How Much Money Does One Need/Want?

An article came out today listing the wealthiest Americans, focusing on Michigan billionaires.  First, isn't it astounding that there are about 500 billionaires in the US??????  I don't begrudge any of them their money, as long as they earned it or received it legally.  I'm not one to say, "Soak [in taxes] the rich!"

But what struck me was that the 86th wealthiest guy in the US, Mike Illich (sp?), worth $5.4 billion, had to soak Michigan taxpayers to build a new arena for his Red Wings.  I have forgotten the amount, but wasn't it something like 60% of the cost of the arena will be borne by taxpayers?  What?  The guy can't afford a billion bucks or so build an arena himself?  He has no friends, filthy rich, too, who won't chip in?  And many of these same guys are the ones who complain about welfare to folks who are down on their luck (or out of jobs due to corporate management blunders?).  I guess the word "corporate" takes the "welfare" out of "corporate welfare?"

Not to pile on Pope Francis, but he sure spent some time railing against capital punishment.  Yet he didn't manage to focus a whole lot on abortion.  Maybe he did and the LameStream Media didn't report it?

How interesting that Speaker Boehner is stepping down and the accolades come from all over the place--esp. Democrats!  If Republicans are worried about losing the Presidential election in '16 because of outsiders Trump, Carson, Fiorina, perhaps they'd be better off looking in the mirror.  The Establishment Republicans--personified in Boehner and McConnell--are the reasons rank-and-file Republicans are eschewing the, well, Establishment candidates.  They don't represent the rank-and-file, but rather the big donors.  And, well, my guess is that the folks on that list of wealthiest Americans don't have much of an idea how the rest of us live.  (I still believe that many of my Amherst mates have no idea what it's like to raise a family of four on $60,000 a year.  In fact, I think they might not believe that's all I made as a teacher.  And, I'm not complaining.  I'm comfortable.  My family has done and does well.  And there are many folks trying to make a go of it on less than I did.)

Similarly, the other day on the drive to work, a radio host had on a guest, with a discussion of taxes, specifically, proposed tax increases.  Normally this host gushes over his guests and throws them lollipops after lollipops to answer.  I was surprised when, whoa!, the host stopped the guest and questioned him on "getting the rich to pay their fair share."  How refreshing!  And it was great to see (OK, hear) the guess bamboozled, as if nobody had ever questioned that the rich need to pay more in taxes.  I'd still like to hear one of the Presidential candidates ask a reporter/interviewer after one of the seemingly endless string of irrelevant, stupid questions, "That's a stupid question?  Aren't you embarrassed to ask such a stupid thing?  Don't you get tired of asking moronic questions?"  Or something like that.

Yogi Berra died.  Amid all the fond recollections of the funny things he said, I wonder how many people realized just how good he was.  He did, after all, win not one, not two, but three AL MVP Awards.  And, as a little dig at the current trends in scouting, complete with sabermetrics and all, I wonder how Yogi would have done on the shuttle run??????

This and That

So, the Pope is coming.  The US, or at least much of it, is agog.  I think this Pope is delusional in many respects.  I don't at all remember the exact wording of either the questions or his responses, but they, his replies, were very wrong-headed.  Back with Charlie Hebdo, he was asked about it.  Instead of loudly and repeatedly condemning the mass murders by Islamists, he said something about punching in the nose a guy who might insult Francis' mother.  Unless I missed his point, it seems like he was saying that we shouldn't insult someone's religion and, if we did, we get what's coming to us.  OK, maybe that's not it, but it certainly was no condemnation of the Islamists.

A while ago he was asked about the Islamists/ISIS who cut off the heads of Christian kids in front of the kids' parents.  Asked what should be done about that he mentioned something like "Violence is not the answer."  Huh?  He said a dialogue should be started.  Maybe we can ask ISIS to be nicer?  Maybe if we say "Pretty please?"

And while in Cuba, why wasn't he all over the Castros about their decades of abuse of civil rights, including religious rights?  It will be interesting to hear what he says about the US when he comes to the US.

