We’re still waiting

Ted Folkert

Waiting for what, you ask?

We are waiting for the candidates for president of the United States to tell what they stand for, how are they going to fix all of the problems with the country that they are so anxious to point out, what would be their objectives as president, how they plan to administer the office of president, what would be the cost of their supposed programs that will make life better for all and correct all of the ills and evils that we have been encumbered with up until now, what should be the foreign policy, what taxation and spending is proposed, how they will improve education, how they will make education affordable for all, if they think education should be available for all, how much bigger and more expansive should our military be, how to control the galloping cost of housing, how to make health care uniform for all, if they think health care should be uniform and affordable for all, how can we correct the dangerous income and wealth inequality which is reaching an economically dangerous level and leading to an oligarchic economy and government, how we can rebuild the decaying infrastructure of our country – the roads, highways, air traffic control systems, a sustainable water supply for the nation, police and fire protection, emergency treatment centers – all of the above which are suffering from obsolescence and insufficiency – all of the above having been ignored by our elected officials who spend most of their time raising funds for reelection instead of legislating, as we hired them to do, how they plan to get the big money out of politics so that everyone has a vote that counts, so that we can have a government that Lincoln talked about – of, by, and for all of the people, how we can control the outrageous increases in the cost of pharmaceuticals so that everyone can have access to them, how they plan to placate environmental concerns, take steps to control the effects of climate change, how to protect our limited essential resources, how to face the scientifically acknowledged environmental concerns and scarce resource challenges that endanger the habitability of the planet for future generations.

This is what we are waiting for.

What we have mostly heard thus far, with the partial exception of Bernie Sanders, is that all of the other candidates are lying, cheating, stealing, misleading, telling us what they think we want to hear, pointing out the fallacies in the statements of their opponents and their misguided and devastating pronouncements. And what we hear from them is “when I was governor”, or “when I was a senator”, or “when I voted”, or “when he or she voted”, or “people are saying”, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And from the GOP candidates, mostly what we hear is how bad, dishonest, misguided, uninformed, incompetent, and so forth, and so on, that Obama is, and how much better they would be for the country. Of course, what they don’t seem to be aware of is that Obama is not running in this race. And they seem to be unaware of Obama’s high approval rating with the American people. And they seem to be unaware of the sick economy left for Obama by the Bush Cheney wrecking crew who destroyed our economy, along with the prior assistance of Bill Clinton who gave the avaricious Wall Street financiers what they wanted, the ability to take our deposits and gamble with them like drunken crap shooters. The only one who seems to realize Obama’s current approval ratings is Hillary Clinton, who has backed off of criticizing him now, after her statements regarding military policies in the Middle East, and portrays herself as having been his primary advisor for the past seven years on everything that is universally considered an accomplishment – like they are joined at the hip, best buddies who saved the world. And the candidates seem to be unaware of the growing economy, the job creation, and the improved financial condition of our financial institutions since Obama took office.

Unaware is too kind of a word. They aren’t unaware, they are playing the magician’s game, sleight of hand, look over here, not over there, listen to what I say, not what I mean. They never let the facts get in the way of personal political progress.

So, I don’t know about you, but for me, if any of them want my support or vote, they should answer all of the questions in paragraph one above. Otherwise, how would we know in whom to place our trust? A frightening thought at best.

We’re still waiting!

Think about it!

Ronald Reagan Revisited

February 10, 2016

The Republican candidates for most any office in the country always try to tie themselves to the coattails of Ronald Reagan. In their every speech they deify the movie actor, cowboy, radio broadcast spokesperson for GE’s right-wing conspiracy, California governor, President of the United States, and then terminator of the prospering middle class economy which prevailed when he was crowned king of the free world in 1980.

Thanks to Linda Pierce for sending me this compelling article by SemDem from February 7^th in the Daily Kos: Obama v. Reagan: Fun Comparison I Did To Piss Off Wingnuts on Reagan’s B-day

Quotes from the article:

“Imagine a world that never knew Ronald Reagan:

“No Scalia, No Rumsfeld, No Cheney.  No Bushes and all of their appointments and disasters.  No funding of dictators like Saddam Hussein (Reagan propped him up big time) or psychopaths like Osama Bin Laden (that worked out well).

“…. a healthy economy with a strong middle class instead of a world where the labor movement has been viciously attacked, and the middle class is systematically being dismantled.  Under Reagan, corporations gained massive power to the point today where they have become “people”.  Unions, the worker’s last protection, were severely weakened, and the socioeconomic gap exploded.  He also bankrupted us, pouring hundreds of billions into wasteful spending, like the failed and ridiculous Star Wars missile-defense system.   All in just 8 short years.

“Reagan created the modern plutocracy. He introduced us to the whole “take from the poor, give to the rich” supply-side economics that we still suffer today.  He turned compassion to the less fortunate to villainization…  created the mythical “welfare queen”, mocked AIDS patients, and let his fellow “Christians” know it was okay to belittle the homeless.

