Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts

Forces of Henry Adams

 Modern politics is, at bottom, a struggle not of men but of forces. The men become every year more and more creatures of force, massed about central power-houses. The conflict is no longer between the men, but between the motors that drive the men, and the men tend to succumb to their own motive forces.

Henry Adams ~

 

... What I would ask Mr. Adams is -- 'And once that has happened…then what?' Is there no alternative? Or is this by design? Is this Democracy as advertised? I agree that Mr. Adams' description fits the bottom of politics, but is this firm curved shape what we want to spank? What makes it 'modern'?

And Long Remains the Blame


As longtime political handicapper Stu Rothenberg wrote in a post-Memorial Day column:
"The country is as polarized as it was two months ago, and the trajectory of the contest is essentially unchanged, with Biden holding a comfortable lead in national polling and having multiple paths to 270 electoral votes.
"While daily developments give the cable television networks something to chatter about, today's big story will be replaced by a new one tomorrow, and another one the day after that. But the fundamentals of the race remain unchanged."

It is Not that We Can't Be Like Finland
....well... that's not really ... um...



So I'm out on the Web looking for the Finnish Education Standards for 6th Grade Math -- why? Well, because Finnland is the number one country in the world in the area of Education. And, they kick the hell out of the US -- we're like 23 or 27 or something (32). Right? So, this guy, Milgram is going around saying that the CCSS Math (which he helped write) isn't good enough to accept as a school standard. He likes to point at 6th grade. So, I'm out looking for Finnland's 6th grade Standards -- which are written in Finnish *sigh*
There has to be a copy somewhere in English.

So, anyway, I found out some cool stuff about this International Rockstar in of Education.

Climate Change: Key Data Points from Pew Research


http://www.pewresearch.org/key-data-points/climate-change-key-data-points-from-pew-research/



The American public routinely ranks dealing with global warming low on its list of priorities for the president and Congress. This year, it ranked second to last among 20 issues tested. 
KDP_Global_Warming
There are substantial partisan differences over the importance of dealing with global warming, according to our  survey conducted Jan. 15-19. About four-in-ten (42%) Democrats cite it as a top priority compared to 14% of Republicans and 27% of independents.
When we asked about climate change again in a survey conducted in Feb. 2013, only 34% of the public viewed new climate change policies as something that was essential for the White House and Congress to tackle last year.
Fewer Americans cite global climate change as a major threat to their country than most publics around the world.
PRC_Global_Climate
In a poll of 39 countries conducted March through May. 2013, a median of 54% of those surveyed cited global climate change as a major threat to their countries, putting it at the top of the list of items tested. In contrast, 40% of Americans said climate change was a major threat.
Two-thirds of Americans say there is solid evidence that the earth has been getting warmer over the last few decades.
KDP_Global_Warming
survey conducted in October, 2013 found that 67% of Americans believe there is solid evidence that the earth has been getting warmer over the last few decades, a figure that has changed little in the past few years.
There are sharp partisan divides about whether there is solid evidence of warming.
KDP_Warm_Partisan2
In 2009, 35% of Republicans, 53% of independents and 75% of Democrats said there was solid evidence of rising temperatures on earth. Today, half of Republicans (50%), 62% of independents and 88% of Democrats say this, according to our October, 2013 survey.
Among Americans who believe there is solid evidence of global warming, more attribute it to human activity than natural patterns. But there is a big partisan gap on this question.
KDP_Human_Activity
Currently, 44% say there is solid evidence of global warming and it is mostly due to human activity; 18% say it is mostly because of natural environmental patterns, according to our October, 2013 survey. Two-thirds of Democrats (66%) say that warming is mainly because of human activity, up nine points from earlier this year. Fewer independents (43%) and Republicans (24%) than Democrats say that human activity is the primary cause of global warming.
Nearly two-thirds of the public favors stricter emissions limits on power plants.
KDP_Emissions_LimitSeptember, 2013 survey found that 65% of Americans favor stricter emissions limits on power plants, including 74% of Democrats, 67% of independents and 52% of Republicans.

Recent Posts and Time in the Trenches

This AP-History issue got under my skin with very little resistance from me, pulling me into several long days of research, and debate, looking for answers and putting out a great deal of effort in finding something, anything that would help to keep Colorado from going where Texas has gone. I was asked, "why?" last night. 

I don't know how much you understand about the position we have put our K-12 teachers in. They work many hours a week without pay. Expenses for supplies often come out of their own pockets. For the college degrees they have, they earn far less than others with the same and often those with lesser education and expertise. They are constantly up against troubles between the schools, the boards and the unions. Their voices are mute, their expertise and experience ignored, and still they teach. -- well.. they use to still teach.

