National security is never this black and white… (Unfortunately!)

I was thinking about this the other day, and then I saw this re-posted.

Why would we need something like this? Russia? Religious fanatics? These are arguably the biggest threats to the U.S. in the visible future, and we don't need the level of tech to act as a deterrent for those folks. We can take Russia with a couple of F-18s and the religious fanatics? Well, I don't think these bad boys would have led to a different result in Iraq or Afghanistan.

So why? Of course, there is always the propping up of the military-industrial complex, but even that does not feel right. We've scrapped some systems in the last few years which tells me that this is not the main reason why we're moving ahead on this...

So that leaves, who? China.

Yes, right now we have each other right where we want each other, but they are a growing economic and technological superpower, and we may eventually end up in a cold war with them. These sorts of investments in military technology are not necessarily about meeting current threats, but about preparing for future threats, and we don't want to end up in a position where we don't have the best hardware in the world.

So, is this the time to be throwing that sort of money at a weapons system like this? Could it be better spent elsewhere? Probably. But we still live in a dangerous world and I, for one, know our relationship with the only real superpower left goes a lot better down the road if they know they can't take us militarily without one hell of a fight.

Hopefully we are moving towards a world where superpowers can co-exist without living in fear of each other, and we may be there all ready. But are we willing to bet our children or grandchildren's freedom on this?

It's a tough call and one that I am glad I do not have to make.

Ronald Reagan and Obama both said the same thing about taxes for the wealthy

Yes. Then again, Reagan would be way too liberal for the Republican Party these days. And Nixon would be burned at the stake as a liberal, transgendered, freak of nature, hippie, pagan, dirt eater... Eisenhower? We can't even go there. This is a family show. Sometimes.

Thanks to Aleshia on Facebook for spotting this clip.

This is not our grandparents' Republican Party...

Go Republicans! Another case of keeping millions unemployed to put one man out of work

Hint: Much of what we say about you pulling this crap is meant as a joke, not as a suggestion.

This...

Americans, unlike the Senate, approve of Obama’s jobs bill, poll says | The Ticket - Yahoo! News:

Senate Republicans Tuesday may have blocked President Obama's jobs bill, but a new poll suggests that's not what a majority of Americans want.
Nearly two-thirds of the respondents to a survey from NBC/Wall Street Journal voiced their approval when pollsters were told them the details of the president's "American Jobs Act"-- including that it would cut payroll taxes, fund new road construction, and extend unemployment benefits. NBC reports that 63 percent of respondents said they favored the bill, with just 32 percent opposing it.           'via Blog this'

...reminds me of this...

PS: I stole the second one from here: http://www.republicanjobcreation.com  It is worth a look.

An Occupy Wall Street / Occupy Together / Occupy Portland Grab-bag

I am not sure if an entirely valid comparison is made in this first video, comparing the Occupy Movement to the Arab Spring, the Civil Rights Movement, and Tienanmen Square, but it does provide some food for thought...

This does not mean that I agree with the actions of the NYPD highlighted in this video.  As a first hand witness to N30 in Seattle, I understand the police getting out of hand and turning these things ugly.

Portland police remove Occupy Portland protesters from downtown street | OregonLive.com:

But police and Mayor Sam Adams reassured protesters that the encampments that have taken over a pair of public squares will be allowed to remain indefinitely.

Portland police cleared Occupy Portland protesters from Southwest Third Avenue and Main Street shortly before 6 a.m., making eight, uneventful arrests.

Good Morning, Arrests: Police Clear Main Street, But Leave Camps Alone | Blogtown, PDX: 

Mayor Sam Adams wasn't exaggerating yesterday afternoon when he said he was running out of patience with a handful of Occupy Portlanders' occupation of SW Main Street. Before the morning commute, before 6AM, the O reports, officers emerged from the Justice Center, made some arrests and reopened the street.

The arrests came after the mayor's office and police bureau said yesterday they would wait for the Occupy Portland campers to try to settle the issue themselves at last night's general assembly meeting. But the group could only decide to leave one lane open—an offer Adams previously rejected.

Next, a video that discusses something I think could be a real possibility with the Occupy Movement, something that would be very good for democracy in America: bridging the anger from the left and the right to form a sane movement, with the numbers behind it, the true 99%, to really inspire some positive change in the system.

 Both sides are upset about many of the same issues, in general. They just have different ideas about who is to blame for the problem and how to fix them. It wouldn't be easy, and it would require the right setting aside the social issues and both sides accepting the will of a true democratic majority when it comes to federal practices and policies, but I think it would be an interesting step in a positive direction.

Uploaded by UpTakeVideo on Oct 6, 2011Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig offers his thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement. He compares it to the citizen uprising in Wisconsin and says that the occupy Wall Street movement might unify left and right against the corrupt influence of corporate money on politics.

Finally, this one, nominally, because it fits with the theme touched on above, but really because I like the hell out of it and it is spending more time stuck in my head than any other song right now...  Plus, some levity is a good thing after the first video.

Economists Like the Jobs Act a Lot More Than Congress - Yahoo! News

Economists Like the Jobs Act a Lot More Than Congress - Yahoo! News: "The news service surveyed economists and found them to be overwhelmingly positive on the jobs act, predicting anywhere from a 1.3 percent to a 2 percent boost to the nation's economy if it passes, preventing a recession in 2012. As the Washington Times' Steve Benen points out, "support for the American Jobs Act continues to be much stronger among economists than members of Congress." It gets even better for the White House: The economists Bloomberg surveyed said Republican plans would actually push the economy back toward recession. "

'via Blog this'

Elizabeth Warren and Class Warfare

Thank You, Elizabeth Warren!: "Progressives take note: THAT is how it is done. THAT is how you fight back hard, and THAT is how you defeat Fox News talking points. And THAT is why Warren has actually moved AHEAD of the Republican incumbent in this race."

