Elaine Naleski for School Board

People keep looking up this Elaine Naleski piece.

Ya know, I wrote this when I still believed in District 11...

When I still believed involved parents could make a difference in their schools...

And active citizens could make a difference in their communities.

All of that was a lifetime ago.

I stopped involving myself in school stuff 

After our children were snatched away from our loving care...

With the help and explicit involvement of Colorado Springs School District 11

I don't know what's going on at D11 anymore, nor do I give a hot damn;

Most likely, business as usual.

Back then, I wrote a lot of nice things about a lot of people who turned out to be not so very.

Elaine Naleski never did me wrong personally...

But at this point, she's rubbed elbows with Jan Tanner for more than a decade...

And I'm not sure it's possible to wash off that kind of a taint.

My opinion now is this:

If they ran for office, they likely ran crooked.

2015

Good manners, good taste and so very gracious, 

One of the most genuine women I'll ever meet.

Always with a smile and the right word ready
I think she's really neat.

'Nuff said.

Jan du Jour

(reprinted from last year around this time)


A photographic walk down memory lane with Jan Tanner. 

I gotta hand her this:  at 54, she's gotten progressively better looking, though I'm not sure I want to know the reasons for this; it could very well involve body-snatching, shape-shifting, or ointments made from who-knows-what. 

But her clothing choices are fashion disasters time and time again.  Only twice have I considered her outfits tasteful; even then, she had to go and eff up her good thing by picking her nose or showing off way too much cleavage.  Perhaps one day Jan will learn that what's hot on Planet Vomitblaus is not down here on Planet Earth.

In spite of her absolute absence of fashion sense, it'd be really easy for me to always cast her in a flattering light...if only she had come clean about the details of her most fortuitous special appointment to the District's Board of Directors as its treasurer back in the 2004 days of Chaos, and her 10-year, no-bid, million dollar pizza contract with School District 11; or alternatively, if she'd simply given me, as I'd requested, the very reasonable 10% cut of the $160,000 I discovered she made off of the District during the 2008-2009 school year -- I mean, we're talking $16,000 people: that's *chump* change to Jan, who is richer than any of us can even imagine.

What we have here is a failure to communicate...and to our dual misfortune, on top of being selectively color-blind and stubborn, Jan is stingy and cheap -- traits I find particularly distasteful in the uber-rich.  She's like a demanding customer who then tips the waitress or pizza delivery person $1 -- decidedly uncool. 

I read in this week's Independent that Larry Liston has raised $30,955 to Jan's $5,735, even garnering a sizeable share of GLBT monies -- those traitors.  We can only hope Liston will win with ease -- but don't count Jan out; she could always buy a last-minute election upset simply by cashing in three hundred of her most virile black slaves.

My son came home from college for a quick visit this weekend; when he saw what I was working on, he said in his best falsetto, "stalker..." causing us both to laugh.  But then again, I have dreamt of her -- three times --none of them sexual, but WAY GAY NONETHELESS; I mean, in contrast, I've never dreamt of Alejandro...or 98% of my other boyfriends.

What can I say; she is the cure to my writer's block, the silver lining of my cloudy day...the fly who so kindly stepped into my parlor for a visit; whenever I need cheering and tell myself to look at the bright side of things, I usually end up looking at one of her blouses.  Simply put, Jan is my inspiration -- here's lookin' at you, sweetheart.

Drop Dead Spydra

Yesterday, I wrote something I thought was funny...something about the facially-challenged Michelle Obama.


This morning, I went to the Gazette's homepage, and was tickled *pink* to read the following comment about none other than yours truly; I've been a bit giddy ever since. 


I'll tell ya...sometimes, it's hard to keep going; to keep researching and plugging along, usually without pay or feedback - but then again, some things are far better than money.

* * * * * * * *

smartestman
7:24 AM on September 26, 2011


I move to petition the Gazette to hire Spydra to write a weekly opinion article on any subject. She is an excellent (although at times acerbic) wordsmith. She has a way with words not often seen among professional journalists or pundits, let alone the private sector. In addition, her humor is top notch an often has me in tears. "...all the while oblivious to the fact her face stops clocks." CLASSIC!!!!!

