Archive for February, 2009

Taxes

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

A blogger of my acquaintance writes, regarding Sen. Daschle:

I don’t think it’s too righteous of me to expect senators to pay their taxes like all the rest of us. Is it?

Am I a cynic to say that I want my public servants to be effective more than I want them to be pure? Purity is a fine standard for the other 98 senators; let my 2 be the ones who can actually get things done.

Same thing for the executive branch. The purest president of my memory must be Jimmy Carter. He failed us with OPEC, failed us in Iran, and introduced religion into national politics where it could be ridden by Reagan and G. W. Bush. He was right on alternate energy, but failed to convince us. I’m not sure we can afford that much purity this time around.

Oh, and by the way – I pay my taxes, and I’m sure you pay yours – but there must be some reason why the IRS auditors exist. I suspect senators pay their taxes just like the rest of us, which is to say sometimes they don’t.

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A Famous Victory

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Tonight, the schools superintendent reversed himself and withdrew his recommendation that M’s program should be moved. Moved, from the school that was built to accommodate her and her classmates (suspended equipment, bathrooms in the classrooms). Moved, from the school where she’s comfortable – the kids and staff know and accept her. Moved, from the school where she is finally settled after 12 moves in 4.5 years (including construction and summer school – but still!)

It’s not all good. M’s program is staying, but other children will have to move, because the school is full and there’s not enough room for next year’s projections. The parents whose children will move are upset, and – I was surprised by this – there are parents whose children are at the target school as part of open enrollment, who are afraid they will get forced out. This is overhang from the redistricting 2 years ago… always a messy business.

In the end, all we can do is advocate for our own children.

P.S. I’ve just found the reference for the headline quote, and it’s yucky. I’m using it anyway.

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Sledding

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Driving home after a family party, after bedtime and in the dark. We went up Mass Ave past the hill we sometimes sled on. From the back seat we hear M saying “Sledding. It’s sledding.” She had recognized the sledding hill in the dark, coming from an unfamiliar direction.

It’s good generalization to know a place in the dark – I’m not even sure that her brother knew where we were at that moment – but there’s more to it than that. This shows that M is rooted in the community; she knows places and people, and her world extends beyond a few rooms in our house. We worry about this, that autism has drawn an artificial horizon around her world. It’s a nice feeling when M shares her world with us.

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