He's been real big about the plight of the poor.  I don't know, but how much of the vast wealth of his Catholic Church has been given to the poor?  (Did you ever read Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West?)

It's hard to take the man seriously, Pope or not.  I wonder if he realizes what would have happened, for instance, to Gandhi had he not lived in a civilized society?  How successful do you think Gandhi would have been in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia?  Right, we'd have never heard of him.  Gandhi's tactics--and those of others like him--can succeed only in a civilized society.

Hasn't it become ridiculous how seemingly every day there is some media shark-fest over something a Republican candidate has said?  Granted, some of the statements have been crude, rude, and even stupid.  But the one over Ben Carson's comments on a possible Muslim candidate for President is one of the silliest.  He didn't say a Muslim couldn't run for President or even that one is or should be barred from running.  He said, and I heard his words (unless they were doctored by several radio news broadcasts), were that he couldn't/wouldn't "advocate" for a Muslim candidate for President.  To me that means he wouldn't support, wouldn't vote for a Muslim candidate.  That's a whole lot different from the headlines that came on the national radio news programs.  What I'm really looking for is one of these candidates to say to a correspondent, "With all of the serious issues in this country, that's a really stupid question!  Aren't you in the least bit embarrassed to ask such a silly question?"  I think I'll be waiting for a long time.

Again, I am not a Trump guy.  I would never vote for him.  Yet I understand his current popularity.  It isn't Trump, not at all.  Too many people are upset with the arrogant, lying, dishonest elitists who have been running the government, at all levels.  This goes for politicians of both parties.  Now, come election time, will these Trump supporters actually vote for him or someone outside of the Establishment?  I somehow doubt it.

With my current schedule, five classes four days a week, running after work/school with Carrie, trying to grade many papers, etc., I've been feeling overwhelmed.  I will miss a writing deadline today and have another next Tue; I may or may not make it.  I refuse to let my schedule interfere with my running and still look to bike most days--those are priorities.  Still, the rest of my time is very frenzied and, maybe it's age, I find myself discomboobulated [sic] and out of sorts, at least often so.  I don't seem to be able to accurately express myself, at not as clearly as I would like.  But, I'll keep trying......

Education

I'm worried about the state of education in the US.  I've written about it before, here and for newspapers.  And, from some of what I saw this past week, I think many of the bad things I feared are occurring.

I had occasion to attend a curriculum night/open house at the local high school.  Oh, the teachers and other staff were very nice, etc.  But as I left each and every class, I felt it growing.  "It?"  Yes, "it" is the sense that we are creating educational assembly lines.  (No doubt many, esp in the schools would disagree--for many reasons.)  Teachers seem to be robots, if not as people, at least as teachers.  And students are minions ( NO NO, not the movie.  I took the kids to see it and I thought it was rotten, one of the very worse I've ever seen.  Yet, it was worthwhile--the kids liked it and I was with the kids.)

Each class had an agenda--this, this, and this.  There was no room for that.  Everything seemed to be geared up for, you guessed it, the state tests.  It seemed there was no room for creativity in the classroom, no room for teachers to, perhaps, spend extra time on their specialties.  Guidelines and timelines seemed to rule everything.

And what point of "pride" did the principal show to parents at the beginning?  Again, you guessed it--test scores.

I was astounded that the first semester, for instance, of World History "covered" prehistory all the up through the 18th Century!!!!!!  Where is the room to study the Greeks and the Romans and what they gave to our Western Civilization?  Where is the time to study (and enjoy) the art of the Renaissance?  When can teachers teach in any depth, which is the real study of history?  I noted that some of the key "benchmarks" (I dislike that term!) involved Ancient China, 13th Century Africa, and the Mongols.  So, touching upon them steals from time focusing on the Greeks and Romans and the Enlightenment.....?  But what does a piece of mung know?

