Bomb The Blogosphere: Georgia V Russia (With Apologies to Edwin Starr)

More aggression in the world as the South Ossetia war kicks off.

And, much like our international aggression there are more theories than real answers to why Georgia and/or Russia started attacking one another. Reasons include; Natural gas deposits, national border integrity for Georgia, national border integrity for Russia, protection of the Georgian people, and lastly, protection of the Russian people.

Resources, national security, perceived danger from a select few turning into an international conflict? Does any of this sound familiar to anyone but me? Vietnam? World War One? Korea? Russia's Afghanistan? Our Afghanistan? British Falkland Island War? Iraq, Round Two?

The pictures on the right are AP photos of casualties of different wars, can you pick out the civilian that was killed in the South Ossetia War? The rest are a product of American aggression. For bonus points, try to identify the conflict in which we killed the civilians.

Is anyone else upset about this?

Conflict and geopolitical maneuvering turning into more loss and destruction than we can imagine. I really have lost sight of what could possibly even justify killing on such a large scale. Body counts number around 1,600 since Aug. 9th. Fighting has been to chaotic and erratic to gain a more recent accurate number. We started a five year war over 3,000 civilian causalities, which has escalated into 4,090 troop casualties and 94,553 Iraqi casualties....It begs the question...

What is Russia willing to do in Georgia?

Our insistence on small arms proliferation and reliance on military prowess or "preemptive attacks" to solve diplomatic issues has set a dangerous precedent on the world stage. What diplomatic leverage do we have, when we are fighting our own war in a natural-resource-laden area with our leader saying that....

"The American people expect their government to take action to protect them from further attack".--American President George W. Bush. 10.5.07

Russia's president Medvedev has taken a page right out of Bush's playbook, where's the oil? In the Caspian sea. Almost 200 billion barrels, compared to Saudi Arabia's estimated 260 billion barrels. Georgia handles most of the supply, through a 1,100 mile pipeline. As much as 1% of the world demand for energy, which Russia stands to gain if this conflict goes their way. But how to justify this.....?....hmm....

"I, as the President of the Russian Federation, must protect lives and the dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are." - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev. 8.9.08

People's mothers, sisters, brothers, girlfriends, boyfriends, grandmothers, grandfathers are all dying in more numbers that we can comprehend.

Imagine if you can a house being blown to pieces by a tank killing everyone inside. To quote one more Russian...

"One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic."--Joseph Stalin

The problem is we can't imagine it. We won't, we've got our heads buried in our own crap over here.

What's for lunch?

I need to get to the dentist....

Is Britney on the TV? She's such a mess...

When do the new Family Guy DVD's come out?

How am I going to pass Spanish?

I need to replace my iPhone, the new 3G just came out.

I need to make a trip to Wal-mart.

I don't want to guilt trip anyone, I'm not trying to be morose or morbid.

But I catch myself thinking that I'm the most important thing on this earth. My feelings get hurt and I suddenly have a right to be a jerk to anyone. Or that people are going to stop and pay attention to my needs because I have a right to be upset. Others are just praying for their right to live.

If you feel powerless and upset, remember....


"All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. " ~Albert Einstein
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Bomb The Blogosphere! (Telecom Industry Gets Big Break)

Your agreement with your telephone service has just been voided. Your service provider, (Sprint, Altell, AT&T) has just turned over your private data to the government; Who you called, how long the call was, what time the call was made, what location the call was made from, the location of the recipient of your call, and even what was said during the call.

Why?

Not because of a court order or because you had a warrant for your arrest, no. Rather a federal or local law enforcement officer had a suspicion that you were an "Enemy" of the country and it was important to know who you were "talking to, what [you]'re saying, and what [you]'re planning."

So you're arrested, and on trial with "evidence" that was procured without a judge's approval, and sentenced to X (number of years in jail) for doing or planning to do Y (something that was determined as a crime by a law enforcement officer).

Your phone conversations were undoubtedly considered "your own" contractually with the phone company, and now they've been given to the government and used against you. Who do you blame?

I'd be a little upset with a corporation that broke it's agreement with me. I'd probably try to sue them, for lost work time, emotional damages and court fees, and because the evidence was obtained without a warrant, I'd try to get the case overturned.

But now, I can't.

Thanks to a piece of legislation passed by the Bush White House on Wednesday, THE TELEPHONE CORPORATIONS ARE NOT LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HANDING OVER PERSONAL DATA.

Which means they are completely immune from legal action taken by customers for breaking a contract. 40 cases against telecom providers are now null and void, and will be turned over by the bills passing.

While we're on the subject, how useful or important is wiretapping? According to uscourts.gov, in 2007 (total domestic and abroad) 2,119 intercepts were installed, and 3,106 intercepts were made....a mere 920 of which led to incrimination. (I'll do the math, they are 29% effective at making incriminations.)

You might say "Well, that's 920 criminals behind bars!" And 2,186 conversations that didn't need to be listened too. Maybe we caught some bad guys...but what if we had a federal agent or local cop broke up with his girlfriend and listened to her calls to stalk her? Or if we had a private investigator slip money to a federal officer to listen in on a target for a case?

