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We hear about a divided America. But look at our at-large candidates in the Senate. Fairly even after all.
Next look at the House, where districts are gerrymandered. In this case it was done by the Republicans in 2010. …. We don’t really have a divided country. We have a country arbitrarily divided.
Especially if you enjoy videos that don’t have things jumping around in the background every nanosecond….
If you watch this, use it to judge Corporates influence in America today. I think one can begin to see who is the true architect of our “Downsloping Century” demise
We know of white/black, white/Hispanic, white/Asian, and male and female achievement gaps. Is there a gap between the 90th percentile of income and the 10th percentile? Are those narrowing too?
The short answer is that there is a rich/poor achievement gap; it is widening and therefore is not being considered on the RTTT and Common Core assessments. The data can be compiled by geeks, however and has.
As of 2011 Stanford University’s Sean F. Reardon crunched the information and this is what he found.
First, the income achievement gap (defined here as the income difference between a child from a family at the 90th percentile of the family income distribution and a child from a family at the 10th percentile) is now nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap. Fifty years ago, in contrast, the black-white gap was one and a half to two times as large as the income gap.
Second, as Greg Duncan and Katherine Magnuson note in chapter 3 of this volume, the income achievement gap is large when children enter kindergarten and does not appear to grow (or narrow) appreciably as children progress through school.
Third, although rising income inequality may play a role in the growing income achievement gap, it does not appear to be the dominant factor. The gap appears to have grown at least partly because of an increase in the association between family income and childrens’ academic achievement for families above the median income
level: a given difference in family incomes now corresponds to a 30 to 60 percent larger difference
in achievement than it did for children born in the 1970s.
Finally, the growing income achievement gap does not appear to be a result of a growing achievement gap between children with highly and less-educated parents. Indeed, the relationship between parental education and children’s achievement has remained relatively stable. During the last fifty years, whereas the relationship between income and achievement has grown sharply.
Family income is now nearly as strong as parental education in predicting children’s achievement.
The achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families is roughly 30 to 40 percent larger among children born in 2001 than among those born twenty-five years earlier.
This data throws RTTT data and Common Core’s standards out the window. For if you are going to cut medical care for children, and daily meals for children, no matter what else your corporate consulting firms may sell you, education is going to go backwards….
There is a new gap, and it is not just esoteric. It is the income gap and it is impacting education in a very big way. Enough to severely affect our nation’s competitiveness starting as soon as 2025.
Increased Medical and dental care, balanced meals for all those in school, are no longer issues for Democrats and Republicans to argue over incessantly. We are in a national emergency. They are required items.
What an odd title but that is exactly what is going on in Egypt right now. A similar juxtaposition also occurred inside the minds of some Americans back on July 4th 1863 (exactly 150 years ago) as they begin to bury the dead from both sides in Gettysburg. Since human beings are 99.5% the same, what Egypt is now bearing must create some intro-inspection upon how things are going here in the US as well.
I was shown an email passed among Tea Partiers that whooped: “Egypt got rid of their dictator; Why can’t we get rid of ours?” Ironically the popular vote percents are strikingly similar… Morsi won with 51.7%; Obama with 51.1%… Yet Egypt is in the middle of a coup; and Obama is being hailed as the first since Dwight to have solidly won over 51% for both terms…
Just looking at a chart over our nation’s history one sees just how tight our popular vote margin is. (one also sees the margin of victory is a bad indicator of just how good a president will be)…
It’s a good thing we have an electoral college to decide matters for us, and create a more determinable method of preventing what Egyptians and many of out tea partiers think should happen now….
I know many decry Bush’s win (-0.51$) over Gore and use that to promote an amendment to abolish the Electoral College. However America survived far better than Egypt (+1.7%) is doing now, with even worse violations against the the popular vote total… Through the House of Representatives, these people became President: Benjamin Harrison (-0.83%), Rutherford B. Hayes (-3.00), and John Quincy Adams (-10.44%) all with more of a percentage loss than had George W. Bush over Gore. In two of the three, the loser returned to whomp the stealer out of his second term. One of these “losers” even had a 51% popular vote majority!
But the electoral college provided decisiveness. Just like in football or basketball, the final score may not portray the better team, but it provides a finality from which we can all move on.
The demise of Morsi is a great chance to bring up this issue, simply to force us to understand why our founding fathers who were unburdened at that point by political parties, could by using what today are called “thought models”, come up with this peculiar institution that has well served it’s test over time. Couple that to the fact that even today, we have something almost akin to a political party vying for the forced overthrow our our elected top official, one can imagine the rancor and violence that might have tainted our nation’s development if we did not have a clear uncontestable “score” that determined our winners from losers.
One must be cautious when comparing today’s Egypt with today’s American democracy. Egypt is in its founding stages. As Morsi proclaimed, removing him removes all legitimacy of any future democratically elected government. As did Julius Caesar to all future democracy in Rome.
