I think, mentally, I remember everything  as "pre-" or "post-"  September 11, and I remember that day as vividly as I remember the assassination of President Kennedy.

This was a horrible time for America, we were scared and we lost confidence in ourselves.  But the one good thing that came from these horrible events were the selfless acts of heroism, of Jew helping Muslim, black helping white because really, with all the dust and death covering these fortunate survivors, you couldn't tell who was black, who was white; who was Muslim, who was Jew; who was Democrat, who was Republican- we were all equal and we needed each other's help.  The entire country sincerely grieved together; patriotism was at it's highest probably since WWII.  Then things went back to normal.

I sit on the front porch and contemplate my neighborhood.  There's a family to my left, I'm not sure if they are Republican or Democrat.  The family to my left are Hispanic; I'm not sure if they're "legal" or not.  Directly across from me is a family with a teenage girl; maybe she's on birth control.  There's a couple of guys in the house catacorner; they might be gay. The family next to them-the dad's always home; maybe they're on Welfare.   And next to them is a family with five kids; wonder what church they go to.  Guess what!!!  I don't give a big, whoop what they are as long as they are good neighbors and abide by the law.  I'm more prone to wonder if they have enough food to eat and that their kids do well in school, than worry about the "small stuff"...and Sug

If we have learned anything from 9/11 we know that as Americans if we brush ourselves off and get back on our collective feet, we can pull out of this "Great Recession"  and do about anything else we put our minds to.  We will survive, but we have to make careful decisions on how that survival will translate as the kind of world we leave our children.

Just dropped my granddaughter off at school.  Being as anal-retentive as I was with my daughter, I walk her to her classroom and pass her off personally to her teacher. 

What I see there is lots of happy kids, eager to learn the lessons of the day.  Teachers who are excited to be there and seem to really care about "their" kids and instill really neat ideas to help them learn.  For instance, instead of practicing their letters on the lined pads we used (back in the dark ages), they get to practice their letters by tracing them in shaving cream!!  I kid you not!!  These young teachers have some really neat ideas to get kids involved and have fun while they actually learn!  It's only been 2 weeks, but my granddaughter is really better at her letters, and can read simple words (she already had some of them like "play" and "exit" from our computer games we play together) and I am amazed.

As I drive away, this year's election is on my mind, again.  

Currently, Texas ranks:

•  49th in Verbal SAT Scores
  
• 46th in average Math SAT scores
• 36th in high school graduation rates (yep, that "No Child Left Behind" really worked!)
• 33rd in teacher salaries (avg. $48k annually)
• Texas ranks 6th in the nation in student growth, but ranks 40th in expenditures per pupil.  In 2005, Texas was the ONLY state to cut student expenditures
• Between FY 2002-2006, average cost at public universities rose 61%, and tuition at community colleges rose 51%

Globally, the United States ranks:

• 31st in K-12 education, due to low rankings in education expenditures
  
• 61st in teacher-to-student ratio 

In higher education, the US ranks

• #2 in student enrollment, but 74th in students graduating with engineering or science degrees

The United Stated ranks 46th in cost per student, based on % of GDP

Romney plans to enact sweeping cuts to education, proposes a voucher system (which does nothing to help public schools) and prefers privatizing schools.  Paul Ryan's plan cuts Pell Grants, but does nothing to reduce the cost of secondary education.  

President Obama's plan calls for:

• Continue funding of Head Start and public & private pre-K (crucial for young, rapidly developing minds)
• Higher standards and better assessments; replacing "No Child Left Behind"
• New attention to turn around low-performing schools
• Adding funding for more K-12 teachers
• Increasing the amount and number of Pell Grants available;
• Investing in community colleges
• income-based repayment of student loans

You can read more about Obama's vision for education at:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education. 
You can read more about Romney's vision for education at: ____________________________ (if he has one, I haven't heard about it, and I've done several internet searches.  I'm just going by Paul Ryan's budget, since Romney hasn't had an original thought since he started running for president 6 years ago.)

I don't hate rich people.  I think it's an American thing that we don't begrudge people wealth or success, because up until recently we thought we ALL had that opportunity.  

What I don't like is rich people being able to use their money to buy their kids out of jail, the influence of my Congressperson or Senator.  If the Koch brothers weren't such dirty rotten election-buying right-wing bastards, I wouldn't begrudge them a nickel of their Daddy's money.

In fact, if you think about it, all women really owe rich "society dames" a lot.  Since they rich, didn't have to work their hands to the bone, like my grandmothers, they had a lot of idle time on their hands.  Having nothing else to do, they got together and through much effort,  jail, being ostracized by their families and divorced by their husbands....on August 18, 1920 women finally got the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. I'm not being catty here, I mean it.  These ladies went through hell and back for the right for ALL women to vote, not just the rich.  We all owe them a lot, but not enough to vote for their husbands. 


So, thank you Mrs. Romney for that.  I really appreciate the opportunity given to me by women of means and plan on exercising it on November 6, 2012.