up of Memphis has subsequently been lacking funds comparable to those coming from the generally richer population of the suburbs in Shelby County. Thus, where Memphis City Schools have been struggling, Shelby County schools have actually been quite successful.

All this has prodded the people of inner-city Memphis to think that maybe they don’t want to be part of a separate school district after all. In the past several months there has been much debate about the possibility of a merger of the two districts, something the Memphis City Schools generally favored, whereas Shelby County was much more hesitant. Why would Shelby County want to sacrifice their success and balanced budget? Especially when a merger would mean getting involved with $151 million of insufficient funds. And we all know that such a big number is not just the fault of the city for not paying up but also the fault of the school Board for not handling their money well. 

Lo and behold, the merger did happen, on August 8th. The worry now is that members of the Memphis City School Board will demand representation on the Shelby County Board, the group that will most likely end up with most control over the new merged district. That seems like a good idea; let’s let the people who got the schools in trouble with funding have power over an even larger district now. That’d be as crazy as letting lawmakers who get a whole country in debt make new rules about how to handle the debt! (Oh wait....)

I apologize for this probably boring article, because I realize that, with the current state of affairs, there is little surprise or suspense to be found in a news story about debt problems. But what I really wanted to point out is what this story is NOT about. 

The kids.

What about the kids? Memphis has been hearing so much, especially in the past several months, about disputes between the school boards and mayor and politicians in general. But what about the kids? Heck, they’re the ones going to school. They’re the ones trying to get an education. They’re the ones trying to better their futures so that Memphis won’t continue to be a city with such problems of debt and crime and poverty.

But nowhere in any article I read were the kids mentioned.

Nowhere.

And believe it or not, the kids do care. In late July when the students of Memphis were told that the start of the school year was being indefinitely delayed until the city payed up $55 million, there was actually a lot of worry. When I talked to most of my friends, they weren’t excited that school was being pushed off. On the contrary, most were quite anxious or upset, especially those rising seniors who now had a diploma to worry about. 

Clearly, our politicians lack concern about the interests of the people. If they did have concern, they wouldn’t be letting their money problems keep kids from going to school.

I mean, these kids actually want to go school. And I repeat, these kids want to go to school. Who is going to shamelessly keep kids out of school when they’re striving to be educated?

The politicians of Memphis, and politicians of the nation at large, need to start thinking about this. These issues aren’t just petty debates to take up time on the news. These issues truly affect Americans, people who care about their lives, their futures, their livelihoods.

Actions have consequences, America, especially the actions of those people representing the general population. Please remember that. 

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Copyright 2011.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

Voice of Adams

by Babe in the Woods

I always hear on the radio a commercial that never fails to make me smile because of its powerful message. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what the commercial is for, and I apologize that I can’t give the advertiser appropriate credit. But anyways, at the end of their radio ad, on a note unrelated to the product they’re trying to sell, they say something along the lines of, “Thank you to all of our servicemen and women. Whether you agree with the war or not, they’re still over there fighting and deserve all of our love and support.” Couldn’t have said it any better myself.

The war is complicated. Hopefully that’s one thing we can all agree on. And it’s one that’s hard to win, since we’re not really fighting any entire nation but, rather, groups of radicals. Plus America at home seems to be giving a half-hearted effort to the war while our soldiers give their all. Surely it’s hard to fight and win when funding and general support is being consistently called into question. We don’t mobilize our country for war like we used to, and I’m certainly not saying that we need to do things like we used to, because this war is different and calls for different measures. But, heck, our soldiers are still overseas, fighting to keep us safe at home and to help people all around the world. And this is true no matter what you think of the war or what you understand of why we’re fighting. Many of our soldiers have given their lives, but even those who go unscathed have made many sacrifices, to leave home, do grueling work, and see a brutal side of humanity that the rest of us don’t have to recognize.

To the credit of Americans, most of us are proud of our troops. The problem is that those people who see the troops as evil doers are also the loud people. They’re the ones who stomp and scream about how wrong America is for going overseas. They’re the ones who won’t recognize that wars have given them their freedom to stomp and scream. They’re the ones who gather in protest at soldiers’ funerals. 

This last one is the one that gets to me. Yes, it is perfectly legal to do so because of the First Amendment, as verified in the Supreme Court ruling this March after Mr. Albert Snyder sued the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas for being emotionally disturbed when the churchgoers held an anti-gay protest during the burial of his son, Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq in 2006. But just because something is legal doesn’t make it right, and I believe protesting at a military funeral is far over the line and a cruel offense against a grieving family. Hold whatever opinions you want, and perform legal demonstrations all you want, but do it in good taste.

With that being said, what about those of us who DO have pride in our soldiers? Why are we letting such loudmouths steal the scene? It’s time for some more news stories about people gathering to honor our troops and recognize their sacrifices. Those stories shouldn’t be so rare. We should see videos everyday of people lining the streets for the homecoming of a soldier. I was at the airport one time and witnessed a whole terminal give a standing ovation to soldiers who had just come home, and it really was an awe-inspiring moment. But this should be happening all the time!

