NUMBER OF LINES: 999 001=Usr:0 Null User 06/30/87 20:34 Msg:0 Call:0 Lines:19 1$If you are in need of help, you need but ask... 2$************************* 03 NOV 90 ************************************** 3$Welcome to BWMS II (BackWater Message System II) Mike Day System operator 4$************************************************************************** 5$GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS II IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION 6$ PLACED ON THIS SYSTEM. 7$BWMS II was created as an electronic bill board. BWMS II is a privately 8$owned and operated system which is currently open for use by the general 9$public. No restrictions are placed on the use of the system. As the 10$system is privately owned, I retain the right to remove any and all 11$messages which I may find offensive. Because of the limited size of the 12$system, it will be periodically purged of messages (only 999 lines of data 13$can be saved). To leave a message, type 'ENTER'. Use ctrl/C to get out 14$the ENTER mode. The message is automatically stored. If after entering 15$the message you find you made a mistake, use the replace command to 16$replace the line. To exit from the system, type 'BYE' then hang up. 17$Type 'HELP' to see other commands that are available on the system. 18$************************************************************************** 19$ 002=Usr:1 CISTOP MIKEY 11/02/90 21:34 Msg:5601 Call:31841 Lines:3 20 We shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. 21 -- Abraham Lincoln 22 *********************************************************************** 003=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/03/90 00:57 Msg:5602 Call:31843 Lines:10 23 &*&*&*&*'s 24 At the top again. See the disk spread out below. 25 26 Twin peaks was great tonight. Seeing lynch as coopers boss was a very nice 27 touch. I've had a feeling since I read the secret diary that ben horn had 28 something to do with lauras death. I guess we'll know for sure next week. 29 30 An Astral Dreamer (At the top sub 2) 31 &*&*&*&*'s 32 004=Usr:348 Elvis Khan 11/03/90 02:12 Msg:5603 Call:31844 Lines:9 33 Neat Middle-East articles, where do they come from? Jus' wonderin'. I *think* 34 this is where I should be putting this, I'm not sure. I'm new here, and the 35 message style isn't like anything I've ever seen, so bear with me, ok? 36 37 -*Elvis Khan*- 38 Well, I see it's working. That's good. 39 40 Well, I guess this isn't where I should have posted my message. So sue me. 41 -*Elvis Khan*- 005=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/03/90 09:24 Msg:5604 Call:31847 Lines:1 42 006=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/03/90 12:55 Msg:5605 Call:31848 Lines:108 43 44 }**{}**{}**{}**{}**{}**{}**{}**{}**{} 45 46 It's today, NOT yesterday, isn't it? I can never remember if its 3 or 4 or 62, 47 63 or 64, but since it's 17 it must be 63, which means it would mean it is 4, 48 because if it wudda been three I'da noticed the duplicity. So I guess yester- 49 day's message is for TODAY!!! That's from the "right" side. 50 51 I WAS READING A SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE 52 53 They hgave photographed the brain 54 and here is the picture, it is full 55 of branches as I always suspected 56 57 each time you arrive the electricity 58 of seeing you is a huge 59 tree lumbering through my skull, the roots waving, 60 61 It is an earth, its fibres wrap 62 things buried, your forgotten words 63 are graved in my head, an intricate 64 65 66 red blue and pink prehensile chemistry 67 veined like a leaf 68 network, or is it a seascape 69 with corals and shining tentacles. 70 71 I touch you, I am created in you 72 somewhere as a complex 73 filament of light 74 75 You rest on me and my shoulder holds 76 77 your heavy unbelievable 78 skull, crowded with radiant 79 suns, a new planet, the people 80 submerged in you, a lost civilization 81 I can never excavate: 82 83 my hands trace the contours of a total 84 universe, its different 85 colours, flowers, its undiscovered 86 animals, violent or serene 87 88 its other air 89 its claws 90 91 its paradise rivers 92 93 Margaret Atwood 94 From ANIMALS IN THAT COUNTRY 95 96 And for Elvis, whose signature looks like spurs, 97 98 BACKDROP ADDRESSES COWBOY 99 100 Starspangled cowboy 101 sauntering out of the almost- 102 silly West, on your face 103 a porcelain grin, 104 tugging a papier-mache' cactus 105 on wheels behind you with a string. 106 107 you are innocent as a bathtub 108 full of bullets. 109 110 Your righteous eyes, your laconic 111 trigger fingers 112 people the streets with villains: 113 as you move, the air in front of you 114 blossoms with targets 115 116 and you leave behind you a heroic 117 trail of desolation: 118 beer bottles 119 slaughtered by the side 120 of the road, bird- 121 skulls bleaching in the sunset. 122 123 I ought to be watching 124 from behind a cliff or a cardboard storefront 125 when the shooting starts, hands claspecd 126 in admiration, 127 128 but I am elsewhere. 129 130 Then what about me 131 132 what about the I 133 confronting you on that border 134 you are always trying to cross? 135 136 I am the horizon 137 you ride towards, the thing you can never lasso 138 139 I am also what surrounds you: 140 my brain 141 scattered with your 142 tincans, bones, empty shells, 143 the litter of your invasions. 144 145 I am the space you desecrate 146 as you pass through. 147 148 By Margaret Atwood 149 from ANIMALS IN THAT COUNTRY 150 007=Usr:388 Time To Vote 11/03/90 22:36 Msg:5606 Call:31855 Lines:140 151 ^$^%&$^%$^%$&$&$^$&^$&^$^%$^%^$^%$^&%$&^%$^$&^^%$^$^%^$^%$&^^%^%&^%$^%$& 152 153 Measure 1: Create a metropolitan service district government body. 154 Right now there is a "tri-city" area that is treated specially by the state 155 as a metro-service district. Currently it is managed by the state 156 legislature to deal with things like mass transit and waste disposal within 157 the area. This measure would provide another layer of government that would 158 be run by the people within the metro area. I'm ambivalent on this one. I 159 like the idea of restricting the government control to those that are 160 affected by it, but I dislike implementing yet another layer of government. 161 I'll probably end up voting against it for that reason. 162 163 Measure 2: Allows merged school districts to equally divvy up tax base. 164 Currently it is a mess to do a merger. This is mostly a cleanup measure to 165 make the process simpler. Previously the merger involved divvying up the sum 166 plus six percent. For obvious reasons, voters were unwilling to do a merge 167 if it meant an increase in taxes. Even if there was a long term savings. 