The greatest ripple of our century.
I kind of overslept, but not so much that I missed President Obama's speech. I woke up just as Vice President Biden was being sworn into office. I arose in time to watch W fly away and see the new president sworn in and give his speech. I dashed down the stairs to log in and find a way to connect with others, but didn't want to miss a moment, so first thing I did was hunt down a live broadcast.
Gotta love facebook. They teamed with CNN to bring both the live broadcast and the interactivity of the net together. I sat mesmerized as the comments flew past. Many simply stating they were watching the inauguration. Many exuding the joy of this day and sadly, even a few haters leaked through. (Honestly don't know how the joy did not manage to ripple in their direction....but let's hope it finds a way) This was a ripple felt around the world. And a proud day for us all.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Dear Mr Cheney
Oh my, my, my. Tonight I was watching your interview with Jim Leher. As the topic turned to the economy you stated repeatedly that your administration was good for the economy and that the problems were unforeseen prior to the fall of 2008. Except you did acknowledge the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problem that reached crisis at the end of the Summer 2008, however, you chose to use that as a means to dig the Democratic Congress. As you attempt to sound informed and "warrior" like in the fight with congress over FM/FM we both know the motivation was not to "save the economy" or prevent crisis, but rather it was to continue the pushing of the anti-government, anti-regulation agenda. Who are you trying to kid, here? Well, since you appear to have such a little grasp on things economic, let me spell it out for you.
I'm torn as to what would be the actual center of the ripple between failing to raise taxes to support a war effort and loosening regulations that allowed the greedmongers to rape the economy.
I think I'll lean more towards the lack of regulation as the center since that has been working towards the current course we're in for a few decades, while being exacerbated during this past administration, not solely by policy, as much as it is by attitude. The flawed belief that money making is the most valuable regulator for a society. It certainly has it's place, but only after a strong ethic is in place.
Next would have to be the war initiated without providing funding to maintain it. This was the first time in our nations history that we waged war against a country that did not attack our soil. (And for your woe begotten followers, Iraq did not attack our soil, terrorists did, and those terrorists were Saudi Arabian) And the first time ever we were engaged in war without having taxes to pay for it. Any other president in history would roll over in their grave if they knew the leadership not only did not raise taxes, but lowered the taxes on the wealthy, all while financing a war, they would think we, the people, have all gone nuts.
Next ripple, Mr. Cheney, is the rapid increase of gas prices. Do you not see the relationship to the housing crisis and the increase in fuel prices, which led to increases in food prices, which led to less spendable income, which causes financial shortfalls for small businesses? Yes, sir, that is how a recession is born. And when we wind back to the center of our ripple, the lack of regulations in the banking industry, we have people approved for loans they never should have, nor never would have in the 70's and even in the 80's. So yes, sir, you and President Bush are culpable. You may not be the only ones, but to say you did well.....that is a sure sign of serious delusion.
I'm torn as to what would be the actual center of the ripple between failing to raise taxes to support a war effort and loosening regulations that allowed the greedmongers to rape the economy.
I think I'll lean more towards the lack of regulation as the center since that has been working towards the current course we're in for a few decades, while being exacerbated during this past administration, not solely by policy, as much as it is by attitude. The flawed belief that money making is the most valuable regulator for a society. It certainly has it's place, but only after a strong ethic is in place.
Next would have to be the war initiated without providing funding to maintain it. This was the first time in our nations history that we waged war against a country that did not attack our soil. (And for your woe begotten followers, Iraq did not attack our soil, terrorists did, and those terrorists were Saudi Arabian) And the first time ever we were engaged in war without having taxes to pay for it. Any other president in history would roll over in their grave if they knew the leadership not only did not raise taxes, but lowered the taxes on the wealthy, all while financing a war, they would think we, the people, have all gone nuts.
Next ripple, Mr. Cheney, is the rapid increase of gas prices. Do you not see the relationship to the housing crisis and the increase in fuel prices, which led to increases in food prices, which led to less spendable income, which causes financial shortfalls for small businesses? Yes, sir, that is how a recession is born. And when we wind back to the center of our ripple, the lack of regulations in the banking industry, we have people approved for loans they never should have, nor never would have in the 70's and even in the 80's. So yes, sir, you and President Bush are culpable. You may not be the only ones, but to say you did well.....that is a sure sign of serious delusion.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Less Homework Revolution
Todays ripple was inspired by a segment on the Today Show (NBC) this morning.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28624181/
For me modern public education generates a HUGE ripple, and frankly, not a very pretty one. This is why the piece on Today was inspiring to me, and has potential to make a view small ripples in a positive direction. Basically the idea is to set appropriate homework levels based on the age/grade of the child. Ten minutes per grade was the recommendation I heard. This was followed up with the reasoning behind it which included such things as student motivation, stress reduction, lack of training to teachers on a uniform standard for dispensing homework.
As I listened I thought of my daughters 2nd grade teacher. We were at a new school and the first day my daughter came home with a 10 page homework packet. To be fair this was for the whole week, however, there were multiple subjects covered within this packet, each with a daily requirement. That first night we spent a good 5 hours working on just 2 of the 4 sections required for the first day. Now for some children, each segment could potentially be done in 15 minutes (which still would come to 2 hours of homework). But my daughter did not understand any of the assignments, and did not understand my explanation, either. (Some may be familiar with this refrain, "That's not how Mrs. X said to do it") So after a grueling 5 hrs I decided to let the teacher see her errors so that she could be familiar with how my daughter is understanding the material. I also noted the time we'd spent on the homework, and my observations (that she did not have a basic understanding of the task).
