Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
*******************************
Ecclesiastes: 9:14 - 17 There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.
Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.
___________________________
So have we yet had ten thousand fools proclaiming themselves through the halls of Congress? Or are there more to come? What more damage can be done?
We have a Patriot's Act which has nothing to do with patriotism. We have a Tea Party which has nothing to do with the original Tea Party. We have No Child Left Behind which encourages giving passing grades to failing students, closes schools and leaves a lot of children behind. We have a War on Terror which will never be won. We have a duly elected President who can't be
President because he's the wrong race. We have freedom of worship as long as it's Christian. We have squeamish proclaimers on Wall Street who arbitrarily lower our nation's credit rating. Congress has erected bulwarks against the American people. Our economy is besieged by the super rich. We have two very expensive battles going on in Asia neither of which we will win. We have labor unions to protect the rights of working people which are being eroded and closed down. We are "one nation, indivisible" except we're not. We are the "land of the free and the home of the brave" except that we're not. We have a comprehensive health care plan that is being torn apart and ultimately destroyed. We have seen the unadults of the House of Representatives bang the gavel down on the results of undisguised gloating hatred.
A patriot is one who stands up for his country even if it means standing up to his government. Where are the patriots? The goal of the original Tea Party was "No taxation without representation." If the wealthy are not paying their fair share of taxes why are they so strongly represented in Congress? "No child left behind" means that the entire nation should be focused on making sure American children ore getting the best education possible. We have road rage, racism, mothers killing their children, students killing their teachers. Terror is alive in this country and there are root causes for it that are not being investigated and addressed. We have never won a war we fought in Asia except when we dropped two atom bombs. There are those who are dedicated to getting President Obama out of office for no other reason than he's black and they've been doing that from the very start before he could even do something they didn't like. Freedom of worship means the Muslims can build a mosque wherever they want to. People fought and some lost their lives to establish the labor unions in this country. Without them workers will be exploited, and there will be slave labor. The kings and strong men of Wall Street are the biggest bunch of flip floppers in the country and they have convinced themselves and most of us that their figures represent the realities of economic life. We are not one nation, indivisible anymore. We are the Conservatives against everybody else. We are not a land of the free and home of the brave. Some of our freedoms are being eroded as the clock ticks and we have spawned a large group of cowards who sit in seats of power. Many American people are fed up with the government for just that reason. Why have many Americans even lost the consciousness of being an important people? Why have they lost self respect? Why have they lost the moral high ground? Why have they lost a sense of values? One group of Americans has been tricked into taking sides against another group. We are on the cusp of another Civil War.
So what's next? What else can they do? They can refuse to enact an intelligent and equitable tax structure and continue to defer to the rich which will deprive the treasury of money it could use to help improve the standard of living for the rest of us. They can minimize Medicaid and Medicare so that only the select few can afford to get and stay healthy. They can take away Veterans' benefits thus making the military a less attractive choice for young people. They can abate Social Security thus rendering thousands if not millions of older folks homeless.
The country needs that poor, wise man who forgets himself into immortality to drive out the villains and save the city. Where is he?
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
Summer is moving along, people.
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 14 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
4 Weird Songs
___________________
ZEY NKZ VQ AFQ KCCUQ ED ZEYM NEAFQM'T QZQ, VYA ZEY'MQ IEA KCCQKUWIR AE NQ.
W REA K METQ VQAJQQI NZ AEQT DMEN JKUBWIR VKMQDEEA AFMEJRF AFQ FEAFEYTQ AE ZEY, VKVZ.
JFE JKT FKXWIR IKCEJQEIT JWAF LETQCFWIQ JFWUQ VEIQCKMA JKT KHKZ KA AFQ JKM?
GWRKMQAAQT KIS JFWTBQZ KIS JWUS, JWUS JENQI, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY GMKYZ, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY WITKIQ.
Good luck.
DB
*************************
Showing posts with label No Child Left Behind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label No Child Left Behind. Show all posts
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Grow Up
The danger isn't so much in the economic structure of a society but in its intellectual structure.
Philip Kaufman
*********************
Almost ten years ago I wrote my Congressman a letter and in it I asked "Will there ever be a time when the country is governed by adults?" The current Congress has given me the answer. A simple "No."
It seems to be a fact that the members of the House of Representatives cannot represent the people because they have no idea how the people, most of them. live. In this last squabble (one can't call it a debate) issues were put forth and solutions offered that bear no relationship to intelligent thinking or understanding of the facts of life.
