Assemblyman Norby Selects Freydel Bushala As His Woman of the Year

Our Friends over at the Orange Juice Blog just pointed out that Assemblyman Chris Norby has selected Freydel Bushala as his 2010 “Woman of the Year.” Bushala received the award from Mr. Norby yesterday at the Capitol in Sacramento. Norby said that Freydel was chosen because of her drive and ambition as a business owner, mother and involved community member.

Swine Flu 1976: Paranoia and Propaganda

Watch this CBS “60 Minutes” documentary on the swine flu epidemic of 1976. It went on air only once and was never shown again. This will shock you.

In the video, a government agent is caught lying to the public about risk of neurological disorders in subjects who took the swine flu vaccine. Mary Tyler Moore is interviewed after the government claimed that she took the swine flu as part of its widespread televised propaganda. She denies to the reporter that she ever took the swine flu.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has granted complete legal immunity to the manufacturer of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

Little Pawns in the Big School Budget Battle

“Our teacher is going out of business!”

Those were the words that came from an 8 year old child at Golden Hill Elementary on March 13th as the names of freshly pink-slipped teachers were posted on a special sandwich board in front of the school. Balloons and pink hearts marked the classrooms of teachers who were on the list. The children pondered aloud “Who’s going to play the guitar?” One distressed child finally announced “I’m packing up and going to where Mr. D goes. I’m running away.”

Pink hearts let the children know which teachers were given pink slips.
Pink hearts at Golden Hill Elementary let the children know which teachers were given pink slips.

While some Fullerton elementary schools protect their children from the politics of school funding, the faculty and PTA at Golden Hill Elementary decided to stage their own on-campus rally, dramatically putting their students on notice that unfortunate changes were ahead.

I understand the frustration and worry that teachers have about the district budget, but it is not right to flaunt a budget battle to an impressionable and captive audience on school grounds. Children deserve to know when something is going to change, but it needs to be presented in an encouraging way to ensure that each child can cope with the potential loss that may be ahead.

Child development experts express the importance of being sensitive when explaining job loss to young children. The most critical items on the list are: Be positive about the situation; leave out the gory details; don’t disrupt your child’s routine and keep everything as normal as possible. Since our teachers are required to take child development classes, most of them should know this, and yet all of this advice was ignored at the expense of our children on Pink Slip Day.

Young children were used
A young child holds up a sign at the pink slip protest in Downtown Fullerton on March 12th, 2009.

As teachers and parents continue to fight the noble political battle to keep our classrooms funded, they should be careful to hold our children’s emotional wellbeing above the fray.