I DOUBLE-TRIPLE DARE YOU

[NanceGreggs]

I DOUBLE-TRIPLE DARE YOU
By Nancy Greggs

When I grew up back on the block in New York, to dare another kid to do something was one thing. But to challenge anyone with a double-triple dare was a whole ‘nother story.

With a little fast-talk, you could usually walk away from a dare without losing the respect of your peers, especially if it involved kicking your elementary school principal in the backside in full view of your fellow students, or shaving your kid sister’s head the night before picture day.

In such instances, the dare-ee could garner the sympathy vote, while the dare-er was vilified for setting out a challenge deemed to be (a) impossible or (b) one that carried adult-administered consequences beyond the endurance of even the bravest eight-year-old.

But to walk away from a double-triple dare meant being labeled a wimp forever, and your only hope of escaping a lifetime of shame was to beg your parents to pack up and move to another town – preferably on the other side of the country.

On that basis, as our elected officials head home for their summer vacations, I double-triple dare each and every Republican currently holding office – and currently controlling our government – to do the following:

Arrange an assembly at a local school, and explain to students, parents and teachers why you have allowed our educational system to deteriorate due to cutbacks in funding and a complete lack of oversight in maintaining meaningful academic programs.

Visit with the parents, siblings and spouses of military currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, and explain why, on your watch, troops are still going without body armor, vehicle armor, and sufficient food while over a billion dollars per week is being expended on this war.

Visit a local VA hospital, and explain to the patients why you voted to slash veterans’ benefits and pensions, and how that squares with your publicity-seeking boasts about supporting the troops.

Visit an unemployment center, and explain to those on line how your support of job outsourcing has benefited them as individuals, and the country as a whole. Explain to them why, thanks to you, corporations that move their factories and plants to cheaper labor markets are rewarded with tax benefits for doing so.

Arrange a slide-show at a local church featuring photographs from Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, and explain to the congregation how your complicit silence on the topic of torture is in keeping with your oft-touted Christian beliefs and values.

Visit a seniors’ facility and explain why you voted for a drug plan that has made their necessary medicine financially beyond their means, to the overwhelming benefit of the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry.

Visit a hospital emergency room, and explain to the people waiting there for hours why you refuse to support any kind of global health care program that would cover the cost of a visit to a doctor’s office, and support policies that let employers, even the largest and most profitable, off-the-hook when it comes to providing medical benefits to employees.

Visit a homeless shelter, and explain why social programs are continually being gutted while you have diligently voted to make billions of dollars available for useless pork-barrel projects and endless military expenditures.

Visit a daycare center, and explain to the children why both of their parents have to work just to make ends meet, and how they will have to work three jobs when they grow up just to service the interest on the national debt you have allowed to accrue. Explain to them how your support of tax-cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations will increase that debt load even further.

Visit a prison, and explain to the inmates why they have to ‘pay their debt to society’ as a consequence of breaking the law, while you have allowed the president to break the law on an ongoing basis to the detriment of our entire democratic society.

Arrange a meet-and-greet at a gas station, and explain to the customers why you voted for tax subsidies for the very oil companies that are gouging them at the pump.

Visit with employees who are paid salaries they cannot possibly live on, and explain why a raise in the minimum wage is unwarranted while your own self-voted raises are totally fair.

Visit a courtroom where bankruptcy hearings are being held, and explain to those who have lost everything why your support of the bill that keeps them in debt to banks and credit card companies is justified.

Arrange a field trip to a polluted lake or river, or a strip-mining site in your state, and explain to your constituents why getting on this environmental stewardship bandwagon does not make any sense.

So there it is; the gauntlet has been thrown down. The challenge has been made. The double-triple dare has been called.

And it is a dare that I can guarantee, without a scintilla of doubt, will not be taken on by a single Republican representative, now or ever.

This is the Grand Ol’ Party, my friends: too self-serving to have done right by their countrymen, too guilty to explain their actions, and way too spineless to take a double-triple dare.

[KyuzoGator]

1. Is a double-triple dare the same as a 6x dare?

Just wonderin'.

