FWCS Transportation FAIL

So my son had his first day of kindergarten yesterday. He really enjoyed it. In fact, he didn't even seem to mind it when on the way home the bus driver told him to get off the bus at the WRONG BUS STOP! Yes, that was the bus stop for his house. Of course the two forms we filled out, the two phone calls the previous week, his wrist bracelet, and the bus forms attached to his back pack and inside his back packs all said that he should go to the bus stop at his grandparent's house. Luckily we have an incredibly wonderful neighbor who saw him ringing the doorbell and was quick to invite him over until my parents were able to track him down.

Yes, we were all horrified. Except for FWCS Transportation of course. I mean after all, they transport 26,000 kids safely home everyday. Gosh, somehow that slipped through the cracks.

I'm assuming that "that" is a reference to my 5 year old son (trick #1- devalue the issue). So I'm guessing they are going to be surprised that I'm not going to praise them for transporting 25,999 kids home safely yesterday. Perhaps they were never really excited about the idea of "no child left behind."

Here's the transcript, unedited, of their response. Read it and weep, literally.

hi, this is Karen McComb, I'm a supervisor with Fort Wayne Community Schools Transportation Dept

i just wanted to touch base with you

it looks like cameron got off near his neighborhood or in his neighborhood or instead of getting off a grandmas yesterday

and i would like to apologize for the ball that got dropped there i dont know what happened

you know we do transport 26,000 kids safely so somehow that slipped through the cracks

it sounds like you've been very very thorough about getting that information to us so my apologies for of all for that

second of all, i wanted to let you know that this has been addressed with the driver

this driver is aware that cameron is to get off at grandma's house over there at Isle Pine Drive

and he's going to actually connect with cameron when he gets on the bus today at school today and talk to him and let him know that were going make sure and stay on the bus until he gets to grandmas

if you have any questions, you can call me at: 467-1917

and again my apologies for miscommunication - we are going to correct that.

thank you and have a nice day. bye.

11.09 am
8.25.09

Enjoying your change - Update

This was too good not to post for Christians who voted for Obama.  Here is his definition of a ProLife individual, found in a Department of Homeland Security document created on March 26, 2009 but released only recently:

ProLife- "A movement of groups or individuals who are virulently antiabortion and advocate violence against providers of abortion-related services, their employees, and their facilities. Some cite various racist and anti-Semitic beliefs to justify their criminal activities."

This would be the second time that someone from this administration has referred to pro-life people as extremists and terrorists (Google Janet Napolitano and ProLife).

So, if you believe that abortion is murder, you are a potential racist terrorist.  And the big debate today in Congress is that Democrats want protection for pedophiles included in the hate-crimes bill.  How's that for change you can believe in?

Environmentalists against Green Power

Issue 3 in the Politics and Christians series:  Despair.com makes a brilliant parody of Customer Service with their demotivator "Customer Disservice: because we aren't satisfied until you aren't satisfied." Liberalism takes it a step further in what I think has to be their unofficial definition of equality.  Equality for them is when everyone, including themselves, is unhappy.  No where is the case more evident than in a recent article regarding environmentalists and green power.

 Check out this link: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/05/environmentalists-wage-fight-obamas-energy-plan/

 Here is a taste:  "For decades, environmental groups have talked about 'big oil,' painting the petroleum industry as greedy and destructive. Now similar language is being applied to renewables. Instead of eco-friendly green power, increasingly it's 'big wind' and 'big solar.'"

 So, they convince a majority that the Global Warming farce is real, put in a Prez that fights for their cause, and now that he is implementing, they are actually upset about it. 

So my suggestion for Despair, Inc's next Demotivator-  Democrats:  We aren't happy, and you shouldn't be either.

Enjoying your change?

