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Michigan Polls and Stupid Politics

  • Posted on July 28, 2011 at 8:43 pm

Some how this cartoon reminds me of our current politicians!

I have many different things on my mind today so don’t think I’m nutty when my thoughts hop around.  I watched a few minutes of the Chris Matthews show last night and Chris was bemoaning a recent poll from Michigan.  In the poll, if the election were held today, Mitt Romney would beat President Obama 46 to 42.  I guess that means that 12% of the people refused to pick either one in that poll.  Chris has always acted like Michigan will vote for Obama.  He obviously doesn’t realize that we have a Republican House, Senate, and governor.  He thought it was just because Mitt’s dad used to be our governor many years ago.  There is a lot more to it than that.  I’m one of “those people” that are still smitten over my stolen vote during the 2008 Democratic Primary.  Matthews and other political pundits seem to be blind to the fact that there are a number of people that are not happy with the direction this country is going.  The Tea Party is like the antithesis of how I feel, but when you put both the far right and the far left together, that’s a lot of ticked off people.

When Senator Obama ran for the presidency he talked about “hope and change”.  My problems with Obama started early on when he spoke glowingly about paying those math and science teachers more money than other teachers.  That is union busting language that just serves to divide teachers.  I figured he was secretly a Republican and I knew I couldn’t vote for him.  That was in July of 2007.  Now that wasn’t my first exposure to Barack Obama.  The first time I had ever heard of Barack Obama was during the Kerry nomination.  I really liked Obama’s speech at the 2004 convention.  I guess that line about red states and blue states but the United States really got to me.  I thought this guy could be president some day, you know like some time off into the distant future, not four years from then.  Then of course I heard the speech in 2007 where he spoke in front of the National Education Association and I was unimpressed.  It seems to me for being a “no drama” president; we have had nothing but drama since he became president.  Right now I feel that the American people have been whipped into frenzy over the debt ceiling debate just to get us bent to the will of both parties.  I don’t believe either party is innocent in this debate.  It almost feels like the only innocent people are the American people.  Just like the time when banks and corporations were just too big to fail, it seems like we are being brought to the edge of a cliff and told you must get down off the cliff and you have only two choices, now both choices are bad.  The Republicans want us to jump off that cliff and the Democrats want us to fly off that cliff.  Either way we pick to get off that cliff is going to end up with a similar result.  I feel there is much fake outrage about all of this.  I was over to Black Agenda and Bruce Dixon has written a piece that just says it all for me as both parties have been in cahoots for years in their “drama-o-drama”  machine playing good cop to the other guy’s bad cop.  You must read this piece!  http://www.blackagendareport.com/obama-fake-debt-ceiling-crisis_smarter-than-you

Now this is a guy that has supported Obama.  I probably would have supported him in the last election, if he hadn’t stolen my vote, because I have always been a lifelong Democrat.  However, after the election was over, I wanted President Obama and still want him to be a successful “Democratic” president.  He just hasn’t been that!  He has continued the Bush policies and even extended them into another war in the Middle East.  Most people, even Republicans, should be able to see that he is nothing more than an extension of GW, from policies to vacation taking.

We are being told he is a Centrist.  That is only true if the “Center” has shifted dramatically right.  Some people think he is like Reagan.  While I think he admires Reagan much more than any other president, I think he is more like GW.  He speaks better than GW, but the policies are the same which makes you wonder who is really pulling the strings in this country.  It certainly isn’t the American people because he doesn’t seem to care about us.  He can’t even get the “feel your pain” speech down like President Clinton could always master.  In President Obama, I am often left wondering just what the Republicans are holding over his head.  Is there something they could let out of the bag at any given time, some dark secret that we haven’t already heard?  Does he secretly wear tiger costumes and exhibit inappropriate behavior like Representative Wu?  I’m at a loss as to why President Obama acts the way he does.  He certainly hasn’t lived up to the rhetoric of what his promises during the campaign suggested to the people that voted for him.  I never believed him, so I don’t exactly feel betrayed.  However, those that believed in this guy have to be wondering what’s going on with him?  Did he change or is it a reality that the job of the president is just so overwhelming that us “little people” just don’t and couldn’t possibly understand what it means to be president?

Anyway you look at it the American people are always taking a back seat to the corporations and the wealthy in this country.  I don’t want to hear how I am pushing “class warfare” because the truth is the people in power have kept this war going for years.  The Republicans have fed their people the line about “personal responsibility” to the point where many on the right look down with disdain at the guy that isn’t making it in this country.  If it is their own kid, they are getting on the phone and calling in favors to get their kid employed the old fashioned way, not based on merit, but on nepotism.  They can’t stand the look and feel of affirmative action, but they love the fact that they can get their kid “in” because of who they know.  The poor have never had this advantage in life or politics.  The poor don’t have someone they can call when their kid can’t find work.  There is a divide in our country between the haves and the have nots, but most people are in denial about it.  They secretly know they make those calls but they pretend that their kid did it on his or her own merits.  I always find it so interesting when I watch TV pundits and discover that many of the young people getting their feet wet are the sons and daughters of those earlier figures.  It isn’t what you know but who you know that counts in this country.  If you know someone powerful, you probably will get what you need.  However, if you’re like most people you don’t have some sugar daddy just waiting to give you a job.  You must create your own life based on what you can get and what you can strive for.  Back in the fifties and sixties after WWII many people surpassed their parents economically by going on to college.  They benefited from low school loans, to the low cost of college, to even the GI Bill.  When they got out of college, they could live the American dream.  Some of them didn’t even have to go to college to live that dream.  They built automobiles.  The point is there was a dream that most Americans could grasp.  Now, after forty years of Republican and Democratic political failures, we have reached a point where some of our children may not do as well as their parents.  That American dream is becoming a nightmare of student loans, no job prospects, and even forced moves of hundreds and thousands of miles away from family just to find a job!  It is no wonder that if you have the means to help your child find work that you will pull in that marker that someone owes you!  The point I’m trying to make is that the current economic situation is very much related to the constant bickering between the two political parties and their need for greed.  While the politicians are busy shuffling the chairs on the deck of this sinking ship, they don’t deal with the reality which is jobs and job creation.  They only care about making businesses more comfortable and keeping the wealth in the hands of the wealthy.  Truthfully, businesses can go anywhere for their labor and that is what they’re doing.  Our governmental policies favor this.  Neither political party cares enough about our country to remember that our best asset is our people.  They care more about their own political careers than anything else.  They will continue to build their careers off the backs of the middle class and the poor.  They will continue to ask the American people to squeeze one more dime out of their crappy pension, Social Security, or college fund so they can give it to corporations and those wealthy “job creators” to piss away on anything but creating real jobs.  I’m disappointed in the politics of my nation.  I want the students that I teach to be able to have real dreams for their future.  I don’t want politicians that play these stupid games representing me.  If this is the best that we can do in our country, we’re in real trouble!

