Monday, February 28, 2011
Duped?!?!?!?!?
There's a new study out today by Moodys states that should the Republicans succeed with their reckless cuts in the Federal budget, there will be a whopping 700,000 jobs lost in the next two years. Geez, for a party who ran on the platform of "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" I guess we should have asked, what they meant by that...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Go Ahead...
There are many state legislatures currently floating the idea of arming those student over the age of 21 and professionals within the "state universities".
Hmm. Let's think about this for a moment. How many of you, myself included would be willing to send your 17 or 18 or 19 year old, to a campus knowing that the upperclassmen could be carrying guns in the classroom or for that matter anywhere on campus?
If you willingly put your child in that situation, would that not be child-endangerment? The child, if 17, would still be a minor. Actually, just stop and think if you would be willing to put your child in a situation where there is a possibility that they could be caught up in a gun-fight. Would you send your child to that school? Didn't think so.
What I find interesting about most of these bills, is that they only allow guns on State sponsored Universities. That makes me wonder - How many of those legislators have children actually going to public universities? Probably not very many. See, they can probably afford to send them to private institutions of higher education. Places where their children will be safe. Yet, they are willing to put your children in dangerous situations.
Something else to consider: When your child is in a classroom and there is someone bent on shooting the place up, that someone has the element of surprise in their favor. Surprise that will freeze your child and everyone else in their tracks, just long enough for that person to squeeze off the rounds they want to and do the damage they want before your child would have time to react and pull their own gun.
Even if the professor showed that they were armed; if they had to turn to one side or turn their back to the audience for a moment, that would be all the time the shooter would need to wreak the havoc and take out the threat in the front of the classroom. Not a pretty scenario is it?
Again, I ask you, would YOU be willing to send your child into this environment? I would bet that even the most rabid gun enthusiast, would not be willing to put their child in this type of scenario on a daily basis.
Think about this. A large portion of the student population at Public Universities, come from out of state and pay out-of-state tuition. There is also a portion of that population who come from out of this country in search of the best education they can receive. They in turn pay a higher tuition. That tuition helps fund the institution. Most recently, to a larger degree, with all the state funding cuts. If Public Universities lose that out-of-state and out-of-country tuition, then there would most assuredly be a hike in in-state tuition to offset that loss in revenue as well as the possible loss of teaching and support positions due to reduced enrollment.
This in turn means less money in the local economy. Which in turn means less money going to the state in tax revenue, which in turn means less money going to the public universities, and well...you get the picture.
So, still think arming 21 year-olds is a good idea? Still think arming professors is a good idea? Institutions of learning are supposed to be safe havens. That will no longer be the case should laws such as these be passed.
Ask your legislator how many of their kids or grandkids they would be willing to send to a public institution should these types of laws be passed.
Hmm. Let's think about this for a moment. How many of you, myself included would be willing to send your 17 or 18 or 19 year old, to a campus knowing that the upperclassmen could be carrying guns in the classroom or for that matter anywhere on campus?
If you willingly put your child in that situation, would that not be child-endangerment? The child, if 17, would still be a minor. Actually, just stop and think if you would be willing to put your child in a situation where there is a possibility that they could be caught up in a gun-fight. Would you send your child to that school? Didn't think so.
What I find interesting about most of these bills, is that they only allow guns on State sponsored Universities. That makes me wonder - How many of those legislators have children actually going to public universities? Probably not very many. See, they can probably afford to send them to private institutions of higher education. Places where their children will be safe. Yet, they are willing to put your children in dangerous situations.
Something else to consider: When your child is in a classroom and there is someone bent on shooting the place up, that someone has the element of surprise in their favor. Surprise that will freeze your child and everyone else in their tracks, just long enough for that person to squeeze off the rounds they want to and do the damage they want before your child would have time to react and pull their own gun.
Even if the professor showed that they were armed; if they had to turn to one side or turn their back to the audience for a moment, that would be all the time the shooter would need to wreak the havoc and take out the threat in the front of the classroom. Not a pretty scenario is it?
Again, I ask you, would YOU be willing to send your child into this environment? I would bet that even the most rabid gun enthusiast, would not be willing to put their child in this type of scenario on a daily basis.
Think about this. A large portion of the student population at Public Universities, come from out of state and pay out-of-state tuition. There is also a portion of that population who come from out of this country in search of the best education they can receive. They in turn pay a higher tuition. That tuition helps fund the institution. Most recently, to a larger degree, with all the state funding cuts. If Public Universities lose that out-of-state and out-of-country tuition, then there would most assuredly be a hike in in-state tuition to offset that loss in revenue as well as the possible loss of teaching and support positions due to reduced enrollment.
