Month: February 2014

Education, What’s It Good For?

Back in the days when I was younger and more energetic I did some lecturing….I was a popular dude to talk about US foreign policy and wars……especially since it was common knowledge that I spent 2 tours in Southeast Asia…..well I was talking with a class of college freshmen and I began by handing out a blank map of Asia and asked the students to label the countries of China, Vietnam Cambodia and Laos……..after looking at the results I was sadly disappointed because of of 17 students , one knew where Vietnam was only because he also was a vet of that war……more recently I was talking with a group on the same subject and asked them to pick Iraq and Afghanistan off of a blank map….of the 9 students, ZERO could point them out on a map.

I found these results just sad……I mean Vietnam was basically a 10 year war and Afghanistan is going on 13 years and yet it is not important enough for Americans to care……

I decided to do a little research to see if it was just geography that we Americans have a problem with or if it was a symptom of a bigger problem………and in my research I found these things…..

To put the brightest possible spin on this story is to say that three-quarters of Americans are fully aware that the Earth revolves around the sun. The downside, of course, is that means 1 in 4 are in the dark about what Discovery calls “probably the most basic question in science.” The National Science Foundation asked that question and nine others of 2,200 Americans, with the average score on the quiz coming in at 6.5, reports Phys.org.

Some other results noted by NPR:

  • 39% answered correctly that “the universe began with a huge explosion”
  • Fewer than half—48%—agreed that “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals”
  • 51% knew that antibiotics don’t kill viruses

Meanwhile, about 90% of respondents were enthusiastic about science, and 1 in 3 thought it should get more government funding. The poll was conducted in 2012, but the results were released yesterday at a conference. See page 23 on this PDF for the full survey, which includes older results from other countries.

Or click to read about Bill Nye’s recent debate with a leading creationist.

Studying the data….to me it looks like it is the educational system that is failing…….IMO because we are not teaching students…..we are coaching them on the test process…..there seems to be little to NO emphasis on the retention of data…..and for that I blame the DAMN stupid idea of the privatization of education……we are purposefully dumbing down the population…..privatized education is about the profit not the education…….maximize profits with least amount of effort….that is why it is called capitalism and not a day at the beach……

Now is it intentional?  Or is it just an unfortunate side effect of the privatization process?

Please give me your thoughts……..

Side note—–watch the Bill Nye debate….very interesting……..chuq

Who Should Vote?

It is president’s day and I thought I would look at the idea of voting…..most of us know that voting has been a point of contention since the very beginning…..first only free white guys could vote and then it was only white guys and 3/5s for the Afro-Americans…..women were still left out of the process and then slowly the light came on and women were eventually granted the right to vote in 1920……that left one group that were left out of the process, the Native Americans and after much to do they were granted the right in 1924…now the stage was set for a fair and equitable vote, right?  Not so much the Afro-Americans and Native Americans were still bound by state law that could prevent them from voting a various assorted ways……and then came the Civil Rights Act and finally it was a more equitable process.  (A very simplistic history of the voting rights……if further data is wanted then put your Google finger to work)…….

Everything progressed rather smoothly until there was allegations of rampant voter fraud (a made up issue, btw) and this gave rise to many state laws that could be used to limit the vote…all in the name of stamping out voter fraud……to this day I still do not have a good reason that limited polling stations or hours or early registration will control voter fraud (I guess I will just have to accept their doings….not really)……

Then of course there was the SCOTUS ruling that gave billionaires unlimited access to the election process,  Citizens United……in essence they could buy candidates and elections (not something the Founders would have wanted)…….while I was doing a little research on this matter I ran across a piece written by Jason Easley in Politicususa……

These are the thoughts of venture capitalist Tom Perkins…….

Perkins is terrified that rich may have to pay more taxes, “The fear is wealth tax, higher taxes, higher death taxes — just more taxes until there is no more 1%. And that that will creep down to the 5% and then the 10%.”

The idea that millionaires should get one million votes is already something that is being put into practice by wealthy conservatives. Citizens United has given wealthy billionaires the opportunity to buy votes through anonymous super PACs, but the plan has met with mixed results. Super PACs have been very effective at the state, and in some cases, local level. They have also been effective in congressional districts. However, they have had poor results in Senate races, and were an absolute failure during the 2012 presidential election.

Perkins’ comments echo the mentality that the American people are up against. Super rich Republican supporters think that they are entitled to more democracy than the rest of us. They believe that democracy is a commodity that they can buy. The right wing billionaires really do believe the job creator stuff.

They think their money makes them better people than the rest of us. Their hatred of President Obama, and the “unwashed masses” who have elected him twice is real. The Koch brothers, Perkins, and others consider themselves to be at war for the country.

Tom Perkins laid it all on the table. The super rich right thinks that government should be theirs, and they are doing everything in their power to steal democracy away from we the people.