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DINOS, RINOS, and the Two Party System

  • Posted on July 22, 2011 at 2:08 pm

I have been wondering what happened with Cenk on MSNBC.  I noticed that Al Sharpton was working during his time slot.  I thought Cenk was on vacation but since I haven’t been really watching much of MSNBC this summer, I didn’t really know what was going on until I came across this video today.  http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/cenk-uygur-explains-his-departure-msnbc

I’m not writing about Cenk being canned at MSNBC.  I’m more concerned about something he said in his video.  Like many people that think like I do, he states in the video that President Obama is a Republican.  I’ve been saying this for a long time.  However, what really got me was that he basically said he knew this because he was once a Republican himself.

The Democratic Party was infiltrated by these Republicans, probably because they lost their own home in their own changing party.  As the Republican Party moved more right, so did the Democratic Party because of the shift of these people from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.  I always have found it strange that people like Ariana Huffington and Markos Moulitsas were speaking for my party.  They both were Republicans before they were Democrats.  I could never understand how this happened in “my” party.  Who would have ever thought that both Governor Perry from Texas and Representative Bachmann from Minnesota were once Democrats?

Yesterday I read something over on Hullabaloo that just made me angry.  http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/donkey-in-room.html

Now I want to disclose here that I haven’t really associated myself with the Democratic Party since they stole my vote during the 2008 primary.  I consider myself to be an FDR democrat.  In fact I passed out flyers for Michael Dukakis long ago.  So when I say, “We Democrats!” this is what I mean.  It seems that we Democrats, are supposed to keep carrying water for President Obama because he’s the best we’ve got.  I never got on that ship to begin with, so when it’s sinking it’s not my job to bail out that water.  If President Obama wants to get my vote, he needs to stop modeling himself after GW and start reading books about FDR, protect the programs FDR helped create, and get us out of these wars.  In the article that I mentioned here, there was much talk about “progressives”.  I just want to state right now that I have come to hate that word.  It’s bullshit really.  In my own life, I consider myself to be liberal in my politics.  That word has been so libeled by the media that people are afraid to admit their liberal.  I think of liberal as being “mind expanding, open minded”, and not closed off to new ideas.  Essentially, I am liberal because I believe in letting people make their own choices in life.  While I am rather conservative in my social values, I believe that everyone needs to be treated with respect and that includes respecting their choices.  I personally don’t believe who people are sleeping with, or their religious choices or non choices needs to be a part of politics.  This is why I can still be deeply disappointed with what John Edwards did to his family but still understand the politics when he said he wanted to be a voice for the voiceless.  I am not moved by the scandal story of the day that is probably put out there at some opportune time to get rid of certain politicians that aren’t quite “falling in line”, much like Cenk at MSNBC.

My politics speak more about social justice than anything else.  I find it, yes, morally offensive, when my government decides it is more important to feed and clothe the wealthy than to take care of the least of its people.  I know that sounds rather religious in tone but truthfully it is about being human and compassionate.  How can a real human walk by and ignore suffering that they see?  Too many times I’ve heard conservatives use those words, “They should just pick themselves up by their bootstraps.”  The problem is what if they have no boots, little education, and no hope?  When we can provide all three, a pair of boots, education, and hope, we should do it.  In the end, everyone will be better off because that person will become a productive member of society who could potentially be the next person to give a hand to someone else.

A few weeks ago, I saw part of an old movie, Spencer’s Mountain, with Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara.  The movie is about a family.  The dad is a miner and he comes from a family of miners.  His oldest boy is the top in his class and the family realizes that this is an opportunity for their son to create a better life for himself and potentially the rest of the children by going to college.   Yes, I know you can remember the show, “The Walton’s”.  In Spencer’s Mountain the father’s dream was to build some grand home for his wife and family.  However, he eventually gives up that dream for the real dream which is his family, and helping them have a better life.  Here is the most important part to the movie and it is the point I want to make here.

As a person who really has the heart of the real Democratic Party in her soul and is not some come to the party lately person, I think our country should be helping those at the bottom elevate so they can have dreams too.  I’m not talking about letting people sit and do nothing.  I’m talking about helping people get a good education, find a good job, and fulfill their dreams and even help them get dreams.  As an educator, I think we must fund quality education for all.  Job creation should not be a problem.  There are plenty of things that need to be done in this country.  Instead of building roads and bridges in Afghanistan, we could be building and fixing them here.  We have an infrastructure that is failing from our road system, to our electrical grid, to even some of the old schools that need to be updated.  There is plenty to do here.  Some of our big cities look like war torn zones.  We could go in and fix these as well.  We should be thinking about the future.  What is going to draw business to your state or my state?  It seems to me that as a government we aren’t doing much here in our own country which is leading to not only a failing economy but also a failing of our people.

We should all be frightened by these two current parties!

