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That comment is just ridiculous .
Thats unrealistic . Reality is as long as we have Citizens United money pouring in from billionaires, Super Pacs & huge corps. Obama has no chocie but to compete and sadly that means raising lots of money. Campaign finance reform is needed but for election 2012 Obama must do what he can to beat Bagger run gutless Romney.. Then we must work to end Citizens United . Its a slap in the face to all US citizens. What has Obama to do with Genocide Murder & insanity ? Finally Obama losing his' job' means Mitt wins ! That must not happen ! ONe election can make drastic difference in events / Ask yourself if Gore had been Pres for 8 yrs rather that Bush . I propose Iraq would not have happened. Global crash may have been averted . Wall St would have been regulated. Bin laden may have been stopped since Bush admin ignored many strong CIA warnings of a coming Al quada attack CIA said ' All lights were flashing red in August Sept 2001 ' .
youre right, Obama is a right wing Neocon. Thanks...good point
Steve Figler #4 may have it right: Things may have to get worse before better.
No I'm not giving up, but I don't see our representative institutions doing anything to reverse Citizens United, reduce money's corruption of government, make big-money a liability, etc. -- other than arm-twisting the grass-roots for more spare-change.
We need to do it ourselves; but if it's too late, things may yet have to get worse, before better. IF so, WE should be preparing now to exploit that possibility. -- Duhhh, what a novel concept. Whatever. Oh well.
I think Obama would have won over thousands of us if he had refused to take PAC money. I think the small contributions would pour in. And millions of voters would see an ethical candidate. Imagine! I think he would have made huge gains -- beyond what money could buy -- if he had done that.
If Obama didnt roll over and betray us on this one too, then he wouldnt take pac money and wouldnt be beholdent to all those corps that he is busy paying back on a daily basis. Then millions more like me would support him and he would win hands down anyway. But instesd he's a piece of crap and doesnt deserve our vote. I wont make that mistake again. I dont know why thomm works on his re election campaign daily instead of being a Progressive instead of a Democrat. And get with the program and start supporting canditates that support us. We got Rocky Anderson and Jill Stein for starters. They wouldnt sell us out
No all the Liberals have there heads in the sand. The Conservative party has replaced all the jobs lost in the rescission two years ago and we are doing better than any other G20 country by austerity and infrastructure rebuilding not by building solar panels and wind turbines that do work.
Obama lost his ethics a long time ago. He no longer has any credibility. The ruling elite are his puppet-masters. They are counting on the American voters to be cowed into voting for Obama who will continue to pander false hope and sell us out. Unfortunately, too many American voters will not have the intestinal fortitude to take a chance on a third party candidate and risk a Romney win. But if a third party wins...I'd bet the Supreme Court would rule it unconstitutional and shoot it down. They'll find some ridiculous excuse...maybe national security...or they will invade Iran..or something like another 911 false flag operation. Obama would then declare himself dictator. Sieg Heil!! But voting in a third party candidate, aside from all-out rebellion, is the only way to smack down the "he who has all the gold...rules" system we have now.
After both wings of our business party get done wasting all that money....wouldn't it be really great if we voted for neither one....if we vote for someone who was not owned by the right-wing power-elite it would sure do a lot to show them that money will no longer buy votes. Vote for Roseanne Barr or Jill Stein!!!
Of course, it was the right-wing conservative business party that spent 4 years talking about Obama's birth certificate. And then same for Clinton's Monica affair. So how are all those conservatives, that currently run Canada, doing up there? Don't they have any liberals in power that they can bash?
I like our system in Canada. No fixed election dates. The election is called and three months later we are done. Very little money is spent and they don't have time to make endless attack ads. Mainly just policy. I can honestly say, I am 50 years and don't know what religion any of our prime Ministers where. They don't have time for things like that. I can't beleive you talked about a birthcertificate for 4 years, Bill Clinton received less airtime for having sex with an intern. Do you not see that millions of people are out of work. People are losing there homes daily. Don't even get me started on the trillions you are spending on your failing green energy policies. Do you know how many people you can feed with a trillion dollars? Stick to the issues that matter. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Romney becoming president would be a start toward getting money out of politics, or at least over-turning Citizen's United in 2016, as Romney's administration and other Republican candidates would certainly ride that horse to death. I believe that things haven't gotten bad enough yet to open most people's eyes. Romney in charge would be a terrible way to have that happen, consequence-wise (sorry), but it may be the only way given Americans' disconnect with elections and the workings of government. Where are you, Civics classes, when we so desperately need you?!
