If it has escaped anyone’s attention the 21st century is known as the information age. The last vestiges of blue collar production is rapidly disappearing, replaced by a horde of no collars and grubby sneakers who expound at great lengths on why they as information workers are more important than producers.
Just as the wheel advanced civilization by trade and communication rolling on to gears of the industrial revolution. The information age is an evolutionary revolution of technology advancing from carrier pigeons through telegraph, radio and TV to a wireless instantaneous globe.
The difficulty is that while information may flow far, wide and fast the world becomes less informed. Anyone can now tap into a stream of data and watch pages and screens of numbers, letters and images. With a few finger taps on a tiny keypad they can even add to the torrent. Information brokers have emerged seeking to profit from the free flow by sampling the data in support of any agenda requested.
It is the old academic principle of “Save the hypothesis,” that is only report data that supports your point of view and bury any data that contradicts it. Governments and so called journalist now use sophisticated programs that swim down stream collecting favored bits and bytes while ignoring facts and realities they had rather not exist.
Real people have to work hard just to live having no time, nor programs to capture the gems of truth needed to be considered an informed public. Newspapers are dying and TV news has become entertainment where jovial anchors tease a story of the sky really is falling, but first a word from our sponsor, selling falling sky shelters. TV journalists now use social media blurbs as factual news reports. Politicians not only use positive social media blurbs as proof of popularity but also use social media for their own dis-information programs. Dissidents use social media to leverage fragmented agendas into power positions that mislead and guarantee dysfunction. With no filter the multitude of voices overload democratic processes and fracture coalitions of similar interest into ever smaller groupings that destroy nation states. An overload that collapses into another dark age of xenophobic tribal warfare.
The real threat is that charismatic fanatic will learn to use the information flow to rise to power and then dam the river. Only a biased trickle of information will remain.
Is there hope for democracy? Maybe, it is not government control and censorship but rather a public educated in how to swim in swirling rapids of information flow. Once taught in schools, the art of critical thinking must become a rudder that can navigate the rocky shoals of social media’s self interest. Social media can rally a mob that paddles around in backwaters, but to sail of a rising tide of information overload requires disciplined sailors and ethical merchants of information.
On reflection there may indeed be no hope!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Manifest Spring 102611
In the late 19th century America focused on “Manifest Destiny” as justification of coast to coast imperialism. By the turn of the century manifest destiny morphed into American global imperialism that continued throughout most of the 20th century, under many political correct names.
While Americans deny they were ever an imperial power the rest of the world recognizes the United States as a global exploiter of under classes. During the late 20th century the United States encouraged the overthrow of governments even providing overt support to break nations. Having sown the seeds of foreign political unrest in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia the United States hasn’t reaped its expected harvest or resources and respect. Instead it has lost its ethical standing among States and engendered animosity among friends and foes.
The United States became an active combatant during the Arab Spring resulting in the collapse of several governments and continued civil conflict in other States. The U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign States impedes their ability to deal effectively with civil unrest. Having firmly established the principles of foreign interventions the United States may soon become the target foreign economic and political interventions in its own internal affairs.
The world now gleefully watches as the Arab Spring takes root on Wall Street and quickly spreads to other cities. A popular uprising of young and old expressing discontent. There is little focus of the popular discontent as long suppressed angers boil over into streets and public spaces. The reaction may have been triggered by economic missteps by financial institutions and governments but the popular movement expresses the frustration, helplessness and sense that the establishment is betraying the peoples’ continued trust.
The people are right to be fearful of losing their rights, benefits and future security already eroded by bad legislation and worse business practices. Arrogant politicians and business leaders have long dismissed the needs of the people in favor of the interests of wealth and power, forming an elite of self-interest. There is a term,” Rational Maximization,” which for the Elite has come to mean it rationalized that their maximum benefit is in the interest of the people. They further rationalize that high school dropouts and those than can only afford a community college education are two dumb to ever notice that they are on a downward spiral while the elite soars higher and higher.
The hard fought battles for labor reforms, higher standards of living, equality and equity before the courts is in danger and the people are noticing. When the cracks begin to form they quickly spread and great edifices tumble. The Elite answer, control the message suppress movements. It is interesting to note that a simultaneous crackdown on the popular movement occurred in several distant cities at the same time. An indication of central government or business control? The Elite should look to Roman, British and Soviet greatness, that was to last forever, their people also spoke.
While Americans deny they were ever an imperial power the rest of the world recognizes the United States as a global exploiter of under classes. During the late 20th century the United States encouraged the overthrow of governments even providing overt support to break nations. Having sown the seeds of foreign political unrest in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia the United States hasn’t reaped its expected harvest or resources and respect. Instead it has lost its ethical standing among States and engendered animosity among friends and foes.
The United States became an active combatant during the Arab Spring resulting in the collapse of several governments and continued civil conflict in other States. The U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign States impedes their ability to deal effectively with civil unrest. Having firmly established the principles of foreign interventions the United States may soon become the target foreign economic and political interventions in its own internal affairs.
The world now gleefully watches as the Arab Spring takes root on Wall Street and quickly spreads to other cities. A popular uprising of young and old expressing discontent. There is little focus of the popular discontent as long suppressed angers boil over into streets and public spaces. The reaction may have been triggered by economic missteps by financial institutions and governments but the popular movement expresses the frustration, helplessness and sense that the establishment is betraying the peoples’ continued trust.
The people are right to be fearful of losing their rights, benefits and future security already eroded by bad legislation and worse business practices. Arrogant politicians and business leaders have long dismissed the needs of the people in favor of the interests of wealth and power, forming an elite of self-interest. There is a term,” Rational Maximization,” which for the Elite has come to mean it rationalized that their maximum benefit is in the interest of the people. They further rationalize that high school dropouts and those than can only afford a community college education are two dumb to ever notice that they are on a downward spiral while the elite soars higher and higher.
The hard fought battles for labor reforms, higher standards of living, equality and equity before the courts is in danger and the people are noticing. When the cracks begin to form they quickly spread and great edifices tumble. The Elite answer, control the message suppress movements. It is interesting to note that a simultaneous crackdown on the popular movement occurred in several distant cities at the same time. An indication of central government or business control? The Elite should look to Roman, British and Soviet greatness, that was to last forever, their people also spoke.
Laboring 102011
The industrial revolution of the 19th century was hardly a bloodless revolution. Similarly to the 21st century technological revolution the industrial revolution generated great wealth to the few, robber barons and their political supporters. The revolution also modernized serfdom for the many, cheap labor from poor whites, freed blacks Irish, Eastern Europeans and Chinese immigrants.
The western world’s industrial great leap forward came at a steep price of starving families, maimed and dead workers. Workers had no protections, no safety standards and no security. Children received no education often entering the coal mines and factories at six years old, their few pennies the margin of life for the family. Workers who questioned conditions were beaten, fired and replaced by even cheaper labor. By the turn of the 19th century labor movements emerged around the globe.