* * * * * * * *

To celebrate the occasion of this unsolicited and wholly unanticipated kudos, I'm releasing this photo that was snapped earlier this year. I hate getting my picture taken, and had to consume several glasses of wine before I loosened up; this was the last shot of the day.

Hey, I already made it clear - I'm not *ever* running for elected office, so I don't care if y'all Sarah Palin the *hell* out this pic. Just wanted to reward a very smart someone for saying the right thing to me at the right time...and to show my undying love for the city of Colorado Springs, the state of Colorado, and the great and mighty United States of America.

God Bless the USA

xoxox

Born that way

Yo, yo, yo, what up my homeslices?  Now to expound on something completely different.

*Sigh.*

When is someone going to give the conservatives a break?

First, Representative Doug Lamborn gets lambasted for telling it like it is...raked over the coals for likening Mr. Obama to a tar baby.

Now it's good ol' Jimmy Lakey, talk radio show host, being drawn and quartered because of a listener's comment that Michelle Obama resembles Zira Cornelius of The Planet of the Apes, and another listener's observation that Mrs. Obama reminds them of Chewbacca.

Well, I know the Ow-You-Hurt-My-Feelings crowd will storm and shout for an apologetic restoration of justice, because they always do - whether deserving of an apology or not (most often not).

But I hope neither Lakey nor KRDO caves...because this is still the United States of America, and Americans still enjoy the freedom of speech.

It's become HELLA easy for minority groups to point their fingers at conservative white people, and accuse them of racism and bigotry every time they get butt-hurt (which is ALL OF THE TIME).  But badgering folks to own up to alleged wrongs when indeed they're in the right is just WRONG.

Did that make sense?

Don't care:  since this is coming from a conservative black chick, there's nothing racist about what I'm about to say, and I don't give a damn whose ass gets chapped as a result of my saying so.

The truth is that Mrs. Obama resembles Zira Cornelius AND Chewbacca...and there's a perfectly good explanation as to why.

Wookies hail from the planet Kashyyyk, which is right around the quantum-space corner from the Planet of the Apes.  The tourism industry on both planets is healthy and brisk, in large part owing to their close proximity, as well as their interplanetary resemblance.  Indeed, their many similarities are likely what led them to intermingle, and one can easily discern their mutual resemblance.

Case in point:  

Chewbacca

Dr. Zaius, Planet of the Apes

These two could be brothers.

The photo at the start of this post is actually Michelle Obama's grandmother, Memawmubacca; the proud offspring of precisely such an interplanetary coupling...commonly referred to as a Chewlatto.

Memaw and Michelle are the spittin' image of each other.

So, sorry to burst this most recent bigot bubble, but Mrs. Obama cannot help the way that she looks.  

She was born that way. 

9/11 Truth

Real Beautiful




Real Family




Real Responders




Real Photographer/Real Pictures

Real



Real 

9/11 Lies

I had the TV on whilst picking up around the house...a PBS special about the 9/11 memorial - did you know that effort was called "Project Rebirth?"  

I wasn't watching it really, because I felt myself become saturated with talk about 9/11 some time back in early August...but my increasingly deaf ears happened to catch someone mention "the fountain."  I stopped what I was doing to go and take a look...wanting to see it, and expecting some type of water screen construct.  

I wasn't disappointed.

I had spent a week - almost two -  feeling flummoxed and confused about what to write about September 11.  I felt I was supposed to write something, and indeed, wanted to badly...but I found myself plagued by the twin questions of where to begin, and then to go where?

I found my answer to the first question in the form of that fountain; I guess we'll learn the answer to the latter question together, when we reach the end of this post.

I wrote once before about 9/11, and of the nightmare I dreamt on its eve...of how my shock and awe soon gave way to suspicion and disbelief. I've never really ventured from that place of doubt.

I know there are still some of you out there who still believe it was a terrorist attack, and my intention is not to argue with you - the destruction of those buildings was *plainly* a controlled demolition...and if your eyes are still blind to that reality, then we're on entirely uncommon ground.

Then there were the strange calls that were made from the airplanes.

Cecee Lyles' husband is one of the only sincere-sounding people I've heard speak on this subject; I've often wondered what became of him; lots of 9/11 witnesses have died prematurely, often under unusual circumstances.