Maybe the cost isn't that much? Hopefully? No. Again, the number of taps? 2,119 taps at $48,477 A PIECE! That is $102,722,763. TAXPAYER MONEY. Think about that next time you look at your "Tax" section of your paycheck stub.

Obama supported the bill saying, "This was not an easy call for me. I know that the...bill that passed the House is far from perfect." McCain was not on roll call for the vote.
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What kind of world do we live in? I am now completely beside myself. We can't even take legal action against an independent corporation because the government is protecting;

Their interests.

Their money.

Rather than our legal rights.

Isn't it the job of the government representatives to protect it's voters rights and freedoms? Like the freedom for legal reparations or an independent court system, free from the constraints of the legislative or executive direct order?

The democrats promised in 2006 that, "a Democratic-led Congress will not be a rubber stamp for the White House."-(Pelosi) Thanks for that one guys. Way to win one for the team, and not bend over to the game of fear mongering, (by the way, a reminder that we are still at Terror Alert Level YELLOW, as of March 19th. Thank you for staying vigilant.)

By the way, on this particular bill Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint offered to give contributions to the Democrats in congress averaging:

$8,359 to each Democrat who changed their position to support immunity for the Telecom industry (94 Dems)

$4,987 to each Democrat who remained opposed to immunity for Telcos (116 Dems)

"If you want twice the money, vote our way" says the Telephone companies. And this amount is a lot less than legal damages that the public would have brought onto Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. Which would have probably numbered in the millions.

What the fuck happened? Why is this even accepted? I have had enough of the lies and the crap about "protecting" us.

I'll say what I truly think, It was their fault that September day.

No. They didn't orchestrate it, this isn't my conspiracy theory. They dropped the ball. We had a whole system of early warnings and notices of Bin Laden's activities. We had intel that wasn't being acted on. Read the 9/11 commission report, an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002.

Go on and read chapter 8, "The System Was Blinking Red." in it, reads:

[as early as] June 22, 2001 the CIA notified all its station chiefs about intelligence suggesting a possible al Qaeda suicide attack on a U.S.target over the next few days. DCITenet asked
that all U.S. ambassadors be briefed.

Make no mistake, they messed up that day, dropped the ball and because of it more than 3000 people met a horrifying end. Remember how strong we were? We had faith in ourselves as a country, as a people and as a Nation. The government was the last thing on our mind, because we had faith that they would follow the people's demands.

We now have nothing but fear, disparity and death. We have all been playing into the same hands of those who refuse to protect us, time and time again.

I am deeply saddened and upset at realizing these things, having to even express these sentiments. But through the frustration and pain, I have found a voice. One that I wish to use and call for the people of the United States to stand up for what is right and just and fair. To hold those accountable, both domestic and abroad, that allowed and continue to allow tragedy to occur on our own soil. To expect a government that keeps its promises and protects it's people with the fervor and intensity that we pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for.

Remember to vote, what you decide on will change the way you live your life.

Bomb the Blogosphere! (Damn Kids These Days)

An attack from the peanut gallery has had me going for the past week or so.

While on youtube, I thought I'd re-watch one of my favorite vids.



Made by none other than Kansas State University's own Prof. Wesch, the vid is a short montage of facts and figures collected from students about their own lives. Wesch has also written a great essay entitled, “Anti-teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance”

While surfing through the first page of comments, I noted one posted by, "Concerned4you";

As an educator, my concern is the student's lack of passion for learning. The goal of education is not self-esteem building, or play time, it is to teach you something you don't know. That will not always be fun. Sure it is easier to find it on google than to read it in a book but, you need to have a deep background to draw from. Google can't give you that. Time spent in class and in studies will provide you with that. Read the book The Dumbest generation. This is how the world see[s] you.

The book referenced is this one "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)" written by this profiteering jerkoff. It has a couple of pieces of evidence that support the idea that our generation, and the one growing up today, has no way of being in touch with reality and will be responsible for the destruction of America.

I was upset to read about the complete ignorance of both, "Concerned4you" and of an acclaimed professor. Maybe tenure just isn't payin' the bills nowadays, and so a financially successful book based off of placating the fear of "kids these days" is the only way Dr. Bauerlein can belong in the world that we're messing up.

If you're interested in reading an article written by the good doctor, it's entitled "8 Reasons Why This is the Dumbest Generation".

Among the article;

"The ignorance is hard to believe...these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them... They are encased in more immediate realities...friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook.''

Ah yes, the ever damaging "friend". Remember kids, having friends is a straight path to ignorance and unless you want to be the laughing stock in the "real world" you better not have any. And those damned "clothes"...The horror, the horror.

"It's the era of child-centered classrooms and self-esteem grading.'' says Dr. Bauerlein. "[They're dumb because] Their teachers don't tell them so."

So people OVER 30 are the problem to. Great. But I don't think a book entitled, "America Blows We Are All As Good As Dead" would sell as well.