The nation is in debt. So what? So are most Americans. And some of them are now going to go further in debt until they find a way to restructure their financial lives. No one can put a ceiling on debt because no one can predict his future and neither can the country.
A Balanced Budget Amendment has been proposed by people who have no idea what it is to balance a budget. Ask the man or woman who feeds, clothes and houses a family on an uncertain job with an unsatisfactory income which is then taxed too much because the wealthy don't pay enough. That person knows how to balance a budget.
I worked for a few years at a small business. The owner faced up to and successfully met a payroll every two weeks. The Obama administration is trying to meet the nation's payroll. No one is telling the small business owner that he needs to cut back on heat and air conditioning and free coffee. Why is a bunch of amateurs trying to tell the President how to spend the money?
A Special Congress has been proposed to make recommendations for the full Congress to vote on without discussion. Why does anyone think that the squirming, dithering and unacceptable compromising that goes on in the big Congress isn't going to happen with a smaller group?
We hear of students being passed even though with failing grades and others cheating or being allowed and urged to cheat to pass so that a school will continue to be eligible for "No Child Left Behind." The child who dreamt that one up ought to have been left behind.
One of the big problems we face, and maybe the biggest, is unemployment. The country needs more jobs. When I became an adult it was a well known fact that the most important thing for a young person was to find a job. A university education was designed for that, vocational schools were designed for that. A respectable person had a respectable job. The country wants and needs to go back to work. That is the answer to our economic problems. If the huge corporations want a tax break then they should spend the money on creating jobs, not bonuses.
The regressive conservative ideas of shrivels, cut backs and cut outs, policies they would never apply to themselves, preventing the lower classes from even a simple attempt at a better standard of living, are slowly pushing the country in a direction they simply don't want it to go: more socialism.
It is said a revolution is underway. I don't know. I don't agree. I don't disagree. But big questions are being asked. Not who has the money, who has the power, who will get elected, who will get reelected, who's running? No. The big question now being asked is "Where is the intelligence?" "Where are the brains?" "Where are the adults?"
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Philip Kaufman
*********************
Almost ten years ago I wrote my Congressman a letter and in it I asked "Will there ever be a time when the country is governed by adults?" The current Congress has given me the answer. A simple "No."
It seems to be a fact that the members of the House of Representatives cannot represent the people because they have no idea how the people, most of them. live. In this last squabble (one can't call it a debate) issues were put forth and solutions offered that bear no relationship to intelligent thinking or understanding of the facts of life.
The nation is in debt. So what? So are most Americans. And some of them are now going to go further in debt until they find a way to restructure their financial lives. No one can put a ceiling on debt because no one can predict his future and neither can the country.
A Balanced Budget Amendment has been proposed by people who have no idea what it is to balance a budget. Ask the man or woman who feeds, clothes and houses a family on an uncertain job with an unsatisfactory income which is then taxed too much because the wealthy don't pay enough. That person knows how to balance a budget.
I worked for a few years at a small business. The owner faced up to and successfully met a payroll every two weeks. The Obama administration is trying to meet the nation's payroll. No one is telling the small business owner that he needs to cut back on heat and air conditioning and free coffee. Why is a bunch of amateurs trying to tell the President how to spend the money?
A Special Congress has been proposed to make recommendations for the full Congress to vote on without discussion. Why does anyone think that the squirming, dithering and unacceptable compromising that goes on in the big Congress isn't going to happen with a smaller group?
We hear of students being passed even though with failing grades and others cheating or being allowed and urged to cheat to pass so that a school will continue to be eligible for "No Child Left Behind." The child who dreamt that one up ought to have been left behind.
One of the big problems we face, and maybe the biggest, is unemployment. The country needs more jobs. When I became an adult it was a well known fact that the most important thing for a young person was to find a job. A university education was designed for that, vocational schools were designed for that. A respectable person had a respectable job. The country wants and needs to go back to work. That is the answer to our economic problems. If the huge corporations want a tax break then they should spend the money on creating jobs, not bonuses.
The regressive conservative ideas of shrivels, cut backs and cut outs, policies they would never apply to themselves, preventing the lower classes from even a simple attempt at a better standard of living, are slowly pushing the country in a direction they simply don't want it to go: more socialism.
It is said a revolution is underway. I don't know. I don't agree. I don't disagree. But big questions are being asked. Not who has the money, who has the power, who will get elected, who will get reelected, who's running? No. The big question now being asked is "Where is the intelligence?" "Where are the brains?" "Where are the adults?"
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)