Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 28, 2011

14

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 28, 2011

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

Mountain 
Views

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Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

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Richard Garcia

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Lina Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Contributors

Teresa Baxter

Pat Birdsall

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Glenn Lambdin

Greg Wellborn

Ralph McKnight

Trish Collins

Pat Ostrye

Dorothy White

Webmaster

John Aveny 

WHAT DO YOU THINK 
ABOUT THIS THING 
CALLED LIFE? 

After all it is the name of this column and probably 
for that reason alone it merits a little thought. Oh 
there are other reasons. Being alive is something we 
all share until we don’t. It is a gift we have all received 
and, like so many other gifts, it is a present that we are 
not exactly clear on how to use it. I have for a long 
time been amused by the fact that the word “L I V E’ spelled backwards is 
“E V I L”.

Yes, evil or the experience of evil is definitely a part of life. But everything 
can’t be evil because if everything is evil than there is no evil if you 
understand what I mean. In order for evil to exist there must be its opposite—
let’s call it “G O O D”. 

Americans, and just about everybody else I guess, have been struggling 
with questions about good and evil from the very beginning. Recently, I 
have become immersed in the works and life of Thomas Paine, one of the 
most important, and today one of the most forgotten, of our founding-
fathers. Since most of us are American-History challenged I’m sure you 
will forgive me for reminding you that no political writer ever made a more 
immediate impact on his own time than Tom Paine. Today he is acknowledged 
to be the spokesman, the pamphleteer of the American Revolution. 
He explained in direct and simple words why Freedom was a worthy goal, 
a goal worth fighting for. His Pamphlet entitled Common Sense is said 
to have been read by or read to everyone who adhered to the cause of 
Independence. 

During the winter of 1776 George Washington’s troops were in such 
miserable conditions that even Washington himself expressed private 
doubts about their prospects. Paine, serving under Washington was asked 
by the Commander to write something to give energy to the exhausted, 
freezing, and unpaid troops. Legend has it that by firelight and writing on 
the head of a drum Thomas Paine composed the following:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the 
sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country: 
but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. 
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with 
us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we 
obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”

Contrast these words with the words attributed to Robert Redford’s 
character in the film The Way We Were. “Like his country, everything 
came too easy to him.” These words written by Thomas Paine and uttered 
by Robert Redford’s character (I love the juxtaposition of such unlikely 
bedfellows) always are bouncing around in my head and together comprise 
a significant portion of my overall view of life. What is Good is to act in 
service of one’s highest principles, I substitute this set of principles for the 
concept of “Country” although I maintain a deep belief that my principles 
are the same as the basic principles upon which this country was founded 
although these principles are chronically obscured. They remain obscured 
today by the constant deluge of misinformation that surrounds us. Many 
of us, I am sure, are so confused that we have little awareness of our own 
core values. 

The problem today for many of us is that things have come to us too 
easily. We believe ourselves to be entitled to Comfort and ease and even 
security as an inalienable right; and we are all too ready to abandon our 
principles, even when we are aware of them, when they conflict with our 
comfort. This is not what is said in the Constitution or the Declaration of 
Independence or anywhere else. The Gift of Life spoken of above carries 
with it some responsibilities. I believe this gift requires that like the Hippocratic 
Oath taken by Doctors that we first strive to do no harm and that 
secondly we have some sense of what is good and direct our life’s efforts 
toward that good.

I believe that to fight tyranny and be on the side of Good we have the 
responsibility to notice what is going on around us. We must be informed 
and we must try and educate ourselves and not rely on others to do it. For 
me life is not about amusement and diversion. It is not about maximizing 
profits and wealth for ourselves. It is about taking care of loved ones, and 
maintaining strong relationships, and keeping oneself healthy and, whenever 
possible, being considerate of one another as we recognize and value 
the life of every other individual. Time has shown that these simple goals 
are not easily achieved. It is necessary to make the effort to stay awake and 
aware and to stand for something. As far as I am concerned, that is pretty 
much what is to be pursued during that brief time between birth and death 
which is our life.

Failing Charter Schools: Do we 

really want business-managed 
education for our kids?