Management met labors calls for reforms with evictions, lockouts and guns. Management demonized workers as anarchists, communist and played to xenophobic fears. Management played power politics using thugs and official force to gun down labor leaders, even entire work forces. A few industrial giants, like Henry Ford, came to realize it cost money to train skilled workers and well paid workers bought the products they produced and slowly reforms came to be accepted.
Child labor laws were enacted, safety standards established but mostly it was the draw on a limited pool of skilled labor that advanced labor’s cause. Labor movements still had to fight many bloody battles throughout the first half of the 20th century. Workers were on the verge of victory but poorly chose their labor leaders. The open battles between labor and management conditioned labor leaders to warfare. Management however shifted its strategy to leverage its wealth to political power.
Legislation gave reforms and at the same time limited labor’s ability to organize. In 1938 the American Supreme Court upheld labor’s right to strike but added that employers had the right to permanently replace strikers. Labor was slow to realize that its back was broken but the latter half of the century saw its hard earned bargaining power slowly erode.
Labor is again under assault of money and power. Corporations leveraged its wealth into favorable legislation and court decisions that limits unions ability to support candidates but allows business to use its wealth to support business friendly candidates.
This is not lost on politicians and want-a-be who by dictate or anti-labor legislation are moving to bury the last vestiges of a century’s labor benefits. Pensions, health insurance, job security and collective bargaining are rapidly disappearing. Emboldened by prospects of cheap labor from an army of unemployed, deep pocket Corporations are funding renew labor demonization and elected officials who will repeal worker protections. “Look for the union label,” is museum nostalgia filed alongside the buggy whip industry.
The western world’s industrial great leap forward came at a steep price of starving families, maimed and dead workers. Workers had no protections, no safety standards and no security. Children received no education often entering the coal mines and factories at six years old, their few pennies the margin of life for the family. Workers who questioned conditions were beaten, fired and replaced by even cheaper labor. By the turn of the 19th century labor movements emerged around the globe.
Management met labors calls for reforms with evictions, lockouts and guns. Management demonized workers as anarchists, communist and played to xenophobic fears. Management played power politics using thugs and official force to gun down labor leaders, even entire work forces. A few industrial giants, like Henry Ford, came to realize it cost money to train skilled workers and well paid workers bought the products they produced and slowly reforms came to be accepted.
Child labor laws were enacted, safety standards established but mostly it was the draw on a limited pool of skilled labor that advanced labor’s cause. Labor movements still had to fight many bloody battles throughout the first half of the 20th century. Workers were on the verge of victory but poorly chose their labor leaders. The open battles between labor and management conditioned labor leaders to warfare. Management however shifted its strategy to leverage its wealth to political power.
Legislation gave reforms and at the same time limited labor’s ability to organize. In 1938 the American Supreme Court upheld labor’s right to strike but added that employers had the right to permanently replace strikers. Labor was slow to realize that its back was broken but the latter half of the century saw its hard earned bargaining power slowly erode.
Labor is again under assault of money and power. Corporations leveraged its wealth into favorable legislation and court decisions that limits unions ability to support candidates but allows business to use its wealth to support business friendly candidates.
This is not lost on politicians and want-a-be who by dictate or anti-labor legislation are moving to bury the last vestiges of a century’s labor benefits. Pensions, health insurance, job security and collective bargaining are rapidly disappearing. Emboldened by prospects of cheap labor from an army of unemployed, deep pocket Corporations are funding renew labor demonization and elected officials who will repeal worker protections. “Look for the union label,” is museum nostalgia filed alongside the buggy whip industry.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Taxes and death 101811
The old cliche is, “nothing is certain but death and taxes.” As more and more nations face bankruptcy taxes focus on certain. In one corner is redistribution of wealth and in the other corner taxation prevents growth.
These two positions probably date from the cave man era and in the millenniums since both positions have been tested. The American income tax debates of 1913 stated that the, “Power to tax is the power to destroy.” This slogan is well proven by feudal Europe, Lords taxed freemen and merchants into serfdom and the Dark Age. Post war England taxed its industry and landowners into receivership and ended up owning much of private industry and holdings. The bureaucracy and incompetence ran them into the ground ending British positions in world markets and draining public coffers. The British even attempted to squeeze the last shilling from the once rich by taxing the dead. In the United States the top tax bracket reached 94% (some sources state 96%) followed by disappearance of some great names, the rise of tax lawyers and masses of exemption legislation.
There are some lessons to be learned from redistribution school of finance. The poor doesn’t profit, national deficits continue to rise, the middleclass become downward mobile and tax lawyers become more creative. Expropriative taxation does destroy. Ultimately it destroys productivity; the financial structure and governments fall.
There is an axiom that governments will always miss-spend more than its income. Here lies a problem governments have no income. Every dime it spends is acquired directly or indirectly from its populace. During periods of growth governments are lavish in their spending, inflating expectations. During periods of readjustment high expectations are that central governments’ great wealth will fund continued lavishness. Frightened politicians appease the mob by borrowing money against the future and spend more not less. It is a great Ponzi scheme that eventually destroys governments.
Expropriation does not work. Modern cultures need transportation, water systems, sewers etc. These must be paid for out of tax revenues, the crumbling infrastructure must also be maintained by tax revenue. New needs must be met; can revenues also support popular nice to have agendas? Every citizen should support needs by fair share taxation, but what is a fair share? Tax none of the income of one and all the income of another is it fair? Confiscation of all the billionaires’ income may make a short-term interest payment on national debt but won’t reduce that debt. Then what about the the next payment?
Governments must determine what expenditures are necessities and cut the fat. What are realistic fair share taxes? Politicians must remove the public’s and their own rose colored glasses. They must create a realistic budget and live within it, as does most households. Leaders must become responsible, governments are not bottomless money buckets to be dipped into for electioneering. The risk is revolution and national collapse. The model is Eastern Europe, Africa and the Mid-East.
These two positions probably date from the cave man era and in the millenniums since both positions have been tested. The American income tax debates of 1913 stated that the, “Power to tax is the power to destroy.” This slogan is well proven by feudal Europe, Lords taxed freemen and merchants into serfdom and the Dark Age. Post war England taxed its industry and landowners into receivership and ended up owning much of private industry and holdings. The bureaucracy and incompetence ran them into the ground ending British positions in world markets and draining public coffers. The British even attempted to squeeze the last shilling from the once rich by taxing the dead. In the United States the top tax bracket reached 94% (some sources state 96%) followed by disappearance of some great names, the rise of tax lawyers and masses of exemption legislation.
There are some lessons to be learned from redistribution school of finance. The poor doesn’t profit, national deficits continue to rise, the middleclass become downward mobile and tax lawyers become more creative. Expropriative taxation does destroy. Ultimately it destroys productivity; the financial structure and governments fall.
