In a free and democratic America, Muslims have every right to build a mosque near Ground Zero. And Americans should have the tolerance to accept this constitutional right.
And to promote this culture of universal tolerance in America, I propose the following :
* Two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque thereby promoting tolerance within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs (which would be gay) "The Turban Cowboy" and the other, being a topless bar, "You Mecca Me Hot".
* Next door might be a butcher shop that specializes in pork and adjacent to that an open barbeque pork rib restaurant, called something like “Iraq o’ Ribs”?
* Across the street there might be a very daring lingerie store called “Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret” with sexy mannequins in the window modeling the goods.
* Next door to the lingerie shop, there would be room for an Adult Toy Shop, “Koranal Knowledge”, its name in flashing neon lights, and on the other side a liquor store, perhaps called "More Hammered"?
* Security for these treasured landmarks would be provided by the mosque itself. Indeed, America should encourage the construction of a mosque next door to the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon, and every other strategic and cultural landmark. Unlike terrorists who have a penchant for hiding behind human shields, something frowned upon in America, I see no major problem in America protecting itself with the religious shields of Islamic domes and minarets.
Then these folk could share with us and demonstrate their tolerance for our cultural freedoms and constitutional rights.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Dumbing Down America
At a time when the US Economy, employment, the housing market and health care are on the ropes and fading fast, there is one area where the good old US of A is excelling beyond all expectations – dumbed-down education!
Once the world leader in the percentage of young people with college degrees, the USA has fallen to 12th among 36 developed nations. In the key group of 25- to 34-year-olds with a college degree, the US ranks behind Canada, South Korea, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Israel, France, Belgium and Australia. And as America’s aging and highly educated work force moves into retirement, the nation will rely on young Americans to maintain and increase our standing in the world.
One generation ago, the US was No. 1 in the world in college graduations. Now we’re 12th at a time when a good education is critically important to getting a decent job. We read less and less and write like barbarians. These days, a child drops out of high school every 26 seconds and it is expected that the educational level of the younger generation of Americans will not approach their parents’ level of education.
In the 1950s, prior to the onset of one education “reform” initiative after another, America’s literacy rate was at an all-time high, and it’s interesting to note that, with rare exception, we early baby-boomers were not taught to read until first grade. Typically, our mothers made no effort whatsoever to teach us any literacy skills during our preschool years. Yet today’s parents are convinced, in the face of a growing amount of evidence to the contrary, that where reading and computers are concerned, earlier is better.
Unequivocal research indicates that television watching during the preschool years greatly increases the likelihood of attention problems, yet it is a rare preschool program that doesn’t have children watching the tube for 30 minutes or more a day. There is also a strong link between preschool computer time and later learning difficulties. Studies have found that screen time of any sort during preschool years actually changes the way the brain develops. And the research is clear that teaching reading before the age of 6 greatly increases the possibility of later learning problems and underachievement. (In my next blog, I’ll deal with this item – Author)
So, if we set out with education reform to dumb down America, we may have succeeded beyond our wildest expectations! But wait! Perhaps the nadir is still to come – the Institute for Justice, an organization that champions school choice, recently posted a revealing news report where a father commented that his daughter learned the alphabet, and only the alphabet, during her entire first-grade year in a local public school. To make matters worse, the teacher did not get all the way through the alphabet. The school year ended before they got beyond “W”! (No Shrub Jokes Please!)
Once the world leader in the percentage of young people with college degrees, the USA has fallen to 12th among 36 developed nations. In the key group of 25- to 34-year-olds with a college degree, the US ranks behind Canada, South Korea, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Israel, France, Belgium and Australia. And as America’s aging and highly educated work force moves into retirement, the nation will rely on young Americans to maintain and increase our standing in the world.
One generation ago, the US was No. 1 in the world in college graduations. Now we’re 12th at a time when a good education is critically important to getting a decent job. We read less and less and write like barbarians. These days, a child drops out of high school every 26 seconds and it is expected that the educational level of the younger generation of Americans will not approach their parents’ level of education.
In the 1950s, prior to the onset of one education “reform” initiative after another, America’s literacy rate was at an all-time high, and it’s interesting to note that, with rare exception, we early baby-boomers were not taught to read until first grade. Typically, our mothers made no effort whatsoever to teach us any literacy skills during our preschool years. Yet today’s parents are convinced, in the face of a growing amount of evidence to the contrary, that where reading and computers are concerned, earlier is better.
Unequivocal research indicates that television watching during the preschool years greatly increases the likelihood of attention problems, yet it is a rare preschool program that doesn’t have children watching the tube for 30 minutes or more a day. There is also a strong link between preschool computer time and later learning difficulties. Studies have found that screen time of any sort during preschool years actually changes the way the brain develops. And the research is clear that teaching reading before the age of 6 greatly increases the possibility of later learning problems and underachievement. (In my next blog, I’ll deal with this item – Author)
So, if we set out with education reform to dumb down America, we may have succeeded beyond our wildest expectations! But wait! Perhaps the nadir is still to come – the Institute for Justice, an organization that champions school choice, recently posted a revealing news report where a father commented that his daughter learned the alphabet, and only the alphabet, during her entire first-grade year in a local public school. To make matters worse, the teacher did not get all the way through the alphabet. The school year ended before they got beyond “W”! (No Shrub Jokes Please!)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Obama birth certificate plot thickens ...
