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We kept our daughter out of this Social Engineering Mind-Control experiment yesterday - spent the day having family fun instead...you know, being a parent and not a goose-stepping follower of The Village - and it looks as if we were right on the money. Of course, the elders of the High Council (or “board members,” if you prefer) are digging in their heels and refusing to admit they’ve done anything wrong, but every parent we’ve talked to hated this idea.
More than that, the very notion that the High Council thinks they have the power to change the rules 80% of the way through the season and impose their morality on rule-abiding parents is despicable.

Here’s the link: http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/6049

Please help us out and send an email to the AYSO Region 46 High Council Elders and tell them what you think of this nonsens.

Front page article on this in our local paper - http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/5990/

Again, they try to spin it as “keeping the bad parents from yelling all the time.” Again, WHY DON’T YOU ADDRESS IT WTH THOSE INDIVIDUALS, INSTEAD OF PUNISHING EVERYONE ELSE WHO’S DONE NOTHING WRONG?

The worst part is, my wife and I are apparently completely alone in having the gumption to stand up to these mini-dictators. I am utterly amazed at how far the American spirit of freedom has fallen in the past 20 years. I barely recognize my country anymore.

The text of the article:

Mum’s The Word, Soccer Moms

Local soccer moms and dads will observe 50 minutes of silence this weekend in the valley’s first-ever silent soccer games.

The event billed by a Santa Clarita division of the American Youth Soccer Organization as “Silent Sunday” will be the first game in which moms and dads are expected to keep quiet.

Some parents and coaches think it’s a great idea to promote better communication between young players.

Some parents think it’s ridiculous that they’ll be prohibited from cheering on their kids.

John Cox, regional commissioner of the AYSO Saugus Region 46, is the man behind the valley’s silence.

The national AYSO calls the event Silent Saturday, but Santa Clarita Valley officials scheduled the historic event for Sunday.

“It’s been tried in other regions but this is the first for Santa Clarita. Overall, I think it’ll go over quite well.

I’ve received a little bit of negativity from one parent and I was kind of anticipating your call,” Cox said.

Beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday, six AYSO games will be played out in two locations: Rio Norte Junior High School and Arroyo Seco Junior High School.

Will parents be allowed to cheer on their kids?

“They can cheer on their kids ... to an extent,” Cox said.

The point of Silent Sunday is not so much about muzzling vocal and excitable parents, but about allowing kids to play and communicate with each other.

“We’re trying to get the kids to play without people from the sidelines telling (them) what to do,” Cox said.
Stephen Thomas, a Valencia father, calls the program, “an absolutely insane event.”

“Basically, it’s a policy where no parent is allowed to cheer for their kids. I’m not kidding, it’s insane, and we’re not going to allow our daughter to participate,” he said.

Thomas is a local comedian but finds nothing funny in the AYSO policy.

“I’m also going to draft an official letter to them,” Thomas said.

Jackie Ferialdi is the Director of Sportsmanship for Region 46 which is initiating the “Silent Sunday” in Santa Clarita Valley.

As a mother of five young soccer players, she is the quintessential Santa Clarita Valley soccer mom.
She and her husband, Mike, are both coaches for a sport and try to promote good sportsmanship - whether the game is competitive or not.

Some of the games slated for Silent Sunday are competitive, others are not.

“A ‘woo-hoo’ is OK,” she said about parents cheering when their child scores. “I can’t imagine a place where a ‘woo-hoo’ wouldn’t be OK.”

Ferialdi was asked if the Silent Sunday rules were meant to muzzle parents yelling constantly on the sidelines.

“Bingo,” she said.

The AYSO rules for Silent Sunday are spelled out on the group’s Web site and are simple: parents may speak quietly among themselves on the sidelines and make no comment that could be heard by the players or the referee; coaches may not provide any direction verbal or non-verbal and players may “have fun and enjoy the opportunity to communicate with your teammates.”

Carlos Vasquez, a Valencia father of three, just wrapped up his first season as coach of his son, Mateo’s, team of five-year-olds called The Cheetah Cats.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Vasquez said. “The biggest rule-breakers are the parents. They forget that they sign a contract for their kids to have fun.”

Simon Howell, a Valencia father of two, whose daughter Rachel is a long-standing player, is a former AYSO referee.

“I can see the justification for this from one side of the fence,” he said. “But I think to expect the parents to be quiet completely is wrong. I’ve heard of one alternative that moves the parents farther back from the play and I think that’s a much better idea.”

We are indeed taking our child out for the game this Sunday. The sad part is this is the best option - you can’t talk to these people.

For those wondering why we signed up for this league - this “Silent Sunday” crap was thrust upon us YESTERDAY, almost 80% of the way through the season. Had we been told up front, no way would we have registered our daughter.

This is very scary, and unfortunately very real -this is not a joke. The league website is http://www.ayso46.org/.

Again, the email address is reg46rc@ca.rr.com. Please write them and tell them what you think.

Sad to think that if this continues, we’ll be telling our grandchildren about the freedom we used to have...in hushed tones, so as not to be arrested by the thought gestapo.

Just wanted to announce that I'll be returning to Afghanistan and....well, let's just say some other places "over there" from Dec 28-Jan 27, once again with Comics On Duty. I'll once again be keeping a journal of the things we see and do during the trip. In addition to having it posted on my website on certain days, I also email my journal directly to friends and other interested parties; that way it comes directly to your inbox whenever it's sent out. If you'd like to have it sent directly to you, visit my website at www.starspangledcomedy.com and get on the list. (No Spam, I swear. :) )

People seemed to really enjoy the journal from last time, so I thought I'd make it more accessable to more people this time.

Still celebrating the win Nov 2.

Amazing holidays to you all.

Steve Eblin

Bump....because the shows start tonight. Hope to see a ton of Dayton/Cincy/Southwest Ohio Freepers there! :)

Greetings once again; for anyone in the Kansas City area, myself and Chris Warren will be performing "The Right Stuff" conservative comedy show June 2-5 at Stanford and Sons Comedy Club in Overland Park. Info can be found at www.rightstuffcomedy.com. Hope some of you can make it.

Hello again all; for anyone who's interested, I will be in Atlanta Feb 20 at the live broadcast of Hannity, along with several others from The Right Stuff Comedy Tour. We'll be entertaining the live crowd pre-show, and will possibly be on for a segment with Sean (I stress the word possibly). Hope to see any of you from the area in Atlanta.

Steve

Thank you to everyone for your kind words about my journal from Afghanistan. I found out it was here when Hilary sent me an email; I'm not sure who Valin is or where he/she saw my show or found my site, but thank you Valin as well. It was an amazing and life-altering trip, and I can't wait to get back into the theater and entertain again. I went to South Korea and the Pacific Rim in November and was supposed to go to Iraq in February; unfortunately I've had to cancel that trip due to an upcoming surgery (nothing serious). They deserve to be entertained, and the comics on that particular tour will do us all proud.

For any of you in the Northwest, I'll be on the Republican Radio network this coming Saturday, Jan 3 in the 11 AM hour (Pacific time). Should be fun!

Thanks again to all who gave kind words, have a great 2004!

Steve Eblin
www.gopcomedy.com
www.starspangledcomedy.com