“REAGAN:
“He got through a big tax cut once he took office. But to hear conservatives talk, that’s where the story ends. They forget he raised income taxes in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987.

“Actually, he raised taxes 11 times to include four MASSIVE tax increases!

“DEFICIT SPENDING
“REAGAN:
“Whether you are looking at the economic policies of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, reining in the deficit was clearly of no concern. Reagan tripled the Gross Federal Debt, from $900 billion to $2.7 trillion. Ford and Carter in their combined terms could only double it. It took 31 years to accomplish the first postwar debt tripling, yet Reagan did it in eight. Reagan soared the spending, Clinton brought in back down a bit, and W. took it way back up.  To be fair to the Gipper, NO ONE did deficit like W.  He spent the Clinton surplus like a drunken sailor.  And by the way, Obama’s spending initiatives were less than half of his predecessor.

“UPDATE:  From politifact, Obama has cut the national deficit in half!”

“REAGAN:
“Reagan APPEASED terrorists.  He ignored their atrocities and spent taxpayer dollars to train, arm, equip, fund and overall coddle Islamist mujahidin fighters in Afghanistan for his proxy war with the Soviets. He is directly responsible for making a terrorist kingpin out of Osama Bin Laden. Reagan loved him some Taliban:

“But all I really need to say is two words:  IRAN-CONTRA.  Reagan was so bad he SECRETLY TRADED arms for HOSTAGES!  DO I really need to say more??  Can you just imagine the wingnut explosion if Obama did that?

“Reagan also met with our enemies without preconditions (1985, Soviet Union)… something that Obama was attacked for saying he just wanted to do.   But again, giving weapons to terrorists pretty much takes the cake. “

If Republican candidates want to deify someone who they can claim as their own they should start with Theodore Roosevelt, the trust buster and environmental savior, and end with Dwight Eisenhower, for his brilliant military career under the most challenging circumstances imaginable. But no, they want to be like the Gipper, the guy whose favorite whine about anyone who opposed him was: “there they go again”.

He was successful in fulfilling his dream – which was destroying the bargaining power of the working class and launching the rise of the rich and powerful, those who he knew were destined to own and rule the world. And he set the stage for packing the Supreme Court with right-wing nuts who continue to enable our slide toward oligarchy.

Think about it!

Diamond in the Rough – Expose’ of Ineptness

Ted Folkert

January 19, 2016

“The Hightower Lowdown” – it’s the name of a publication. It is also an expose’ of ineptness. Ineptness – doing nothing – see no evil, hear no evil – a disease that we allow to fester, a contagious, infectious disease which only we can cure.

The Hightower Lowdown jumps out at you in a pile of mail, like a “diamond in the rough.” You pull it out and lay it in safe keeping. You know it is going to be a dose of reality, something you know is going to both cheer you up and make you angrier. Cheer you up because of the penetrating, revealing, disclosing, accusatory – yet erudite, yet clever, yet courageous manner that the subject matter is presented. Make you angrier because of the reminder and exposure of the pathetic governance we have allowed to destroy any hope of equality of opportunity, of distribution of the benefits of the abundant society that we have all created with our contributions to the common good – a sharing of living standards, nutrition, education, health care, and reasonable assistance for those who need a lift.

Jim Hightower writes a monthly message which should be required reading for all. He gives us the true facts and figures, the undisclosed realities of governance, the names of the culprits, the wrongs they have done, the crimes they committed, the sleight of hand, the smoke and mirrors, the self-servitude, the avariciousness.

If you read him in depth, he is inspiring. He makes you want to go out and hunt the culprits down and bring them to justice. And at the same time he makes us chuckle in dismay at the idiocy of our own enabling of these unrepentant and untreated addicts of wealth and power. We enable them on election-day as we vote against our best interest – again and again and again. We enable them when we fail to speak out as we listen to the misguided and idiotic messages of those who are brainwashed by the spokespeople for the rich and powerful, no matter how abhorrent it seems to those of us who strive for equality for the common good.

Hightower’s latest offering of his political acumen talks about the Bernie Sanders campaign for president. He talks about his encounter with an unnamed Democratic campaign consultant who stated about Bernie that “his chances are slim and none and Slim doesn’t live in Bernie’s precinct”, and “who’s gonna vote for some old senator from a tiny state of Birkenstock wearers – plus, he is some sort of socialist and he’s Jewish.”

Hightower goes on to state that the ‘“Sander’s Sensation”, a vibrant grassroots uprising has already shattered the Democratic Party Establishment’s holy myth that corporate centrism and SuperPAC money are the only means of victory.” That “stupendous crowds are streaming into arenas all around the country to hear Bernie’s fact-studded speeches…”

Hightower quotes Sanders: “I am not running to fulfill some long-held ambition. I never believed that I would ever become a mayor, a congressman or a United States senator. I am running for one simple reason: This country today is facing extraordinary crises in terms of climate change, income and wealth inequality; in terms of a political system which is now corrupt and leading toward oligarchy; in terms of the middle class; in terms of more people in jail than any other country on Earth, and in terms of an immigration policy which is clearly broken. I just do not believe that establishment politics are going to address these issues… we need millions of people to stand up and fight back.”