168 Fine by me, I'll go for it. 169 170 Measure 3: Equalizes state and federal tax exemption. I'm still confused on 171 this one. They don't explain it enough. The equalization is fine, but there 172 is mention of $16 million payment to retires that isn't fully explained. I 173 think it is a payment to the federal workers for the previous years so that 174 they can equalize without taking money back from the state workers. It's 175 hard to tell though because it is two full pages of in condensed type of 176 lawyer talk. If I don't understand it by tuesday I'll vote against it on 177 general principals. 178 179 Measure 4: Shut down Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. 180 The usual fear of nuclear things in any form here. They keep referring to 181 the Chernobal accident totally ignoring that the Chernobal design was known 182 to be unsafe and very dangerous. The US abandoned that design decades ago. 183 They also like to point out the enormous amount of radiation released 184 from Hanford. Ignoring that most of it was before the dangers of radioactive 185 contamination were recognized. 186 187 A piece of trivia: 188 Every year more people are hurt and killed in coal mining accidents than 189 have been hurt and killed by nuclear related accidents since the very start 190 of nuclear activity (this includes the Chernobal accident). In the same 191 period of time over which both coal and nuclear power have been in use, the 192 total number of *all* nuclear related death and disease _including_ the 193 bombing in Japan have been less than the deaths and disease attributable to 194 coal power. The same can be said of environment. The amount of 195 environmental damage due to coal mining has been far greater than the 196 problems associated with nuclear power. 197 At a time when we are experiencing a serious problem with dependence on 198 foreign fossil fuels and major concern over the environment, it seems rather 199 stupid to me to shut down a power source that generates 1 billion watts of 200 power in favor of other sources that have known devastating effects to 201 people and the environment. As you can probably guess, I'm against the 202 shutdown. 203 204 Measure 5: Limit property tax. 205 Yet another property tax limitation bill. These happen as often as the sales 206 tax issues. This cuts property taxes in half by 1996 specifically for 207 schools, but provides for no alternative source of income to replace the 208 lost revenue source. 209 I like the idea since retired people and other people on fixed income are 210 very heavily hit by the property tax, but without an alternate source of 211 income for school funding this bill is very poorly conceived. I'm voting no 212 on this one. I want property tax reduction too, but not this way. 213 214 Measure 6: All packaging material must be made of recycled material. 215 A nice idea, but no thought has gone into the exceptions needed for safety 216 issues such as medical materials and health concerns over recycled 217 packaging. Would you want your pills to come in a bottle that you don't know 218 where it has been before? I like the idea, but it needs a lot more thought 219 applied to it first. When they get the kinks worked out I might consider it, 220 but this time around it causes more problems than it solves. 221 222 As a side interest, after spending several years defending it's use of foam 223 plastic containers and saying that they were environmentally safe, McDonalds 224 is now switching back to paperboard packaging. Turns out that despite their 225 comments to the contrary, foam plastic is not easily recyclable. 226 227 Measure 7: Work for welfare payments. 228 This is basically the old "If I'm gonna give you money, then I expect some 229 work for it" bit. This is a pilot program to see if it can be made to work. 230 It basically says; "If you are able bodied, and can work, then you will have 231 to work or you won't receive food stamps or welfare money." Nobody is 232 forcing them to work, but if they want public assistance then they have to 233 work for it. It's worth a shot at it in my opinion. The current welfare 234 system encourages people to stay on welfare, that's a no win situation, so 235 I'm interested in exploring other options. 236 237 Measure 8: Prohibit abortions. 238 Here's a nice emotion filled issue. I have a lot of concern about abortions. 239 Not just from the standpoint of the unborn fetus, but also from the 240 standpoint of the woman herself. It's really an issue of where you draw the 241 line. What's next, forced conception? After all, every woman carries eggs, 242 and almost all of them are washed from her body without being fertilized. 243 These are potential human beings, shouldn't they be "protected". What about 244 natural abortions? Upto 30% of all pregnancies end in a miscarriage. 245 Shouldn't we jail the woman for allowing that to happen? Shouldn't we use 246 all possible medical capabilities to force the fetus to term no matter how 247 badly formed it may be? Never mind the cost, never mind the financial and 248 emotional impact on the woman and her family. So where do you draw the line? 249 Do I impose my belief about where the line should be drawn on everyone else? 250 That's not exactly what America was founded on. I don't feel that I have a 251 right to force my belief about where that line should be drawn on someone 252 else. It should be their own decision. Finally, it is not like it is a one 253 time thing. In most situations the woman can try for a child again when she 254 is more financially and emotionally prepared. I'd much rather see the amount 255 of effort and money being dumped on this directed at education so that the 256 women won't find themselves in a situation where abortion has to be 257 considered. 258 259 Measure 9: Mandatory Seat belt law. 260 A nice idea, but will it do anything? In other states where passed it has 261 proven to provide no affect at all. I'm mainly against it because it does 262 not solve any problems and thus becomes yet another useless law clogging the 263 system. (Note: that there is already in effect a seatbelt law requiring all 264 children under 16 to be belted in which I have no problem with.) 265 I would rather see the money and effort go towards public education about 266 the effectiveness of wearing a seatbelt. You would get a lot more mileage 267 out of that. I would also like to see a law whereby if you failed to wear 268 your seltbelt that any injuries resulting thereof would be your own 269 responsibility. 