My sister and I were talking last night and we both felt that the American people weren’t worried about some terrorist coming in the night and yet the American people are being terrorized by high unemployment, high prices for everything from gas to food, and now the latest threat, losing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  The terrorist in our lives happens to be our inept government!  The politicians have all swung so far right that they have lost touch with the American people.  I live in a Republican community and I have to say on any given day when I really talk with my Republican friends they aren’t that far away from my own thinking.  It seems that most of us want to be able to raise our children in peace and know that there is a good future waiting for them when they become adults.  That is the American dream!  We may have different ways and ideas about reaching that dream, but truthfully that American Dream is being threatened by a two party system that essentially has turned into a one party system.  Our government has swung so far to the right that they have forgotten that most of the American people are more concerned about their own personal families than anything else.  For years we were threatened with the” imminent” attack that awaited us from Osama Bin Laden.  I can remember many police sessions at my school where I was informed that it was an ideal place for a terrorist to show up because it was so unexpected.  We have been prodded like cattle to get on a plane or attend a political rally and we have given up the very freedoms that we proclaim to love so much.  Now, in addition to those freedoms, we are expected to give up those standards of American life, like Social Security, that we have paid into for all of our lives, to once again, stave off terrorism.  We have to pay for all of the things that we cherish like more money for defense, more money for homeland security, more money for politicians to run their offices, less money for education, less money for the arts, less money for Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.  Yes, for those of you that don’t understand sarcasm, I am being facetious here.  The politicians from both parties are telling us if you want to feel safe at night, this is what we have to do now.  I’m not buying it.  If this were all true they shouldn’t have taken 2% out of my payroll taxes and kept the Bush tax cuts in place last December.  Once again we are being sold a bill of goods.  While it appears that the two parties are so far apart that they are at an impasse, don’t buy it.  Something will happen and they will get a plan.  Unfortunately, it will not favor the majority of the American people.  We will once again be told that we all must share in this “sacrifice” when the only ones doing the sharing will be you and me.  I don’t have the answers but I know our two party system is broken.  We need to get rid of both of these pathetic parties and get fresh people in Washington that are not bought and paid for, that care more about the promise of America than the promise of their next election.  We have been told for years that we are stuck with the two party system but we have to change this government.  We need people in office that are not loyal to either party but loyal to the American people.  I cannot understand anyone in a party that would sign an oath to a person such as Grover Norquist.  The only oath they should be taking is one to the American people.

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The Cut, Cap, and Crap Bill

  • Posted on July 19, 2011 at 3:46 pm

I was listening to CSPAN the other morning when they were addressing what President Obama said about Social Security checks and how he couldn’t assure people that the checks would be in the mail if the debt ceiling bill isn’t passed by August 2nd.  That morning I heard a caller from Texas on CSPAN lament the fact that she depends on her Social Security check to be there in August as she only has ten dollars left to her name.   There were other calls with similar concerns.  People were worried about how they were going to pay their bills.  Now, just stop right there because I don’t want to hear about how she should pull herself up by her bootstraps or some right winger commenting on how pathetic she is for not having some savings to her name.  In our country, we used to be compassionate first.  Most of the working class people in the United States are merely a paycheck away from disaster at any given moment anyway.  Do you think it’s because they planned to fail or failed to plan?  Perhaps it has something to do with the regressive way that income has not kept up with inflation.  We have been told that inflation is kept in check, it’s not bad.  I think it depends on who is fudging the numbers.  Most Americans are well aware of the continuing cost of energy in this country.  From the high cost of gas for our vehicles, to the ever rising cost to heat and cool our home, and even the cost of food.  Everything has gone up while wages for most Americans have been stagnant.  So what is the response in Washington?

The Republicans want to hold fast on keeping the taxes down for the “job creators”.  Yes, we all know that these are the new code words for “rich” people.   We don’t want to refer to their wealth.  We must refer to them as “job creators” because they have created so many jobs since the Bush tax cuts were implemented!  Quit laughing!  I know I can be quite sarcastic when I think of these things.  We all know that those jobs have yet to materialize for most Americans, including young college graduates.  Some of them are working, but many are stifled by huge school loans and struggling to pay these back.  These rich people, aka “job creators” probably have created jobs….in China, India, Bangladesh, and anywhere else that might have cheap labor.   Here is GM working in South Korea but these South Koreans better be careful and thankful for what they have or GM will pull out and go where labor is even cheaper.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/gm-korea-idUSL3E7IB00U20110711

So a few days later we hear this.  http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110714/OEM/110719936/1277

So now GM is spending a little money over here in Michigan at Flint.  http://www.freep.com/article/20110719/BUSINESS01/107190335/GM-invest-328-million-Flint-plant?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

However, behind the story is one of workers that have agreed to a tiered wage system here in the United States.  The young people of today are being screwed in every which way possible.  http://www.indypendent.org/2011/07/18/will-autos-three-tier-wages-be-on-the-table/

I can’t say what will happen for these workers as they negotiate new contracts but I’m sure they won’t get what they want because there are other eager workers willing to work for less!  That is the problem.  We have created a pool of unemployed people that want to work but cannot find jobs.   This pushes the wages down because the “job creators” know they can replace their workers with someone else or they can outsource their jobs to another country where the wages are even lower!  The job creators might say why create jobs over here when we can make more money over there!  It is kind of like when GW Bush used to say we are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.  So, with all of this “stuff” in my head I keep wondering about all of the political posturing in Washington.

It almost seems like the two parties are clueless to what the American people are feeling or they just don’t care.  Both sides think they can use this “issue” to garner votes in 2012.  If more people think like I do, we would all be looking for a way to get third party candidates elected that are not loyal to either of these worthless parties.  I, for one, wish Senator Barry Sanders would run for President.    http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=58d258f8-01bc-417d-ae92-247951a1b9e2

Oh, yes, I know he is a self proclaimed “socialist”!  He is a cancer among the pure Democrats and Republicans who are the wonderful epitome of the capitalist society we live in.  Socialist isn’t a dirty word for me because as a born and raised Catholic, I was always taught about “social justice” and what is truly right and wrong!  It doesn’t take a genius to know that there is something wrong with a country that has so much in wealth but cannot seem to take care of the least of its people.  As the Republicans continue to posture and take care of “their” people, you know the “job creators”, and President Obama keeps his fake stance of indignation going, many people in this country are suffering and worrying about their futures.  This bill the Republican House is working on today is nothing but a cut, cap, and crap bill.  If they cared about balancing the budget, they would not have pushed so hard for extending the Bush tax cuts in December.  Our country is in trouble.  We are now involved in three wars with two parties that seemingly don’t care if we ever end them.  We have two worthless political parties that care more about their individual next election than they do about the American people.  In addition to this, we have those “SuperPacs” that will continue to run their ads infiltrating into the minds of common people to get them to vote for their candidate!  http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/index.php

