Vote Like A Goat

Today is School Board Elections…Polls are open 10-8…  If anyone is sponsored by Markell or Rodell or RTTT or WSFS, don’t vote for them.. If anyone is sponsored by DSEA, they are on the students side. They are safe.

So go out and vote like a goat… Be…  B-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-D

No Privacy?

Scientific discovery proves that algorithms can accurately write our entire psychological profile based off of our normal social media habits….

The details are rather interesting.

So.

What do we do about it?

“Go Ahead, Do Your Driveby, Little Girl…..”

…. said Rick Jensen as Liz Allen finished and hung up the phone before Rick could answer….

I usually drive in silence but I laughed out loud when I heard that. Seriously glad I was not drinking coffee that very second…

To set the background, Rick was trying to pin the blame on unions like would a normal corporate shill and Liz called in and was objecting…

Basically her argument was that there were a lot of things wrong with this Kinder Morgan Deal.  Most of you know, I’ve outlined many.  Al Mascitti has outlined some. Nancy Willing outlined some. Norinda outlined some.  Bobby Marshall has outlined some.  John Kowalko has outlined some. The News Journal writers  and editorialists  have outlined some.  Even Alan Levin truthfully  outlined some…. And of course, Liz Allen was Delaware’s voice.  She outlined many…. And don’t even  mention that the entire House of the General Assembly, both Democrats and Republicans unanimously voted for General Assembly oversight on this strange thing happening, despite the Governor and Alan Lavin saying…”shouldn’t do that!!!”

THE  ENTIRE  HOUSE  OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  VOTED  FOR  SENATE  BILL  3  YET  KINDER  MORGAN  IS  SINGLING  OUT  A  LABOR LEADER,  JULIUS  CEPHAS? ? ?

All of these people are more to blame for swaying public opinion than Julius Cephas.  However, truth be told, without Julius, none of these people would be swaying public opinion….  He didn’t harangue, he didn’t bash, he’d didn’t twist arms…

All Julius did to persuade this wave against Kinder Morgan, was speak the “truth”.  The letter paints Julius as a feisty uncooperative fiery personality…  Anyone who’s sat on a panel with Julius finds that hard to believe.  That is not how Julius handles adversity.  He digs down and works.

Of course as we all age we come to realize that anything is possible.  But if we are going to allow ourselves to consider even the most outrageous items,  what I find far more possible, and far more probable, was that Kinder Morgan was seriously planning on cutting jobs.  Furthermore, it probably had it’s eye on the DRBA portion of the state pension fund… Speaking strictly as a vulture capitalist here… who wouldn’t?

Apparently Julius Cephas was in the way…  We all owe him a thank you.

I know Texas gas firms.  This deal is not off.  What we have here is a lighter being held up  to Delaware’s foot.  To scare us a little, try to get us to move things up, to get us to concede… They sharply deduced that to have a successful operation here, they need to do away with the union.  Hence, instead of excoriating Bob Marshall’s leadership, which they would have done if they truly were to pick up and go, …knowing they might need him later instead they chose to focus on Julius Cephas…

Can they turn the state into an out-roar against Julius and the Longshoreman’s union, so much so that we offer them a counter-offer with “the union”  completely eclipsed out of it?

In their minds they think they can.   They’re Texans…  Look at Governor Perry.  (Hope you weren’t drinking hot coffee right there… )

What they don’t realize is that to convince Delaware to come aboard, they have to accomplish all these four things…

A.  Convince us first  on the concept of privatization; Trust us, our state is completely against it.

B.  Give us $5 billion for 50 years.

C.  Promise us the Longshoreman’s Union will be around forever .

D.  Expand business so the outside businesses will grow….. 

I think this is more money than they want to bear right now….  But if they are willing to agree to these propositions,   send us an offer….

Us Delawareans are a little stronger negotiators, with a little more backbone,  than is Alan Levin….  I’m sorry from a honesty point of view, if his actions sort of misled you.

There are two ways to do business.  One is do what is best for the business by being selfish..  The second is to do what is best for the customer and community, which in our view, turns out to be what is best for the business.

Delawareans (minus Rich Heffron)  subscribe to the latter…..