'via Blog this'

Obama turns fire on Republicans - Yahoo! News

The President seems to be coming to the understanding that you can't win a baseball game when the other team is playing football. Or that you can't win a knife fight when you show up armed only with a 14 point agenda for negotiation based on mutual concessions made by both sides and a sincere desire for both sides to act with maturity and common sense.

Obama turns fire on Republicans - Yahoo! News: "The deficit-reduction speech President Obama delivered from the Rose Garden on Monday underscores the sharp strategic pivot he and his administration have made in the wake of the debt ceiling negotiations.

Call it lessons learned the hard way, or the necessary readjustment by a politician, but the Obama who spoke on Monday was in a far different place politically and stylistically from the president who tried to pull off a grand bargain with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in July and August.

Obama is a politician whose first instincts always have been to try to find ways to entice, cajole, reason with or otherwise produce cross-party consensus. On Monday, he continued a transition toward greater partisanship that began with his speech to a joint session of Congress two weeks ago.

Rarely has this president been as blunt in his challenges to the other party as he was on Monday. Rarely has he been so willing to draw lines in the sand. Rarely has he waved the threat of a veto with such emphasis.

Obama has gone from a president who talked openly about his willingness to rile his own party by making concessions on entitlements to get a deal with the Republicans to a politician determined to reconnect with his base as the two parties head into a new round of negotiations and an election campaign in which the stakes could not be higher."

'via Blog this'

5 Things Our Kids Won't Have In School | Cracked.com

Recess, p.e. class, textbooks, summer breaks, Valedictorians and other honors, and failing grades. Some of these, for parents with kids in school these days, well... We've seen the writing on the wall. Others, like the end of summer breaks, I've been hearing about since I was in school twenty years ago and it doesn't seem any closer than it did twenty years ago.

Using tablets and e-readers seems inevitable, but most of the other changes predicted by this writer do not, to me, feel like improvements.

The thing that is really killing us in our district is the budget cuts.  Already, the boys have nearly as many weeks with four school days as they do with five, and the district is having to cut five more days because of budget short falls.  We'll these dates will be announced when the district finished negotiating the timing with the teacher's union.

And these sorts of cuts are not recent.  At the end of the 2004-2005 school year, the Portland School District elementary school sent a survey around asking which staff member to lay off, the librarian, the p.p. teacher or the music teacher.  The school was already without a counselor.

At the end of the 2009-2010 school year, Gresham-Barlow S. D. was where Portland was five years earlier.

I don't think summer vacations are going away any time soon.  If anything, they are getting longer.  But it might be time to look at how all this down time is organized, though having all those long breaks would be murder on working, single parents.

Anyway, this article is not too deep, but it does have some entertaining food for thought...

5 Things Our Kids Won't Have In School | Cracked.com:

"You remember recess, right? It was that one time when you could ditch the desks and run around in a frenzied scramble like an extra-caffeinated Bosstone. Whether you spent your 20 minutes hurling dodge balls at dorks or cowering under the slides (to hide from the dodge balls), recess has been an institution for generations. And thank goodness for recess. At a time when kids are tripping over their guts and trailing their asses on the sidewalk behind them, a few minutes of physical activity can be just what the doctor ordered. Literally.

Going Away Because ...

Four little letters: NCLB.
For those of you who have been out of the school loop for the past decade, those letters stand for "No Child Left Behind," which has, for better or worse, done a serious number on American education. Here's why: In 2001, President Bush and Congress passed a law saying we had to get better at school, specifically reading, language arts, math and science. Fair enough."

And failing grades? I agree and disagree with the concept, much like the writer. As long as we are rewarding our kids for real work, not just being overprotective of their feelings or, even worse, creating a situation where it is possible to keep moving through the system without actually learning anything, which I've heard of happening too, because it is just too difficult to fail a kid or to hold them back for a year.

More from Cracked...

"Failure makes students feel bad. And nobody wants that, do they?

Which is why programs like Zeros Aren't Permitted (ZAP!) are getting implemented everywhere from California to Michigan. In a no-fail zone, students can get an A, B, C, D or H, which presumably stands for "Ha ha ha! You didn't think we would give you an F, did you??? Give us a hug, apple dumpling!"

Getty
"You kids write whatever the hell you want on these essays. Mr. Scotch and I don't judge."

Upon getting their H's, students have multiple opportunities to complete their work to the teacher's satisfaction; during study hall, after school or, in extreme cases, during Saturday school. We can mock the idea, but in some ways, it makes sense. After all, in the real world, you work until you get the task done. Quitting every time you failed at something would just get you fired.

Getty
"I totally messed up that appendectomy. Next time I'll make sure they don't want a sex change."

Plus, the goal of school isn't to sort the stupid from the smart, but to teach everybody as much as possible. For struggling students, zero after zero builds up into one great house of fail, and with no hope of recovery in sight. It should be about getting them caught up, not continuously reminding them of how stupid they are.

But as soon as we defend it, it gets ridiculous again: There are places where red ink has been banned when writing grades because it's too "confrontational" and "threatening." We don't want to embarrass anyone, so let's just say that the country in question rhymes with "England."

No pressure.

'via Blog this'