I dunno about you, but I cried off and on that whole day - and if anyone I knew had been killed...ugh.  Yet this mother chuckles as she relates her final conversation with her son, supposedly killed that same day!

I found the information in the video below quite helpful.

I learned recently of questions regarding the victims.

So, what:  everyone on the flight happened to have a similarly named doppleganger onboard with them?

And what should we make of these odd witnesses?  

And I really love this firefighter, who's been working in the rubble since 11:00 a.m. that morning; gee, not a speck of dust on his fireman costume OR hat - that brother's smoove.   "It looks like Vietnam."  What the hell? He's not even old enough to remember anything about Vietnam...such a strange and fake thing to say...a total fake witness.

It was a lot harder to find firefighters who told an unbelievable story; maybe that's why they weren't invited to the memorial service...maybe that's why so many of them are dead or dying.

Then there's the footage of the catastrophe itself...

And I would be remiss if I failed to mention our nation's leadership.  Our president at the time, the idiot George W. Bush, was and is a fake and a liar...

The speech he gave in the video below is the epitome of unbelievable, and utterly devoid of any comfort; love the way he struggles over the word "assuage."

...as is the charlatan pretending to be our president now.  "Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earths."  Why is this fool reading from the Bible, and not the Holy Koran?  

So, now New York has its own gigantic "Face of Horus", complete with nose...and its own America the Beautiful Park-like water screen, right at ONE WORLD Trade Center Avenue - HOORAY.  I FEEL BETTER NOW, DON'T YOU?

And what to make of the "Crescent of Embrace" bullshit?

Whoever named it is the same asshole responsible for that DUMBASS POEM that was read at Obama's inauguration..."Praise Song for the Day"!

Talk about noise and bramble!!!! Give me a break!!!!!!  WHY ARE WE ALL TAKING THIS LYING DOWN???  COME ON AMERICA - WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD THE STRENGTH TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE...WHY AREN'T WE BRAVE ENOUGH TO CALL THE LIE A LIE????

My family - my husband, our two kids at the time, and I - stood at the top of those twin towers just two years earlier...smiling and waving for the camera on a beautiful September day - oh, if I come across those photographs, I WILL post them.

So when I came across this photograph of the towers above the clouds, I had to catch my breath.  "How beautiful," I remember thinking...my sense of wonderment quickly turning to nausea as I scrolled down to see the comments from the native New Yorkers...asking questions like "How come we can't see the top of the Empire State Building in the picture?  This is totally FAKE!"  

Some will say it's un-American of me to question these things, but I disagree.  This post is in honor of all those who really did die because of this event; it's for the United States of America - land that I love, for my fellow Americans and for all who love America; this post is for all lovers of the truth: September 11 is the biggest lie...and our belief in the lie is the greatest dishonor we could give to the dead.

I close this post by repeating a warning I've given before:  Within nine to twelve months, we will all see another hoax...similar, probably bigger; we will as a nation suffer a tragedy that will eclipse 9/11.  It WILL involve similar optical illusions, likely via the use of water screen technology...and it will have a link to the Olympics.

FRIENDS:  OPEN YOUR EYES. LOOK ALL AROUND. UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU SEE.

And so here we are...at the end.

May the victims of this egregious lie rest in peace

and those complicit, rot in Hell.

I feel better

(Originally published April 11, 2011)




NO HOME-MADE SACK LUNCHES ALLOWED

This goes out to anyone and everyone who wonders why I still have a "beef" with Jan Tanner and her shady million dollar pizza contract with School District 11.  

Chi-town is Jan-Land...and I just hate to think that this sort of nonsense might soon be coming Colorado's way.


Think about it though, folks:  Jan's contract is a clear, in-your-face, Hey-I'm-Making-Money-Off-Of-You-Constituents conflict of interest, no matter how you slice it.  


But she's so ruthless and rich that she just waves a wad of money at the situation, and magically manages to shake off the stigma that usually goes along with such monkeyshines.


She's had nearly two years to wave some of her money at me; oh well, I guess she doesn't think I deserve it (although I do)...even though it would allow her to walk the Restorative Justice walk, and not simply pay lip-service to the Restorative Justice talk...