I do not understand all the concern for the loss of democracy (imagined or actual) and then in the same breath look for ways to keep people from voting (for whatever imaged reason)……

If you want a strong republic should not the answer be a stronger move to get more people involved in the voting process?

Any retort?

Checks And Balances

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  American Government

This could be a humorous post on the aftermath of the Christmas season, but sense I have NO sense of humor that I am aware of….it probably is not what this post is about.

A new year and time to examine the government as we know it…..it is obvious that it is not working as well as the founders intended (or is it?)………

In the beginning of this country our forefathers brought forth a unique idea, well to them it was unique, that we should have three (3) branches of government because this would keep any one branch from becoming more powerful than the others and they called it the American “checks and balances”.

But what does this mean?  By creating three branches of government, the delegates built a “check and balance” system into the Constitution. This system was built so that no one branch of our government could become too powerful.

Each branch is restrained by the other two in several ways. For example, the president may veto a law passed by Congress. Congress can override that veto with a vote of two-thirds of both houses. Another example is that the Supreme Court may check Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. The power is balanced by the fact that members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president. Those appointments have to be approved by Congress.

The process goes thusly……..

The system of checks and balances is an important part of the Constitution. With checks and balances, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others. This way, no one branch becomes too powerful. Each branch “checks” the power of the other branches to make sure that the power is balanced between them. How does this system of checks and balances work?

The process of how laws are made (see the following page) is a good example of checks and balances in action. First, the legislative branch introduces and votes on a bill. The bill then goes to the executive branch, where the President decides whether he thinks the bill is good for the country. If so, he signs the bill, and it becomes a law.

If the President does not believe the bill is good for the country, he does not sign it. This is called a veto. But the legislative branch gets another chance. With enough votes, the legislative branch can override the executive branch’s veto, and the bill becomes a law.

Once a law is in place, the people of the country can test it through the court system, which is under the control of the judicial branch. If someone believes a law is unfair, a lawsuit can be filed. Lawyers then make arguments for and against the case, and a judge decides which side has presented the most convincing arguments. The side that loses can choose to appeal to a higher court, and may eventually reach the highest court of all, the Supreme Court.

If the legislative branch does not agree with the way in which the judicial branch has interpreted the law, they can introduce a new piece of legislation, and the process starts all over again.

Now that you have a grip on exactly what the term means…let’s move on to the meat of the subject……

If you stop and think about the subject there is a case to be made that it is time to dump the idea and start fresh…….why on earth would I make such an assertion?

Easy….look at DC today….it is solidly cemented into place by gridlock….each branch is busy covering their own butts for any worthwhile legislation to move forward……and Peter Aldhous agrees with me in a recent article……

– The political gridlock in DC can’t seem to get much worse, and public opinion polls about Congress can’t get much lower. At Medium, Peter Aldhous runs through the usual explanations—partisan media outlets, campaign donations run amok, gerrymandering, to name a few—but he thinks those fed up with the gridlock must ask a more fundamental question regarding the Founding Fathers: That would be “whether a band of eighteenth-century revolutionaries who had just thrown off the yoke of colonialism really have the answers we need for effective government today.” In short, we should think about whether the age of “checks and balances” has run its course, argues Aldhous. He acknowledges it’s a “radical” idea, but allowing the majority party to have its way, at least temporarily, might be the only real solution. That might mean scrapping midterm elections, for example, which often result in a House dedicated solely to undermining the president’s agenda. “Yes, what I’m proposing would mean accepting that sometimes we have to give those whose views we oppose a few years to put their ideas into practice,” he writes. But we’d still be in a democracy, meaning voters can still “vote the bums out” as needed. Click for his full column.

I think no matter which side of the spectrum you decide to reside you can still see the necessity for progress….and at the same time you can see that gridlock is preventing anything worthwhile from getting accomplished……so I ask…..is is time to dump the concept of ‘checks and balances’?  Or should we proceed as usual and hope for the best?

You will not be graded on your answers…….whatcha think?

Who Was Our 1st President?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  American History

Today is 17 February or the federal holiday known as President’s Day…….it was once called Washington’s birthday…actually Washington’s birthday is the 22nd…… but since another president had a birthday the same month the government decided it was to be called President’s Day in 1971………

We are all familiar with this question from our civics and/or American History classes, right?  And we all answered with the popular answer…….George Washington.  Remember?  But how accurate is that standard answer?

To answer the question….not very accurate, at all.

Let’s dash back in history for a moment…..the year is 1776 and the Continental Congress has jjusr given Jefferson (a bone of contention with me) the task of writing the Declaration of Independence….when the task was completed and the document agreed to….we became the United States of America and at this time our ruling body was the Continental Congress and president of the Congress was John Hancock and as head of the Congress he became the 1st president of the US by default…..

