The US creates Instability in the World

There is an interesting response to an international survey which indicated, among other things, that the greatest threat to world stability is the United States of America.
THAT IS CERTAINLY TRUE --- IF you have a “better red than dead” mentality. However, as a nation we have a really bad attitude toward people who try to tell us what to do. In spite of rumors to the contrary, we are not a particularly peaceful people. Since 1608 we have been engaged in no less than 40 wars and armed conflicts covering about 316 years (computed from a list found at: http://www.historyguy.com/War_list.html. That’s a lot of fighting for a “peaceful” people.
The US won every thing prior to the Korean War. The Korean War continues through today under a truce. Since the implementation of the “truce” we have “lost” almost every armed conflict we have entered. The notable exceptions are, Grenada, Panama, and Desert Storm. Grenada and Panama did not last long enough to really engage the public’s attention.
Some might argue that the rescue of Kuwait was, if not a loss, at least a tie. Although the rescue of Kuwait met all of its stated military and political goals, it could be seen as a failure because the operation failed to reduce Saddam Hussein’s ability to militarily threaten his neighbors; nor did it sufficiently humiliate him so that he was no longer a player on the “Arab street”; nor did it sufficiently scare him to make him willing to abide by the terms of the Peace Treaty that he signed.
We fail because we have lost the national will to win.
In Northern Ireland the British face a religious conflict similar to the one that we are facing in Iraq. Approximately 38% of the population was Roman Catholic. approximately 45% of the population of Iraq is Shiite; as a percentage of the population the British had 3 times as many troops in Northern Ireland as we do in Iraq, but we have to cover 7 times as much territory in Iraq as the British did in Northern Ireland. The British had the advantage of: a stable government, short supply lines, and an enemy that shared a common language and appearance. Even so, it took them 30 years to bring peace to that country (we hope).
30 years to a lasting peace. What is there in the Iraq situation that makes us believe that we can do better there than the British did in N. Ireland?

WEAKNESS NEVER PAYS

When President (41) George Bush negotiated with other World Leaders to respond to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait with force, one of the agreements was that the allies would not invade Baghdad or try to capture Saddam. As the allies rolled over the incompetent Iraqi army, the “world leaders” prevailed upon the President to refrain from obliterating the Red Guard. The Red Guard was Saddam’s elite fighting force.
History has shown that those two acts of “mercy” i.e. not invading Bagdhad and not destroying the Red Guard, bore bitter fruit. They have cost thousands of American lives and even more thousands of Iraqi lives.
Weakness never pays. We have forgotten Patton’s dictum that, "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” W
Let’s be honest, Secretary Rumsfeld and his generals had a perfect attack plan that was executed to perfection.
President (43) George W. Bush was not incorrect when he said that we had won the war. We did. However what we have failed to do is secure the peace. If we must find fault for this, that fault can be laid directly at the feet of Secretary Rumsfeld and his Generals because they have failed to properly react to the changing conditions. The tough talking Rumsfeld has not actually been as tough as he talks and that is always a fatal mistake.
First: if the Korean and Viet Nam wars taught us anything they taught us that one cannot successfully fight a war when the enemy can be resupplied at will and can hide across a border in a safe haven. In Iraq they have two such borders, one with Iran and one with Syria. It is madness to let this situation continue, and yet, the military leadership does. Unbelievable weakness.
The second piece has to do with General Patton’s point in the quote above. To win a war you do not have to die, but you do have to kill the enemy. Again time after time our military has let the enemy, especially Sadr’s army, continue to live (to fight another day).
I realize that much of our weakness in this area is due to requests from the local government. However, the strong reply is, “We are not going to die for your politics. You were not strong enough to free yourselves, so we gave you your freedom. If you do not like what we are doing then ask us to leave and we will be glad to do so. There is no negotiation about this. We do it our way or we hit the highway.”

More on this Monday

Who N. Korea really screwed

Because the fall-out from the NK test was so small as to be almost undetectable there is some thought that it was a failure. If so, that would explain NK’s haste to fire off another test.