I don't think I'm conveying clearly enough my feeling of "assembly line education" that I had as I left the building.  Regardless, that feeling has been hammering on me for three days.  It's not a good feeling to have.  I guess we can thank our politicians and corporate-types.  And let's not forget to thank the education establishment for turning out such lousy products that the politicians and corporate-types stepped in.

The World Turned Upside Down......

Is this one true?  I heard it on a radio show and then saw a separate reference online.

Supposedly a Denver man had his windshield smashed by a vandal.  He made an appointment at a repair shop to get his damaged windshield fixed.  As he pulled into the parking lot, an Adams County deputy pulled in behind him and gave him a citation/ticked for driving with a broken windshield.  Both were in the parking lot of the repair shop!  The owner showed the officer that the man had an appointment scheduled to get the windshield fixed.  No matter, the ticket stood.

Again, I wonder.  Is this one true?

And, last week, in NYC a former world-ranked professional tennis player was mauled by a plainclothes officer.  The man was just standing outside a hotel, waiting for a bus or cab or......  The officer took him down, aided by several others.  Despite the man's pleas to check his ID, he was hauled off.  He made no resistance, didn't struggle.  Within 15 minutes the man was released, after the mauling and being dragged through the public by half a dozen officers.  Although the man was supposedly similar in looks to the guy who was wanted--it turned out not to be the man.  Again, no resistance, no struggle.  And for what crime/charge?  Murder?  Rape?  Any assault?  Nope, none of the above.  It was credit card fraud and, remember, the man who was mauled was not the culprit.

Sometimes I really wonder.

The past couple of weeks the Michigan state legislature spent what seemed like an inordinate amount of time investigating an affair between two lawmakers.  Granted, the cover up attempted by the two was extremely bizarre.  But, still......  Why isn't there that urgency in fixing our roads, for instance?  I got a big laugh when one of the legislative leaders said that "the integrity" of the state legislature was involved in this affair deal.  Yeah, right..."the integrity."  Is there any wonder why people hold our legislators in such low regard?  Nope, I don't wonder at this one.

Machines

I've been called, among other things, a Luddite.  The Luddites were early 19th Century British opponents of automation or, at least, the coming of factories.  They were known to destroy machines, which they thought would lead to the loss of jobs, the advent of "feel like a number."

I don't have a cell phone.  I eschew snow blowers, leaf blowers, lawn-mowing tractors, power tools such a screw drivers, etc.  Obviously I use computers and enjoy mine.

Yet I still marvel at machines.  Well, I still marvel at some machines.  A couple of weeks ago, Karen and I flew to Las Vegas with Michael to visit Matt and Linda.  Imagine, as I did, in a matter of several hours, we were almost 2,200 miles from our origin!  We flew at about 600 mph at more than 5 miles in the sky.  Contrast that to life about 150 or so years ago.  Most likely, most folks never traveled much beyond 40 or 50 miles from the place of their birth.  A mere century ago, automobiles and airplanes were in their infancies.  Henry Ford's Model T was just beginning to "put the nation on wheels."  Wilbur Wright, in 1908, astounded, even overwhelmed the French (who thought their own early forays into flight were paramount) by flying a plane for just about two minutes!

And consider this computer and the Internet.  I have friends (OK, smart guy, acquaintances) all over the US and the world.  Some are in California, some Massachusetts.  Some are in the US South and others in foreign nations, such as Australia.  I can contact them in merely moments thanks to e-mail.

As I emphasized to my history students last week, "Remember, people didn't always live like we do today."  Indeed, I remember our first television set and, later, our first color set.  The first calculator I saw cost upwards of $75.  When the Warren Consolidated School District became the first school district in the state to purchase a computer, it paid about $2 million.  Within a matter of years, that machine couldn't do the work of a computer that could sit on one'd desk.

