Anyhow, never think that because it is an off election year that there is nothing to do in politics. There is always someone somewhere who is working on getting elected. If you’re lucky, you can find an amazing candidate to work with like I have!

Last weekend the Attorney General held his birthday fundraiser at several homes in central Arkansas. It was a beautiful day and made out for a beautiful event. I felt so privileged to be with him on such a special event in his life. He is young for the role he is in and is a great inspiration to young people! He isn’t even 40 yet, and he’s the Attorney General of Arkansas.

People often forget that politicians are real people too. They have families. They have tragedies. They go to the doctor. The only major difference is that their schedule may be a little tighter than most peoples! Respect your elected officials and remember they have personal lives too. They need time to take care of themselves. They do after all spend most of their time serving all of us.

(I thought the above picture was apporiate.  It was taken during Democratic Women's Legislative Day at the capitol in the Treasurer's Vault.  If only fundraising were that easy!)

At the young democrat convention, the Lt. Governor's Chief of Staff gave a wonderful training on fundraising and I'd like to share some of the things I learned.

When fundraising for a campaign, a candidate's job is to fundraise. Before ever working on any campaign, remember a candidate has 3 jobs: ask for money, ask for votes, and know the issues. A student cannot say,"Well, I'll only do 2/3 of my homework." Likewise, acandidatemust be willing to do 1/3 of their job - ask for money.

It is important that candidates makeappearancesat events, and even host their own events, but this should come afterasking for money.A candidate should spend 25-35 hours a week asking for money.Sending letters asking for money usually ends up costing more than you make. Want money and want it fast? Just ask. Asking in person offers you the biggest chance. If you cannot ask in person, there is still a greater chance of obtaining a pledge on the phone than through a letter.

This proves difficult for judicial candidates, as they are not permited to ask for money. Judicial Candidates must create a finance committee and their finance committee's job is to ask for money. It is best to have a judicial candidate call or speak with someone, then as soon as possible, the same day or the following day, have a member of their finance committee call that person. Keep in mind that many people do not know the restrictions of a judicial candidate. It is important to explian this restriction to potential donors so they don't think a candidate simply didn't feel comfortale asking for money themselves.

Now, go raise some money!

I would highly reccomend contacting your local young political groups to get involved; however, there are some activities they are only for those 21 and older, so just ask the leadership to see what events are apporiate for someone to attend.

This year Governor Mike Beebe, Lt. Governor Bill Halter, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, Land Commisioner Mark Wilcox, and many future candidates. All of them were seeking help with their upcoming campaigns, which is another great reason to attend. I spoke with the Attorney General about working with his team on hisreelcetion campaign, and have since helped with a fundraiser. The I also spoke with another candidate who I have since interviewed for a summer position with.

Conventions are a great place to meet current elected officials, future candidates, and other people your age who are passionate about government.Find a convention near you and go!

(Below: Me in front of the beatiful Arkanasas State Capitol where many great leaders work.  We were lucky to get to hold our annual convention here again, within walking distance from the Democratic Headquarters, where we conviently had lunch.)

(Above is a picture of Shana and Me at a Jay Barth for Senate Kick-off fundraiser in Little Rock.  It was a great event that raised lots of money!  If you want to work at a fundraiser, just contact the candidate and tell them you'd like to volunteer.  They'd be thrilled to have your help!  That's what I did with Jay!)

Despite the economy being a wreck and millions loosing their jobs. My local school district felt it necessary to raise the millage. That’s right MORE TAXES. Why? Improvements to the high school campus, including a security fence, awnings, a new office for the principal, etc. . . Additions at the other schools include play ground equipment. When I received a post card in the mail, I thought it was a complete joke. A security fence? I believe the security fence we have at our border is a lot more advanced than any fence a school could build. Not to mention, there are guards paid $70,000 a year to guard the fence at the border, but yet quite a few manage to get through that. The down part to every fence is the fact that every fence comes with a gate. It is a complete joke to waste money on something as frivolous as a fence. The only thing this will do is trap students IN the school when there is a real emergency. Although covered pathways would be nice on rainy days, umbrellas would be a much cheaper solution to this problem. As for a new principal’s office, the principal’s office is big enough to substitute for a small class room. His advancement of the millage cannot be viewed as unbiased. Children can learn how to play without playground equipment when the country is in a recession. It will help them build a better imagination. Fight hard. You can prevent similar things from happening in your community. With a little bit of campaigning, I could have prevented this horrible tax increase.