[NanceGreggs]

4. Never heard of the 6X dare ...

... my husband is a native Floridian -- I'll ask him about it. Sounds like you guys were way more daring than we NY kids.

The highest we ever got (after the double-triple dare) was the double-triple-fourple dare. Not grammatically correct, but so scary it was seldom called by even the bravest among us.

[KyuzoGator]

19. I don't know if a 6x dare exists.

I'm a math nerd, you'll have to forgive me.

[Raster]

2. Kicked and Recommended!!!

Nance, love the rants.
Five!

[livvy]

3. This is really good. K&R

I remember the double-triple dare well. It was a challenge to take very seriously.
Great examples, and you are right, not one will take you up on the dare.

[WestSeattle2]

5. Your writing is fantastic....

I always look forward to your posts! I have to disagree with one of your positions however. Education in this country has deteriorated to the level it has, not due to lack of funding, but due to the woeful lack of parental interest, concern, and involvement.

It really doesn't matter what a school district's budget is. If a child has parents or guardians who value education and push the child, and the school, to excel, it generally happens. There are countless examples of inner-city, poverty stricken schools, pumping out straight-A, college-bound graduates. Parental involvement and professional teachers were key.

When we have so many parents who simply aren't parenting, and have no desire to do so, then continuing to throw more dollars into the current system is just wasteful, in my opinion.

[NanceGreggs]

12. I agree on the importance of parental involvement ...

... along with the dedication of many of our teachers across the country.

However, the fact that unwaivering parents and educators have wrought absolute miracles does not negate the fact that this administration has short-changed them, and the students, time and time again.

Our educational system should be turning out well-educated, well-equipped students with the assistance of MUCH-NEEDED FUNDING, and not IN SPITE OF the lack thereof.

IMHO, dedicated teachers work wonders every time they encourage a student to realize their potential -- those wonders should be fully funded via the best-equipped classrooms, the most up-to-date textbooks and technology, and budgets that reflect the importance of a well-educated American populace.

To skimp on the funds necessary to educate the next generation is unconscionable, and is detrimental to the country's ability to compete in the world market now and in future.

EDITED TO ADD: In response to your comment, "When we have so many parents who simply aren't parenting, and have no desire to do so, then continuing to throw more dollars into the current system is just wasteful, in my opinion."

What do you say to the child who is intelligent and diligent in their studies who, through no fault of their own, have parents who are 'simply not parenting'? "Sorry, but because your parents aren't interested in your education, we're prepared to leave you by the side of the road."

Sorry, no way I'm buying into that.

[WestSeattle2]

28. Apologies for the confusion....

My point was that our system is FLUSH with money, it's just misappropriated. In my state of Washington, I believe funding per student is at, or over, $10,000 per student.

There is absolutely NO excuse why every teacher in this state should not be making $80,000 per year, every kid should have all the textbooks, the latest technology available, and tutors when needed. The money is there.

What happens to this money between the time we pay our property taxes and the time it reaches the classroom, is criminal. We have public school teachers eeking by on $40k, buying students supplies out of their own pockets. While $40k may sound fine to a teacher in affordable areas, in major West Coast cities, $40k is insulting when a typical house costs $350,000.

We have layers and layers and layers of administrators sitting on their fat behinds sucking cash out of classrooms. That's criminal. They are taking up space in local districts, in state education offices, and also at the federal level. Gid rid of the bureaucrats and put the money back in the classroom.

The reason they get away with these crimes against children, is that too many parents simply don't care. No, I'm not a teacher, nor do I know of any in my circle of family and friends. I don't even have children in the public schools. I'm just a pissed-off taxpayer who watches the waste in the public school system and it makes my blood boil.

[NanceGreggs]

29. I hear ya!

And what you say is true -- about bureaucrats sucking the largest portion of the budget into their own bank accounts on the basis of their 'invaluable contribution' to the system. Unfortunately, that is the norm in every area in which government rears its useless and ugly head. And the system is not 'flush with money' under this administration - far from it.