In honor of President Obama’s completion of 100 days in office, I present Issue 2 on Christians and Politics:  Prior to the election, I had a few Christian friends who felt they were progressive and open-minded enough to support Obama.  I love a good debate so we covered the usual ground of topics like government vs. business, abortion, compassion for the poor, same sex marriage and the like.  I remember particularly one common argument surrounding abortion: "we've had 3 presidents in the last 25+ years that were against abortion and it didn't change; Obama won't have an impact on that."  We often don’t take the time to consider the consequences of our actions.  So, 100 days after your winner has taken office, I thought it would be good to take a look at a couple changes you helped bring about.  After all, you voted for him, so you deserve the credit.

1. January 24 -President Obama struck down a rule that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family-planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion services.  Our taxes can now be used to abort children in countries like Mexico.

2. March 30 - Obama "fires" GM CEO.  Signalling the rise of Government control over business, I had joked with my friends that the only real precident for this would be Hugo Chavez's seizure of Cargill's Venezuelan operations or his nationalization of their petroleum industry.  When a few weeks later I saw that Obama was now shaking hands and befriending Chavez, it stopped being so funny. 

3. Apri 20 - White House asks Georgetown to hide the cross and pictorial representations of Jesus that were behind the podium where Obama was to speak.  The message seems to be that it is awesome to hang with poster-boy Socialists like Hugo Chavez, Raul Castro, Evo Morales, and Daniel Ortega but completely unacceptable to speak at a church that actually displays symbols of their beliefs.

4. April 21 - Obama Backs Off Support for Black Farmers Suing USDA for Discrimination. Support for the poor is apparently only an option if it helps advance the size of government, not penalizing the government for failing to live up to its promises. 

5. April 29 – Should the new Hate Bill pass today as expected, it could be used to label the words of pastors and Christians who speak out against homosexuality as hate speech.  Miss California’s genuine and fair remarks generated a response from people like Perez Hilton that is much closer to Hate speech than anything a pastor would say (unless he’s Jeremiah Wright).  Yet it seems to be accepted (if not encouraged).  We are getting closer to making it fashionable to persecute Christians and illegal to defend our faith.  Rome II.

6. Last 100 days – Obama’s actions seem to suggest that it will be the intent of this administration (and the followers on the left) to free the terrorists who have threatened our country and imprison those who have fought to defend our country.

So, thanks for the change.  Ok, that was obviously sarcastic.  But seriously, I don’t understand how choosing Obama showed how enlightened, compassionate, and progressive you are.  It just seems to me like the harder you try to be progressive and enlightened, the more out of touch with reality you are getting.  I don’t want to be judgmental but I do want to hold you accountable.  Honestly, are you enjoying the change? 

 

Taxing Charitable Donations

I'm going to start a new series of monologues that will be interspersed between other mindless ramblings titled "Should Christians be Democrats?" My main text will be 1 Samuel 8 if you're interested in reading up.  I'll end it later this year by presenting a case on why the phrase "God's in control" is not an excuse to politicians have their way with our country and why God truly desires us to stand up and lead our government- the intent of our Christian brethren who created this country.

I ranted about the community service issue on Nov. 12, 2008.  Today I want to focus on the plan to tax charitable deductions.  Obama wants to take the money that would have gone to charities and confiscate part of it for use by the federal government.  Let's pretend for a moment that the government is NOT historically wasteful in how it spends money and isn't setting new records in unwise stewardship.

Obama's solution is that the government can take care of the poor and needy.  I don't recall any speeches by Jesus stating that the Jews needed to look to the Romans for better treatment and care of the downtrodden; the Samaritan certainly wasn't a government official.  In scripture, we are commanded to take care of the poor and needy ourselves.  So now Obama wants to make it harder for people to do that.  I'm told that the tax only affects "Rich People" and certainly they can still donate.  Two convenient facts that seem to placate the majority as the government slowly but steadly wrestles control and responsibility from its citizenry.

It is not a Christian principle to turn over the responsibility of caring for the needy to the government.  It robs us of the joy and blessing gained from giving and changes the receiver's focus from God the provider to Government the provider.  So if these are the results of the program, how can a Christian willingly support it?  Sorry, you can't.  