If NK thought that setting off its nuke would make the world quiver in fear it was wrong. Japan is clearly angry as is China. Japan has first hand knowledge of the meaning or nuclear devastation. NK cannot survive without significant support from China and is seen as a client state of China. At a time when Western companies are doing billions of dollars of business with China the government of China would at least like to appear as a civilized state. NK has embarrassed them before the World. If NK sets off another test China may decide that it is time for “regime change”.

Meanwhile the impotent UN has made a small response attempt and a second NK test might actually tempt it to stand up. Sort of international Viagra.

On the other hand, the US could, without resorting to the more aggressive actions that I have mentioned before, actively and publicly urge Japan to change its Constitution so that they could accept nuclear armaments from the US and could have a standing army. The US could publicly station a submarine off the NK coast in international waters (we could hit them from almost anywhere but this is would a public reminder that they play this game at their own risk).

South Korea is in a difficult position. Seoul is within artillery range of N.K. and NK’s army is about 3 times as large as SKs.

N Korea Jumping to Conclusions

So here it is Tuesday and its beginning to look like it wasn't a nuclear explosion after all. What we should learn from Viet Nam and Iraq is that trying to give people Democracy just doesn't work. Plus we don't have the manpower to insert ourselves all over the world anyway.

So what we have to do is remove the physical impediments to a people freeing themselves. What we ought to do is reduce the nations armed forces to nothingness and drop enough arms and munitions to the populace that they can carry out a successful revolution if they want to. If the don't they won't.

Giving people a chance at freedom is not the same as giving them Democracy.

School Safety

There are many comments in the blogosphere about keeping our schools safe. Some are using the recent tragedies to promote their own pollitical agendas (pro-gun, anti-gun, etc.). Some commentators are suggesting very expensive solutions.

Can we all agree that the first step is to keep hostile gunmen from getting in the school? If so, as a first step lets lock the exterior doors. If necessary lock the interior doors. This can be done in less than a day.

Create a sallyport at the main door. A basic sallyport WITH a black and white visual monitor would cost less than one thousand dollars and could be constructed in less than 2 days in most schools. A sallyport is basically a hallway that connects two doors. The second door cannot be opened until the first door is closed and locked.

None of these incidents would have happened if these simple, inexpensive steps had been taken.

Speaker Hastert should NOT resign

Unless or Until there is some factual evidence that the Speaker either committed or covered up some criminal activity it is important to support him. This is a nation of laws not innuendo. We cannot have a stabile government if every rumor and accusation is acted upon as if it were fact.

However, there is enough question here to merit investigation. The Speaker has swiftly and forthrightly take the first step of asking the AGs office to determine who knew what when.

The second part of that question should be who knew about the IMs and when. Was that information withheld? If so, regardless of the reason, that is child endangerment and the individual(s) responsible should be prosecute

Speaker Hastert should NOT give in to the pressure from either Ds or Rs. It is important for the country that the Speaker show courage under fire. If he resigns it will be seen as admission of guilt. It will only encourage the jackals and the craven.

The Mark Foley Bandwagon

It seems that everyone (especially the democrat's) want to paint all congressional Republicans with the Mark Foley paint brush. I don't know that you can blame them its a heck of an issue -- maybe. Well, its an issue if the Rs tried to cover it up, its not if they did not.

I'm not sure what else Hastert can do at this point. He has requested that the Attorney Generals office (FBI) investigate EVERYONE involved Rs and Ds and everyone in his office no exceptions. He has also requested and investigation by the authorities in Florida. This is far more than the Roman Catholic Church ever did under similar circumstances.

In all honesty we should say that so far all that has been released are examples of "grooming" behavior. That is behaviors that are intended to be seductive in nature. At this time we have not been given any examples that show the attempted seduction was successful. Which is to say that so far there is no evidence of an actual criminal act being committed (morally reprehensible yes, but "criminal" no evidence yet). I personally think that evidence of a crime will be found but so far, no. This appear to be a particulary informative place:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/10/hastert_wants_f.html

Rebuild New Orleans why??

Disasters

Johnstown, 1889. The Johnstown Dam burst sending a wave of water 125 feet high through East Conemaugh, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. 2,000 to 7,000 people died. The entire city was wiped out. Who rebuilt it? The people of Johnstown did. No Federal help.