Still, there's something I don't care for about machines.  "New" isn't synonymous with "better."  More modern isn't better.  I rue the day, coming for certain, that most Thanksgiving turkeys will be cooked in microwaves.  How people will miss the five or six hours of that heavenly aroma filling the house that roasting turkeys brings.  Is that checkout computer that speeds up the process in the grocery store still worth it when it freezes and rings up a bill that was $27 too high?  (Yep, that happened to me recently.  Fortunately I saw the original amount before the computer froze and reset, with the higher amount.  I did manage to pay, but go to the customer service area where the prices were re-entered and the actual, smaller figure was reached--again.)

All this brings me to virtual classes, internet/online learning.  Of course there's a place for it, often called MOOCs, the acronym whose meaning escapes me right now.  But MOOCs involve classes without physical classrooms and no direct physical contact between student and teacher.  They have set curricula and "teach" via a single format to, potentially, million of students in virtual classrooms.

I think this reflects our increasing willingness to replace humans with machines.  (Hmmm...maybe those Luddites were on to something.)  If not replacing humans, at least human activity, sometimes the most basic of activities.  I've written before about my apprehension of such online education, the pitfalls it necessarily brings.  How long until teaching is done by robots?  Seriously,.....  If we can see the growth of such online courses, with students sometimes hundreds, even thousands of miles apart, unable to clearly see each others' grimaces, gleams, etc., how much longer until we just, to save money (among other things), let robots, that is, machines, teach?

Far-fetched you say?  Hmmm.  We have already begun the process in human communication.  Note, well, for instance, this blog.  We e-mail folks, often saying things that we wouldn't normally say face-to-face.  (Those things might be good or, increasingly, bad.)  Note Skype (sp?).  I suppose it's cool to communicate, "face-to-face," this way--but will it ever replace a good old-fashioned hug?  (And, some of you well know, I'm not a hugger--only for a few select folks.  It's the trendiness and ubiquity of hugging that bothers me.)  Oh?  Note, too, how often we forgo calling someone and send the much, much more impersonal text message.  The convenience trumps the loss of human contact.

And aren't workers asked to become more machine-like?  Don't their evaluations often depend on, well, machine-like results?  Again using something with which I am familiar, note the increasing trend toward teacher evaluations, touted by politicians and corporate-types, that rely heavily on test results.  (I just finished a lengthy e-mail with some college mates, extolling my many terrific professors at Amherst.  To summarize, much of what they taught me wasn't measurable by any test, not essay, not multiple-choice, etc.  That's not to say I think tests in education are useless; hardly.  I am saying that great--or not-so-great--teachers should not be judged on results measured by tests.)

I, for one, do not look forward to the robotification of human beings......

Oh, While We're At It......

I read an interesting view last week in the newspaper, "Do all black lives matter?"  I'm not going to go into the embroilment over "co-opting" the theme, "all...lives matter."  But this article raised some points I've written about before.

In Detroit a couple of weeks ago, a 50-something year old woman was stabbed to death on a city bus because she accidentally bumped into the murderer with her walker--her walker!   Another Detroiter, a little pre-teen girl, was shot while she was riding her bicycle in her neighborhood.  A 19-year old waiting to catch a bus to work was gunned down.  A pregnant woman--and the baby she was carrying--were killed on the same night as a 14-year old girl was shot dead.  And several times this summer, block parties were broken up by drive-by shooters, who managed to kill some of the partiers.  And the list could continue as the number of murders continues on at the rate of more than one a day in Detroit--and we aren't talking about the killings in the suburbs.

Where are the protests when these other folks are murdered?  Oh, when a police officer shoots a black, the protests are long and loud.  I know the police are expected to hold to a higher standards, but does that mean we dumb down our standards for civilian thugs so that their murdering ways fade from practically overnight?

OK, candlelight vigils and teddy bear piles are frequent, but they don't have the impact of the protests over police shootings.  The Chief of Police in Detroit seems frustrated by all of this, as one would hope he'd be.  Not only isn't there any prolonged community outrage over the murders of a kid on a bike, of an invalid woman who bumped into another with her walker, of random neighborhood block party attendees, in many instances there is no community help in trying to hunt down the murderers.  The police get little cooperation as witnesses clam up.