Now the war with mother England rages on….and on….and in 1781 the colonies came up with a document for the governing of the new nation and it was called the Articles of Confederation………..and by now Hancock had stepped down as president of the Congress and Huntington assumed the leadership in 1779.  Once again as president of the Congress at the time of the signing of the Articles of Confederation this made him, by default, the president of the US…..where he remained until he had to resign because of ill health…in 1781……..that is president #2.

With the retirement of Huntington one John  Hanson became the president of the Congress in 1781…..but only after several others had been elected to the position but refused to serve for whatever reason they could think of at the time.  This making him the 3rd president of the United States of America.

And now we come to the rest of the story…..It is true the George Washington, the hero of so many battles, was our first president….our first ELECTED president…..and the first person to work at the job 24/7 365 days………..let us teach truth and accuracy not popular myth……

If you would like more info…..

” Who was truly the 1st President of the United States “

When The Urge Strikes

Keeping with the theme of the day……SEX…we all have our preferences….and we all have a story about that urge that comes over you at the most inopportune times……but I can safely say that this one NEVER crossed my mind……

I found this story while reading the International Business Times…….

A man was caught on CCTV having sex with a store mannequin after breaking into a shopping mall in Brazil.

Security guards discovered the thief committing the bizarre crime while trawling through CCTV footage following a break-in at the centre in Jaragua, southern Brazil.

The clip shows the unidentified robber propping a headless female mannequin against the wall of a corridor and kissing the dummy’s breasts before carrying out a sex act. He is then seen stealing some clothes.

Ricardo Carvalho, manager of the shopping centre, described the incident as ‘strange’.

“It was a strange thing, without rhyme or reason,” he told the Folha De Jaragua newspaper. “If such an individual is capable of committing an act like this, imagine if he broke into a house? He could do the same with a helpless person.”

The offender was arrested after he returned to the store and was recognised by staff. He admitted to police that he broke into the shopping centre because he had “nothing else to do” but refused to comment on his sex act.

He is said to have sold the stolen goods to fund his drug habit.

I think this dude needs to find another outlet for his sexual urges…..how about you?

Probably Not The Best Decision

After two days of legal cluster f*cks it’s Finally the weekend and I can concentrate on something that is more fun than my usual stuff…..enjoy…….

We all make various decisions throughout our lifetimes….some pretty good and then there are those that were probably not our best decisions……..one of my worse decisions was dating a broad that I knew was trouble…..but I started thinking with my little head and it proved to be one of more my most disastrous ones……

Speaking of thinking with that little head….that one situation has caused more problems and disasters than any other type of thinking……and this couple are living proof….(well that may not be the best description)……

A Pennsylvania couple apparently overcome by passion made the fatal mistake of leaving the engine running after they pulled into a Williamsport garage and had sex in their car, police say. The bodies of the partially clad couple, both 40 years old, were found inside the vehicle, which had run out of gas but had the ignition switch still on, reports the Patriot-News. A kerosene heater was also on and there were very high levels of carbon monoxide in the garage. Marijuana and drug paraphernalia were also found in the car and it appears Keith Payton and Salina Johnson may have been using drugs at the time, the coroner tells WNEP. They were pronounced dead Friday night, but likely died earlier; police say Payton was supposed to drop something off at the garage for his brother on Thursday. They weren’t the only couple to die at the hands of carbon monoxide in recent days. The AP reports that a Utah couple died while cleaning carpets on Saturday. Maria Lopez-Landaverde, 37, and Joselito Solorzano, 43, ran a carpet cleaning business, and left their van running in a shut garage while tending to a West Jordan home. Police cited a lack of ventilation in the home.

Fortunately for me….my bad decision did not end up as disastrous as this one…..

Anything you would like to share?

Who Was Haywood Hall, Jr.?

College of Political Knowlerdge

Subject:  Black History

In my years as an ultra radical I came upon works by many people within the early movements of the 20th century……I found a man that I could look up to for his work with the poor and minorities….

As per my tradition I try to find and profile an African-American leader especially someone that most Americans are unfamiliar with their contributions for various reasons……this time it is Haywood Hall, Jr….aka Harry Haywood………

I would like to thank blackpast.org for the following…….

A radical theoretician, anti-colonialist, labor organizer, and civil rights activist, Harry Haywood was one of the most prominent and influential African American Communists of the twentieth century.  Haywood, the son of former slaves, was born in South Omaha, Nebraska in 1898. He migrated to Chicago after serving in World War I and organized community defense during the 1919 Chicago race riot. In 1922 he joined the African Blood Brotherhood and in 1925 became an official member of the CPUSA. The following year Haywood traveled to Moscow where he studied at the International Lenin School. During this time he made his greatest intellectual contribution to the American Communist movement: the 1928 and 1930 Comintern “Resolutions on the Negro Question,” which theorized the right of self-determination for African Americans in the southern Black Belt through the creation of a sovereign black nation state. Although never pursued in practice, “self-determination” for African Americans was adopted as the official line of the Comintern and became the rhetorical touchstone for CP activism in African American communities throughout the 1930s.