There is an axiom that governments will always miss-spend more than its income. Here lies a problem governments have no income. Every dime it spends is acquired directly or indirectly from its populace. During periods of growth governments are lavish in their spending, inflating expectations. During periods of readjustment high expectations are that central governments’ great wealth will fund continued lavishness. Frightened politicians appease the mob by borrowing money against the future and spend more not less. It is a great Ponzi scheme that eventually destroys governments.
Expropriation does not work. Modern cultures need transportation, water systems, sewers etc. These must be paid for out of tax revenues, the crumbling infrastructure must also be maintained by tax revenue. New needs must be met; can revenues also support popular nice to have agendas? Every citizen should support needs by fair share taxation, but what is a fair share? Tax none of the income of one and all the income of another is it fair? Confiscation of all the billionaires’ income may make a short-term interest payment on national debt but won’t reduce that debt. Then what about the the next payment?
Governments must determine what expenditures are necessities and cut the fat. What are realistic fair share taxes? Politicians must remove the public’s and their own rose colored glasses. They must create a realistic budget and live within it, as does most households. Leaders must become responsible, governments are not bottomless money buckets to be dipped into for electioneering. The risk is revolution and national collapse. The model is Eastern Europe, Africa and the Mid-East.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Corrupt world 101611
There is a new popular movement garnering media attention. Originally it was tagged as the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement but as it quickly spread around the world by many names. Movements have a couple common threads: people are unhappy with their condition; and they blame the corruption of the rich, powerful, banks, politicians, etc.
With little organization and so many targets there is a real danger that the movements will fail to score hits on the central cause of their fury. The causation is not banks, politician or the wealthy it is systemic global corruption. Ethics, integrity and honor have been eroded to the point that corruption has become the societal norm.
It is easy to understand corruption as a bribe for an immediate act that benefits the individual, like a small “gift” to the official that stamps passports. Modern corruption however is much more subtle and pervasive.
An otherwise honest policeman becomes corrupt when he fails to report criminal police acts. Other honest cops become corrupt when they punish one that breaks the protective blue wall of silence. A national leader openly lies to the electorate and publicly brags about getting away with it, sends a clear message that un-ethical behavior is not only condoned but rewarded. Scholars that exploit and plagiarize the work of students teach more than their subject. Dealers that sell hurricane immersed cars as new. Auto and oil industry giants who destroy public transport. MBAs that sell personal their gain as good for the consumer and company. The entire marketing industry that sells dreams instead of reality. Corporations that dump failed pharmaceuticals in foreign lands or toxic waste near playgrounds. Brokers and businesses that manipulate numbers to deceive. Extreme cover-ups to prevent exposing embarrassing conduct or incompetence. Adult’s that teach kids to beg and encourages bad behavior trains the next corrupt generation.
Ethical behavior is the victim of personal and corporate greed. Bureaucrats seek larger staff and bigger budgets for promotion and fail to oversea public good. Corporations, brokerage houses and banks freed of oversight focus on bottom line profits for larger bonuses. When financial corruption topple houses of paper profits, bankers scream for public money to save them while not exposing their fiscal irresponsibility. Corrupt legislation rewards self-serving incompetence with public money. Banks are saved; bankers pocket profits and the streets acquire more homeless.
The worst corruption of all is when movements become captive of corrupt leadership. Fragmentation and self-interest are already corrupting the much-heralded Arab spring revolutions of a couple months ago. Unions become victims of the same dynamic when collectives to protect the workers are corrupted to serving only leadership interests not the membership.
It is probable that OWS will fall victim to its success as power potential is seen as a gateway to corporate and personal profit. Shake hands but count your fingers.
With little organization and so many targets there is a real danger that the movements will fail to score hits on the central cause of their fury. The causation is not banks, politician or the wealthy it is systemic global corruption. Ethics, integrity and honor have been eroded to the point that corruption has become the societal norm.
It is easy to understand corruption as a bribe for an immediate act that benefits the individual, like a small “gift” to the official that stamps passports. Modern corruption however is much more subtle and pervasive.
An otherwise honest policeman becomes corrupt when he fails to report criminal police acts. Other honest cops become corrupt when they punish one that breaks the protective blue wall of silence. A national leader openly lies to the electorate and publicly brags about getting away with it, sends a clear message that un-ethical behavior is not only condoned but rewarded. Scholars that exploit and plagiarize the work of students teach more than their subject. Dealers that sell hurricane immersed cars as new. Auto and oil industry giants who destroy public transport. MBAs that sell personal their gain as good for the consumer and company. The entire marketing industry that sells dreams instead of reality. Corporations that dump failed pharmaceuticals in foreign lands or toxic waste near playgrounds. Brokers and businesses that manipulate numbers to deceive. Extreme cover-ups to prevent exposing embarrassing conduct or incompetence. Adult’s that teach kids to beg and encourages bad behavior trains the next corrupt generation.
Ethical behavior is the victim of personal and corporate greed. Bureaucrats seek larger staff and bigger budgets for promotion and fail to oversea public good. Corporations, brokerage houses and banks freed of oversight focus on bottom line profits for larger bonuses. When financial corruption topple houses of paper profits, bankers scream for public money to save them while not exposing their fiscal irresponsibility. Corrupt legislation rewards self-serving incompetence with public money. Banks are saved; bankers pocket profits and the streets acquire more homeless.
The worst corruption of all is when movements become captive of corrupt leadership. Fragmentation and self-interest are already corrupting the much-heralded Arab spring revolutions of a couple months ago. Unions become victims of the same dynamic when collectives to protect the workers are corrupted to serving only leadership interests not the membership.
It is probable that OWS will fall victim to its success as power potential is seen as a gateway to corporate and personal profit. Shake hands but count your fingers.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Watched 101111
Over sixty years ago George Orwell wrote 1984 about an oligarchical dictatorship with total surveillance and public mind control. The book is now considered a classic great book of the 20th century. Publics' concern as the year 1984 approached was quickly “spun” of similarities to Orwellian predictions by governments’ bureaucrats.
Orwell wrote his masterpiece in 1947 possibly drawing inspiration from exposed NAZI’s near total control of German thought. Governments loudly denounced German methodology but enviously studied their successes. Before the title year Americans were victims of government attempts at thought control. In the 50s there was McCarthyism persecution in the name of national defense. In the 60s and 70s police and military spied on citizens who voiced contrary opinions. Politicians kept hate list of journalist, scholars and citizens that rejected political correct thought. Criminal activities exposed the agencies’ excesses but left a massive archive of personal information in the dark bowels of government, to be leaked over the years for political leverage.
(2011) Despite the investigations of the 70s American governments are now in personal data collection and targeting of citizens. The State Department is seeking data on your mother address before your birth, name of her natal doctor and nursing staff at your birth before honoring your right to travel.
