by on October 16, 2009

Social Responsibility Rant

ArgumentI’m taking an exit requirement course with the general topic of equality in schools and the workplace. It’s my 3rd of its kind since meeting exit requirements for my A.A., so it’s getting pretty boring by this point. Anyway, I thought it might be some good conversation.

I think the first steps to reforming racism is to begin radical social reform in the form of slashing federal and state programs that encourage social delinquency. Here are three of the top social programs that are holding back the progress minorities are looking to achieve but are actually slaves to the system that created the programs. I say this as a former recipient of assistance for the extreme expenses associated with having cystic fibrosis. I’d never choose to limit myself to $1,000/mo income again just for that lousy assistance.

Welfare: gone – if you can’t work, then move in with family – if you had 4 kids with no mom or dad around to help, then you can’t afford to have had them in the first place. If you don’t pay for the car you bought or don’t pay for the insurance on the car you were given, they take it from you, and kids are more valuable than a car.

Social Security: completely broken. I’ve already paid more into it than I’ll ever get out and it sets people up with a false sense of security and entitlement that the gov’t will take care of them just because they worked or got injured. Retirement’s not a right and neither is gov’t spoon-feeding.

Bussing is racist in its purest form. Let me translate what the legislatures and school administrators are saying with a veil of compassion: “those kids are too poor, have too many issues at home, and are possibly too stupid to excel as a group, so if there are some shining stars, lets’ get them out of there to a ‘good school’” How about you hire the same caliber of teachers, pay them the same, fund them the same, and treat those kids like the other schools treat their kids? That’s the racism going on in school!

Filed Under: Common Sense, Current Events, Politics Tagged With: , , , , ,
by on October 2, 2009

Don’t Be Knockin’ Education

A very dull knife in the drawerYesterday (October 1st, 2009) our local free newspaper in Tampa (tbt* – http://tampabay.com/tbt/) published a verbatim letter to the editors that they received from an 11th grade student in the area who disagreed with Obama’s push for education reform that includes longer school years/weeks in a long-winded, error-laden piece of mess. Read the original letter to the editors here: “A student’s letter to tbt*”

I’ll be the first to tell you there are a lot of stupid people out there. Students, teachers, parents, workers, bosses… all walks of life. By definition, 50% of the population has a less than average intelligence – something to think about while driving. Despite those terrible statistics that Jay Leno exposes on a regular basis, don’t knock the rest of academia and those who love to learn and keep on learning after it’s not required.

That said, that article is a piece of work… I mean, a piece of art. I’ve spent a good many years proofreading papers and always spot typographic errors in publications. I was an editor for 3 years and know what things look like when a stupid person writes something. To even consider that letter to the editor as a contribution to society is laughable. Even numbskulls know about capitalizing sentences – what they don’t know is how to use parenthetical statements (which that person did twice). There is also a sign of significant intelligence in the actual ideas of the letter, though I’m not sure which provoked the tbt* editors more: the atrocious spelling or the position on the topic that the student took. The very existence of the letter should set off some alarms to the validity of the piece as written by an idiot.

Two more points for kickers: 1) would tbt* have published the piece if it was written with perfect prose – would it have made its way out of a pile of letters they receive every day? 2) if it was written by a dolt, they would have not known how poor the grammar was and would have omitted the request for anonymity.

Here is the first page of the replies to the editor that tbt* received in response to the student letter: Replies to the editor

I am calling for a full-scale investigation of the author to have tbt* report back that said author is actually an honor roll student with plans to attend the USF Honor’s College next fall, but is fearful of any action the university may take against their application if this was attributed to them.

Filed Under: College, Common Sense, Current Events, Politics Tagged With: , ,
by on June 22, 2009

Wake Up to the Reality of the Stimulus Package

I can’t say it any better, so here’s 6 minutes of wonderfully presented, passionate logic.

Filed Under: Common Sense, Current Events, Politics Tagged With: , , ,
by on May 13, 2009

University of South Florida and the Liberal Agenda

I got an e-mail from the USF Department of English yesterday that sent me straight through the rook and into orbit. This particular staff person sends out notices of campus functions, the department newsletter submission deadlines, and occassional job opportunities, but is not a professor or dean.

If there is supposed to be a call for the “separation of church and state” (which anyone who understands the intent and CONTEXT of the founding fathers’ design for gov’t doesn’t use that phrase to mean what it is being used for today) then there should be a separation of State-funded educational institutions and politics. Let’s see if anyone can step up to the plate and realize that any staff of a university who sends correspondence to the students is representing the policies and such of the entire governing body of the school. It’s no different than if a music director at a church sends an e-mail encouraging members to join a swingers’ club for his brand of “outreach.” That would be interpreted by the members as an endorsement by the senior pastor and possibly the entire denomination or sect from the very top. If he says it’s cool, someone MUST have approved it and thinks it’s a good idea, right?

That said, here is the e-mail sent “on behalf of” a politically-oriented recruiter.

Progressive Campaign Job Opportunities Nationwide

Sent on behalf of Sxxxx Mxxxx. Please send inquiries to sxxxxx@grassrootscampaigns.com.

We made history last fall. Now that we have Obama in the White House and expanded majorities in Congress, it is time to work for the change America needs. Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. has joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Save the Children, and other progressive organizations to drive forwards a progressive agenda and undo years of Republican damage.

Grassroots Campaigns is currently interviewing top student leaders around the country to join our team as Assistant Canvass Directors. There is no better time or place to get involved and help to create the new generation that will take this country in a more progressive direction.

“We made history!?” Who is we?

“… the change America needs!?” Make your own change without gov’t crutches and taking more of MY money to build a bigger gov’t.

“… undo years of Republican damage!?” Talk about incendiary and alienating to everyone of a differing political view.

This sort of e-mail distribution has no place in the State university system.

Filed Under: College, Common Sense, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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