 

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Moritorium On Too Much Testing

It is so ironic that the battle for proper educational techniques is heating up just as we in New Castle County Delaware are swearing in someone who once brought stability and control to what was pure chaos.

Tom Gordan as chief executive came into our counties development crises which reminds me rather well of today’s educational crises. There were at least two sides, maybe three, all clamoring for something to be done about development in New Castle County. It was out of control. New buildings were going up, with one lane roads to feed it. Millions of tons of sewage were going to go into the ground on individual properties. The old pipes were not meant for such volume. Every community wanted a traffic light and every obliging state representative got them one… A Kohl’s could be built right against your back deck… There were no such things as abatements.

Tom Gordan said: There will be a moratorium on all new development. We will decide first, how we want to grow, we will put those laws in place, we will educate our inspectors on how to enforce those laws, and once we are ready, we will open development … up again.

It worked wonderfully.

So now, as I hear the corporate side race towards Common Core, and see their hands out asking for money, and see their high pressure sales technique, not unlike those of window salespeople who you invite into your home… Sign now! Sign now! Sign now! I have to think their is a reason they are worried we might have second doubts.

Then I see the side actually responsible for educating children, who says, “we are testing so much I can’t teach, and now, I’m getting fired because I can’t teach but whenever I do get a chance to actually teach, my students blossom”… This group says it is not the people who are driving low results, it is the system….

The question is: which is better for our children? To be honest whenever I hear both sides each speak in a vacuum, I’d have to say both are. There are good ideas on each side. One of the best new resources is a computer program that allows students themselves as well as their parents to see their progress. I’ve been witness to several discussion aimed at a computer screen that echoed the theme, “I turned that thing in!” And sure enough, they did, and usually it was a keypunch error, or a key that was pressed but not hard enough. And likewise, it certainly helps parental planning when the parent can use adult analysis and determine whether the holiday vacation overseas would seriously put their kid’s special projects up to 1/3 of their grade, in jeopardy. Without corporate intervention and tooting their own horn, that resource might have never gotten past a card dropped off by its salesperson at the state DOE office.

Likewise, having teachers set their alarms for 5 am, and finally crash at 11 pm, just to keep up with the normal routine of teaching, is burning them out. No one out there is tougher than I, but, not I, could do well without a “LIFE” to counteract work…. Therefore every teacher who survives their first year, simply does the same the next, and the next, … same tests, same grading card, same calendar, simply so they don’t have to put any thought into what they do…. Since classes are never the same, there are lost opportunities in this process.

The point is, we need a moratorium on this process. There appears to be a lot of money being thrown away for no result. I could be wrong. I could be right. So could you, so could she. The point is, no one knows? What if we spend three years going down the wrong path? It will take another three years to come back and return to where we are right now.

So six years lost if we are wrong. No years lost if we are right but we just don’t know. There is no harm in waiting. Those now getting a decent education,… will. Those who need more teacher attention, without testing, will get that too. Who knows what might happen?

There is risk in everything. Granted, we accept that. However if making a choice on which our national stability and economic viability depends, getting it wrong is catastrophic. In light of that, if we wait 3 years, get our act together, then launch into an integrated, well-oiled attack plan, by the time 6 years had passed and we were just getting back to zero, we would be ahead three years into mining a great national treasure. Our kid’s brains…

The money? Yes, there are monies out there earmarked to be spent on testing. Can’t we agree to put that instead into infrastructural improvement, while we sort out this issue?

I read North Carolina is implementing 177 new tests this school year. Now I don’t know about you, but when I spend all my time testing… the only thing I ever learn is “how to take tests.”….

I would like our children to get more out of school….

At What Price, Loyality?

This is going to my hard core Republican friends. Why are you still supporting Romney?

1) You know he is not going to win.
2) You know as the election heats up, his Bain Capital experience will make Republicans untouchable for decades.
3) You can’t pin down where Romney stands on anything.
4) He tied his dog to a car.
5) He stands with black people and says “Who let the dogs out, woof, woof.”

Most of you are telling me, “I certainly can’t vote for Obama. I guess I’m not voting for President this time.”

Let’s say, just for argument sakes there was a presidential candidate out there who says to have good government you need: …………………

1. Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others.
Find out what’s what and base your decisions and actions
on that.