The "No Child Left Behind" program, meant to overhaul and improve our schools nationally, turned out to be a mandate to teachers to 'teach to the test'; i.e. get your students to pass useless exams that are no reflection of what a student has actually LEARNED, but simply what they are capable of memorizing.

Three of my sisters are teachers (NYC, Florida and Vermont), and they have struggled to actually EDUCATE their students, rather than getting them to parrot the answers that will show up on tests.

While Bush (the edumaction president) touts the heroics of the "No Child Left Behind" program, the truth is that without backing that program with the funds necessary to implement it, EVERY child is being left behind.

And in a world as competitive as the one we now live in, the failure to educate the next generation to the MAX is, IMHO, a recipe for future economic disaster for our country.

(Add: Abject apologies for misconstruing the intent of your reply).

[canaar]

31. I disagree that the system is "flush" with money that is simply

not being prioritized adequately. I work as an advocate for one of the education unions in Wisconsin negotiating employment contracts and representing employees concerning disputes over the application or interpretation of policies and contract provisions and my wages are paid by the dues contributions of our members. My disagreement should not be construed as protecting a vested interest in maintaining the current distribution priorities concerning available revenue.

In most Wisconsin school districts, the percentage of school district revenue going to wages and benefits is in excess of 80%. This is generally representative of the national trend if my experiences as a union advocate and/or teacher in Oklahoma, Kansas, Florida and Alaska may be considered to provide a representative sample. While it is true that we often complain on a case-by-case basis that some school districts are administratively "top-heavy," or that some school districts compensate their administrators more generously than they compensate teachers or support staff, the amount of money that we are fighting over is perhaps as much as the difference between a 1.3% across the board wage increase and a 1.9% across the board wage increase...in a year when the consumer price index is at 3.4%!

Nobody is being overpaid. Average teacher wage at $43,000 per year. Average teacher job tenure to reach $43,000 13-15 years. Average teacher training required to make $43,000 - Masters Degree. Average maximum wage for teachers in Wisconsin - $55,000 after 16 years with a Masters Degree and at least 24 additional graduate credits. Average principal wage - $70,000 (includes additional 4-6 weeks of employment annually). Average tenure of a principal in the education field as teacher and administrator - 20 years. Masters degree required for principals. Superintendents getting paid $100K-$115K. Central Administrative personnel required to manage the financial affairs, coordinate mandated but unfunded programs, etc. similarly experienced and compensated at 80%-90% of a superintendents wage.

The disparity between the most highly compensated school district official and the least compensated full time employee is no greater than 10 to 1. Compare this statistic for a school district enterprise with gross revenues of approximately $100,000,000 annually (a school district serving a total community population of 65,000 persons) with the disparity between the compensation of a CEO of a private sector company with similar revenues and the least highly compensated employee of the company.

Without hijacking the thread and going on and on with data, I will assert that comparing total compensation packages (including benefits, retirement and such) between education employees at all levels of responsibility and the compensation packages of their counterparts who have similar skills, knowledge and responsibility requirements in the private sector demonstrates approximately 20% disparity in compensation at the career wage. This does not address the issues of whether the education system is adequately addressing the needs of specific target populations of students for which the public school system is appropriately being taken to task. Specificially, we are manifestly unable to fund the programs that are necessary to overcome generations of socio-economic isolation and neglect in our urban schools but that as they say, is a whole nother conversation.

As a standard to gauge effectiveness, it is with some pride that Wisconsin reminds the nation that its students have scored highest in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam for over 16 straight years and that Wisconsin students consistently score at the top of the nation and compete well internationally on most objective measures of educational performance.

[Iowa]

37. Good post WestSeattle2... especially this part:

"We have layers and layers and layers of administrators sitting on their fat behinds sucking cash out of classrooms. That's criminal. They are taking up space in local districts, in state education offices, and also at the federal level. Get rid of the bureaucrats and put the money back in the classroom."

As one who worked within a government system, I can attest to the monumental waste that is going on at the management level. And the wasted money is only a small part of it. The devastating effect many of these overpaid managers have on those who are actually performing the work on the front lines is staggering, and little understood.

