Socialist Chic

We've been made clearly aware that the fashionistas and celebrats revel in the idea of socialist thought as expressed by Che shirts, Mao purses and a variety of capitalist ideas put to work using socialist, communist and fascist imagery. But it's free speech, right? Sure, but what message is it sending? I ask this because many of our college and high school aged citizens are blissfully unaware of what havoc was wrought on free speech under the likes of the USSR, GDR and countless other nations that imposed a narrow economic mindset on its citizens. When President Reagan said "Tear down that wall," he was speaking literally and figuratively. For years the nations that owed allegiance to the tyrannical power of the USSR held their citizens captive. There was no free speech, no free press, no organized dissent that was respectfully tolerated. Think Tiannemen Square. But then think back earlier to Czechosolvakia, to Bulgaria, to Yugoslavia. There's a reason that communism fell and continues to fall as China moves away from the narrow ideal of Mao.

But Hollywood, New York and Paris and their related celebrities haven't gotten the news. Such regimes would shut them down. They wouldn't tolerate the loose cannons like Sean Penn. Nor would they welcome the carefully couched criticism from George Clooney. They would lock these folks away. And that's not American. Or at least that wasn't the America that I grew up in. Yet today, there are those who think it's perfectly alright to limit someone else's free speech if it doesn't agree with your own. And they try to make such views chic by putting the images of the monsters who oppressed millions on wearing apparel. There is a certain level of irony here, but there is also a serious information disconnect. How can anyone wear on their body the image of a tyrant and not at some level promote the ideals of that person? And the bigger the celebrity, the more exposure.

Read more here

Excerpts

"...If you believe in the freedom of the press, the right to belong to a political party of your choice, the due process of law, and/or private property, then Che Guevara was a monster, plain and simple. But even with that knowledge, it's unlikely that Johnny Depp will get rid of his Che medallion. And it's unlikely that all the pseudo-hipsters who buy their Che T-shirts at Urban Outfitters will stop wearing them. No. These T-shirts send a message, which effectively boils down to this: I have vague left-wing sympathies but don't read history. I am educated enough to want nonconformity but not intelligent enough to avoid conformity. I believe in supporting the wretched of the earth but happily purchase products from multinational corporations..."

"...Cameron Diaz is not, of course, a communist. She's a ditz — that's her ideology. Her Mao bag was tasteless, not evil. And she's far from alone in her tastelessness. The coolest literary bar in New York is KGB in the East Village — the 92nd Street Y for young writers — and it's full of Soviet propaganda. In Toronto, I was once in a bar called Pravda that had, alongside Lenin and Che, a picture of Felix Dzerzhinsky on the wall: He founded the Cheka, Lenin's secret police, and described his own job as "organized terror." There are communist-chic bars and restaurants in Melbourne, Australia, and Singapore, too, and the trend has recently returned to its birthplace. In Berlin, the hotel Ostel re-creates, in minute detail, the experience of living under Soviet rule in the GDR. You check in at "Border Control." Images of party leaders stare down from the walls like the Big Brothers of yore, and Ostel even has a roll of GDR-era toilet paper under glass in the lobby. Hilarious. Nothing shows the defeat of tyranny more thoroughly than its reclamation by nostalgia...."

American Travesty

The linked story is to a fund raiser for the families of Ramos and Campeon. If you are unfamiliar with the case, these are two border guard charged in what amounts to a tainted trial of the shooting of a drug runner. The special prosecutor sealed key documents with the court's approval. When those documents were unsealed and shown to former jurors, they were appalled at the malfeasance and misplacement of justice. Now these families are suffering. They have lost everything. If you want to offer meaningful support, please consider donating to this cause. As for all the apologists for illegal immigrants everywhere, it's funny how emotional you are about keeping families together, but I guess that only applies to illegal immigrants, not citizens doing their jobs.

Everything You Know Is Wrong.

