Odds And Ends...
Well wouldn't you just know it...as we, in the Northern hemisphere are "enjoying" a very cold winter, those living in the Southern hemisphere are basking (?) in sweltering heat. Australia seems to be the place to go if you're wanting some serious hot weather THIS winter.
Maybe Al Gore should move THERE?
I still maintain that the EARTH (itself) is the chief "culprit" when it comes to ANY form of global warming, climate change, or whatever the hell people are deciding to call it THIS week.
I think what many of these "greenies" are missing is that not only are WE, as human beings living things, but the PLANET is indeed ALSO a living entity, and prone to a lot of the same issues each of us has to deal with (except on a helluva lot BIGGER Scale).
-- Harry Reid apologizing for his statement about Obama...whatta crock.
God forbid if it were anyone else BUT a democrat that said the "negro dialect, light-skin" statement. They'd be all but drawn and quartered. Gotta love these "double-standards" don'cha?
I guess Billy-Boy Clinton got a "pass" when he mentioned to the late Ted Kennedy a while back that Obama "...Ten years ago, this boy would be getting us coffee"...Yes sir, nice double-standard there. Good thing these guys aren't the least bit "racist", right?
But let's face it...it's MUCH easier to slip into a negro dialect (as Reid put it) than to put on a "Harvard dialect", as it were.
I know...I imitate our "neighbors" every single day, and most every time, I do a better "them" than THEY do...LOL!
(it's that weird sense of humor I have)
But I will always give credit where it's due when it comes to ANYONE of ANY race that aspires to be better than any stereotype that is often portrayed. There are fortunately enough people of other races, that many times do a much better job of being "white" than those OF that race. Of course, it "could" all be about learning proper ENGLISH...and applying it correctly...one can never tell.
-- Former V.P candidate, Sarah Palin will be a FOX News contributor, beginning TONIGHT of the O'Reilly Factor...good for her.
-- Gas prices are sneaking back up to the (tipping point) $3 a gallon mark...AGAIN. So keep watching those pumps, people. Anyone care to wager WHEN it will be back up around $4 a gallon?
-- The Detroit Car Show...what can you say about that, hmm?
A place where all the "new" vehicles go on display, aimed at getting us to drool incessantly, as we empty our wallets and pocketbooks in order to "save our planet" while driving an ugly piece of crap that will most likely kill all on board when involved in a 20 MPH crash.
Somehow, I'm not "feeling the love" there...
You know, the LOVE AFFAIR we once had with our cars...not feeling it at all.
Ford came away with TWO awards for their vehicles...big whoop.
Funny thing....didn't hear about ANY "concept" vehicles that run on say...NATURAL GAS...or HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS...or even "Mr Fusion" (as portrayed by Doc Brown and his DeLorean in the Back To The Future series). I mean WTF is taking so damn long? And what about that professor out of Purdue that was working on his WATER ENGINE?
Never heard back from that, have we?
-- I recently found a show on TRU TV channel called CONSPIRACY THEORY (starring former navy SEAL & governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura), and I have to admit that as skeptical as I am about most any damn thing, I found the evidence presented in this show quite intriguing, regarding the various "conspiracies" they have presented so far.
The shows focus on such things as MIND CONTROL, GLOBAL WARMING, MANCHURIAN CANDIDATES, BIG BROTHER, and a lot of the people they interview have been seen on major news networks.
Now while each show covers a specific "conspiracy", there is ONE, underlying theme that I picked up on...
ALL of these shows speak about CONTROL...and ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. For example, aspartame, used as a sweetener in a lot of baby foods is a POISON (didn't know that), and the vaccines being thrust at us can have potentially harmful (if not fatal) side effects, not the least of which is infertility.
Now what better way to control a population, than to DECREASE it, making it a lot more "manageable", hmm?
Think AL Gore is behind the global warning gig? Think again. Try a man named Maurice Strong (Canadian, caught up in the "food for oil" scandal, and now living in Beijing), who is raking in BILLIONS over all the flap about climate change, while he makes his fortune in the OIL industries, and was one of the first "greenies" on the planet. Gotta give a person credit for having some really good "foresight"...and then exploiting damn near everyone to realize it.
And in Alaska, we have an (military) antenna array called H.A.A.R.P.
Seems innocent enough (used to study the ionosphere), but is there more?
Having read about the life, inventions, and theories of Nikola Tesla, and watching this show about HAARP, it seems we CAN "control" the weather to a degree (but no one wants to admit to it), AND the array "could" be used as a weapon (but naturally, no one admits to THAT, either).
Tesla had a theory about a "death ray", and this HAARP array is the closest thing to it, should it be used in manners other than that for which it was "designed".
This show will get you to think, and to dig deeper, that's for sure, and whatever truth you come away with after watching it, no matter how scary it may be, will be liberating as well.
-- Lastly, about this whole "Race to the Top" program for our educational system...
Anyone that believes it to be better than NCLB...think again.
The NCLB was destined to fail from the start...and that was proven to us, although we didn't think so when it was presented as the next best thing for our kids, after sliced white bread.
So, rather than fix the breaks in the current system...let's just REVAMP the NCLB gig, and toss a lot of good old government greenbacks at it, and get those school systems doing the PAVLOVIAN TWO-STEP, as they line up for THEIR government "handouts".
Well, one problem I can see is that our currency isn't worth what it USED to be, so we need more $$$ to do what will amount to less.
Another issue is TEACHER evals.
While this is good to weed out the wheat from the educational chaff, it will NEVER, I repeat NEVER get to the root cause of the problem with student test scores or graduation rates.
I've stated (damn near ad nauseum) that it's about the FAMILY...THAT is what will fail any student faster than any school system (or educator). We don't have the societal venue that we used to have 50 or more years ago for the students. Families aren't what they used to be, and that puts a strain on the kids. Add to that a damn near exponential increase in peer pressure from all sides of entertainment media and marketing over the last 20 years, and it's not looking like a very pretty picture.
If a child is "failing" at HOME, it's a damn good bet they'll not be doing all that well in the CLASSROOM, either.
If anything needs to be done (for a long term solution) it MUST begin at home. When a child becomes properly prepared for the scholastic world awaiting him or her, they will take to it a lot more readily, instead of nodding off during class.
But as long as there is little if any support or encouragement AT HOME, our society will continue to allow program like NCLB and RTTT to be perpetrated against our kids, with the belief that somehow, tossing BILLIONS of dollars at the EDUCATIONAL system is the "magic bullet" to solve the crises of our future generational intellect.
Oh, we DO need education...we just need it AT HOME a lot more than we do right now in the classroom.
We need involved parents...parents that DO give a rat's ass about raising more learned children into adulthood.
We already KNOW we have involved EDUCATORS, but they simply cannot be surrogate parents...not when they only have the kids about 40 hours a week, trying to undo the ways of the world that permeate the child's OTHER 128 hours every week.
Like much of what needs fixing today...we need to get back to BASICS.
THEY WORKED.
Doesn't matter if we're talking industry, education, government...whatever.
Basics matter.
And what better place to begin than with something we used to call ETHICS?
With ethical behavior comes a level or morality...and honesty...and integrity.
All these aspects of humanity need to be pursued, if we are to reclaim our nation, our lives, our children's lives, and our future.
And the more we do it...the easier it will become...just consider it.
Do well today, make a difference somewhere, and... Stay safe out there, America.

((Editor's note - Fort Wayne might have it's FIRST homicide of the new year on the SE side of town...shooting around 0300 hours at 3418 Congress Ave. - more as it becomes available))