270 271 Measure 10: Notice for abortion on minors. 272 A doctor must give notice to the parent before performing an abortion on a 273 minor unless it is a life threatening situation. I have no problem with 274 this. I suppose that it goes to some extent against my statement of not 275 forcing my own rules on others, but, one of the basics is that a child is 276 under the control and protection of the parent until they are no longer a 277 minor, therefor the parent should have the right to be informed that such a 278 procedure is to be performed on their child. Every other major medical 279 procedure not only requires parental notification, but requires parental 280 consent. 281 282 Measure 11: Tax credit for education outside public school system and allow 283 students to be enrolled in school of choice. I like the idea of school of 284 choice enrollment, but dislike the tax credit aspect. Everyone pays for 285 education, including businesses and people. This is not a matter of you 286 paying for your own child's education, it is paying for everyone's education 287 including your own. You want to get that punk off the street? Educate him! 288 I'm against the tax credit stuff. 289 290 $^$^%$^%$$&^$^%$^%$^%$&^%$^%^%$&^%$&^%$^%$^%$^$^%$^%^%$^$^%$^%$&^$&^%$^%^%$ 008=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 11/04/90 07:43 Msg:5607 Call:31863 Lines:37 291 It is always interesting when the knee-jerk pro-nuke boys get going when they 292 feel threatened. Always insisting that it is an irrational fear of anything 293 radioactive, not realizing that nukes are safer than any other form of power 294 generation. But they never get specific about any safe nuke plants. Ever 295 notice that they all have safety problems of one kind or another? Ever notice 296 how they all leak? Ever notice how they all keep generating tons and tons 297 of waste that no one wants and that will be around for hundred of thousands 298 of years as dangerous garbage? How about if the above author (anonymous,yet) 299 directly addresses some of the specific issues surrounding the shut down 300 of Trojan...such as the abysmal safety record PGE has in operating it, such 301 as the issue of radioactive waste stored mere feet from the Columbia river, 302 such as the fact that Trojan only has a few years left until it HAS to be 303 decommissioned because the radioactivity will destroy it. And the radioactive 304 sludge will remain. and remain, and remain. and remain. Eventually there 305 will be an earthquake. Mt. St. Helens is having "an event" even as I type 306 this. What happens then? Sure, it was built to withstand an earthquake, so 307 was most of the freeway that collapsed in San Francisco last year. For a true 308 perspective of the true attitude of the nuclear industry, get a copy of the 309 album "Dear Friends" by the Firesign Theatre, and listen to a cut "Nukes 310 in the News"...it really says it all. Then, be sure to vote. 311 312 and vote YES on 4. Shut Trojan Down. It is unsafe, and overly costly. 313 314 lets put some money into solar research, and put PGE out of business. 315 Yes on 4 Shut Trojan Down 316 317 Yes on 4 Shut Trojan down Yes on 4 Shut Trojan down Yes on 4 318 319 320 SHUT TROJAN DOWN YES ON 4 YES ON 4 YES ON 4 YES ON 4 YES ON 4 321 322 323 YES ON 4 YES ON 4 YES ON 4 YES ON 4 324 325 (the above message was NOT paid for by one of PGE's front organizations) 326 327 009=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/04/90 08:45 Msg:5608 Call:31864 Lines:40 328 &*&*&*&*'s 329 Heres how I'm voting. Note that I'm only voting on the measures that I've 330 actually had time to look into. 331 332 Measure 4. I'm voting yes. 333 The safety violations bother me, as does the fact that this is a highly 334 subsidized form of electrical generation. Add in the fact that they havn't 335 been charging us anything for the eventual cost of disposal and you get the 336 idea. One of these days they'll be knocking on our doors demanding N billion 337 dollers to get rid of all that waste. So much for the theory that nuclear 338 power is cheap. 339 340 Measure 5. I'm voting no. 341 Property taxes are high, and they do tend to tax people at an unfair rate, as 342 the elderly and unemployed may own homes, but have very little income. 343 But, here are a few questions to ask yourself. Why doesn't this bill allow a 344 local vote on what sort of a limit people want? In some areas a 10$ for city 345 services is very high, while it others it is low. And there is to the best of 346 my knowledge NO way to go above this 10$ limit, even if people want to. Also, 347 This bill takes local control of schools largly out of the hands of people 348 living within the district and into the hands of the state which will be 349 divying up whatever replacment tax they come up with. Personally I'd 350 rather see a reformed income tax system and a county by county income tax 351 as a means of property tax relief 352 353 Measure 9 (The seat belt law?) I'm voting yes. 354 Insurance and medical costs are way to high. Education has been tried in the 355 past, and I still know people who believe that not wearing seat belts is safer. 356 357 Measure 11. I'm voting no. 358 Why should I made to fund private schools? 359 360 Note, I work for portland public schools, so YES, I do have a bias on some 361 of these issues. If measure 5 passes chances are very good that I'll be 362 unemployed in 1 to 6 months, as will be a large number of other people. 363 (I don't trust the legislature to do this right.) 364 365 An Astral Dreamer 366 &*&*&*&*'s 367 010=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/04/90 11:07 Msg:5609 Call:31865 Lines:28 368 369 To Control, Money and % (bigger piece of the pie??) 370 371 You idea about insurance companies not paying for injuries sustained while NOT 372 wearing a seatbelt absolutely STINKS. It's hard enough to deal with the pre- 373 sent extortion rates and collection on claims, why give them more power to take 374 your money & run? I don't see insurance companies too differently that savings 375 and loans. 