Galveston,-September of 1900. A hurricane literally wiped out the city. More than 6 thousand people died (20% of the population). Who rebuilt Galveston? The people of Galveston. No federal money.

Chicago- October 8, 1871., The Great Chicago fire destroyed most of the city and put 100,000 people homeless. 6 months after the fire half of the city had been rebuilt. Who rebuilt it? The people of Chicago did. No Federal help.

San Francisco,-April 18, 1906. The San Francisco Earthquake and fire destroyed 75% of the city and killed about 700 people (not including Chinese which made the total about3,000). Within 5 years the city had been completely rebuilt. Who rebuilt San Francisco? The people of San Francisco. 1 million dollars in federal money.

And we are paying what to rebuild a city that has no rational reason to exist where it is, and may be 3 feet under water in the next 100 years?

"Public" Education

"Public" Education

The Education Wonks - Thoughts And Ideas Freely Exchanged

The Education Wonks - Thoughts And Ideas Freely Exchanged

This and That: Pics from the Office

This and That: Pics from the Office

To Whom Do We Teach?

Remember the old saw, "'A' students teach, and 'B' students work for 'C' students"? There is no mention of 'D' or 'F' students. Do you think that the saying is true today? I don't.

I don't think that it holds true because many, if not most, of today's 'C' students are yesterday's 'D' and 'F' students.

There is a lot of public outcry about how our students are not matching up well against foreign competition. Is it possible that we are "falling behind" because we focus 80% of our time and treasure on the LOWEST 10% of our students while our competition focuses 80% of its time and treasure on the HIGHEST 10%?

I know everybody wants to blame 'No Child Left Behind' for that but really NCLB is just the latest in a long list of 'feel good' projects gone bad. Other groups who are guilty of this behavior are the American Academy of Child and Asolescent Psychiatry, the National Association for Retarded Citizens, the National Education Ass., and others.

Pics from the Office

Pics from the Office

Things you have to do to learn:

1) Show up for the experience
2) Participate in the experience
3) Think about the experience enough to understand it
4) Make a decision to accept or reject the experience.

One thing that mandatory universal education has proven without a doubt is that “showing up” for the experience is much more than just physically being there”.

EDUCATION: A contrarian’s point of view

It always amazes me when people whine about the cost and relative ineffectiveness of public education in America. Our education is not as effective as it might be, not because it we spend too little on it, but because we spend too much on education.

I was watching a news report the other night on the diminishing Christian Church in Britain. Attendance has fallen off by more than 50% and many church buildings have had to be closed and sold. Toward the end of the report one of the Christian clergy was saying that the reason why these churches were failing was that they had made religion “inconvenient”. His example was that on Holy Days congregants were expected to attend services after work which he felt was entirely too much to ask. The report ended with a shot of a construction site that is supposed to be the start of the largest mosque in Europe. Why? Because the Moslem religion is the fastest growing religion in Britain. And of course we all know how liberal and easy going that is. People appreciate what they have to work for.

When the British forbade the Scotts to become educated, thousands of Scottish boys and girls would slip out of their homes and attend “school” at night under the hedgerows. They would learn math, and science, and (Scottish) history. People appreciate what they have to work for.

When our own slaves from Africa were forbidden to learn to read or write – teaching and learning still went on, even when the penalty might have been death. People appreciate what they have to work for.

My father, who really did go to school in a one room school could read and write in Latin and had read some of the classics in Latin. He never finished high school but dropped out and went to work on the cargo ships on the Great Lakes.My mother was the 11th of 12 children, attended high school in a small farming community, Watseka. Ill. Her father owned the local saloon and did a little farming. She attended 2 years of college and read and wrote both Latin and French.

The point is that it does not take a multimillion dollar school to turn out well educated people. It does take a desire to learn. Abraham Lincoln and Thomas A. Edison are proofs of that. Desire is enhanced by scarcity or unattainability. So if, as a society, we want more of our children to go to school and to learn something while they are there, we should make schools much harder to get into and much harder to pass.

