Thursday, August 01, 2013
Do We Really Need A College Degree?
From: American Thinker
For years we've heard the propaganda line that everyone needs to go to college -- that a degree will improve your status and standard of living.
It has become politically incorrect to even suggest that a higher education degree might not be right for every young American. So it's not surprising that those without a college degree often feel inferior and marginalized.
Has a college degree become the litmus test for whether a person is well educated and successful? These highly successfully individuals would likely disagree with that premise.
Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, Barry Diller, Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren, Governor Jan Brewer, Governor Scott Walker, Governor Gary Herbert, Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, William Safire, Larry King, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Woody Allen, Karl Rove, and 33 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
What do they all have in common? Not one received a college degree!
A college degree has long been considered the golden ticket to a more fulfilling life both financially and intellectually. Now the bloom seems to be off the rose. Students are graduating, armed with a politically-driven pseudo education, to find themselves jobless or underemployed, debt ridden, and perhaps living again with parents.
For years we've heard the propaganda line that everyone needs to go to college -- that a degree will improve your status and standard of living.
It has become politically incorrect to even suggest that a higher education degree might not be right for every young American. So it's not surprising that those without a college degree often feel inferior and marginalized.
Has a college degree become the litmus test for whether a person is well educated and successful? These highly successfully individuals would likely disagree with that premise.
Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, Barry Diller, Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren, Governor Jan Brewer, Governor Scott Walker, Governor Gary Herbert, Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, William Safire, Larry King, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Woody Allen, Karl Rove, and 33 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
What do they all have in common? Not one received a college degree!
A college degree has long been considered the golden ticket to a more fulfilling life both financially and intellectually. Now the bloom seems to be off the rose. Students are graduating, armed with a politically-driven pseudo education, to find themselves jobless or underemployed, debt ridden, and perhaps living again with parents.
Sea Level Rise Surprise by S Fred Singer
From American Thinker
Driving the seemingly endless climate-treaty negotiations, the most widely feared consequence of Global Warming appears to be a catastrophic rise in sea level (SLR). Environmental advocacy groups are filling the airwaves with lurid images of flooding of Bangladesh and Pacific islands, and raising the specter of hundreds of millions of environmental refugees demanding care and compensation.
Even sober scientists, while not endorsing such obvious scare stories, predict an acceleration of the ongoing global rise, which a system of tidal gauges places at about 18 cm (7 inches) during the 20th century. Economists concerned with trying to estimate a 'social cost' of carbon-dioxide emissions predict huge economic losses from future SLR. Not surprisingly, insurance companies, looking to raise premiums, are cheering them on.
However, more detailed analyses of actual observations suggest an opposite outcome: A climate warming might even slow down SLR -- rather than accelerate it. To understand this counter-intuitive result, one must first get rid of false leads -- just as in a detective story. The misleading argument here is the oft-quoted statement that the climate warmed by 1degF (0.6 C) in the last 100 years and that SL rose by 18 cm. Both parts of the statement may well be true; but the second part does not necessarily follow from the first.
Curiously, Barack Obama predicted a deceleration of SLR when he accepted his party's nomination in 2008: "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow, and our planet began to heal." Some tidal-gauge data do show deceleration, but starting in 1960. Hey, wasn't that the year during which Obama was conceived?
Driving the seemingly endless climate-treaty negotiations, the most widely feared consequence of Global Warming appears to be a catastrophic rise in sea level (SLR). Environmental advocacy groups are filling the airwaves with lurid images of flooding of Bangladesh and Pacific islands, and raising the specter of hundreds of millions of environmental refugees demanding care and compensation.
Even sober scientists, while not endorsing such obvious scare stories, predict an acceleration of the ongoing global rise, which a system of tidal gauges places at about 18 cm (7 inches) during the 20th century. Economists concerned with trying to estimate a 'social cost' of carbon-dioxide emissions predict huge economic losses from future SLR. Not surprisingly, insurance companies, looking to raise premiums, are cheering them on.