2. Always be honest and tell the truth. It’s extremely
difficult to do any damage to anybody when you are
willing to tell the truth–regardless of the
consequences.

3. Always do what’s right and fair. Remember, the more
you actually accomplish, the louder your critics become.
You’ve got to learn to ignore your critics. You’ve got to
continue to do what you think is right. You’ve got to
maintain your integrity.

4. Determine your goal, develop a plan to reach that
goal, and then act. Don’t procrastinate.

5. Make sure everybody who ought to know what you’re
doing knows what you’re doing. Communicate.

6. Don’t hesitate to deliver bad news. There is always
time to salvage things. There is always time to fix
things. Henry Kissinger said that anything that can be
revealed eventually should be revealed immediately.

7. Last, be willing to do whatever it takes to get your
job done. If you’ve got a job that you don’t love enough
to do what it takes to get your job done, then quit and
get one that you do love, and then make a difference.

Honesty. Integrity. Principal.

Sounds good so far. Let us say just for argument, he had chief executive experience. Let us say just or argument that he once ran a state, one of the fifty in this union. Let us say while governor, this is what he did…..

During his tenure, New Mexico experienced the longest period without a tax-increase in the state’s entire history.

1) He cut the rate of government growth in half,

2) Left the New Mexico state government with a budget surplus and 1000 fewer employees (without firing anyone),

3) Privatized half of the prisons in the state,

4) Brought a state-wide school voucher system to New Mexico.

5) Vetoed 750 bills (more than all the vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at that time, combined) with only 2 overrides, earning him the nickname Gary “Veto” Johnson.

6) In 1999, Johnson became the highest-ranking elected official in the United States to advocate the legalization of drugs.

7) Shifted Medicaid to managed care.

ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU WANT? ISN’T THAT WHAT WE NEED?

Can you not think of a better way to show your lack of enthusiasm over a wealthy capitalist buying his way to the top of your ticket, by voting for someone who has character, who does what you’ve always wanted, a doer, not a talker?

And to think…. you were simply just going to throw your vote away.

His name is Gary Johnson. He is the new party’s candidate for President.

Remember Republicans. It is your values that are important. If your party has given up and moved on from your values, don’t think you have to be loyal to the word…. “Republican”… What you have to be loyal too, is yourself. Always. Never lie to yourself.

You don’t need to waste your vote on Romney. You probably need to find more about this guy, Gary Johnson, and then throw your support behind him.

Don’t worry it is not one of the two parties on whose ticket he is running. Remember, at one point in time, the Republican Party was a once a third party too. One that went mainstream because of its core values, its principles resonated with everyday American People.

Immigration Is Fixable

Con’s against Illegal Immigration.
Lowering wage rates
Sapping our entitlement system
Lack of accountability; no drivers liscense, no insurance
Not fair to those waiting in line.
Two language society.

Pro’s for Making Illegal Immigrants Legal
Acquisition of Drivers Licenses = Accountability to the law.
Can report employers attempting to pay under minimum wage.
Can get private insurance, and not sap hospitals with free medical
Forces those waiting first in bureaucratic lines through faster.
One people; one language.

If you are like me, you can see the answers are pretty apparent. Both side’s arguments get solved, by making the 16 million people living, working, raising families here, legal. The only argument that does not get solved, and it is irrelevant, is that since I don’t like them, they can’t be here. That is your personal problem and I suggest you get over it.

Worried about the downward pressure of wages? Unionize them. Most would be glad to join, and then wages begin climbing for all.

Giving them legal status, means they can buy medical insurance from their employer. Their employer pays the medical cost and passes it on in every product. It is not paid by every other insurer out of THEIR premiums.

Every illegal citizen would love a drivers license. They want them so bad, there is an entire cottage industry that forges them, then sells them for a hefty price. Help make all drivers licenses legal. Legalize the owner so he can get a valid one.

Use the forced legalization of Mexican residents, to purge our lists of those who have played by the rules and waited in line. Fill the Rose Bowl up, swear them in, and be done with it. Once the books are clear, we can begin processing those who have been in this nation 20 years, then work backwards. Those on the list would find they “owe” the original wetbacks for taking care of the red tape placed there for no reason, other than make it appear hard to enter the USA legally.

