My sweet wife Tami is asleep, which is why I feel bad for laughing so much and so loudly this morning. I have been watching these hilarious video shorts called ‘Kid Snippets,’ in which adults act out conversations had amongst kids, and my sides are aching due to a high volume of laughter. You have to watch these videos, as they are righteously funny. This video is about teaching subtraction, but there are dozens of videos available to watch.
My goodness, what a great way to start a Sunday!
capital: wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for a particular purpose such as starting a company or investing
With this definition in mind, the goal of capitalism is to accumulate wealth, is it not? I am sure that more practiced players in the game of semantics could argue me out of this point, but for the purpose of this post, let’s assume that the capitalist system exists to perpetuate wealth among individuals, companies, or organizations.
If the purpose of capitalism is to gain wealth, then inevitably there will be some deceitful ways of acquiring capital. After all, a capitalist is encouraged to make money wherever possible (if you happen to be a devout capitalist and disagree with this statement, then I will welcome a friendly discourse on this matter). As long as the bottom line is showing a gain in the profit margin, then the ways in which money is made are largely irrelevant. Look at the disaster in Bangladesh as a prime example. Over a thousand impoverished workers died a horrific and completely avoidable death due to the incessant need of the business owners to make money. Then you can think about companies that produce weaponry intended to end a mass amount of lives (in the name of freedom and prosperity for a small section of the world’s populace, of course). Then of course you can bring up the companies that contribute to making the earth bald before her time (a phrase borrowed from H.D. Thoreau) in the interest of making profit. These examples simply scratch the surface of the detrimental ways in which capital is gained by the faithful servants of the capitalist system.
I must now direct your attention to the amount of profit that is seen as a result of the Congressional practice of setting the interest rate on federal student loans. The following information has been reported on by Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post (the link to his article will appear below). In this year alone, the United States government stands to make $51 billion on existing student loans for higher education. That number is roughly equivalent to the combined profit that the four largest U.S. banks (JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo) reported last year, is more profit than what was made by each of the two most profitable oil companies (Exxon Mobil and Chevron) last year, and is ten billion dollars higher than the Apple corporation’s bottom line in 2012.
During election season, the politicians who are responsible for the interest rates of student loans will say that this country needs to invest in the future. Well, Congressional leaders, young people are the future of this or any country. Instead of putting eager students in a system that saddles them with debt, invest in them! Give them an interest rate that is manageable, not miserable. It is the upcoming generations that will have to literally pay for the actions of the current political scene. Student loans are second only to home mortgages in the realm of household debt. With this type of debt, how will college graduates save money for a car, a house, or a retirement, when they have a large monthly payment that applies mainly to the interest of their federal student loans? This is such a folly in the capitalist mantra. I am speaking directly to the capitalist when I say: if you are so quick to make money wherever you can, then by making every class but the business class broke and disheartened, you are not only hurting your potential earnings, but you are destroying a society that has the potential to live well within its means.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/obama-student-loans-policy-profit_n_3276428.html
The insanity plea doesn’t make any sense. Every person who kills someone else, or kills a dozen people in the case of James Holmes, is undeniably insane. I hate that our court system now accepts the insanity plea as a way to be able to serve time in a psych ward instead of a federal penitentiary. Klebold, Harris, Lanza, Holmes – these guys were all insane. The first three killed themselves after taking the lives of innocent students. I am not a typical participant in death penalty discussions, but I have to speak up in defense of a public hanging of Holmes. Maybe that gruesome image would prevent other shootings (though it seems almost impossible that it would).
Yesterday marked the 365th consecutive day that I wrote down my thoughts in some form. On May 12, 2012, I wrote down in a spiral notebook that I wanted to fulfill a goal of writing each day for one whole year. For the first two-thirds of the year, I wrote down my thoughts on life in that spiral notebook. For the last third of the year, when I felt my stamina wavering, I started this blog to hold myself accountable to finishing this writing project. This is now the 366th consecutive day that I have written, and I am proud of myself for fulfilling my goal.
Now that my writing project is complete, I will focus more on other goals that I want to accomplish in the next year. Using this blog was vital to finishing my goal, and I am fortunate to have stumbled upon the idea to start this up. I now need to go back through what I wrote because if felt like there were some days in which I was grasping for any topic that had enough substance to write a few hundred words about. I am not proud of each day’s writing, but I am pleased that I was able to put together some intelligible sentences about various topics for the past year. Good writing is difficult to produce.