This in turn means less money in the local economy. Which in turn means less money going to the state in tax revenue, which in turn means less money going to the public universities, and well...you get the picture.
So, still think arming 21 year-olds is a good idea? Still think arming professors is a good idea? Institutions of learning are supposed to be safe havens. That will no longer be the case should laws such as these be passed.
Ask your legislator how many of their kids or grandkids they would be willing to send to a public institution should these types of laws be passed.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Why not???
With all the uprisings of union members in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states as Republican Governors forward their agenda of union busting under the lie of budget of balancing, I have a question:
Isn't it possible to start a Recall Petition of the Governor in each of these states as well as each of the legislators pushing the bill to seeking to end collective bargaining?
Shouldn't someone be walking through the throngs collecting signature after signature and turning those signatures in for the express purpose of removing those who have taken office under cover of lies?
Protesting is indeed good in that it makes the public aware of the issue and needs to continue, but in concert with the protest this signature gathering needs to be initiated and made the formal protest.
Isn't it possible to start a Recall Petition of the Governor in each of these states as well as each of the legislators pushing the bill to seeking to end collective bargaining?
Shouldn't someone be walking through the throngs collecting signature after signature and turning those signatures in for the express purpose of removing those who have taken office under cover of lies?
Protesting is indeed good in that it makes the public aware of the issue and needs to continue, but in concert with the protest this signature gathering needs to be initiated and made the formal protest.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The new Slave Race...
I am seeing a disturbing trend developing and if the right wing keeps moving further and further to the right, the picture I see is indeed a very large step backwards.
There has been a push for quite some time to establish a voucher system for education delivery in this country. That push is getting stronger and louder and is even taking on the Department of Education. If these voices have their way, the Department of Education will be done away with. What would have to be put in it's place would be a bureau to manage the voucher program in some way shape or form to ensure that the fraud that the voucher system is so very ripe for, does not happen.
Seems to me to be swapping one behemoth for another with no net gain - unless you are having your pockets lined by the Charter Schools you propose to take the place of the public schools. What hasn't been talked about when vouchers are brought up, is the details of how it would come about. The devil is in the details. Who would manage the system, and how would it be paid for?
If those in the lower classes of our society- the disadvantaged - were given vouchers, the possibility of those vouchers only covering a portion of the tuition to a charter school, but full enrollment in a public school where good teachers being part of the staff would be slim to none is a very real scenario. We have already seen where "no Child Left Behind" has created a generation of children being taught how to take tests, but not really being taught. And the gifted within this generation are being ignored to focus on the failing - to bring those marginal students up to the acceptable level - so that no child is left behind...to what end?
When people cannot pay the rent, how can they be expected to be able to come up with additional tuition to get their child into a charter school?
If these children are not taught how to think critically about what is presented to them, and if they are, as in the case of the Texas School Board, only taught certain parts of history - how will they function when the rest of history is presented to them? We are creating - a dumbed down generation. Kind of ironic isn't it? In this age of information, with everything we have available to us, we would hold back the children who could potentially find cures for cancers and other types of diseases we have yet to break, because as adults, the fear is too great that we would be seen as fools or in a bad light for the things we have done? Get over it! If we hold back the youth, dumb them down as it were, we will have created a generation who will be unable to think for themselves and will have to rely on others for direction as to what to think. The new slave race.
This scenario sets us back to a time when there were a few who made the decisions of how things would happen for the many. The many would work for the few. The common man would no longer have a voice. It is happening - albeit slowly, but it is happening. The "Citizens United" ruling started that snowball down the hill and empowered the likes of the Koch brothers- makers of Brawny, Quilted Northern, Soft"n Gentle, Dixie and other Georgia Pacific Brands as well as Lycra and COOLMAX fibers, Nitrogen fertilizer and Petroleum products.
Forget about Retirement - forget about Social Security - they will be gone. Plan on stuffing your mattress or burying glass jars in your backyard. If you can afford a backyard.
There will be no basic healthcare for those who cannot provide for themselves. Abortion will be outlawed in any circumstance. This does not take into account whether the adult(s) have the means, skills, and/or ability and desire to bear the responsibility of having a child. What happens after the child is born? Where will the support come from?
