Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my Post Toasties!  How hot are you?  I remember talking about this in the winter, how we complain if it gets too hot or too cold.  So, I'm not complaining.  I'm just commenting on the oppressive heat and humidity.  I'm commenting very loudly: "It's hot, hot, hot!"  But it's still better than the s-word.  Let's not even think about that.  Just pour yourself another tall, cool one and read the rest of my blog.

I must express my sorrow at the carnage in Dallas and around the country.  Have we gone mad?  It appears in a number of cases that the police have committed murder, thus they are the target of murderers seeking revenge.  But there's no rhyme or reason about it.  Ambushing and killing five police officers in Dallas isn't the answer to the problem.  We need an honest national dialog on these issues.  I agree with the video a couple of blogs down that says we expect too much of our police officers.  To put it bluntly, I believe that many of them are doing the job that parents did a generation or two back.  Also, the police are viewed as the enemy in many blighted areas.  It's like they have targets on their chests and backs.  How much money would it take to persuade you to go into these areas as a police officer?  I figure a million billion dollars might be enough for me, but I want a tank.

Generations are being lost to a lack of family support.  If no one disciplines a child, he/she grows wild.  I don't mean discipline in the sense of punishment, but rather instilling a sense of discipline in your child.  Teach them the discipline to follow the rules and do the tasks assigned to them.  So, whose responsibility is to see to this?  Certainly not police officers.  There's not enough of them or enough time.  Most of it, I think, falls, undeservedly, upon the shoulders of educators.  The police get involved when the educators "fail."  It's unfair to foist the responsibility of raising your child on an educational system that's already stretched to the max.  Unfortunately, this is the way new generations are being brought up.  The pressure on educators is intense.  They have to try to teach a normal curriculum while also dealing with the distractions of "special needs" children.  Most of them "need" a spanking, but you don't dare touch, unless you want to be sued and lose your job.

Hmm, how did I end up on that soapbox today?  It just angers me that so much is heaped on educators.  Like the video about expecting too much from the police, the same is true for our educators.  Teach your children, yes, that's the teacher's job, but not to raise them for you.  Your child/children are your responsibility, not RUSD's.  The failure to take responsibility for one's children is eating away at the substructure of the teaching profession. 

Perhaps soon the police will be required to carry a variety of disposable diapers and milk bottles in each squad car.  Call 911 when your child's diaper is full and the police will arrive to take care of the situation.  You laugh now, but give it a few more years . . .  So says Madame Zoltar™!

It looks like any intersection in Racine needing roadwork is up for the installation of a roundabout.  I used to be against them, but now I don't care.  I don't know how to drive through them, so I do the best I can and get through, often with many horns honking and people yelling.  Make them all roundabouts.  Maybe Racine can become known as the 'Roundabout City,' with the best tasting water and lowest crime rates.  

OK, I need to 'fess up.  I don't carefully drive through roundabouts, doing the best I can.  I blast through them, the devil be damned.

Well, thank you for reading another edition of Dear Madame Zoltar.  I love all of my readers.  If i could, I'd reach out of the page and plant a great big smooch on your forehead.  In lieu of that, all I can say is welcome, you're wanted here, you're loved.

How hot is it?  Ask madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Enjoy summer.  Grill some brats and drink a Wisconsin craft beer.  Just watch out for too much sun exposure.  Use a good sunblock.  Without it, you'll look like a piece of bacon at summer's end.