5 Is the Magic Number

In sports, near the end of the season, there is always a magic number that signifies what the team needs to do in order to clinch a playoff berth or win their division. In English 102, that number is 5. 5 more blogs to post and the season per say is over. It's been fun taking back to back English courses this academic year but it definitely isn't for the faint of heart. But hopefully, Professor Chism can see some improvement in my writing since August 2009. Another magic number of mine is 3. Just 3 more writing intensive classes before I am done and I will complete the requirements for my major. After this semester I only have 3 left and I will probably stay at MSSU. I have checked around some of the in-state universities here in Oklahoma and if I transfer now, I am looking at two full years. 60 hours, and if I stay only 52. That is manageable considering I am going to take 6 hours this summer, have 15 already scheduled for Fall 2010. That only leaves 31 more hours and I am out the door. Finished. Gone where no Brenner has gone before. I will prevail.

I think the thought of being the only Brenner in my family to have a college degree is what motivates me the most. I am already the only one to make it past high school. I am one of 7 children ranking right in the middle at 4th. 3 brothers below me and 2 sisters and a brother above me. My parents got divorced when I was 7 and we bounced from house to house, school to school, growing up poor. All I ever had was the desire to rise above and be somebody. I didn't like being poor and receiving handouts all the time, so as soon as I turned 16, I got a job at a local restaurant as a dishwasher and then filed for emancipation. I lived with some older married friends I knew and tried to work full time plus stay in school. It was hard and I managed for a year or so, but I was burned out (surprising huh?) and I did the next best thing according to my high school counselor. I dropped out of high school my senior year in November, filed to take the GED test in December and after I passed, I enrolled in college just starting out with one class that following January. But then it happened. I landed a job making over $30,000 a year at 18 years old. College seemed unnecessary and my priority became helping my mom with my brothers. Helping them out, making sure they had food on the table and clothes to wear became more important. I focused on work, achieving a few promotions along the way before I eventually switched professions ending up being in hotel management for over 7 years. But then things changed, as I started a family and moved to Oklahoma working for OU. Now my family is my priority, and a college degree ensures to them that I will be able to be there for them. Life for me has been rough growing up and to me, adding that degree will be like finding the holy grail. I can't give up now. College life for a 32 year old is rough when you take 12-15 hours a semester, work full time and try not to cut family time out. There are times where I am up until way past midnight studying, only to realize that 5:30 am is right around the corner. I will remain strong.

Sorry for the long story, but I hope that it inspires at least one person to continue on that is thinking about taking time off. I took over 10 years off and at this point in my life, I wished that I wouldn't have. There is a light at the end of tunnel and it's not a train, unless MSSU doubles your tuition. Blame the Fat Cat Bankers that screwed us all because of their greed..not MSSU because they really didn't have a choice. I did some research and it seems that since MSSU promised the state not to raise in-state tuition in return for no cuts to them, it had to be so. There were no other options, but I hope the decrease in enrollment doesn't affect Professor Chism. She actually listens to the students and gives a damn.

Mans Wins Lawsuit for Flipping Off the Cops

One of the things in the US that can never be taken away is the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights give us all, as US citizens certain protections against the government. Well, Scott Schaper of Olathe Kansas believed that his first amendment right was infringed upon when he received a disorderly conduct ticket for telling a cop to "F&^% You" and giving him the middle finger after receiving a ticket for failure to yield at a stop sign. Mr. Shaper contacted the ACLU, and with their help, got the ticket dropped and Mr. Shaper was paid $4,000.00 for his troubles. I completely agree with Mr. Shaper here in that his right to freedom of speech was infringed upon and the city should be lucky to settle out of court for such a small fee because I think the jury would have awarded a lot more.

The First Amendment offers us the freedom of speech. Many courts in the US have concluded that saying "F&^% You" and using ones finger to express frustration or discontent is covered under the first amendment, such as in Cornelius v. Brubaker or Gulliford v. Pierce County. The City of Olathe has also agreed to perform additional training in an effort to educate their officers better regarding first amendment rights. This is not the first time in the US that someone has sued their city over flipping off a cop as a man in Pittsburgh sued and won $50,000.00 back in November. There are many, many others out there but they have the same thing in common. The tickets were dropped and they won their lawsuit for infringement of their first amendment right. I was always to scared to do something like that when I was growing up and I truly respect the law at my old age. But this brings up another important topic, police overstepping their boundaries. The instance that comes to mind lately is the brutal beating of a Maryland student. The police filed a false report as they didn't know that the attack was caught on camera. I am sure that the student will end up receiving millions and a few of the officers involved will lose their jobs. But are the violations of rights because officers are working longer hours and being stretched thin due to workforce reductions and the economy?