Why I am no longer a Roman Catholic

Well I see that the good Pope Benedict has got himself in to a spot of difficulty. And I see that he is trying to extricate himself with a certain amount of Roman deftness and misdirection by issuing an apology not for what he said but that some people objected to what he said. Of course that's an old trick and most folks are quick enough to see it theses days. But he will slide out from underneath because he is good at misdirection. Look at the way he handled the child sex abuse scandals in the Roman Church.

Remember he was Pope John's enforcer and very little went on in the world wide church that he did not know about (especially if it were scandalous). In America we had numerous priests being moved from one parish to another and even from one diocese to another because their sexual activities with little boys had become known. Imagine that … Essentially the Roman Church was playing “hide the pea” to protect its own pedophile priests!? It takes a big conspiracy to do something like that, because a lot of people know what is going on. The victim and his parents know; the other priests in the Parish know; the parish secretary knows; the Bishop knows; his assistant knows; the Bishop’s secretary knows; The Archbishop and or the Cardinal knows and their assistants and secretaries know; the chief administrative priest of the receiving parish knows; All of the legal staffs at the various administrative levels know and some of their clerical staff knows; the Pope and his intimates know; Of course the Enforcer (now known as Pope Benedict) would know; and with all of this “knowing” going on it is impossible that significant parts of the Roman Curia (all priests themselves) would not know.

What all of this means is that for a large number of years, certainly most of Pope John’s reign, the Roman Catholic Church from top to bottom knew that many priests (world wide) were orally and anally raping little boys, and not one of these hundreds of “men of God” not one of these leaders stood up to put a stop to it.

And it is still going on. Oh, not so much in the Western Democracies but in third world countries. Little black boys, and little brown boys, and little yellow boys are still receiving the “special” attention of their parish priests. And if it becomes a local scandal, why the priests are just moved to a different country. More “hiding the pea.”

One wonders if Benedict’s rush to canonize John XXIII is because he really believes that John is worthy (perhaps John could be the patron saint of hopeless pedophiles) or because Benedict thinks that making John a saint will short circuit future investigations.

In any event, it hardly seems that the Roman part of the catholic church can hold itself out as the ‘one true church’ since the gates of hell have very apparently prevailed against it.

INTERROGATION

Has the United State ever fought a war in which the other side actually followed the requirements of the Geneva Convention? Germany? NO; Japan? NO; North Korea? NO; China? NO; North Vietnam? NO; Iraq? NO; Afghanistan? NO; Iraq? NO. Did I miss anybody?

If the idea is that if we treat their people well they will treat our people well, how has that worked out for the last 70+ years? The answer is, of course, not very well. We want people to think well of us? Why? If you are the richest and nicest guy on the block, a few people are going to try to take what you have. If you are the riches meanest guy on the block nobody will mess with you. I prefer to not be messed with.

As far as safeguarding our own people is concerned that certainly has not happened. Even if the enemy cared about his own troops he knows that they will be safe with us so why should he treat our guys better? IN FACT, following the Geneva Conventions when the enemy does not really puts our people at more risk because there is no consequence to their poor behavior.

FAT, CHUBBY, and TUBBY KIDS

Kids do not get fat at school, they get fat at home. Take a look at how much work it takes to burn 1 calorie.
We are not going to turn fat kids into skinny kids at school.
But if we want to put a little aerobic excercise into their chubby lives it would not be hard. Take out lockers, make sure the back packs all weigh at least 10 lbs., make all of the hall ways one way the same way, and give them only two minutes between classes. All detention, in school suspension, and Saturday school would consist of old time Phys. Ed. (running, jumping jacks, push ups, etc.).
They might not get skinny but they would learn to move their big fat butts pretty good, and no time for snaks.

Telecommuting

It seems to me that there are millions of jobs in America that could be done by telecommuting. Telecommuting would solve traffic jams, pollution, and oil dependence. The vast majority of jobs could be switched in 2 years.

So why don't we do it??

A curse on all of their houses

Over at the education wonks is a post about the math folks going back to basics.

All the people who suffered through "New Math" and "Fuzzy Math" ought to be able to sue the people who thought up that crap for emotional, and intellectual distress; for lost job opportunities; and for fraud. The United States should try them for treason. There are some math and social science curriculum developers who should suffer the same fate. A curse on all of their houses.