376 377 To Astral Dreamer: 378 379 If you work for PPS, they you ARE aware of the nepotism and other waste and 380 abuse that is so much a part of daily operations there. It **IS** too bad 381 an alternate hasn't been instituted before this. I would hope that if this 382 bill passes, that the MANY, MANY employees of PPS would see to it that it 383 is the ****ADMINISTRATIVE WASTE***** that is dealt with first. And I wouldn't 384 depend on your unions to do this for you ... I've found that is NOT what they 385 are there for. Maybe if it does pass, the "peons" (teachers, support staff) 386 might get together and study the school budget and possibly read past Board 387 minutes and figure out what's REALLY going on and where the money's REALLY 388 going. And maybe we could also require the unions to reveal some same such 389 information too. IF this bill PASSES, it could be an opportunity to impact the 390 public in such a way as to eliminate the PROPER waste then propagate a desire 391 to put the money back into a truly effective, interesting and progressive 392 educational program. I think that threatened PPS employees and a pissed public 393 could really make a difference ... it could generate an INTEREST in education 394 rather than antagonism. 395 011=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/04/90 22:01 Msg:5610 Call:31874 Lines:17 396 &*&*&*&*'s 397 Nepotism? No, I am not aware of any such thing. Waste? Not that I've 398 noticed. I work in the main admin building, and I'm for all intents and 399 purposes a peon, as I get no benifits and work for an hourly wage. The 400 department I work in is highly overworked, understaffed and shoved into 401 about half the space it needs. Portland public schools is probably the 402 best urban school district in the country. It has high test scores, 403 a (till tommorow) stable and adequete tax base and may inovative and succesfull 404 programs that help teachers and students alike. 405 406 So, whats your beef, and would you mind being specific? I'm really tired of 407 people flaming schools, when they really have no idea about what is going 408 on locally, or how bad things could be. 409 410 An Astral Dreamer 411 &*&*&*&*'s 412 012=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/06/90 09:12 Msg:5611 Call:31890 Lines:30 413 414 AD - I really would LOVE to be more specific but I'm in the midst of sueing 415 them right now. Just check your school directory. Compare it with a same 416 directory from PSU's Education Department. Read the newspapers ... especially 417 articles listing promotions, transfers, etc. I also worked at the ad bldg for 418 a number of years and that's when I became most aware of the waste; then I 419 worked in an administrative office at another location where things were much 420 different and I became even more aware of the waste -- not just of bucks but 421 the mental circus ad bldg administrators put you through. Ad bldg administra- 422 tors are NOT in the schools ... I get the impression there interest is NOT in 423 education but in creating an IMAGE of a world headquarters education center, 424 not by virtue of enabling the actual educators but by constantly creating 425 impossible SYSTEMS that LOOK GOOD and can be written about and can be 426 EVALUATED to look wonderful, but in reality, only jerks the teacher around 427 one more time. These SYSTEMS/PROGRAMS are then abandoned before they're even 428 implemented. I saw over and over staff members spending months and months 429 preparing material at the command of the board and administrators they 430 that couldn't be implemented because, say, the material was input into the 431 computer in such a way that it couldn't be run back off in any logical manner. 432 (I need to take a writing class) I know of TWO instances where that happened; 433 I'm sure there's more. I could go into great detail why all this material 434 could not be retrieved for printing, but you probably wouldn't be interested 435 anyway. And that's why these things happen over and over. Besides, you'd be 436 executed for asking "why Johnny didn't learn anything but gang warfare at PPS", 437 especially if you work where I think you do. You business is to manipulate 438 things to make them look good. 439 440 I know that for a fact, too; I input and reinput and reinput various versions 441 of these reports. 442 013=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/06/90 10:08 Msg:5612 Call:31891 Lines:4 443 444 And, if I may be so bold as to inquire, is it YOUR department who's in charge 445 of the computers used for student elections in the local high schools???? 446 014=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/06/90 10:13 Msg:5614 Call:31892 Lines:10 447 448 449 &*&*&*&*'s 450 All I can say is that isn't my experiance in the department in which I work. 451 452 Of course I don't know all that much about the rest of the place. 453 454 An Astral Dreamer 455 &*&*&*&*'s 456 015=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/06/90 12:36 Msg:5617 Call:31895 Lines:12 457 458 BTW, AD, I'm talking about "textual" input, not programs. I know of one such 459 education program that was sent to be typed for publication, was published 460 in the form of maybe 15 different "booklets" of varying length then printed by 461 the hundreds. When it came time to revise the DOCUMENT part, the computer 462 input on it was so fragmented into pieces (due to working on a page-count 463 basis) that it could never be put back together again. After implementing it 464 in several schools, the whole program was quickly dropped. The garbage bill 465 to dump the "booklets" must have been astronomical ... to say nothing of the 466 frustration felt by the people who were forced to work on the whole thing for 467 months upon months in the first place. 468 016=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/06/90 16:32 Msg:5618 Call:31898 Lines:30 469 470 And this is not too different from being forced to use WordStar rather than 471 WordPerfect. I have a letter from Bob Williams stating that WordStar was 472 the ONLY system User Services would support districtwide, saying they had 473 researched it extensively. At the time, WordStar cost three times what a 474 state of the art program would have cost. As if that wasn't horrible in 475 itself, WordStar didn't support subdirectories at the time ... and we had 476 just obtained hard disks. Because I asked the difference between "back up" 477 and "copy" DOS functions and being told to take a beginning DOS class even 478 though I'd been using a computer and WordStar for two years and having my 479 supervisor called and told I was being a smartass and ended up having to 480 WRITE my requests to user services, I also have documentation of their 481 interpretation or effective computer use. I also have written documenta- 482 tions of my complaints AT THAT TIME to yet another department who was 483 doing an "effectiveness/reorganization" study of my department at the 484 time. Not only did we originaly pay $350 for the dated word processing 485 program, but $99 each for two subsequent and progressively worse updates. 