It's funny how politicians predicate their fortunes on what they perceive as a stable and unchanging economic fortunes. They assume that the poor folks they champion today will always be poor, and that the rich folks they villainize will always be rich. Well that's not exactly true. It seems that of men born in the bottom 25% of income, 32% of them end up in the top 25% of income. And vice versa. The Romans used to have a goddess called Fortuna, who was to be appeased for her flippant ways. Perhaps politicians would do well to recall that those they help now, may curse them down the road for punitive taxes.
Story here.
Excerpt-or how to be a high income wage earner:
"1. High-income households are not likely to consist of one person earning a very high income (as is often assumed); rather, they are likely to have two or more income earners:
-In 2006, a whopping 81.4 percent of families in the top income quintile had two or more people working, and only 2.2 percent had no one working.
-By contrast, only 12.6 percent of families in the bottom quintile had two or more people working; 39.2 percent had no one working.
(This is Important)-
The average number of earners per family for the top group was 2.16, almost three times the 0.76 average for the bottom.

2. Census data show a large difference in full-time work and in the number of weeks worked in a year.
-Less than one-third of families in the lowest quintile had a head of household working full-time; in the top quintile, more than three-fourths of families did.
-Thus, average families in the top group have many more weeks of work than those in the bottom and, in the late 1970s, the 12-to-1 total income ratio shrunk to only 2-to-1 per week of work, according to one analysis.

3. Workers tend to start out at a low income, increase their earnings with experience, and then have lower incomes late in their careers or in retirement. For example, peak earnings typically occur in the 35-to-54 age group. However:
-In the bottom income quintile, only one-third of households are headed by someone 35 to 54; whereas, in the top quintile, more than half of household heads are in that age range.
(I want you to consider seriously the large number of single parent families in certain demographic groups AND the much earlier age of first pregnancy for those single mothers-THIS more than anything is a predictor of poverty.)
-The bottom group also has a much larger proportion of household heads more than 75 years of age — 11.5 percent versus 2.3 percent for the top group.
(This is also the result of drug/alcohol abuse that has left many grandparents in charge of raising grandchildren. So the sex and drug revolution did produce some casualties.)
-The bottom also has more young heads of households ages 15 to 24 — 10 percent

So, if you want to be wealthy, get an education, don't do drugs or alcohol, and don't have babies out of wedlock. Gee, where have I heard this all before?

TAKS-ercize!

Now is the season of our discontent. In short, it's TAKS season in Texas. For those of you who don't live in Texas, or who do live in Texas and don't have children, this is the time of year when we cease teaching anything new and do the old standby's of drill and kill. This is the season when the TEA and the other "powers" decide to take children who can barely do average work due to language limitations or learning differences and put them into a normal classroom to take a test that make the average student cringe. I thought this is what special education programs were supposed to avoid. I thought we were supposed to "meet the learner at their place of knowledge." But obviously, I thought wrong.

As I have stated in other places, the TEA expects, no, it DEMANDS that we the teachers who administer the TAKS, be constantly roaming the room. I have equated this in other forums to a herd of antelope being stalked by a particularly hungry lion. You can fill in the species to your own content. I can understand the TEA not wanting the administrators to grade, or surf the internet or sleep during testing. But I think it's just a bit over the top to expect us to wander aimlessly watching every scratch and scribble that kids make on their test booklets. Since Lord Knows we can't beat them, I think I have found some ways to alleviate the mind-deadening boredom of test proctoring. It's called "TAKS-ercize!"

Based on the movements initiated sometime in the last century and practiced by countless middle aged women, the idea is to incorporate dance moves as you wander around the room. But the moves must be done slooooooooooooooooooooooowly.
1. The Slide-Begin with feet together, slide the right foot slowly to the right, bring the left foot together. Cross the room and then reverse direction.
2. The Slow Chaser-Point the right toe, reach with the foot to the right, step, then bring the left foot just behind it-second position for you ballet school dropouts.
3. Mini-Lunge-Slight bend the left knee, move the right foot six inches back placing the heel on the floor, bend the left knee slightly, then release. Repeat with other leg
4. The Pickup-Walk as you normal do, step forward but slowly push with your toe on the back foot. Change weight to your front foot and push the heel up about six inches.
5. Slow Grapevine-For those of you who know how to do the Grapevine step, do it slowly and with little steps. It's too complex to describe here.
6. Relevees-Slight raise up on your toes and then back down. Change the position of your feet to work different muscles.

