1/ An intelligent and challenging column from Thomas Friedman....if we want to solve the problems of underperforming schools, yes attention is needed to the schools and teachers but parents also need to take responsibility for their kids. The price of not getting a decent education is.....
” When kids drop out today, “they’re condemned to poverty and social failure.” There are barely any jobs left for someone with only a high school diploma, and that’s only valuable today if it has truly prepared you to go on to higher education without remediation — the only ticket to a decent job.
But the world is also getting tougher.....globalization is flattening business opportunities, technology has created a lot of jobs but eliminated many of the low end work that was done by the less educated.....so his point is this country needs to step up and work together to improve our educational system, otherwise we will continue the slow but inexorable decline in living standards.....and I don't know about you but I am deeply pessimistic about the chances of any of this happening.....
Beyond the recession, this triple whammy is one of the main reasons that middle-class wages have been stagnating. To overcome that, we need to enlist both the U.S.G. and the P.T.A. We need teachers and principals who are paid better for better performance, but also valued for their long hours and dedication to students and learning. We need better parents ready to hold their kids to higher standards of academic achievement. We need better students who come to school ready to learn, not to text. And to support all of this, we need an all-society effort — from the White House to the classroom to the living room — to nurture a culture of achievement and excellence.
2/ Elizabeth Warren - looks like she is the only hope for the middle class, and of course the Republicans are gunning for her bigtime. If President Weenie finds at least one cojone and fights for her we might have a chance of getting someone in the Government 1/ not corrupted by lobbyists....2/ not a wimp....3/ on the side of the middle class.......
Again, I'm pessimistic as the power of the oligarchs trying to get rid of her is overwhelming.....
Congressional Republicans are apparently intent on a big showdown with Elizabeth Warren, who is currently building up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
This is very good news for the White House, if they use this opportunity wisely.
Some Republicans seem to think that Ms. Warren is about “big government” or “intrusive regulation”. But this is not the case – Elizabeth Warren’s approach is much more appealing and already popular with almost everyone on right and left: Transparency.
Look carefully at Ms. Warren’s September speech to the Financial Services Roundtable and think about how this plays as a broader political message.
Her political principle is clear and completely compelling:
““…the best way, in my view, to strengthen those middle class families is to find solutions that are deep and lasting, that strengthen the markets, and that will create a robust, competitive consumer credit industry that works for families, not against them.”
3/ We've had quite a few columns, stories and commentary recently about income inequality and how this drains the energy out of this country and screws the middle class. Well this piece [especially for political junkies] on how the best hope, the only hope for the Bush tax cut decision is to persuade two Republicans to vote to keep the higher tax rate for millionaires. President Wimpo yesterday was bleating about bi-partisanship, common ground and all of the other BS he spouts but the reality is he is about to sell out the middle class again to benefit the wealthy.....
Al least you know where the Republicans stand - they make no pretense that they are doing the work of the oligarchs....oh and by the way they hate gays, Mexicans, abortions, Muslims and Obama.....just to crank up and distract the Fox voters.
The Democrats pretend to care about the middle class, but in the end jump to the same tune the oligarchs are singing.......as you can tell I am superdisillusioned these days...
Good article anyway from David Leonhardt......
If they cannot come up with a plan that can win 60 votes in the Senate, which means at least two Republican votes, Republicans can filibuster any bill. All of the tax cuts would then expire on Dec. 31. When the new Republican House majority arrives in January, it will be able to make its first order of business a retroactive tax cut — forcing President Obama and Senate Democrats to choose between a purely Republican plan and an across-the-board tax increase.
4/ Last week's TSA story discussed as a media event, and the story had a lot of hot buttons for TV, print, radio and blogs.....great analysis of why this was so popular - I've copied four of the reasons below, and he has another six.....no mention however of the corruption behind the story [Michael Chertoff]....but a most interesting article nonetheless.....
What made the T.S.A. story so sticky and irresistible, a nearly perfect Perfect Storm?
TIMING It arrived during a news season slowed by holidays (how many stories can you do speculating about which turkey will be pardoned by the president?) in the midst of the busiest travel weeks.
EXECUTION The government’s below-the-radar rollout of the new protocol (Memo to the T.S.A.: never sneak up on the American public) gave it a conspiratorial sheen.
MYSTERY The screening technology seemed ominous, yet cool — like the X-Ray specs advertisements on the backs of comic books that promised to allow you to see through clothing.
DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT At a time of incredibly fractionalized politics, the pat-down was a single issue we could all rally around.
Tom Tomorrow's take on the TSA.....[cartoon].....
5/ Movie review...."Inside Job".......a must see for anyone who wants to be aware of the reality of what happened to this country, and why......
Want to see one of the best true-crime flicks ever made? Go see Inside Job, a documentary about the financiers who turned our economy into a giant Ponzi scheme - enabled by a posse of politicians, regulators and academics beholden to Wall Street.
You might think you know this story, having lived through the financial crisis over the last two years. But filmmaker Charles Ferguson's masterpiece of cinema verite starkly connects the dots in a way that facilitates a full understanding of what happened, how it happened and who was responsible. You'll walk away informed and furious.