486 Now four years later, after secretaries were given no options in the 487 beginning and were FORCED to use WordStar and have four years of work 488 on that program are, according to a source I heard talking in my union 489 office, going to be forced to use WordPerfect EXCLUSIVELY now. Unfair to 490 secretaries who have little time for learning ANY computer program in the 491 first place but outrageous in terms of expense ... new program, new 492 training, conversion of documents, etc. But conversions is going to be 493 difficult because you had to constantly "re-invent" WordStar because it 494 did so little for you. It's hard enough to transfer WOrdStar documents 495 from one person to the next because everybody invented their own tricks, but 496 I would imagine it's going to be nearly impossible to convert current docu- 497 ments to a different program. 498 017=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/06/90 18:26 Msg:5619 Call:31900 Lines:15 499 500 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 501 502 Well, you heard it folks. Bill Garbet on TV stating 505 85% of the school district budget is used for teacher salaries. Guess 506 where they're gonna make the cuts ... and it will probably be the teachers 507 that may have ever registered a complaint about the tyrrany. Didn't 508 mention layers of bureaucracy such as the DOI offices or different off- 509 shoots of the Personnel Department, like Employee Relations ... another 510 charmer. His son's the one who wants to "gentrify" NW Portland who was 511 handed a last-minute reprieve from some city bureaus but got his condos 512 burned down by the outraged community anyway. 513 018=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/07/90 06:59 Msg:5620 Call:31909 Lines:6 514 515 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 516 517 And on Channel 12, Prophet said he'd be sending pink slips to teachers this 518 spring. 519 019=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/07/90 10:33 Msg:5624 Call:31913 Lines:4 520 521 When you're able to write out your own report card, there might be a tendency 522 to grade yourself overly high. What ever happened to Porter Sexton anyway? 523 020=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/07/90 11:50 Msg:5625 Call:31915 Lines:8 524 525 ?+?+?+?+?+++?+?+?+?+?+?++++ 526 527 Why is the school board mostly lawyers???? How long has someone from the 528 Rieke family served anyway??? 529 530 ?++?++?++?++?+++?++?++?+++?+++?+++? 531 021=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/08/90 11:23 Msg:5628 Call:31937 Lines:16 532 As Dan Quayle recently said, "A mind is a terrible thing to lose." Do you 533 suppose 12 yrs of the indoctrination system that **IS** PPS (in most cases) 534 has any relevance to the new study just released regarding the high child 535 abuse and toddler mortality rates in the area???? 536 537 538 ???+???+???+???+???+???++++????++++????++++ 539 540 I hope everybody reads Phil Stanford's column today and responds with their 541 tales of woe ... especially those of you with UNION stories. They SHOULD be 542 sued, and sued in a huge group move. I could probably get **MILLIONS** for 543 what they put ME through. I'd rather vent my anger first, however. 544 545 Be sure to send a copy of your complaints to Jonathan what's his ... Plagariast 546 Jon ... Whatever's Cool Jon. Lowest Common Denominator of the Upper Ilk Jon. 547 022=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/08/90 11:58 Msg:5629 Call:31939 Lines:8 548 549 Here's one ... When the union was "working" on a case for my, my rep suggested 550 that maybe she could drop her son off at my house every morning during the 551 summer and I could pay him for doing my yardwork. She said a woman she had 552 been "helping" the previous summer had done precisely that ... and the woman 553 paid him really well, she said. That woman might want to write Phil Stanford 554 ... and gee, I hope you didn't FLOAT at your trial by water. 555 023=Usr:417 Chemo Sabe 11/08/90 19:02 Msg:5631 Call:31949 Lines:8 556 557 (*)^(*) (*)^(*) (*)^(*) (*)^(*) (*)^(*) 558 559 Anybody have any information on PFT-CE and the problem at Tubman some 560 years ago. Please leave mail for Chemo Sabe #417. 561 562 (*)^(*)--(*)^(*)--(*)^(*)--(*)^(*)--(*)^(*)--(*)^(*) 563 024=Usr:417 Chemo Sabe 11/09/90 08:02 Msg:5634 Call:31961 Lines:21 564 565 Let's hope the scientific research being done on PPS students is more 566 valid that the research scientists did on thalidomide. Seems like the 567 results of such methodology could be just as damaging. Why isn't this 568 being done on a private research grant anyway? And how many school 569 districts would allow or could AFFORD the time and resources for such 570 studies, even if MOST of it was paid for by a private grant. This takes 571 572 alot of teacher time and creates alot of frustration. Aren't many of the 573 costs for this program hidden anyway ... like the computers in the schools 574 used for this project, or the committees of teachers that are hired to 575 write test questions. Isn't this hidden in, say, the Curriculum budget??? 576 The costs of this experiment might be astonomical, and the root assumption 577 at the bottom of it might be totally wrong! Isn't that POSSIBLE?? 578 579 Couldn't this project be totally eliminated from the PPS school budget and 580 maybe handled more efficiently/effectively at the statewide level. Wouldn't 581 that give teachers more leeway in how they conduct their classes. Don't you 582 down deep think teachers may have a better idea of where a student is coming 583 from that a computer profile??? 584 025=Usr:423 DB Cooper 11/09/90 11:31 Msg:5639 Call:31965 Lines:11 585 586 Another thing your program doesn't access is PRINCIPAL effectivness! I've 587 transcribed for a principal who couldn't compose a complete sentence. When 588 I requested hard copy instead I found he counldn't compose on paper either ... 589 nor could he spell. I was shocked, to say the least, but I subsequently 590 found that he also had a personality/personnel problem ... one included an 591 entire community. A couple of years later and working in another position, 592 I coincidentally found out another person had serious problems with the 593 same principal, who is STILL a PPS principal and who is probably STILL creating 594 problems. 595 026=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/09/90 22:08 Msg:5641 Call:31975 Lines:24 596 &*&*&*&*'s 597 I don't have all of the answers. True wisdom involves understanding ones 598 limitations. The world is not perfect. I work hard in my little corner 599 of it to make it the best place that I can for everybody. I've been 600 known to annoy people while doing this. The only reason annoying people 601 bothers me is that I believe it tends to limit my effectivness. 