Managers serve no useful purpose, so they must invent a purpose. The very best managers actually pitch in and help to get work done, but this type of manager is as rare as a Bigfoot sighting. Furthermore, such managers pose a threat to other managers, so they are quickly instructed to knock it off. The next best managers simply hide in their offices, napping or reading the newspaper, until front-line staff call upon them to run interference or back them up in some way. They are more plentiful, and most employees count themselves lucky to have such managers, although they seldom respect them. Unfortunately, the worst managers are also the most plentiful. These are the ones who operate under the illusion that they matter - that they should actually play some role in the process. These are the managers who consume a tremendous amount of time, energy, and resources on such things as:

-- taking the front line away from necessary work to participate in mind-numbing, useless meetings about nothing
-- tweaking policies nobody gives a rip about (or pays the slightest attention to), and calling mandatory meetings to discuss the changes
-- throwing up roadblocks to effective, efficient practices in order to pursue some convoluted, horse-shit system that they learned about at a management meeting, and then moving on to some equally asinine system when the previous ones fail
-- lying, cheating, and manipulating statistics to create the illusion that more is being accomplished than actually is being accomplished
-- nitpicking about the work front-line staff are doing - work they couldn't perform competently even if their lives depended on it
-- kissing the ass of anyone above them, and expecting everyone below them to do the same
-- avoiding responsibility for anything that matters
-- keeping morale low
-- viewing the people actually doing the work with utter contempt, and fostering an "us versus them" mentality while feigning the existence of a "team" environment (which they "achieve" via phony "team building" exercises, in which they plaster on fake smiles and spend hours of quality time with employees who despise them as much as they despise their employees).
-- spending countless hours creating mission, vision, values statements - and forcing staff to waste time "discussing" them (the place I worked even had them professionally dry-mounted, matted, and framed, and handed them out at staff meetings at all the offices with great fanfare - all on the tax dollar)
-- continually manipulating and maneuvering in order to impress an even bigger asshole up the chain
-- and finally, getting paid far, far more to make a general mess of things, than those who are actually doing the work

The workforce in the public sector is split into two parts - those who do the work, and those who interfere with getting the work done... those who are about substance, and those who are about form. Many of the problems in the public sector could be resolved by sending most managers home, dividing their pay up, and using the money to:
-- increase the pay of those who actually do the work
-- hire more front-line staff
-- buy state-of-the-art tools
I don't think the general public has a clue about how bad it really is. You almost have to experience it, to believe it.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

30. self delete

[AtomicKitten]

6. You'd be more likely to see them

advising corporations of precisely what their money has purchased.

[Demeter]

32. And Getting Rewards For It--Praise and Money and Jobs

and favors for their children, and stock tips, and.....

[WePurrsevere]

7. Well written and excellent points made. This should be sent to every

Republican in office even though we all know they'll never take you up on your dare.

[JeffR]

8. I've taken a pledge not to swear in my subject lines

So I'll just say here - safely within the body of my post - that this is fucking great.

And it ought to be fucking well posted on the fucking DNC website, stamped on the fucking napkins in the fucking Congressional Cafeteria, printed on fucking parchment and shoved up the ass of every elected Republican elected representative in the country, and aired every five minutes on fucking CNN in place of those fucking Head-On-apply-directly-to-the-forehead commercials.

Just sayin' is all.

[catmother]

9. my brother-in-law just said it way better than i could.

[JeffR]

11. Thanx!

Don't tell your mom I have such a poor vocabulary!

[catmother]

14. don't worry. when it comes to bushco you can curse all you

want and mom will join you.

[reichstag911]

13. Why the fuck not?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Unfortunately, way too many Democrats voted to support

things like outsourcing, the bankruptcy bill, the invasion of Iraq, and other atrocities, so I'd actually hundredfold dare the DINOs to confess their sins as well.

[catmother]

10. and if my little sis had a problem with a dare, i was there to kick

the ass of anyone who would hurt her.

[dapper]

15. Double Triple?

I double dare ya
I double dog dare ya..
I triple dog dare ya...

I'm not that young but for some reason I don't remember the Double Triple Dare you and I'm from NY!

