World’s Most Valuable Resource: Water
Thomas Friedman touts the ‘wonders’ of globalization in his highly popular book The World is Flat, however, globalization is not producing an economically ‘flat’ world, but one that is giving prosperity to a few and misery for billions of people in terms of their physical environment and quality of life. I lived in Istanbul, Turkey for five years. It is a city whose very existence is related to its crucial location on one of the major sea lanes in the world. When I went over the Bosporus (the strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara) on a…
“Be In Love With Love”
I have been married for 30 years…going on 31. And with Illinois poised to become the 10th state to recognize gay marriage, I feel I get to talk about marriage and marriage equality. Marriage is hard, staying together is hard, building a life together is hard…and everyone should have the opportunity to give it a go. The best advice I’ve read on keeping a love match going (which is “traditional” marriage for the last 100 years or so) came from two men who were together for 60(!) years. A series in the Oregonian newspaper called “Northwest Love Stories” highlighted their…
College, Rape, and Guns
This past Tuesday, during a Fox News Panel discussion about gun laws on college campuses, co-host Bob Beckel gave a shocking reminder that it is not only right-wingers who are out of touch with the prevalence of sexual assault in American society. When the discussion turned to the possibility of a woman defending herself in the case of rape, Beckel made a comment that made jaws drop all around the table: “When’s the last time you heard about rape on a college campus?” First, a fact check: according to the Department of Justice, about 25 percent of college women “will…
Something the NRA Doesn’t Want You to Know
Before the recent series of mass-shootings, the common wisdom in political circles was that the American people really didn’t want any new gun control laws and wouldn’t support any new efforts to enact them. The truth is, with all the other major issues our country has dealt with in recent years, gun control was certainly a low priority. While most Americans oppose an outright ban on all guns, the support for other gun control measures has been pretty steady since they started taking opinion polls in the 1930s. While not a complete list of all opinion polls conducted on the…
Never Challenge Worse
Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. – Thomas Paine “…and I’m never goin’ back to my old school.” – Steely Dan Comedian Bill Cosby used to say, “Never challenge worse.” Words of wisdom that I really try to keep close as I walk through life and all of its wonderful nonsense. Bill would continue, “never say it can’t get worse because worse is rough,” and he was right. Anytime you challenge worse, it will turn around and punch you in the mouth. Worse isn’t just rough, worse can be downright mean, y’know? Last spring,…
So Hopelessly Dumb
The traditional learning process implemented in many schools is largely a lie. Partially out of necessity, and partially out of fear of change, the American education system continues to adhere to the egg-crate mentality of teaching. Students continue to be grouped arbitrarily by age rather than ability, even though learner readiness can be easily assessed. Plus, subjects are still mostly taught in isolation, rather than in tandem. Worst of all, knowledge continues to be taught as a series of discreet skill sets with clear beginnings and ends. In essence, schools today are run as if learning is nothing more than…
No One at the Wheel: GOP’s Leadership Crisis
With the announcement this week that Sarah Palin will be speaking at this year’s CPAC conference, it’s more than apropos for us to sit down and talk a little bit about leadership. Lately, the state of the Republican Party has been discussed to seemingly no end, since their large margin loss in the November election. Still though, there seems to be a clear picture forming as one of the Right’s biggest issues: GOP lacks a clear and deliberate leader. Typically, following a lost election, the losing party’s candidate becomes that party’s de facto leader. This isn’t always the case as…
The Destructive Side Of Patriotism
Patriotism: the love and devotion to one’s country, the support and defense of one’s country. In other words, national loyalty. This sentiment is closely related to Nationalism, where a group of individuals strongly identify themselves with a nation based on political ideology, common cultural characteristics or even common religion and race. But where do we draw the line between patriotism and nationalism? A clear line cannot be drawn. There is a positive and destructive side to both patriotism and nationalism. Pride in the national language, attachment to the native soil, pride in the culture and history of the nation, are…
A Teacher’s Time
Statistics show that more than half of all teachers will leave the classroom in their first five years on the job. I taught high school English for six years and am steadfast in the knowledge that I became an excellent teacher. I also know that the demands of the job cannot make up for the price I had to pay. That price was time. Test scores or bonus pay rarely motivate performance. Many teachers feel drawn to the field because they seek to share a love of learning. The rewards of helping a student unlock their potential are undeniable. Yet,…
The State Of Our Union In 1:12
For the simplest of points to be made, this has taken all day to say, mostly because of the varied expletives that needed replacing. So here it is. Last night, during the President’s first State of the Union speech of his second term, there came a moment toward the end where he acknowledged a 102 year old Florida woman – Desiline Victor – who, on Election Day 2012, stood in line at her precinct for over three hours (she was first told it could take up to six, yet she insisted). All for the “privilege” to vote. The President asked…
“Cliff Notes” Version of: Why Are We in This Economic Mess?
