By popular request

Steven loves billiards so much that we had to get him a kid's table for Christmas. Then he got into trick shot competitions on ESPN and our DVR is filling fast. Here he is making one of his favorite trick shots.

The Dumbing Of America

A good Washinton Post article by Susan Jacoby.

Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.

Reading has declined not only among the poorly educated, according to a report last year by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book -- fiction or nonfiction -- over the course of a year. The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004. This time period, of course, encompasses the rise of personal computers, Web surfing and video games.

According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important."

That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it's the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism -- a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism. The toxic brew of anti-rationalism and ignorance hurts discussions of U.S. public policy on topics from health care to taxation.

An interesting take on Obama

Sam Harris' recent article in the Huffington Post makes some good points. It ends with:

Despite all that he does not and cannot say, Obama's candidacy is genuinely thrilling: his heart is clearly in the right place; he is an order of magnitude more intelligent than the current occupant of the Oval Office; and he still stands a decent chance of becoming the next President of the United States. His election in November really would be a triumph of hope.

But Obama's candidacy is also depressing, for it demonstrates that even a person of the greatest candor and eloquence must still claim to believe the unbelievable in order to have a political career in this country. We may be ready for the audacity of hope. Will we ever be ready for the audacity of reason?

Obama is a good leader

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we really need a leader who will bring out the best in our human nature -- not someone who is most like "the common man" who likes huntin' or playing sax on Arsenio. Sure it's nice to know that the President can understand the plight of all Americans but he shouldn't stoop so low as to pander. Besides, it was a bit ridiculous in the last election when people were trying to compare who's more an Average Joe, the Yale grad or the Harvard grad. Especially in the case of Bush when he comes from one of the biggest political families and has corporate ties to big oil -- yeah, a real regular guy!

Look, I don't want my President to be someone I'd like to have a beer with -- I want him to be a leader; better than than the average American; way better. We need someone who will inspire us; someone who will help us overlook our own myopic views and come together for the greater common good.

So take a quick look at this recent Obama video and pick any 5-minute segment.

Then try to imaging his comments being said by Hillary, or better yet, by McCain. I can't do it. For that matter, try to imagine it coming from anyone from the current administration. What am I saying? Bush wouldn't even be able pronounce the words correctly. :) But seriously, over the last 5 years since 9/11 the Bush clan has done nothing but try to manipulate us with opportunistic fear mongering. I expect nothing but the same from McCain.

We deserve better! Go Obama.

Friday Funnies

[note: I've since learned that NBC has asked YouTube to pull most of these but you can still find them if you search for the key words, like "snl punched."

SNL DIGITAL SHORTS
(if they haven't been pulled)

Roy Rules
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZGs1V_5Pmo

Punched
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxIEjZUw8yg

Natalie Portman
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/42822/detail

…almost as good as this Dave Chapelle bit with Wayne Brady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SEp4oVPx0A

Business Meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4vpT4UrY1M

Peyton Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZpPf-q2_es

POLITICS
Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters The Onion - America's Finest News Source (video)

Couldn't have said it better myself

For the conclusion of this harrowing episode, click here http://www.viruscomix.com/page433.html

THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON

From a recent Bill Moyers interview of Susan Jacoby's new book, THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON:

I can imagine a politician succeeding by saying, "We as a people have not lived up to our obligation to learn what we ought to learn to make informed decisions." I can imagine candidates saying, "And we in the Congress have been guilty of that too." Because it's not just the public that's ignorant. We get the government we deserve.

We need to wake out of our American stupor. We need a President who will lead us out by appealing to our better nature -- someone like Kennedy, FDR or Lincoln. Who comes closest to this right now? The answer is clearly Obama.

Happiness

Is 60 Minutes suggesting that to be happy, you shouldn't look to the American Dream but instead to the Danes?
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2008/02/the_pursuit_of.html

Thanks 1gm.

The Case for Universal Heathcare Has Been Made

Mythbusting Canadian Healthcare, Part II: Debunking the Free Marketeers

FISA is bad - period.

A family member stated last week the common misconception that since they didn't have anything to hide, they were fine with allowing the government to tap all phone lines without a warrant. Now this argument overlooks several important issues:

1. The government only has rights that the people grant it -- and we didn't grant this right; they took it.
2. Worse however, is the lack of individual warrants to show that they have just cause. Now, I'm willing to admit that this process is more like looking for a needle in a haystack and that warrants may not be appropriate tool for this fight. In that case, some oversight to the program as a whole is necessary to ensure that the level of privacy invasion is appropriate as compared to the level of success in finding useful information. If not, it should stop. If so, we don't need to publicize exactly how (to the benefit of those we're trying to catch) but we at least need to know that the payback is worth the cost. Without such oversight, do you think they'd ever let on that it wasn't working -- PLEASE! The government only knows how to take more power (and more money); not how to give it back!
3. A corollary to #2, and most important of all, is that our government is predicated on upholding the Constitution and the need for checks and balances -- both of which are broken by this law. We always must recognize that any power that we give to those we allow to govern us MUST have oversight -- no one is trusted absolutely -- and as we know from Watergate, McCarthyism, etc.; this is with VERY good reason!