As the Atlantic noted in a piece on teacher resignations: “…anywhere between 40 and 50 percent of teachers will leave the classroom within their first five years (that includes the nine and a half percent that leave before the end of their first year.) Certainly, all professions have turnover, and some shuffling out the door is good for bringing in young blood and fresh faces. But, turnover in teaching is higher than other professions.Approximately 15.7 percent of teachers leave their posts every year, and 40 percent of teachers who pursue undergraduate degrees in teaching never even enter the classroom at all."

Data shows that beginning teachers, in particular, report that one of the main factors behind their decision to depart is a lack of adequate support from school administrators (Ingersoll, 2003). Induction is less than adequate, programs change, new policies are often implement mid-year, the frustration level is high in this area. 

More than three-fourths linked their quitting to low salaries. But even more of them indicated that one of four different school working conditions was behind their decision to quit: student discipline problems; lack of support from the school administration; poor student motivation; and lack of teacher influence over schoolwide and classroom decision making. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 1994-1995 Teacher Followup Survey.)

Nearly  9% few teachers come into the trade, this is a trend that has been going on since 2007.

Face it, we have hacked and slashed and cut so often that even those who 'feel a calling' aren't answering any more. 

On top of this, there is a growing trend among law makers and politicians which seems -- nothing empirical but the gnawing feeling is there -- that public schools and teachers themselves are targets of a war. The final goal of this war is unclear, but there are several in congress and in heads of state which publicly declare the education system is unwanted. If you think about that for a moment, men and women in positions which require votes to maintain, actively proclaiming that the Department of Education should be abolished and projects like Common Core, which not only help teachers with induction, but provide by its design a national support group -- the possible objectives are a bit scary. 

Law Maker's who mark education as an unneeded public service (by degrees)

"We must also explore new ideas, such as giving parents alternatives to underperforming public schools through experimentation with voucher programs.  Finally, parental involvement and responsibility are integral elements of a successful education". -- Richard Shelby

Michele Bachmann
Bachmann would abolish the Department of Education, and she has said she would give all the money previously invested in the department to state and localities.

Newt Gingrich
Gingrich, who called the student-loan program an "absurdity," would not abolish the Department of Education, instead saying he would make it a research and education center. He would dramatically shrink the department and remove all of its regulations. Gingrich would support forcing more students into work-study programs.

Jon Huntsman
Huntsman prefers local control on education and plans to abolish No Child Left Behind. The former Utah Gov. defied No Child Left Behind in 2005 by signing a law that gave Utah's education standards priority over federal requirements.

Gary Johnson
Johnson would abolish the Department of Education, and he is an advocate for homeschooling.

Ron Paul
Paul's "Plan to Restore America" calls for the elimination of the Department of Education, among others. Though his plan makes no mention of what would happen to them, Paul does not intend to eliminate federal student-loan programs. He believes the student-loan aspect should be taken out of the federal government and handled elsewhere.

Rick Perry
Perry would abolish the Department of Education, and he believes the federal government should get out of education altogether. He has already castrated his own school system with budget cuts, and has even hailed the bringing in of a whole new text curriculum that melds in the religious beliefs of the state education board with the social studies and history text. (very scary)

Mitt Romney
Romney was in favor of eliminating the Department of Education in the 1990s but praised the department in 2007. He has been a supporter of No Child Left Behind and President Obama's "Race to the Top" program.

Rick Santorum
Santorum said he does not have a "hit list" of departments he wants to eliminate. He would not eliminate the Department of Education, but he wants it to play a less prominent role in higher education.

Blake Whitten, a UI statistics lecturer and faculty adviser for UI Youth for Ron Paul, said he favors eliminating the Education Department because the candidates' plans are proactive in making budgetary cuts before they're forced on students.

States are Funding Schools Less Now than 2008
At least 35 states are providing less funding per student for the 2013-14 school year than they did before the recession hit.  Fourteen of these states have cut per-student funding by more than 10 percent.  

At least 15 states are providing less funding per student to local school districts in the new school year than they provided a year ago.  This is despite the fact that most states are experiencing modest increases in tax revenues.
Where funding has increased, it has generally not increased enough to make up for cuts in past years.  For example, New Mexico is increasing school funding by $72 per pupil this year.  But that is too small to offset the state’s $946 per-pupil cut over the previous five years. 