However, more detailed analyses of actual observations suggest an opposite outcome: A climate warming might even slow down SLR -- rather than accelerate it. To understand this counter-intuitive result, one must first get rid of false leads -- just as in a detective story. The misleading argument here is the oft-quoted statement that the climate warmed by 1degF (0.6 C) in the last 100 years and that SL rose by 18 cm. Both parts of the statement may well be true; but the second part does not necessarily follow from the first.
Curiously, Barack Obama predicted a deceleration of SLR when he accepted his party's nomination in 2008: "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow, and our planet began to heal." Some tidal-gauge data do show deceleration, but starting in 1960. Hey, wasn't that the year during which Obama was conceived?
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
12 Protestors and Jesse Jackson dog Rick Scott
From: Naked Politics
Protestors in his Tallahassee office, protestors at his Miami-Dade press conferences – Gov. Rick Scott is facing a state of opposition after the George Zimmerman verdict.
On Wednesday, as protestors gathered inside and out, Scott made a quick exit from a Kendall Walmart media event touting new school-supply debit cards of teachers and the upcoming school-supply sales-tax.
The protestors, mostly young Hispanic and African-Americans, want a special legislative session to address the Stand Your Ground self-defense law implicated in Zimmerman’s shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year. Zimmerman, acquitted July 13, didn't plead a Stand Your Ground defense, but was covered by its protections, which appeared in the jury instructions.
“Special session! Special session!” a group of 12 chanted from a sidewalk as Scott left out a backdoor.
Protestors in his Tallahassee office, protestors at his Miami-Dade press conferences – Gov. Rick Scott is facing a state of opposition after the George Zimmerman verdict.
On Wednesday, as protestors gathered inside and out, Scott made a quick exit from a Kendall Walmart media event touting new school-supply debit cards of teachers and the upcoming school-supply sales-tax.
The protestors, mostly young Hispanic and African-Americans, want a special legislative session to address the Stand Your Ground self-defense law implicated in Zimmerman’s shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year. Zimmerman, acquitted July 13, didn't plead a Stand Your Ground defense, but was covered by its protections, which appeared in the jury instructions.
“Special session! Special session!” a group of 12 chanted from a sidewalk as Scott left out a backdoor.
Earlier, during the press conference, three demonstrators sat down on the floor inside the store. One held up a sign that said “Bad Apples?” In the back of the press conference stood Miami Democratic Sen. Dwight Bullard, who called for the resignation of Florida’s education commissioner in a grade-fixing flap (more here)
Scott has refused.
Meantime, inside the halls of the governor’s office in Tallahassee, a group of college-aged minority students known as the Dream Defenders are calling for a special session as well.
Yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson met with the students, called for a boycott of Florida. He has likened Florida to an Old South-style “apartheid state."
Scott said he was outraged.
“He ought to apologize to every Floridian,” Scott said. “We have nearly 20 million people, we’ve got 5 million multi-lingual speakers, we’re in a 42-year low in our crime rate. We care about people all across our state.”
Scott said he wants to keep the Stand Your Ground and has noted that a task force he appointed called for the law to largely stay intact.
The task force, though, did recommend that the Legislature consider examining some aspects of self-defense law and recommended that the state fund a study “of the correlation and causation to include variables such as race, ethnicity, gender, application and fairness of the law in regards to the expansion of self defense laws in the State of Florida, including a statistical comparison with other states.”
Asked if the state should heed that finding, Scott didn’t comment, but suggested he was open to the idea.
“As you know, the speaker said he was going to hold hearings during committee week to look into this,” Scott said.
Scott has refused.
Meantime, inside the halls of the governor’s office in Tallahassee, a group of college-aged minority students known as the Dream Defenders are calling for a special session as well.
Yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson met with the students, called for a boycott of Florida. He has likened Florida to an Old South-style “apartheid state."
Scott said he was outraged.
“He ought to apologize to every Floridian,” Scott said. “We have nearly 20 million people, we’ve got 5 million multi-lingual speakers, we’re in a 42-year low in our crime rate. We care about people all across our state.”