And...my favorite,

"Grand Theft Auto IV...All that video use", Bauerlein says, "has hurt in the classroom."

Quickly! If you're in a room and see any type of gamestation, destroy it! Smash it! For the good of the country and your child's future!

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New ideas mean new ways of thinking. Our world isn't the one that Dr. Bauerlein was born into, just like his world wasn't like his parents.

I work at a school where the incoming Kindergarteners don't know what it was like to grow up in a world before 9/11. Imagine that if you can. Completely different from the 60's and 70's that Bauerlein grew up in, and the 90's that I enjoyed.

Some individuals will never want to obtain the basic knowledge, or if you believe in the "No Child Left Behind" act, maybe everyone will! But when we teach our youth a doctored up lesson on, say Columbus for example, what does it matter if they know what they've been taught? If we taught genocide for what it really was, would we still want the kids to celebrate Columbus Day? My point is, I could brainwash anyone to retain knowledge on anything; A green cheese moon, monsters under the bed, Santa Claus...but would this knowledge be *applicable*?

Maybe that's why New York Public School systems are willing to pay up to $50 cash for acing state assessments. And it works. Money talks, you want kids to learn? They'll do it better if they get paid. Does it mean that education is working though?

That is the problem with education today. A real education; one where we know how to interact with your fellow peers, problem solve, and apply knowledge effectively, is infinitely more useful than knowing "facts" or carrot-and-sticking kids to bend to state standards.

I own Grand Theft Auto IV, I love learning, I love Philosophy, I know where Iraq is on a map. Generations are different, and people in those generations are different from others in that generation. According to Baurlein, 63 percent of my generation supposedly can't find Iraq on a map...but 37 percent can, and I hope that 37 percent will succeed for the sake of your future, Dr. Baurlein's future, and my future.

This 37 percent might even be able to figure out this here dang con-flabbe'd intertube mAh-chine. So's we can talk at one 'nother and sh're ideas an' such. Maybe even faster than af'er the telephone and that th'er fax mAh-chine. Fix' them th're prob-uhlems like global warmin' and 'merica's fallin' 'conomy.


"The [My] Dumbest Generation" might error in some ways, but intergenerational chastising has always been around, and has always been useless. This glorified op-ed piece will not define 41.2 percent of our population. "Get out the way if you can't lend a hand/Oh, the times they are a changin'." Written in '64 Dr.Baurlein...do you remember that one?

If theres a problem, help us fix it. Take a chance, like Peter. Why don't you put something up Dr. Baurlein? Put your lectures up on youtube, make a facebook group, Skype me, Twitter me, Jott yourself, Wiki yourself, Google us, you and I.

I mean it. Please help us.

If none of that sounds appealing to you, then shut it. When you're in your retirement home, we'll just pay less attention to you than we did our state assessment tests. Because we'll be out there...with our "Friends" and "Clothes". Damn kids these days.

A Belated Bomb the Blogosphere!

Spanish is getting me down. OR maybe pulling me up? Meanwhile, enjoy my first latino hit, "Gatos". Also my first foray into GarageBand 3.

Roc-A-Fella, I'm looking at you.

Embedding is rough, but you can listen to it here.

I'm formulating a post for next Friday, when I don't have my head buried in Spanish worksheets.

Bomb the Blogosphere! (Obama = Nominee)

“When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.”

-- Dr. Martin Luther King

"Bomb the Blogosphere!" will be my weekly foray into what everyone else is going to be talking about. Like a doltish programmed salmon, I'll slap my fins against the oncoming water of tediousness, smash my head against the rhetorical rocks, and jump up into your bear-like brain, that has it's razored jowls open, waiting to sate it's hunger for knowledge. Along with all the other self-fulfilling and nameless blogs. It's spawning season for debate and thought! LET'S GO!

So with Obama's "Clenching" of the nomination, it's good to see the party united. I just hope it's not TOO united.

Hilary Clinton's coming admission of defeat has many democrats cheering, "FINALLY! IT'S OVER!" and many Obama fans are left chanting his name. Copy and pasting the same beautiful, juicy rhetorical statements that Obama has been making over the past months to; Family, friends, co-workers, fellow interweb surfers, and classmates. We get it, he's amazing, and will save us all from the floundering US of A.

I would hope that we all just don't fall into a trap of approving somebody just because it seems like a good idea. The American public has been led astray by too many propaganda-like campaigns in the past century. One particular campaign that I, and three quarters of America, fell for was the false Iraq correlation to Al-Queada and the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction. 71% of Americans approved of Bush during the onset of the Iraq war, now a paltry 25% of us thinks hes doing a good job.

I would just ask that we all keep an open mind in the coming race to ideas that might be different than our own. Politics has been reduced to a flashy slide show of zany caricatures, because the citizens in this country don't have the patience to deal with anything that requires thought or debate. We should work to change the ideas on politics from, "I'm voting for X because they are AWESOME! EFF YEAH! A VOTE FOR X IS A VOTE FOR AMERICA!" to "Which candidate votes, thinks and will best represent my ideas in Washington?"

Think Independent, if you haven't registered yet.