Ferguson, with precise narration by Matt Damon, takes you through the whole sordid mess, from the predatory mortgage lenders who drove up housing prices, to the Wall Street bankers who generated obscene bonuses for themselves by selling ticking-time-bomb mortgage-backed securities and derivatives, to the bought-off credit rating agencies, and finally to the politicians and government "regulators" who dismantled Depression-era limits on banks at the behest of their Wall Street pals, allowing the perfect crime to happen.
http://license.icopyright.net/You might think you know this story, having lived through the financial crisis over the last two years. But filmmaker Charles Ferguson's masterpiece of cinema verite starkly connects the dots in a way that facilitates a full understanding of what happened, how it happened and who was responsible. You'll walk away informed and furious.
Ferguson, with precise narration by Matt Damon, takes you through the whole sordid mess, from the predatory mortgage lenders who drove up housing prices, to the Wall Street bankers who generated obscene bonuses for themselves by selling ticking-time-bomb mortgage-backed securities and derivatives, to the bought-off credit rating agencies, and finally to the politicians and government "regulators" who dismantled Depression-era limits on banks at the behest of their Wall Street pals, allowing the perfect crime to happen.
The trailer for 'Inside Job"....I looked it up and it's not showing in Orlando, nor is it out on Netflix yet....put it in your queue....if any of our alert readers see it playing in Florida please drop me an email.....
6/ The ballet "Swan Lake" performed by the Chinese State Circus....it's ballet with a touch of "Cirque de Soleil"......4 minutes...oooohhh their poor feet!!!!!
7/ Here's a surprise - the Florida Legislature has a lot of millionaires.....think these guys care about you? Even the ones with negative assets only want to make money by selling out the middle class......
TALLAHASSEE -- With multi-millionaire Republican Rick Scott heading into the governor's office, Florida voters also are turning to a Legislature packed with millionaires to lead the state out of its long and deep economic trench.
A News Service of Florida review of financial disclosure reports filed by lawmakers shows that almost half of the Florida Senate and more than one-third of state House members have a net worth topping $1 million.
8/ "Tron" - the real trailer that sort of explains the plot.....looks really good......but let's wait for the reviews.....2 minutes.....December 17th and its in 3-D!!! Wow....
9/ Stephen King - a more detailed review of his new book "Full Dark, No Stars"......a good one, vintage King.....
The stories in “Full Dark, No Stars,” whose lengths range from 30-some pages to well over 100, are for the most part only lightly supernatural and deal, instead, with the unlovelier aspects of merely human behavior. Serial rape and murder figure prominently in two of these stories; in another, a man kills his wife and forces his teenage son to help him; and in the only fully fantastic tale here, a man purchases — from the Devil, of course — health and happiness at the too-affordable price of the ruin of his best friend’s family. It’s grim stuff, but that’s what readers expect of Stephen King. After all, he’s been in our faces for 40 years.
What’s amazing, and maybe a little unsettling, about King is the consistency of his purpose and his manner over that long stretch of time. He’s essentially the same grab-you-by-the-lapels literary showman he was in the pulpy, punchy horror stories he used to peddle to men’s magazines and, a bit later, in his early novels “Carrie” and “ Salem’s Lot.”
10/ Video compilation of bad stuff happening - 5 minutes.....wouldn't surprise me if half of these ended up in the hospital.....note - painful to watch!!!
Todays video - 3 reasons to quit drinking.....oooohhhh......
Todays irish joke
An Irishman goes into the confessional box after years of being away from the Church.
There's a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap. On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest
There's a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap. On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest
cigars and chocolates. Then the priest comes in.
"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to confession, but I must first admit that the
confessional box is much more inviting than it used to be." The priest replies:
"Get out. You're on my side."
Todays Cop joke
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Todays Engineer jokes
- Top 25 Engineering Terms and Expressions (What they say and what they really mean)
Customer satisfaction is believed to be assured. (We're so far behind schedule that the customer will settle for anything.)
Please see me / Let's discuss it. (I need your help. I've screwed up again.)
The project is in process. (It's so tied up in red tape that it's completely hopeless.)
We're trying a number of different approaches. (We still guessing, at this point.)
We're following the standard. (We've always done it this way.)
Close project coordination. (We met together and had coffee.)
Years of development. (It finally worked.)
Energy saving. (Turn off the power to save electricity.)
We'll have to abandon the entire concept. (The only person who understood the thing just quit.)
We had a major technological breakthrough. (It's boring, but it looks high tech.)
We're preparing a report with a fresh approach. (We just hired a couple of kids out of college.)
Preliminary operational tests proved inconclusive. (It blew up when we flipped the switch.)
Test results proved extremely gratifying. (Yahoo! It actually worked.)
Please read and initial. (We want to spread around the responsibility.)
Tell us what you are thinking. (We'll listen, but if it disagrees with what we've already done or are planning to do, forget it.)
Tell us your interpretation. (Let's hear your bull.)
We'll look into it. (Forget it! We've got so many other problems already, we'll never get to it.)
No maintenance. (If it breaks, we can't fix it.)
Low maintenance. (If it breaks, we're not likely able to fix it.)
All new. (None of the parts are interchangeable with the previous design.)
Rugged. (Needs major equipment to lift it.)
Robust. (More than rugged.)
Light weight. (A little less than rugged.)
Fax it to me. (I'm too lazy to write it down.)
I haven't gotten your email. (It's been days since I've checked my email.)
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