education in the USA

It is sad that leaders in the USA do not understand how important education to national security. Comparison scores declined for decades last century. Some improvement can be seen this century, but USA scores still fall shamefully behind other countries.

1995 results: "...tests showed U.S. fourth-graders performing poorly, middle school students worse. and high school students are unable to compete. By the same criteria used to say we were "average" in elementary school, "we appear to be "near the bottom" at the high school level. source

2003 comparison of more than 250,000 15-year old students from 41 countries. USA Ranks: Math: 27th, Reading: 18th, Science: 22nd. source

2010 Ranks show minor improvement, but when considering the wealth and resources available in the USA, these scores still show a sad disregard for education in the USA: Math: 25th, Reading: 14th, Science: 17th.
source

This does not address the unavailability of higher education for the majority of Americans who cannot afford $100,000+ for a basic college education and double that for an advanced degree. Government loans and long-term debt or bankruptcy is not the answer, but the only alternative for many young people.

Until Education is as high a priority as Defense, no amount of bombs/guns will protect us from the defenselessness of technological and intellectual inferiority.

cars

i drive a twelve year old car, a chevy cavelier... it needs a tune up, a new clutch, new tires, and other work... and it gets better gas than most of the new cars being sold as 2011 or 2012 cars... ridiculous... the car manufacturers are so very irresponsible and government is worse for not forcing the manufacvturers to improve gas mileage... it can be done... it is being done on a very few cars sold at higher prices because they are scarce because the manufacturers will not mass produce the technology that privides 50mpg and better...

let's not even get started on the lack of effort to produce alternative fuel cars... the government allows ecologically criminal and economically unethical practices and all but the very consumers suffer...

i am part of the problem... i could choose to live in a place where i do not need a car, but i choose to live in a car-dependant suburb... my choices in life have not provided the income to buy a nissan leaf or even a toyota prius, so i am hunting for a car within my budget which leaves me with choices that are not as economical as the twelve year old car i drive... adding to the challenge is the lack of availability of economy cars, at least in this area... i visited six large dealers today and found less than ten economy cars, a few dealers had none, new or used...

so philosophically, scientifically, ecologically, ethically, and practically the auto industry in this country is a clear sign of the corruption, confusion, and suicidal thinking that goes into the decision making in this modern world... we, as a species, do not do what we can do to improve our chances of survival... natural selection will eliminate us from the life cycle of the planet unless we wise up and start making decisions and taking actions that will improve our chances for survival on this planet... simple as that...

you want to live?...

truly meaningless complaint

if you are a taxpayer in the usa, you owe $119,913 to private banks and other countries... rich bankers in this country and others living in obscene luxury by are milking you dry while you struggle to pay your bills and taxes...

and children, what are children learning?... it is ok to go into debt for a few times your annual income and have nothing to show for it?...

anybody want to loan me $119,913 today?

the last resort

the eagles said it so well more than thirty years ago and we did not pay attention because, after all, they said it so well...

we satisfy our endless needs
and justify our bloody deeds
in the name of destiny
and in the name of god



maybe the most meaningless complaint of all... it is challenging to be aware i am part of a species so determined on committing suicide, knowing there are voices pointing this out, watching people ignore and continue destroying themselves and each other... the path to extinction if so obvious and yet, we steadfastly remain devoted to staying the course...

free oil for everyone

free oil for everyone

The 'simple solutions' like hay and straw and other products look great in a small bowl or laboratory, but don't be naive, there's no strainer big enough to scoop millions of tons of soaked straw and hay out of the gulf and even if we somehow had that much hay and straw and a three hundred mile strainer, there's not enough ships in the navy to drag that much weight out of the water... the simple solution was to act swiftly and responsibly, but that was not in BP's interest... and don't look at the government, come on, did you forget katrina and new orleans already?...

government is condemned for over-regulating industry when they do anything before a disaster and then condemned for not cleaning up the mess industry makes after a disaster... responsibility is on the businessmen, their greed did this - and you and me - our dependency on luxuries, oil, and our lifestyles did this... we demand more oil, more energy, more consumer goods, and we don't want to see the costs to the planet nor the risks to ourselves in our blind attempt to have it all...

many people still do not want to see, as the flagging of videos on youtube demonstrates... but the only thing keeping our heads in the sand will do is get us covered in oil, or kicked in our up-in-the-air butts... great nations fall when the people stop caring enough to take responsibility and do the right thing... that's history, and we are living it... and we can only hope enough of us wake up in time to realize what we need to do to save ourselves...

money

What does the banking "industry" actually produce, I mean, we call it an "industry", right?... is it fair to ask why an "industry" that produces nothing is the most powerful business in the world?... how did we give the people who watch our moneythe power and profit they have?... what if we all just went to work, brought home our money, and kept it... '