I am already about two months in one my second year-long goal: not to purchase any candy for myself. I have a substantial sweet-tooth, and I feel like if I want to have my teeth for the next fifty years, I need to cut back on the sweets. I am doing great so far, though I have replaced buying candy with making my own treats; now I have to at least put in a little more effort than swiping a card to provide a fix for a craving of sweets. Another goal that I have is to work on two book ideas. The first is a children’s book that I’ve had an idea for for about five years now about a kindergarten-aged boy who is short for his age and misses out on a number of exciting events because he can’t see over people who are situated in front of him. The second is a young adult novel about a society humming along smoothly until a group of people realize that “the way things are is not enough.” This second idea would be my attempt at writing an Animal Farm-type book that could reach a multitude of audiences while still having a cynical view of society as its main theme.
Anyway, if you are someone who has read even one of these posts, thank you for helping me finish out this writing project in honor of James C. Whitton. There were a lot of days in which I felt like I was writing gibberish, or scrambling at ten o’clock at night to find a topic to write about to meet my goal, but it was all worth the effort.
I want you to envision a world in which mothers were the rulers. Instead of having bank executives and defense contractors call the shots, moms would have final say. This world would look drastically different:
There are thousands of other improvements that would certainly be made if mothers ruled the world. Most importantly, this world would be infinitely more loving and peaceful if mothers ran the show.
Mothers everywhere – you are the real reason why life exists. Therefore, you should be in charge. The fate of this world should be placed in your hands; not the hands of men, the earning potential of corporations, or the incredible advances of technology. Life will not truly flourish until you are gently guiding the pace of humanity. I hope that this day comes before the end of my days.
Though the United States has five percent of the world’s population, we house twenty-five percent of the world’s prison populace. This is a staggering figure, and the reason for this anomaly is the rise of for-profit and corporate-run prisons in this country.
China and India both have over a billion people living within their respective borders. China has four people to every person in the States, and India is not far behind with over 800 million more people than the U.S. population. If I were teaching a math lesson to my fourth graders on probability, I would say that the probability of the U.S. having a greater number of prisoners than that of China and India combined would be extremely unlikely, yet this is the truth.
The GEO group is a billion dollar private prison company, and it states on the company website, under the Who We Are tab,
The GEO Group is the world’s leading provider of correctional and detention management and community reentry services to federal, state and local government agencies. With operations in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom; GEO offers a diversified array of turnkey services which include design, construction, financing, and operations. Our unique approach allows GEO to provide high-quality and cost-effective services with state-of-the-art designs, innovative programs and ground-breaking treatment approach.
This neo-conservative approach to the prison system seeks a perpetuation of high-levels of incarceration around the country, while also lobbying politicians to avoid passing laws that might reduce the current levels of inmates. Dina Rasor has written an article that details the thought process of the GEO group’s management team, and provides an excerpt from the group’s 2011 annual report:
In particular, the demand for our correctional and detention facilities and services and BI’s [a prison industry company Geo acquired in 2011] services could be adversely affected by changes in existing criminal or immigration laws, crime rates in jurisdictions in which we operate, the relaxation of criminal or immigration enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction, sentencing or deportation practices, and the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by criminal laws or the loosening of immigration laws. For example, any changes with respect to the decriminalization of drugs and controlled substances could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, sentenced and incarcerated, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them. Similarly, reductions in crime rates could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities. Immigration reform laws which are currently a focus for legislators and politicians at the federal, state and local level also could materially adversely impact us.
This is a reprehensible and sinister approach to money-making. There is no reason for companies like this to exist. The shareholders of this company make a pretty penny on each bed that is filled, and the company is so entrenched in the lobbying system that buys Congressional approval that it will take a drastic shift in the overall business model in the States to overthrow such a ruthless corporation. I only hope that I will be around to see the demise of such an unjust system.
Every day should be Mother’s Day. Mothers are the reason why all of us are here, after all. Each day should be a tribute to the devotion that mother’s show to their children and the sacrifices that each mother makes when having a child.