And if you require English as the language of choice, go ahead, and make it a requirement for citizenship. You want citizenship, you can learn English. They don’t have to know the kings English, because no one knows the Kings English in America. We need to be loose with the difficulty of our English tests, or be fair, and make rednecks, inner city blacks, and gays from Provencetown, lose their citizenship until they can speak with American accents too…

So you see, … making those who have lived here 20 years in the shadows breaking numbers of laws to look like model citizens and respectable members of society, is rather easy.

It’s just prejudice that stands in the way. And boy, do they hate Mexicans in Arizona.

Internet Declaration of Independence

There are some things that just “are”.. We are born, we will die, and we will live spanning that time between the two. In the end, we are beholden to ourselves. We are endowed the right to run our own lives, because we, are the ones who in the end, profit or suffer from all the decisions that WE make…..

We are also responsible to others. This is important, but does not supersede that responsibility we have unto ourselves… For example: WE have responsibility to our children, that the world they inherit is as good or better than the one we received. WE have responsibility to those with whom we interact, that we in our pursuit of happiness, do not irreparably damage theirs. WE have the responsibility to defend each and all of our personal rights, so they do not get taken away, or expire upon our watch…

This responsibility entitles every person all the same minor rights. They have the right to choose their own religion, their own spouse, their own government, and every person has the right to choose what or when he wants to speak…

Into this mix, technology had added the internet. This new device has shaken up some of the old bedrock stock ideas that have been held for ages. The Internet now allows for open communication across the globe.

There are those who would prefer that not happen. There are those who prosper from maintaining the status quo. Any change to that, and they lose something…

This is the difference that needs to be solved.

It is hereby declared that what is good or bad, will be hereby based on that outcome creating the most net good, or the most net bad, as determined across the scale of the entire Internet.

Protecting intellectual property of one person, and hindering future opportunity for billions, creates a negative that is a billion times the positive one intended… Likewise, legislating an act that guarantees a billion users a free right to express their creativity, while hurting the economy of only one entity, is a positive force a billion times stronger than that negative….

So,… for mankind to fulfill it’s responsibility to future generations, as long as an act creates more then 50% of a net positive worth of good, it should be allowed, if not encouraged… If mankind gains, even just a little, it should go forward.

It is important that new ideas flourish. For that to occur, in the give and take of today’s world, that requires a financial incentive be present at the end of such a creation… But to limit or monopolize such an invention, thereby prohibiting it from being upgraded by another interest, into something better served by man, would not be beneficial…

It appears that copyrights have been extended and extended without this occurrence having been addressed. The issue we have now is that articles that have been in the public domain for centuries, are now being bought up as investment and being protected….

This has the net tendency to take an item, invention, artistic work, or music out of the domain of those who would experience it. It has the net tendency to make our life experience less rich…

The balance between these two appears to be 5 years. If a product is copyrighted, it has 5 years until it should go on into the public domain. Anything over 5 years, will hereby be considered as being in the public domain, irregardless of protected laws, made secretly in the dark of night, sneaked through without discussion or buy in by society….

The Internet is the modern world’s form of speech. It has made mankind far more powerful, since instead of reading an idea, or seeing a scene, and having to describe it though interpretative means, we can actually communicate digitally that very idea, or scene itself, so the receiver can see exactly what we do… This improves the efficiency of communication between the human race and makes our promise, our responsibility to create a future better than the one we inherited, a bit more closer to reality.

No entity on this planet, has sole right to any copyrighted information, that is over 5 years or 1826 days. On the 1827 day, it becomes the property of all humanity.

All global laws need to reflect this reality.

(I Owe Ya) ……… or I-O-WA

I attack the bastion that Iowa should be the first primary… For one, it is not a primary. For two, it is not indicative of the whole United States, and three, it has been hyperbolated far beyond it’s own net worth.. In essence, both Iowa and New Hampshire, are harmful to the American voting process…. very harmful.

Essentially we allow less than 100,000 campaign volunteers, to determine the front runner. Not even close to the population of one entire state… The Iowa Caucus is not a contest that determines who is the best candidate for our nation. It is a contest of whom can organize the most of their supporters… buy them outright, if need be…..Hitler would win Iowa. Obviously the candidate who states, I will protect the wealthy’s money, has quite an edge….