This is just one example of the political brilliance of Jim Hightower and his tenacious and tireless dedication to better government. He presents his case, including the irrefutable facts to back it up. He exposes the culprits. He calls em-like-he-sees-em, with his candid, take-no-prisoners style.

An expose’ of ineptness, a diamond in the rough.

Read the article: Can an unabashedly progressive presidential campaign actually win this November?

Subscribe to Hightower Lowdown: http://hightowerlowdown.org.

I think you will be glad you did.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – 2016

“Everybody Deserves a Shot” – Alexander Hamilton and Sam Phillips

By: Lonnie Shalton

In this 15th annual message for the Martin Luther King holiday, my inspiration comes from having seen Hamilton, a truly revolutionary Broadway show, and from reading a new biography by Peter Guralnick: Sam Phillips, The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll.

The theme: Everybody deserves a shot! Including, but in no way limited to: Jackie Robinson to play ball in the major leagues; Alexander Hamilton and other immigrants to become part of the identity of the country; black musicians to play to a wider audience; Nelson Mandela to lead his country; Martin Luther King to get to the mountaintop; Rosa Parks, John Lewis and all African-Americans to have equal rights and social justice in the promised land.

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote, directed and plays the title role in Hamilton, a musical that Miranda wrote after reading Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton. Miranda’s distilling of the 700-page book into a 3-hour musical is pure genius. The story begins in the West Indies where Hamilton was born out of wedlock to a father who abandoned him and a mother who died when he was young. At age 17, he immigrated to the colonies to get an education and later found himself immersed in the Revolutionary cause. There was some skepticism about Hamilton from the then white establishment, or as Aaron Burr raps in the show: “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman / Dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean / By providence impoverished, in squalor / Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” Hamilton’s friend John Laurens responds “The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father / got a lot farther by working a lot harder / by being a lot smarter / by being a selfstarter.” And, as exclaimed by Hamilton: “Hey yo, I’m just like my country / I’m young, scrappy and hungry / and I’m not throwing away my shot!” Nothing I write here can accurately communicate the brilliance of Miranda’s music, so please take a 5-minute break for an enchanting rhyming history lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze4WsL5prPE.

Who knew that forming a new nation could be so well told by rapping Founding Fathers in a hip-hop medium that borrows from R&B, jazz, pop and Broadway? Music as diverse as the country. A cast primarily featuring blacks and Latinos as the Founding Fathers. But the music, lyrics, staging and performances are so compelling that you don’t even notice that. You listen and watch and get caught up in the spirit of those extraordinary times. Miranda’s take is that Alexander Hamilton and the other Founding Fathers belong to all of us – all colors, ethnicities, etc. It is an all-American identity that is being portrayed, and the multiracial casting is a modern day version of the diversity of the immigrants who lived in the thirteen colonies.

The use of rap and hip hop in Hamilton has a parallel with the genre of music that evolved during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement – rock ‘n’ roll. For this anecdote, I turn to the Sam Phillips story. Early in life, Sam was drawn to the rhythms of black music and believed that the world was missing out on “hearing a black man pick a guitar and pat his foot and put a wood box under his foot as he sings…I’ve just got to open me a little recording studio, where I can at least experiment with this overlooked humanity…I knew the physical separation of the races – but I knew the integration of their souls.” In 1950, Sam opened his Memphis Recording Studio at 706 Union, primarily to provide a venue for black artists to record masters to send to record companies for potential distribution. He wanted to give these artists their shot. To keep the doors open in the early days, Sam also used his equipment to record funerals and weddings and to let people walk in to record personal messages.

Some of Sam’s artists did get record deals, including Riley (later B.B.) King and Ike (before Tina) Turner. In March of 1951, Sam recorded Ike’s band playing “Rocket 88” and the master was picked up by Chess Records. Sam nor Chess would have guessed at the time, but that record is now considered by many to be the first rock ‘n’ roll record. It went to the top of the R&B charts and enhanced Sam’s reputation as a music producer. In 1952, Sam started his own record label, the legendary Sun Records, and he initially enjoyed some regional success. The music was still not universally accepted – segregation was not just the rule at the lunch counters, but also on most radio stations and on the Billboard charts. Country and pop for whites; rhythm and blues for blacks. But change was in the air. Sam and others in the business were finding that an unexpected number of young white listeners were tuning in to deejays playing and giving a shot to “race music” – two of the earliest were Sam’s friend Dewey Phillips in Memphis and Alan Freed in Cleveland.