When are residents of Detroit going to finally say, "Enough!  We're not going to take this any longer?"  Where is the equal outrage over the senseless murders of good people?

"Anchor babies?"  Yep, Trump raised that issue last week and caused, again, a firestorm.  I break with him and others who do not think citizenship should be granted to American-born babies of illegal immigrants.  The 14th Amendment is pretty clear, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States are...citizens of the United States......"  Yes, they are citizens.  There is some nit-picking with a couple of clauses in the 14th Amendment, but that is wrong.  I find it humorous, if not hypocritical, that some of these same people who want to redefine citizenship in the 14th Amendment are the same ones who insist upon "original intent" when it comes to the main body of the Constitution and earlier amendments.

I see Michigan's governor and even some folks in DC are still making overtures toward the commies in China, trying to attract trade/business deals.  I understand the desire to boost the economy through this trade, but come on......  The commie regime in China is our enemy.  It hacks into our government and corporate computer systems.  It manipulates currency to harm our economy.  It has a dastardly record on human rights.  Yet, we are beside ourselves trying to attract Chinese money.  Sometimes I don't quite understand the people running our government(s).

And, last, that Kentucky clerk who won't issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of her own religious convictions has a simple solution--she should either issue the licenses or resign.  If her religious convictions are so deep, why does she continue to accept a pay check from this government that accepts, even enables, such a "sinful" lifestyle?  And I wonder if she uses her government position to fight against other "sins" such as adultery, domestic violences, and even greed.  No, methinks her convictions aren't really that strong.  When she puts her money where her mouth is, maybe I'll change my mind.

Well, one more thing.  I laugh at the local sports pages.  Today there was, not just a score, but a story about an international basketball game, complete with top scorers, between (I think) Turkey and Italy.  Turkey and Italy!  That goes a long way to explain why I seldom read the sports section and, if I do, it's the last section I read--and only if I have time.

September, already?

Yep, hard has it is to believe, it's September.  Classes have already started.  One down, seventy-seven to go.  I really did, though, look forward to the first one and am eagerly anticipating this term.

Boy, it's been warm, if not hot!, and humid here.  We (Karen, Michael, and I) were in Las Vegas last week (and part of this) visiting Matt and Linda.  It was hot there--105-106 most days, with the hottest day reaching 109.  Yep, that's hot!  But when people joke, "Yeah, but it's a dry heat.....," it's not really a joke.  I ran each AM, one day at 82 degrees, by far the coolest AM.  The other days I started anywhere from 89 degrees to 93 degrees, with the temps inching upward by my finish.  But those runs were far more comfortable than the ones here this week, with temperatures 20 and 25 degrees cooler and all this humidity.  I think, one day, I saw "15% humidity" in Las Vegas.  Here a couple of days it was approaching 100%.  And two afternoons, we (Karen, Carrie, and I) walked/ran when it was in the upper 80s and lower 90s--with that humidity.  Yes, we were careful......  My blind running buddy this AM, in response to my grousing about the heat and humidity, remarked, "Yeah, but we'll be wishing for this weather in November......"  I told him, "Not me."  I much prefer running in the cooler and colder stuff than this soup.

I remain a bit befuddled by this phenomenon called "Trump."  I saw a poll this AM that showed him, right now, ahead of any and all of the Democrats seeking the nomination, yes, even Clinton.  (Now, how anyone can still even consider voting for her also befuddles me!)  Granted, the election is more than a year away.  Still, Trump?  No, I'm not a Trump-guy and can't envision voting for him, in a primary or in a general election.  Still......  I'm not exactly sure I can put my finger on it.  Of course, people are sick and tired of Washington, DC.  An outsider has an attraction, noting also the relatively strong showing in the polls of Ben Carson and Carla Fiorini (who I would give serious consideration for a vote).  But, are people "fed up," as some pundits claim?  I have my doubts.  After all, voters continue to vote for the same DC folks (and newcomers just like them), the Establishment, again and again.  They aren't "fed up" enough to throw the bums out, those who tell lie after lie in their campaigns, knowing full well they won't live up to their promises.  (Is it a "lie" if one doesn't really mean it?  Is it a "promise" if one doesn't really mean it?)  As an example, if people are "fed up," how can they even think about voting for Clinton, all other warts aside?  Hmmm......