Forbes rankings are atrociously obscene morally, ethically, and simply... the only businesses cracking the top 20 are the oil and gas monsters and the people who control how we communicate... oh, there is GE and Wal-Mart... and after these there come the utilities and insurance...

the most corrupt non-productive business, the money managers (banking and insurance) and the survival (utilities, energy, communications) take most of our money and perpetuate the ever growing gap between rich and poor, between those who will survive and those who will die earlier due to inadequate medical care or having to use inferior or dangerous products...

capitalism fails, in the end, as miserably as any other cultural structure for the same reason all others failed, human greed... while the pretentious human facade is love thy neighbor and give peace a chance, the real human remains cut throat, selfish, and ultimately, suicidal...

the human god is not love, the human god is money, power, and propriety...

political complaints (they are sadly too easy)

this is why politicians, especially old ingrained politicians, scare me

...

and sometimes leave me speechless... it is not just republicans, though the old republicans do say some of the scariest things and seem to have their heads somewhere so out of touch with actual life that, well, of course the planet will recover, and if humans continue, the planet will make humans extict just like the dinosaurs and every other species that lost touch with natural life and the planet...

that's not a disaster, right, human extinction?...

not for the planet.

further readings:

many colors of the gulf of mexico
don young on the gulf oil spill

who is Don Young, Rep. Alaska?...

When John McCain asked Young to give up money earmarked for Alaska to help the rebuilding effort from Hurricane Katrina, Young replied that Katrina victims "can kiss my ear!"

not just insensitive and out of touch, but criminal...

invest $40,000 in a politician, get $10,000,000 plus in return

corruption?

The investor was reportedly Daniel Aronoff, son of Arnold Aronoff, who, in 1979, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud in a scheme to sell Florida swampland at an inflated price. His son found another way, politics as usual, to attempt to increase the value of his Florida swampland by buying a politician.

"It's very possible people ought to go to jail," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees highway funding.

coconut road

coconut road on abc news
coconut road on cbs news

The worst part of this was that the congressional bill earmarking the ten million dollars did not include this appropriation when it passed the congress and senate. The bill was changed by the Alaskan Representative between the floor of congress and the signing by President Bush. Congress and the Senate never voted to approve the money, Young slipped it in secretly. Does that make President Bush a criminal for signing in the conspiracy to defraud the taxpayers?

what happened after the 2008 call for a federal investigation?

The language requiring the Coconut Road investigation is clear: "Consistent with applicable standards and procedures, the Department of Justice shall review allegations of impropriety regarding item 462 in section 1934(c) of Public Law 109-59 to ascertain if a violation of Federal criminal law has occurred."

republican senator calls for investigation Tom Coburn, Rep, OK
democratic senator calls for investigation

other controversies

Young served on the following congressional committees:

Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

think progress
don young's voting record from sourcewatch
crew's most corrupt (citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington)
washington post vote database
new york times - does young know what he's voting "no" against?
don young on wikipedia

and on an unrelated political complaint:

when ideology gets in the way of common sense:
let the living suffer to save the unborn?

katrina drowns new orleans, 2005

yeah, we all know the story... or do we?... did you know about hurricane pam?... pam that did the very same thing to new orleans in 2004 that hurricane katrina did in 2005... you can watch the video and learn a bit about hurricane pam... one year before hurricane katrina devastated, hurricane pam tore the city apart and flooded new orleans almost exactly as katrina did, in a computer simulation...

yes, scientists created a storm, hurricane pam, and entered all the facts they had about the lay of the land, the strength of the levees, where people lived, and all the known facts about the physical city of new orleans into a computer... and then they entered meteorological data for a storm and aimed it toward the city… levees failed and new orleans and surrounding lands ended up under water… the scientists told the government and army core of engineers and you know what they did...

nothing…

in every other arena, someone who has the power to save lives, knows lives could be lost if they do not act, and then do not act and lives are lost... they would be criminally libel for the deaths… I believe it is called criminally negligent manslaughter… the government is guilty of this, but no one holds those in charge who killed people through negligence accountable…

that simply sucks…

trust your government?... what may be worse is the news media, the noble fourth estate that loves to point fingers and dramatize human failure and claims to have a noble mission to tell people the truth, seemed to miss this atrocity… did they deliberately ignore the facts?...

all the news that’s fit to print?

sometimes, humans are nauseating...

