Daily Blues & Views

 So now some folks in Florida are trying to prevent their kids from seeing Michaelangelo's famous sculpture of David because his entire body is exposed. A principal was even fired because allowed the renaissance sculpture to be seen by his students. This famous piece of classical art has been around since___ but suddenly in 2023, it is considered pornography by some overzealous parents. It is, no doubt, the offshoot of time people trying to ban books from school libraries.   If you've wondered about the word sanctimonious lately since Donald Trump applied his invented word de-sanctimonious to Ron Desantis, the governor of Florida, this is a good example.  When a person or group of people are sanctimonious they are making a show of being morally superior.  That applies nicely here.  Of course, the way Trump uses the word is more of his nonsense as desanctiminoius is not really a word.  Trump could hardly be morally superior to anyone or anything, having...

    I once knew an old Kentucky "good ol' boy" who was fond of saying,  "The things you see when you ain't got a gun." If he saw something outrageous like a poorly dressed person, or perhaps something truly ugly, it could be funny.  But the things you see can be a lot more than that.         It's often said that the things you see as a young person set the tone for much of your later life.  These are usually things that initially came as either a surprise or shock or perhaps an affirmation of something you wondered about as a child.  Are there evil people in the world?  Does the society I live in treat all people equally?  Does money talk?  Does anybody really win a war?     We know that people who grew up during the Great Depression forever retain that "Depression mentality.  They waste nothing.  They constantly worry about the vagaries and vicissitudes of the economy.  Having enough food, a decen...

 I recently saw another news story about the current teacher shortage.  The lack of qualified professionals is only one dimension, another is that young or beginning teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate.  Lots of one-and-done careers. As a retired teacher who went the distance(34 years), I am concerned and outraged that the powers that be don't do something drastic.   We need to maintain the notion of a public school system that values equality and adequately provides the type of education that our kids deserve.  Who would want to enter a profession that undervalues all the time and effort it takes to educate a person?  If we vetted and tested candidates for public office they way we attempt to vet teachers, we'd have a Congress that could pass some legislation that would properly fund school systems.   Everybody agrees that teachers should be paid more, especially given the demands and the time required to effectively do t...