Taboo Plaza

A question from the Democratic debate tonight:
If you are elected president, would you scrap or revise No Child Left Behind?  Governor Richardson.
I'm not really taking a shot at his answer so much as his purchase into the myth.  The myth that there is someway that our educational system in the United States can be micromanaged.
What's the problem?  Our kids are stupid.
Why are the kids stupid?  Because a large majority of them don't like school.
Why don't they like school?  Because they think it's boring.
It's that simple.  They don't like school because they think school is boring.
Why is school boring?  From there you can come up with a long list of reasons why school is boring.
The teacher sucks.
The books are hard to read.
Math sucks.
The list goes on and on, but Governor Richardson is going to scrap No Child Left Behind.  He says it with the vigor- and receives the applause- to support that he's running on that issue.
What are you going to do to improve education in America when you are elected president?
I'm going to scrap No Child Left Behind.
It's not even a positive action.  He's just taking something away and the crowds applaud.
You want to do something about education?  End the myths.  Stop lying to kids.  Stop telling them about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  America didn't originate with the Pilgrims and dates don't really matter unless you're playing Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy.  Get off of the boring stories and start talking to children.
What do you want for your child out of an education?
I want my kid to be able to reason.  I don't want recitations.  I don't want rote learning.  I want a kid that can think.  A kid that has the world in front of them and all the potential to make it work.  I want a kid that knows some raunchy stories and heads out into the world wide-eyed and knowing.  A sense of what's to come. 
A sense of how to pick themselves off the ground and get back on the horse.
Alegbra really only benefits a minor percentage of the public after second year college.  It's great to teach them, but offer more. 
Life is about more than just reading, riting an' rithmetic.
I want my kid to have an opportunity to figure out what their good at before they get out of high school.  Some kids find their way into the art classes, but not many have the opportunity to sculpt or shake loose the cob webs of articulation.  I want an education for my kid that cost three hundred dollars a day.
Don't interpret any of this that I am pro-No Child Left Behind.  I certainly back Governor Richardson in his effort to dismantle No Child Left Behind; however, No Child Left Behind is not the problem really. 
Dismantle the curricula and structure an education that looks to produce intellectuals rather than factory workers.

Current Affairs

I talked about this last week. 
The topic: the narrowing of U.S. political debate. 
The culprits: Democrats and the Republicans. 

Although it's really the two party system in general.  Watch how beautifully they orchestrate their symphony.

"A weary and sharply divided US Senate headed toward a showdown vote yesterday on an apparently doomed Democratic plan to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq by the end of next April."-

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/07/19/2003370218

There's drama and tension in there for the rubes.  Rube: somebody too stupid to notice that they are being baffled by bullshit.

"While a majority of lawmakers back the plan, the Senate seemed several votes short of the needed 60 to clear the roadblock and allow a vote on passage. Democrats have only a 51-49 majority over Republicans."

Here's the crux of the issue.  The Democrats pull the same stunt when Republicans are in the majority in Congress.  It's called a filibuster and it's a commonly accepted practice in the U.S. Senate.  It's a rule built into the system to ensure that a tiny majority cannot tyrannize over the large minority.

Republican Senators do not want to vote on withdrawing troops from Iraq, because as long as they don't have to vote on the resolution they can continue to blame President Bush for the War in Iraq. 

That's what was accomplished after spending all night in the U.S. Senate last night.  The bill they debated all night didn't get voted on.  The only reason someone wouldn't want to vote on an idea is because they don't want people to know where they stand.  More than likely they would stand on the wrong side and they know it.  However, the Democrats don't push this line of reasoning and call Senators out by name.  Instead they pick up an oldie but a goodie from a year or so back.

"Republicans will need to choose whether they want to protect the president or protect our troops," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said.

It's the same type of argument Republicans throw at the Democrats when they challenge their patriotism.  It's a verbal hand grenade.  Depending on current cultural conditions and depending on where you say it, you've immediately got the other person defending themselves.  You've in effect determined the argument that is going to follow.

You're weak on the war and you hate our troops.  Go!

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell answered: "The Democrats, unfortunately, are trying to undermine the efforts of our troops and restrict the ability of our generals to carry out their mission."

In all of this nothing was accomplished.  The president is still waiting until September to receive a progress report on the war and we'll get to go through this all over again in about two months (because Iraq isn't earning any of the ten missing progress points with the Iraqi Parliament on recess for August.)