In Warsaw , Poland one conservative congressman was infuriated when he discovered that a new male elephant at a local zoo appeared to have Gay tendencies. Local Conservative Congressman Michal Grzes strongly objects to allowing this to go on.

Homosexuality is a topic I’ve tried to avoid on my blog. I believe in freedom, up to the point that it harms no one. Regardless of my belief, people do have the ability to control and oppress other people. They use this oppression in order to scare those with beliefs that differ than their own in attempt to alter the beliefs of people with un-similar ones. I’m not saying that ability to oppress or control is morally right. I’m simply acknowledging that it exists. People do not, however, have the ability to punish or oppress animals who sexuality they do not agree with.

First of all, it is pretty hard to discover which sex an animals prefers. One cannot ask an animal if they like males or females. Granted, one can observe; but, like the saying goes, “things are not always as they appear.”

Ironic that, out of all animals, an elephant is the subject of the story.

    I met this little guy at a tourist stop on the way to the DNC and always knew it would end up being a comical picture.

Economic Crisis hits Madoff, Unable to Pay $10 Million Bail

For most of America the economic crisis is hitting close to home. Lately though, we're seeing that it isn't only hurting poor American's. News articles about mansions being foreclosed have been a weekly occurance.

Bernard Madoff is now one of the many American's trying to deal with the economic crisis. After stealing billions of money from the innocent, Bernard Madoff, wants the courtto revoke his $10 million bail. Quick question? Doesn't Madoff have billions, let alone $10 million?

Marijuana: The Solution to California's Problem

Growing up, kids are always told that drugs are bad. Even as teenagers and adults,the idea the drugs are the root of so many problemsis constantly reiterated; however, California assemblyman Tom Ammiano thinks drugs may actually be the solution to a problem - California's economic crisis that is.

Amminano is proposing a law that would legalize the sale of marijuana in the state of California. How would this help California's economy? Amminano has the statistics to prove that this could raise $1.3 millon a year from taxes!

Good idea or bad idea, at least some are offering solutions for the economy that don't come from MY pocketbook.

ONE COUNTRY LEFT BEHIND

I’ve sat back and tried to not be too hard on Obama for this stimulus joke because I will admit at 18 years old I’m not the most knowledge person regarding the economy; however, education is an area I pride myself in being knowledgeable. I’m not the average student.. I taught an English as a Second Language Class and a 7^th grade World History Class. I was on the Principal’s Advisory Board, where I worked with my High School to develop a High School English as a Second Language Program for foreign students so they would not be set up for failure. I was President of Teachers of Tomorrow for 2 years. I also lobbied the school sometime regarding problems among teachers. I even worked with the school board at times. It was not rare to see me in the Superintendent’s office. Saying all of this, I believe I have a very current and up to date opinion on how schools are run, at least in the state of Arkansas. This, in my opinion, makes my points somewhat more knowledgeable than legislatures who attended school quite a few years ago, under a drastically different education system.

Parts of Obama’s education system are stupid. Yes, flat out stupid. The main reason education in America is failing is due to the fact that schools are forced by the government (i.e. national, state, local, school boards, etc. . . ) to make standardized testing the most important, and sometimes only mark of success.

Under my understanding this started under Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, which encouraged a socialistic level of success in education. My favorite analogy, which I’ve heard many conservative teachers use, is linking No Child Left Behind to a football team. As posted below:

For all educators in and out of the education system:

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time, even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!

3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. This will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go to school with bad football players.

Bush had good intentions, but a stupid plan and idea.

I believe this contributed to the nation, as well as state boards of education and school boards to believe that standardized testing have the ability to measure success.

STANDARDIZED TESTING IS AN INACCURATE MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Standardized testing, whether it is statewide or national, now begins in Kindergarten. The purpose of Kindergarten is to get used to school. You learn your colors, abc’s, and how to count by 2’s. It isn’t quiz bowl.

Now let’s move to elementary school (1^st grade – 4^th grade), I’ve personally shadowed classrooms in the past few years. These young students were forced to take tests. Not only the national and statewide tests, but also the school districts own version – chunk tests. They make chunk tests worth 14% of student’s grade. That’s a letter grade and ½. Since most teachers upset by the test they tell their students it is a joke. They are annoyed that they have to spend valuable time teaching students how to take a test, rather than teach them valuable skills that they can apply to life, like reading and vocabulary.