As I stated above, I agree that the Olathe police officer violated his rights. The city was lucky to walk out of it for that small amount and the victory just adds another one to the ACLU chalkboard. With the economy tanking and people losing their homes and jobs, this proves that they at least get to keep the freedoms awarded from the Bill of Rights. These types of lawsuits could be avoided by cities doing a better job of training their officers on what types of gestures or sayings are unlawful and warrant tickets and/or prosecution. But moving forward, this action is not something I plan on trying out anytime soon.

Separate Bathrooms for Boys and Girls = Discrimination

I read this story on foxnews that in Maine, a human rights commission says that forcing a boy or a girl into separate rooms such as bathrooms or locker rooms amounts to discrimination in schools. Evidentially, a trans-gendered boy was denied access to the girls bathroom and after complaining to the Maine Human Rights Commission, they concluded that it violated the Maine Human Rights Act. I personally think that this is a crock of horse manure and there needs to be separate facilities for the different sexes. In my area where my office is located, we have a unisex bathroom and I can honestly tell you that nothing is more embarrassing to have a nursing student walk in after my lunch from Chilino's, a local Mexican restaurant that serves up some of the best fish tacos, and it moves thru the stomach and out for processing. Separate bathrooms are indeed needed and all it took was one incident the other way, and now I just walk down the hall to the boys only restroom in order to save face.

I think that this could lead to some issues with pedophiles and others that are sick. As the article says, if the authors’ daughter walks into a bathroom and there is a man in there, they instinctively feel like something is wrong. Not only that, it could potentially lead to more sexual assaults, more instances of sexual inappropriateness, and increases in rapes in schools. I don't think the ramifications were thought out before the commission came to this conclusion. There needs to be a very defined line between what privacies are afforded to use the facilities. How creepy would it be if you are done playing girls volleyball and you go to the locker room only to find male basketball players gawking? Seriously, what are they thinking?

The other issue that I can see is if this is considered discrimination, what happens when the school needs to know your sexual orientation? Schools are prohibited from asking you, so how would they know if you are transgendered without asking? Is there a specific stereotype or profile that they fit? As Karen Kemble, the Director of Equal Opportunity from the University of Maine says, “The inability to ask proof of sexual orientation leaves the institution any way to determine the bona fide nature of the gender identity or nature.” Nature??? Aren’t we all born either boys or girls determined by nature? I know, it’s not the same thing, but I figured a wise crack would be funny.

So that leads me to my last point, all this is happening in Maine. The coldest, wettest, and northernmost state of the continental US. Have you ever met anyone from Maine? I have and I think they are a little off. I personally think that they spend too much time in their homes during the winter because of all the snow they get. The lack of sunshine can’t be good either. Good luck to them.

Goodbye MSSU

All good things must come to an end, as the old saying goes. After this semester, I will probably be transferring to the University of Oklahoma, where I work to finish my college education. My hastily departure is blamed on the MSSU Board of Regents who, by their actions, set in motion a change of events that will more than double the cost per credit hour if you are not a Missouri resident beginning next semester. It is rather sad and unfortunate that out-of-state 100% online students are being targeted, as the cost is the same for online classes whether or not you live in state of out of state. That is why I choose to stay at MSSU instead of OU when I moved. The cost was the same wherever you choose to live. But now, instead of $143 a credit hour plus $35 distance learning fee, it is now $286 an hour with a $50 distance fee. Ouch!

This decision, will also extend my college career to at least another year. OU doesn't offer a wide variety of online classes, so I will be forced to attend class in the evenings, taking valuable time away from my family. Since I also work full time, I will probably only be able to take 6 hours a semester and this is where my time in college will be extended. But hey, at least the cost is significantly cheaper..for example 15 hours at MSSU will now cost me $5040.00 not including books. 15 hours at OU will only cost me $2892.00. That is a savings of $2418.00 per semester assuming 15 hour enrollment. OU is only $241.00 a credit hour, but since I am an employee I get 6 hours half price, and now, it makes sense to go to OU. Even without the employee discount that is only $3615.00, still a savings of $1425.00..