Suprised Your Not Leading On The Romney x10 Of Years Of Zero Tax Bombshell It's Out There Now - Romney Either Will Go Down Now In 'A Death By 1000 Cuts' Relentless Media Zero-Tax Shit-Storm OR Release His Taxes, Informing A Grateful Nation, That In x10 Years The Person Cleaning The Toilets In McDonald's Has Been Paying More Tax, Than His Quarter-Billionaire Ass Has. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/harry-reid-romney-taxes_n_17240...
I'm sorry to have to be critical, but in the middle of an otherwise good presentation, Dr Mike just gave history's *worst* explication of the U.S. Constitution's three-fifths rule when he implied that the slaves were given the 3/5 of a vote!!!
In reality, the rule gave the *slavery defenders* the slaves' 3/5 of a personhood/vote!!!
If President Obama had the courage to be ethical, he could break from this system. He could tell the entire truths by STOPPING and REFUSING to play this filthy GAME called politics. Who dares to really make change? One who would use the bully pulpit and refuse to take this earth down by American corporate/government fascist design. Who has the courage to challenge this and believe in another way? Why won't leaders actually lead? Answer: They, too, are afraid to buck this system. A truly ETHICAL Leader would not/could not compromise with this murder, this genocide, this insanity which America has descended deeply into. Even if the cost was this "job", an ethical leader would lead. Period.
If schools want to speculate to make a profit, they should get private investors. That goes for elementary school right up through college.
I think people's knee-jerk reaction is to blame the gun. I have a couple of them, and not once has any one of them willfully jumped up and killed somebody of their own accord. It seems the powers that be, would prefer to keep us distracted and arguing about gun laws, when the real conversation, the necessary conversation needs to be about mental health-care and accessibility in America. I see people who have insurance, wait 3 months to get an appointment with a counselor. People without insurance, who need a sliding scale fee, the wait can be 6 - 12 months, for the initial appointment! That's ridiculous! We have these little for profit urgent care center where one can go (in lieu of the hospital emergecy room) when one breaks a bone. But there is no such "walk-in and get help" service for mental health. Do you think if the school had on-site counselors who would call Mr Holmes aka the joker into their office when he began suddenly failing at all of his classes, to find out what was up that this may have been preventable? When I was a kid they had such things. A student suddenly starts doing poorly, they were called in to find out what's going on at home, what's going on inside of you, how can we help? During the Reagan years, my state shut down the "mental hospital". We still have some very minor form of it, but I'm pretty sure it's only for criminals. So what choices does a person who really needs help have? The Governor in Arizona first cut off all of the transplants in an effort to save some money. But people were dying and she was getting a bad rap, so she reinstated the transplant and cut off all of the mental health drugs that stabalize people instead. I sure haven't heard MSNBC freaking out about that, but when it was a transplant recipient being denied they were all over it. Long ago, we hid such people in basements, sometimes keeping them chained up so as not to hurt themselves or others. We pretty much do the same thing figuratively now, we pretend they don't exist, until one of them freaks out and hurts somebody or multiple somebodies, then everyone screams gun control. But nobody seems to want to talk about the real issue of mental helath care. We (the middle class) are TAXED TO DEATH IN THIS COUNTRY ALREADY, there is no reason why our government cannot devote money to mental and physical health care. It's a matter of the will of the people. As long as they keep us distracted over issues like guns, then they don't have to face us when we tell them how we want our money spent. Let's face it people, when the least of our brothers is denied mental health care, many of our brothers fall. It's time we start pushing for solutions, not distractions.
How to deal with difficult people
The problem with our education system is we end up with too many art students and not enough welders and plumbers.
That's a reasonable question Reilich, and I'll try to answer it. I taught basic algebra, some geometry, and what else I could sneak in like how a map works or why compound interest is important when taking out a loan. For some programs algebra was critical--electronics and photography come to mind. At the real college where I now teach occasional courses the medical technicians and nurses absolutely must understand how to set up basic problems involving unknowns if they are going to run their equipment, or make properly dosed medicines. Beyond that, I explained to each class that having some knowledge of how numbers really work (or what statistics do and don't tell you, a subjec that I also taught) means that a salesperson or politican can't as easily fool you by throwing around phony or manipulated data. This was important for our broadcasting students who otherwise couldn't judge the validity of much of the material they were given to repeat. Having these technical skills really increase the feeling of power and control over one's environment; even knowing something as simple as how to a calculate tax or understand a commission will make one a more informed citizen and consumer. So it's a mindset issue as much as a working one.
