May 29, 2016


News and Views


http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/no-school-pictures-for-families-in-jacksonvilles-urban-core/302967659

No school pictures for families in Jacksonville's urban core
by: Paige Kelton
Updated: May 25, 2016 - 8:32 PM


Students in many of Jacksonville’s impoverished neighborhoods are getting excluded from a school tradition – picture day.

A parent reached out to Action News Jax about the issue, and our investigation revealed 26 public schools in the Duval school district do not offer picture day for students.

Sandra Taylor’s son goes to John Love Elementary, one of the schools that doesn’t offer school pictures.

She said she is angry but more than that she's disappointed.

"These are memories that you can't get back,” said Taylor.

She said she was hurt when she got pictures of her grandson in Nassau County and found out there wouldn’t be any of her son.

Action News Jax asked the Duval County school district for a list of public schools that offer picture days.

It took 3 weeks to compile all the information. When the information was placed on a map, it showed almost all of the schools that don’t offer pictures are in Jacksonville’s urban core.

Action News Jax asked the district why students in Jacksonville's low income neighborhoods are getting excluded from picture day and was told it's not the district’s decision.

Individual photography companies decide who they serve, according to DCPS.

Officials said:

While the majority of our schools are able to secure a vendor for school picture day, several experience difficulty attracting interest from a photographer because of the size of the school and/or the low percentage of parents ordering pictures. This unfortunately has been a concern over the years for many public schools throughout the country.

The school district said if schools can’t find a vendor it encourages stakeholders in the community, such as businesses, photography clubs, parent associations and the media, to help fill the gap.

Duval County Public Schools released another statement:

We understand many parents and caregivers look forward to school picture day to capture a historical snapshot of their child. When a school principal experiences difficulty in securing a photography vendor, we certainly encourage community stakeholders to partner and collaborate with school leadership to identify vendor alternatives. Alternative sources to provide picture day services may include yearbook and newspaper sponsors/staff, community and school photography clubs, parent-teacher associations, and local media outlets offering in-kind support.



“It took 3 weeks to compile all the information. When the information was placed on a map, it showed almost all of the schools that don’t offer pictures are in Jacksonville’s urban core. Action News Jax asked the district why students in Jacksonville's low income neighborhoods are getting excluded from picture day and was told it's not the district’s decision. Individual photography companies decide who they serve, according to DCPS. Officials said: While the majority of our schools are able to secure a vendor for school picture day, several experience difficulty attracting interest from a photographer because of the size of the school and/or the low percentage of parents ordering pictures. This unfortunately has been a concern over the years for many public schools throughout the country. The school district said if schools can’t find a vendor it encourages stakeholders in the community, such as businesses, photography clubs, parent associations and the media, to help fill the gap. …. we certainly encourage community stakeholders to partner and collaborate with school leadership to identify vendor alternatives. Alternative sources to provide picture day services may include yearbook and newspaper sponsors/staff, community and school photography clubs, parent-teacher associations, and local media outlets offering in-kind support.”


This is very sad to me. There are many ways to evaluate a good school, and while I would not put things like this at the top of the list of important factors, it is a very real issue to me. Similarly, many schools have stopped having special arts or sports activities like the band and chorus, at least one art teacher, a senior play; and in this case your own photo – no matter had dorky it looks – in your own yearbook, and having people sign their names and “clever” comments in it finishes it off as one of your prized possessions. Among those photos will be friends from the earliest years and our emergence into young adulthood. Later you will pull it out at night sometimes when you’ve forgotten someone’s name or you’re feeling lonely. It is a matter of feeling REAL as an entity and a part of a larger group.

I say that because of something I saw in a psychology article that really explained a lot to me. People, especially young people growing up, need to have family members and friends who interact closely enough with them to give them “the look.” That is a knowing and appreciative look. One reason psychiatrists give for the very unfortunate -- but not as uncommon as I would like -- situation of a baby and parent not sharing that “look” very early in the child’s life so that as a result they do not “bond” as they should. Growing up, as a result, they don’t have that family love for each other which is so crucial. It’s just like that matter of corporal punishment and the lack of overall warmth in the relationship.