It makes us realize how lucky we are today that all of America was unified behind George Washington as it’s first head of state. That unanimity of opinion, allowed the slow formation of traditions we now have today to take root. For one, Washington did not impose himself (as did Morsi) by aligning with either the Democrats or Federalists on policy at the expense of the other.
Morsi made that mistake with the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead, unlike the current head of Egypt, George Washington held court over a myriad of opinions, and picked and chose in the fashion of King Solomon, almost the same as he did at the Constitutional Convention, of which was the most judicious approach on the basis of each proposal’s merits. It is worth noting, that towards the end of his second term as the political parties were being formed for the upcoming 1798 race, he himself became quite disgusted with the smears, dirt, graft, and corruption required to enable any country to run effectively upon its own power…
Perhaps because Egypt did not endure a long war of Independence, it does not respect the cost of freedom. Perhaps because democracy came to Egypt in its first time like a pack of chewing gum in a cashiers line, they easily think they can replace it again with a better flavor?
But this foreboding irony of Egypt remains. Instead of comparing it with American Democracy, suppose we go Godwin and compare it to the German election of 1932. What if the Germans had risen up a year later against Hitler and thrown him out? That would be good thing right? Or had Mao been pushed out and the Chinese business reforms begun 40 years earlier? Or had North Korea said “unh unh” to its dictator in the first year? Or had Centrists in Iran risen and prevailed over the Ayatollah?
The Turkish Army as well as the Pakistani Army has on occasion stepped in and then later bowed out whenever control has become precarious. Perhaps this is the only model that works well for overly excitable Arab populations? it is a longterm democracy with military safeguards built into its Constitution.
But one thing is very clear from this current outcome is this: religion can play NO part in government, even if given a political mandate. Living vicariously through Egypt it is clear there must be an impenetrable wall between that which belongs to Caesar, and that which belongs to God. All political entities who have dared mix religion into their political framework, have populations who are deeply suffering now (relative to those in strictly secular governments), even when that religious entity is the Chairman of the ruling political party himself, as is the case in North Korea, the old Soviet Union, or as was of Japan and Germany during the second world war…
It’s a lesson the US should take to heart. They next time anyone decries we need more religious people in our democracy, cut them off with this: “Remember Iran; Remember Egypt.”
As Americans we are not immune to Civil War. From it we learned it is a horrible alternative to walk away from one’s existing structure simply because one does not get one’s own way… We also learned that one can’t impose one’s will on vast majorities of ourselves who think differently.
Third. We learned that freedom is great, but the need to eat is greater. Government first has to function to meet the basic needs of its citizens; only then, once its citizens are economically stable to be not worried whether they will be alive the day after tomorrow, can their thoughts begin to turn to topics such as does democracy even matter?
As US policy, our actions need to first get Egypt to feed themselves; Spare no expense; make it our generation’s Marshall Plan. Then once well fed and able to provide for themselves, can we begin to proselytize our points of view. Whether they choose democracy or totalitarianism, will depend solely on who they see helping them now in their time of need… One can talk of democracy’s long-term future implications, but that rings on deaf ears when all one really wonders, is if one will be alive the day after tomorrow.
Women… especially…. “Boo, hoo, hoo… All these years… sniff, sniff, I believed him, and he was lying to me… lying, lying to me, the damn bastard….”
Guys too. “She told me she was working late, I had no reason to doubt her. I believed her… Why not? So I get a call at 2 am and she asks me to pick her up at jail… Jail? Why? Are you alright? Hurt?… “No,” says she, ” I got busted for prostituting an undercover officer….”
Parents…. who go storming into a teachers classroom,…. “How come my kid has an F, you gave him zero for classwork, but you never gave him any assignments he says.!” “What’s the kid’s name?…. Oh, that kid hasn’t showed up for class all year….”
Americans are the dupiest race of people on this planet…..
Oh, Gas is high because we are not drilling offshore…. DUPED
Oh, Global warming occurred when there were dinosaurs. What! they drove cars? DUPED
Oh, Republicans will grow private sector jobs, and pull us out of he recession. … DUPED? Not yet….
Chart courtesy of Think Progress
A tale of two parties… See the difference between private and public sector jobs…
Republicans say government is too big when they are out of power. When in power, they grow it like crazy to hide the fact that their private sector job policies do not work…..
Democrats, grow the hell out of private sector jobs… And because they don’t have to hide their incompetence as do Republicans, they cut government jobs over their term… Reduce the deficit if you know what I mean…..
When a Republican says he will create a private sector job. it is a lie… Just like the housewife above.
When a Democrat speaks the same, it is probably true. Over time Democrats create twice as many private sector jobs as do Republicans…
Fact, not a lie….
So, what we have in today’s economy, is Republicans who somehow took over the Congress, who have cut a Federal Jobs for every new job the private sector grows, then point to the total unemployment level… and scream… see? No improvement….