Make no mistake about 
it charter schools are about 
money -- saving money for 
school districts and making 
money for charter school 
operators. Don’t be misled 
by buzzwords like “school reform”, “cost efficient”, 
or “high performing”. Charter schools, which are 
publicly funded but run independently by private 
operators, are about one thing -- the bottom line

In order for investors to make profits, charter 
schools, which are funded on the same basis as public 
schools, have to cut operating costs. Proponents 
argue that this can be done by eliminating waste, 
running schools more efficiently and innovating. 

The evidence suggests it is done by hiring less 
experienced teachers, paying teachers and non-
teaching staff less, reducing equipment and book 
budgets, having larger classes, and avoiding high 
cost special education, which public schools are 
obligated to provide. 

Few charters offer a school lunch program or 
bus transportation for students in outlying areas. 
Expensive extracurricular programs such as sports 
are limited, if not altogether non-existent. 

Because the public funding of charter schools 
does not cover the cost of infrastructure such as 
school buildings, and most investors are unwilling 
to pay these large capital costs up front, charter 
schools either lease space from districts in existing 
schools (preferably new ones) or house themselves 
in buildings that are inappropriate, such as disused 
warehouses or churches.

Charter school companies also cut costs by 
centralizing administration costs and standardizing 
the curriculum across a number of school districts 
so they can take advantage of economies of scale 
in their purchase and distribution of educational 
materials and equipment. For this reason there is a 
tendency for franchises to develop.

There have been several examples in recent years 
of charter schools failing on financial grounds and 
experiencing various financial problems. In 2003, 
31 charter schools in California “had their charters 
revoked for fiscal improprieties, substandard 
academic performance or other shortcomings.” 

In 2010, Stanford University Department 
of Education’s prestigious New School in East 
Palo Alto, founded by Professor Linda Darling-
Hammond, a leader in the school reform movement 
and President Obama’s advisor on education during 
his transition, was denied extension of its charter 
after ranking in the state’s lowest 20% of schools. 

The stats on charter school failures is telling. 
According to the California Department of 
Education website which lists every charter school 
in the state, 25% of the 1,152 charter schools opened 
since the first charter opened in 1992 have either 
been closed or had their charters revoked. 

Looking at charter high schools covering grades 
9-12 the figures are much worse. Currently there 
are 112 active and 45 closed, inactive or revoked 
charters. That means only 157 of the 1,152 charter 
schools in California are charter high schools. And 
of those 157 charter high schools, 29% have been 
closed for one reason or another. The numbers are 
not much better for charter high schools just getting 
started -- for example, this year there have been 19 
charters with just grades 9 and 10, but nine months 
later only 12 are still active.

There is also the temptation for profit-driven 
charter companies that are having difficulty making 
a profit, to exercise fraud in order to maintain or 
increase their funding. If this means cheating 
on state tests or fraudulently inflating student 
performance the attitude is “just don’t get caught.” 
Oversight and accountability clearly have not 
caught up to the growth of the Charter Movement. 

With all this loose change laying around, is 
it any wonder that a few in the charter business 
succumb to the temptation of stealing some of 
it for themselves? Take the case of Edward Peter 
Fiszer, principal at New Academy Canoga Park 
Charter School -- one of Los Angeles Unified School 
District’s 152 charters. According to authorities, in 
2008 and 2009, Fiszer embezzled a whopping $2.8 
million! And lest we forget, this was our money he 
stole.

My point is this: Charter schools are not the 
silver bullets they’re cracked up to be, and that the 
bottom line -- earnings over expenditures -- is not a 
good enough reason to turn over our public schools 
to a bunch of politically well-connected, greedy, 
often disreputable, sometimes criminal, education 
entrepreneurs. 

Our kids deserve better than a business-managed 
education whose primary objective is not nurturing 
learning but making money! 

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There, I’ve Said It Again


RICH Johnson

Having started 
my column in early 2007, 
your intrepid columnist is a 
little fuzzy on exactly what he 
has covered over the span of 
200+ submissions. It is certainly 
inevitable, from time to 
time, that yours truly might 
be redundant. And for that I 
apologize. 