602 603 Any large organization is going to have some bad eggs. The real crime here 604 is the fact that these bad eggs are not easily eliminated. 605 606 A side note on the subject of spelling. I've strugled my entire life to 607 gain the very limited proficiency you see here. I am not stupid, nor 608 have I failed because of a lack of trying. Spelling just doesn't seem to 609 be a something I learn easily. Should I be relagated to garbage collection 610 because of this? Putting people down because of an inability to spell is 611 not cool in my book. Especially when there were many other far better 612 reasons listed in your post to attest to the principles inability to 613 do their job. 614 615 An Astral Dreamer (God, will I ever change anybodys mind on anything?) 616 &*&*&*&*'s (I'm tired of learning from others, when they don't wish to learn 617 from me.) 618 619 027=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/10/90 18:22 Msg:5643 Call:31991 Lines:49 620 621 ********************************* 622 623 IT IS DANGEROUS TO READ NEWSPAPERS 624 625 While I was building neat 626 castles in the sandbox, 627 the hasty pits were 628 filling with bulldozed corpses 629 630 and as I walked to school 631 washed and combed, my feet 632 stepping on the cracks in the cement 633 detonated red bombs. 634 635 Now I am grownup 636 and literate, and I sit in my chair 637 as quietly as a fuse 638 639 and the jungles are flaming, the under- 640 brush is charged with soldiers, 641 the names on the difficult 642 maps go up in smoke. 643 644 I am the cause, I am a stockpile of chemical 645 toys, my body 646 is a deadly gadget, 647 I reach out in love, my hands are guns, 648 my good intentions are completely lethal. 649 650 Even my 651 passive eyes transmute 652 everything I look at to the pocked 653 black and white of a war photo, 654 how can I stop myself 655 656 It is dangerous to read newspapers. 657 658 Each time I hit a key 659 on my electric typewriter, 660 speaking of peaceful trees 661 662 another village explodes. 663 664 By Margaret Atwood 665 From THE ANIMALS IN THAT COUNTRY, 666 1968 667 668 *****************************************8 028=Usr:316 scott wirth 11/10/90 21:12 Msg:5644 Call:31995 Lines:6 669 ???????????????????????????Sir Osis of Liver????????????????????????? 670 Dammit. I hate twits........ perfectly good space wasted by someone too damn 671 stupid to think of doing anything else other than ruining things and being 672 destructive. Shoot the Twits! 673 ???????????????????????????Sir Osis of Liver????????????????????????? 674 029=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/10/90 22:14 Msg:5645 Call:32001 Lines:7 675 &*&*&*&*'s 676 Twits are single celled creatures. Shoting them only cuases them to divide, 677 thus doubling their numbers. :-) 678 679 An Astral Dreamer 680 &*&*&*&*'s 681 030=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 11/10/90 22:57 Msg:5646 Call:32003 Lines:5 682 NOT ALL twits are single celled creatures. Some look like intelligent 683 thinking human beings. Any many seem to gravitate to jobs as elected officials 684 in high offices such as Vice President. Some are even appointed as Chief of 685 Staff to the President. 686 031=Usr:11 L'homme sans Par 11/11/90 02:25 Msg:5647 Call:32006 Lines:5 687 688 And others reproduce newspaper articles here on backwater with complete 689 disregard for copyright issues and backwater users. Often these reproductions 690 are imperfect, adding the the audacity and stupidity of the uploadee. 691 032=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 11/11/90 07:43 Msg:5648 Call:32008 Lines:16 692 I guess you feel that 555 entered 150 times on 150 is much more intelligent. 693 How do YOU know that someone doesn't hold the copyright on that number? 694 But then some people only want to read what they already believe/know. THey 695 feel threatened when someone is trying to open their minds and present some 696 evidence that the system, and those in charge of the system are not working 697 properly. Copyrights are violated everyday. What about the person who is 698 continually quoting anyone other than themselves? They are violating it as 699 much as one posting supposed newspaper articles. Everytime you tape something 700 off the radio, or off a record or CD that you BOUGHT, you are violating the 701 copyright laws. So get off your high horse. At least the alleged newspaper 702 articles have substance to read, they`re not just taking up space to fill the 703 disk. 704 705 (where is THINGFISH when 706 he's needed?) 707 033=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/11/90 08:54 Msg:5649 Call:32009 Lines:42 708 709 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 710 ] 711 Yeah, Thingfish, we need some humor!!! Please post. 712 713 But back to being a twit now. Let's get back to Testing and Evaluation (not 714 to include Research and Development BTW). Does your "program" track the 715 effect of changing principals (and thereby half the school administration ... 716 don't they often take their own "staffs" with them) every two to four years on 717 teachers, teaching programs, or student learning??? Especially when each 718 principal has his own "rules" and ways of processing the piles of bureaucratic 719 paperwork? And ESPECIALLY since there is NO WRITTEN MATERIAL on how this is 720 SUPPOSED to be done .... Remember the MARSHALL THE MUSIC TEACHER article in the 721 paper ... when the music teacher went to counseling because he felt so strung 722 out all the time???? Said he often visted up to four different schools a day. 723 And the counselor (probably our **EMPLOYER'S** ASSISTANCE PROGRAM) told it 724 him it was because his dad was a rage-aholic. Now I've gone up to the EAP 725 for YEARS complaining about the way things are, thinking they'd figure out 726 there was some common problem that need to be dealt with within the District. 