"Stupid Black Nigger"

Well, what a way to welcome black history month, right? Needless to say, the individual behind that outburst earned himself a high-level referral. It went something like this: he and a crowd of other kids were walking around the blacktop (heh) for PE, which I was subbing for. As they passed me, that comment was directed at me. Anyone who knows me knows that it takes a lot to ruffle my feathers. That's not likely to unless....you do it again! On their inaugural passage, I had not actually been identify the culprit.

So as they passed on their second round, all seemed well. But while I appeared to be just nonchalantly standing keeping watch of the general surroundings, I was keen to their presence. I'd been hoping that maybe my hearing had just been off and I was just thinking of Uncle Ruckus. But then, thinking he'd past out of sight, he decided to say it again. Except since I was watching this time, I was of course ready, I observed him.

I called him over to discuss the matter. An apology and a timeout were all that I felt were necessary at that point, but I had no intention of actually filling out a referral. However, he immediately decided to play dumb and claimed he had no idea what I was talking about because he didn't do anything. In fact, he "didn't know" that anything had bee done. Ok cool, then you'll have no problem telling me who did do it. "Did what?" So, it's come to this. You know what, just go take a timeout. "No, I didn't do anything" he said and proceeded to waltz back over to the group.

Third time's the charm. When the came by again, called him over again we discussed it with his actual PE teacher. He continued to pretend he had no idea what was going on, which was fine. He had history with the teacher, so she already was not surprised*. The group psychology of the crowd he was walking with also said that he was the culprit. At that point, his teacher gave him an offer that he simply couldn't refuse: go to timeout.

After class, I filled out the referral. He'll undoubtedly get in trouble for it [I included the language], maybe suspended. As a black boy, that doesn't bode well for his chances to join Psy at UCLA. As it turns out from talking to the teacher, he has had tense moments with her in the past as well. But what separated this one for me was not the words he used; I could really care less about that. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm quite liberal in my use of the word "nigger" and any of its derivatives. The issue here was the utter lack of respect. Had he apologized, he could've just finished PE on timeout and called it a day. Instead, he got a referral added to that because he still had to finish PE on timeout. Ciao.

*The eleven month spell check delay.

Long Hiatus

Still under construction.

Well folks, it certainly may seem that I've been on a long hiatus. Which I have. Not because I've been anywhere exciting or exotic, I just haven't taken the time to post new material here. But in concerance, I have also been posting on several of my other blogs and don't have the time to necessarily keep all of them up to date each and every single day. Maybe one day, someone will pay me to write blogs all day long. Until that time, sporadic posting will continue. However, please feel free to check the other ones out. They're listed below for your perusing convenience.

Marven's Money Musings - Personal finance blog nominally aimed at the part of society that seems left out of usual personal finance disucssions. This is the blog I update most often and has the most development.

Marven's Political Ponderings - The place where I occasionally let the world know how I feel about various topics in the quasi-political sphere. I'd update it more often, but responding to the perpetual nonsense takes up real amounts of my time. I hope to update it more often by not trying to make each one an minibook.

flight [b]log - Blogging about my flight training and flying experiences. Getting my pilot's license has always been a dream of mine and I want to share the magic of flight with everyone. Unfortunately, I haven't flown regularly in about 20 months, so that's about how long it's been since it had any regularity of updates.

I am also looking to develop a new separate site that would combine all four of my blogs under one banner. That would eliminate the problem I currently have of blogs that are virtually orphaned due to not being updated in a year or more. If anyone of you has experience with that sort of thing, point me to resources in the comments and/or shoot me an email so I can get on with that project. I don't have a definite timetable set, but hopefully by time the next decade starts, it'll be done. That is all.

Image sourced from State Library and Archives of Florida.

Hawker-Beechcraft Has Gone Off the Deep End

Wait, let me get this straight. Hawker-Beechcraft filed for bankruptcy protection a month or two ago, presumably because the company is bleeding cash faster than the Fed (and unlike the Fed, can't just print more...). Now, the same "management" that was in place then is asking for performance bonuses that may total up to 200% annual salary for execs and managers to retain "top talent"?! I'm sorry, but what exactly have they performed, beyond apparently running a company into the ground?That is an outrage, and the city of Wichita would do well to instate taxes like New York City did in 2008/2009 to tax the living daylights out of any bonuses paid to that management crowd. Considering that Hawker execs have precipitated quite a few rounds of layoffs recently, this is a direct slap in the face for all those laid off as well as a warning to all current employees.
With that in mind, any bonuses paid should start at the bottom of payroll. I assume they're all performing well, considering that they're still showing up to work daily despite being uncertain if they'll even have a job tomorrow. In fact, start at the list of people who've been laid off. Send them all a check for 2x their last year's salary. Then continue on to current employees. Send them a check now for twice their annual salary as well. Do the same for the low-level managers. Mid-level managers are entitled to up to 150% their annual salary as incentive to not let their bosses screw them over. But moving into top-level managers, max of 100% of salary. And I'd be loath to send anything to the executives at the top who made all the decisions leading to the demise to begin with. If they want to jump ship, so be it. They obviously haven't been doing a great job anyway, so I'm sure there's plenty more actual talent out there who can properly run a company.
As an aspiring pilot, I will be forced to take my flying business elsewhere if these bonuses are approved for the management but not for employees and I will encourage any and everyone I meet to do the same as well. This is an egregious affront on American workers in Wichita and all throughout the Hawker-Beechcraft supply chain. The elected representatives in Kansas should lend their voice to the cause of the American workers as well.

Totally Awesome Fireworks Montage!

the potential for out-of-control laughter in exactly one week has just been increased 10-fold