Teachers are an easy target

January 31, 2014

In the midst of this ridiculously cold winter, there have been some among us who have weathered the season rather comfortably. If you have a friend that's a teacher, you know they have had the great fortune of staying inside while the rest of us bundled up to get to work.Oh, teachers, you truly are the lucky ones.If we're being honest, though, this abundance of snow days has made the rest of us a little bit jealous of teachers. At least, this is what my Facebook feed indicates. At best, teachers are lovingly chided for staying home in their PJs yet another day; at worst, they are mocked ...

Boot camp adds fuel to the fight in the gender war

January 31, 2014

My curiosity was recently sparked by an article entitled "Why Pull-Ups are Harder for Women." It comes on the heels of a recent law permitting women equal access to front-line combat situations, which would require "man-like" strength and ability.But this piece, written by Rachael Rettner, reports that many female Marines in boot camp are hard pressed to complete three pull-ups on an overhead bar. Thus, the question is asked, "Why do women find the exercise so difficult?"This problem has caused the Marine Corps to delay this three-pull-up requirement for women, even though it is a ...

Testing ad nauseam ineffective

January 28, 2014

Candidates for teaching in Ohio schools must successfully complete a series of tests before they even enter a classroom as professional educators. Over the past few years, teacher candidates had to pass an ETS (Educational Testing Service) product called ''Praxis 1'' prior to attempting upper division education courses. This usually happened in the student's second year of college.This testing instrument has three components: reading, writing and math. The components suggest that education is still based on the three R's (readin', writin', and 'rithmetic) and hasn't changed much. Then, ...

Do condemned deserve ‘civil rights’ that victims lost?

January 24, 2014

The recent execution of a condemned killer in Ohio has sparked "heavy criticism," according to an AP article. The attorney for Dennis McGuire, the convicted murderer, has called the execution "a failed, agonizing experiment" because of the use of a drug combination never tried in the U.S.Allen Bohnert, representing the McGuire family, elaborated on the length of time (more than 20 minutes) it took for the drugs to produce death, and the ensuing "agony and terror" suffered by McGuire. (Bohnert) plans to sue the state of Ohio, stating the people "should be appalled at what was done in ...

Pain of loss doesn’t heal in three days

January 24, 2014

Have you ever felt that at certain times more people are leaving this earth than at other times? We've noticed what seems to be an increase of people passing of late. In fact, personally, we are aware of at least 10 people who have passed away in the last three weeks. Maybe that's normal for you, but not for us.With the impact of so many people passing around us, we've been talking about how grief affects people and how we respond.Thanks to the working world, we have been duped, at least superficially, into thinking that when someone we love dies (employee handbook says that ''someone'' ...

Addiction takes only one time

January 21, 2014

Recent heroin busts in Warren aren't even the tip of the iceberg. This problem has been growing nationwide for more than a decade.There is no non-addictive version of a heroin molecule; nor can one put lipstick on a pig and call it a lady. Even an untrained eye can see the similarities between oxycodone and heroin.Oxycodone has been around since 1916, but it was only prescribed for the worst cancer patients and serious accident victims until 1998 when the Sackler brothers made ''prescription heroin'' socially acceptable.The Sacklers used marketing techniques to encourage regular ...