Saturday, November 26, 2016

The Dumbing Down Of America Just Got a Steroid Shot: Her name is Betsy DeVos

Good Day World!

American students have been slipping in smarts for years.

An organization that releases test scores for 15-year old students around the world recently shared just what a sorry state our education system is in.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released their regular 3-year report and once again American students fall south of the average.

Obviously something has to happen to change this education dynamic in the USA before we become a nation of certifiable dummies.

We need changes from the top. A national leader in education dedicated to turning this terrible trend around. 

Instead, despite losing the popular vote, we have a moron who has assured us no meaningful advances in education are coming anytime soon with his latest crony pick.

Enter Trump's appointment for Education Secretary - Betsy DeVos, one of the billionaire DeVos family famous for their company Amway.

You remember Amway don't you? It's sales people were always told not to say they worked for Amway. This article: Amway: 5 Realities of the Multi-Billion-Scam   may help refresh your memory.

DeVos knows diddly squat about education and is part of a family of con artists - like Trump - who got wealthy ripping-off the public.

According to Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, DeVos has "...done more to undermine public education than support students.

DeVos is known for her lobbying efforts and failed schemes, like vouchers - which take away funding and local control from our public schools - to fund private schools at taxpayers' expense.

She's on record for consistently pushing a corporate agenda, and imposing cookie-cutter solutions to public education. In other words - just what Trump wants. Another billionaire to help him control the masses.

The DeVos family has been using their deep pockets to influence the Michigan legislature for years and it looks like they have finally bought their way into a presidential administration as well. 

This is just one example of the new norm: shortage of experience meaning nothing, as long as you don't have a shortage of money. 

The dumbing down of America got a steroid shot thanks to our new Moron-In-Chief Trump.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Friday, November 25, 2016

A GOOD JITTERBUG

Good Day World!

I'm in the poetry mode today.
Here's a little morsal for you to sample on before you go your way...

A GOOD JITTERBUG

He was a jazzy red jitterbug
who liked to cut a rug
with a face that looked like a tug
with his narrow mug
his smile so smug
his hand on a whiskey jug
after taking a chug
a spirited sparkplug
who liked to cuddle and snug
willing to give a hug
or a designer drug
to man or bug
but not a thug
because he was a good jitterbug
with a custom coffee mug
and hat that said "Chug A Lug!"

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving Greetings To All

Happy Thanksgiving!

My version of this holiday has nothing to do with pilgrims and Indians, and everything to do with family.

I hope this Thanksgiving doesn't find you at a table full of arguing relatives.

 The country is at a delicate time right now with Trumpies celebrating with Nazi salutes.

Today is a day for giving thanks for what we have. It's that simple. It's a day to bond with family and friends...not fight with them.

Let this be a day of peace and hope for a better world.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

How To get Rich By Lying Your Ass Off In News Stories!

Good Day World!

Get rich scams all have one thing in common; they're based on lies.

Lying is a profitable way to make money in the news, social media sites, and blogs. 

The mainstream media, and social media, in the 21st century has become so lax with lies that the average reader can't sort them out.

Here's one example of How Fake News Goes Viral

You may have heard that the spread of fake news on FaceBook has affected the outcome of the presidential election.

CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, published a detailed post describing ways the company is going to consider dealing with the problem.

But consider this: Zuckerberg makes money from fake news. Whether the news is real or not, as long as someone "shares" it enough its lucrative for FaceBook.

So, how do fake news sites make money?

Let's count the ways in this video. Here's more ways to spread lies and get rich.

So how do you tell truth from fiction on the age of fake news?
This article summarizes ways to look out for the legion of lies living on the Internet and your television.

Here's Five Tips on How to Spot Fake News.

The main thing to understand is that you can't believe everything you read or see on TV. Unless you check out at least three sources, there's a good chance you'll be eating baloney sandwiches!

I think the thing that bothers me the most is people are not only gullible, but sometimes they're so wrapped up in a warped world view that they can't recognize the truth even if it ran over them!

As a retired journalist, I'm glad that I don't have to deal with the new state of affairs where credibility is tossed for sensationalism and cold cash.

I honestly believe that American journalism has morphed into click bait and partisanship to pander to the under-educated masses who have been dumbed down for the last couple of decades.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Tattoo U: Ancients Led The Way To The Popularity of Tattoos Today

Olive Oatman (left), and her seven-year-old sister Mary Ann, were captured by Southwest Indians in 1851. The tattoo on her face was controversial for several reasons. 