Scott said he wants to keep the Stand Your Ground and has noted that a task force he appointed called for the law to largely stay intact.
The task force, though, did recommend that the Legislature consider examining some aspects of self-defense law and recommended that the state fund a study “of the correlation and causation to include variables such as race, ethnicity, gender, application and fairness of the law in regards to the expansion of self defense laws in the State of Florida, including a statistical comparison with other states.”
Asked if the state should heed that finding, Scott didn’t comment, but suggested he was open to the idea.
“As you know, the speaker said he was going to hold hearings during committee week to look into this,” Scott said.
Contrary to Jackson's claims, a Tampa Bay Times analysis could find no clear racial inequities with the law. It found that those who plead Stand Your Ground in cases where a black person was killed or injured are more likely, by 14 percentage points, to "walk free." But one reason for that: African-Americans who were shot were more likely than Caucasians to be involved with a crime or armed -- thereby lending credence to a self-defense claim by the shooter.
When the victim was black in fatal cases, 22 percent of suspects were convicted while 78 were found to use justifiable force. When the victim was white, 43 percent of suspects were convicted while 57 were found to use justifiable force.
For blacks pleading Stand Your Ground fatality cases, 31 percent were convicted while 69 percent of the killings were found to be justified. For whites pleading Stand Your Ground fatality cases, 38 percent were convicted and 62 percent were justified. The overall conviction rate: 35 percent. Overall justification rate: 65 percent.
But there was no time to get into all that with Scott on Wednesday.
While talking about Stand Your Ground, the protesors found him at a side entrace. They started chanting. At least one person had a bull horn.
Staff hastened to remove Scott, who also took two more questions about another controversy: Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett. When the AP broke the story, Scott didn’t have much to say about it yesterday.
So how about now?
“Everything I wanted to get done this session, Tony Bennett has been a big help getting it done – whether it’s the teacher pay raise, the $1.2 billion for K-12, the performance measurements for state colleges, the debit cards we talked about today,” Scott said. “Tony’s a hard worker. He believes in accountability. He’s a big help.”
Have you spoken to him about the situation in Indiana and what are your thoughts?
“I’m not familiar with the details. Probably the best thing to do is call Tony,” Scott said.
When the victim was black in fatal cases, 22 percent of suspects were convicted while 78 were found to use justifiable force. When the victim was white, 43 percent of suspects were convicted while 57 were found to use justifiable force.
For blacks pleading Stand Your Ground fatality cases, 31 percent were convicted while 69 percent of the killings were found to be justified. For whites pleading Stand Your Ground fatality cases, 38 percent were convicted and 62 percent were justified. The overall conviction rate: 35 percent. Overall justification rate: 65 percent.
But there was no time to get into all that with Scott on Wednesday.
While talking about Stand Your Ground, the protesors found him at a side entrace. They started chanting. At least one person had a bull horn.
Staff hastened to remove Scott, who also took two more questions about another controversy: Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett. When the AP broke the story, Scott didn’t have much to say about it yesterday.
So how about now?
“Everything I wanted to get done this session, Tony Bennett has been a big help getting it done – whether it’s the teacher pay raise, the $1.2 billion for K-12, the performance measurements for state colleges, the debit cards we talked about today,” Scott said. “Tony’s a hard worker. He believes in accountability. He’s a big help.”
Have you spoken to him about the situation in Indiana and what are your thoughts?
“I’m not familiar with the details. Probably the best thing to do is call Tony,” Scott said.
Cardinal George defends decision to defund pro-gay ‘marriage’ immigrant group
From: LifeSiteNews.com
After a group of eight Catholic Democrats published an open letter in the Chicago Tribune Monday criticizing Cardinal Francis George for threatening to withhold charitable funding from an immigrant group that recently came out in favor of same-sex “marriage,” the cardinal fired back in a statement, calling the letter’s signers cynical and “intellectually and morally dishonest.”