Some establishment is being served by all of this and it probably resembles a military industrial complex.  Maybe a company like Haliburton.  Someone is cashing in big on the U.S. spending patterns in the world and they have been cashing in for quite some time.

This is all able to be done with relative ease, because the Democrats and Republicans weave an intricate dance.  They have no real clear objectives other than to cause problems for the other party. 
Therefore, sleep tight America.
Nothing's getting done.

What the hell is wrong with West Virginia?

Last week's batch of Senators averaged 15.25 years in public office as U.S. Senator. This week's batch of Senators average 22.75 years as U.S. Senator.

Patty Murray (Democrat, WA)
 Religion: Roman Catholic
 1972: Washington State University, B.A.
 1988 to 1992: Washington State Senate
 1992 to present: United States Senator

Maria Cantwell (Democrat, WA)
 Religion: Roman Catholic
 1980: Miami University of Ohio, B.A.
 1987 to 1993: Washington State Representative
 1993 to 1995: United States Representative
 2001 to present: United States Senator

Robert Byrd (Democrat, WV)
 Religion- Southern Baptist
Student at Beckley College, Concord College, Morris Harvey College, and Marshall College, all in West Virginia, and George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C.- http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b001210
 1940's: Recruited and led a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan-  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html
 1947- 1950: West Virginia House of Delegates
 1951- 1952: West Viginia Senator
 1953- 1959: United States Representative
 1959 to present: United States Senator
 1963: American University Law School (graduated)
 1994: Marshall University, Bachelor's in Political Science
 

Jay Rockefeller (Democrat, WV)
 Religion: Presbyterian
  Great grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller
 1961: Harvard University (graduated)
 1966 to 1968: West Virginia House of Delegates
 1968 to 1972: West Virginia Secretary of State
 1977 to 1985: Governor of West Virginia
 1985 to present: United States Senator

Tip of the week

Find someone who must look up to you by nature and give them a compliment.

Birthday Shout Outs (7-15 to 7-21)

July 15th

(1606) Rembrandt Van Rijn- If people are still talking about you after this long you can count yourself as lucky.
(1779) Clement Clarke Moore- He got the credit for "Twas the Night Before Christmas" whether he wrote it or not- and that's good enough.
(1951) Jesse Ventura- He was a better commentator in pro-wrestling than he was a wrestler, but then he demonstrated that it is possible to take a pro-wrestler seriously.

July 16th

(1872) Roald Amundsen- Treking through Antartica today is an impressive feat.  Imagine what it must've been like 100 years ago.
(1911) Ginger Rogers- She was still a pretty common name when I was growing up.
(1967) Will Ferrell- The guy is just funny.
(1971) Corey Feldman- Snarky, but in Lost Boys and that's good enough for my list.

July 17th

(1899) James Cagney- This guy just looked cool.

(1934) Donald Sutherland- The best Hawkeye hands down.
(1949) Geezer Butler- A Black Sabbath original.  This guy was a part of history.

July 18th

(1913) Red Skelton- This guy was funny.
(1918) Nelson Mandela- It takes an enormous amount of intestinal fortitude to stand up for what you believe in the face of opposition.  This guy lost a large chunk of his life for an ideal.
(1937) Hunter S. Thompson- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an interesting read, but I don't buy that he took everything he said he took.
(1969) Great Sasuke- This guy is an amazing wrestler.



July 19th

(1834) Edgar Degas- They don't talk about him as much as Rembrandt, but there are still circles discussing his work.
(1947) Brian May- Queen had a couple of jams.
(1977) Tony Mamaluke- This guy can take a beating.

July 20th

(1873) Alberto Santos-Dumont- The Wright Brothers might get all of the credit but he publically launched a controlled flight first.
(1933) Chuck Daly- He was the coach of the Bad Boys in Detroit.  It takes talent to keep your players from injury one another on purpose.
(1947) Carlos Santana- He's got style and he can play some licks.
(1964) Chris Cornell- Soundgarden is heavy man.

July 21st

(1899) Ernest Hemingway- What's to say?  He wrote.  Sometimes he wrote about her.
(1924) Don Knotts- A legend and truly one of my heroes.
(1951) Robin Williams- This guy was funny when he was on the coke.  Afterwards, it seems he found out he could act.  He gave a great performance in One Hour Photo, Good Will Hunting and Popeye.
(1957) Jon Lovitz- A very funny man.
(1972) Shinjiro Ohtani- Few professional wrestlers appear to enjoy inflicting pain and punishment as much as this guy.


Merry Christmas in July

Justin Timberlake's got talent.

My Dick in a Box

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