Doesn’t anyone see how corrupt these SuperPacs are when Stephen Colbert makes them into something he can use to get laughs with on his show? http://www.npr.org/2011/06/30/137527309/theres-nothing-funny-about-colberts-superpac

It was funny last night when I saw the names of his contributors scrolling across the screen but this is the price of our democracy!  Neither party will do anything but what their “SUPERPAC” powers want them to do.  So, if you really think President Obama is holding out for a deal for the American people, well, I suggest that you just don’t hold your breath or be too disappointed when once again the “common” people are left holding a bag full of empty promises!  If you are a Republican thinking that Representatives Ryan and Cantor understand you and know your pain and will vote in your best interest, rest assured, they will both vote in their own best interest.  If you are a “job creator”, aka “rich”, it could be yours as well!

I just got this tweet from Bernie about a “Fair Deal”.

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Those Dog Days of Summer

  • Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:30 pm

Why does this remind me of Washington politics?

Many of you might be wondering why I haven’t posted anything lately.  I have been so busy with two online courses that I am taking.  They are self paced and I wanted to get them done so I actually can have some summer.  I have been working like I am possessed!  I am happy to report that I am finally finished with both courses.  A couple of weeks ago I came across an article that made me think.

We are creating new jobs in America.  As our manufacturing jobs continue to be outsourced we have some new biomedical type jobs being created.  However, this one I had to read twice to decide whether it was put out on the internet by “The Onion” or some other prankster.  It seems that some people are just fed up with dog poop.  There must be a market for this product or it probably wouldn’t be produced.  Deborah Violette is a property manager for a housing complex.  At this complex, Timberwoods Commons in Lebanon, New Hampshire you must submit your dog’s DNA.  This just means a swab of the dog’s mouth.  However, it will cost you.  You can check out the article to see what the fees entail.  When Deborah finds dog poop, she sends it to a lab to be analyzed.  If it’s your dog’s DNA, heaven forbid what the penalty might be.  It’s a strange new world.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/us/02dogs.html?_r=1&hp

I’m sure some of you are thinking this is a good idea and maybe I’m missing something.  I just think it must be time to get into the biomedical research business because there sure is plenty of dog poop around!  I have a fenced in yard and my dog has his own personal lavatory.  I won’t be analyzing his DNA any time soon.

Since I have dogs on my mind, I wonder what will happen with the budget talks in Washington D.C. as we move into the dog days of summer.  I keep thinking about that August 2nd deadline.  According to some experts a deal has to be reached between July 15th and the 22nd in order for all the dominoes not to fall.  Where is President Obama in all of this?  Once again it appears that the devil is in the details.  Just like the deal struck in December, I’m sure the President will work his magic and give in to the demands of the Republicans.  Jo Connelly has written about the work ethic of the House and laments days gone by when things were settled over a drink or two.   http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/Will-Congress-Get-Back-from-Recess-and-Get-to-1447691.php

I came across this opinion piece that does a pretty good job of summing up the status of our current congress.  http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20110710/COLUMNISTS107/107100302/1155

As far as President Obama goes, I keep hearing the song from the Wizard of Oz in my head, “Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!”  The President is lost in a forest when suddenly the Cowardly Lion hops out and tries to scare him.  Those Republicans are pretty scary and President Obama seems to need constant companionship and protection just like Dorothy.  So we, the American people, end up with a standoff.  I see a whole lot of nothing going on but posturing.  These two political opponents are wasting much political capital trying to look like they’re doing something important.  What I see is crazy Republicans antics from the far right facing President Obama, a Republican from the middle.  Too bad we don’t have any real Democrats that could balance this scale out a bit better.  Republicans have changed so much in the last forty years that it is shocking.  However, the Democrats have changed even more.  Back in the seventies Republicans were all about population control.   They even supported Planned Parenthood!  http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/6714-planned-parenthood-republicans-a-decades-long-history

The current Democrats are as bad as the Republicans.  They are helping the Republicans find ways to chip away at Social Security and Medicare.  President Obama and the Democrats are playing games just like the Republicans.  I hear in President Obama’s speeches that hint that these programs must be changed.  He implies that he will protect them but from my perspective it seems to me that he protests too much.  We all know he will cave just like he caved in December.  He doesn’t stand for anything but he wants us to believe he does.  His principles are not clearly defined.  He hasn’t been leading this country.  He caves on Elizabeth Warren and he will cave on this as well!  http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/07/18/138475440/obama-makes-it-official-cordray-not-warren-as-consumer-finance-head

These dog days of summer make me think that the American people better get their pooper scoopers ready.  There is going to be a lot of crap to clean up after the summer is over!

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Past is Prologue

  • Posted on June 24, 2011 at 1:41 pm

My mind works in mysterious ways.  I decided to take the “Way Back Machine” ride.  On the news yesterday there was much talk about what President Obama said about troops coming home from Afghanistan.  It sounds like too little, too late to me.  I was thinking about something I heard recently about the cost of the wars.  The amount I remember is two billion a week.  That is one hefty sum which led me to the internet to do some research.  I came across a recent document from the Congressional Research Service entitled, “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11.”   http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf

Inside this document there is Table 1 that breaks down the yearly cost.  I highly suggest looking at the document as there are some strange things within it.  Considering these figures, I went on to look up some other information as it pertains to the U.S. National Debt and I came across some interesting old articles.  http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

The cost to continue these wars is staggering.  On CSPAN yesterday morning Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, said that it costs $400.00 a gallon for gas for those troops on the front line in Afghanistan.   http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63407-400gallon-gas-another-cost-of-war-in-afghanistan-

If you read this article you will also discover that it costs a billion dollars for a thousand troops.  Just think about that!

