The American "education" machine is broken!





Latest Analysis, Commentary and Opinion*
(The title of each article is linked to the complete article)

Friday, July 31, 2009

Our “Charlie Foxtrot” Congress Strikes Again
   Congress piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (7/31/09)

Today they voted to cut tax revenues by cutting the incomes of business folks! Duh!

Are Our Bankruptcy Courts Bankrupt? - A Somewhat Hidden Manifestation of the Recession
   Law piece by FreeCongressFoundation: Marion Edwyn Harrison (7/31/09)

The foregoing title is a bit expansive but sometimes a little linguistic license attracts substantive attention to what superficially may appear a dull subject.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Tax Scams And Schemes
   Government piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (7/30/09)

Governments love taxes and so they pile taxes on taxes on taxes.

In The Real World Poor Performance Means a Pink Slip
   Congress piece by Thomas D. Segel (7/30/09)

Harlingen, Texas, July 30, 2009:  During the 26 years I was on active duty individual Marines were regularly rated on their performance, plus a wide variety of standards such as leadership ability, how much supervision they required, conduct, attention to detail, etc.  Those individuals, either enlisted or officer, who failed to gain satisfactory grades were invited to leave the military service.  Those who were sub-standard in performance could never expect to be promoted or otherwise advanced to any significant position of responsibility.

European Credit Card Default Looms
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/30/09)

The credit card crisis that has cost U.S. banks billions of dollars in losses continues to spreads across the Atlantic, causing lenders in Europe to brace against a rising wave of consumer debt defaults.

Why Sarah Palin Threatens The “Establishment”
   Republicrats piece by Christopher Adamo (7/30/09)

The Republican Party continues to amass expertise in losing elections. Its current reticence in getting behind the momentum of Sarah Palin, now the former Governor of Alaska, unequivocally proves the point.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

‘Books Are Still Selling - Are They Being Understood?‘
   EdukShun piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (7/29/09)

An old axiom before the dumbing-down of the American people by our skools was to generally write at a 6th grade level if your target was the general public.  Obviously materials targeted at other audiences could use higher levels of vocabulary.

Africa’s real climate crisis
   Progressivism piece by Offsite (7/29/09)

It’s not global warming. It’s a science, priorities, honesty and morality crisis. - Life in Africa is often nasty, impoverished and short. AIDS kills 2.2 million Africans every year, say WHO reports. Lung infections cause 1.4 million deaths, malaria 1 million more, intestinal diseases 700,000. Diseases that could be prevented with simple vaccines kill an additional 600,000 annually, while war, malnutrition and life in filthy slums send countless more parents and children to early graves.

Liberal: Make the Fat People Pay for Everyone’s Healthcare
   Progressivism piece by Warner Todd Huston (7/29/09)

A July 25 L.A. Times blog(1) piece is a perfect example of the anti-liberty left that I have talked about previously, those who would dictate from government on high how we are to lead our lives in order to deserve the government healthcare that we all pay our taxes to provide “for free” to everyone.  For the Times, Melissa Healy is positing that we should tax fat people to pay for Obamacare because of the “obesity epidemic” that is driving up medical costs.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The New Obama Americorpse and Peace Corpse Will Self-destruct!
   Progressivism piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (7/28/09)

When the concept was originally conceived the general populace was not pre-programmed Socialist slugs.

Healthcare Reform No Longer Inevitable
   Health Care piece by Offsite (7/28/09)

The Obama healthcare plan appears to be suffering a slow bleed. It is still early, and presidents who have control of both houses of Congress by the large margins that Obama has are still capable of exerting enormous pressure and twisting arms to secure unlikely legislative victories.

Obama’s Crisis Syndrome Will Backfire
   Politics piece by Offsite (7/28/09)

It is customary for politicians to describe an issue that is important to them as a problem. After all, problems require solutions, and solutions get them elected.

Left Sees Palin As Threat to Agenda
   MSM piece by Offsite (7/28/09)

The knives are out for Sarah Palin, and from the standpoint of the left that’s not only a good thing, it’s the only thing. Sarah Palin is a fire breathing dragon from the right that must at all costs be slain. She scares the living daylights out of them.

Colin Powell Blames Gates for Cambridge Arrest
   Racism piece by Offsite (7/28/09)

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was mildly critical Tuesday of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose angry response to a Cambridge, Mass., police officer touched off a national debate involving President Barack Obama.

