NCLB war for their minds

{abc news}

We hear the slogan all the time, but few actually know how it actually works. The goal of the program is to hit 100% on the proficiency level gap by the year 2014. That is a poorly distributed percentage because it automatically throws every school into a failing rate. This could be what I like to call “common sense test”. Let’s be honest “common sense” is not something that hits every student at the same time nor should they be forced into developing faster. It basically teaches there is only one right way to get to the solution and does not allow for thinking outside of the box. Also think of it as car insurance when a person selects minimum coverage, it covers a very general issue, leaving the rest up to chance. These standardized tests are creating little drone workers. Most people who were born before calculators have no problems when the cash register malfunctions, however when a say fifteen year old faces the same problem it becomes a difficult task. The more we standardize and make learning mechanical, the more unique individuals and free thinkers become retrained or possibly eliminated from the system all together.

How has the No Child Left Behind program affected your community?

Switching Pieces

{abc news}

There are a lot of changes occurring in Washington and this time the D.O.D (Department of Defense). The President is assigning CIA Director Leon Panetta to Secretary of Defense and replacing him with Gen Petraeus who is currently in stationed in Afghanistan. Director Panetta served as former President Clinton’s budget director, so it is perceived that the 400 billion dollar budget cut for defense just might actually happen. Over a twelve year period that is!

 Is government spending more time in error than trial?

Personal Information Age

{abc news}

People have been lashing out about apple and their “spy” apps lately like an angry mob. This in my opinion is a mistake. These companies pay people to figure out trends and niche markets. At what point did we ignore the personal information given out by ourselves. Just do a personal assessment that includes registration, email, social networks, and etc. Think about check-ins and Google locators, which are totally voluntary. Don’t get me wrong if a person’s phone app stores all their information for a year it’s definitely a cause for concern. My argument is pick whether its temporary or for a long period of time. Even without apps most of our electronic devices are locaters (including some Identification cards) , even helping some people out in court cases because of stored information. My analysis of it says, it’s not good or bad, it’s how it’s being used.

Are we misleading ourselves?

Dictator for your city

[msnbc]

Most people, whether they hate their city or not, like to have a place they can refer to as home. We like to relay to our family history in a town or city to the future generations. The people of Benton Harbor Michigan are being forced against the wall. They are facing the threat of being completely ejected from everything they know. A band of private investors (lawyers, contractors, etc.) are more than eager to turn a small mostly African American community into a golf course! After being sold out by their former governor, new Governor Rick Snyder raised the taxes on poor and elderly people.  City residents were surprised that elected official were fired like some cheap reality show and told the members they elected didn’t matter. This town has been declared as a failure and been appointed an emergency financial overseer who is basically a yes man to big brother. The people and the town are being treated like dogs. Even though this city has only 10,235 people, they all face the same ugly non-empathetic beast. Since birth certificates are a hot topic these days, perhaps many will not be alerted to the danger lurking by way of golf course and other investments.

Can anyone or group stop this from happening?

There is always a joke or scene from a movie people like to enact when talking about contacting 911. It’s pretty funny until a person is placed in a predicament where they receive no help. This was the case for a mother who has a special needs child of 21 years of age. Her son has additional problems with gagging and choking. When the mother called the dispatcher she was told that there was no unit available at the time. Then adding insult to injury the mother was told it could take up to a few hours. Now officials are saying the call taker could have coded the priority of the call wrong.

Even though the city of Cleveland is investigating, what addendum to the protocol would you exercise?

9 out of 10 bad guys

{abc news}

A child can’t be removed from a terrorist list, however suspected terrorist can buy guns with no problem because after all its their right. This is an argument people need to commit to because both angels are being worked! Any un-suspecting person will be appalled at this but let’s not forget about the kid I mentioned. I get an eerie feeling that he, along with any one deemed a terrorist will no longer have a right to bear arms. It starts off as the right thing and ends with protestors and people wrongly imprisoned. Let us be wise this time and at least protect ourselves before we are tricked into not having any rights. Beware of law makers who appear to be a little to righteous.

Do you believe laws make it easy for criminals because of big business?

Dragon Skin vs Kevlar

http://www.pinnaclearmor.com/body-armor/dragon-skin/

The worst battle a person can lose is the battle for common sense. Let’s examine without getting too technical. Kevlar has been used for a long time for soldiers as body amour. It protects a soldiers head, chest and back area from hand guns and some automatic weapons. This does not include knives. Dragon Skin on the other hands is flexible, covers more, weighs less and can stop various projectiles. Currently only Special Forces, tactical law enforcement and approved foreign militaries.

Why don’t our everyday soldiers have this equipment?