The little candle in the corner of my banner is burning a little brighter tonight; BJ came through surgery safely, and is now free of the breathing tube she’s been subjected to for two weeks now.

Over the last couple of days, there have been hopeful signs. Prayer and good medical care are working, but now is the time to step up the prayers (as the docs have admitted to AT that they haven’t seen anyone as sick as she was survive).

Through this incredibly traumatic ordeal, AT has shared everything — fear, pain, hope, an occasional glimpse of humor, but most of all, his deep and unshakable love for his wife. A love that stands as an example in this world obsessed with perfection and instant gratification, when they have been denied both.

Yet, he is also balancing the needs of their two young sons through it all; perhaps there is strength found in seeing his wife reflected in their children. He is fiercely protective of them, yet calm and reassuring through a time when there has been no calm and little reassurance for him.

Now is the time to step up the prayer, in whatever way works best for you. For me, it’s usually a random conversation with God — sometimes out loud, sometimes not. Often with my eyes open, especially while driving or cooking… I think He’s okay with that. But sometimes I hit my knees and clasp my hands, just in case that’s preferable. I really don’t know.

Drop by Atomictumor and offer a little encouragement while you’re at it. This young family is one that would be a valued member of any community, and I’m really glad they’re in mine.

At the Tennessee School Boards Association convention, this evening’s keynote speaker (Ako Kambon) threw about some interesting statistics from a University of Michigan study on who, or what, influences children.

There are five basic influences over the past 50 years or so — home, school, church, peers, and tv (or media, depending on the decade).

In the 1950’s, the order of influence was home, school, church, peers, TV.  (All one channel of it?)

In the 1980’s, it was home, peers, TV, school, church.

1990’s: peers, TV, home, school, (insert six more items), church.  Yeah, church fell to 10th place in the 1990’s.

2000’s: Media (encompassing TV, internet, computers, video games, etc.) moved up to #1.

So, when teachers, principals, and school boards say “we have to do more to involve parents in education…” we’re really fighting a losing battle; if family influence had fallen to third place 10 or more years ago, where is it now?

Today’s students, he said, have about a 12-minute attention span — the length TV programming between commercials.  Kids expect faster delivery of information, expect it to be relevant, and tune out if it’s too slow in coming or not presented in a way that matters.

I don’t buy that hook, line, and sinker… but it’s worth thinking about.  Certainly, achieving a 100% graduation rate by 2014 will require that we make all subjects both interesting and relevant for all students.  Oddly enough though, there’s contrasting research showing that the nations where students are the least confident in their abilities, and get the least enjoyment out of school, tend to be the ones with the highest-performing students on international tests.

Much to think about, much to learn in these next couple of days.

My party, the Republican Party, has been taken over by extremists and has been thusly repudiated by the American voter.

The Abramoff scandal, the Foley scandal, and the leadership’s failure to address them didn’t help. But the real problem, I think, was in the party’s departure from its basic principles — that government should only do what people (or local governments) cannot do for themselves; that the government closest to the people is best, etc.

The GOP wasted time on things like banning federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, and actually grew federal intervention in areas of local government like education (using up a lot of money at the top end of the problem, not at the classroom level where it might actually produce results). They didn’t get very far in the area of decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, where they could have made a change by using domestic resources and increasing research on alternatives instead. They didn’t fix social security, or medicare, or the other entitlements that make up most of the federal budget.

At the time of my midday post yesterday, the stock markets were decidedly down (foreign as well as domestic), but by the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P500, and the Nasdaq were all up. I think the DJIA hit a record high.

The world will not end. Actually, having a divided government for a couple of years might bring significant improvement. I hope that the division is such that we will not see a swing to extremism on the other side, but that they will grow focused on a few priorities and actually work together to forge a centrist compromise on a few things that would made the biggest difference to our future.

As a nation, we have the ability to do amazing things, but we haven’t been performing up to that ability of late.

How’s that, Doc?

Afterthought: George Will said it better. 

If some national media outlet stops you at the polls today and asks if Tennessee voters are racially motivated, show them this (courtesy of BlueCollarRepublican).

Of course, not all voters are racially motivated; some have good reason.

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At Oak Ridge’s Hendrix Creek precinct, PunkHP reports that a Massengill supporter is harassing voters.  Not surprised… they’ve been to my door about three times, the last a few days ago when I was on an important phone call.  After waiting at the door for ten minutes or so (12-year old Delta answered it) with Dog staring through the crack, they left.

I told Delta that next time, she should tell them that we’ve all already voted.

Still, if any candidate supporters harass you, call the Anderson County election commission at 457-5400 and report them.

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As the rain pours and the election goes on and Tuesday creeps past as Wednesday draws nearer, keep praying for AT and his beautiful young wife who is still fighting for her life in CCU at Methodist Medical Center.

I can’t remember the last election day when the election itself meant less to me on that day.  Right now, I want to find the old guy with the clipboard and explain to him (as I so often apply to school board matters) that common sense and decency are more important than policy.

Keep praying.

Getting this news story (Fox) planted may be driving sales through the roof at an Albuquerque Burger King:

ALBUQUERQUE —  Two police officers have sued Burger King Corp., claiming they were served hamburgers that had been sprinkled with marijuana.

The lawsuit says Mark Landavazo and Henry Gabaldon, officers for the Isleta Pueblo tribal police, were in uniform and riding in a marked patrol car when they bought meals at the drive-through lane Oct. 8 of a Burger King restaurant in Los Lunas, N.M.

The officers ate about half of their burgers before discovering marijuana on the meat, the lawsuit said. They used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for medical evaluations.

“It gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘Whopper,”

So how will you have that burger?  Loaded?