I propose to you now that we start showing our pride. If you have the time and resources, there’s plenty of organizations that you can involve yourself with or donate money to who give support to the troops--Soldier’s Angels and Wounded Warriors are two great examples. I do a lot of community service related to the soldiers and have found that, despite the economy, people are wonderfully generous and eager to support our noble men and women of the armed services. It doesn’t take this much effort though. Showing your pride in little ways will make all the difference. A great first step now would be to contact your senator via letter, email, or phone to ask him or her to support Sen. John Hoeven’s proposal S. Res. 253 to make October 26 a national Day of the Deployed to honor our servicemen and women. Let’s remind the troops that we’re thinking of them. So thank soldiers and shake their hands whenever you see them, start waving Old Glory in your front yard, and let’s show our heroes that we love them!

To conclude for this week, I’m borrowing the motto of Soldier’s Angels:

“May no soldier go unloved

May no soldier walk alone

May no soldier be forgotten

Until they all come home”

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Copyright 2011.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

Voice of Adams

by Babe in the Woods

As we all know, the last movie in the beloved Harry Potter series has come out recently, setting box-office records. I was amused to watch Facebook in the hours surrounding the U.S. midnight opening. Preceding the release were minute by minute countdowns, but the comments that followed are what surprised me. My friends emerged from the theaters not excited about the impressive battle scenes, but, rather, almost remorseful to see its end. With a last, disheartened comment, “Mischief managed,” it was generally realized that this last movie marked the end of our childhoods for my generation of the early 90s babies. 

Yes, I’ll admit that I was sad for the end as well, having been one of those kids who grew up with Harry Potter as a regular presence in my life, but then again, my generation is of the late high school, college, or early adulthood ages, and I’m realizing that it’s probably time we start growing up. Especially when it comes to politics. 

I’ve noticed trends in my high school friends, and I’m not sure how many years or decades these trends span, so what I’m saying is purely what I currently observe as a teen myself, a rising senior in high school to be specific, if you were wondering. 

Anyways, what I’ve seen is that most kids could care less about the economic aspects of politics; social issues are really all that get the youth’s attention. Most all of them have their opinions on gay marriage and abortion, and plenty of us are glad to wear our hemp shoes and carry recycled bags to show that we’re green (which, as a side note, is great and everything, but most of them don’t realize the absurdity of the political background to the climate change issue). But when it comes to economics, many don’t know, and many don’t care. And trust me, I’m the worst at it. If I’m not interested in a topic, then I’m not going to learn about it unless I have to, and economics is one of those topics that really doesn’t get my interest, besides knowing how much money I have in that ziploc in my sock drawer. I’ve started working to change that though, after realizing that I didn’t know too much more about politics than did my -- I say this with what affection is appropriate for the context -- ignorant friends and peers. Interestingly enough, some of my opinions have certainly changed as I looked at the arguments more. While still a fiscal conservative, I think I lean much more liberal on a many of the social debates.. not sure if that makes me a libertarian, but whatever the label, I’m learning what I believe. 

So why haven’t us “young adults” cared about much of politics? Largely because we don’t have to. We can get away with being lazy, and, honestly, friends, TV, and sports are much more fun and interesting. Why not leave the politics to the politicians? Clearly they’re handling everything just fine! As part of this rising generation, though, I’ve started to worry about this lack of care. It’s only when things really start getting bad and directly affecting these kids, like here in Memphis where the start of school is being delayed because the school system literally can’t afford to operate (although that’s a story for another day). I feel like we had it right at the beginning of our nation, when we had no career politicians, just a nation full of well-studied, active members of society who would sacrifice time here and there to act as temporary leaders for the country. 

But back to the topic at hand, how do we get these indolent teenagers (and yes, that’s politically correct for me to say, since I am included in this grouping) to start caring and learn a little something about the important political matters in today’s America? Well, as much as I’d like to do away with career politicians so that everyone naturally had to be up to date on their current events, that’s not really really an option this late in the game. Perhaps schools could incorporate more current events into regular study, to help kids learn how to think for themselves rather than taking the easy way out and simply regurgitating what they hear parents, friends, or newsmen saying. While there is certainly no clear solution to this matter, I have a feeling that our nation is at a point when kids will soon have no choice but to start caring. It will be hard, for better or for worse, to ignore political issues when caught up in the midst of them. For now, though, I’ll simply advocate that you do your part to support any teens looking to understand more about politics, and for heaven’s sake, at the bare minimum please make sure they know that credit cards are not free money but require a source to pay from!

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Copyright 2011.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

Brushfire of Freedom

Voice of Adams

Guest Blog - Musical Interlude

Even whilst the Brushfire team basks in the sun on holiday, the ire in this nation against the abuses of the Obama regime continues to rise.  The results are some very interesting signs, commentary that holds our representatives accountable, and some pretty catchy tunes.  

As a bonus during our vacation break, we’re posting a video of one of those catchy tunes.  Listen, enjoy, and comment as you like.  

Video: On the Ragged Edge Rag

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.