How many is 100,000……?

And how does that compare to the entire USA?

(right click on picture to display full image)

The stats are as follows…

100,000 / 307,000,000 = 0.00033 or 0.033%….

African Americans make up just 2.8% of Iowa’s population. Worse, when Reagan won, in 1980 they were below 1.4%…

Iowa was ranked number two, behind Wisconsin as the worst place for blacks to live…

Latinos make up 5% of the Iowa’s population.

On a better note, 11.4% of Iowa’s are represented by unions… compared to the national average of 11.4%…

Iowa was estimated to be 56% metropolitan in 2007. Meaning 44% of it’s population is non metropolitan… The national rural/urban split is 21/79%.

In 2008, estimated $51,593,849 was spent by candidates on the 2008 Iowa Caucus. The 16 candidates for the 2008 presidential election raised and spent a grand total of $457,802,866 by the end of 2007, with the winners continuing on to spend in future races.

If there ever was an situation set up perfectly where an election could be bought, Iowa would become the perfect model.

Which could explain the extreme and excessive variables that Iowa has shown this cycle… First it was Michelle Bachmann who was hot… Then she disappeared as Rick Perry waltzed across the stage… Even his jobs record became outshown by the devil’s plan turned upside down, .. 999.… Until a too cocky Cain, resigned.. Gingrich lurched into favoritism… until he too discorporated … Suddenly a surge swept up number 2, Ron Paul.. but now, with the endorsement of a two single preachers, Rick Santorium, who I believe was originally under the 1% threshold at the beginning, is now rumored by ABC News to be able to win it all!!..

This is madness. This is Iowa. This is why we do not get qualified people into office… (from either party.) Are Iowa people dumb? Can Iowa people not make up their mind? Are Iowa people that uninformed? Are Iowa people that crazy? ….

Or,

…. are Iowa people being played by the press, and hoopla, and rest of the nations is stuck with their decisions…..

It is time another state issues a challenge to the prognosis that New Hampshire and Iowa need to be first.

ideally it would be state that was the first to ratify the Constitution. Ideally it would be a state that mirrors the national statistics a little better than some of the others. ideally it would be a state that has no television station. Ideally it would be a state where no one listens to the radio. Ideally it would be a state where one-on-one contact was possible with a large proportion of that state’s population. Ideally it would be a state with 11.9% of its workers represented by unions, equivalent to the national average of 11.9% of its workers represented by unions. Ideally its rural/urban split at 22/78% would mirror the nations rural/urban split at 21/79%… Ideally its African American mix (21.4%) would mirror that of America, 12.4%… Ideally its Hispanic population would do the same…. (8.2%/16.3%) and most particularly, in order to be representative of America as a whole, the non Hispancic white race should mirror that of the nation as a whole… 65.3% to 63.5%

There is a state that is far more similar to any pre campaign state out there.. it is the first state to ratify the Constitution….

It is time for courage to take over the wheel.. Those timid party reps who cow at the the National Political Machines, when it is nothing more than a self bloated paper tiger, need replaced by human beings who deeply care about the country.

Delaware losing representation at a convention, will make little difference in that convention’s outcome.. But sticking to our small state’s guns, and making Delaware the first state to hold a primary, would put a voice of reason, a system of control, and even sanity, back into our electoral process. It would also inspired a national media Maddow conversion, named after her experience in the Deer Park Tavern last cycle, where she was blown away that there existed a state, who’s citizens actually were well informed by sources other than commercials and the main stream media, and actually knew what was happening…. For it was a revelation: like “duh, common people aren’t stupid after all.” Perhaps the sanity that is Delaware, needs to become more mainstream… after all…

Looking at Iowa this year, it sure as hell couldn’t hurt….

What I Want….

The recession has popped a lot of dreams… It has forced a re-evaluation of priorities. It has put reality in the forefront.

So wiping off the table of everything, everything, and sitting down to a blank space, and asking myself, … what do I want, by the time I die.

It is:

A country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement,”

After watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” you can be sure it can’t happen on a Republican’s watch….. For that dream to happen, we need protection from corporations and Big Money; not giving them more and more of what we make.