Okay, so Barack Obama got away with becoming President using an abridged Certificate of Live Birth instead of a vault copy of the original birth certificate. And Anderson Cooper says this is okay. Well a friend of mine, a born US Citizen of US parents, grandparents and whatever, went to apply for a US Passport, and took along her certificate of live birth. Guess what? The US Passport office refused to accept her certificate of live birth. Told her she needed her original vault copy. So, how come you can become President with a certificate of live birth, but for a passport you need a vault copy? mmmmmmmm!!!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Where have all our Presidents gone?
If you watched Anderson Cooper’s AC360 failed attempt to brow-beat Lt Col Terry Larkin on Friday 6 August 2010, http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/06/video-release-birth-certificate-military-doctor-demands-2/ , the plot becomes even thicker. If anything, Anderson Cooper raised even more doubts by pointedly refusing to allow Terry Larkin’s attorney to explain the issue. So let’s look at what Anderson Cooper did NOT KNOW or did NOT WANT you to know.
The certificate under discussion is Barack Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth, an electronically-issued computer generated abridged birth certificate which clearly states that “This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceedings”. See the certificate at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/obama-birth.html . This Certificate of Live Birth is NOT the original birth certificate signed by the parents and the doctor who delivered the baby, but simply an abridged copy. Indeed, the certificate of live birth does not even allege that this certificate is absolute indisputable unquestionable proof – the words “prima facie” mean “on first appearance”, thus leaving the door open to a challenge as to accuracy and authenticity.
Notwithstanding Mr Cooper’s insistence that this is a legal document, recognized by the US Government, he is simply incorrect. In immigration matters, for example, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service does NOT accept abridged birth certificates (such as this Certificate of Live Birth). The USCIS demands a “vault copy” – a certified, notarized copy of the full, unabridged and signed ORIGINAL birth certificate which contains the handwritten entries of the parents and delivering doctor – names, dates, signatures and place of birth.
Now I figure that a person of Anderson Cooper’s intelligence would know this. So why did he so pointedly and aggressively shut the attorney down when he tried to explain that Terry Larkin is, as is his right, challenging the accuracy and authenticity of a certificate which is unsigned by the parents, unsigned by the delivery doctor, clearly an abridged copy and clearly identified as only prima facie evidence? And why did Mr Cooper not simply concur with Terry Larkin’s lawyer and say “Okay, if you cannot get a certified notarized vault copy of the original, I’m sure the power of CNN will have more luck.”
Perhaps this country does not want to face the consequences if Terry Larkin manages to prove something we don’t want to know? Can you imagine trying to undo and reverse every piece of legislation enacted since Barack Obama was elected? Indeed, would this not make this great country the laughing stock of the entire world, doing incalculable damage to us politically, economically and militarily? Perhaps this is a Pandora’s Box best left closed?
The certificate under discussion is Barack Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth, an electronically-issued computer generated abridged birth certificate which clearly states that “This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceedings”. See the certificate at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/obama-birth.html . This Certificate of Live Birth is NOT the original birth certificate signed by the parents and the doctor who delivered the baby, but simply an abridged copy. Indeed, the certificate of live birth does not even allege that this certificate is absolute indisputable unquestionable proof – the words “prima facie” mean “on first appearance”, thus leaving the door open to a challenge as to accuracy and authenticity.
Notwithstanding Mr Cooper’s insistence that this is a legal document, recognized by the US Government, he is simply incorrect. In immigration matters, for example, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service does NOT accept abridged birth certificates (such as this Certificate of Live Birth). The USCIS demands a “vault copy” – a certified, notarized copy of the full, unabridged and signed ORIGINAL birth certificate which contains the handwritten entries of the parents and delivering doctor – names, dates, signatures and place of birth.
Now I figure that a person of Anderson Cooper’s intelligence would know this. So why did he so pointedly and aggressively shut the attorney down when he tried to explain that Terry Larkin is, as is his right, challenging the accuracy and authenticity of a certificate which is unsigned by the parents, unsigned by the delivery doctor, clearly an abridged copy and clearly identified as only prima facie evidence? And why did Mr Cooper not simply concur with Terry Larkin’s lawyer and say “Okay, if you cannot get a certified notarized vault copy of the original, I’m sure the power of CNN will have more luck.”
Perhaps this country does not want to face the consequences if Terry Larkin manages to prove something we don’t want to know? Can you imagine trying to undo and reverse every piece of legislation enacted since Barack Obama was elected? Indeed, would this not make this great country the laughing stock of the entire world, doing incalculable damage to us politically, economically and militarily? Perhaps this is a Pandora’s Box best left closed?
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