I know that some mental illness is inherited, but in many of the worst cases there is a parental and family situation that is so lacking in basic nurture and caring that the child withdraws into his/her own world and perhaps later surprises everyone by getting into the bathtub with a razor blade and slitting their wrists, or worse picks up the family gun and goes to school with a hit list of people to execute. Shocking, I know, but terribly understandable. We should quit playing dumb about the importance of such things in a kid’s life. Give your child as many hugs and smiles as you do the flat of your hand and they may survive their teens. Try using a warm tone when you “discuss” a serious problem with them rather than using one of rejection, heartless scorn, etc. If you do go against the rules of good parenthood, for goodness sake DO apologize to the child/teenager, explain your anger, calmly and lucidly give your "experience, strength and hope" on the subject, and tell them that if they continually do some nerve-wracking and annoying thing, you will do something that they won't like. Usually one word with a stern tone of voice will "nip it in the bud."You will find that your child will obey you better because they trust and respect you, and will love you ever more rather than progressively less and less.



GREAT FLICK -- I’m pausing the blog for a while because I must watch this funny, beautifully acted and ever interesting movie called “Marley and Me,” from 2008. These viewer reviews cover an interesting range of reactions to it, and between them capturing the true nature of the movie, part happy, funny, deeply thought out and portrayed, and, yes, partly sad (not depressing to me). I PERSONALLY do not demand that any work of art be PG, or sentimentalized and simplistic. Not every movie is suitable for a five year-old, nor should they have to be great. This is my idea of the way a really great movie looks! STARS: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Alan Arkin and Kathleen Turner and others.

Read about it below:

http://www.fandango.com/marley26me_112617/movieoverview


MARLEY AND ME
BY EZ1
Went to see it at a sneak preview and it is not the comedy they make it out to be. It is a sad and depressing story a dog that gets put to sleep in the longest death scene I have ever watched (they...

MARLEY & ME
BY KGROSS1257
Awesome movie. Real tearjerker. Fuuny, sad, tender. Only problem was I took my young daughter who was bawling at the ending and I spent the rest of the night consoling her....


MARLEY AND ME
BY JBELLS
As a parent I was anticipating a wonderful holiday outing with my family, which included my young nine year old daughter, to watch the movie Marley and Me. My expectations, since we were viewing a...

NOT FOR KIDS AT ALL!
BY MELRIVSONS
I cannot believe this movie had a PG rating. With swearing, sex, skinny dipping, and talk of "bong hits", it should be no less than PG-13! I was uncomfortable and so were my husband and three boys. I...

READ PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
BY IMNDANCE
If you liked this movie you obviously have a lot of problems! I never have seen a movie that was soooo depressing. I HATED this movie. This movie was definately NOT a comedy. On Christmas day, I...

IT WAS JUST OK FOR ME~
BY LUVDATENITES
There was too much story in too little time and definitely not for little ones! It was way too much movie for them, from the story line to the adult content. This was one I wish I'd waited to RENT~...

.THE WORLD'S BEST DOG .
BY MELADAWY
Best Christmas movie ever. Moving story that touches the heart and is so real. I cried so much but I loved Marley and his family. Marley is a great dog...

MARLEY AND ME GREAT FAMILY MOVIE
BY CAB2DKB
What a great movie to take the family to, this movie has everything, comedy, drama, and a good story line. I would love to see more movies made like this in the future. i think this one could win...




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-voters-should-take-a-hard-look-at-clinton-emails-report/

Sanders: Voters should take a "hard look" at Clinton emails report
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS FACE THE NATION
May 29, 2016, 10:01 AM

Play VIDEO -- Full interview: Bernie Sanders, May 29
Play VIDEO -- Sanders won't go after superdelegates from states Clinton won


Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said in an interview airing Sunday that voters will need to take a "hard look" at the State Department audit criticizing Clinton for her use of a private email server, but stopped short of going after her directly for it.

