The New Education Program we need

Recently President Obama announced that he would entertain requests for waivers for some of the regulations of the so-called No Child Left Behind law.  Almost immediately several states announced they would be submitting those requests.  Oddly, those who have railed against the Department of Education and too many regulations immediately jumped to disagree with him...even though they had claimed that's what they wanted just days ago.

The reason for this change is pretty straightforward.  The law, as it is currently written and implemented, isn't working.  That's not to say it wasn't a good idea, it just doesn't seem to achieve the desired results.  However, as we've seen over the last few months, this isn't the Education problem we truly need to address.  The problem that is plaguing Education is the the total lack of Education of our elected Representatives.


This class is called Elections and Governance 101, and class is now in session.

On Strike? Well....maybe

For the past few months House Speaker John Boehner has continually told us that we need to lower taxes and cut regulations for the Job Creators if we want the jobs picture to improve.  He's been pretty vague about exactly who these Job Creators actually are, although he did invite ten of them to sit in his box during President Obama's recent address to Congress.

It's worth noting that the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which are one of the largest elements in the current deficit, are now ten years old, but somehow they hasn't inspired the Job Creators, so apparently we need to do more.  Now, Speaker Boehner has clarified the situation by stating that the Job Creators are on Strike.  Okay...now we know.

Wrong question...wrong answer!

At the so-called Tea Party debate on Tuesday night, moderator Wolf Blitzer posed the following question to candidate Ron Paul:

A healthy, 30-year-old young man has a good job, makes a good living, but decides: You know what? I'm not going to spend 200 or 300 dollars a month for health insurance, because I'm healthy; I don't need it,” Blitzer said. “But you know, something terrible happens; all of a sudden, he needs it. Who's going to pay for it, if he goes into a coma, for example? Who pays for that?

Candidate Paul responded:

What he should do is whatever he wants to do, and assume responsibility for himself.  My advice to him would have a major medical policy...

Then he added:

That's what freedom is all about: taking your own risks.

The moderator then pushed for a more specific answer:

But congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?

Before he could respond, someone (or more than one someone) in the audience responded yelling "Yeah!"

That's an interesting, and very revealing, response. However, it was the wrong question. Here's why.

Definition defined

First, let me follow up a little bit on the previous post.

Way back when, between 55 and 135 AD to be exact, there was a philosopher named Epictetus.  He was Roman, but got tossed out of Rome (along with all other philosophers) in 93 AD, and ended up in Greece.  He was born a slave, name unknown, but somehow managed to procure his freedom and took the name from the Greek word epiktetos (επικτητος)

Anyway, this guy was pretty bright, and he succinctly defined the whole issue the US is confronting this way.

What concerns me is not the way things are...but the way people think they are.

Meanwhile, back to the idea of Definition.

Its called a Con Game!

Way back when, the criminals of the world invented what became known as a Con Game.  The term is actually short for a Confidence Game.  In simple terms, the bad guy would get you to part with your money by presenting you with a "deal" and gaining your confidence.  It's pretty much like the great "You've got money waiting in Nigeria" email spam deal, but it was done face-to-face back then.

Well, that same game is going on again today, and it doesn't involve Nigerians.  It does, however, involve you!

With the economy in the dumpster, there are all kinds of opinions from all kinds of "economists" about what should be done.  However, if you ignore all the blather, they all agree on one thing: The economy will only improve when consumer confidence improves.

Ignore the DOW!

Almost without exception, every newscast includes a report on the DOW, which is shorthand for the Dow-Jones Industrial Average.  It is, supposedly, a measure of the performance of the stock market.  It’s not.  It’s a number that far too many people use to guide their lives, and far worse, their attitudes.  We need to ignore it.