Education

Public education is important to a healthy society and must be defended against the assault of those who would undermine an American institution. There are two main factions responsible for the ongoing war against public education. The first faction are the free-market madmen who seek to privatize everything possible so that they are able to squeeze profit. The second faction is composed of religious fundamentalists who are opposed to a separation of church and state because they feel threatened by science.

Here is a short article listing a few of the players involved. You can click here for a longer article from the print of dissent.

I just got a little education about hate groups. They're becoming more popular.

and there is this about the damn democrats

Principles and economies

Could we really build an economy on ten principles? It would be nice, but somehow I doubt that certain powers that be would welcome such a change. Heck, it looks like Elizabeth Warren will have to use the back door to get into a new office.

"Students are screwed. Republicans are undermining public education in America. All around the country – Republican governors are pillaging their state’s education budgets – siphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars from public education and moving that money into voucher programs. These voucher programs even give corporations dollar-for-dollar tax breaks to give families a voucher to send their student to a charter school or a private religious school.

So the government – through corporate middlemen – is funding religious schools. In Wisconsin – Governor Scott Walker is slashing $900 million out of his education budget and adding $750 million to a school voucher program. Likewise – in New Jersey – Governor Chris Christie cut $820 million out of his education budget last year – then created an $825 million school voucher program this year. Since Reagan – Republicans have been trying to kneecap public education in America – just so corporate CEOs and churches can turn education into a big business.

Thomas Jefferson devoted his life to free, public education available to everyone in America rich or poor. But today – Republicans are turning their back on our most influential founding father."

Thom Hartmann

Oh dear, it looks like we may have hit peak oil production 5 years ago....

clouds

It's a cloudy day with rain on the way which gives me a break from the wage slavery. The good news is that I'm more familiar with what a word cloud is.

So, where do I go from here? Might as well go big...try the world bankers

not quite what I was looking for, but it's a portal.

You might find this to be a little more Enlightening

Affliction

This was the busiest and deadliest tornado month on record. It's what the science predicted, greater climatic instability with bigger storms due to more energy in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, denial of climate change is at an all time high in this country thanks to propaganda produced from the efforts of the big polluters.

President Obama released the long form of his birth certificate because those crazy birthers just can't handle reality. The Donald has been quite outspoken about it and should be a national embarrassment. Perhaps he is who we need in the White House, if you believe this country is in dire financial straits, because he knows how to handle bankruptcy. He's the only guy that could fail a casino...

What do these things have in common? They serve to illustrate that there is a percentage of the population who pose a significant problem. I estimate 20 -25% of the US population is afflicted with a yet un-named mental disorder that poses a serious long-term threat to the welfare of society and the ecosystem. Oh dear, it looks like there are more than I estimated.

How are these people a hazard? It is because they support the true evil that drives civilization to the brink of disaster.

There are those who will argue that I exaggerate. Evil? Disaster?
Sadly, it is no exaggeration.

Human selection is now as powerful as natural selection and our selective process isn't wise. Humanity's collective actions have precipitated the sixth mass extinction. It's a really, really big deal. Future generations are going to endure nearly unimaginable tragedies.

The mass delusion feeds the corruption and we can now witness fascism taking root in our own country that was once the beacon of hope around the world. Police even arrested teen-mothers and took children into custody for staging a peaceful protest.

What do all of these things have in common? Conservative right wingers.

The political right is so awfully wrong for the well-being of all. The Founding Fathers would have hated them.

Truth and Consequences

It can occasionally be difficult to know what is true, at least for some people. Especially in these times of mass media and the politicization of just about everything. It's nice to know that there are some people dedicated to checking the facts, like Politifact. I'm sure that there are plenty of others who just won't believe anything from those fact-checking people because of a bias. Heck, the truth (facts) can often reinforce ignorance and generate backlash.

The Main Street Movement seems to know what's going on, but there are still a lot of tea-baggers supporting the wrong people. It's not surprising considering that misinforming people is perfectly legal. It's not surprising that some people are really pissed-off and threatening to fight for justice by any means necessary.

I've been thinking about violence, reevaluating my attitudes. This April may have been the busiest tornado season on record. Those are violent acts of nature and the science postulates that natures devastation should increase with global warming.

It's hard to save the world when we have real life fascists right in our own backyards.

Maybe I should forget about all this stuff and take a hike.

Outta sight outta mind, huh? Mind control.

It's killing me

Oil kills and it really sucks that we have to go to a foreign source to find out what's going on because our own media outlets are protecting their interests at the dire expenses to our health and environment.

I'm glad that I don't live in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm leery of eating seafood because of contamination. Now I fear for the salmon even more than before I heard of this.

There's just too much to keep up with. S&P has given a warning which ought to freak out a bunch of us so we loose sight of all of the other problems. You might want to check with sources in Australia or India or Maine for that story.

I didn't see any coverage of Power Shift 2011 by the corporate overlords either. There have been plenty other acts of civil disobedience that have been happening which haven't received attention either. Much smaller groups of tea partiers get good coverage though.

psychos and stuff

I've often stated that it is difficult to be truly sane when one lives in an insane society. Perhaps it is impossible.
There is ample material concerning individual psychopathology, but not too much about group or mass pathologies. How about political evils? It looks like someone has done some homework, but all too few will ever educate themselves about Political Ponerology.
Thanks to that site, I'm now aware of Carolyn Baker.
Thanks to her, I'm now aware of Richard Heinberg and a transition culture.
and a post carbon institute
It's a nice thought, maybe...a post carbon world, but there's going to be a lot more spilling of
Blood and Oil before we get there.