Olbermann has a succinct comment on this very topic. And our primary fear peddler, GW, was shown again to be a liar. Shockingly, according to Bush's own words he was willing to put the telecom immunity *above* the American lives supposedly at risk until he gets his domestic spying bill passed. Wow!

It's hard to say it much better than in the following quotes from “The Rights of Conscience Inalienable” -- a sermon delivered by the semi-famous but not-as-famous-as-he-should-be John Leland (1754-1841) [thanks 1gm]:

• “that law should rule over rulers, and not rulers over the law”
• “that every law made by the legislature inconsistent with the compact, modernly called a constitution, is usurprative in the legislators and not binding on the people.”
• “that legislators in their legislative capacity cannot alter the Constitution, for they are hired servants of the people to act within the limits of the Constitution.”

The War Against the Third World - and Against Us

WAIT -- before you give into the same initial reaction that I had and think "yeah yeah, I know about it" and then move on to something else -- instead STOP for one minute and realize that most of the problems in the world today can be understood in the context so clearly shown in this very important video. War; death; just means by which our increasingly privitized military industrial complex can continue to spend over 250 BILLION dollars a year -- of our money -- to continue to line the pockets of the wealthy who really run our Plutocracy.

I know, this sounds like pinko, Commie, subversive blather from some 1960's hippie; but before you dismiss it take a look and decide for yourself. Americans don't hear about the worlwide violence done in our name. Our corporate media doesn't cover it. We don't understand why so much of the world is angry at our self-serving international politics. I know that it's not pretty, but we have to understand our complicity -- otherwise, it will never change. If you turn away and do nothing, then you will truly be complicit!

So watch the videos or read the transcripts and forward this useful information to your friends and family.

Decide -- do you agree with Henry Kissinger when he said “I hope they kill each other” (which seems to be the unofficial US foreign policy) or with Martin Luther King when he said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere?" He also said “The greatest purveyor of violence on earth is my own government.” It was true then and it's even more true today -- watch the videos.

Is Obama our best hope?

Well, he's not the best but he's the best we have left. Why can't we find another Lincoln? Sure, Edwards and Kucinich both had very good things to say but now that the pack has thinned to 2+1, Obama is our best hope toward moving this country forward. He can speak to both corporations and individuals, conservatives and progressives, Muslims and Christians and atheists too. He has broad support across race, gender, and economic lines. He can lead -- he can inspire -- he can promote peace.

He's a little too "preachy" for me but here are a couple of quotes that show how well he can unite disparate groups, keeping a foot solidly in each camp ... and here are a couple of other useful links.

Moreover, given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst... which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

Social Security for Dummies

I knew that Bush was stealing us blind and selling us all out to the highest bidder, but I thought that it would stop once he's out of office. Unfortunately, since he's been gutting our Social Security Trust Fund to the tune of HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars, I guess we'll all be paying for this debacle for several generations!

More here.

Here Come More Toll Roads

Peters is the Bush administration's transportation secretary, and her main objective seems to be blocking any increase of public contributions to the public infrastructure. The main reason you are sitting in traffic, she believes, is not that the purchasing power of Highway Trust Fund revenue has been dwindling for the past decade, not that population and freight traffic have been soaring with no government response -- but that you are not being asked to pay enough to use the road you are on.

Apparently, the Bush Administration continues to gut the public interests by clinging to their ideology that privitization is the solution to everything. As the Post quote above shows, our public transportation is the next in line to be "Halliburtonized" or is it "Black Watered?" -- you know, since that's proven so successful so far!

To be fair, it has been successful at siphoning BILLIONS from public coffers and giving them to the wealthy elite who just happen to be the friends and family of our elected officials -- all without any bidding, oversight, or accountability. Hell, it's hard to imagine a worse way to run it.

How to fix the mess we're in.

We've experienced a leveraged buyout of the national economy.

Finally, someone offering well-reasoned analysis on how the economy got so bad and what we can do to fix it. Now if we could just get our politicians to listen -- too bad Edwards is out because he was our best hope (Kucinich was better still but scared too many folks). The middle class is getting fleeced and it's about time someone spoke up about it. The insightful Lou Dobbs also seems to have a good book about this very subject.

The subprime crisis, the housing bubble, whatever you want to call it, is not the problem. It's a symptom of pumping in money with no place to go. Other symptoms are no job growth, no business growth, no stock market growth, falling median incomes, disappearing pensions and health plans, and the fall of the dollar.