caprica

the saddest thing about caprica might be that they are eventually going to glorify the judeo-christian-muslin god after introducing the concept of a monotheistic god with sarcastic scorn in phrases like ”a moral dictator called god” blamed for leading kids to terrorist acts and instead of seeing the truth in the words, people will praise the glorification of that very moral dictator concept that has been the root cause of more death and destruction in this world than any other human-made concept in the history of human-kind…

or is the attraction to the show the titillating concept of a seductively pliable fifteen year old girl touched innocently (and often) because she is in a robot body and nobody knows she is really in there as they admire her chest and tinker with her crotch… while in a simultateous scene another teenage girl is repairing a motorbike while semi-flirting with a adult-looking teenage boy who’s job it was to fix that bike and the engine goes vroom vroom as they innocently touch hands and smile…

or perhaps the child will lead us concept as the carrot is that the same nubile fifteen year old innocent dancing seductively with a boy without him or anyone seeing her (because she's trapped in a robot and nobody knows, of course) actually has some secret answer that even she doesn't know quite yet... could it be the secret to immortality as she has figured out a way to put human's mind and personality (and don't forget spirit and soul) into a robot?... oooo, back to the whole moral dilemma thing again, aye?)...

or is the attraction the oldest moral dilemma of all (in modern recorded history, that is, i mean, since the jewish bible started), the old ways against the new ways as a very jewish appearing race is made out to be poor hard working hard core eye-for-an-eye religiously superstitious, secretive, and organized-crime powerful while the white-bread waspy-looking actual rich power brokers of the culture are clueless as to their money-changing corruptions and lead of moral fiber as they take technology into a virtual world where anything goes because there is no responsibility because ot the presumptious that nothing is real and nobody really gets hurt and nobody really dies…

but did they really have to made the eastern-indian looking kid the innocent misguided mad bomber?... and it’s ok, right, because he believed in the one-god concept… and do they have to play on the stereotype of the outrageously emotionally driven thoughtless acts of bereaving mothers only to make those same mothers some sort of heroes by convoluting their actions and slithering version of love into ridiculously unrealistic gestures of generosity that somehow make their stupidity and rash actions ok?...

I wonder how long I’ll want to know how the story turns out before I get too bored or simply too repulsed by the ignorance underlying the messages behind the story… and laughing, naturally, I wonder how many of you follow anything i've said here...

I suppose I need to know more about battlestar gallactica now, though the same sour taste that I could not pinpoint turned me off to that story after watching it for a little while… and suddenly i have this powerfully giggling errily puzzling secretly smiling deja-vu feeling... irony?...

or course I don’t recall the fifteen year old girl angle in that one…

yeah, smirk and giggle and narf as I use libido to keep my own attention while mocking and perhaps even condescending to those who do, or something like that, aye? :)

barf? lol :)

politics

i do not want to be a democrat or a republican or any blind faith follower of any party or anything... i seldom listen to any politician and seldom listen to or watch the news because i sense a bias so obvious and an agenda so hypocritical and full of subtrifuge that want to puke just thinking that we the people accept the ignoarance they assume we must have... i want to believe that i actually hear what these people are saying...

tonight i hear a president saying some things that made sense and wondered if he would have any influence at all on the politics as usual... watching the ridiculous posing of the congres people and senators, the standing ovations and the seated silence based on party affiliation and obviously not based on what may or may not be right, i wondered why the president did not call all of them out for the hypocrits and posers they were...

so is the president any different?...

not much, he played the same game... and well... but still, in the end, the president gave me a good feeling, a hopeful feeling that maybe something might actually change in washington to bring more fairness and justice to this country... and then i listened to ten minutes of cliche and rhetoric and negativity under the viel of smiling doublespeak, subtle inferences that the president did not say what he just said, carefully phrased juxtapositions suggesting that the president actually said the opposite of what he just said, out and out political campagning that had nothing to do with anything, and meaningless pandering to people's base fears from the republican rebuttal and realized there is very little if any hope for truth or justice in the american way today...

so sad, i hope i don't put myself through this again anytime soon...

social status

so i'm flipping through tv stations and find there is a movement in florida to create county level council on the social status of black men and boys meeting in the office of the attorney general in orlando, florida... have we made any real mind-set or perspective progress since the civil war in the south?...

a group who's mission is to look for and point fingers, look for weaknesses, and shout unfair for black men and boys?... is this legitimate affirmative action (affirm is a positive term, right?) or is it a veiled way of castrating men and boys in and of itself?... is the perspective to pity and organize people to help black men and boys because they can't effectively take care of themselves?...

people are so tied up in social status, so in love with the victim mindset, so kind to similarities and opportunities to bridges gaps and come together, so comfortable with segregation and pity parties and pointing fingers... so what we've got is a group of mostly very overweight people trying to find money (and justification to get the money) from government (taxes) to get some excitement going to organize local groups with a purpose of studying the social status of black men and boys...

the chairperson of this council is the Director, Office of Supplier Diversity, Department of management Services... is this bureacracy gone made or a real need seeking a real solution for a real problem?... perhaps the underlying source of the concerns is the very attitude that black men and boys need local government groups to promote their social status, inherently setting black men and boys apart as inferior and "needing help" based solely on race and gender...

not racism?...

i wish people would stop judging people based soley on race or gender... but that is the culture we live in and the people in power support it because it keeps the majority of people in divided social groups feeling needy with a hand out for help instead of empowered and united as human beings...

sigh...