"The Inspector General just came out with a report, it was not a good report for Secretary Clinton. That is something that the American people, Democrats and delegates are going to have to take a hard look at," he said. "But for me right now, I continue to focus on how we can rebuild a disappearing middle class, deal with poverty, guarantee health care to all of our people as a right."

Back in the fall, at the first Democratic debate, Sanders famously said he was "sick and tired of hearing about [her] damn emails," and it's not an issue the Vermont senator has used against Clinton on the campaign trail.

Sanders said he believes he doesn't have to focus superdelegates' attention on the IG report.

"They will be keeping it in mind. I don't have to tell them that," Sanders said. "I mean, everybody in America is keeping it in mind, and certainly the superdelegates are."

Despite the steep mathematical odds facing him for the Democratic nomination, Sanders said he would not try to get the support of superdelegates in states Hillary Clinton won overwhelmingly. He has focused his efforts on trying to flip superdelegates in states where he won big victories.

"Hillary Clinton won Mississippi by a huge vote. Should I convince super delegates there to vote for me when she won that state overwhelmingly? No, I shouldn't," he said in a Saturday interview for CBS "Face the Nation."

"But we won states -- you know -- like Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire in landslide victories," he continued. "And I do believe that the super delegates, whether it's Clinton's or mine -- states that we won -- super delegates in states where a candidate wins a landslide victory should listen to the people in those states and vote for the candidate chosen by the people."

He addressed the influence of superdelegates, saying the primary process isn't "rigged" against him because of superdelegates--just that it's "dumb."

"You have a situation where over 400 super delegates came on board Clinton's campaign before anybody else was in the race, eight months before the first vote was cast," he said. "That's not rigged, I think it's just a dumb process which has certainly disadvantaged our campaign."

The Vermont senator, whose campaign has been sustained by record small-dollar donations, said he is the candidate with grassroots enthusiasm--and that an uninspiring Clinton at the top of the ticket could keep Democratic turnout low in November.

"We have the energy and enthusiasm in our campaign that Clinton's campaign frankly in my view does not have. That can generate a large voter turnout in November," he said. "Democrats win when the voter turnout is high. We can generate that. Republicans win when the voter turnout is low. Frankly, I don't know that Secretary Clinton's campaign can create a high voter turnout."

Sanders reiterated that he would not depend on any super PACs in the general election if he were to be the Democratic nominee, despite the billions of dollars that will be spent on the Republican side.

"Right, we will continue what we are doing. We will depend on the middle class," he said. "And an incredible number of small individual campaign contributions is how we'll fund our campaign and it is how we will win the national election."



“Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said in an interview airing Sunday that voters will need to take a "hard look" at the State Department audit criticizing Clinton for her use of a private email server, but stopped short of going after her directly for it. "The Inspector General just came out with a report, it was not a good report for Secretary Clinton. That is something that the American people, Democrats and delegates are going to have to take a hard look at," he said. "But for me right now, I continue to focus on how we can rebuild a disappearing middle class, deal with poverty, guarantee health care to all of our people as a right." …. Despite the steep mathematical odds facing him for the Democratic nomination, Sanders said he would not try to get the support of superdelegates in states Hillary Clinton won overwhelmingly. He has focused his efforts on trying to flip superdelegates in states where he won big victories. "Hillary Clinton won Mississippi by a huge vote. Should I convince super delegates there to vote for me when she won that state overwhelmingly? No, I shouldn't," he said in a Saturday interview for CBS "Face the Nation." "But we won states -- you know -- like Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire in landslide victories," he continued. "And I do believe that the super delegates, whether it's Clinton's or mine -- states that we won -- super delegates in states where a candidate wins a landslide victory should listen to the people in those states and vote for the candidate chosen by the people." …. "We have the energy and enthusiasm in our campaign that Clinton's campaign frankly in my view does not have. That can generate a large voter turnout in November," he said. "Democrats win when the voter turnout is high. We can generate that. Republicans win when the voter turnout is low. Frankly, I don't know that Secretary Clinton's campaign can create a high voter turnout."