Serendipity intervened in the summer of 1953. A truck driver with a guitar came into Sam’s studio, paid his $4 and cut a “personal” record for his mother. It was Elvis Presley. He got his shot. The rest is history. Elvis and artists like Bill Haley and Buddy Holly became the white side of what Alan Freed had coined as rock ‘n’ roll. The juggernaut took over the charts with white and black artists crossing over to country, pop and rhythm and blues. In an ironic twist, Sam had made a big advance in his goal of bringing the soul of black music to a universal audience – by recording a white truck driver from Mississippi. When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named its first class in 1986 (Elvis, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, etc.), there were two “non-performers” inducted: Sam Phillips and Alan Freed.

Sam Phillips’ desire to give black musicians their shot had the side effect of giving a shot to the likes of Elvis Presley who was followed at Sun Records by Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. Equal opportunity for the right reasons. If only it always worked that way. When Barak Obama was elected in 2008, there was talk of a post-racism America. Our Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver presciently warned in a Washington Post Op-Ed that “Race relations in America are far from sublime. Despite Obama’s election, there are still Americans who, like the ole Missouri mule, are awful backward about going forward. It would be absurd not to expect high-profile acts of racism to continue to occur, just as always.” The newspapers and the internet remind us almost daily that this remains the case: shootings, the Confederate flag, incarceration numbers and too much more.

The most eloquent read on this for me this past year was Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me. The book is addressed to his 14-year-old son and Coates somberly warns “In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body – it is heritage.” This may seem like a harsh assessment, but Hamilton touches on the sad exception made by the Founding Fathers on giving everyone a shot – the nation’s original sin of slavery: “But we’ll never be truly free / Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me.” Miranda imagines an exchange between Jefferson and Hamilton: (TJ) “In Virginia we plant seeds in the ground / We create. You just want to move our money around.” (AH) Thomas. That was a really nice declaration / Welcome to the present, we’re running a real nation / Would you like to join us, or stay mellow / Doin’ whatever the hell it is you do at Monticello / Yeah, keep ranting / We know who’s really doing the planting.” Touché.

So, as you approach this MLK holiday, please celebrate the music of Hamilton and Sam Phillips, but also reflect on the words of Martin Luther King: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Or as Lin-Manuel Miranda might paraphrase: EVERYBODY DESERVES A SHOT!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7rcAVy6sh8 (4 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaSD7NY3SCo (1 minute)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOdWU-EnOEk (1 minute)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0mhgyTgxtw (2.5 minutes)

Sleeping Outdoors

Ted Folkert

January 8, 2016

The case of “homelessness” seems to draw publicity in spurts in this world of ours. And, of course, the spurts come more frequently when the homeless make their “home” in good neighborhoods, where unhappy voices get the attention of the powers that be, or popular commercial areas, where the rent isn’t cheap and the angry voices mean something to the powers that be.

Some of those who we call homeless don’t consider themselves homeless. They consider wherever they are sleeping their home. And they consider those sleeping nearby their neighbors, just like we consider those in the houses nearby our neighbors. Maybe homeless isn’t the right word. Maybe it should be called “sleeping outdoors”. And this is the way those we call homeless live, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few months or years, sometimes for decades – outdoors with no roof and no walls around them.

So, what are the problems created by those who live outdoors in the minds of those of us who live indoors. Unsightly, unsanitary, uncleanly, unsafe, un-secure, unhealthful, untrustworthy, undesirable – all of the “uns.”

The authorities always make sounds like they want to cure the problem. Especially when it hits the front page. Unfortunately, the causes or choices of homelessness are so varied that there isn’t one cure that will solve all of the incidences of homelessness. The most daunting call for a cure concerns homeless veterans – those who served in military conflicts and returned home with physical or mental problems. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make it to the front page often and doesn’t generate campaign funds for our fearless leaders, so it gets little attention. So, the story doesn’t get any legs and everyone forgets about it until the next time it comes up and another desperate plea for a cure is heard loud and clear.

What are the conditions that cause people to live outdoors? We can think of a few:

• Mental illness causing unemployment
• Physical conditions causing unemployment
• Alcohol addiction causing unemployment
• Drug addiction causing unemployment
• Unemployment or underemployment in general
• Criminal records causing unemployment
• Retirement with inadequate funds for both eating and sleeping indoors
• Employment with inadequate funds for both eating and sleeping indoors
• Unaffordable rent escalations without achievable alternatives
• Poor credit history rendering one unworthy of tenancy
• And many more

So, now comes the big question: If we don’t allow them to live outdoors, and one of the above reasons prevents them from living indoors, what are their alternatives? Well, if you can’t live outdoors and you can’t live indoors, you just simply can’t live. But, at least for a while they just move on. So, what do they do when they are told to move on? They move on and camp outdoors in another place until they are told to move on, and then they do it again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And in many cases their encampment of neighbors moves on with them and establishes a new encampment, again and again and again and again.