Who will foot the bill when these unwanted children are brought into the world? Certainly not the ones who have denied the abortions, no, they wash their hands of the situation after the child is born. Hypocrites!
So, you have these unwanted children, essentially uneducated because they have just been taught how to take tests, and they have no vision of a better way of life. It is a good chance that the life they have been given is the same life their parent was given - a life of abuse, or neglect and a life of low self-esteem.
Perfect for a new slave race. You will notice that there is no race card being played here as this scenario will be played out all across America in every town and city and it will cross ethnic boundaries as well as race boundaries. When China and/or India comes to us and says "We have all of your technological secrets because you have outsourced your technology to us for years, and now we have surpassed you and want you to work for us for pennies on the dollar." We will have no recourse unless we wake up and teach our children to learn not to repeat the mistakes of history.
If you do not understand what happened in history, you are doomed to repeat it.
I am thankful that I am old enough that I will be able to fight, leave the country, or be dead, by the time this happens.
There has been a push for quite some time to establish a voucher system for education delivery in this country. That push is getting stronger and louder and is even taking on the Department of Education. If these voices have their way, the Department of Education will be done away with. What would have to be put in it's place would be a bureau to manage the voucher program in some way shape or form to ensure that the fraud that the voucher system is so very ripe for, does not happen.
Seems to me to be swapping one behemoth for another with no net gain - unless you are having your pockets lined by the Charter Schools you propose to take the place of the public schools. What hasn't been talked about when vouchers are brought up, is the details of how it would come about. The devil is in the details. Who would manage the system, and how would it be paid for?
If those in the lower classes of our society- the disadvantaged - were given vouchers, the possibility of those vouchers only covering a portion of the tuition to a charter school, but full enrollment in a public school where good teachers being part of the staff would be slim to none is a very real scenario. We have already seen where "no Child Left Behind" has created a generation of children being taught how to take tests, but not really being taught. And the gifted within this generation are being ignored to focus on the failing - to bring those marginal students up to the acceptable level - so that no child is left behind...to what end?
When people cannot pay the rent, how can they be expected to be able to come up with additional tuition to get their child into a charter school?
If these children are not taught how to think critically about what is presented to them, and if they are, as in the case of the Texas School Board, only taught certain parts of history - how will they function when the rest of history is presented to them? We are creating - a dumbed down generation. Kind of ironic isn't it? In this age of information, with everything we have available to us, we would hold back the children who could potentially find cures for cancers and other types of diseases we have yet to break, because as adults, the fear is too great that we would be seen as fools or in a bad light for the things we have done? Get over it! If we hold back the youth, dumb them down as it were, we will have created a generation who will be unable to think for themselves and will have to rely on others for direction as to what to think. The new slave race.
This scenario sets us back to a time when there were a few who made the decisions of how things would happen for the many. The many would work for the few. The common man would no longer have a voice. It is happening - albeit slowly, but it is happening. The "Citizens United" ruling started that snowball down the hill and empowered the likes of the Koch brothers- makers of Brawny, Quilted Northern, Soft"n Gentle, Dixie and other Georgia Pacific Brands as well as Lycra and COOLMAX fibers, Nitrogen fertilizer and Petroleum products.
Forget about Retirement - forget about Social Security - they will be gone. Plan on stuffing your mattress or burying glass jars in your backyard. If you can afford a backyard.
There will be no basic healthcare for those who cannot provide for themselves. Abortion will be outlawed in any circumstance. This does not take into account whether the adult(s) have the means, skills, and/or ability and desire to bear the responsibility of having a child. What happens after the child is born? Where will the support come from?
Who will foot the bill when these unwanted children are brought into the world? Certainly not the ones who have denied the abortions, no, they wash their hands of the situation after the child is born. Hypocrites!
So, you have these unwanted children, essentially uneducated because they have just been taught how to take tests, and they have no vision of a better way of life. It is a good chance that the life they have been given is the same life their parent was given - a life of abuse, or neglect and a life of low self-esteem.
Perfect for a new slave race. You will notice that there is no race card being played here as this scenario will be played out all across America in every town and city and it will cross ethnic boundaries as well as race boundaries. When China and/or India comes to us and says "We have all of your technological secrets because you have outsourced your technology to us for years, and now we have surpassed you and want you to work for us for pennies on the dollar." We will have no recourse unless we wake up and teach our children to learn not to repeat the mistakes of history.
If you do not understand what happened in history, you are doomed to repeat it.
I am thankful that I am old enough that I will be able to fight, leave the country, or be dead, by the time this happens.
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