The day before, I also heard Senator Manchin from West Virginia say that the Chinese are mining copper in Afghanistan.  They benefit from our troops in the area but they don’t pay for them!  What are we mining?  Probably more terrorists that hate us!  Representative Kaptur also had a discussion with President Obama.  She wants to take 1% of the defense budget and put it into a jobs program.  She wants to utilize unused bases around the country to start these programs for rebuilding communities hit hard by these economic times.

What I’m trying to get at are a couple of different things.  First of all the Republicans have taken back the tax level for the wealthy to the fifties.  (They have said it’s not just for the wealthy but that we all benefit.)  As a woman, I used to joke about how the Republicans want to take us back to the fifties.  However, it is no joking matter.  Back in 1999 for the first time in 25 years, the US Government planned to reduce the size of the national debt.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/411973.stm

Towards the end of the Clinton term in September of 2000 he said this, “Like our Olympic athletes in Sydney, the American people are breaking all kinds of records these days. This is the first year we’ve balanced the budget without using the Medicare trust fund since Medicare was created in 1965. I think we should follow Al Gore’s advice and lock those trust funds away for the future.”

Everything was looking promising.  Of course we all now know how much fun everyone made of Gore’s “lockbox” statement.  There is more here on what he had to say on the subject and it is worth remembering considering the current state of things.  http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/al_gore_social_security.htm

So, what changed everything?  As far as I can tell there were four episodic things that changed the direction of our country.  First were the 2000 election and the decision by the Supreme Court.  Second were the Bush tax cuts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_George_W._Bush_administration

Third was the tragedy of September 11th.  Finally, fourth were the decisions to go to war and remain entrenched in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya for basically ten years.  Now some would say I forgot about the sup-prime mortgage problem.  However, I think like dominoes, when you put in motion all of the other things, well, shit happens!  It’s like what came first, the chicken or the egg?  In my mind the Bush tax cuts have put an unbelievable strain on our country that can be felt across the nation.  We feel it on our roads, in our schools, and worrying about our jobs.  While many people may think they want to keep their tax cuts, most are probably not thinking about the true cost of those cuts and who benefits the most.  The tax cuts are tricky because they have embedded into them something for families.  So, when the wealthy get their big cuts, people with children are probably okay with it because they get their cuts as well.  Most people don’t think about how those cuts have cost our country in so many ways.  As the federal government does less and less for us, they push more and more back onto the states.  We all know the result of that, cuts and more cuts locally.

States seem to be getting desperate.  I learned about “Project 60” proposed by the governor of Idaho.  Hmm, what could that be?  There is talk on the internet about a Chinese company building a self contained city and bringing their own workers over.  Could we be that desperate?  Here is the message from Governor Otter.  http://www.project60.idaho.gov/message.html

I went to the Project 60 PDF file.  The link is on the page.  Embedded into the nice brochure is this:

Establish an Idaho EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program which grants visas to foreign nationals investing $500,000-$1,000,000.

I ended up at this blog today and I am wondering about all of this.  http://wallstreetpit.com/78558-who-really-owns-america-now

One guy called in on CSPAN yesterday and he stood out because of what he said.  He called us a “plantation nation”.  The wording could have been slightly different than that but I do remember the plantation reference.  He basically feels that business in their pursuit of all things global have made out country and its citizens into a plantation like setting.  We are like a slave nation.  We are the good little worker bees and big business is the owner of the plantation.  He wants the slaves to revolt!  Our children are being told that they are going to have to compete globally.  I don’t think the wages in China are going to bring our own wages up here.  There is no loyalty any more to country.  The loyalty seems to be to business.  Business will go wherever they can produce their product cheaper.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be better but the bottom line is the bottom dollar.  If business can use programs like “Project 60” to import cheaper labor, they will do it.  That means that all of us that thought our jobs couldn’t be out sourced to another country better start thinking about the past and how it relates to the future.

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School’s Out for the Summer…..What are you doing?

  • Posted on June 19, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Schools been out for a bit over a week now and I am still too busy for words.  It makes it difficult to carve some time out to post my thoughts, but this is what I have been thinking about.  First of all, I’m still working on that “school stuff”.  I haven’t really checked out of my art room even though it’s basically ready for the summer because I still have to turn in my orders for next year.  Anyone that is an art teacher can tell you how that goes.  I put together what I want on a spreadsheet and low and behold I have to make cuts.  You would think I’d get better at this after all of these years; but I’m too busy trying to get the best bang for my buck.   I’m also taking two technology courses online that I want to finish by the middle of July.  They are self paced but that is a lot to accomplish by the goal date I have set as there are many written assignments that accompany each of them.  I have to say that I have really enjoyed all of the courses I’ve taken this year, even though I whine about the work load to anyone that is prone to listen to me!

The other day I came across this editorial written by President Carter.  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/08/earlyshow/living/money/main20070028.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1

It’s nice to finally see some sanity about our drug laws expressed by a person that could be actually taken seriously.   I highly suggest reading the piece and even reading the initiative put together by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.  The link is there.  I glanced through it and got what I needed from it.  I have talked with many students that have a parent incarcerated for drugs.  Most of them are drug users.  It has never made any sense to me why we have put so many people behind bars for using drugs.  They are taken out of being a productive member of society and then we, as taxpayers, end up having to take care of them and their children too.  There has to be some sanity brought to this issue.  If you read through President Carter’s editorial the number of people in prison has gone up so drastically in the last thirty years that it is really alarming.  I also know that prison has become a profitable business.  This article from a few years ago is interesting.  http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/41481

Here is a piece from the article that I think kind of tells it all:

“Prison analysts say contract prison labor is poised to become one of America’s most important growth industries. Many of these prisoners are serving time for non-violent crimes. With the use of tough-on-crime mandatory sentencing laws, the prison population is bursting at the seams. Some experts believe that the number of people locked up in the U.S. could double in the next 10 years. According to Prison Watch, the expansion of the number of prisoners will not only increase the pool of prison labor available for commercial profit, but also will help pay the costs of incarceration.”