The New York Police are running covert information collection on citizens including those outside New York, with no crime alleged. Other law enforcement agencies copy down license numbers of every car parked on streets. Police surveil the population with access to cameras affixed to buildings and street corners. Data filed in massive computers saved for future police leverage. Some PDs have co-opted neighborhood watch into neighbor spy groups. Some jurisdictions have passed laws against recording police brutality and corruption. Why doesn’t federal government do something about these constitutional violations?
Federal agents are collection personal information in friendly foreign nations on their innocent citizens. A U.S. Representative is running his own voter watch list, complete with surveillance photos, and advises other congressmen to establish their own list of those who question “correct’ thought. The U.S. Air Force is experimenting with methods to overwhelm humans’ ability to think, fry our brains and make us a little dumber.
Can we get any dumber? We load social media with random thoughts while government auto-tags emails, Facebook, Twitter and phone conversation for buzz word. Key words are linked to surveillance tapes and individuals are GPS tracked. Governments now know where you go, what you buy and whom you meet. Business and medical DBs add to government covert collections. Big brother’s eye is on you, be frightened.
You have democratic freedom, the dictators tell you so. The Orwellian oligarchical dictatorships are here and tightening grip on your thoughts. This is real terror, State terror.
Orwell wrote his masterpiece in 1947 possibly drawing inspiration from exposed NAZI’s near total control of German thought. Governments loudly denounced German methodology but enviously studied their successes. Before the title year Americans were victims of government attempts at thought control. In the 50s there was McCarthyism persecution in the name of national defense. In the 60s and 70s police and military spied on citizens who voiced contrary opinions. Politicians kept hate list of journalist, scholars and citizens that rejected political correct thought. Criminal activities exposed the agencies’ excesses but left a massive archive of personal information in the dark bowels of government, to be leaked over the years for political leverage.
(2011) Despite the investigations of the 70s American governments are now in personal data collection and targeting of citizens. The State Department is seeking data on your mother address before your birth, name of her natal doctor and nursing staff at your birth before honoring your right to travel.
The New York Police are running covert information collection on citizens including those outside New York, with no crime alleged. Other law enforcement agencies copy down license numbers of every car parked on streets. Police surveil the population with access to cameras affixed to buildings and street corners. Data filed in massive computers saved for future police leverage. Some PDs have co-opted neighborhood watch into neighbor spy groups. Some jurisdictions have passed laws against recording police brutality and corruption. Why doesn’t federal government do something about these constitutional violations?
Federal agents are collection personal information in friendly foreign nations on their innocent citizens. A U.S. Representative is running his own voter watch list, complete with surveillance photos, and advises other congressmen to establish their own list of those who question “correct’ thought. The U.S. Air Force is experimenting with methods to overwhelm humans’ ability to think, fry our brains and make us a little dumber.
Can we get any dumber? We load social media with random thoughts while government auto-tags emails, Facebook, Twitter and phone conversation for buzz word. Key words are linked to surveillance tapes and individuals are GPS tracked. Governments now know where you go, what you buy and whom you meet. Business and medical DBs add to government covert collections. Big brother’s eye is on you, be frightened.
You have democratic freedom, the dictators tell you so. The Orwellian oligarchical dictatorships are here and tightening grip on your thoughts. This is real terror, State terror.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Extra Extra 100811
The excited cries of paperboys on street corners are rapidly fading American oldsters’ memories. Late night movies occasionally refresh memories of a time when newspapers were breakfast staples as important as coffee.
Cities and towns across the country had several competing papers that published multiple editions. Hot news rated extra editions that were hawked to readers on the street. Newspapers were devoured on streets, busses and subways as well as the breakfast table. The movers and shakers of the period read several daily papers.
Newspapers had many lives; they were passed from reader to reader. At the end of the day street people gave discarded papers a last read then used them as blankets for the night, merchants wrapped fish in them and housewives cleaned windows with them.
Avid readers could be identified by the fresh ink stains on their fingers from hot off the press newspapers. News was not carved in stone; it was cast in lead, hot type. News hounds captured the facts on the backs of envelopes with stubby pencils. Walking into newsrooms on deadline was like entering a cacophonous tornado. It appeared as pandemonium, the constant crackle of teletypes added world news to reporters’ scribbled notes. Bells rang, typewriters rattled, editors shouted and processed information from backs of envelopes to hot type composing rooms. Presses roared in the basement and the buildings shook, this was news. From first editions to five star finals, with the sometimes extras, this was news.
Newspapers were the catalysis that made America. Reporters reported facts, ideas and words of the great. The people read, pondered, discussed and acted. Politicians studied voices of competing newspapers and crafted policies and leadership rolls.
In the post war era of television readers began to slip away to TV news as entertainment. Americans forgot how to read. Sound bites replaced incisive articles. Reporters no longer reported news they became journalists who were the news. Today without video there is no story. For great TV news no truth is required, keep talking, let there be no dead air. Speculate on speculation, but keep talking whether the words make sense or not. Social media with even less reliability is replacing TV news as the public’s source of information. Social media is great for inciting mobs but serves poorly as a reliable source of information.
Assaulted by electronic media, bad management and increasingly illiterate publics, American NEWSPAPERS are shrinking in size as well as readership until they will forever disappear. Future America will step back from its downward slippery slope and reach for a newspaper for explanations and reassurance. It will find a need for more than 25 words sound bites and its newspapers will be gone. Before it is to late Americans must slow down, relearn to read and think. The current social media trend as a purveyor of news is another flawed American model the world must not follow.
Cities and towns across the country had several competing papers that published multiple editions. Hot news rated extra editions that were hawked to readers on the street. Newspapers were devoured on streets, busses and subways as well as the breakfast table. The movers and shakers of the period read several daily papers.
Newspapers had many lives; they were passed from reader to reader. At the end of the day street people gave discarded papers a last read then used them as blankets for the night, merchants wrapped fish in them and housewives cleaned windows with them.
Avid readers could be identified by the fresh ink stains on their fingers from hot off the press newspapers. News was not carved in stone; it was cast in lead, hot type. News hounds captured the facts on the backs of envelopes with stubby pencils. Walking into newsrooms on deadline was like entering a cacophonous tornado. It appeared as pandemonium, the constant crackle of teletypes added world news to reporters’ scribbled notes. Bells rang, typewriters rattled, editors shouted and processed information from backs of envelopes to hot type composing rooms. Presses roared in the basement and the buildings shook, this was news. From first editions to five star finals, with the sometimes extras, this was news.
Newspapers were the catalysis that made America. Reporters reported facts, ideas and words of the great. The people read, pondered, discussed and acted. Politicians studied voices of competing newspapers and crafted policies and leadership rolls.