Where's my peace rose -- maybe there's still a chance we can circle-talk this sh!t and get things worked out....

*sigh*


When, exactly, did the Native American way to dispute-solving come into vogue anyway?  What ever happened to smoking the peace pipe together?


This is how I always thought they handled business in the World Class Windy City...but I guess it's all good, just as long as Transgendered people are treated with the respect they're due:

Anyway...I'm digressing.


All I know is that, if I was rich, I would have paid just about ANY AMOUNT to make an annoying field negro like me stop going on about the pizza already; but what do I know -- I'M NOT RICH.


Every now and then, I think about former City Councilman Charles Wingate, and how he got run right out of town over $25 worth of pizza and a baseless allegation that he looked at porn on his city-owned computer.


But -- as a middle-class conservative black man -- Wingate got just what he deserved, didn't he?  


*shrug*


Eh...at least they let Wingate leave town alive.


And yet the Vice President of District 11's School Board -- the insanely-rich leftist capitalist Jan "Hooray for Gay" Tanner -- is still sitting up there, pretending to care and claiming to be "all about the kids" and "all for teachers"...


...making determinations with tax-payer money, and at the same time, aiding and abetting the teacher's union year after year to ensure teacher salaries remain frozen AS IS, while those in Administration keep getting raises...


...with tax-payer monies rolling effortlessly and unchecked into her purse.


No doubt she laughs about it -- and us -- all the way to the Dominos Socialist Savings and Loan.  And what's not to laugh about?  It's actually HELLA funny when you look at things from Jan's perspective.


Folks, it's unmitigated CRAP that Tanner's shysty pizza contract earns her about the same amount annually as D11's superintendent -- $160,000 (of course, that's Gledich's pre-bonus take home pay).  


That's just SOME of the wasted big money that could be better spent towards giving teachers a raise for a change -- what a novel concept.


But no one wants to talk about it; not even the teachers whose pay have been frozen for how long now??  WON'T EVEN SPEAK UP FOR THEMSELVES...WHY?  Why are you letting other people do all your talking for you, in the dark!!!????  WHY DON'T THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE WORKING AS YOUR MOUTHPIECE NEGOTIATE Y'ALL A RAISE FOR A CHANGE...HUH?  


Nor the students, nor the parents, nor the citizens of Colorado Springs, and certainly not District 11 Administration -- 


EVERYONE'S TOO BLASTED PASSIVE AND COMPLACENT...TOO WORRIED ABOUT THEMSELVES TO BOTHER OPENING THEIR MOUTHS TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD...UNABLE TO EVEN RECOGNIZE WHO ARE THE HEROES AND WHO ARE THE VILLAINS!!!


I mean, your lips aren't busy doing anything else; what better to occupy all those idle, gaping mouths than to inhale some of Jan's all-you-can-eat pizza?   


Who knows...perhaps one day we'll be able to dine on Jan's nutritious lunchroom pizza Chicago Foie Gras style.  

Yummmm.  That's the ticket.


*whew* thanks, all -- I feel better.

CHARLIE BOBBITT IS MY HERO

(Originally published November 18, 2009)

Readers, what a funny experience I just had – and anyone watching the Board meeting tonight on Channel 16 also experienced the hilarity.

As is our custom, my friend Eagle Eye and I were watching discussion on the proposed revisions to the District’s Conflict of Interest policy. Sandra Mann asked innocuously, “What exactly is meant by a ‘romantic relationship?'”

In a heartbeat, my friend shouted at the t.v., “It means two people f-----g each other, lady!!”

We held our sides and howled, so loudly that we missed whatever the comment was in the Board room; it was had to be funny as well, because the room filled with laughter – I’ll have to watch it again on Saturday night to determine whose joke was better.

Apparently, as the policy stands, parties involved in any romantic relationship that constitutes a conflict of interest has until the end of the school year before they must face either transfer or termination.

Until the end of the school year?!? Charlie Bobbitt correctly pointed out that as it is written, the policy allows a tryst that begins in August to carry on until May the following year before any action is taken!

Charlie Bobbitt’s proposed amendment to shorten that length of time was still too generous in giving three months – but it was predictably shot down. Sandra Mann, again laughably, proposed amending the policy to read “as soon as possible.” Again, shot down.