Want To Learn About Linux/Unix? Cygwin Is A Great Free Package.
   Computers piece by Editor (7/28/09)

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows.  You can poke around at the command level and get familiar with how things work.

Obama Risks Damaging Fed
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/28/09)

Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said he was concerned about the Obama administration’s plans to rewrite the nation’s financial regulations, saying it could leave the U.S. Central Bank with an ill-defined role as bank regulator and make it less effective at its main job of fighting inflation.

Why I Must Defend Barbara Boxer
   Racism piece by Selwyn Duke (7/28/09)

We’ve all heard about the little dust-up between Black Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Harry Alford and Democrat senator Barbara Boxer during an Environment & Public Works (EPW) hearing on “green” jobs. Boxer, the chairman of the EPW committee, was trying to refute a report commissioned by Alford’s organization stating that the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act - which I’ll call “cap-and-sap” - would actually cause a net reduction in jobs. So, marshalling her arguments, she cited many sources that support cap-and-sap - among them the NAACP and the leader of 100 Black Men of America.

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Showdown Is Coming Very Soon!

The current Federal Government has made its move to become a Progressive/Marxist/Socialist machine destroying the Republic.

Bears Beware: Some See Huge Stock Rise
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/27/09)

Stock analysts are more bullish than bearish on earnings for the first time in two years. And their profit estimates imply a 26 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, Bloomberg reports.

China Steps Up Bid to Replace Dollar with Yuan
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/27/09)

China has said in recent months that it will wean itself off the dollar.

Britannia Ruled by Knaves: Savage Banned to Fill White Man Quota
   Political Correctness piece by Selwyn Duke (7/27/09)

When I first heard that radio host Michael Savage had been banned from traveling to England along with an assortment of Moslem terrorists and other miscreants, my first thought was that the public relations arm of the politically correct thought police had struck again.  It only made sense.  Given how Britain is now bedeviled by Islamic jihadists, it had a legitimate reason to keep their most zealous fellows from the nation’s increasingly volatile Moslem masses.  Yet the spineless Neville Chamberlain bureaucrats charged with this task - whose credo seems to be “peace through capitulation” - would never want to be seen as singling out Moslems.  So they traded a man’s reputation for peace in our time. 

China Debt Nears 60 Percent of GDP
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/27/09)

BEIJING -(Reuters)- On the surface, China presents a fiscal study in contrast with the United States, keeping a remarkably low ceiling on debt even as it spends its way out of the financial crisis.

All the President’s Debt
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/27/09)

There are two things that stand out about this administration: The speed with which it is taking us toward financial ruin and its uncanny ability to conceal the fact.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

‘Unemployment(1) Is At 16%+ And Rising Does Congress Care?‘
   Congress piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (7/26/09)

Actually, a very reasonable estimate(2) is that unemployment is about 20%+ and rising as each day passes.

Second Stimulus Would be ‘Nuts’
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/26/09)

Some experts are calling for the Obama administration to adopt a second fiscal stimulus package.

Stock Bargains Abound
   Economics piece by Offsite (7/26/09)

“A lot of bargains” among U.S. stocks will arise for investors in the next year as consumer spending rebounds, helping the economy to do the same.

Review: PhotoFiltre Is A Superb Graphics Tool
   Computers piece by Editor (7/26/09)

The package “PhotoFiltre” is offered as “Freeware”, with a “Shareware” version as PhotoFiltre Studio.

You Can’t Have It Both Ways…Dershowitz vs. Phillips
   Middle East piece by Gerald A. Honigman (7/26/09)

FrontPage Magazine always has interesting stuff—whether you agree with it or not.

The Jerusalem Quandary
   Middle East piece by Alan Caruba (7/26/09)

I have often wondered why it is such a tiny nation as Israel commands so much news coverage. Having declared its sovereignty in 1948, it is now just over sixty years old.
David Ben-Gurion went on the radio and said, “Two thousand years of wandering have come to an end.“

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Tropical Rains Dampen Alarmist Agenda
   Global Warming piece by Guest: Dennis T. Avery (7/25/09)

CHURCHVILLE, VA - The Obama carbon taxes will cost the U.S. trillions of dollars and may permanently cripple our economy. They’re meant to “save the planet” from excess greenhouse gases - but new evidence from tropical rain patterns seems to further refute the claims that recent global warming has been man-made.