The school systems have been going through changes for a long time but its never felt like they were under attack before. Worse, it also feels like they are abandoned by every one else. The rhetoric, the propaganda, the environment is eroding the system away. AP Programs are just the next step in that erosion and no, I don't think this particular situation is purposefully helping that erosion, but it is telling that a person or people can look at a system like education, and brush it aside, disregarding any level of importance or  worth to be above his own goal -- and then to find so many bystanders who were passive about it until the controversy, who are now eager to jump on the war horses with him -- with no investment or payoff at stake for themselves.

The game is afoot...

I've been actively on this topic of the AP controversy for a couple of weeks now, and going through forums, and comment areas for news sites, and often I'm the only voice in the crowd who views the value of program as something above political issues -- its value toward future college benefits outweighs issues which can be talked over during this year, and addressed during summer when it will not interfere with education activities. The agendas are always more important, and the urgency is astounding. 

Just from my own observations and in my own opinion, I would have to say that %75 of the commentators for articles like this one, never thought about the issue at the student level at all. I'm very sure that a higher percentage of the authors of articles like the one in News Week didn't consider this level of ramification. 


Apologies if all of this sounds too 'liberal' and touchy-feely. I really don't have a party preference. I vote as I feel -- per person per office. I don't have an agenda other than what I've described. I'm a novelist, a writer, and not interested in continuing the political effort beyond this issue. But this issue is important to me, and I do want to see it settled. 

Call for Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo to Resign (Blaze of Glory optional)

“I think we need to take action against [the Islamic State] and I want to be supportive of that. It is a threat to our allies and to our own country,” Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., who serves on the Armed Services Committee, said, after leaving a classified military briefing on Obama’s Syria strategy. Sept 11, 2014

And then...Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican with support among the tea party movement, reportedly told a group of conservative voters that he is quietly working to convince Obama’s top generals to resign.

8 U.S. Code § 2388 - Activities affecting armed forces during war

(a) Whoever, when the United States is at war, willfully makes or conveys false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies; or

Whoever, when the United States is at war, willfully causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or willfully obstructs the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or the United States, or attempts to do so—

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

(b) If two or more persons conspire to violate subsection (a) of this section and one or more such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as provided in said subsection (a).

(c) Whoever harbors or conceals any person who he knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe or suspect, has committed, or is about to commit, an offense under this section, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

(d) This section shall apply within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, and on the high seas, as well as within the United States.

Sept 29, 2014  -- Jarred Rego, a spokesman for Lamborn, responding to a Military Times request for comment, sought to clarify the lawmaker’s remarks.
“In his remarks, Congressman Lamborn was referencing past policy decisions by President Obama, such as draconian defense budget cuts and changes to ‘don’t ask don’t tell,’ where generals and admirals approached members of Congress and expressed serious disagreement with these policy changes. There are no current discussions taking place and there are none that have anything whatsoever to do with criticizing our current military strategy to combat ISIS,” Rego said.

Congressman Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, is an un-American demagogue, willing to sabotage this country for his own grandstanding narcissism. If his words are to be believed, this brigadier blowhard is thoroughly unfit for public office and instead should be rotting in jail on charges of treason. 
Or am I being too subtle?
Lamborn is the latest type of political muck America needs to scrape off the bottom of its national shoe: an officeholder so absorbed with his hatred of the opposing party that he is willing to do anything, no matter how much it damages our national security and the underpinnings of our democracy, if it will win him some applause and maybe a couple of votes.

I personally don't care if he is Republican, or Tea Party, or God's little Gift to the Myopic Narcissistic Party... he doesn't belong in Congress, his voice is not that of the United States, his actions represent no one who would be a citizen of our country. 

Lamborn seems to have trouble according President Obama elementary respect.I can understand and even accept that Lamborn, or anyone could not agree with decisions, I could go so far as to understand and apprciate a strong emotional investment in situations like that -- but Obama is the president, and no matter what, you respect the office. Well, I think most Americans respect the office.  Lamborn boycotted the State of the Union address in 2012  he refered to the president as a "tar baby." and blurted out classified information about North Korea's nuclear capabilities during an open-session broadcast on C-SPAN in 2013. 

The man is useless and the sooner he finds another career, the better off this country will be.


U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican from Aurora, tweeted a link to a story about Lamborn’s comments and said, “As a Marine and combat veteran, I know to keep my politics off the battlefield.”

And when asked about Lamborn’s statement, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said: “There is no room for partisan politics when it comes to our men and women in uniform.”



Ron Paul - Great servant, but Not a Master

In an article I just read, Ron Paul declares our efforts in Syria and Iraq to be illegal, as well as part of the problem. The rhetoric is clean, and feels well thought out. Reading his words I was lulled a bit into thinking "Yeah, why the hell should we care?" Many commentators on the article suggest that our country needs a man like Ron Paul Some one who looks at things clearly, and without all the hampering of political trappings. 