@ DrRichard -- Just wondering. What percentage of "skilled, professional" jobs require more than multiplication level math knowledge? If it is a small percentage, why are people required to "learn" (e.g. pass tests for) higher levels of math when they don't actually need this knowledge in their jobs? Most of the people I know, told me that they studied for tests to get grades, not to learn anything. They needed to pass classes to receive diplomas and college degrees. They also said that they hardly remember any of this knowledge. I wouldn't know. I'm a high school drop-out. But it seems to me that there is a basic flaw in the organization of education to begin with. That flaw, competition based education, seems to be related to this subject of hustlers gaming in the education biz.
The problem is that humans have not evolved beyond the hostile planet we call Earth. We are still competing for survival. Turning education into a ruthless, capitalist game is more of the same. Nothing has changed. Some people obviously enjoy competition in business and education. Others don't. It's a basic difference in types of people and the dichotomy is at the root of all discussions concerning capitalist behavior. This fact should be clarified whenever anyone beings up subjects concerning economic competitiveness. That is, that some people don't like it. Yet, most usually forget this. Go on and talk about the scourge of hustlers supposedly turning education into a competitive greed fest. When the truth is that education has always been a greed fest, and not only on the administrative end. It appears that education is served right for greedy hustlers to show up and put a mirror on education culture that is competitively greedy at its core and throughout.
It seems to me that universities have always been for-profit regardless what they claim. This story is therefore not so much news as more of the same. Increase in hustling behavior across US cultures of every type, across the world for that matter is more proof that capitalism is a bad idea. Humans need to embrace sharing and, if necessary socialism. Pardon me if that is stretching this subject, or off-topic. It isn't, really. So I will briefly continue. The problem, traditionally with socialism has been mismanagement and corruption. If humans could figure a way to manage an egalitarian government/society and rid our species of economic polarity, then we could finally be proud of calling ourselves evolved. How convenient that human governments and finance are always rife with corruption, socialistic and capitalistic, making the fundamentally corrupt capitalism an apparent only choice since it appears more individualistically free, but is actually the most corrupted economy at its core ethic of greed and profit. Yes, I am bombarded with education hustlers every day on the web. I am also bombarded with hustlers at the supermarket and everywhere else. Every day. I am sick and tired of it. I wonder if others are, too.
No, for profit colleges should be outlawed.
Why should an institution that has a goal of undermining the American Education system be Legal???
Vulturism,new word.
Isnt this the enemy within,again!
It is time for education to take a step forward to public K-14 education. Having public K-14 education for at least core curriculums (English, Math, Science, Drafting/Architectural Drafting/CAD, Art, Education, Agriculture, Biology, etc.) and the more basic trades (Carpentry, Auto Repair, Plumbing, Electrician, and Agricultural shop classes) will keep jobs locally while unburdening student of the cost of moving away to school. It will also allow smaller communities to offer junior college level courses early, again saving people money when going off to school. It is a very simple problem to the online universities. These juco schools could offer collaboration with online universities for testing. With any school, accreditation is very important. The juco level education could also partner with in state 4 year universities with online programs. Having classrooms with live cameras and local staff to serve as teaching assistants would kill off predatory non-accredited education institutions.
Many universities bum students onto graduate students for all but the main lectures. Many schools of lunacy such as Chiropractic, which has no known medical value as well as know to cause harm while not even requiring an anatomy class or any college level coursework to complete, are thriving with on-site brain washing. Schools of voodoo such as Accupuncture and Chiropractic as well as other unproven harmful and dangerous professions have always abounded all over the world.
A move to year round education of either 3 full semester or 4 full quarters would also cheapen education by cutting rent costs for students. Northwestern still has, I believe, a 3 years pre-med and 3 years of medical school program verses a 4 and 4 format at most universities. With the ability to take 2 years of college coursework before graduating college, imagine going 4 years and becoming a medical doctor or getting a masters degree.
The Republicans play upon the necessary foundations to living in America where they can capitalize upon the necessities that you cannot escape from. Health care, education, and jobs are basic. The Republicans can manipulate all of the foregoing. If you get sick you can go bankrupt and loose everything. If you want an education, you are strapped for life with a loan with a no bankruptcy clause. If you try to find a job after graduating from college, learn Chinese because that’s where the jobs went. It's call "I gotchya".