727 I was often VERY SPECIFIC about what I was experiencing. I was repeatedly 728 told there was NOTHING YOU COULD DO ABOUT IT ... THE DISTRICT IS SOOOOO RICH 729@AND HAS SOO MANY LAWYERS, it was unwise to stand up for your rights. They 730@said I'd do better doing fire watch in the woods. When I was REALLY at my 731@recommended I do fire watch in the woods, but I told 'em I was scared of 732@enhancement program, they said their didn't offer help in that area. When I 733@in and put in a career development program 734@ 735 AND HAS SOOOOOO MANY LAWYERS, it was unwise to "make waves" (stand up for your 736 rights). He recommended I do "firewatch" instead ... never even asking if I 737 was scared of spiders or anything. But then when I got in real trouble, 738 Personnel insisted I go to EAP for counseling. After the five free sessions, 739 I got further counseling through my health plan (NOT easy to do with Good 740 Health Plan folks, BEWARE!!!). THAT counselor AGREED with much of what I 741 was saying and wrote my union to transfer me out of the situation ASAP and to 742 put me in a career enhancement program. Because my yearly benefits ran out, he 743 then transferred me back to the EAP, who was to act as a liaison between the 744 dept @ PPS and the union in setting up such a program. EAP stated they were 745 UNABLE to help. When I explained what was going on and stated I felt like a 746 battered woman, I was told NOT to make another appt. He did, however, insist 747 I sign a RELEASE, which I did feeling he was somehow still obligated and 748 **WILLING** to help. I was fired nine months later though. No help ever 749 arrived!! I think go 034=Usr:417 Chemo Sabe 11/11/90 09:47 Msg:5650 Call:32010 Lines:26 750 ???????????????????????? 751 752 Don't tell me PPS classified employees when through Ballot Measure 5 without 753 a contract?????? I read in the Sept-Oct FEDERATION NEWS (in a most confusing 754 paragraph I might add, but here let me quote...) In another Local 111 matter, 755 negotiations have a new contract with Portland Schools have resulted in 756 tentative agreements in all areas but two, REDUCTION IN FORCE (???? - geesh! 757 you GOTTA be kidding) and wages. Are they making morons of everybody or 758 WHAT????? Then Randi Post goes on to say that employees have "turned around" 759 from previous years when they were AFRAID to take a strong stand .... "Our 760 members are saying, 'Hey, I'm not just a secretary. I'm important and I 761 deserve respect." Have you ever read their contract. Until you've been 762 through the system with the union and the district, you won't believe how 763 SILLY it really is. It's all in bureaucratese except the section on dismissal. 764 765 If ever I was shown a lack of respect, it was by my union. OFT President, 766 Randy Schwartz, actually said to me (as a reason for recommending I resign), 767 "Oregon employers can ask you do anything short of jumping out a window," 768 which in effect says I have no rights. I thought I was paying THEM $15 (or 769 more) a month to make sure I did. 770 771 It shall be interesting to see how things turn out. SECRETARIES BEWARE!!!! 772 I think you've been duped by this organization one more time. You'd think 773 they learned for the last vote that they was tremendous displeasure in the 774 way they were conducting their business. They only won by 12 VOTES. 775 035=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/11/90 17:14 Msg:5651 Call:32020 Lines:10 776 &*&*&*&*'s 777 I assume that since school by school scores are kept track of, that there is 778 in fact a way to look at how well a principle is doing, especially if they 779 have been with several schools. 780 781 This has been interesting, if confusing reading. (BORDERS PLEASE!) 782 783 An Astral Dreamer 784 &*&*&*&*'s 785 036=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/12/90 09:23 Msg:5653 Call:32033 Lines:8 786 !!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!??? 787 788 Good grief ... I can't believe it. PPS classified employees DIDN'T have 789 a contract. They're paying that union over a QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS a 790 year. What the @)(*&$@#&)* do they DO with it????????? 791 792 !!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???!! 793 037=Usr:322 Stray Cat 11/12/90 12:01 Msg:5655 Call:32035 Lines:25 794 ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 795 796 Sorry about the typos and resulting confusion, AD. I was kinda thinking 797 on paper at the time. After rereading the FEDERATION NEWS and wondering 798 at the irony of it all, kinda chuckling about all the double meanings of 799 the "talking heads", I was overwhelmed with curiosity whether they had 800 gotten out a contract to cover employees in case of the massive layoff 801 Dr. Prophet had promised, and totally frustrated because it was a school 802 holiday and I couldn't call and find out! I did call the PFT, OFT, and AFT 803 offices but they were, OF COURSE, all closed too. Therefore, I had to wait 804 until this morning to find out. Of course, the union offices still didn't 805 answer their phones, but I did talk to someone in Personnel, who sheepishly 806 answered the question for me. I really couldn't imagine they wouldn't have 807 provided a contract in time. This editor is extremely primitive anyway ... 808 either that or I haven't taken the time to read the directions . Any- 809 way it's not like this is being PUBLISHED and sent all over the country or 810 anything. I **WILL** try to be more careful though. 811 812 *************************************** 813 814 I was gonna enter a poem but there's not enough lines left ... oh well. 815 See ya! 816 817 *************************************** 818 038=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/12/90 22:16 Msg:5657 Call:32042 Lines:12 819 &*&*&*&*'s 820 Don't let the instructions fool you. There is no real editing here. :-) 821 822 Might as well finish the disk off. Hmm, got a few lines to go. 823 824 This is harder then it looked. 825 826 Ah, only five lines left! 827 828 AT THE BOTTOM! 829 An Astral Dreamer 830 &*&*&*&*'s 039=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/14/90 21:09 Msg:5660 Call:32075 Lines:6 831 &*&*&*&*'s 832 Oh NO! now I look dumb. :-) 833 834 An Astral Dreamer 835 &*&*&*&*'s 836 040=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 11/16/90 04:21 Msg:5662 Call:32093 Lines:148 837 696969696969 838 MEDIA AND POLITICS TODAY 839 Source:Peacenet 840 igc:peacenet 841 pn.announcemen 2:04 pm Nov 2, 1990 842 843 Subject: MEDIA AND POLITICS TODAY 844 845 From wnperry Thu Nov 1 17:47 PST 1990 846 To: peacenet 847 Subject: announcements: THE GREAT DEBATE 848 Status: RO 849 850 THE GREAT DEBATE! 851 852 Time is running out until Americans elect their politicians and 853 our leaders elect either to continue peace or to go to war. We all 854 know how much time is left for the political campaigns. Who knows, 855 however, how much time is left to reach agreement on a nonviolent 856 solution to the Middle East crisis? We fear time is rapidly running 857 out on both. 858 859 Our national political scene is more highly charged than usual. 