Just in case anyone is wondering, such a relationship should have no more than 30 days before becoming subject to further action.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Charlie Bobbitt: yours has become more and more often the sole voice of common sense and reason on the Board of Directors – I thank you sincerely…and my heart can only imagine how very lonely it must be for you up there with the Cheesy and Lascivious.

My next post will be a good-natured roast of the outgoing Hasling and Gudvangen, and everyone that happened to stir my web tonight - and that doesn't include Charlie.

Play by Play Conclusion

(Originally published August 25, 2010)

A sad announcement to make: Al Loma is gravely ill; I wish him a speedy recovery, and hope that District 11 weasels -- and they know who they are -- don't use this situation as an additional advantageous opportunity to push through whatever they want.

I find it so interesting that after my first post on this subject, both the August 11 and 18 podcasts were taken down...and the August 18 Saturday and Sunday rebroadcasts were the apparent victims of total technical difficulty...odd...must be something discomfitting there.  Of course, I sensed this early on, hence my dogged determination in posting them for you all, despite my clunker computer and scarcity of time.  I'll go through the August 11 meeting and post the video that corresponds to my Board Meeting Cliff's Notes as time permits.

Video that would already be up in its unedited form, with the generous help of someone willing to sponsor Spydra's increased bandwidth.  Just a thought.

Talk about Trailblazer having a sixth-grade community. Well, imagine that --sixth grade in elementary school...just like in the good old days. That's a question that came to my mind upteen gazillion times: Exactly why were the elementary schools suffering from lower enrollment? BECAUSE THEY TOOK SIXTH GRADE OUT AND PUT IT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL, DUH.

And that was a decision that again affected our family personally; our 14 yr. old girl entered middle school and high school a year earlier than her father and I did. Good thing she's a good girl...but let's face it -- go to high school a year earlier, grow up a year earlier. I have never appreciated that forced and accelerated one-year growth spurt on my daughter, courtesy of District 11.  In the same vein, I feel half-day kindergarten is another thing that's sorely missing.

Then comes the Big One, the Challenging One, Glenn sighs with difficulty, the high school boundaries.  Nobody wants to see their high school suffer in any way, and Glenn would know best; the school least at risk of suffering from drastic change is Doherty -- Glenn's alma mater.

Glenn goes on to talk about how Doherty is absolutely full...but how can it be? According to the numbers that were read to me, there's still plenty of room at Doherty; if not, what was the purpose of the 5 million dollar addition there?  I haven't checked the numbers myself -- and let's face it, I've already proven many times over my numerical ineptitude...but check the numbers for yourselves; is there room for more at Doherty?

I feel like they just want to make sure none of the kids at Doherty ever feel crowded.  Ya know, maybe it's just some inherently German thing; Lebensraum is what they're always hankering for...and in case you don't know what that means, it's "Room to Live" or "elbow room." Hitler was real big on it.

Ugh. I wish Jan would already give me the 10 percent cut she owes me from her 2008-2009 pizza earnings from the District...I KNOW I wouldn't dislike her so intensely...well, there's that and the THREE MOORS' HEADS ON THE JORGENSEN AND TANNER FAMILY CRESTS.

Call me Kizzy, and hire up one of'em Full Time Eee Bonics translators in case you cain't unnerstand me here, but I'se sho nuffs thinks Missy Jan's a hypocrite and a skin flint, and every word come spit-flying out of her mouth at top speed is bona fide HOGWARSH and HORSE PUCKEY.  I'm able to perceive Jan the Actress in her every nuance, always overacting, even when she's trying to play it cool. Jan is the very embodiment of the word "disengenuous"...caring nothing about our city and our kids, and even less about our state in which she hopes to represent for us. Jan is better left as some other state's small potato -- remember this, friends: A VOTE FOR JAN IS A VOTE FOR OBAMA SOCIALISM.

Glenn discusses having a spare tire in the trunk, but as he knows: sometimes, there's just too much junk in the trunk to fit a spare tire; and in those cases, the only choice is to carry it somewhere higher.

Look at Charlie laugh, and volunteer to be the "Questioner." He raises the issue of disparity in committee membership.   Gotta love the way Glenn makes it sound easy breezy for the capacity committee to also serve as the boundaries committe -- rotsa ruck, r'all. 