In the post war era of television readers began to slip away to TV news as entertainment. Americans forgot how to read. Sound bites replaced incisive articles. Reporters no longer reported news they became journalists who were the news. Today without video there is no story. For great TV news no truth is required, keep talking, let there be no dead air. Speculate on speculation, but keep talking whether the words make sense or not. Social media with even less reliability is replacing TV news as the public’s source of information. Social media is great for inciting mobs but serves poorly as a reliable source of information.
Assaulted by electronic media, bad management and increasingly illiterate publics, American NEWSPAPERS are shrinking in size as well as readership until they will forever disappear. Future America will step back from its downward slippery slope and reach for a newspaper for explanations and reassurance. It will find a need for more than 25 words sound bites and its newspapers will be gone. Before it is to late Americans must slow down, relearn to read and think. The current social media trend as a purveyor of news is another flawed American model the world must not follow.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Coffee tea or aspirin 080311
In 1773 Boston hosted a tea party that has taken on mythological importance in American history. Boston was not the first American city to refuse delivery of British tea just the most radical. It was over sixty years before American spin-doctors created the Tea Party out of an economic protest, forging a campaign slogan for the history books. The controversy over the so-called Tea Party did contribute to the eventual fall of British governments in America.
Now over 200 years later a Tea Party has been institutionalized as a political movement. The Boston tea party generated the slogan “No taxation without representation.” The new Tea Party slogan may come to be “Radical representation without legislation.”
The Tea Party gained a following on an anarchist agenda of all government is evil. With a little power it becomes a disruptive political force. Tea Party governors attempted to become despots ruling by dictate, destroying democracy within their fiefdoms. In Congress the Tea Party presented no solutions to national challenges but followed their agenda of disruption. With their agenda of ruination more important than solutions the Tea Party has done more to destroy America than al-Qaida.
Al-Qaida's target is perceived corrupted Islam and those that supported that corruption. The Tea Party's target is its perceived corrupted American mythical ideal. The difference is al-Qaida has limited influence even in the Muslim world but America was the lynch pin of World order. The legislative confrontation brought on by Partiers broke the lynch pin of an already fragile system. The eleventh hour deal came too late to save the United States' reputation of economic stability that the world could depend on. Linked markets spiraled down, America lost its solid gold reputation and the international order embraces a multi-polar economic order that may or may not include the United States. It is unlikely the present economic mess will equal the “Crash of 29” because the United States is no longer the sole economic center of the world and other markets mitigate catastrophic collapse.
The measures of international power have shifted; armies and industry no longer insure greatness. Power is now technology and will, a product of brain power which has no borders. Technology is diffused across artificial borders, information flows with little restraint. Political and economic power has many aspirants who have smarts and the will to advance. The question is does America have the necessary will to remain in the front rank of states?
Al-Qaida and Tea Partiers have a common goal, the return to a mythical past. The past was never as good as nostalgia imagines and can't be recaptured. Re-enactors visit moments of the past while ignoring the lessons of the past. The past is for romance and learning. Survival is for visions and drive to the future.
If the United States is to regain world respect it will require hard choices and sound visions for a future world system. Remaining focused of past greatness insures that greatness will never return. To opt-out of international participation in cooperative economic system is equally destructive. To recapture what has been lost through intransigent political posturing may require a generation to over-come. It will require cooperation of politicians a consensus of national will.
The party is over and the Partiers must learn that if they are not part of the solution they are part of the problem.
Now over 200 years later a Tea Party has been institutionalized as a political movement. The Boston tea party generated the slogan “No taxation without representation.” The new Tea Party slogan may come to be “Radical representation without legislation.”
The Tea Party gained a following on an anarchist agenda of all government is evil. With a little power it becomes a disruptive political force. Tea Party governors attempted to become despots ruling by dictate, destroying democracy within their fiefdoms. In Congress the Tea Party presented no solutions to national challenges but followed their agenda of disruption. With their agenda of ruination more important than solutions the Tea Party has done more to destroy America than al-Qaida.
Al-Qaida's target is perceived corrupted Islam and those that supported that corruption. The Tea Party's target is its perceived corrupted American mythical ideal. The difference is al-Qaida has limited influence even in the Muslim world but America was the lynch pin of World order. The legislative confrontation brought on by Partiers broke the lynch pin of an already fragile system. The eleventh hour deal came too late to save the United States' reputation of economic stability that the world could depend on. Linked markets spiraled down, America lost its solid gold reputation and the international order embraces a multi-polar economic order that may or may not include the United States. It is unlikely the present economic mess will equal the “Crash of 29” because the United States is no longer the sole economic center of the world and other markets mitigate catastrophic collapse.
The measures of international power have shifted; armies and industry no longer insure greatness. Power is now technology and will, a product of brain power which has no borders. Technology is diffused across artificial borders, information flows with little restraint. Political and economic power has many aspirants who have smarts and the will to advance. The question is does America have the necessary will to remain in the front rank of states?
Al-Qaida and Tea Partiers have a common goal, the return to a mythical past. The past was never as good as nostalgia imagines and can't be recaptured. Re-enactors visit moments of the past while ignoring the lessons of the past. The past is for romance and learning. Survival is for visions and drive to the future.
If the United States is to regain world respect it will require hard choices and sound visions for a future world system. Remaining focused of past greatness insures that greatness will never return. To opt-out of international participation in cooperative economic system is equally destructive. To recapture what has been lost through intransigent political posturing may require a generation to over-come. It will require cooperation of politicians a consensus of national will.
The party is over and the Partiers must learn that if they are not part of the solution they are part of the problem.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Mob rule 080211
The links between crime and politics are ancient and well documented. The caveman hunter would bribe his chieftain with a choice cut of mastodon for a choice mate or soft rock for his head. When Nero fiddled, contractors lined up with bribes for large urban renewal contracts. During the age of discovery politicians stole from the natives and lost their piles of loot to pirates who bought their way into the political power elite.
Americans claim exceptionalism from the evils of the Old World, but it was settled by refugees and schemers from that world. The American exception was its fresh opportunities for criminal and political inventiveness. There was money to be made in America. Laws were written for maximum profit. Criminals installed their own politicians creating machine politics, which governed for the benefit of criminal mobs. Mobs came to own many local governments. Old World get rich quick gangs flocked to the New World. Violent turf battles raged across the country. Crime bosses sent their children to the best schools and they return to the family business.
This new generation knew how to leverage their power and laundry their loot. They invested in their criminal enterprise with Wall Street moves, campaign donations along with support for arts and charities. A cloak of legitimacy wrapped the same old violent activities of extortion, drugs, robbery and murder and the profits grew larger.
No longer strong arm “hoods” it is now respected public figures that exerts criminal influence on national and international governments. Dirty money is laundered through municipal and national triple “A” bonds. The mobs' interests are now tied to the safety, surety and profitability of these financial instruments. The mobs maybe fronted by “respectable” bosses but they have a host of “knee breakers” to deploy when their fortunes are threatened.