860 Voter dissatisfaction with the performance of elected representatives 861 is palpable. What is our justification? Is it the deficit? Is it 862 taxes? Is it the S & L fiasco? Is it social benefits? Or is it war 863 or peace? 864 865 The democratic way provides for the removal from office of elect- 866 ed officials who fail to perform the way people want. Not in our 867 lifetimes has there been more widespread dissatisfaction with 868 incumbents. Yet, according to Kipplinger's News Letter, the incum- 869 bents are good bets to be reelected. How come? While everybody 870 wants "to throw the bums out," they generally mean y_o_u_r_ bum, not 871 theirs. 872 873 It is curious- no very sad- that we are unaware of anyone cam- 874 paigning on a Middle East peace platform. What issue could conceiv- 875 ably be of more contemporary interest and importance? What happens 876 in the Middle East is certain to condition what can happen on the 877 domestic front, not to mention to the rest of the world. 878 879 Yet, peace or war is not a significant political issue in America 880 today. Could the concern for it becoming an election issue have been 881 a reason for the relatively low key concern of the administration for 882 American hostages until very recently? 883 884 On the international political scene, things are very chancy. 885 Peace or war decisions rest precariously on the judgement of very 886 few. Are our leaders congruent with the views and desires of our 887 people? Do the hostile expressions and threats of our President 888 reflect the attitudes of our people? Do our leaders really think and 889 believe that they know what's best for America and Americans? Who 890 among you is sure? 891 892 While we probably will endure the consequences of the upcoming 893 election, there are at this time uncountable humans, some American 894 and others not, who will not survive a Middle East war. War, which 895 allegedly doesn't work anymore, seems almost certain to happen soon 896 as things now stand. 897 898 Unless...... unless we, who have the patience for peace, come to 899 realize the likelihood, if things are left as they are, it won't be 900 the likes of us who will determine what happens. Things probably 901 will be decided by those with the shorter, not the longer fuses. 902 903 Acknowledging that is only the first step. The second is to 904 accommodate our action to this reality. 905 906 It is too late to inject war or peace into the election dialogues 907 (In retrospect, we missed that boat). Prayerfully, it is not too 908 late to establish war or peace as the issue it deserves to be for 909 nationwide dialogue. As a stand alone issue, it could have apprecia- 910 ble impact! 911 912 Twenty-four hours ago, the idea of a nationally televised debate 913 on the merits of peace vs war was mentioned by Ted Koppel on 914 Nightline. It struck us as a great idea! Earlier today, in the 915 course of failed attempts to talk personally to Mr. Koppel and Ted 916 Turner, among others, we learned that the idea apparently did not 917 originate with Mr. Koppel. The idea has a multifocal origin. That's 918 terrific! 919 920 A very courteous and sensitive spokeperson for Mr. Turner respond- 921 ed with three comments: 922 923 1. Our call certainly was not the first. There is interest 924 out there for such a event. 925 926 2. Mr. Turner feels that by having ongoing interviews with 927 various experts on both sides, CNN is already contributing 928 to the national dialogue. 929 930 3. That Mr. Ed Turner (no relation), Vice President in 931 charge of newsgathering for CNN, is in charge of responding 932 to call such as ours. 933 934 National debate could take at least two forms: one that occurs 935 in Congress between elected representatives; the other on network 936 television between principals. Mr. Bush has been said to oppose 937 both. A Congressional Debate is apparently viewed as having the 938 potential of taking away from the President the element of surprise 939 should he elect to attack Iraq. A network debate would ultimately 940 contribute public opinion, which Mr. Bush has been quoted as saying 941 he can't let influence him. (He can't lead effectively if his deci- 942 sions are subjected to public replay and review.) 943 944 We believe that such attitudes on the part of the administration 945 are big parts of the problem. 946 947 Getting the issue of war versus peace center stage now seems very 948 important. What other way is there for our leaders to learn the 949 direction of where we Americans wish to be led. What better way is 950 there for us quickly to influence our political leaders than through 951 mass education and the generation of consolidated public opinion? 952 953 What we really need is a national referendum on war versus 954 peace. While the debate vehicle is not a referendum, what else is 955 available in the short term? 956 957 Without having the time or benefit of thinking the whole matter 958 through, we believe it useful to: 959 960 1. Seek the production of a first class nationally televised 961 debate on the virtues of War versus Peace in the Middle 962 East.... ASAP. 963 964 2. Establish at the same time a mechanism by which to mea- 965 sure public opinion concerning this issue. 966 967 3. Establish a vehicle whereby political response to public 968 opinion could be evaluated and be made widely known. 969 970 There has to be people out there with the connections necessary 971 to facilitate the accomplishment of such objectives quickly. There 972 also is power out there if as many of you as possible make similar 973 calls. Please involve yourselves. Please call: 974 975 * Ted Koppel's office: (202) 887-xxxx 976 977 * Ed Turner (CNN): (404) 827-xxxx 978 979 * CBS: (212) 975-xxxx NBC: (212) 664-xxxx ABC: (212) 980 456-xxxx 981 Nancy and Will Perry 982 983 696969696969696969 984 041=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 11/17/90 14:14 Msg:5667 Call:32118 Lines:15 985 &*&*&*&*'s 986 Well, We're near the end of the disk again. 987 988 Twin Peaks was a fairly dark show to begin with, an its only gotten worse 989 these last couple of weeks. I'm just not sure how much longer I can hold 990 out in terms of being able to stand it. I just hope cooper figures out 991 who bob is soon. Otherwise, Donna~r and james might find themselves 992 in a big bunch of trouble RSN. 993 994 Well, there can't be more then six or so lines left, so I guess I'll finish 995 this disk of for real this time. 996 997 At the Bottom (Really!) 998 An Astral Dreamer 999 &*&*&*&*'s