Fresno County California school Superintendent Larry Powell is willing to take an $800,000 pay-cut over the next three years to help save programs in his district from budget cuts.

Fresno County California school Superintendent Larry Powell is willing to take an $800,000 pay-cut over the next three years to help save programs in his district from budget cuts.

As our country celebrates this Veterans Day, all of us should reflect on some sobering realities.  Over 1.7 million men and women have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the past seven years, nearly half from the National Guard and Reserves.  Almost one-half of the members of the National Guard and Reserves return from deployments experiencing some form of post-combat psychological injury.  Frontline combat units of the Army and Marine Corps are serving their fourth and fifth tours.  Recruitment standards have dropped to the point where less than 83% of Army recruits have high school diplomas.

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I got an urgent call last night from the Head of Obama's Chester County Offices.  They have NO volunteers to work the Coatesville area.  I, unfortunately, was not able to take off work, but if you have the time and the inclination and the ability, please contact the campaign headquarters and make calls and knock on doors to ensure that this area of Pennsylvania gets out to vote!  (Sorry the diary is so short, just felt it was important to get this message out!)

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So I was really discouraged recently over the turn the campaign was taking.  I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who felt this way.

I made the mistake of staying glued to the news broadcasts and talking head shows as wave after wave of political dysentary washed out of the ether and into my little existence.

Being demoralized kinda sucks, however I tried to wash it away by donating my time and money to the Obama campaing this week and that helped a bit.

Some folks have epiphanies in the shower, others gain insight on a long walk, My bright moment cam while choosing oranges at the market near my house:

McCain has decided that to win he has to be an asshole.

I'm not referring to the freindly, lets go have a beer, but he's my kind of asshole.  Rather McCain has decided to be the sneering overcompensating dick that pretty much everyone tries to get away from as fast as possible.

To throw even more levity into my realization, he's also decided to throw petulant child into the mix as well.  My four-year old starts to act out when she's not getting enough attention also, it just took me a little while to recognize McCain's behavior for what it is.

The trifecta is that unlike the swift-boat saga from four years ago, McCain is taking the asshole role onto himself.  Bush for all his myriad faults was smart enough to let someone else be the asshole in the campaign.  McCain either couldn't find anyone else willing to embrace their inner dick, or just couldn't keep his contained anymore.  

Will it fail, who knows?  But I gotta believe that a majority of the populace will grow quickly tired of the Sneering Petulant Asshole persona that has possessed Grampy as of late.

Just my two cents.

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