Now, try this one on, too.  Trump signed some "loyalty pledge," to support whoever the Republican candidate is, precluding a third-party run by Trump if he doesn't get the Republican nomination.  Why would he do that?  To try to get the Republican machinery in place if he wins enough primaries and caucuses?  The Establishment Republicans must be jumping for joy.  They figure Trump can't possibly win the nomination and now have secured a promise from him to support whoever they do nominate.  Ah, that's the key word, isn't it?  "Promise."  It would be cool to see the Republican Establishment bash Trump if he goes back on his "promise," exposing them for the lying hypocrites that they are.  Trump should have never signed such a deal.  Instead, to gather even more grass roots support, he should have said something like, "I'll sign such a pledge if the Establishment Republicans agree to sign a similar pledge not to renege on their campaign promises."  Imagine those like "Glitch" McConnell and Boehner with that one......  I'd like to see that.

I see that the ObamaCare health tax is approaching, likely to hit even before the 2018 expected date as companies plan for the future and the added expenses.  And all along I thought the President was knowingly lying when he "promised" (Ah, there's that word again!) that we could keep our policies, the same ones, and it wouldn't cost "a dime more."  Ha.  BTW, I'm still waiting for some--or any!--of those ObamaCare supporters around here to volunteer to contribute to the already more than $2100 our health insurance has cost us since it went into effect.  Nope, not a single person has come up with a single dollar.  Oh, and our policy isn't the same as it was three years ago either.

I get a kick (although I loathe it) how local school districts and communities continually plead "poverty" then spend frivolously--OK, wastefully.  Maybe it's in the nature of the beast, that, as Milton Friedman once postulated, "It's easy to spend other people's money."  And most of these Bozos are "penny wise, but pound foolish."  They want to cut where the savings would be the least, while spending where the costs are most.  Don't take my word for it; look at your local places.

Speaking of that, I keep hearing about the "economic recovery."  Oh, it's been "slow," but the President and DC pols are heralding it, as are the Michigan Republicans, from the governor on down.  Remember Mark Twain's astute observation about "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics."  Oh I certainly don't believe the politicians' claims of, say, employment/unemployment figures.  Who doesn't know that they play with the figures and even the definitions.  But more so, even if I accept their versions of "a recovery," it seems pretty apparent those who have "recovered" are those who were hurt the least by the recession and those who were hurt the most haven't recovered.  More jobs/employment?  Maybe, but at what costs?  Diminished hours?  Far lower pay?

I understand right-to-work and its appeal, esp as the unions have gotten way out of hand.  (Remember, though, the unions never operated by themselves.  They couldn't have given their members raises unilaterally.  Management agreed to the many ludicrous things that have led many people to turn on unions.)  That said, I really have a hard time with those former union members who now, because they can save some money, who opt out of unions.  Boy, talk about ingrates.  Or to stick with a them over the past dozen or so years, talk about being greedy!  Perhaps those who opt out should be required to also forgo any benefits the unions have bargained for them in previous years.  The opters should have to give up the union pay, health insurance, job security, etc.  But, no, they want what those who have worked to get--even though they are no longer willing to work for them.  "Hey, it's all about me!  I deserve what others get, even though they worked for it and I am not."

OK, that's enough for now, except I keep linking that Iran Deal with the Munich Agreement of 1938.  I know a lot about that agreement and the similarities are striking.  Even listening to the supporters of the Iran Deal sound remarkably like 80 years ago.  Although Munich is soundly criticized now, at the time it was extremely popular.  After all, "Herr Hitler is a reasonable man.....," said Neville Chamberlain.