I have to admit, I actually did some of these steps today. The kids never noticed, except for this one girl who is actually in one of my classes and who more or less expects this kind of behavior. For more ambitious folks here are some other ideas

1. Pick Up Sticks-Drop all the pencils and pick them up one by one. (note-not to be done with cleavage baring apparel or if you are over sixty.) For those living in warmer areas, consider picking them up with your toes.
2. Pencil Sharpener Lunge-(note-required equipment-an electric sharpener) Stand away from the sharpener. Take the pencil and jab it into the sharpner as you lunge. Change pencils and change legs.
3. Reverse Arm Raises-Lean against a desk, lower your body and push up with your arms. Don't overdo it.
4. Leg lifts-Stand behind podium or chair and lift you leg behind, alternating legs.
5. Dictionary/Thesaurus Armcurls-Use whatever reference material and use it as counterweight for armcurls. This will also visually reinforce the idea that knowledge makes you strong.

Polar Bears Extinct? Not Hardly.

The Greenies would have us believe that countless white fuzzy polar bears are drowning in the melting soup that the Arctic oceans have dissolved into. But as usual, there's just a little problem with the science fact over the science fiction which is being promoted by Al Gore, Greenpeace and countless other members of the Church of Global Warming. Thanks to this study, being brought to light by OrangePunch, we now know that like swirly bulbs being environmentally sound and hybrid cars getting 50 mpg, this is just more anarchist malarky designed to stampede the unknowing into supporting causes that have NO MERIT.

"Polar bear extinction? Not exactly.

February 21st, 2008 by mlandsbaum

From Mark Landsbaum

So, is global warming killing off polar bears? Don’t bet on it.

Despite the government poised to declare the polar bear the first species officially threatened by global warming, it turns out just the opposite is true.

U.S. polar bear populations aren’t declining. H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, says comprehensive research shows that since the 1970s, while much of the world was warming, the overall number of polar bears didn’t just increase, but increased dramatically.

Today there are about 25,000 of the furry white critters, more than any time in the 20th century.

Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund found that of the 20 polar bear populations worldwide, only two are decreasing. And guess what. Those are in areas where air temperatures have fallen, not risen.

So, we’re losing bears where it’s getting cooler. Hm. Not much to blame global warming for there.

There were two polar bear populations that have grown. But guess what. They live in areas were air temperatures have risen.

Hm. We’re getting more bears where it’s getting warmer.

In fact, evolutionary biologist and paleozoologist Susan Crockford, of Canada’s University of Victoria, says polar bears historically thrive when temperatures have been warmer than the temperatures we have today.

Yes, we know, it doesn’t fit the global warming story line. But that’s why we call it a “story line” and not a fact.

Tag, You're Out....The Sad Lives of Kids, Recess and Obsessive Adults

What is wrong with people? Earlier this year, I wrote a blog on whether we were a motherland or a fatherland? I repeat the question. What is going on here? It seems as if today's parents want guarantees that their child will be healthy, strong, smart, talented and rich. Life simply doesn't work like that. In earlier generations, people learned to worked BEYOND their capacities. They overcame shortfalls and learned to work around obstacles. Today we have a generation of parent who want their children hermetically sealed. Every surface is supposed to be germfree and every show is supposed to be educational. Is it any wonder that the phenomenon of childhood obesity and depression is growing? It appears that there is a virulent segment of the population that despises competition at any level. These are the same folks who wanted to get rid of juried art shows and simply give the scholarships based on a drawing. C'mon. At some point we have to be willing to say that there are some people that are basically better at some skills than others.

Perhaps the problems lie in our education system. Right now, I can walk down to a Bridging class where the majority of the students read one a third grade level or lower, and ask them what they will do upon graduation, and ALL of them will say they are going to college. I am not saying having aspirations beyond your skills is a bad thing, but we have to get over the idea that every kid who walks across the stage in May is entitled to go to college. Likewise, we need to get over the idea that a college degree qualifies someone for a job. Believe me, there are many people with degrees in my circle of acquaintances that are unfit for many jobs. And at what point did it get to be shameful to work with one's hands? I admire the man who can fix my air conditioner or car. We rely on the expertise of electricians, plumbers and carpenters. Yet seldom will you hear these jobs in the same breath with the aspirations of a high school student.

Something needs to change. We need to get away from elitist specialization and back to the basics of learning, living and loving. Perhaps it's our attachment to the internet, perhaps it's our shallow worship of all things celebrity, but whatever the cause, we must change direction soon. If not for our sake, or our kids sake, then for the kids down the road that will have to deal with the mess these approaches leave behind.