He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.

1 Samuel 8: 17

New Year, New Blog, New Opportunities

Well, it is a new year and I guess I'm going to start it with the chance to create new opportunities. Well, to look for them anyway.  Ok, maybe just write about them.  It's actually a pretty exciting moment for me.  My dad once said that you really haven't gotten your career going until you've been fired.  Well, dad, I guess my career is going now. 

I'm leaving a GREAT company for reasons that aren't clear to me.  In the interest of meeting my contractual obligations, I won't bother to speculate.  But to give some perspective, I will offer this quote from my CEO who resigned just one week prior to my departure: "I hired you for a reason.  Because of your knowledge, skills, future potential, and who you are.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Actually, you are more than I thought you were. "  

Sounds good doesn't it?  Not exactly the statement you'd expect to hear one week before you are asked to announce that you are leaving to pursue other opportunities.  But hey, life's like that.

The good news:  I believe in God and I can already see the work that He is doing in my life.  I'm putting my trust in Him and looking forward to new opportunities.  In truth I'm a little scared, frustrated, and disappointed.  But I'm also really excited about what's out there and how I'll be used in the future.  Besides, I'm thinking that I'm quite the bargain right now for anyone interested in a promising young executive with a new MBA degree and the desire to exceed expectations.  I've done it before, I'm ready to take it on again.  Bring it on, world.

It's great being a Dad!

On Tuesday, November 18th, 5 year old Cameron became a Gregory. He is such an awesome kid; it seems like we get comments everytime we go out about how cute he is or how happy he looks or even surprisingly, how much he looks like me! And of course he is already well on his way to being spoiled by his grandparents.

I am so thankful to my friends and family who have been so supportive during this entire process. We don't say it enough, but we are so very appreciative of your thoughts and prayers. It has been said that you can judge a person's character by the people they surround themselves with. If that's the case, we feel like we are doing pretty well. Love you all, and thanks again. It's great to be a daddy!

Community Service

It is with great sorrow that I announce the beginning of the end of my blog. Two posts a year do not justify taking up room on the space-limited web. So in the traditional format of biting the hand that feeds you, I humbly present my take on community service.

President-elect Barack Obama's transition site Change.gov states the following:
"The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start." (emphasis added)

I sent that link to my wife with emphasis on what it meant for our son and as an excited new convert to the truth, she passed it on to a number of people thinking it would be good to alert them. Most people saw it and understood what it meant. One person got mad at receiving the email and told her so - I can respect that. Two responded in favor of such a program, saying that it would be a good thing and would build character in kids. I can't in good conscience let that go.

Assuming for a moment that "community service" does not refer to the traditional work done by criminals as a repayment to society for their previous actions, the distinction between what President-elect Obama says and what I believe is subtle yet profoundly different. Yes, community service is good. Giving to the poor is good. It is extremely important to teach future generations to care for others.

I've got a crazy idea. How about we as parents teach all those values to our kids? How about we choose to model Purity, Honesty, Integrity, Self-Sacrifice and Compassion instead of buying them the next version of Grand Theft Auto or whatever toy contributes to their immediate gratification? Oh, sorry, were you thinking that the government could do a better job of teaching morality? Sure, establishing laws and requiring people to do things will definitely build CHARACTER into our youth. After all, I never learned ANYTHING about integrity from my parents or other people in my life who chose to do the right thing when it wasn't required (or even popular). But thank God I've been able to pay taxes all these years because THAT has given me a heart for poor people.

You know, maybe God got this whole thing wrong. We shouldn't have been given a choice to follow him. He should have required it. I mean, who really cares about freedom or liberty or any of that garbage. Socialism works! Just look at the Soviet Union...oh wait...sorry...I guess there's always China, the proverbial land overflowing with (Melamine) Milk and (Chloramphenicol) Honey.