Just like Charlie Brown, Bernie’s a good man! He’s fair, even to Hillary and the DNC, who haven’t been fair to him. Hillary's a creature of the moment, and I don’t deeply dislike her. I just don’t trust her, or respect her as much as I used to. She and Bill were a good pair, but on her own she has often been disappointing to me. The DNC is another matter, however. If things are as they seem to me to be, and the DNC has gone lock stock and barrel over to the Dark Side, they will lose many members within the next year or so, and there will be a Draft Bernie movement, even if he himself is not actively promoting it. If he does step to the lead, the DNC is going to face that party split that, if they are smart, they will fear. They will do well to give Bernie what he wants in the way of fair representation in this convention and in the future. He has been an important champion for democracy and the needs of the many over those of the few.

Trust me, there are few if any among the Republicans who will do anything to help the poor, and the groundswell of deep discontent will simply continue grow. I pray in my Unitarian way for the future of our country. On the fate of nations, see the Wikipedia article below on Tytler, who seems to have been a great man in his own time, though I had never heard of him. I had only heard the statement that a democracy can only last around 200 years. He actually said that democracies WILL degenerate back to a situation of “bondage” for the citizens. I can see from this article that his work has been studied by those who fear the welfare state or a condition of Socialism - conservatives in other words. For myself, I’m just so tired of the vileness in a condition of unqualified rule by any other form than a democratic one that I’m ready to move from a usually conservative Republic to a true democracy. These may or may not be his words, they have been attributed to another man also, but whatever is correct about that, they are arresting. I think that if we keep on top of our game we can make it without giving in to some despot. Ponder Donald Trump in connection with this. It isn’t just that I think his thinking pattern is chaotic, but that he is so willful and vengeful to those who dispute his right to absolute power. He was at his top when he was on the ridiculous TV show telling people with great relish, “You’re fired!”


Wikipedia Excerpt -- “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilisations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler

Alexander Fraser Tytler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee FRSE (15 October 1747 – 5 January 1813) was a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who served as Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.[1]

Life[edit]

Tytler was born in Edinburgh, the eldest son of William Tytler of Woodhouselee (author of Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots) and his wife, Ann Craig of Costerton.[2]

In 1780 he was appointed joint professor of Civil History at Edinburgh University. In 1790 he became Judge Advocate of Scotland. In 1802 he became a Lord of Session in the Scottish Courts, with the judicial title Lord Woodhouselee.[3]

Tytler's other positions included Senator of the College of Justice and George Commissioner of Justiciary in Scotland.[4] Tytler was a friend of Robert Burns, and prevailed upon him to remove lines from his poem "Tam o' Shanter" which were insulting to the legal and clerical professions.[5]

He died at his townhouse on Princes Street in Edinburgh and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. The vault lies on the west side of the section known as the Covenanter's Prison which is generally closed to public view.[2]

Translation[edit]

Tytler wrote a treatise that is important in the history of translation theory, the Essay on the Principles of Translation (London, 1791).[6] It has been argued in a 1975 book by Gan Kechao that Yan Fu's famous translator's dictum of fidelity, clarity and elegance came from Tytler.

Tytler said that translation should fully represent the 1) ideas and 2) style of the original and should 3) possess the ease of original composition.