We need more money funneled away from big business, to be reinvested into the Middle Class… Since they haven’t done it voluntarily, we’ll have to force it.

Republicans can’t force anyone to do anything. They are putz’s. It will take a government of all Democrats to make Americans who die, at least die happy that they were able to secure:

“A country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement”.

In A Perfect World….

Call it temporary insanity but let’s pretend, let’s just say, …that at one moment in time, if I chose to donate my youth out for my country, to be compensated back in the form of low pay; to completely and unjudgingly offer my fate up to the will of bureaucrats, all for the loss of my own self esteem, all for unending stretches of boredom, sparsed with interludes of a few intense seconds, that fortunately thorough my reactions and training, enabled me to continue living as I do today………….

I could reasonably be expected to be honored for that service to my nation, right?

In a perfect world, that is….

One would think, that in a perfect world, as needs were being debated across the universe of public funding, that a hierarchy resembling this, would sort of be the guideline, if not the rule?

National Heroes…..

over

We, The People…..

over

LLC corporations….

After all, if it weren’t for us, there’s a good chance those LLC. corporations wouldn’t be able to do business in a free and prosperous society, you would think?….

One would think, that if one of these heroes needed medical care, with the tremendous amounts of money being thrown away by our government daily, in the forms of corporate tax breaks enabling corporations to make “record breaking profits”…. that they would be put at the top of the list.. don’t you think?

Sorry, CEO… your operation will have to wait… We have a veteran who is in dire need ahead of you….

In a perfect world….

One would think, that a voucher system would be in place, or a blank check, where any veteran could walk into any hospital, and get immediate, necessary medical attention, have his prescriptions filled as a privilege for his service, and that the bill would be willing be paid by those with monetary resources more than adequate for their own needs?

One would think, (right?)… that it would be CEO’s, those who give pink slips so they can break profit records, those who cut benefits so they can break profit records, those who don’t invest in America so they can break record profits, ….who should be the ones finding themselves regulated to CEO hospitals, where they would then have to settle in on a waiting list for the next opening to occur, where they had to endure budget cutbacks and go without life-saving medicine because there was no money left in the CEO fund, perhaps because it had all gone to Veterans to pay THEIR expenses?

In a perfect world…..

In a perfect world, veterans would need no freebies…. They would not need welfare, or a pension, or a humble stipend to eke an existence… They would be working, contributing to society, in any way they could… If they had no legs, they would be outfitted at corporate’s expense, so that would not be an issue… If they had no arms, they could be outfitted at corporate’s expense so that was not an issue. If they had psychological damage, (and who wouldn’t?) they could be treated at corporate’s expense… so that was not an issue.

If they were so badly damaged that they create an efficiency drain on society, they could be honored for their sacrifice, and a useful voluntary capacity could be created to honor that commitment once made so long ago… Perhaps speaking about serving one’s country in every class, in every school, in every county? Can you think of any better civic’s lesson?

There’s a lot that can be done…

The problem is that veterans are deemed as just another expense…. Because to corporate America, that is just what they are… An expense, an obligation to be met that gets in the way of their making more money…

Unfortunately, our Congress is owned by Corporate America….

What should and does need to happen, is this relationship needs to be exposed. We need to call them out on it…

Republicans and Democrats are both complicit in allowing corporate raiders this unprecedented power. But Republicans are the symbol of Corporate America. Republicans are the ones who championed the Corporate Takeover. Republicans are the ones who dismanteled the safeguards that had been put in place to prevent that takeover from happening. That is why they need to go. Disappear… Whoever is left, the remainder, most likely after seeing the elimination of a large majority of their peers, will think twice before following their Dark Lord, now a soul less wanderer eking existence.. ……

In a perfect world…

Unfortunately, today we need to contend with obscene amounts of money saying Corporate is Good; Government Fairness is Bad….

But we have our lives telling us the opposite… It will take courage and strong will, to override all the overload of sensory data being pipelined into our soul, but we still have hearts, and those hearts are attuned to what makes America special. great, and the best place to live on this earth….

WE can still dream….

And those dreams should include a perfect world… one we CAN make happen, at least for those without whom we would not have the freedom, the resources, the nation, we have today….

Here’s to a perfect world?