MSSU will be missed. I was a Lionbacker for years when I lived in Joplin, met my wife at MSSU where she is now part of the Alumni, graduating in 2008. It is rather sad an unfortunate that us, the 100% distance students, are being unfairly sought after to fill the economic holes due to declining state revenues. I think that MSSU should of evaluated the cost as a whole and passed the increase to all students instead of a select group..How can they justify a 43% percent increase in the distance learning fee, $35 to $50 and a 100% increase per credit hour when the cost of taking an course is the same no matter where you choose to connect?

Friday Deadline Post

Another Friday, another deadline. I still have Paper 3 to write this weekend, as well as a test for Dr. Evil, as our fellow classmate Irina titled him. You never know what to expect when taking his tests. Sometimes you can score really good because the questions make sense, but then there are times when the questions are so open that, based on your interpretation, your selected answer is wrong, but technically right. I am very, shall we say, vocal about issues, that I could probably make a great lawyer. My quiz question appeals have went unanswered for almost a month now, that I am beginning to suspect, research must of had to be done to find counter-claims against my findings. Which brings me to a story about my past...

Way back in the glory days of summer, I was dating my next door neighbor. I lived in Springfield at the time and this girl was a college student living away from her parents for the first time. I had lived at the apartment complex with my roommate for a few months when one day we had a knock on the door and it was her parents, introducing us to her and her roommate, I guess just to basically see who lived next door to them. We offered to watch over them and if they ever needed anything to just knock and we would be happy to help. It wasn't long before I started dating one neighbor and my roommate started dating the other. So after a few months, I find out the girl I was seeing actually had a boyfriend back in her hometown. I started dating someone else, which I guess made her jealous....but in the essence of being a nice guy, we remained cordial and nice. One night, me and my roommate had a party, and my cars keys were missing. Well, it turned out that she heard me talking on the phone to the new girl I was seeing that I would be by to pick her up after work, that she went to her apartment and took the keys. Well, we shared a balcony, so I climbed over, opened the sliding glass door and in the cover of darkness, located my keys and left the same way I came in. What I didn't know was that her boyfriend was in town, he watched me scamper out, and he called the police to report that I had stolen his girlfriends car. So guess what happened when I returned after picking this girl up???

I ended up spending a night in jail and a court date for auto theft. I had to spend the night in jail because the officer did not want to listen to me explain that it was my car, instead he wanted to mace someone and throw them to the ground. The next morning, I had to appear in front of a judge, bail myself out and then later on, show up to court. I acted as my own attorney, researched the laws on what constituted auto theft and when I got to ask the officer questions, I simply asked him, "How can someone be charged with stealing a car they own?". He said they couldn't, so I presented a copy of the title to the officer, pointed out that in his report it has the same vehicle identified, and then I asked for the charge to be dismissed and expunged, which was granted and I went on my merry way. Brenner 1, City of Spfld 0. This was one of quite a few instances where I was victorious with the law. My wife gets rather embarrassed when I get pulled over on occasion because she knows that I will argue the point with the officer and most of the time, they give up and issue a warning. Out of the last 5 times I got pulled over, I was successful 4 out of 5. Not too bad...

There is also good news about the neighbor girls...Shortly thereafter, me and my roommate moved out, and he continued to see the unattached one, and to this day they have been together for over 10 years.

What happened to the choice to choose?? For w/e 4/2/10

There has been a lot of talk in the news the past month or so about President Obama wanting to pass a national healthcare plan. From the start, I was opposed to it because I firmly believe that it is not the federal government's right to force people to do something let alone make us buy a specific product, in this case, healthcare. As I have done more research on the matter in the past few weeks, I didn't think that this would ever be passed because the constitution of the United States doesn't allow for Congress to impose anything other than taxes and from what I have heard on the news or read in the paper, this is not a tax. Unfortunately, it has passed and President Obama signed it into law today, amid states declaring that they will fight for the constitutionally of it.

Part of this healthcare bill also dictates the IRS to be the one who makes sure people pay and enforce the penalty if you choose not to participate. The IRS, I thought, is only responsible to collect taxes, not healthcare payments. I am not the only one who feels this way as the IRS Joint Committee on Taxation states that "The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for the collection of taxes does not apply to the collect of this penalty", which basically means we have no authority to enforce anything, however they will intercept your income tax refund to collect the penalty. Sounds like you don't really have a choice, do you? Whatever happened to our freedoms?

