I really want to take a bath...

But decided I should blog instead. There, are you happy now? Yes, I'm talking to you!

So, the past week I've wasted much time reading things online, which is a usual part of my life. One thing I read online that pissed me off a great deal was this article in the Seattle PI about Seattle school funding. Now, we're not even in the Seattle school district, but the article was incorrect about many financial things (it basically claimed that special education students take up more money than they should, money that should go to "normal" kids). Some quotes from the article:

"The problem Woolverton refers to is a multimillion-dollar budget deficit projected for several years, prompting district officials to consider closing some schools, reducing bus service, trimming the central office payroll and making other cuts. One service that can't be cut is special education, which gets one out of every nine dollars the district spends."

"A family moves in with three kids with autism, and suddenly you don't have a school marching band or the football season is canceled," Parrish said. "That's extreme, but it can happen."

OK, you're hating those evil special needs kids, now, right, gentle reader? Because of them, your child can't take the bus, play football or the piccolo! Well, as someone wrote in a few days later in a letter to the editor:

"Deborah Bach argues that children with special needs are draining funds from Seattle Public Schools. The numbers she reports, however, tell a different story. Bach notes that special education gets $1 out of every $9 the district spends. She also points out that the special education population in the district is slightly more than 13 percent of the total enrollment. How does spending 11 percent of the budget on 13 percent of the children create a deficit? If the numbers are accurate, special education students are helping reduce the red ink, not create it."

Yay! Someone with a brain. However, there's a little comment section on the online paper which had some horrible things on there. After reading these comments Wednesday afternoon, I went to my room, got in bed and cried. There were some positives, too, but two a$$#oles especially got to me.

Here's the first post by Ahole #1:

"Why are the unfortunate circumstances surrounding YOUR kid MY problem?My kids didn't make the baseball team. It's killing their self-esteem and ruining their chances to realize their dreams. I need more funding so that they can spend an hour a week with a couple of pro baseball players. Gimme! They deserve every advantage! Gimme gimme! They deserve our full support! Gimme gimme gimme! After all, it's for the children. They are our future. GIMME! GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!!!!"

Yes, dude, you're a sarcastic ass. Here's another post by this winner:

"For the record, I have nothing against educating the handicapped (or anyone else, for that matter). My beef is with those who would pick my pocket to do it. Your kids (and, if it applies, their handicaps) are not my responsibility."

Ok, dude, if you pay taxes, they are going to every public school kid's education, not just to special ed. Dunce. If you don't want YOUR money going to someone else's kids, you need to move somewhere without taxes, or, in the Bush-Cheney era, make $300,000 or more per year so you'll get some nice tax cuts.

Another guy (Ahole #2) was talking about euthanasia and abortion.

The positive was after all this, I checked on the site Thursday and some new posts were there that renewed my faith in humanity. But, on Wednesday, I was in a huge funk, thinking that my poor Hutton will have to live in a world full of bastards.

Well, I had more to post, but I really do want to take a bath!