Charlie discusses the enrollment numbers and boundaries at Mitchell and Wasson, and how it seems as though the District, in tweaking these boundaries almost seems to be actively ghetto-izing Mitchell and Wasson in particular; he asks if perhaps the District isn't acting prematurely by about a year.

LuAnn, nauseting as usual with her know-it-all-ness. Jan, speaking like an auctioneer. Gledich, talking about October 15. Charlie...brave as always...asking, "What are we trying to accomplish?" Every one of his concerns is ignored and dismissed, almost as though no one heard him speaking, period. Referenced are all of the Board absentees, and how they'll be apprised of the determinations that were made during the meeting. Notice Bob's quip at the end of the clip, about how decisions might be made in a person's absence.

Here come the "Community Engagement" discussions, which I found to be especially painful. Charlie talks about how he sees these meetings, and how so many of the community expressed their dismay that their questions were not answered during the 2008-2009 utilization meetings. Jan expresses her confidence that the meetings will be "civil", doubting the need for any type of moderator or "proctor."

LuAnn reliably pooh-poohs Charlie, and concurs with Director Tanner. Don't you hate LuAnn's stupid vest, which appears to have been attacked by a Bead-azzler?

The food discussion; hopefully, the "nibbles" won't be the pizza-flavored Scooby snacks that have LuAnn so mesmerized and always looking so zaftig.

Charlie mentions the Board Director Open House Contest, which from the sound of things are not much more than glad-hand opportunities being dominated by Jan and Bob.

Bob delivers a Ha-Ha Stab in the Back and Al seconds it.

The meeting ends with Charlie as the party of one...when it's actually all of us for whom he gives voice. It hurts me so badly inside when he begins to stammer, and I can only imagine how hard it is to formulate a polite response to all of the crap issuing forth from all of these people's mouths. Jan better not think for a moment she's in any way superior to Charlie; check out how many times that mile-a-minute-mouth uses the word "UM."

Notice the last scene, where Charlie leaves in disgust, and they all watch him go.



At first, after watching this Board meeting from beginning to end in one sitting, I blamed my angst on Post-Traumatic Numeric Violence; Glenn has previously and mercilessly perpetrated such upon me...binding me, blinding me, silencing me...beating me, and at times, rendering me comatose. 

But after having watched the entire thing 5,000 times, I realize now that Glenn actually mentioned very few numbers; no, my severe math inferiority complex wasn't to blame for my acute sense of anxiety.

No, it was something else entirely. 

It was the tether-ball to the head on the playground and the closed ranks of the long lunchroom table...it was the passed note and the inside joke and the peals of a sly, secret laughter...it was the lowered eyes' sadistic gleam and the hurt of being picked last for the team, and the sad cloudy sky of a fair-weather friendship; IT WAS the 32nd reunion of the sixth-grade Mean Girls and asshole Eddie Haskells of Audubon Elementary School circa 1978, a group so vicious and an era so painful...

I absolutely resent the resemblance to D11's administration and Board.

I'm tacking this onto the end, but it was really right at the beginning of the meeting when the discussion of the Compass Learning K-8 curriculum was discussed. Had it not been for the delay caused by Gledich's "Welcome Back to School" comments, the Board would have voted for the curriculum lock stock and barrel prior to Charlie's arrival...all, based only upon Mike Poore's gabby presentation a week earlier.

I'm not a big fan of online learning whatsoever; I also can't seem to figure out why the District decided to make such big changes to its online learning program, which was pretty popular and successful where it was in the Citadel Mall -- the Board is always ready to explain why what isn't broken needs fixing. 

Lastly, there's something oily about the two presenters...I dunno, but the principal, whatever his name is, doesn't seem very scholarly to me...and that Junk man...well, I went to Mann Middle School with one of his kin -- his sister or cousin or some such other relative, judging from their remarkably strong facial resemblance.   A.J. was a mean and flippantly cruel popular jock back then...I can't believe she changed much since, and the very memory of her, I guess, just doesn't reflect well on this man Junk for me personally.

Apples never fall far from their tree.

So...sorry to ramble, but thanks for reading this far.