Most cheat, that’s right cheat. I’ve watched multiple teachers tell students the chunk test is stupid and give the students answers, or not monitor students and allow them to take the class together as a test. Instead of teaching student’s the scientific method, they are teaching students the method to take scientific tests. How is this measuring a student’s success if the testing conditions differ classroom to classroom in the same school?

In high school they are establishing state standardized tests for every subject. When I started High School in 2005, standardized tests only existed for math and English, which meant we had to take reg. state tests, as well as chuck tests. Within one year the state had a science standardized test, which had a chunk test to go along with it. They are developing a history/social studies test. I took the actual English/literacy and math test and the pilot history and social studies test. When they do the pilot tests they have kids who are at the top of their class, like myself, take the test to set impossibly high standards.

During my last few years in high school I started working first with the Democratic Party and then with Campaigns. I had absolutely NO job skills. Even though I had taken Word Processing, which supposedly teaches Microsoft Word skills, I could barely do any of the tasks required because the teacher had to teach so we could pass the state standardized marketing test. Surprise, Surprise. Microsoft Excel? I initially looked like a joke. I was lucky enough to have an old version at home, and several helpful people in the office, who helped me develop skills with the program. I was in Advanced Placement classes and learned nothing that would contribute to a career.

Because we as America are only teaching students how to take tests in schools, they, surprise, only know how to take tests. They have no skills for the workforce, which they need, in order to be completive on a national level. Funny, I thought that was the point of doing these standardized tests, to develop students who were competitive on a national level. Even if American students learn to take tests just as well as those in Asia or Europe , doesn’t make them competitive when it comes to jobs. The difference, from what I can gather, is that students in other countries are actually learning. First of all, school is the most important thing in life. It is taken very seriously. They don’t have all the little cliques. People who are intelligent are not worshiped and praised, they are thought of as stupid. Second of all, students in foreign countries do their homework.. I have a good friend from Russia . She doesn’t even know what the punishment is in Russian public school for not doing your homework because that doesn’t happen. Third, parents consider education important. In Arkansas only 18.2% of the population has a college degree, which makes us ranked number 50 in the nation. That is pitiful

This starts to rub off on teachers. Our next generation of teachers, any teachers who have been influenced/taught by the current method, will believe as they’ve been taught, that tests are the only way to measure a student’s knowledge.

OBAMA’S BADPLAN

Obama’s plan:

- $5 billion incentive fund to reward states for high standardized test scores

“Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom,"

- Reduce student drop out rates.

"Don't even think about dropping out of school."

- Wants everyone to have one year or more of high education/career training

After reading my above argument it should be well known why his first point is set up for failure and how if we let something like that happen, we will continue to fail.

As for dropout rates, that is partly to blame on the education system. If students are not learning anything they can apply to life or basic life skills, why should they stay in school? What are they getting out of school? In school students should learn how to do their taxes, how to register to vote, appropriate ways to act and dress for work, how to interview, how to make a resume, what to do when they are pulled over, etc. . . Obama said, “The challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." He is wrong. I highly disagree with that time. The classroom is NOT the real world. Students shouldn’t be confined to a classroom; they should be a part of the community. If students felt like part of a community, they would have a greater interest in improving it. For example, they are several schools, public high schools, centered around public service. For science class, they volunteer at a local hospital, not only learning valuable skill, but also helping people. Health classes work in a grocery store and hospital. Other than class projects, students could also be allowed to do individual projects. For example, a student could use geometry skills to design a playground and English/Writing skills to write a grant to build a new community playground based off of their design! Projects like this provide students with a sense of success. It also allows them to explore different career field. The more successful a student feels, the more likely they will want to continue this success. Best of all it would help the community and the lives of everyone involved. Students must know how to apply what they learn. Rather than doing math application problems, do real projects! Each curriculum would be designed around a community’s resources.

Not everyone wants to go to college, but that is partially because so many don’t see it as a reality. They think that only really smart students can get into college; however, that is not true. I graduated number one in my class out of 472 students. I do not have a college fund or rich parents. As of right now, I do not have ANY scholarships and can’t get any state scholarships because I took college Spanish instead of high school Spanish, which is obviously more advanced.. If Obama will help create measures to provide financial aid, students, those who are intelligent and those who are not as bright, will be more likely to go to college or a career school. In Arkansas our Lt. Governor, Bill Halter, was able to successfully campaign for a State Lottery that would be for college scholarships. He wants anyone who has a 2.5 GPA and who is going to a state school, to get $5,000 and anyone who is going to a community college to receive $2,500. This plan is great, but nothing is ever what it seems. Several evil legislatures want to hire 35 people to tell students about the scholarship. It would cost $1 million a year to pay them. All they need is a website. A domain name costs $10 per year. After convincing conservatives to allow a lottery in the state of Arkansas , some adults get to steal $1 million per year of the money that voters, and those playing the lottery, meant to go to students. Simplification: Get money directly to the students. Don’t allow legislatures to play any more games.  It is time to call them out on this!