My mother is simply tremendous. She is as loving as she is thoughtful. She has a creative side that allows her to show others how much she cares for them. My mom makes cards for all occasions, and these homemade cards are astounding. Every detail added to each card fits just right. My mom notices the little things, and it makes a huge impact.
In high school, when I would come home late from work at the pizza parlor, Mom would offer to make me a snack. I would always take her up on that offer. My friends at work would ask if I was going to make food for myself before leaving, and I would say no. I had much better food waiting at home thanks to my mama. She would talk to me about how the day went, what my plans were for college and beyond, what girl I might be interested in. Those talks over a late-night snack are very memorable to me now. Mom didn’t have to make me any food or stay up late just to catch-up on how life was treating me, but she did anyway. She is a remarkable woman, and I consider myself a fortunate son because I get to call her Mom.
I know that today is not Mother’s Day, but I want to celebrate my mother. She deserves more than one holiday devoted to her each year. A few things to notice about this picture:
Mom, thank you for being a true mother. You were never one to scold or to reprimand; instead you taught me to behave in an acceptable manner. I don’t always behave this way, but I know that that is more Dad’s influence than anything.
I love you, Mom!
irony: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result
Care to venture a guess who this man is and what he was arrested for? I will give you a massive hint, and let your mind make the connection between the word irony and the position that this man holds (or held). This is Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, chief of the United States Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program. Alright, logicians, drumroll please. Krusinski was arrested for. . . sexual assault!
The man in charge of conveying to cadets the illegality and immorality of sexual assault was charged with sexual battery for assaulting a woman in a parking lot. It looks like she fought back. Good for her!
The last words of the definition of irony in the epithet state that the ironic situation is “often amusing as a result.” This is one of those situations that is partly amusing, but mostly revolting. I am glad that this guy’s arrest photo shows him looking battered; this part is amusing. I do not like that he assaulted a woman in a parking lot; this part is revolting.
All of this information was provided by the following article:
…had the bulk of the U.S. populace been bailed out instead of Wall Street heroes and Washington cronies. In fact, the line between who works on Wall Street and who works on Capitol Hill has been severely blurred, which is why this economic recovery has been such a struggle for common citizens while being a money grab for the wealthiest citizens.
Les Leopold has written a fact-laden article on the economic recovery since the 2008 housing bubble crippled the U.S. economy. The wealthiest 7% of U.S. families have earned a combined $5.6 trillion since 2008, while the rest of us have lost a combined $669 billion, according to Leopold. Even if the numbers are somehow off by a lot, that is economic rigging at its very finest, at least from the viewpoint of the top 7% in this country. Leopold features some staggering facts in his exposé. For instance, he cites that the top 20% of economic earners in this country own 92% of the stock market, leaving the bottom 80% to a mere 8% of that large economic pie. He goes on to state that instead of tax corporations or Wall Street itself, public servants have lost their jobs at an alarming rate. Teachers, policemen and women, emergency responders, and air traffic controllers all saw negative job growth since 2008 while big banks were allowed to get even bigger. Then there is the ho-hum fact that in 2012, the top hedge fund manager made as much money in one hour as an average U.S. family earns in 21 years.
These facts should not be surprising, however, considering who has been in charge of the recovery. Henry Paulson was the Treasury Secretary for George Bush, and he was the chairman at Goldman Sachs before ‘serving’ the public. Timothy Geithner, who was Treasury Secretary for Barack Obama, was the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve before being hired on as a Washington wood worker (member of the Presidential Cabinet).
Though this information is depressing, it is important to know.
Humanity could use more of these for sure. Instead of acting like pompous, spoiled children, adults need to start showering everyone they see with kindness. There doesn’t need to be any reason for kindness, just kindness in and of itself. I remember when I first heard about random acts of kindness, I thought that it was the best idea anyone had ever had in the history of mankind. That sentiment has not changed now that I am an adult, and in fact, I think that it is even more brilliant now that I see how the world truly works.
The beauty about this idea is that anyone* can produce a moment of undiluted happiness for someone else at any point in time. Life should be all about filling people up, not tearing each other down. Any elementary school child knows this, but somewhere along the path to adulthood, this idea becomes warped.
*There are some people who will not want to provide happiness for anyone else. Some of these people are:
I will challenge myself and my students in the last part of this school year to give out one random act of kindness each day until the last day of school. This will be the best way to end my tenure with these kids.
Human Beings and Fish 