Imagine that!  We have an industry that is actually growing in our country!  Thinking about all of this, earlier in the week I got an email about healthcare and single payer.  Attached to it was this cover of a book.  Of course I was thinking I should know who Tommy Douglas was, but I wasn’t sure.  I looked him up online and of course I remembered he was the man that brought Medicare to Canada.  I’ve known about him for years and that his grandson is Kiefer Sutherland and that he was voted the “greatest” Canadian.  When I was looking him up I realized that I really want to watch “Prairie Giant the Tommy Douglas Story.  I have put it on my Netflix but it seems to be unavailable.  For the moment I am settling for snippets from Youtube.  You must watch this and think about our own politicians here in the United States.

I think we must be living in Mouseland because we keep voting in CATS!  In our case we have red and blue cats but they are still cats.  They tell us they want to help all of us mice out but truthfully they just keep helping the fat cats.  I think we need to get more mice in office.  Why do we keep electing a government made up of fat cats anyway?  I cannot think of many senators or representatives that live like most of the people I know.  Our very own representative, Rep. Fred Upton, has a net worth of somewhere between 7 and 25 million dollars.  While he greets us at meetings in a sweater that looks like it belonged to Mr. Rogers, he is far wealthier than he appears!  He may want us to believe he is one of us, but his wealth shows another story.  You can check out “Open Secrets” and see where he is getting his campaign money from. http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00004133&year=2009 It’s interesting.  His alliance isn’t necessarily with the mice that are his constituents.

Tommy Douglas was a minister and he did have a gift for storytelling.  Here is another story that is really interesting with a good analogy.

His story will make you laugh, but it is a good analogy.  All of us at the middle and bottom of the economic ladder need to stop fighting with each other.  Maybe we would then be able to get representation that is more like us mice and less like the cats!  Maybe if we can start listening to each other, we can all get a little bit of that cream.

I also came across this piece which kind of sums up my week.  Here is one small business owner just trying to make a living.  We all know how everything seems to be made in China these days.  This one takes the cake!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/08/earlyshow/living/money/main20070028.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1

Hopefully, I’ll leave you on a happy note because it looks like she may be back in business.  I think we all have to keep pressing on to do what we can to solve the economic problems of the 21st Century global economy.  The competition is steep especially when China can make some little trinket for next to nothing.  As an artist, I know what it takes to create something.  I value that.  Most people just see an object and don’t really understand the whole creativity thing.  I’m a potter, but my favorite mug I bought last summer from a couple of guys at the St. Joseph Art Fair.  I could be drinking my coffee out of a three dollar mug from China.  I prefer the $22 mug from the two men I met.  They are the Pottery Boys.  You can see more of their work here.  http://www.potteryboys.com/

My favorite coffe mug made with a labor of love.

When I cradle my mug I have a sense of connection to another human being that threw it on a wheel.  It’s not plastic.  It’s special.  I can feel the caresses the artist gave it when he decorated the sides of it.  He may have done it on a thousand other mugs, but this one is mine and it is original!  The glaze crawls gracefully down the side in an imperfect pattern which adds to its beauty.  I encourage all of you to visit an art fair this summer and buy something from an artist.  If an artist is doing an art fair, more than likely, that is how they make their living.  This is a part of commerce that we all can partake in.  You make be going to the art show to be entertained.  They are there to make a living.  They are a part of the small business world that most people don’t even think about.  Keep these artists in business by buying their wares.  You won’t regret it.  You will remember the artist and enjoy the beauty of what you have purchased and you will be doing something to help the economy!

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War, What is It Good For?

  • Posted on June 16, 2011 at 1:03 am

I just have to know if anyone knows how many soldiers died last week.  I was watching ABC Sunday morning with Christiane Amanpour a week ago and she posted the deaths at the end.  There were 14 soldiers in Afghanistan.  I find this so troubling because it simply will make no difference if we stay there two years or two weeks longer.  We got Bin Laden so I say, “Bring the troops home!”

A couple of weeks ago one of my ten brothers called me.  He is a big Obama supporter.  He knows how I feel about the 2008 election and the corruption I see in both parties, but ever hopeful, he asked me if I was going to vote for Obama.  I thought for a minute and I told him two things.  I said the problems with the 2008 primary in Michigan have never been addressed by Obama or the Democratic Party in a way that is believable or satisfactory to me.  Here in Michigan my primary vote was stolen and given to Obama!  However, I told him that if Obama wants my vote, he could do one key thing and probably get it.  He could bring the troops home and end these wars!  I don’t mean a little slight of the hand trick of putting troops in another country and saying we have left the other country, like troops from Iraq placed in Afghanistan.  I mean bring them HOME!

And please tell me what is up with the media?  I get it.  Arnold is a bum.  John is a low life, swindling attorney that you couldn’t trust with your ugliest girlfriend.  Anthony is a fourteen year old boy with a hard on for the secret, or not so secret, life of the internet.  So, why does the media care so much?  It never ceases to amaze me how sex becomes more important than being lied to by an American President who took us to WAR!

In our country, either the media thinks we are more interested in politicians’ sex lives or we are that interested.  I for one am not more interested in the secret lives of politicians than the back deals that they make with corporations to pick pocket the American people.  I’m going to tell you right now I don’t care who you are sleeping with.  I don’t care if you take naked pictures of yourself and send them to other people that probably send some of their own back to you.  However, I do care if you pass legislation that takes us into war, strips money from education and gives it to the defense department, or takes money from the WIC program and gives it to other defense contractors.   http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/166653-republicans-looking-to-gut-wic-food-programs-in-amendment-debate

After all Republicans never met a defense bill that they couldn’t resist passing and Democrats never can truly stand up to the Republicans, not even for the American people.  Talk is cheap in Washington D.C. but heaven forbid if you have a sex scandal.  You can secretly be a bum, but if the world finds out that you are a bum, well, that’s a problem.  My mother used to call that the “Spartan rule” but being a Michigan State Spartan, I now take offense to that reference.  Arnold, John and Anthony perhaps thought that “When in Rome do as the Romans do.”  I don’t know if all three were just doing what other politicians get away with on a daily basis, but I have to wonder why some politicians can be forgiven their bad behaviors and others cannot.