I hope that the US Supreme Court, if the battle from the states reaches their doorstep, makes a ruling declaring it unconstitutional. They can not do anything until it is challenge in court and hopefully that is sooner than later. There is a similar government case ( off limits in this class) that took place in 1973, that ruled that people under the Ninth Amendment of the US constitution that the reservation of rights is asserted to the people. In this case of the national healthcare bill, it seems that this takes away the choice, which essentially takes away our rights. I have heard some people say that this is no different than mandatory car insurance, but the facts are that 1) States have the right-This is how Massachusetts has a mandatory state healthcare program and 2) Driving is a choice. If you choose to drive, then you need to insure your vehicle to drive it on the roads. If you don't like it, fine, don't drive and take public transportation.

So as you can see, this will be a highly contested and debated topic for months to come. Our liberties are being infringed upon, and hopefully the courts will make sure that we are not violated.

Winter Weather/ Dirt Track Riding

Well here I am, waiting until the last minute for write a second blog this week. But for a change, I did it on purpose. I was going to come up to Joplin this weekend to visit family and friends, but ever since Monday, the weathermen have been mumbling something about a blizzard here in OKC and Tulsa this weekend. Right now, as I write this, it is raining, lightning flashing in the distance and the occasional rumble of thunder inciting the repetitive, "What was that noise?" from my three year old. It was 72 degrees this afternoon and now tomorrow, 6 to 14 inches of snow with 45 mile per hour winds will cause blizzard like conditions similar to Christmas Eve. WTF? Really. In March? So, I decided to leave work early today since there were absolutely no faculty or staff around at work to just play with my kids on a death vehicle as my wife calls it. More on that later. It could be a good decision at this point to not go to Joplin this weekend because as of the latest weather report, Joplin is now expected to get 12-22 inches of snow. Hopefully class is cancelled next week at MSSU...Oh wait, its spring break and I am also an online student so we don't get snow days like the others. BUZZKILL!! Now to the death vehicle.

My wife has been bugging me about trading in my Mustang and getting a four door car. Why you may ask? Because she thinks it is impractical since we have two small kids and one day I might need to take them somewhere in my car and since it is a two door and lacks the newfangled (I can't believe the blogger spell check allowed that word) safety harnesses that are on car seats nowadays. And I need to grow up. 32 year old men shouldn't drive a sports car. My typical, ummm, a grandma driving a four Taurus can outrun me doesn't make her back off. I say whatever though, age is relative to me and you married me, so suck it up. We dated for a few years before we got married so you knew what you were getting. Me and the car. So as it was brought up once again that we should go look at cars, I brought up the fact that I need a motorcycle. All it took was my sad puppy dog look and she fell for it...again. If you have read any of my post, I can be really persuasive. So I got a 2005 Dazon 125CC scooter with only 2900 miles. The guy that I bought it from had a friend get deployed and couldn't come home to pack up his house, so this guy put his stuff in storage and his payment was this scooter over two years ago. I have seen it sitting for quite some time and I noticed that it never moves so I figured I would go ask him if he wanted to sell it. Cha-Ching!! It is pretty quick and I can run around in the evenings around the main OU campus to the library to study since I live in the neighborhood. ( I don't really go to the library and it looks cool to have your hat turned backwards and a backpack on while you ride. But it's more like a run to the local campus pizza place where they have a slice and a draft beer for 5 dollars. It is a heck of a lot better than those crappy, get healthy Subway sandwiches with no drink.) This brand of scooter however is no longer made but all Chinese scooters have the same engines and practically nothing to them so I figured it would be an easy fix and total cost was only $200 for the scooter, $75 for a new CVT belt and an oil change and $125 for tags since all scooters in Oklahoma above 50 CC are considered motorcycles. The thing is, I need to stay alive on this death vehicle and once I prove that I am capable, then I get a real motorcycle.

If any of you have little boys you know they love motorcycles. So as a reward, I give them rides around the yard. Our house is perfectly in the middle of the plot, so I can open the gates on both sides and make a circle around the house. After repeating the process hundreds of times, there are now indentions in the grass where I go around, so in essence, I have created my own dirt track. Needless to say, it rained the other day so the yard was soft and we got covered in mud which me and the posse tracked in the house and momma the whip cracker wasn't to happy. So what else is new? It's me and two boys against her. WE RULE! But I also forgot to tell her that since we are expecting snow this weekend and I have to work on Monday unless OU closes the campus, we will have 4 houseguests in about 2 hours. Since we couldn't go up there, my brother and mom (the outlaw to my wife) are coming and don't plan on leaving until Monday. The couch will be calling my name later. I can't remember everything especially when someone calls while I am acting like kid riding a death vehicle. See. I cant be trusted.