Yay! Liberal Libraries!

OK. So, after several many years working at a Library, I shouldn't be surprised at the liberalness in the library profession. But sometimes it still does. Maybe it's because I ,myself, am not liberal, that I just don't see it as a necessary credential to work at a library. I don't know.

Whatever the reason, I was a little surprised and offended when I opened the most recent edition of Library Journal to be encountered with this article:  Fringe Politics: Hate and Extremism/Collection Development.  Basically the article is about keeping your social sciences and politics sections of your collection up-to-date by keeping up with what's going on in fringe politics. But the only fringe groups they mean are the right-wing groups. Specifically four main groups:   "Neo-Nazis, Anti-Immigration Movements, Christian Extremists, and Militia Groups."  Hmm. OK, I can understand the Neo-Nazis. They can get out of hand and rather violent. But I'm rather skeptical of the others. Especially the Christian Extremist category. And the comment later about the Tea Party "For example, is the Tea Party a fringe group? A few years ago, it might merely have been considered a small faction of misanthropic wackos who mailed to legislators tea bags as a symbolic gesture. Last November, however, Tea Party members won several state and national elections," shows how little the author of the article actually knows about the Tea Party movement.

But that question is answered when you read where they received much of their information: The Southern Poverty Law Center. Aahh. That would explain it. Because this group doesn't have a political agenda or bias at all.  The author of this article does make the comment "ironically, there is a video on the American Family Association’s website that suggests the SPLC is itself a fringe political group." 

The article then goes on to list several books on far-right fringe/hate groups that every library should have in their collection.  If my library had all the books this guy listed, it would be very a very boring collection. Only one side of today's political story would be heard. And that would not be fair to our patrons. I try very hard to order in books from all sides for a good, balanced collection.  Which can be rather hard to do in today's political climate. For being such a "fringe group" the Tea Party, self-proclaimed Patriots and the "anti-immigration"(read anti-illegal-immigration) people, sure write a lot of books!

Because, you know, Sequester

While reading the news during the last week or so, I have noticed a trend. If anything goes wrong, the WH has a handy new excuse. This (or that) happened (or is going to happen) because of Sequestration. How very convenient. The Congress, namely the Senate, doesn't pass a budget for the past four years, no one makes any attempt to reign in spending, therefore racking up huge amounts of debt, forcing a "sequester" to go into effect (one that the President okayed) and now everyone's upset. Now we have draconian measures being put in place to slow (not cut) spending by not quite 3%. And it's interesting to see what this not quite 3% slow down is spending is responsible for. For instance:

Monies for the federal funding of Native American schools are going to be reduced. Schools on reservation land do not collect any state or local tax dollars because they are on federal land, so they rely heavily on funds provided by the federal government. According to the Star Tribune, Minnesota native schools could lose out on as much as $1 million. Red Lake is cutting, among other things, their security staff. Personally, I would find other things to cut than that. Red Lake has already had one school shooting, they don't need to set up a scenario that would make another easy. But that's just personal opinion, and now they have something something very visible to cut. And a good excuse if something happens--sequester! 

Reading elsewhere, though they have cut funding to Native American schools, there was enough money found for a $123,758 salary for a former aide to Red. Charles Rangle (D-NY) for a new position.  Apparently he's going to help advance education for African-Americans. Interesting.

You've probably already heard about ICE letting loose a bunch of illegal immigrants. Apparently with the sequester, they just couldn't detain them anymore. For some reason, I just don't believe that. They originally claimed they weren't "criminals." First off, it they weren't criminals, they shouldn't have been detained at all. Secondly, if they are in the U.S. illegally, that makes them criminals because they are breaking the law by just being here. But that's all trivial.  What they meant, was they weren't "violent criminals." At lease not all of them. Thanks, that's very reassuring. But it turns out, they don't really know how many of them are violent criminals, and they regularly release detainees anyway, whether or not there's a sequester going on. Oh goody.

Finally, we have to give Harry Reid some credit. He's jumping on the sequester wagon too. But I find his the most interesting. Yesterday, there was an explosion that killed a few marines. It was because the sequester is affecting military readiness.  OK, so he's not directly saying this disaster was caused by the sequester. He's being a prophet of doom. Things like this are going to happen more frequently because of the sequester. Our troops won't be as well trained and more will be injured and die. I can understand being concerned. But don't you think you are taking advantage of a horrible accident for your own political gain Mr Reid? Don't let a good disaster go to waste!

There are many more, but we'll save those for another time.

So Much News This Week!

Catching up on my news reading this morning while on my second cup of tea.  And there is a lot of news going on!  Actually, there are only three major stories, but many variations of them.