That being said, I want to pontificate on a subject 
that is near and dear to me: The issue of conflict. 
Don’t worry as I will end this column with a few 
memorable, and hopefully, funny, inane questions.

With the possible exception of the true sociopath, 
most of us employ considerable time and effort working 
to avoid, eliminate and minimize conflict. And 
that is a good thing especially the conflict that comes 
as a byproduct of our stupidity. However, not only 
is some conflict unavoidable, in the bigger picture 
conflict is necessary. I want to shift your paradigm 
regarding conflict. In other words I want to radically 
change your underlying beliefs regarding conflict. 

What is the opposite of conflict? Not so fast. I can 
see you in the back waving your hand. What’s your 
answer? Louder! Did you say “Peace and serenity?” 
Well, that’s the paradigm I am trying to shift. The opposite 
of conflict is boredom. Really! Think about it. 
What happens when you master a video game. It becomes 
boring. What happens when you play tennis 
with someone who has no chance of beating you? It 
becomes boring. So, we get the new version of the 
video game that moves faster or has meaner baddies. 
And we seek out a tennis partner who can clean our 
clock. Folks, we have reintroduced conflict into our 
midst. The more we can successfully view our conflict 
as challenge the more manageable it becomes. Now, if 
only I could get there : (

Now some imponderables to munch on:

Why is the third hand on the watch called the second 
hand?

Why do we say something is out of whack? What 
is a whack?

Why does ‘fat chance’ and ‘slim chance’ mean the 
same thing?

Why do we call them ‘stands’ at the ballpark when 
they are made for sitting?

Why is it called ‘after dark’ when it is really ‘after 
light’?

Doesn’t ‘expecting the unexpected’ make the unexpected 
expected?

Why is ‘phonics’ not spelled the way it sounds?

Why is bra singular and panties plural?

How come abbreviated is such a long word?

Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments 
in a suitcase?

Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word lisp?

How do dead bugs get into enclosed light fixtures?

Finally, they say statistically, that one out of every 
four persons suffers from some sort of mental illness. 
Think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then 
it’s you. Have a good week.

The famous French poet, statesman 
and human rights activist 

Victor-Marie Hugo 

said “There is nothing as powerful as 
an idea whose time has come.” Prepare 
yourselves my fellow Southern Californians, 
we will soon have to change our 
behavior to embrace a mass transit system. 
Considered the capital of American 
car culture, Southern California is well known for motorists 
who love their automobiles. The shift in behavior from independent 
private mobility to public mass transit will not be easy.

We, Southern Californians, live in the most populated state in 
America. Since there is no “extensive” mass transit system available 
in Southern California, it is understandable why millions 
of us drive our automobiles to and from our daily activities. We 
endure the negative effects of traffic, angry motorists and carbon 
emissions while pondering when will a paradigm shift - in terms 
of our mobility – occur from the use of our iconic automobiles 
to a much needed mass transit system.

Recently, I had the enviable task of driving southbound on 
Southern California 405 Freeway. After driving about five minutes 
in bumper to bumper traffic (5 miles per hour), I decided 
to move over into the car pool lane, since my friend Bobby Holland 
was riding in the car with me. Once in the car pool lane, 
we drove non stop at about 50 miles per hour passing over 500 
cars. I remembered observing that 99.5% of the cars we passed 
had one passenger – the driver. As much as I have driven on 
California Freeways, it has now become very evident to me that 
there are too many one passenger cars (mine included) on our 
highways. Something has to be done since California is a sprawling 
state connected by many freeways and no new highways are 
being built.

Even though some community outreach campaigns are taking 
place regarding mass transit future in California, much more has 
to be done to reduce the appetite we have for driving our one 
passenger automobiles. The Transportation Officials, who are 
promoting the benefits of shifting to a mass transit system, must 
do a better job connecting with the masses of motorists who are 
reluctant to use public transportation. 

In the meanwhile, the elephant remains in the room and it is 
growing larger.