Sigh, if only we didn’t have Republicans.. Zero. Not one. Nada, Let’s look at the raw data above and see the possibilities that could occur?…. In the Bush era, the total unemployment level touted by Republicans stayed near 3%… that comprised a 4% growth in the public sector, and a negative growth of 1% in the private….
In Obama’s term, we have increased from a negative four percent to flat in the private sector (a gain of 3%) … and the public sector has fallen below three percent. it’s the public sector, that which is controlled by Republicans, which is what is keeping our economy in the pit toilet. Betchu, if Republicans had a Republican president, they would have kept the excess government employees, even hiring more as needed, and the unemployment level would be between 3 and 4% right now, instead of the *% it is… That is what would happen if they were in power. They are not. Now since they want to make the Democrat look bad, they gum up Congress so it can do nothing, and blame it on the President….
So obviously the natural response from Republicans will be… you’re lying .. that’s not true…
My answer? Show me facts; I’m not lying… Here are facts. Our side works. History proves it. It is called Bill Clinton Economics. Unlike Republican Vice Presidents: I don’t have to lie…..
I’m trying to get the gist of the problem.. I comprehend the emotion, but the reason for it, seems at best to be a mis-perception on the part of Catholics over what this bill will do.
It appears that “someone” started the ball rolling, with the catch phrase: “our religion is under attack.”
It is actually a good thing, I think, that in America at least, this does get people excited as opposed to say,…. a European’s big yawn… After all, that constant friction between one’s Belief and one’s necessity of surviving daily life, is one of the true aspects of Americanism that makes this nation rather different from most others.
I’m not sure as of yet, exactly “why” Catholic institutions, such as hospitals and universities and schools, were included in the birth control mandate. My guess it is budgetary, that in doing so, it would cheapen the insurance cost for everyone as opposing to raising the rates on everyone else, to allow such an exemption….
That is the only thing that makes sense… Unfortunately at this point I don’t have any financial statistics to see if this is really true…
If so, then the option exists that the exemption will be honored to Catholic institutions just as it is to churches, IF, and only IF, they agree to pay a little more for the privilege of opting out.
There is precedent for this.
Corporate America, has charged the Amish more for their buggy insurance than if they drove a car… Reason is although property damage would be far less (a couple of pieces of plywood), in an accident between the technology of two different centuries, without the safety equipment currently surrounding the occupants of today’s motor vehicles, there is a far higher probability of death in a rear ended buggy and a exponentially higher payout, from the insurer.
The Amish may have complained at one point, but the economic reality shut them up.
So if that is the case with the anticipated mandate for birth control, that it will cost others more by NOT providing Catholic Institutions a religious exception, then… that word needs to get out there,…..
They have a right to their beliefs…. but only if it doesn’t come out of MY pocket….
With that said, ….. so far all the talk as been false outrage based on no evidence…. Let the evidence come forward first, and then, let us discuss all options….
Right click to open full image… Pictograph Courtesy of Viral..
So, can someone tell me again, why we shouldn’t tax the rich, and instead, balance the budget on the backs of everyone else?…….
I seem to be missing that little detail where that all makes sense……
Lifted from the Occupy Planning Committee….
1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations.
Strong economies have a system that recirculates income throughout the system. The Bush Tax Cuts interrupt that system, by rewarding the removal of excess (profit) and gambling it on riskier items with the potential of superlative returns. Translated: Putting Billions on Animal Kingdom to win, place or show, doesn’t create jobs.
2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America.
This is simple. Raise the wealthy’s taxes across the board. Mandate that income earned overseas by American corporations gets taxed by America too. Then, allow a 100% write off on all physical investment here in America. Translated: Corporations will build here, when it becomes cheaper for them to build here.
3. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
We tried deregulation. It didn’t work. We reverted right back to where we were in the stock crash of 1929 after which Glass-Steagall was enacted to prevent that from ever happening again. Essentially Glass-Steagall says we need to separate our money that we require ourselves to live on, away from speculative investment… If you want to invest, do it by choosing to put your money at risk in an investment firm knowing full well that you could lose it all. However, safe money, needs to stay safe.
4. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
There is a reason why other nations spend less on health care per person, and have much better results. THERE IS A REASON. One can wish for a lot of things; wish that private health care didn’t cost so much, wish that private insurance covered everything, wish that our doctor could keep giving us free samples all the time…. Switching to single payer, if we use Japan as a model, would save every American $4,800 dollars a year. A family of four therefore would see a savings of $19,200 per year…. Imagine what a family could do with an additional $19200 a year plopped into their lap? What’s really sad? The Japanese live much longer too… meaning we are paying more and getting nothing in return.
5. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
Reducing carbon emissions is good for whatever reason. The idea that carbon fuel usage will deteriorate is not viable. The global energy requirements are growing exponentially. We need to insist that all new demand for power, be met by renewable resources (excluding ethanol). We will still need existing operations to continue just to keep our lights on.
6. We, the people, must pass two constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
kavips 