So, back to my original thought, will I vote for President Obama or not in 2012?  I have to wonder what things will look like in the fall of 2012.  Will we still be involved in three different wars in the Middle East?  Will I see my hard earned tax dollars go to more war funding?  Edwin Starr sings it best for me!

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Health Care Costs and the American Dream

  • Posted on June 5, 2011 at 10:57 am

Are you a "have" or a "have not"?

This week at school all of us teachers were encouraged to attend a meeting about our health insurance.  It was an unsettling meeting for me because it is astounding to see that the cost of insurance is so high.  Some things just didn’t make sense.  It appears that the best deal is if you are single.  If you are married and without kids, you are going to pay more than if you were just two single people.  That just doesn’t make sense to me, but it is what it is.

We have three different plans to choose from.  The green plan is the plan you never want to use and if you choose it, it probably will mean you never go to the doctor….for anything plan!  The blue plan is the plan if you are thinking, “Okay, I don’t want to pay anything out of my pocket right now…..Let’s just hope nothing comes up but the basics plan!”  The white plan is for the people that are superstitious and think, “There shouldn’t be any major problem this year but I better be on the safe side because I don’t want to worry about it plan!”  The other part of the meeting was about the possibility that one of three things could happen.  We could have to pay 10%, 20%, or whatever is left after a state mandated cap is put on what schools pay for insurance, which could mean the possibility of a family having to pay a balance of over $6000.

Now it may sound like I’m laughing about this but it really is no laughing matter.  The plans range in cost for around $4,000-$6,000 for a single, $10,000-$15,000 for married with no children, and 13,000 to a bit over $19,000 for the family plan.  Now, just think about these numbers.  How can a family that isn’t wealthy afford insurance that costs nearly $20,000 if it isn’t picked up by their employer?  President Obama put forth a health care plan but these are real numbers and numbers don’t lie.  Nothing has really changed except the cost continues to go up for health insurance.  You might be thinking that our costs are unusual.  However, our insurance is with Blue Cross Blue Shield and we don’t have the Messa Blue Cross that we had years ago.  Blue Cross is a not for profit insurance company.  Yes, I know you cannot imagine that such a thing exists.  On paper it does.  However, their CEO still gets paid much like the private sector.  I looked up the rates for the federal employee plans, also through a Blue Cross Blue Shield company, and they are similar, which makes me see that the problems with the high cost of health care have not really been addressed through the health care bill that was passed.  The cost of health care has to come down, all of our salaries have to go up, or we have to create a different plan like single payer which basically reduces the need for the middle man.

In my mind I believe it is foolish that our country hasn’t stepped up to single payer.  If everyone had to pay something and we had Medicare for all, people would be better off.  I know the politicians are doing everything they can to convince us that these programs have to be cut.  Of course this has happened only after they renewed the tax cuts that Bush put in place and they continue to be resistant to the concept of taxing the wealthy at a higher rate.  Of course many of them are the wealthy, so that’s not hard to figure.  Right now our country is in a crisis mode of sorts.  The Republicans are trying to condition all of us to the “need” to tame the debt ceiling beast.  Of course they weren’t whining back in December when they renewed the tax cuts without so much as a whimper about spending.   They also were in a completely different mood when President Bush was the man in charge.  However, President Obama isn’t doing anything in the least to make matters better because he’s going for the cuts as well.  Everyone seems to be on board with some kind of plan to change Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as we know it.  I heard Carl Bernstein the other day on Morning Joe saying we all know these programs have to change.  They will wait until after the election and then get to work on it.  He’s probably right but it’s all dishonest.  When President Obama was running for the presidency he talked about being a “transformational” president.  He thought Reagan was one and Clinton wasn’t.  President Obama has always admired President Reagan so I’m beginning to think he may also become a “transformational” president.  Life as we all know it may be “transformed” into something we have not known before.  Our country is becoming the country known for the “haves” and the “have nots”.  Let’s face it.  You either have it or you don’t in this country.  You either have a good job or you don’t.  You either have health care or you don’t.  You either have money or you don’t.  You either have access to a good education or you don’t.  You either have it or you don’t, but there really isn’t much in the middle any more.  As I’m writing this I came across this opinion piece.  It’s well worth reading.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05kristof.html

At school we are heading into our last week.  The students will be finished on Thursday and I’m sure they are all excited for their summer break time.  Teachers are looking forward also but as I was walking out my door the other day I had a moment of sadness.  I had a sixth grade student come in after school to help me work on getting things done for the end of the year.  She told me my room looked sad because so many of the posters and things that made it exciting were taken down and it was so much cleaner.  It didn’t have the excitement that it usually has for her.  She was right of course as everything is being put away for the summer including art materials.  My room is usually a hub of activity, sometimes it can get pretty overwhelming as we use clay, paint and other materials to create art.  I find the summer break good mentally but as I was leaving that day I did feel that sense of sadness because I love working with middle school kids.  I will miss that little girl who is such a little chatterbox full of energy and excitement that comes in to see me after school even though I had her in art class a semester ago!  I will miss the funny boy who I always have to remind to listen because he never hears anything I say.  I will miss the little miss perfect girl that is an awesome art student and cannot wait to get to school to work in art class.  I will miss that boy that would never turn any work in, who I nudged and prodded all semester and got him to get that work in, who is now so proud that he has a good grade!  Most of all I will miss all of the love I feel from these students that really do try to do their best, sometimes under difficult circumstances.  Some of them are in foster homes, some are poor, some are wealthy but all are special to me.  They really are our future and I don’t want to let them down.  Our politicians need to see what I see and fund health care, education and the future of our children.  We don’t need more years of war and devastation.  We need a leader that gets behind the people of our country and lifts the spirits of those that are unemployed by finding a way to make conditions right for creating jobs, who tackles the problems of the high cost of health care and who is willing to keep the American dream alive by fully funding education!

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Aliens and Republican Candidates

  • Posted on May 29, 2011 at 8:12 pm

Whew!  I just finished my two online courses today!  It’s been hectic and it’s been difficult to find the time to post here.  Working on the courses has kept my weekends busy and my school days are filled with the end of the year art shows that I put up.  However, school is almost over but don’t fret I am taking two more courses, so I will still be busy!