First off, Venezuelan Dictator, I mean President, Hugo Chavez has died.  His death is being mourned by some. I read that Carter thought he was pretty cool.  I hope Venezuela can find and elect a more mentally stable person as their next leader. 

Next, I'm not sure if you've heard about it, but there is a Sequester going on.  Yup.  It's so bad that they had to cancel White House tours due to Secret Service staffing issues and cancel Blue Angel shows because they're so expensive.  Hmmm....While I agree that these are not necessary expenses, they hardly warrant the time spent to cut them.  Nice gesture though.  I think the effect is lost somewhat since the Federal Government is still actively hiring (necessary?) support staff.  Or maybe it's their sending aid to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that has so many eyebrows raised. For a more light hearted take on the Sequester, read Mark Steyn's Sequestageddon at the National Review.

Finally, Gun Control is still a big story. Especially in Colorado.  Apparently their Democrats don't approve of arming their women.  I can't figure out why.  I thought the Democrat Party liked women and the Republicans were the ones waging a war on women?  Doesn't sound like it to me.  Especially when a rape victim is told  "the statistics are against you" while she is testifying in front of the Colorado legislature during gun ban hearings.  It is "unsettling" Sen. Hudak.  But what was more unsettling than this lady's testimony, was your reaction.  And now, thanks to you and your buddies in the Colorado congress, more women may suffer this lady's "unsettling" fate.  And only have their whistles and their undigested lunch to protect themselves.  No thanks, I will stay with the people who are still allowing me to protect myself.  Thanks.

And I think that Piers Morgan should be thanking his lucky stars for the Gun Control Debate. I bet his ratings are through the roof with all the conservatives he's having as guests.  People love to tune in to watch him get schooled by people who are more well versed on the topic than he is.  And who also have more reason to weigh in on a topic that affects them directly as American citizens.

Finally, the quote of the day by  Roger Ailes in his new biography “Roger Ailes: Off Camera,”  "I have a soft spot for Joe Biden," he said. "I like him. But he’s dumb as an ashtray."

Are You Feeling It?

The effects of ObamaCare (or, as I have termed it, the Unaffordable Care Act) are being felt even in our sleepy little town in Minnesota. Beginning at my place of work.

Libraries, as many know, suffer from a lack of funding. And as times get tough, the funding goes down. The good news, we're OK for this year. Next year? Well, we'll worry about that later. But now, we have to worry about how many hours our part time and sub staff are getting each week. See, before the Act took effect, our part time staff could pick up substitute hours, so they would have the potential to have up to 40 hours a week, if the opportunity presented itself. Which really could help pad the paycheck, as I can testify from personal experience. But now, they can't work more than a combined total of 29 hours a week. Ouch! Why? Because if they do, the Library would have to provide health insurance benefits. And as discussed before, the Library doesn't have enough money to provide benefits for everybody. In all honesty, it was hard enough for them to scrape and grovel for the money we have. And seeing how much money they pay out just for my (recently acquired) health insurance, I wonder how long they can afford to keep it up. I wouldn't be surprised if the full time staff was cut in the future to cut costs. I'll have to remember to send our Prez a thank you letter if that happens. It took me almost 7 years to reach full time status.

The loss of potential hours is going to hurt the part time staff. Our one lady needs all the hours she can get as she is taking care of her young grandson. She would always jump at a chance to pick up extra hours. But now, she's talking about getting a second job. An added stress she doesn't need. Plus, her second job probably won't pay as much as she'd get for working extra sub hours. Another one of our staff, a younger girl just out of college, will probably not stay on any longer than she needs to. Why would she, if it looks like the Library can't afford to pay people?

Our full time staff is also feeling the hurt. But this time it's from the new 2% increase in the Social Security withholding. Our one full timer has been with the Library for many years, loves her job, but has the misfortune to have reached the highest pay scale the Library System has. She hasn't gotten a raise in years (something seriously wrong there, but that's an internal issue and nothing to do with the Obama Administration). But with the 2% increase in withholding, she's seeing what's basically a decrease in pay. For some reason, she blames the Library System and not Congress. I tried to set her right, but I'm not sure if I got through to her. 

We are just starting to feel it here. I'm afraid it'll hurt a lot more before it's over. Let's hope our Congress will wake up and we can get rid of this monstrosity.

But I'm not going to hold my breath while waiting.

On Connecticut and China

The news is all a buzz about the recent shooting in Connecticut that cost twenty plus, most of them young children, their lives. And even then their corpses had barely cooled to room temp before the left had begun to dance in their blood as they try to use this as another excuse to pass more laws on gun control.

