It’s not news that American’s are ignorant when it comes to history. Why should anyone be surprised that rampant derangement exists when 75% 12th graders don’t know that China was North Korea’s ally during the Korean War. How many Americans know that Stalin and Hitler started World War 2 when the Soviets and Germans invaded Poland? The Wall Street Journal has more…
Only 20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were “proficient” or “advanced,” unchanged since the test was last administered in 2006. Proficient means students have a solid understanding of the material.
I can’t wait until these people start to vote. Without a solid understanding of how this nation was created ignorant voters will pass on their willful ignorance to lawmakers. There’s absolutely no excuse for an 18-year-old person who has been in school for 12 years to be less than proficient when it comes to history. The good news, however, is that we have Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to let us know how to think and vote.
Please Don’t Panic: I’m happy that Homeland Security had gotten rid of the confusing color coded terrorism alert system. It was always a bit of a farce. The new big idea is to send a mass text message to those who are in harm’s way.
A new national alert system is set to begin in New York City that will alert the public to emergencies via cell phones. It’s called the Personal Localized Alert Network or PLAN. Presidential and local emergency messages as well as Amber Alerts would appear on cell phones equipped with special chips and software.
Ah yes, I can see it now. Can you just image the chaos if the government sends a mass text to everyone riding the subway in New York? It would be a huge panic scene. I’m very interested to see how this works. Right now it seems like a good way to start a stampede. Why not just send a mass text to the entire nation that says “FIRE! RUN LIKE HELL!!” This clip below from Seinfeld is how I imagine the system working
Allies? It’s bad enough that Pakistan has nukes and that the nation is full of Islamic fundamentalists. Now they’re thinking about cooperating with the Chinese on the downed helicopter we left after the Osama Bin Laden raid. Apparently the United States’ helicopters are equipped with some kind of anti-detection technology. Obviously China is interested in getting their hands on the technology.
I’m confused as to what the United States policy is on Pakistan. They didn’t help us find Osama Bin Laden after 10 years and we had to invade their nation to take him out without authorization. The U.S. was afraid that someone in the Pakistan government would tip Osama before we got there. It’s been a bad PR week for Pakistan. Handing over this helicopter to the Chinese isn’t going to help things.
RomneyCare/ObamaCare 2012: Mitt Romney is set to give a speech tomorrow on the issue of health care. Romney hasn’t backed down from the health care reform he passed in Massachusetts while he was governor. Going into 2012 this is a huge problem for Romney because RomneyCare looks a lot like ObamaCare. Plus, RomneyCare is having all kind of problems in Massachusetts (shocking).
It doesn’t appear as though Romney is going to back away from his legislative failure. In other words, his candidacy is dead on arrival. President Obama’s most significant legislative achievement is a dismal failure and a dramatic overreach by the federal government. If it’s not overturned by the courts voters are going to going to have it abolished. I’m not sure how Romney can dance around this problem.
Religion of Peace News: Mark Steyn over at The Corner points out the absurdity of the mainstream press when it comes to covering crimes by Islamic extremists.
A 28-year old Yemeni man boards a flight to San Francisco in Chicago, and shortly before landing charges the cockpit while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” Authorities say they “do not yet have a motive.”
By the way, this is from the evil FOX News network. It should be pointed out that when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was tragically shot a few months ago the press had no problem attaching Sarah Palin to the story. When Jared Lee Loughner started shooting he didn’t yell “you betcha” or “for Palin.” Over the last twenty years the list of attacks that started with “Allahu Akbar!” are too numerous to mention, but the press can’t speculate on a motive unless it’s Sarah Palin.
Empire Strikes Back: The Great Recession is even effecting the Galactic Empire. The dark side must be hard up for cash. Darth Vader robbed a bank yesterday. He didn’t really use the Force, though it turned out that the Force wasn’t that big of a deal by the final installment of the Star Wars saga.
The Progressive Ideal: Fast on the heels of the death of the climate change bill, progressives everywhere are asking themselves, “What happened?” Mitch Perry at Creative Loafing quotes the following from a Washington Post article by Perry Bacon Jr.:
Joshua Freed, who directs the clean energy program for the centrist think tank Third Way, said the contrast shows the challenge Democratic leaders face when trying to marshal support for climate measures within Congress.
“China doesn’t have these problems,” Freed said. “It should be a wake-up call that the same day Republican opposition kills a carbon price in the Senate, China announces it will put a price on carbon in 2011.”
What kind of wake-up call is Freed talking about here? Should the U.S. dissolve its government and become a one-party totalitarian state? That’s the progressive ideal, except with the pesky human rights baggage. The Democratic party: a kinder, gentler totalitarian state.
D.C. Fires 241 Teachers for Incompetence: I haven’t actually read this article. I just like the headline, though it would be much better if it were legislators, as in, D.C. Fires 241 Legislators for Incompetence. That number sounds about right, though maybe 100 or so shy of the reality.
Massachusetts Over Taxed? The haughty, French-looking former-junior-now-senior senator from Massachusetts, who by the way served in Vietnam, is in the news again. Senator John Kerry has been docking his yacht in Rhode Island to avoid Mass. taxes. You have to love these transparent losers. Kerry has no problem soaking the public, unless, of course, he’s the one being soaked. These incompetent legislators turn their super soakers on the American public then cry like babies if someone turns a dollar-store water pistol on them.
The Racism Olive Branch: Shirley Sherrod is on the march. The same woman who didn’t correct an an audience full of racists is now in the name-calling business. On CNN Sherrod told Anderson Cooper that Andrew Breitbart wants to take us back to the days of slavery. Let the healing begin! Anderson Cooper didn’t challenge the smear, because he’s a pretty-face journalist masquerading as a poor man’s Phil Donahue. Cooper is skeptical of anything to the right of Michael Moore, but anything to the left he accepts without question. What an idiot.
Off to Priest Lake: That’s all I’ve got. I have three books to read over the next week. I have Sir Arthur Conan Dole’s Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Vol. I and II. Another book I’m really looking forward to reading is Daniel Okrent’s Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. I intend to drink heavily during the reading of Last Call. It seems only fitting. You may recall that, in an earlier post, Club Soda called for Prohibition reparations to be paid with a keg in every fridge.
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