Congress is playing political “chicken” with the nation. The rhetoric is hot, loud and dis-information. The budget problem is a congressional problem brought on by both parties over a number of years. The Constitution clearly gives that responsibility to Congress but it has failed in its duties. The beginning of the fiscal year was moved from July to October because Congress couldn’t pass a budget by July first. Congress couldn’t even draft a budget so the Executive branch began to submit a draft based on legislative appropriations, which obligated more than expected income. Planning to spend more than comes in is called deficit spending, which becomes national debt when actually spent. National debt grows because Congress repeats it failures year after year, which is compounding not only the problem but also interest on the debt.
The political circus in Washington for the past few weeks threatens the economy, the national standing among states but also the fortunes of linked criminal enterprises. It is probable that mob’s polite influence on Congressmen and Senators will not be enough to prevent an economic slide. If mob “soft power” is not adequate then it maybe time to send in the knee breakers to the halls of power to protect national economic interest.
It’s like leading an American Mule; first you have to get its attention with a sharp crack between the ears.
Americans claim exceptionalism from the evils of the Old World, but it was settled by refugees and schemers from that world. The American exception was its fresh opportunities for criminal and political inventiveness. There was money to be made in America. Laws were written for maximum profit. Criminals installed their own politicians creating machine politics, which governed for the benefit of criminal mobs. Mobs came to own many local governments. Old World get rich quick gangs flocked to the New World. Violent turf battles raged across the country. Crime bosses sent their children to the best schools and they return to the family business.
This new generation knew how to leverage their power and laundry their loot. They invested in their criminal enterprise with Wall Street moves, campaign donations along with support for arts and charities. A cloak of legitimacy wrapped the same old violent activities of extortion, drugs, robbery and murder and the profits grew larger.
No longer strong arm “hoods” it is now respected public figures that exerts criminal influence on national and international governments. Dirty money is laundered through municipal and national triple “A” bonds. The mobs' interests are now tied to the safety, surety and profitability of these financial instruments. The mobs maybe fronted by “respectable” bosses but they have a host of “knee breakers” to deploy when their fortunes are threatened.
Congress is playing political “chicken” with the nation. The rhetoric is hot, loud and dis-information. The budget problem is a congressional problem brought on by both parties over a number of years. The Constitution clearly gives that responsibility to Congress but it has failed in its duties. The beginning of the fiscal year was moved from July to October because Congress couldn’t pass a budget by July first. Congress couldn’t even draft a budget so the Executive branch began to submit a draft based on legislative appropriations, which obligated more than expected income. Planning to spend more than comes in is called deficit spending, which becomes national debt when actually spent. National debt grows because Congress repeats it failures year after year, which is compounding not only the problem but also interest on the debt.
The political circus in Washington for the past few weeks threatens the economy, the national standing among states but also the fortunes of linked criminal enterprises. It is probable that mob’s polite influence on Congressmen and Senators will not be enough to prevent an economic slide. If mob “soft power” is not adequate then it maybe time to send in the knee breakers to the halls of power to protect national economic interest.
It’s like leading an American Mule; first you have to get its attention with a sharp crack between the ears.
Friday, July 15, 2011
News 071411
America is in danger of spiraling down into the molasses that binds the undeveloped nations to the bottom of the barrel. That molasses is comprised of debtor states unable to pay their bills or govern in the interest of the people.
Molasses is thick brown sugary syrup that in America is poured on the country by modern day journalism. Despite a legal verdict being rendered, the media is still attempting to incite a mob against Casey Anthony. Journalism has become the entertainment industry. Journalists no longer report the news they have become “talent” who entertains by making news. Stories are drawn from the “Social Media” that is a self generating, amplified voice of a mob. Important stories are ignored in favor of mob hysteria creating higher ratings.
This trend is not lost on politicians who gleefully bandwagon on social media, spinning and spinning to deceive, placate or incite the mob. What is lost is that magical ingredient of democracy, “an informed public.” An informed public requires facts not entertainment. Back in olden days of paper and ink the news media was known as the “Fourth Estate” of government. Even then the media was not always responsible, but columns of print separated facts and opinions. Today facts are few, failing to fit the one liners embraced by public malaise.
A malaise that brings the country to the point of decline. In Washington the country is gripped by another crisis of politicians’ ideological interest over public interest. In its simplest form the issue is that the Right want to free the haves from tax and the Left wants spend more tax money. A hundred years ago when income tax became law it was stated that the power to tax is the power to destroy. Twenty years later during the great depression the government embraced spending as an investment in the country. Then politicians went wild spending and destructively taxing for votes. Responsible budgets became history; deficit spending became the norm. Unlike most third world countries America was able to rock along for years on lack of international competition. The bill is now due, economic competition is surrounding a declining economic base. The debtor nation must pay up or step aside.
The fact is that neither tax cuts nor increased spending will serve the nation. The fact is that political ideologues are holding the country hostage to their election self-interest. The fact is that the media is failing to clearly inform the public. The fact is that this is self-destruction of a great power. The fact is even with an eleventh hour resolution of the present crisis, the damage has been done, and the international bond of economic trust is broken.
The three-year Anthony media circus should pass into historical darkness and the same intense light should be focused on Washington. What little remains of journalistic responsibility should publish broadsides and banner headlines on the impending fall of a great power. Washington power politics must be made to quiver before the mob of public opinion.
Molasses is thick brown sugary syrup that in America is poured on the country by modern day journalism. Despite a legal verdict being rendered, the media is still attempting to incite a mob against Casey Anthony. Journalism has become the entertainment industry. Journalists no longer report the news they have become “talent” who entertains by making news. Stories are drawn from the “Social Media” that is a self generating, amplified voice of a mob. Important stories are ignored in favor of mob hysteria creating higher ratings.
This trend is not lost on politicians who gleefully bandwagon on social media, spinning and spinning to deceive, placate or incite the mob. What is lost is that magical ingredient of democracy, “an informed public.” An informed public requires facts not entertainment. Back in olden days of paper and ink the news media was known as the “Fourth Estate” of government. Even then the media was not always responsible, but columns of print separated facts and opinions. Today facts are few, failing to fit the one liners embraced by public malaise.
A malaise that brings the country to the point of decline. In Washington the country is gripped by another crisis of politicians’ ideological interest over public interest. In its simplest form the issue is that the Right want to free the haves from tax and the Left wants spend more tax money. A hundred years ago when income tax became law it was stated that the power to tax is the power to destroy. Twenty years later during the great depression the government embraced spending as an investment in the country. Then politicians went wild spending and destructively taxing for votes. Responsible budgets became history; deficit spending became the norm. Unlike most third world countries America was able to rock along for years on lack of international competition. The bill is now due, economic competition is surrounding a declining economic base. The debtor nation must pay up or step aside.
