Taliban Tactics

I just read a story on-line at Telegraph.co.uk that the Taliban are recruiting teenage boys out of the Swat valley in Pakistan to become suicide bombers.  Recruiting is probably not the right word.  As the Taliban were being forced from the Swat valley, they demanded that residents provide them with one young man from each family for "martyrdom missions."

This is an outrage and a crime against humanity.  

The United States was attacked and we went into Afghanistan to take care of this enemy.  The Iraq sidetrack coupled with Pakistan's lack of effort to keep the Taliban out of their country has only given the Taliban new hope.  Pakistan has finally stepped up to drive the Taliban out... but where will they go next?

Taliban ideology is simply scary and reminiscent of medieval times.  The Crusades come to mind.  The recruitment and killing... no murder... of young boys in the name of ANY religion is wrong.  The Taliban are simply exploiting these children, period... and they must be stopped.

It's a very scary world that we live in.  I'm proud (and glad) that I live in the United States of America.  Let us keep our troops and the victims of these atrocities in our thoughts and prayers.  

School Board Term Ended

For those of you who may not know, my school board term ended earlier this month.  It was a great four years and I am proud to have served the community members living within the boundaries of District 91.  Here were my parting words at my last meeting:

In 2005, I was elected to the board of education.  I had a lot of reasons for wanting to serve in this capacity.  A few years prior I was involved with the passing of a referendum to bring much needed dollars into the district.  So, part of my motivation was to ensure that these new dollars to the district were being spent in accordance with what the referendum committee and school board had promised.  Another reason that I wanted to be on the board had to do with making sure that our school district was doing everything that they could to ensure that a child’s least restrictive environment was in a regular education classroom.  

Over the past four years, our school district has done a lot.  We hired a Special Education Coordinator to focus on our students with disabilities.  We accomplished the life-safety work without having to go to the voters for a tax increase.   Tonight, the board will be discussing hiring someone to focus in on grant dollars, to bring more money into our school.  In my four years on the board, we did not have to go back to the voters with a referendum.   I had the privilege of serving on the district’s negotiations team when negotiating the teachers’ contract.  We, the teacher reps and the board reps, were able to accomplish something that had not been accomplished in years… we were able to get the district’s salary structure back in order.   But even though these are great things for the district, I believe that the real work happens in the classroom.  

I also hope that this board will continue to carry the torch to support the efforts of special education.   I have seen my son, Tyler, flourish under the challenges of learning in a regular ed classroom.  Children in special education should be challenged as any other child, for it is these challenges that truly show us just how much we can accomplish.

There have been times that I have disagreed with my fellow board members.  Even though I may have been a minority vote on a particular issue here and there, I hope that you always saw my willingness to always support the decision of the board even if I was on the other side of the fence on the issue.  It has been a pleasure to work with all of you and a pleasure to work with Donna Gray.

I leave you with an anonymous quote:

"You, as one person, cannot do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good you can do."

 

 

I'm Back

Hello everyone,

It's been quite awhile since my last blog post.  Things have gotten really busy for me at work and home, so the blog had to take a back seat for awhile.  But, I'm back - ready to tackle some of the issues that are on everyone's mind.... no... not American Idol.  

If you have a topic that you think I should blog about, e-mail me at therantings@sbcglobal.net.  

Thanks,

Adam