Our current voting precincts, which are spread all of town, are still set up for horse and buggies. In a sense that they were spread all over because there were no logical means of transportation to far away places. Anyhow, some states, like Colorado, have started to utilized Vote Centers, which are a new kind of precinct, more effective for early voting and overall Hopefully Arkansas, or at least Saline County can adapt something like Colorado.

Another pressing issue is the possibility, and a likely possibility it is, of moving Arkansas Presidential Primary day to May, when it used to be. Currently it is on Super Tuesday, and as we learned this year, we would’ve had a bigger role in the scheme of things if it was in May, with all the other local and statewide primaries. Another possibility, which some elected officials in the house and senate are lobbying for, is moving the Presidential Primary, as well as the State Primaries to June or August. Why? Because an Arkansas law just passed that forces Arkansas legislatures to meet every year, rather than every other year as they previously have. I think that is a horrible idea, first of all, it would directly hurt young voters. Young voters, who are typically students, do not have school in the summer. They are likely to be on vacation, etc. . . Although they can do the whole proxy thing, it is hard enough to get young people to vote in the first place. The second reason this is a bad idea is because it doesn’t not leave enough time to campaign before the actual election. Candidates typically get a short break in June and sometimes July before they have to hit the campaign trial hard. I think this would extend the election process.

We then moved to the topic of more cost effective voting methods. Someone suggest online voting, I even mentioned texting voting, which I am still determined will some day come. That’s when Freddy Burton explained Oregon’s voting process. It is rather simple. They mail a ballot to every registered voter in the state. Yes, it is expensive to mail all of those ballots out, because not all of those people would vote; however, It is certainly cheaper than paying all of the workers and electronic voting machines. Not only is it more cost effective, but I also I believe that it would increase the voter “turnout.” Mailing something is less of a hassle than standing in line to vote. After seeing people stand in line ALL DAY to vote many would likely find it refreshing to simply vote by mail. Also, laws are often worded in a very confusing manner, which may mislead voters. Sometimes one would like to learn more about a candidate. With more time to research such a serious decision, voters may make a better decision. California used to mail sample ballots that included pros and cons to all registered voters. Apparently that cost them too much though because now they are bankrupt. ; )

I’m certainly convinced that we, not only Arkansas, but the entire nation, should copy Oregon’s voting process.

Borden v. School District of the Township of East Brunswick School Prayer seems to be a constant fight. I am not aganist prayer by any means. I think students have the right to pray; however, I do not believe in organized school prayer. The reason being - what kind of prayer. Catholic prayer? Muslim prayer? Baptist prayer? I live in a town that is predomonantly Baptist. I though am not. Does that mean the majority gets to define the minority's religion? Not according to the Constitution.

Flores-Figueroa v. U.S. A future ruling will decide the fate of undocumented immigrant who useafakeSocial Security number to get work.Currently if they do this, they are considered identitiy thieves.At first glance I thought there was no reason to revoke the current law, but after a little more research, I decided I agreed. Immigrants typically make up Social Security numbers. They don't purposely "steal" someone else's identity.Although it is wrong to make up afake number, it doesn't deserve the same punishment as identity thieves - 2 yearsin prision.

U.S. v. Hayes
Declared that anyone who has committed a domestic violence crime may not own a gun. Is it just me or does this one seem obvious?

There are these commercials on The “N” that show teens doing crazy outrageous things to save the environment. One commercial starts with a girl in the dark and she is giggling evilly because she just removed all of the lights out of her home in an effort to save the planet. At the end of the commercial a screen comes up and a voice says, “You don’t have to go crazy to go green. Go green without going crazy.”

There are so many little things that one can to do “go green.” It all starts to seem overwhelming because we approach it so drastically. I took a step back, and went green with my wardrobe.

I used an old shirt, pictured below, and an old skirt of the same fabric, not pictured, to create a more modern hip shirt (pictured above).