The fact is that neither tax cuts nor increased spending will serve the nation. The fact is that political ideologues are holding the country hostage to their election self-interest. The fact is that the media is failing to clearly inform the public. The fact is that this is self-destruction of a great power. The fact is even with an eleventh hour resolution of the present crisis, the damage has been done, and the international bond of economic trust is broken.
The three-year Anthony media circus should pass into historical darkness and the same intense light should be focused on Washington. What little remains of journalistic responsibility should publish broadsides and banner headlines on the impending fall of a great power. Washington power politics must be made to quiver before the mob of public opinion.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Road to dictatorship 030311
The Internet shutdown in Libya, condemned by the American government, involved a new way to turn off web access for an entire country, lesson learned. Earlier this year, the total Internet blockade in Egypt backfired, emboldened protesters. China is known for blocking Internet services, but it’s not just China. Last June Senators Lieberman, Collins and Carper introduced the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010″. One vague provision in the bill gave the president the power to “authorize emergency measures.” Devil in the details, it became known as the Internet “kill switch” bill even though the words ‘kill’ and ‘switch’ are not found in the bill.
We couldn’t condemn the action in other countries while at the same time plan it here. No one would even suggest such a thing, right? Right?
Failing to pass in 2010 the legislation was re-branded the “Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act of 2011.” Note the buzz of Freedom in a bill that gives the government power suppress freedom. Ironically, it was re-introduced on the same day as the Egyptian shutdown when President Obama called on the Egyptian government to reverse its interference with Internet access.
The new bill however, doesn’t give the president control of a “Big Switch” rather little switches are given to bureaucrats at Homeland Security. Everyone knows how responsible Homeland Security bureaucrats are; they took the fun out of flying and created a rainbow of alerts. Envision a vast warehouse of ten’s of thousands of bureaucrats with one hand hovering over their kill switches as they surf the Internet looking for something that offends. The rainbow becomes a blinding White light kill alert when government missteps are publicly exposed.
Building a nation on the free exchange of ideas, the founding fathers institutionalized freedom of the press. However even Thomas Jefferson, an outspoken advocate of a free press, as President attempted to suppress that free press. Every administration since has attempted to control, suppress or distort the free flow of information. The last administration attempted to institutionalize a misinformation bureau with in government, which may have gone underground to a secret government when caught in spotlight for free information.
Jefferson failed to halt critical voices because he controlled no switches to shut down the voices of the people. Government control of information is the fast lane to dictatorships. Giving such control to faceless bureaucrats is building a dictatorship of collective irresponsibility where all are the ultimate losers.
We couldn’t condemn the action in other countries while at the same time plan it here. No one would even suggest such a thing, right? Right?
Failing to pass in 2010 the legislation was re-branded the “Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act of 2011.” Note the buzz of Freedom in a bill that gives the government power suppress freedom. Ironically, it was re-introduced on the same day as the Egyptian shutdown when President Obama called on the Egyptian government to reverse its interference with Internet access.
The new bill however, doesn’t give the president control of a “Big Switch” rather little switches are given to bureaucrats at Homeland Security. Everyone knows how responsible Homeland Security bureaucrats are; they took the fun out of flying and created a rainbow of alerts. Envision a vast warehouse of ten’s of thousands of bureaucrats with one hand hovering over their kill switches as they surf the Internet looking for something that offends. The rainbow becomes a blinding White light kill alert when government missteps are publicly exposed.
Building a nation on the free exchange of ideas, the founding fathers institutionalized freedom of the press. However even Thomas Jefferson, an outspoken advocate of a free press, as President attempted to suppress that free press. Every administration since has attempted to control, suppress or distort the free flow of information. The last administration attempted to institutionalize a misinformation bureau with in government, which may have gone underground to a secret government when caught in spotlight for free information.
Jefferson failed to halt critical voices because he controlled no switches to shut down the voices of the people. Government control of information is the fast lane to dictatorships. Giving such control to faceless bureaucrats is building a dictatorship of collective irresponsibility where all are the ultimate losers.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Whistle blowing 032411
It happens but some times a backlog of information accumulates which demands comment. Unfortunately the backlog is so great that there isn’t sufficient time to give adequate perspective to commentary, so readers are given only tidbits of stories, sorry about that, but I’m old. These tidbits will have little impact on me whatever the stories’ eventual outcomes. Current generations will have to deal with these issues and their actions or lack of action will impact their children.
Although Congress passed a Whistle Blower protection act, it seems that no one likes a whistle blower less than government bureaucrats and policy makers. Late in 2010 the electronic release of masses of U.S. government documents set off a bureaucratic firestorm that made the bombing of Dresden, Germany seem like a campfire.
Homeland Security immediately declared the Internet editor of WikiLeaks a traitor and started to build a rhetorical gallows on the Washington Mall. Department of Defense declared the papers nation security secrets and piled brush around the gallows to incinerate his dangling body. Isn’t there something about cruel and unusable punishment in the Bill of Rights? The intelligence community set a “honey trap” for him in a foreign country. The State department declared irreparable harm to American Foreign policy.
As the firestorm ragged some officials, probably fearful that they might be thrown in the fire, reviewed the documents and discovered lots of embarrassment from ancient to modern, but no real secrets. However, the bureaucracy was on a downhill roll and there was no stopping. Intelligence twisted foreign arms for an arrest and rendition of the editor. The military grabbed an Army private charged him with releasing the government’s “secrets”, branded him a traitor and threw him into a military dungeon. Always seeking the lime light the Air Force declared "If a family member of an Air Force employee accesses WikiLeaks on a home computer, the family member may be subject to prosecution for espionage under U.S. Code Title 18 Section 793." U.S. officials issued secret subpoenas for Wikileaks’ electronic accounts and credit card receipts apparently seeking names of readers. The government went after foreign officials on suspicion that they may have approved the release of documents.
The Pentagon and other government agencies have taken the position that even though the open source documents are freely available on the Internet, the government must treat them as classified. After all it is American Citizens who are the real enemy for Government abuse.
As the affair grinds along, now out of the public’s spotlight the Army private still sits degraded in naked isolation in a military dungeon, probably expecting eventual rendition to some foreign torture chamber out of view of justice and restraint.
Remember we are trying to sell the American rule of law globally, in a world more aware of American abuse and hypocrisy than its own citizens.
Although Congress passed a Whistle Blower protection act, it seems that no one likes a whistle blower less than government bureaucrats and policy makers. Late in 2010 the electronic release of masses of U.S. government documents set off a bureaucratic firestorm that made the bombing of Dresden, Germany seem like a campfire.
