News item: Obama visits Kabul.

President Obama pressed President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to crack down on corruption while strengthening the judicial system and promoting good governance, and he invited him to Washington.

Onward Christian soldiers in the Muslim Middle East. (Bound to be a losing cause). So, Mr. Obama, we continue our efforts to make the Middle East safe for Israel and safe for our oil and gas supplies. Big mistake. At best this is huge drain on our treasury and, at worst, a losing proposition--we will never make the Middle East safe for Israel. As we fiddle endlessly, Wall Street is still running its gambling casino and is bound to come up short once again...and our overextended world reach will topple us.

Say no to Israeli take-over of Palestinian lands

Considering we give in the neighborhood of 10 billion a year to Israel (20% of the Israeli budget)and given that the Palestinians are losing their land at a sickening pace, it's time to say "no" to Israel and its settlers.

Settlers now comprise 1/4th of Israel's population. They are a powerful bloc; much admired by the rest of the country for their "pioneering" spirit. They provide the push for Israel’s illegal (see UN resolutions, Geneva Convention) expansions. The only way to stop Israel from taking over all of the "Palestine Mandate" (Israel now has 80% of the land both parties were supposed to share, and it grows larger every day ) is for the US to pull the financial plug.

The US gives Israel--over 10 billion a year (approx. 1/5th of the Israeli budget)--3 billion direct, military loans that are never repaid, tax free giving by US citizens, etc. Cutting this subsidy will, hopefully, bring Israel to its senses, if not, we will have succeeded in not enabling their land grabbing and crushing of the Palestinians

Schools--what is to be done?

What's up with the schools and no child left behind?


International education expert says US "Schools are inheriting an over entertained, distracted student."

A Senate panel learned that more students in more countries graduate from high school and college and score higher on achievement tests than students in the United States.

So that's it. US student's minds are not in the classroom (their minds are on hand-held devices) and are too damn twitchy. Just as I thought.


So what's the answer? One answer is to keep the politicians away from the schools. The other answer is to ask: "Do we need smart"? Probably not. Rich can always buy smart from anywhere in the world. Also, since we've left manufacturing behind, how smart do you have to be to sell sub-prime mortgages or credit default swaps? It's not a lack of smarties that are leading us to 2nd tierdom; it is the rich-ies who can't stop gorging themselves on the financial sector that is leading us there.

But what about charter schools, another gleam in the eye of the "we'd rather fiddle than watch Rome burn" crowd? Charters are no better on average than the public schools, report scholars at Stanford U. and Diane Ravitch.

So we're left with the public schools: love them or leave them. I say leave them alone--they're doing the best they can with what they've got to work with.