Many of those who have become accustomed to living outdoors prefer to continue to do so. The advantages for them? – Staying with their community, no rules to follow, alcohol or drug use without restrictions or lawbreaking, no responsibilities, ability to eat and drink on whatever assistance they receive without demands for funding their living quarters.

The unsung heroes for relief or treatment for those sleeping outdoors are the county employees who work the areas where they gather for company or security – skid row and areas like skid row. These dedicated servants deal face-to-face with those sleeping outdoors on an everyday basis. They offer them medical treatment, food stamps, detoxification, or shelter, but these services don’t solve the problem because they will still be sleeping outdoors – with inadequate nourishment, no healthcare, insufficient hygiene, and no likelihood of sleeping indoors.

The Los Angeles Times recently reported that there are more than 44,000 homeless in Los Angeles County, with 26,000 of them in the City of Los Angeles, which has been designated the “homeless capital of the country.” The number of veterans among them numbered 4,400. It has been estimated that there are 116,000 homeless people in California.

The noise got loud enough to awaken some politicians temporarily. There have been suggestions of spending $2 billion over 10 years to build permanent housing for mentally ill, $26 million to re-house homeless families, $11 million for short term housing for people who were institutionalized, $8 million to house homeless while they apply for federal benefits, $200 million for temporary rent subsidies, perhaps building 10,000 or more housing units for our 116,000 homeless in California.

Blah, blah, blah, blah – how long have we been hearing all this? All talk, no action!

You know, this situation didn’t just happen. No, it has existed forever. It is no secret. However, those sleeping outdoors become invisible to our leaders because they don’t want to deal with it. Those sleeping outdoors become invisible to us because we don’t want to acknowledge it. It is easier to ignore it. At least until the encampments move on to an area where the voices get the leaders attention. Then it becomes a big problem again and again and again and again. And then it becomes invisible again and again and again.

But the fact is, everybody knows. Like Leonard Cohen sings “everybody knows the war is over and the good guys lost”.

Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times writes about this situation often. He visits these areas where they sleep outdoors and talks to those who reside there. He tells their stories, like Nathaniel Ayers, the mentally ill and gifted cello player he discovered under a bridge playing a broken cello years ago and his struggle to convince him to live indoors again

My friend who works for the agency that deals with those living on the streets tells stories about her experiences with them in trying to bridge the gap of needless to needing, in trying to provide services to assist them in restoring health and finding shelter. She talks of working with one individual for three years who had sat on a bench isolated for thirty years and it took her months to get him into services he needed. She talks of some addicts who have crippling skin diseases and yet deny health care.

In her words: “I walk down the streets of skid row, with my partner, and walk by a person and ask if they need services and they say no. Get out of my face, move along. And that’s putting it nicely. But, the home team that I work with are the only ones that know how to engage with the homeless, they know their job and have experience to do it. First of all, the ability to provide resources for such individuals is not made over night. It takes months. And to think that the resources are readily available in so far as something that a human being would accept is preposterous.”

“You can’t just walk down the middle of skid row and ask a cracked out pregnant woman if she wants services. It doesn’t work that way. It takes time to have a civilian make an honest communication that is understood by the other end to start a conversation of help and change.”

“Slowly build relationships with the folks on skid row so they trust you enough to have assurance that your services are right for them.”

“Once you have a team of people that have built a foundation of trust going in there, you will find results. So the future questions remain. Are those resources going to help change these people’s lives?”

These are just a sampling of examples to emphasize the fact that this is a serious problem without an easy resolution. Many of those who we consider homeless are not willing to change, at least initially. Many of them need mental health treatment and should possibly be institutionalized. Many of the need to be hospitalized and provided detoxification and addiction treatment.

But many of them can be helped with safe, secure housing with access to services needed to get out of the cycle of sleeping outdoors and being a part of a community with no hope for long term health and survival. This can be done. It only takes money and the commitment to stay the course. Not 40 housing units for 4,000 veterans – whenever, not 10,000 housing units for 116,000 homeless – whenever.

No it needs to be done with 100,000 living quarters, NOW! And with all of the necessary services to help those who are unable to help themselves, and all of the necessary services to help those who can help themselves, to become responsible, productive, self-supportive citizens of our community. NOW!

I think that all of our elected officials, at least one night, should be required to go sleep outdoors with those who sleep outdoors every night. I think all of us, maybe, at least one night, should go sleep outdoors with those who sleep outdoors every night.

Maybe then we could get some action, NOW!

Think about it!

 

The Education Dilemma for Lunatics

Ted Folkert

December 29, 2015

“I would close all schools that are below average.” This is the statement purportedly made by Hilary Clinton recently in Iowa, a typical political statement, not meant to be actually true probably, but to lure undecided voters into your trap. But what kind of voters? Right-wing lunatics?