The following day the prior days homework was sent home with a note from the teacher "Please ensure that all the questions are answered correctly before returning to school"
HUH?
How is she going to know where my child struggles, if I tell her all the correct answers on her homework? What was the point of having a teacher if the teacher was not teaching the material, but instead sending it home to have the parent teach the material? And did she not notice the point I made that her "incorrect and unfinished" homework took us 5 hours. My daughter was 7, not 17. And as the guests pointed out in the Today Show segment, the ripple was in true form--my daughter HATED school, was highly stressed and developing anxiety issues.
Solution? Or should I say potential solution?
Revamp of the entire educational system. Ok, if I can only eat an elephant one bite at a time, than a simple and reasonable homework guideline is a good start.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28624181/
For me modern public education generates a HUGE ripple, and frankly, not a very pretty one. This is why the piece on Today was inspiring to me, and has potential to make a view small ripples in a positive direction. Basically the idea is to set appropriate homework levels based on the age/grade of the child. Ten minutes per grade was the recommendation I heard. This was followed up with the reasoning behind it which included such things as student motivation, stress reduction, lack of training to teachers on a uniform standard for dispensing homework.
As I listened I thought of my daughters 2nd grade teacher. We were at a new school and the first day my daughter came home with a 10 page homework packet. To be fair this was for the whole week, however, there were multiple subjects covered within this packet, each with a daily requirement. That first night we spent a good 5 hours working on just 2 of the 4 sections required for the first day. Now for some children, each segment could potentially be done in 15 minutes (which still would come to 2 hours of homework). But my daughter did not understand any of the assignments, and did not understand my explanation, either. (Some may be familiar with this refrain, "That's not how Mrs. X said to do it") So after a grueling 5 hrs I decided to let the teacher see her errors so that she could be familiar with how my daughter is understanding the material. I also noted the time we'd spent on the homework, and my observations (that she did not have a basic understanding of the task).
The following day the prior days homework was sent home with a note from the teacher "Please ensure that all the questions are answered correctly before returning to school"
HUH?
How is she going to know where my child struggles, if I tell her all the correct answers on her homework? What was the point of having a teacher if the teacher was not teaching the material, but instead sending it home to have the parent teach the material? And did she not notice the point I made that her "incorrect and unfinished" homework took us 5 hours. My daughter was 7, not 17. And as the guests pointed out in the Today Show segment, the ripple was in true form--my daughter HATED school, was highly stressed and developing anxiety issues.
Solution? Or should I say potential solution?
Revamp of the entire educational system. Ok, if I can only eat an elephant one bite at a time, than a simple and reasonable homework guideline is a good start.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Primary Care Doctors
Todays topic: Shortage of Primary Care Doctors
How did this problem grow to be? My personal thought is that we need to look to the medical schools. Why would they allow the students to dictate the numbers in various fields of medicine? Should not the more specialized areas (ie, more lucrative) be something earned not by who is willing to simply invest a bit more upfront, but those who are the most talented in that area. A select group. Could there be a correlation between the increase in medical mistakes and the generic hodgepodge of medical specialists that grows out of the fact that making 100K/year is not enough income, so they want to specialize to make 250K+/year.
HUH????
Why has financial incentive driven the medical profession? Wasn't there some sort of oath of service associated with medicine, that has nothing, whatsoever, to do with financial gain? Are they truly intimating that people would not go into medicine unless they can be insanely wealthy? Perhaps those who have that particular motivation have no business in the medical field to begin with, and should instead go into finance?
Is it the financial ethic that has driven medicine these past 40 years, the main reason that the cost of healthcare has grown in epidemic proportions? I say there is definitely a ripple effect in action here and that the AMA better wake up and reintroduce ethics and use their influence to see that all doctors are trained to be primary care physicians and only those who have a true talent (in other words, compete for the specialized fields, based on those who demonstrate a true commitment, as well as, the skill and instinct to perform with excellence) should be allowed to take on specialties, and only as the demand requires it.
How did this problem grow to be? My personal thought is that we need to look to the medical schools. Why would they allow the students to dictate the numbers in various fields of medicine? Should not the more specialized areas (ie, more lucrative) be something earned not by who is willing to simply invest a bit more upfront, but those who are the most talented in that area. A select group. Could there be a correlation between the increase in medical mistakes and the generic hodgepodge of medical specialists that grows out of the fact that making 100K/year is not enough income, so they want to specialize to make 250K+/year.
HUH????
Why has financial incentive driven the medical profession? Wasn't there some sort of oath of service associated with medicine, that has nothing, whatsoever, to do with financial gain? Are they truly intimating that people would not go into medicine unless they can be insanely wealthy? Perhaps those who have that particular motivation have no business in the medical field to begin with, and should instead go into finance?
Is it the financial ethic that has driven medicine these past 40 years, the main reason that the cost of healthcare has grown in epidemic proportions? I say there is definitely a ripple effect in action here and that the AMA better wake up and reintroduce ethics and use their influence to see that all doctors are trained to be primary care physicians and only those who have a true talent (in other words, compete for the specialized fields, based on those who demonstrate a true commitment, as well as, the skill and instinct to perform with excellence) should be allowed to take on specialties, and only as the demand requires it.
Intro-The Opening act
Well, well well. Let's get started, shall we?
Here I will post my observations, especially those that have ripple effects, perhaps, not before thought of. Or they could be obvious things that we sometimes have a way of losing site of.
Here I will post my observations, especially those that have ripple effects, perhaps, not before thought of. Or they could be obvious things that we sometimes have a way of losing site of.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)