Homeland Security immediately declared the Internet editor of WikiLeaks a traitor and started to build a rhetorical gallows on the Washington Mall. Department of Defense declared the papers nation security secrets and piled brush around the gallows to incinerate his dangling body. Isn’t there something about cruel and unusable punishment in the Bill of Rights? The intelligence community set a “honey trap” for him in a foreign country. The State department declared irreparable harm to American Foreign policy.
As the firestorm ragged some officials, probably fearful that they might be thrown in the fire, reviewed the documents and discovered lots of embarrassment from ancient to modern, but no real secrets. However, the bureaucracy was on a downhill roll and there was no stopping. Intelligence twisted foreign arms for an arrest and rendition of the editor. The military grabbed an Army private charged him with releasing the government’s “secrets”, branded him a traitor and threw him into a military dungeon. Always seeking the lime light the Air Force declared "If a family member of an Air Force employee accesses WikiLeaks on a home computer, the family member may be subject to prosecution for espionage under U.S. Code Title 18 Section 793." U.S. officials issued secret subpoenas for Wikileaks’ electronic accounts and credit card receipts apparently seeking names of readers. The government went after foreign officials on suspicion that they may have approved the release of documents.
The Pentagon and other government agencies have taken the position that even though the open source documents are freely available on the Internet, the government must treat them as classified. After all it is American Citizens who are the real enemy for Government abuse.
As the affair grinds along, now out of the public’s spotlight the Army private still sits degraded in naked isolation in a military dungeon, probably expecting eventual rendition to some foreign torture chamber out of view of justice and restraint.
Remember we are trying to sell the American rule of law globally, in a world more aware of American abuse and hypocrisy than its own citizens.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Learning 020711
A Florida legislator has proposed a law to give teacher the authority to grade parents. Granted there are good parents, bad parents and those in between but what are the standards to be met?
There is however a more important question. What qualifies a teacher to grade parents when they are not trusted to fairly grade students in their classrooms? In the last half century the nation has generated distrust of teachers and at the same time institutionalized their failure at a very high cost. If teachers could be trusted for honest grades there would be no need to subject students to a barrage of external testing. Test developed by "professional educators," to get more of the public education pie, extorted from those failing parents.
There is no question that parents need to pay attention to their children’s development and education while they work two and three jobs to pay for non-teaching professional educators. The flunking parents are really those that don't take an interest by ensuring that those professionals are providing effective and efficient basic learning opportunities.
It may be interesting to note that the rise of “Johnny can't read” and America's declining education standing is in direct correlation to the rise of professional educators’ theories.
Forget bigger budgets and blaming each other, the real issue is the future of kids. They are the nation’s future give them a chance. The cost of education continues to rise as the knowledge of students fall, cost benefit analysis would seen to indicate that education has diverted most to a dead end track. Parents, teachers and educators are guilty of past failures and serve as a declining cultural model for the next generations, institutionalizing substandard education, greater failure and ultimately the “decline and fall” of another great power. Great nations aren’t defeated they commit suicide, a first step is ignoring the real education requirements of a nation’s future generations.
There is however a more important question. What qualifies a teacher to grade parents when they are not trusted to fairly grade students in their classrooms? In the last half century the nation has generated distrust of teachers and at the same time institutionalized their failure at a very high cost. If teachers could be trusted for honest grades there would be no need to subject students to a barrage of external testing. Test developed by "professional educators," to get more of the public education pie, extorted from those failing parents.
There is no question that parents need to pay attention to their children’s development and education while they work two and three jobs to pay for non-teaching professional educators. The flunking parents are really those that don't take an interest by ensuring that those professionals are providing effective and efficient basic learning opportunities.
It may be interesting to note that the rise of “Johnny can't read” and America's declining education standing is in direct correlation to the rise of professional educators’ theories.
Forget bigger budgets and blaming each other, the real issue is the future of kids. They are the nation’s future give them a chance. The cost of education continues to rise as the knowledge of students fall, cost benefit analysis would seen to indicate that education has diverted most to a dead end track. Parents, teachers and educators are guilty of past failures and serve as a declining cultural model for the next generations, institutionalizing substandard education, greater failure and ultimately the “decline and fall” of another great power. Great nations aren’t defeated they commit suicide, a first step is ignoring the real education requirements of a nation’s future generations.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Politics American style 010911
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A gunman nearly unloaded a semiautomatic weapon at a busy supermarket Saturday during a public gathering for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wounding the Democrat and killing Arizona's chief federal judge and five others in an attempted assassination that left Americans questioning whether divisive politics had pushed the suspect over the edge.
Twelve others were wounded and all the electronic medias are running LOUD with condemnation, blame, justification or calls for more.
I am sorry for the dead and wounded but I worry about the future victims of radical rhetoric calling for violence. Left and right radicals are both guilty of letting their mouths run away with ever increasing claims of justification and moral correctness. The USA has its electoral processes, which have never been totally clean, but today’s processes are more open to manipulation through electronic medias. There are always those individuals, unable to distinguish between corrupt electioneering and reality that may answer the calls for violence. Yes there is corruption in government, which begins with corrupt candidates, corrupt self-interests and even corrupt voters. Clear losers of elections now delay government with calls for recounts, losing all appeals they attempt recall elections on ideological justifications, all of which spend precious tax dollars for limited self interest.
Democracy depends on the votes of an informed public, not voters whose only information comes from a witless twitter pundit. If you don’t like your government remember your civic lessons, study, learn the facts, participate, write legislators, petition for change, dampen down electioneering rhetoric and use your vote to demand good government. A citizen must take the time to obtain the good government the USA must have to survive another century. The USA was born on a cry for representation; today it suffers from over representation and lack of services. Today’s American Revolution should be an informed vote not the guns and bombs of 1776.
Twelve others were wounded and all the electronic medias are running LOUD with condemnation, blame, justification or calls for more.
I am sorry for the dead and wounded but I worry about the future victims of radical rhetoric calling for violence. Left and right radicals are both guilty of letting their mouths run away with ever increasing claims of justification and moral correctness. The USA has its electoral processes, which have never been totally clean, but today’s processes are more open to manipulation through electronic medias. There are always those individuals, unable to distinguish between corrupt electioneering and reality that may answer the calls for violence. Yes there is corruption in government, which begins with corrupt candidates, corrupt self-interests and even corrupt voters. Clear losers of elections now delay government with calls for recounts, losing all appeals they attempt recall elections on ideological justifications, all of which spend precious tax dollars for limited self interest.
Democracy depends on the votes of an informed public, not voters whose only information comes from a witless twitter pundit. If you don’t like your government remember your civic lessons, study, learn the facts, participate, write legislators, petition for change, dampen down electioneering rhetoric and use your vote to demand good government. A citizen must take the time to obtain the good government the USA must have to survive another century. The USA was born on a cry for representation; today it suffers from over representation and lack of services. Today’s American Revolution should be an informed vote not the guns and bombs of 1776.
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