So, we should analyze this statement in order to understand the impact that such action would have on or educational system, to determine if such a policy would make for a better nation.

If you close all schools that are below average, that means you would close 50% of all schools, assuming the mathematical equation of half being above average and half being below average. Well that already creates an unimaginable problem of classroom size and transportation. But then you still have the equation to deal with. Of the half of the schools left, half of them will then be below average, so one would assume that half of those would have to be closed.

I guess you can see where we are going here, soon we would be down to one school left in the nation, which would not be below average.

This statement is not only preposterous, it is inconsiderate of a complicated problem of providing education for all Americans. What do we do with the students who are below average? This isn’t something new. Half of the students have always been below average. There have always been students who were easier to educate than others.

The statement is not only preposterous and inconsiderate because of the impossibility of it all mathematically or rationally, but primarily because there has been no consideration given to factors affecting many of the students who we wish to educate. What about the family environment of the students, the parentage, the nutrition, the role models or lack thereof, the standard of living, the neighborhood, the motivation, the feeling of security and opportunity, the early childhood education or lack thereof.

I wonder if political candidates who have such a platform ever considered that perhaps we should provide special counseling or special education for those needing such assistance in becoming educated. I wonder if they ever considered the possibility that the better we can educate all of the children, the better would be the chances of all of them becoming employable and productive citizens, being gainfully employed instead of struggling with the lack of education along with the impact of the community environment that they may have encountered in early life.

I wonder if they have considered the benefit to society of all children becoming productively employed and the relief on the judicial and correctional systems that would be enjoyed. I wonder if they have considered how a good education would make life more enjoyable for those who started out way back in the field, carrying a burden that those of us who started life with a good foundation didn’t have to endure and don’t seem to understand.

The preposterousness of this topic didn’t just come about. It has been in place in one form or another for many years. Some of our so-assumed brilliant educators decided, with the aid and abetment of George W. Shrub, that our hard-working and devoted teachers should be rated based upon test scores of their students. So, what was the result of that ludicrous policy? You guessed it, they blamed it on the teachers, and we lost many good teachers in the process. These so-assumed brilliant educators gave no consideration to the level of early education of those being tested, the area in which they lived or grew up, the environment to which they were exposed, the standard of living, the parentage, the nutrition, the feeling of security, etc., etc., etc.

This would be like taking the poorest among us and denying them food and shelter, like denying a normal chance at survival and enjoyment of life to those who came from such an environment.

What are we thinking about? Is our national motto “kick them while they’re down?” Or is it: “If you don’t look good, talk good, smell good, and come from a good community, don’t apply for any opportunities?”

It seems obvious that our entire governmental process is slanted more and more to the rich and powerful, that every process of government is legislated to the benefit of those who don’t need any more benefit and away from those who need it the most. We can’t even raise the minimum wage to a level that one can live on. We can’t provide free health care for all of our citizens. We can’t provide higher education for all of our citizens. We can’t enforce laws that prohibit those with the wealth from scamming those without. No, all of these essentials of a just society are too expensive for those who own the country and most of the wealth. These benefits get in their way in increasing their fortunes. No one else matters.

Think about it!

Paul Krugman reviews the movie: “The Big Short.”

Read the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/opinion/the-big-short-housing-bubbles-and-retold-lies.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

Krugman ponders the big question: Why was no one charged or prosecuted for these scams whereby the working class, once again, are turned upside down and stripped of their possessions for the benefit of the fraudsters, those who we call bankers? You know, those benevolent creatures who committed blatant fraud, knew it was fraudulent, knew that people would be harmed by it, knew that the homes they were financing were overvalued, knew that the rating agencies were also committing fraud, knew that the loans they were issuing were not payable by those receiving them, knew that these properties would go into foreclosure and sold for big discounts after the working homeowners were evicted, and knew that they could then buy them from the issuing banks and rent them to the defrauded homeowners. That might be what some of us call a double whammy, maybe a triple whammy. The triple whammy came about when we the people came in and bailed out the fraudulent bankers and then forced them to accept interest free loans of billions of dollars so they could make loans to us at exorbitant rates, with our money, no less.

Actually, this may be a quadruple whammy, since they packaged these loans into securities like week-old fish, and sold them to unsuspecting investors, then “Shorted” the securities they sold. A perfect crime.

The may be what Jack Nicholson would call : “As Good as it Gets.”

No one would even have the imagination to make this story up. It is too preposterous.

Go figure.

Read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/opinion/the-big-short-housing-bubbles-and-retold-lies.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

 

What’s the matter with Missouri?