Remember in high school when you didn’t want to struggle through Hamlet or Macbeth, you turned to the synopsis and criticism of Cliff Notes? I know I am dating myself, because nowadays students in high school and university acquire all the information from the Internet; which we all know holds irrefutable facts. What I will attempt to answer, in a simple manner like Cliff Notes, is the question: How did we get in this economic mess?: After the Economic Crisis of 2008, it was obvious that something had gone wrong. Banks had to be bailed out. Houses were lost. Unemployment…
Older Jobless Workers Face Unhealthy Bias
America’s latest economic crisis is paralyzing an entire generation. What should be done with the estimated 2 million older job seekers who often are the victims of subtle discrimination, but have no real legal ways to defend themselves? Sara Rix of the AARP’s Public Policy Institute said, in April 2012, that the job seekers 55 years old and above had been out of work for an average of 60 weeks; those under 55, an average 38.5 weeks. Meanwhile there is a push in Congress to raise the Medicare age to 67, which really is a way to cut Medicare benefits….
Here is Why Republicans Care About Benghazi
I’m beginning to understand why, for the past five months, Republicans in Congress and in the media have worked so hard to politicize the tragic deaths of our ambassador and 3 other diplomats in Benghazi, Libya. They went to great lengths to contrive conspiracy theories about the attack on the American consulate and President Obama’s supposed negligence or even complicity in the attack. Most recently, they use the tragedy to stall the nominations of Sen. Chuck Hagel and John Brennan for Secretary of Defense and CIA director posts. Contrast that behavior with how we all reacted to the worst terrorist…
Harry Reid: NRA’s Greatest Ally?
Yesterday, This Week With George Stephanopoulos aired an eye-opening interview (conducted just this past Friday) with Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV). I urge every Democrat, across the spectrum – whether you identity as moderate, center-left, liberal or progressive – to watch this interview. Even if you forward through to the discussion on gun proposals. What you will see is an evasive, whip-smart, sly and soft-speaking man (Elaine Benes would have called him a “low talker”) who does not stake out positions on much of anything. A man who single-handedly controls the public debate in this country. A man who…
Karl Rove Returns: The Quest For Party Unity
Karl Rove launches new American Crossroads Project – Conservatives and Republicans Cringe There is increasing talk regarding the “true conservative” as an endangered species. Now on the left, the talk is more centered on the Republican Party, as to many liberals and progressives, the GOP serves as the big tent under which the right wing gathers. However if that is the case, it would seem some groups are threatening to pull up the stakes and go home. Enter; The Conservative Victory Project. Ex Bush era Rasputin impersonator, Karl Rove has returned, again, and much like any bad b-movie horror franchise,…
Outgoing Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Deserves Praise for Reforming Department of Labor
Written By: Ryan Heron Guest Author Earlier this month word came down that Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis would be stepping down as head of the Federal Department of Labor. Solis leaves behind a record of reshaping and reforming the department to once again serve the interests of the working people of America, as it was intended. Solis will be a sorely missed voice of the working people in an administration that, much to the chagrin of many liberals, has been overly influenced by Wall Street and other members of the American plutocracy class. During her term as Secretary of…
Early First Quarter, and Not So Super: Unwatchable Political Football Courtesy of Team-GOP
While Gov. Mario Cuomo was reliably sharp and memorable when he told us ‘one campaigns in poetry but governs in prose,’ the early going in the first quarter of our Second Term Democracy Bowl may have many already yearning for the sweet diversion of those fabulous ads and a swell, horribly produced half-time show with potential partial nudity. Besting the former New York Governor in the poetry of motion and emotion, the President turned in an amazing inaugural day performance with his first series; elegant, tight spirals to numerous receivers, poise in the pocket and the courage to bring it….
TGFJL: McCain & Graham Bitter It Up Alone
“Thank God for Joe Lieberman”. Probably not a statement made by Al Gore. It was, however, directed (sharply) at former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), during his Senate confirmation hearing before the Armed Services Committee on Thursday, January 31. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), former Presidential nominee, former Maverick, forever the man who thought Sarah Palin was an acceptable choice to lead this country (and, judging by the many very large bulging veins McCain has been sporting lately, Palin could very well have been called upon). McCain castigated Chuck Hagel for his position on the Iraq War surge. He had to know,…
Why We Should Permanently Eliminate the 2% Payroll Tax Surcharge
Written by Sara Dustin Guest Author, Progressive Press A Washington Post article titled “The payroll tax hike wiped out a year’s worth of wage gains” reported that the restoration of the 2% payroll tax surcharge, as part of the fiscal cliff deal, will wipe out all of last year’s wage gains. Maybe the amount subtracted from each paycheck is small, but that is the minimum total amount of lost consumer spending. The ending of the payroll tax surcharge holiday will cost the struggling U.S. economy every year. Unfortunately, when Congressional Democrats extracted a small increase in the tax on the…
Gerrymandering: Funny Word, Dangerous Consequences
Gerrymandering is a practice of redrawing a district’s boundaries that favor one or more groups of voters and some candidates over others. The process is extremely partisan and has been exploited by both parties for political advantage. The United States is the only advanced democracy in the world where politicians directly participate in the redistricting process. Biased redistricting might not be the only cause of the problems in the U.S. political climate, but it has considerable negative affects. Districts divide states into geographical territories where most of the federal, state and local representatives and legislatives are elected from. Redistricting originally…
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