Good Day World!

There's nothing controversial about tattoos in American society today. It wasn't always that way however.

There was a time when only sailors, carny freaks and criminals sported body art in America. 

There's something about self-branding that's appealed to mankind since ancient times. 

Interestingly enough, in ancient Egypt the majority of tattoos have been found on women, indicating status.

Nothing new under the sun right? Women in America today are more likely to get a tattoo than men. 

The Egyptians also used tattoos for healing, religion, and a form of punishment. 

Moving on, the word tattoo is believed to have originated from the Samoan word tatau. The men's tattoo is called the pe'a, and the womens is called the malu.

Facial tattoos are common with the Atayal tribe in Taiwan. They are proof a man can protect his homeland and that women are qualified to weave cloths and perform religious ceremonies.

There was a period of time when sailors in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, got tattoos to identify their bodies should they be lost at sea or impressed by the British navy.

If you were wondering who the first documented professional tattoo artist in the USA was...wonder no more; his name was Martin Hildebrant, a German immigrant who arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1846. 

Hildebrant tattooed soldiers (1861 to 1865) from both sides of the Civil War. 

The history of tattooing is interwoven in Eastern and Western cultures. Tattoos will always have a certain place in societies.

We can thank the ancients for showing the way to the popularity of tattoos today.

Tattoo to you, and may your ink always look new!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Monday, November 21, 2016

The Death of Diversity In A Country That Once Bragged About It


                                     Good Day World!

America didn't start out being a safe haven for all races.

White Europeans ruled from day one. Slavery was in fashion and people of color had no rights.

It nearly took two centuries before Americans came together and demanded equality for all. During that time, if you weren't white, life was hard on people of color and foreign origin.

The Pollyanna's of the country may claim inroads were made on racial issues for many years. Not so. It wasn't until the 1960's before Americans got serious about treating all of it's citizens equally.

It was a long hard fight that resulted in nearly 50 years of all Americans coming together, regardless of race, gender, and place of origin.

It wasn't a golden age of enlightenment however. There were still issues to be resolved, but it was a period in our history when Americans did their best to follow the tenets of the Declaration of Independence which declared:

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

That has sadly changed in the 21st century when polarization became the norm. Congress was, and is, a good example.

But race took on more significance and groups like the KKK and White Supremacists have crawled out from their bunkers and have slipped into the mainstream with the election of Donald Trump. 

Now under the Trump regime we're seeing the results. So far he's appointed Jeff Sessions the 84th attorney general position.

This is the same man who was rejected as a federal judge over allegations he called a black attorney "boy" suggesting a white lawyer working for black clients was a race traitor.

Sessions once joked that the only issue he had with the KKK was their drug use, and referred to civil rights groups as "Un-American" organizations trying to "force civil rights down the throats of people who werew trying to put problems behind them."

Even of more concern, Trump's closest paid advisor is Stephen Bannon, a racist, leader of the alt-right who managed - as the executive chairman - to make the Breitbart website into a mainstream portal for hate and racism in America.

Trump continues to gather the forces of hate and violent change around him. A new age is dawning. There will be no pretense of equality for all.

Perhaps we're going back to our roots. The part where we signed a so-called nobel document, but didn't bother living up to what it said.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Sunday, November 20, 2016

The American Way: A Myth To Control the Masses


                                        Good Day World!

The American Way is a legacy myth, passed down from generation-to-generation to gullible children, who grow up to be gullible adults.

There's a big gap in the interruption of the term's meaning between the wealthy and the struggling middle class. The masses are getting restless.

Imagine a line of people patiently waiting to move forward steadily as they work hard and keep to all conventional values.

They believe in the Horatio Alger myth.

Then imagine that line stalled. Those waiting patiently watch as other people step ahead of them. But they don't get mad at first, because the myth says it is the American Way and those line-cutters are just being rewarded for (alleged) merit. 

However, the result is growing concern and insecurity for those playing the game according to the rules in the myth. It gets ugly quickly.

Waiting gets harder as a new perception sets in; "Undeserving people" are getting ahead of them in line because they aren't following the rules in the myth game book.

These others cause resentment which results in social upheaval. Look around. What do you see? I see the biggest gap in income equality in American history.

If there is such a thing as the American Way, it's our ability to survive bad leadership and still carve out a way of life in spite of it!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Blog Break Until Presidential Election is Over

I finally hit the wall today. I can't think of what to say about all of the madness going on in this country right now. I'm a writer...