Ted Folkert

December 1, 2015

The question posited in the title of the book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” isn’t restricted to Kansas. I always have the same question when I spend time in the beloved state of Missouri or when I talk to people from Texas and other states where the political conversation is dominated by ultra conservative ideals. I always have to remind myself that Missouri is the state with a bust of Rash Limpbrain in the state capitol rotunda – the vitriolic blabber mouth, misogynist, racial bigot, drug addict, who abhors anything that even hints to be positive in improving education, providing healthcare, assisting the people who need a helping hand – the poor, disabled, those unable to work – actually, anyone or any program that doesn’t provide more largess for the rich and powerful, of which class Rash Limpbrain surely belongs after all these years of misleading the people with his outlandish lies, to the pleasure of those who provide his wealth, the rich and powerful. His bust in the state capitol rotunda? – I guess that pretty much explains the intellect of those elected to office by the people of Missouri. It is a pathetic display of ignorance and insults the hundreds of good principled leaders who have served the people of Missouri over the last hundred years.

Nothing about the State of Missouri, where I have been a business owner for more than 40 years, shocks me more. When I ventured away to expand business elsewhere 25 or so years ago the state was still mostly Democratic. The political attitude was democratic – provide opportunities for all the people, improve the infrastructure, improve education, assist the poor and others who need a helping hand, help businesses prosper so they can provide jobs, enable a prosperous economy for the people and make sure the corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of the costs of maintaining the infrastructure of the state and improving the lives of those less fortunate than they.

What happened?

Many of the political prognosticators say it was prompted by the efforts of the wealthy Republican donors who focused on gaining control of state governments and thereby sending those to Washington DC who will promote their plans for the country, which focus more on programs and taxation policies which favor the rich and powerful individuals and corporations. Much has been written about the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”), the organization financed by the famous rich and powerful Kansans, the Kook Brothers, and the likes of them. ALEC provides and promotes legislation to local and state governments to destroy social programs and provide the behemoth corporations with the tools they need to do as they please regardless of the impact on the environment and the populace in general. To these people a good economy is one where the advantaged can earn all they want without being restricted by governmental interference, totally disregarding the future health and prosperity of the state or nation, focusing entirely on what’s good for the big corporations and the rich and powerful.

I know that many of us found the study of history to be annoying and of no apparent value while it was being forced on us in school, but it is unfortunate that its value wasn’t better explained, accepted or understood. History is replete with empirical evidence of the failure of monarchy, despotism, oligarchy, aristocracy and other forms of regressive and oppressive government since the beginning of recorded history. These lessons would come in handy now in convincing the voters that we have been on the wrong path since 1980, with the election of Ronald Reagan, and throughout the following regimes of George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. These leaders have weakened organized labor, deterred social programs benefitting the disabled and disadvantaged, strengthened the ability of the behemoth corporations, enabled the financial behemoths to amass humongous fortunes, and the rich and powerful in diverting the lion’s share of the income and wealth to the few and making it increasingly difficult for the poor and the middle class workers to maintain their standard of living or acquire any lasting benefit for survival in retirement.

Rash Limpbrain has always done a good job of convincing those who need government the most to vote against their own best interest. Now, for the last couple of decades he has been amply assisted by Fox Noise which is owned by an Australian transplant who inherited his money and now expands it exponentially through his control of the public airways, which are owned by you and I, but not controlled by us. Another perfect example of the corporations getting the tools they need to subject the masses to a role of providers of more wealth for the winners in the winner-take-all game of finance and economics.

So now the question is not what is wrong with Kansas or what is wrong with Missouri. Now the question is what is wrong with the nation, the people, the voters, the workers, those of us who do the work and provide this largess for the rich and powerful. The ability of the rich and powerful to own and control our public airways and utilize them to serve themselves and hinder the progress of the working class, stacking the deck, buying the electors, writing the laws, convincing their indentured elected officials to enact the laws, using the government to keep all of the marbles under their control – while our infrastructure, our educational system, our health care system, our legal system, our penal system, and our environment deteriorate, is appalling and unforgiveable.

Something must be done for the sake of the nation. The status quo is leading to a spiraling downward of our economy and the education and prosperity of the people. The enabling condition for continuation and acceleration of the process will be the newly adopted legalization of unlimited money in politics.

I know, everyone has the same right to spend a million or a billion to elect who they want – the rich and the poor alike. Just like they tell us – the laws are fair and equitable, no one is allowed to sleep under bridges, neither the poor nor the rich. Sounds fair doesn’t it?

Think about it!

Selective Memories

Ted Folkert

November 22, 2015

JFK died this day more than fifty years ago, yet his death is still in our mind’s eye like it happened yesterday. I still want to know what Jack Ruby had to do with it all. He came out of nowhere, like he was sent there to shut Oswald’s mouth, which he did very effectively. And then his mouth was closed a little later very effectively, must have been a coincidence. Mission accomplished!

What would have been JFK’s stance today? He knew warfare. He almost died there in WWII, like his older brother did. Perhaps today he would have considered all of the possible consequences of military action, including innocent lives lost in such actions.

The selective memories of this discussion relate to more recent occurrences, the Paris terrorist attacks. What action should the world take in retaliation and to prevent further such occurrences? How many more innocent people must die in order to settle this score and eliminate these cowardly terrorists?