I am lulled enough to almost agree... almost. Then I smell the burning. 

If this guy was president, we would have zero foreign policy, no Department of Education, no EPA. no public schools, no SSI, no unemployment insurance, no medical research, no colleges. He's a Libertarian, and the Libertarian views always sound good when you are in the middle of struggles, because they ask, "why are you doing all this stuff? Just stop. It is not our problem." 

"Finally, I think that the smallest level of government possible best performs education. Teachers, parents, and local community leaders should be making decisions about exactly how our children should be taught, not Washington bureaucrats." -- Ron Paul


Which sounds good. Until you see what is going on in Texas right now... where every social science book and history text melds biblical rhetoric (most of it wrong) into the fabric of every aspect of our history -- Moses was the founder of our Constitution. Jesus told our founders that everyone is equal under the law, Divine Mandate was our right for slaughter and slavery. Don't believe me? Look for your self



Of course this presses for home schools or on-line schools, which is the real Libertarian goal for national education. Those of us in the Middle Class would only think this is a good idea if we were non-parents. The 1% just higher a teacher. No worries. 

And getting rid of the EPA is a must because they are inconvenient for oil, coal, health, waste and profits because they insist that even if Climate Change isn't real, we still need to breath -- check out China's life without EPA. 

However, Climate Change HAS to be false, at all costs, because if it is real, then the EPA has to remain and government has to be seriously involved in our industry and business. So, Climate Change can not be real. The Koch put out millions every year in propaganda and false studies, to insure we remain on the fence about that, and pay off congressmen so they'll act like idiots in hearings. The longer Climate Change is put off, the more money the 1% will make. 

Never mind that as of 2007, when the American Association of Petroleum Geologists released a revised statement, no scientific body of national or international standing rejected the findings of human-induced effects on climate change. There are fringe people, most of whom do not show their processes or give peer review evidence (or are simply falsifying information), who continue to cry out differences, but no serious group has any doubt that Climate Change is happening, and that it is human-induced.  

None of that matters. Business first, health and life second. 

Interestingly enough, Ron Paul wants small government, a government with their hands off business and the market, but believes his personal feelings about abortion should be pressed onto women. Back off the Education, and the EPA and the FDA and anything else that stands in the way of a business man doing what he wants to do, but he'll keep is paws inside every woman's womb. Typical. 

Ron Paul opposes the War on Drugs. Believes that drugs, and their legality should be a local community issue. -- Like that has ever worked any where in the world, ever.

Ron Paul supports the elimination of the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He asserts that Congress had no power to impose a direct income tax and has introduced legislation to repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on February 3, 1913.

"An income tax is the most degrading and totalitarian of all possible taxes. Its implementation wrongly suggests that the government owns the lives and labor of the citizens it is supposed to represent. Tellingly, “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax” is Plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto, which was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and first published in 1848." -- Ron Paul


Which sounds good, unless you believe the government should have things like a military, boarder patrols, roads, hospitals, emergency response for disasters, and just about anything else. And yes, Income tax is Plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto. So what?
In the year 10 AD, Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty instituted an unprecedented income tax, at the rate of 10 percent of profits, for professionals and skilled labor. He was overthrown 13 years later in 23 AD and earlier policies were restored during the reestablished Han Dynasty which followed.

One of the first recorded taxes on income was the Saladin tithe introduced by Henry II in 1188 to raise money for the Third Crusade.

The inception date of the modern income tax is typically accepted as 1799. This income tax was introduced in Britain by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798, to pay for weapons and equipment for the French Revolutionary War. 

... so it isn't an invention of the Communist Manifesto, as Ron Paul (the Transparent) implies with his statement. 

Another thing Ron Paul isn't being Transparent about is that Libertarian politics is only a small step up from Anarchy.  So no, he wouldn't engage in the Middle East, and he wouldn't care at all that your child needed to eat, or that a plague came into our country, or that medical research needed to be done to save millions. Let the world burn. He's fine with that.

Schools Spend Money for Assault Rifles to go with New Tanks

The story in the Wall Street Journal shows that hundreds of schools are receiving firearms, grenades and combat vehicles from a government program. The 101st Congress in 1990 enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to “transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense, including small arms and ammunition, that the Secretary determines is— (A) suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities; and (B) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense.” It was called the 1208 Program. In 1996, Congress replaced Section 1208 with Section 1033.

Where the Wild Things Are...

Chess is a Wild game I've only been playing for a short time, but I've gained enough understanding to realize that the angles of ...