Lately, I’ve been wondering what is up with the Republican Party?  It seems to me they can’t find a decent candidate to run for the presidency.  I almost feel like this is all part of the “plan”.  They will put up the worse candidate, so we are all left with a vote for the other poor candidate, President Obama.  It’s like a continual game plan between the Republican and Democratic Parties of “good guy, bad guy” politics.  Maybe as I get older I become more cynical, but it sure seems strange that in a country this size the candidates that we see running most of us wouldn’t want to put in charge of anything, let alone the presidency.  Looking at the ever shrinking list of potential candidates makes me wonder if they really are going to pull out Jeb in the end.  It’s just a thought and I have written about this before.  Lately those potential candidates have been dropping like flies.

Gerhard-Kozissnik from the World Body Painting Festival

So, the other day I came across these pictures from the World Body Painting Festival and I was thinking what weird alien figure will be next to grace the stage of the Republican Party.  So many of the Republican would be candidates have been dropping like flies out of the race.

Of course we all were drawn into the Trump drama which probably secured him many viewers for his finale on Celebrity Apprentice.  I never really took that one seriously anyway.  The list is ever shrinking and the two that remain at the top are now Romney and Palin.  Please excuse me while I gag at the thought of either person at the helm of this big ship.  Romney can’t stand up without flip flopping on some issue and Palin does absolutely the same thing.  When I first read about her she was holding those oil companies “feet to the fire” in Alaska.  My how times have changed since she made a little money.   Now it’s all about keeping taxes down and helping big businesses out.  There is nothing left for the little guy with these two scammers.  We’re left with that “trickle down” theory of bullshit left over from the Reagan presidency.

Another interesting aspect to all of this is the candidacy of Jon Huntsman.  I find it mildly entertaining that there are two people with connections to the state of Utah running to be president.  Since our budget director was imported from Utah, I’m not remotely interested in either Romney or Huntsman.  The budget in Michigan was recently decided in record time.  It was decided in record time to screw the little guy, and of course the education of other little guys.  I find this letter to our governor interesting because I have noticed that here in Michigan we would rather spend lots of money on prisons and prisoners than on schools and education.  It seems a superintendent wrote this piece.  http://bigthink.com/ideas/38573 It’s well worth reading.  I had planned at one time to do a piece on just this very subject but there has been so much I have written about and just ran out of time.  However, this pieces touches on what I have been thinking about for some time now.  http://www.freep.com/article/20110505/NEWS06/105050518/Michigan-House-budget-cuts-cops-aid-poor-arts

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Mr. Prince Goes to Dubai

  • Posted on May 16, 2011 at 8:55 pm

Erik Prince

Our own, Michigan grown, Eric Prince is off to bigger and better things in Dubai.  It seems that business is good since September 11, 2001 for mercenary soldiers.  His business was Blackwater.  Now that Blackwater has its problems, he has changed the name.  It seems he didn’t like that word, mercenary, back in the day.  I grabbed this from Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Prince

When the term “mercenaries” was used to describe Blackwater employees, Prince objected, characterizing them instead as “loyal Americans”. (According to Pelton, who interviewed Prince on his military vision, Prince sees Blackwater’s role in American affairs as similar “to that of Baron von Steuben, Kościuszko, Rochambeau, and LaFayette” — soldiers of fortune who helped fight in American War of Independence. He also compares them to the Flying Tigers, World War II-era fighter pilots who fought for pay in the Pacific theater.[64])

Of course now, that’s exactly what his team of soldiers is currently in Dubai.  This article in the New York Times is quite interesting.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1&hp

You have to wonder about everything from the technology he is using to the knowledge that he knows about American affairs and think about how he is applying all of this in Dubai.  Of course Wikipedia has all of these silly ideas about what he may be up to.  One of them is to be a high school teacher.  That is laughable except for the fact that he is a major contributor to the Mackinac Center by way of the back door version of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C.  Teachers in Michigan should be well aware of the Mackinac Center as that organization has been breeding contempt for public education and teacher labor unions for years.  I remember getting pamphlets in my school mailbox that were not exactly public school teacher friendly.  http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/mackinac-maddow-conservative-koch-prince

You may recall this segment of the Rachel Maddow show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eAJzTXyczM

From the New York Times article I found this:

The United Arab Emirates — an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state — are closely allied with the United States, and American officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington.

What I really want to know is what does that mean?  Is this just one more way that we are funneling more money to military exploits and war profiteering businesses?  I am left wondering about these things.  I found this article during my search today.  If you read nothing else from the links that I have given you today, read this article.

http://blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7358/2011-05-14.html

We are in a cycle of never ending war created by the war profiteers who are continually fed by our government.  Life as we know it is over unless we stand up and demand changes in Washington D.C.  We cannot sit silently and watch our public schools system continually chastised as “broken”.   Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid also considered “broken”.  Our government, through the use of a media with a penchant for just making money and politicians who also like that good old lobbyist money, keeps telling us that government can’t do anything right.  Everything must be privatized because private companies are better than government.  Erik Prince is a part of all of that private company meme.  We have given the war profiteers the keys to the kingdom and now they rule everything.  They will even decide what your kids are going to learn in school.  I love this video because this guy, Will Richardson, says it like it is.  He says, “Life prep is not test prep.”  In the video he is appalled at the constant use of testing our students are faced with.  At one point he has a Tweet from a parent that bemoans the fact that her Kindergarten child is looking for ways to get out of school.  Richardson goes on to say, “This system is killing our kids.  It is taking all of the imagination, all of the creativity, all of the initiatives, all of the engagement right out of it.”

If we want to suck the life out of our children, let’s keep teaching for a test and test till the cows come home.  It seems to be what the war profiteers want this because it keeps everyone under control.  However, if we want an engaged society that knows how to problem solve and students that can think for themselves, let’s try a different approach.  You may think it is funny that I put this in here.  What, you are thinking, does all of this Eric Prince business, have to do with education.  Well, if he’s connected to the Mackinac Center, it speaks volume and you and I should all be alarmed!  It’s all about making money folks.  Everything is for profit, even your child’s education.

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