Quotations on democracy[edit]

In his Lectures, Tytler displayed a cynical view of democracy in general and representative democracies such as republics in particular. He believed that "a pure democracy is a chimera", and that "All government is essentially of the nature of a monarchy".[7]

In discussing the Athenian democracy, after noting that a great number of the population were actually enslaved, he went on to say, "Nor were the superior classes in the actual enjoyment of a rational liberty and independence. They were perpetually divided into factions, which servilely ranked themselves under the banners of the contending demagogues; and these maintained their influence over their partisans by the most shameful corruption and bribery, of which the means were supplied alone by the plunder of the public money".[7]

Speaking about the measure of freedom enjoyed by the people in a republic or democracy, Tytler wrote, "The people flatter themselves that they have the sovereign power. These are, in fact, words without meaning. It is true they elected governors; but how are these elections brought about? In every instance of election by the mass of a people—through the influence of those governors themselves, and by means the most opposite to a free and disinterested choice, by the basest corruption and bribery. But those governors once selected, where is the boasted freedom of the people? They must submit to their rule and control, with the same abandonment of their natural liberty, the freedom of their will, and the command of their actions, as if they were under the rule of a monarch".[8]

Tytler dismisses the more optimistic vision of democracy by commentators such as Montesquieu as "nothing better than an Utopian theory, a splendid chimera, descriptive of a state of society that never did, and never could exist; a republic not of men, but of angels", for "While man is being instigated by the love of power—a passion visible in an infant, and common to us even with the inferior animals—he will seek personal superiority in preference to every matter of a general concern".[9]

"Or at best, he will employ himself in advancing the public good, as the means of individual distinction and elevation: he will promote the interest of the state from the selfish but most useful passion of making himself considerable in that establishment which he labors to aggrandize. Such is the true picture of man as a political agent”.[9]

That said however, Tytler does admit that there are individual exceptions to the rule, and that he is ready to allow "that this form of government is the best adapted to produce, though not the most frequent, yet the most striking, examples of virtue in individuals”, paradoxically because a "democratic government opposes more impediments to disinterested patriotism than any other form. To surmount these, a pitch of virtue is necessary which, in other situations, where the obstacles are less great and numerous, is not called in to exertion. The nature of a republican government gives to every member of the state an equal right to cherish views of ambition, and to aspire to the highest offices of the commonwealth; it gives to every individual of the same title with his fellows to aspire at the government of the whole”.[10]

Tytler believed that democratic forms of government such as those of Greece and Rome have a natural evolution from initial virtue toward eventual corruption and decline. In Greece, for example, Tytler argues that "the patriotic spirit and love of ingenious freedom ... became gradually corrupted as the nation advanced in power and splendor”.[11]

Tytler goes on to generalise: "Patriotism always exists in the greatest degree in rude nations, and in an early period of society. Like all other affections and passions, it operates with the greatest force where it meets with the greatest difficulties ... but in a state of ease and safety, as if wanting its appropriate nourishment, it languishes and decays”. ... "It is a law of nature to which no experience has ever furnished an exception, that the rising grandeur and opulence of a nation must be balanced by the decline of its heroic virtues”.[11]

Misattribution[edit]

The following quotation has been attributed to Tytler, although it has also been occasionally attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville:[citation needed]

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilisations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

This text was popularised as part of a longer piece commenting on the 2000 U.S. presidential election, which began circulating on the Internet during or shortly after the election's controversial conclusion.[12]

There is no reliable record of Alexander Tytler's having written any part of the text.[12] In fact, it actually comprises two parts which didn't begin to appear together until the 1970s. The first paragraph's earliest known appearance[13] is in an op-ed piece by Elmer T. Peterson in the 9 December 1951 The Daily Oklahoman, which attributed it to Tytler:

Two centuries ago, a somewhat obscure Scotsman named Tytler made this profound observation: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy”.[14]

The list beginning "From bondage to spiritual faith" is commonly known as the "Tytler Cycle" or the "Fatal Sequence". Its first known appearance was in a 1943 speech by Henning W. Prentiss, Jr., president of the Armstrong Cork Company and former president of the National Association of Manufacturers, delivered at the February 1943 convocation of the General Alumni Society of the University of Pennsylvania. The speech was subsequently published under the titles "The Cult of Competency"[15] and "Industrial Management in a Republic".[16]