Dap

[NanceGreggs]

17. Welcome to DU, my fellow Long Islander!

Don't know about the double-triple dare?

Perhaps you grew up in more gracious times -- or, a much more genteel neighborhood!

Welcome aboard!

[SeattleGirl]

16. Love the rant, Nance!

And I will say this -- they are way too spineless to take even a simple dare, let alone the dreaded double-triple dare. They talk a good game, but that's all it is -- a game designed to give them and their cronies more of what they want, and screw the rest of us.

[rug]

20. I grew up in Manhattan and no one ever double or tripled dared.

I remember breaking off car antennas to fight but not dares.

Must be a suburban thing.

[NanceGreggs]

21. Ah, the days when knighthood was in flower ...

... New York style. Brave fourth-graders, like younger Erroll Flynns, wielding car antennae like sabers, a duel to the death -- or until the streetlights came on -- whichever came first.

[rug]

22. No, just until someone's cheek opened.

[NanceGreggs]

23. Or someone threatened to tell their uncle ...

... who was the Chief of Police for the whole city, who would come and put you in that special jail they had for grammar-school kids -- yeah, that's the ticket.

[rug]

24. That doesn't sound like NYC. Maybe Happauge.

[NanceGreggs]

25. Thanks so much for joining the discussion ...

... about the political situation set out in the original post.

Perhaps you could start a thread about the fascinating points of comparing NYC and Happauge (sic), and I'll be happy to join in the conversation. Send me the link as soon as you post.

[rug]

26. And thank you for the faux New York block, Jennie.

The essay, however, was rather mild for a rant.

[hang a left]

27. Most excellent rant.

r'd and k'd

[im10ashus]

33. Brava!

Triple-dog dares, as we called them in my day and neighborhood, were the penultimate of the dares. Maybe the schoolyard tactics will work, as most of them act like children in Congress.

K&R!

[against all enemies]

34. Have some nerve, jump right to the "triple-dog dare".

[vickitulsa]

35. Well, Nance, I guess you know you've graduated to the next level

in your writing when people expect so much -- and some like to nitpick or argue a single point just to be contrary!

I think this is an EXCELLENT rant -- and more power to ya that you're able to pen a calmly devastating one involving at least a dozen key areas of focus. Another sign you're moving up as an author. Seems to me the longer you do this, the better you get at it. Not all writers can say the same....

I for one would LOVE to see our "representatives" (in quotes since they obviously don't really represent US) confronted with your dare in all its gruesome detail and then be required to give their answer. You nailed them on every point, IMO, and they certainly should have to explain themselves. WHY are they ignoring clear indications of what the people want and just going their merry, greedy way doing whatever suits them?

This state of affairs has become progressively worse so fast it's making my old head spin! Word gets out that our government is letting the Dubai Port Authority buy and control major ports in the U.S., and the people raise bloody hell until our reps do something about it. But then as soon as the dust settles from that, and the people think they were heard and heeded, those same lying politicians quietly sneak through a new bill making it perfectly legal and even desirable for foreign countries to own and operate any of America's ports! This happened just recently, and I get furious every time I hear about this sort of sneaky crap happening in Washington.

Those thieves and liars know exactly what they're doing to us, against our will and wishes. I guess they must feel mighty secure in the knowledge that the people's attention span is so short and their willingness to believe the lies is so great that none of the traitors to democratic principles will ever be held to account for their treachery.

Damn right they ought to have to respond to your dare!

[NanceGreggs]

36. Thanks, vickitulsa ...

And you are dead-on in what you have added, especially the last paragraph.

As for the "the nit-picking", it started out as silly (as you see I tried to make light of it), and then turned into being totally ridiculous. I guess it never occurs to some people that expressions we used as kids vary widely, depending on what era we grew up in, what neighbourhood we lived in, what kids we hung out with, what schools we attended, etc.

And what any of that has to do with anything in my OP is truly beyond me.

[ejbr]

38. Great RANT!

Can we also double triple dare those who would vote repug to justify tolerating the above and pseudo-journalists like CNN and the WAPO to actually consider asking repugs to explain this shit?