Listening the other day, while biting my tongue, to some sabre-rattlers at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, was disappointing. The outspoken were insisting that we go over there to Syria and “take those bastards out.” I won’t question the fact that most of those who seek such action have never seen warfare and never been in the military. My question is why don’t they all read and listen to something other than Fox Noise? They fault Obama, among everything else he does, with being aloof, disinterested, pacifistic, cowardly, Muslim, African, black, and irresponsible.

Should we put boots on the ground in Syria? Should we put boots on the ground against ISIS, wherever and whoever they are? Boots on the ground sounds very militaristic and proper in today’s dialect. Unfortunately, what most of those who use the term fail to acknowledge is that every boot on the ground has a foot in it and every foot belongs to one of our young people. They fail to answer, no, they fail to even ask or acknowledge the question, of what can be accomplished and at what cost of putting these feet on the ground. Not one of those who offered up the lives of our young soldiers offered to put their foot on the ground. No, they just talk tough so everyone will think they are tough, even though, if they had to face the enemy in battle, they would probably need a change of pants very quickly.

The thing Obama realizes and they fail to recognize is that this conflict is so complicated and has so many different interests affected by the outcome that it is impossible to know who to shoot and what could possibly be accomplished by it. We seem to have allies on both side of this situation. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Remember Afghanistan? How did that turn out? Who runs that country now that they murdered there leaders? Is it safe? Is it at war still after 14 years, several trillion dollars, and thousands of lost lives, and complete destruction of the infrastructure and political stability of the country?

Remember Iraq? How did that turn out? Who runs that country now? Is it safe? Is it still at war after 14 years, several trillion dollars, thousands of lost lives, and complete destruction of the infrastructure and political stability of the country? How did it work out after we arranged for them to murder their murderous leader, Saddam Hussein.

Remember Libya? How did that turn out? Who runs that country now? Is it safe? Is it still in political turmoil and impoverishment after all these years and the murder of their leader, Muammar Qaddifi?

Remember Iran? How did that turn out? Who runs that country now? Is it safe? Is it still struggling to arrive at a viable government ever since we removed their elected leader, Mohammad Mossaddeq, and installed the despotic Shah Reza Pahlavi back in power back in 1953? He was ousted by religious leaders in 1979 and went into exile again, never to return and with nowhere to turn. How did that work out?

So, what happens if this war is settled and the enemy, whoever that is, is eliminated? Where does Russia stand? Where does Israel stand? Where does Saudi Arabia stand? Where does Turkey stand? Who runs Syria? Will they be America friendly? Will they be Russia friendly? Will the Syrian people return to Syria? Will they have a democratic government?

I have lots more question, such as, is the world a safer place?, but the answers to those above would be a good start. Unfortunately, there are no obvious answers to those questions. Until there are, maybe we should sit tight and continue to send errant drones into the area to bomb them and eliminate some more innocent people, those who have not already left their beloved country with their families, seeking a peaceful life, leaving every worldly possession behind, migrants with nowhere to go, hoping for peace so they can resume their life in peaceful coexistence.

But don’t send them here. No, we don’t want immigrants. They are murderers and marauders. We saw what they can do. They might take the country and murder all of the previous owners. Sound familiar?

Think about it!

 

Veteran’s Day 2015

Ted Folkert

November 11, 2015

Veterans! How can we thank them enough? Unfortunately, it seems easier to forget them than to remember or thank them. Especially those sleeping under bridges or on the sidewalk on skid row.

Every weapon that is used in warfare or any other classification of defense or military aggression has a person attached. That person is a member of the military who at some point became or will become a veteran. The weapons get lots of consideration since they are a large part of our economy and a large part of the largess of our public treasury that is bestowed upon the behemoth corporations who manufacture them. The veterans get lots of talk during political campaigns but are left on the back burner of the stove of issues that drive our economy at budget time.

The veterans have no choice about the battles in which they become engaged, injured, killed, or maimed for life either physically or mentally. And then, those who survive with injuries become invisible as we walk past them on the street, invisible when the budget battles are being argued by our fearless leaders, and their family members’ needs become invisible when they die.

Perhaps blinders are issued when our leaders are elected to office. You know, blinders like we put on horses so they won’t get spooked. But political blinders are not designed for preventing our leaders from getting spooked. They are designed to prevent undesirable matters such as veteran benefits from interfering with the important matters for our leaders, amassing campaign funds so they can be reelected and continue to receive generous benefits for their part-time work and the generous lifetime income and care bestowed upon them for making all of the vital decisions about running the country.

If we all contributed $1.00 today to veteran programs such as health care and housing it would give them $300 million to start the much overdue process of taking care of those who paid the price for our freedom and welfare.

Let’s all say thanks to a veteran today. Give a veteran a dollar today. It’s the least we can do.

Think about it!