Support My Friends in Richmond - And Stand Up for Education!

I'm not an activist. Oh, lord - far from it! In fact, I have a general dislike for activism. At least the "don't put a shopping center three miles from me because dem strange-lookin' types might drive by my yard" types. Quite often I find myself to be a contrarian when it comes to activism.

I'm getting off the point here. So when my friends are troubled (I'm terrible at "affected" vs. "effected"), I feel the need to stand up.

My friend, Jon from R-VA never minds if I quote him, so I didn't ask for permission to publish his Facebook comments of this morning. He writes:

With Governor McDonnell’s cuts and a change in the Local Composite Index, Richmond Public Schools stands to lose over 38 million dollars. But Richmond is not alone in this; Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Hampton Roads are in the same boat. Our legislators need to know where we stand on this issue.

And...

Please help us get out the word, and meet us at 12:30pm this Sunday, February 21st, at the Capitol Building in support of the “SAVE OUR SCHOOLS – KEEP THE FREEZE” campaign. We encourage you to take a stand for the education of our children! Please bring homemade posters, banners, ribbons, and buttons with “SAVE OUR SCHOOLS – KEEP THE FREEZE” as we rally together to keep our classrooms free of drastic cuts!

In the interest of being "up front" (a painful, yet not intentional pun), Jon's wife, the uber-talented Rebecca is a teacher (and has encouraged me to become one as well).

The latest on the Virginia governor's budget cuts is here, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Time, and my preparation for the games today at The Mount, will not allow me to dig deeper into this conversation, but I will tell you that I'm never a fan of messing with education. Dear god, we need our youth more than ever. They're, of course, our future, and they need every chance in the world. We know how bad education suffers - especially inner-city education.

Conversely, I know how bad the economy is and while it might be getting slightly better, it's still not that great. So I understand that the governor is in a tight spot.

And of course, I write this with politics aside. I've told you what I registered as when I was 18. At this point, I'm strongly considering dropping parties to be independent. So I don't care that Gov. McDonnell is with the GOP. I don't care who is a Democrat. Or Tea Party.

I care about kids. I care about my friends.

OFF-TOPIC FOR A TIC: Enough with the Palin-bashing...she might go away if ignored, and she's wrong about the "Family Guy" thing as ultra-Palin basher Jeff Pealrman writes. Mrs. Palin will look stupid enough if allowed, so just ignore her. And jeez, Jeff - how many times have you written about her? Still, you're correct about this one (I avoided writing "right", lest you be offended - giggity!).