But I ask you. What good would it have done?

Just recently a man in China, a country where few can even own a gun, injured twenty two children at a school armed only with a knife. 

Source: http://news.ca.msn.com/world/china-stabbing-spree-hurts-22-schoolchildren

So we have twenty some children dead in Connecticut at the hands of a man armed with a gun versus twenty some children injured in China by a man armed only with a knife.

Which is more acceptable to you? The twenty wounded children or the twenty dead children?

If you want to be macabre you could say that you'd prefer the twenty injured ones because their wounds would heal, to a degree. Psychological trauma lasts. But to me the answer is neither. 

See. The incident in Connecticut is a tragedy of the darkest kind. Make no mistake about it. To take an innocent life is a terrible thing. To take the life of an innocent child is worse still. The hottest circle of hell is too good for people who commit such things.

However, the deaths of these children isn't the biggest tragedy here. The biggest tragedy is that it was entirely preventable except that no one in that school was able to fight back.

The problem in Connecticut wassn't that there was a bad guy with a gun. There will ALWAYS be bad men with guns, or knives, or blunt objects. There will always be killers. There always will be because there will always be evil. No law can prevent that and it is foolish and irresponsible of us to think it can.

The problem in Connecticut and in China is that the children and the teachers in their schools where left defenseless, open to slaughter by the effects of the laws that they so neively believed would protect them while they waited helpless for the police to come and save them. 

And really, that is the real tragedy.

Laws don't protect and laws don't prevent. Time and time again people pay with their lives in proof that only the law abiding obey laws. 

Instead of more laws governing the law abiding what we need to allow is the law abiding to have the ability to fight back no matter where they are. Because evil doesn't care about your signs or your laws.

We need to be proactive.  An armed officer in the school would have been good. A dozen armed teachers would have been better.

Arm our teachers.

Arm our principals.

It's for the children.

Keep the Mittmentum going.

I'll be the first to admit, I didn't like Mitt Romney at the beginning of the campaign season. He's more moderate than I would like. He has been known to flip-flop on issues in the past. But as Election Day gets increasingly closer, and issues become hotter and hotter, the more I like him. He has presented himself very well. He did great a the debates (especially the first one). He's kept his calm in increasingly hectic days and against increasingly idiotic attacks from the opposition. And he is so much better then the alternative. Because, in all honesty, the country would be hard-pressed to withstand four more years of Obama and his ilk.
Four More Days!, Romney's speech in Wisconsin today. One of his best, I think.
Get out and vote on November 6. We at Snarky After Tea will do our part to turn our state red. Go out and do the same!

The Monster of Roosevelt Road

The Monster of Roosevelt Road

A true story of one family’s encounter with

a Minnesota werewolf.

In 2002 I was employed as a security guard for a local security company. As an overnight guard I saw a lot of strange things and met a lot of weird people. But after years on the job, I eventually began to get used to the odd night time happenings. The occasional unexplainable bump in an empty room, the moved furniture in unoccupied buildings; it was all part of the job and, except for a few rare occasions, most of the occurrences explained themselves if left long enough to time. I was able to dismiss most of these events as tricks played by a tired mind or as pranks played by building staff on an unwitting guard. But I’ll never be able to dismiss the creature I saw that late August night on Roosevelt Road.

That night, my shift had been oddly quiet. The night had been hot and the moon full and bright. Normally on those nights the inhabitants of our city would make use of the nice weather and extra light to party hard and I would be forced to spend my shifts chasing drunks and answering alarm calls. Not that night. That night the city had been as quiet as a tomb. 

Fog blanketed the ground as the heat of the evening mixed with the cold early morning air as my shift ended. I had my window down and was enjoying the night air blowing through my car as I drove home, going east on Roosevelt Road. My foot pressed down on the gas and I eased the car up to seventy miles per hour as I saw the lights of a local farm house come into view. Everyone knew that house was haunted. No family that had bought it stayed in it for long and all had moved away quickly, often selling the white house for cheap.

 My own family had looked into buying the place but the house had a creepy feeling about it that one could not shake. My sister and I had both refused to go inside when the realtor showed it to my parents. We had chosen instead to wait in the car and had felt relieved when my Dad ultimately decided against its purchase. Ever since, I always sped up as I went by so that I would be able to coast far from it if my engine quit. I would not go near it.

I had just passed the old farm house’s driveway and was just beginning to rid myself of its unearthly presence when I suddenly noticed a dark shape dart out from a stand of pines and run up through the grass towards the road on which I was driving. Thinking that it was a deer, my foot hammered the brake pedal in a manner that brought my four-door Chevrolet from its brisk 70 mph cruise down to a screeching halt just as the creature burst into the headlights of my car and stopped.