After returning to the United States in 1930, Haywood helped found of the CP’s League of Struggle for Negro Rights (LSNR). He was active in LSNR campaigns against lynching, tenant evictions, segregation, and legal frame-ups and served as the organization’s president from 1934 to 1936. From 1927 to 1938 he was a member of the CPUSA’s Central Committee and served on the Communist Party Politburo from 1931-1938. In 1937 Haywood joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and fought alongside Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War.

Haywood became increasingly estranged from the Party in the post World War II era. He spoke out against Earl Browder’s accommodationist line, as well as Nikita Khrushchev’s destalinization reforms in the mid 1950s. When the Party officially disavowed the theory of self-determination in the American Black Belt in 1957, Haywood denounced the decision and was expelled from the Party two years later. He spent the remainder of his life helping to build the Mao-aligned New Communist Movement and mentoring a new generation of black radicals in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Author of scores of essays, pamphlets, and treatises on a variety of topics, Haywood’s major works are Negro Liberation, published in 1949, and his 1978 autobiography, Black Bolshevik. Harry Haywood died on January 4, 1985.

Most people have never heard of this person simply because he was a….wait for it…..Communist.  I hate to tell people but most of the early labor organizers and activists were either Communist or Socialist……regardless of ideology they were instrumental in bring about equality and fairness in the labor sector….and Haywood was I true and important leader of that movement…..he needs to be remembered for the actions he took and the deeds he did to progress African-Americans forward in a society that would have preferred to keep them marginalized…….

What’s That Sound?

While I was otherwise distracted with gathering my wits for the legal battle I had yesterday……there was a story blowing in the wind…….

Sounds like a heavy sigh to me…….after many months of speculation on the approaching debt limit….there were all too many opinions on how it would play out……and Tuesday it played out in a way that few could have foreseen…….

House Republicans backed away from a battle over the government’s debt cap today and permitted Democrats to drive quick passage of a measure to increase the government’s borrowing cap without any concessions from the White House. The 221-201 vote came hours after Speaker John Boehner announced that his fractured party would relent and not seek to add other items to the must-pass legislation. Twenty-eight Republicans voted yes. The bill would permit Treasury to borrow normally for another 13 months; the Senate is expected to pass it tomorrow.

Here’s a look at how it’s being played:

  • New York Times: “It effectively ended a three-year, Tea Party-fueled era when a series of budget showdowns raised the threat of debt defaults and government shutdowns, rattled economic confidence and brought serious scrutiny from an international community questioning Washington’s ability to govern.”
  • Wall Street Journal: It’s “a tactical retreat by Republicans stymied by their internal divisions.”
  • The Hill: “Boehner’s decision drew heavy criticism from conservative groups, many of whom said Boehner needs to be replaced. Many noted that the so-called ‘Boehner rule’ now appears dead—that was the informal name for Boehner’s effort to extract spending cuts in exchange for debt ceiling hikes.”
  • Politico: “It’s also a clear sign of the House Republican Conference’s inability to move beyond fiscal fights and lays in plain view the leadership’s inability—or unwillingness—to corral votes for their priorities.”

Step back and think about what happened Tuesday……could this be a dawn of a new day in DC?  Or was this just a momentary lull…..time to decide on the next fight to pursue?

John Boehner ended the debt ceiling wars, but his fellow Republicans didn’t exactly throw him a parade. The Washington Post today has an excruciatingly awkward account of how Boehner broke the news to his caucus at a private breakfast yesterday morning. “Listen—we’re going to move forward,” he said, standing before a room of drowsy Republicans. “We’re going to get this done.” He said he wouldn’t even consider floating another proposal—he had made up his mind to go with a clean bill. The Republicans sat up, stunned, and silently stared at him. No one booed. No one cheered. Boehner stood waiting for any reaction at all, then finally shook his head and walked to his seat. “I’m getting this monkey off your back, and you’re not going to even clap?” he said as he went, after which one House veteran says there was “how do I say it, a polite golf clap.” Meanwhile, at a private lunch yesterday, Senate Republican leaders were urging their members to drop any filibuster attempts and let a vote take place today, Politico reports. One GOP senator said that most at the lunch were more concerned about “getting the hell out of town” before the coming snowstorm arrived. The response from the right has mostly been muted. The Wall Street Journal today ran an editorial urging Republicans to repeal the debt ceiling entirely and “finally end this periodic self-torture.”

Thoughts?