By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOFPublished: May 27, 2009
New York Times
  “If you want to tell whether someone is conservative or liberal, what are a couple of completely nonpolitical questions that will give a good clue?
  How’s this: Would you be willing to slap your father in the face, with his permission, as part of a comedy skit?
  And, second: Does it disgust you to touch the faucet in a public restroom?

  Studies suggest that conservatives are more often distressed by actions that seem disrespectful of authority, such as slapping Dad. Liberals don’t worry as long as Dad has given permission.
  Likewise, conservatives are more likely than liberals to sense contamination or perceive disgust. People who would be disgusted to find that they had accidentally sipped from an acquaintance’s drink are more likely to identify as conservatives.
  The upshot is that liberals and conservatives don’t just think differently, they also feel differently. This may even be a result, in part, of divergent neural responses.”
  More of this interesting piece here.

  As the issues come and go, as we delve into each others hearts, minds, souls and belief systems some (myself included) can get into “heated" discussions. Some speak of deeply held repulsions, ponder how others can be so inane as to not see the problem as they do…
I found this opinion piece to be quite remarkable. Bold and italics mine.

  “The larger point is that liberals and conservatives often form judgments through flash intuitions that aren’t a result of a deliberative process. The crucial part of the brain for these judgments is the medial prefrontal cortex, which has more to do with moralizing than with rationality. If you damage your prefrontal cortex, your I.Q. may be unaffected, but you’ll have trouble harrumphing.

One of the main divides between left and right is the dependence on different moral values. For liberals, morality derives mostly from fairness and prevention of harm. For conservatives, morality also involves upholding authority and loyalty — and revulsion at disgust.”

  The article links to the “disgust scale” test and a interesting site that involves moderates on both sides reaching out to each other to try to forge understanding,
www.civilpolitics.org  Considering the countless posters that have graced these pages only to never return, these subjects may be timely.

  It has been noted before, what is needed is to turn that eye inward to discover ones own prejudices. Knowing yourself truly helps nurture better relationships ,both in the real and the cyber world. Then understanding how Human Beings reach their conclusions~ all through that portal of flash intuition~ perhaps we can see the wisdom in refraining with being so harsh with each other.

  I am not stupid, obtuse, starry eyed, or defective in some other way~  just wired a bit differently than you, or you or even you.

Neither are you better, smarter, more logical~ just wired a bit different from me.

We all reach our conclusions through that "intuative portal" in our brains,not through reasoning.

  ““Minds are very hard things to open, and the best way to open the mind is through the heart,” Professor Haidt says. “Our minds were not designed by evolution to discover the truth; they were designed to play social games.””

My goal is to keep that last bit in front of my mind as I go about my life. The words “the spiritual warriors battle is always with herself” never rang clearer or with more truth.

Occasionally, due to marketing, the whims of the public an exceptional film gets lost. The Fall, 2006,(released in 2008) is one such film. If a long summer of “blockbusters” is a dim prospect to you ~ off to the rental store!  The screen lights up and suddenly you are transported to another world, another place….

As all good films should, this one starts with the words Los Angeles, once upon a time and the main characters take form before your eyes. Set in the 1920’s the tale turns around a love story, a recently paralyzed man, Roy (Lee Pace-Pushing Daises), a recuperating little girl, Alexandria (Catinaca Untaru), hope and despair.

Directed by Tarsem Singh (The Cell) this is a movie that not only expects you to follow the story, it believes you are intelligent enough to do so. If you have seen The Cell you know to expect visual glory~ though this is still a dark film, it is not horrific. Shot in 24 different countries, each location is almost a character, as the fantasy epic Roy tells to entice Alexandria is interspersed with the realities of a long hospital recovery. Beautiful, stunning, artistic, fantastic…..Tarsem Singh is a visual genius.

The DVD has a director’s commentary, along with commentaries by the Lee Pace and the writers and two behind the scenes documentaries, Wanderlust and Nostalgia. It is a rare film that has captured me so that I have sat through four hours of film and commentary~ and then woke up in the middle of the night needing to watch the story again.

I cannot recommend this film enough. Not for children, rated R, it clocks in at 1 hour and 57 minutes. Interestingly at rottentomatoes the critics gave it a 61% and the fans a 91%.

Thankfully my son had,for the most part ,really good teachers who loved their job and more importantly the children.

This GAO report shocked me,and every parent of a special needs child should read it. My "mothering " instinct,call it what you will, served me well. I spent most days in the classroom,helping with assorted things ,and that kept any rogue teachers and aides in line.

Speak up when things do not "feel right",I was known as a "troublesome" parent. Meaning my child felt loved and protected by me.

"Congressional auditors have uncovered widespread abuse of techniques use to restrain or discipline special-education students in U.S. schools, with some deaths linked to the practices, a top congressman says."

Read the complete article here.

"The Centennial School at Lehigh University serves severely emotionally disturbed children that have been passed from school to school, and even from juvenile justice centers. When school director Michael George came to Centennial in 1999, the school had documented more than 1,000 cases of restraint and seclusion that year. After the school revamped its approach, no such incidents were reported.

When they get to Centennial, students can be violent and aggressive. But instead of trying to force a chance in behavior, the school teaches the children new skills to get what they need. Children who might be violent because they are desperate to escape and uncomfortable task or environment learn to communicate their discomfort in nonviolent ways.

Children who need to move frequently -- a common trait with conditions such as autism -- are permitted to do so, then re-directed to the task at hand. Staff are forbidden from saying anything negative about the children, parents or other teachers, even among themselves.

And when a child acts violently, the staff is trained to step aside, rather than immediately attempt a potentially dangerous restraint. On a recent visit to the school, all students appeared to be calm and receptive to teachers.

The school's philosophy can be summed up in a question George likes to ask teachers interviewing for jobs there: Which teacher you remember most from your own childhood?

"No one ever mentions the person who yelled at them, who screamed at them, who told them to write a phrase a hundred times, who slammed them into closets, who was abrupt, who made them feel stupid. No one ever mentions those people," said George.

"Our job is to teach. Sometimes the children we are teaching here present extraordinary challenges; it can be very, very difficult. But that's the job we chose to do."

That's what we want in teachers, aides and other support staff~ especially for the most vulnerable.

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as "fun,watchable"....

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It is an outrage,I tell you!

;-)

Classic western tale of blood, lust and greed, six shooters, two sets of “bad” guys, samurai swords and a lone stranger who rides into town one day seeking gold ….what’s not to like?
Definitely not for the kiddies, but director Takashi Miike takes one on a stunning action packed ride. Beautifully shot, with much to see in each scene, clearly the writer and director are having fun with the East meets West elements. True you have seen this story before, but this is one entertaining film full of camp, good old-fashioned violence and some slapstick. Just sit back and relax is my advice on this one: sometimes it is all a film requires of you.
The rest of the movie is stylistically different from the clip, but the end explains all.

Rated R, 2 hrs, in English and with English subtitles, a “behind” the scenes feature. At RottenTomatoes the critics gave it a 62% but the fans rated it at 80%.

“Ringo (Tarantino): The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to be no more than dust before the wind.” Camp at it's best.

 

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WASHINGTON – Jack Kemp, the ex-quarterback, congressman, one-time vice-presidential nominee and self-described "bleeding-heart conservative" died Saturday.

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