My heart froze like it had been dunked in ice as I took in the creature before me. The monster that stood hunched and breathing heavily only fifteen feet from the sputtering engine of my aging machine was like no forest animal I had ever seen before. Its ears where pointed and its dark fur bristled in the pale yellow glow of my car’s headlights. Its apelike hands rested on the hot pavement as its long and brushy tail twitched behind it. Even hunched over the creature was large enough to look me in the eyes as it stared at me over the hood of my car, its eyes reflecting piercing and red in the beams of my sedan.

For a moment I couldn’t breathe and I heard the creature snort as it slowly turned and faced me. I swore loudly as I realized in terror that my window was still down. I frantically cranked it up all the while thinking that the beast would soon discover the chink in my armor and exploit it just before he would tear me bodily from my seat!  To my relief, the creature instead hunkered off the pavement upon hearing my yelp of surprise and into the weeds on the other side of the lane. Not believing what I had just seen, I crept forward in my car as I looked into the grass to see where the creature had gone. It hadn’t gone far. Instead of running off for good, as I had assumed, the creature had only slunk a foot or two into the tall grass growing on the shoulder of the road. And through it, I could just barely make out the silhouette of its back hidden in the tall weeds. 

Then it stood up.  

Slowly it moved as it drew itself up onto its hind legs, its arms resting at its side as it stared at me curiously through the thin glass. Its head, lit from behind by the light of the moon, dipped as it sniffed the air; its ears easily peaking a foot taller than the uncut grass that hid the creature from the waist down as it stood on the bank of the ditch. How tall it was really, I didn’t stick around to measure because as I watched it stepped forward and my blood began to pump through my veins like ice water.

My heart leapt in my throat. It was now only a few feet away and only an eighth of an inch of tempered glass separated me from it. It was way too close and moving closer. I slammed my foot to the floor on the accelerator of my car. The old engine coughed and then screamed in mechanical agony as the tires broke loose from the pavement, squealing loudly as I tore off down the road.

There was no stopping for anything as I rocketed the rest of the way home at reckless speed. Gravel flew from the tires as I slid my ride into the yard and skidded it to a halt at the foot of our family’s front porch steps. My door was left open wide and my cooler stayed sprawled and open on the floor where it landed as I sprinted to the door and shouldered it open violently in a dead run.  The crash woke my sister, whose room was on the main floor of our two story house, and she wandered from her room bleary eyed and annoyed as I rapidly locked the door behind me. Ignoring her, I vaulted down the stairs to my basement bedroom. She followed me, all the while barking questions about my strange behavior, her eyes growing wide as I jerked open the door of my gun cabinet and began to clumsily stuff my Remington 870 12 gage full of 1 oz magnum slugs with my shaking hands.

 Now armed, I finally began to feel safe and I immediately began to calm down. I cradled shotgun close in my arms as my sister sat with me listening to the story as I told her of what I thought I had just seen. As I finished my tale shock rippled through as my sibling got to her feet and suddenly strode from my room. All the while spouting about how she didn’t believe me as she left me alone with my thoughts and my gun. I didn’t sleep a wink. And in the morning I once more retold the story to my parents as I explained the horrendous parking of my car and the mess of trash from my cooler strewn across the yard. Again I was met with disbelief. Not one of them believed me. Instead they had assured me that it had been a bear or a big raccoon and for many sleepless weeks I was the butt of many family werewolf jokes. That is, until my sister met the same monster late one fateful night and relieved me of my torment. 

It was on the same road in roughly the same place. Again it had been late as she headed down Roosevelt Road toward home when the creature bolted out in front of her car with its hackles raised. An oncoming car saw it too and swerved to miss the creature as it darted off into the brush. The experience frightened her so badly that she spent the night in our basement on the floor in tears for fear that the creature would soon come for us both. It never did.  

But the remainder of that fateful summer was spent with the two of us racing our cars past the spot where we had spotted the monster, hoping our motors wouldn’t choose that exact second to break down. My sister never saw the monster again. I saw it twice more, once running across a field and again just standing on the side of the road watching with its haunting eyes as I passed by. But I never got a better look at it than I had the first time I saw it and when winter finally came the sightings stopped altogether and we never saw the creature again. But the events had a profound effect on us. My sister spent the remainder of her years sleeping with a loaded shotgun under her bed. And me? Never again would I venture from my home on nights with a full moon unless I was armed with my 1911 .45acp loaded with its handmade silver bullets, just in case I ever again encountered the monster of Roosevelt Road.

The End