The Golden Arple

I realize now that my perceived problems with our educational system cannot be adequately addressed in one blog entry, so this will have to be an ongoing topic. While I lack power to influence and change the situation directly, I hope that my ideas will influence and stimulate others, and in time the faults and shortcomings of our schools will be corrected. Well.. here we go.

In a time when healthcare, foreign wars, collapsing economy, and global warming dominate discussion and politics, America is ignoring what I believe to be the most important issue affecting our future. The education of the future generations, from elementary schools all the way up to the Universities, are substandard and ineffective, and need to be fixed just as much as our healthcare or our economy. Majority of Americans spend between 12 to 20 years in schools, while some go even beyond that. Is all that time in school really that helpful? Child education is mandatory, but is it beneficial?

…continue reading Educational Overhaul? (Part 1)

Comments | In: Learning Much? | | #

The House’s healthcare reform bill passed yesterday, 220-215.

It still needs to be passed by the Senate, but considering nothing like this has passed through the House in 40 years, it’s reason to be excited.

Among other things, the version of the healthcare reform bill that passed would:
-Expand Medicaid eligibility to anyone below 133% of the federal poverty line (FPL).
-Allow people between 133-400% of the FPL to purchase the “public option” government insurance plan.
-Require people to get insured (this was favored by Clinton and opposed by Obama in the primaries and seemed to be the main point of disagreement in their debates)
-Not allow insurance companies to reject people based on pre-existing conditions
-Kill your grandma (no not really)

CBO estimates it would reduce the number of uninsured by 36 million.

A yay vote came from 1 Republican, Joe Cao of Louisiana. Thanks, Joe. I’ll drink a cup of you in your honor. I hope you wont be offended that it’s instant.

The NY Times published an analysis of the 39 House Democrats who voted nay. They emphasize that a lot of them tend to be in districts where they either won narrowly in their last election or their district favored McCain in 2008. There are a few exceptions to these conditions, however, such as Dennis Kucinich (who only supports single payer healthcare), Brian Baird, John Barrow (Blue Dog) and Artur Davis.

Comments | In: healthcare overhaul | tags: congress, health insurance, healthcare, healthcare reform, house of representatives, Obama. | #

Public Opinion And Scientific Consensus

A poll conducted by Time in 2006 found that 64% of those surveyed believe that there is “a lot of disagreement” on global warming among scientists. This belief is contradicted by studies such as Orkes 2004 and Doran and Zimmerman 2009 that indicate a strong consensus among climate scientists on anthropogenic global warming.

Looking 11 Years Back – The GCST Memo

In 1998 the American Petroleum Institute’s “Global Climate Science Team” issued an Action Plan to influence the public’s view of global climate change. According to the memo, victory would be achieved when:

 
“-Average citizens “understand” (recognize) uncertainties in climate science; recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the “conventional wisdom”
-Media “understands” (recognizes) uncertainties in climate science
-Media coverage reflects balance on climate science and recognition of the validity of viewpoints that challenge the current “conventional wisdom”
-Industry senior leadership understands uncertainties in climate science, making them stronger ambassadors to those who shape climate policy
-Those promoting the Kyoto treaty on the basis of extent science appears to be out of touch with reality.”

…continue reading Climate Change: The Public Relations Battle

Comments | In: Going Green? | tags: climate change, global warming, public relations. | #

After months of back and forth arguing, name calling, rumor spreading, political hell, the House Democrats have rolled out the new health care bill. The measure, which will probably be voted on sometime next week, will extend health care coverage to about 96% of American population (legal population that is). The part that I’m excited about is that it WILL include a government option to compete with private health insurance providers. Also, the bill will provide federal subsidies to families that are unable to afford health insurance without them. Large companies would be required to cover all workers, while individuals would also be required to get health insurance.

Now the focus will shift towards the Senate, where Senator Reid is putting up the final touches on his version of the bill. While the Senate bill will also contain a public option, it appears it will also have a clause that will let individual states drop out if they chose, something the House version lacks. This comes as a major boost to President Obama, for whom healthcare legislation has been the top domestic priority. Now if only he could get us out of Afghanistan..

…continue reading Healthcare Update

Comments | In: Random Musings, healthcare overhaul | | #

A few weeks ago, on October 7th, we marked the eighth anniversary of our engagement in Iraq. I wonder how many people celebrated? Along the way we marked over 1,000 deaths of coalition forces, countless Taliban fighters, and the ultimate victims: Afghani civilians. It is a war which the public of United States, Afghanistan, and probably the rest of the world is against. At this point, I don’t think many people even remember why we’re fighting there in the first place.

I don’t think we’ll fully comprehend the impact 9/11 had on our society. It scared us, made us feel very vulnerable and very mortal. We realized the oceans that wash our shores aren’t so wide as to fully insulate us from the strife that plagues the rest of the world. We are very lucky in that respect. While we have had terrorist attacks against our country, few American civilians have lived through war. The last time we had a war within United States was over 130 years ago. Aside from those soldiers who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and other US conflicts, no one really knows what war is. Europe knows war. They remember well the destruction and loss of life that resulted from Hitlers ambitions to rule the world. Unfortunately, we are not as wise. And even more, unfortunately, we had men in power who capitalized on our feelings of fear and vulnerability after 9/11. The public was rallied to war. Some wanted revenge, others wanted terrorist wiped out to ensure safety, and few believed that we were going there for humanitarian reasons. I doubt any of those were real reasons for war. In reality, we either wanted another base in the region or we just wanted the resources the country had to offer.

…continue reading Why Do We Persist?

Comments | In: Eternal War | tags: 1984, afghanistan, George Orwell, Obama, terrorism, troop withdrawal. | #