Curbing Bad Behavior:

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

 by Ron Carter


ONE WORD IS NOT 

IN MY VOCABULARY

I have long been an avid 
reader of Webster’s New 
World dictionary of the 
American language. My 
well-thumbed copy suggests 
I have done a lot of 
reading in it. It is the one 
book within easy reach of 
my study. Although I enjoy 
reading it, it does not have 
much of a plot.

Whenever I get the idea 
that I know many words, 
and people can be proud of stupid things like this, 
I pull down my dictionary and begin reading. Although 
I have read it many times before, I always 
run across an unfamiliar word. I cannot tell you 
how many words there are in my dictionary, but 
suffice to say there is a lot.

I am always interested in new words. I like to research 
the history of a new word, what it means and 
how to use it in conversation and writing. Then, like 
the egotistical fool I am, I like to mystify some of my 
friends by dropping this new word casually into the 
conversation whether it fits or not.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has a 
word for this, but I am not allowed to repeat it in 
polite company. Quite often, she will say, “You know 
what you can do with that new word, don’t you?” I 
really don’t, but I don’t let on that I don’t. It is not 
that I am at a loss for words; I just have a growing 
appreciation for life.

Of all the words in my vocabulary, only a few I refuse 
to use. In fact, some of them have been deleted 
and defriended from my memory.

The main word I refer to as the “B” word. It is 
absolutely anathema in my presence. Not only do 
I refrain from using it, but also I appreciate people 
around me not using it either. As far as I am concerned, 
it has no place in the English language.

All was going well until several weeks ago some 
friends of ours and my wife and I went out for dinner 
together. My wife and I do not often treat ourselves 
to a leisurely lunch where we can just enjoy 
fellowship.

We were seated at a very nice table and the waitress 
came around and took our drink orders. In 
the meantime, we set back, relaxed and prepared 
ourselves for a nice time together of dining and 
fellowship.

When two preachers get together there just is no 
way to stop them from talking until somebody says, 
“I think it’s time to take up an offering.” That is the 
key phrase for every pastor to be quiet. It is a well-
established phrase in all pastors vocabulary.

It was not long before the waitress came back to 
take our meal order. Everybody ordered and then 
my turn came. All I really wanted was a nice roast 
beef and a salad. However, I needed to order a second 
side dish with my meal. I did not want anything 
else.

It was at this time that my wife spoke up. “Order 
a vegetable medley and I’ll eat it.” I am not too keen 
when it comes to vegetable dishes but I decided to 
go along with the plan. It is important to have a 
plan. More important is the one who makes up the 
plan. And since it was my wife, how could I refuse.

Having taken our order, the waitress whirled 
around and took our order back to the kitchen for 
preparation. We all went back to our delightful conversation. 
It is at times like this when I am not too 
concerned about how fast the meal comes out.

It was not long before the waitress returned with 
our meals in hand. She gave each one their plates 
and mine was last. Being too busy talking, I did not 
realize what she set before me. After all, I knew what 
I ordered. Then someone prayed.

When I opened my eyes and looked at my plate 
all I could do was gasp. The “B” word came leaping 
to my lips and it was all I could do to bite my tongue 
to keep from pronouncing it in public. When tragedy 
strikes it usually strikes out with me.

There on my plate next to my roast beef was the 
vegetable medley. Now, a vegetable medley can be 
many things. I never stopped to think or even to ask 
what the vegetable medley was all about. After all, I 
was not going to eat it.

There on my plate, in plain sight for everybody to 
see and sneer at, was a mixture of vegetables that included 
BROCCOLI. The horrid “B” word. To make 
matters worse, as if they could get any worse, this 
vegetable medley was actually touching my roast 
beef.

All I can say is, that vegetable medley was not 
singing my song. My good wife came to my rescue 
and removed the entire vegetable medley. Who is 
the rational-challenged chef who dreamed up such 
a concoction of vegetables?

At that moment, I needed a word, but from my 
dictionary. I needed a word from the Bible. “And the 
LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall 
deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because 
they trust in him” (Psalm 37:40 KJV).

Some words have a way of catching up with you, 
but God’s Word has a delightful way of holding us 
up in the most difficult of times.

The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 
1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives with his 
wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 
or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is www.
whatafellowship.com.

REV James L. Snyder 


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