The Chicago diocese’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) had been contributing between $25,000 and $30,000 each year to several member groups of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to aid humanitarian efforts in poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
But since CCHD funding agreements are contingent on recipients not supporting agendas contrary to the Catholic faith, Cardinal George recently notified member groups that CCHD will be unable to provide any more funding unless the groups sever ties with the ICIRR and publicly renounce support for gay nuptials.
In their letter, the Catholic Democrats had accused Cardinal George of using poor immigrants as “pawns in a political battle.”
On Wednesday, Cardinal George responded via a statement posted to the Diocesan website, explaining that ICIRR left the Catholic Church no choice but to withdraw funding after violating the terms of their contract.
“Donors to the CCHD give to this anti-poverty organization with the understanding that their money will be passed on to organizations that respect the teachings of the Catholic faith,” wrote the cardinal. “Organizations that apply for funds do so agreeing to this condition.”
“On May 23,” continued the cardinal, “the ICIRR board broke faith with its member organizations when it publicly supported so called ‘same-sex marriage.’ For its own political advantage, it introduced a matter extraneous to its own purpose and betrayed its own members, who were not consulted.”
Added Cardinal George, “The CCHD had no choice but to respect the unilateral decision of the ICIRR board that effectively cut off funding from groups that remain affiliated with ICIRR.”
The cardinal had harsh words for the Catholic Democrats who signed the open letter, writing, “It is intellectually and morally dishonest to use the witness of the Church’s concern for the poor as an excuse to attack the Church’s teaching on the nature of marriage.”
Added George, “Those who signed the open letter in the Tribune proclaimed their adherence to the Catholic faith even as they cynically called upon others to reject the Church’s bishops. The Church is no one’s private club; she is the Body of Christ, who tells us he is ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’
Because the signers of the letters are Catholic, they know that in a few years, like each of us, they will stand before this same Christ to give an account of their stewardship. Jesus is merciful, but he is not stupid; he knows the difference between right and wrong. Manipulating both immigrants and the Church for political advantage is wrong.”
He reminded the letter signers of Catholic teaching on marriage, quoting Pope Francis, who wrote last month, “…marriage should be a stable union of man and woman…this union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgement and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flesh and are enabled to give birth to a new life.”
“In other words,” wrote Cardinal George, “when it comes to marriage and family life, men and women are not interchangeable. The whole civilized world knows that.”
The cardinal said the Church is not turning her back on Chicago’s immigrant poor, and will continue to serve them through organizations that do not oppose the Catholic faith on matters of morals and doctrine, including Priests for Justice for Immigrants, Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants, and the Archdiocesan Office for Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education.
Bill Donohue of the Catholic League praised Cardinal George for taking a principled stand.
“Everyone knows that the Catholic Church has a long and proud history of immigrant outreach,” Donohue wrote in a statement. “Everyone knows that the Catholic Church, like virtually every religion in the history of the world, believes marriage should be confined to one man and one woman. It should come as no surprise, then, that Catholics who financially support pro-immigrant organizations expect that their contribution will not fund entities that reject Church teachings on marriage.”
Donohue dismissed the “angst” of the handful of Democratic Catholic politicians who penned the open letter, calling it “contrived.”
“As Cardinal George said … organizations that apply for CCHD funding do so knowing that they are expected to respect Church teachings,” Donohue wrote. “No one forces them to apply; they are free to secure funds elsewhere. But when they violate their agreement, and are called out for doing so, they should not pretend to be victims.”
Added Donohue, “If Cardinal George denied funding to a pro-immigrant organization that was aligned with racist or anti-Semitic causes, he would be heralded as a champion of human rights. But because the issue is gay marriage, he is condemned. The politics are so transparent that it’s making a joke of those promoting it.”
Cook County Commissioners John Fritchey and Larry Suffredin; Chicago aldermen James Cappleman, Patrick O’Connor, Proco “Joe” Moreno, and Danny Solis; City Clerk Susana Mendoza; and retired Cook County Judge Maureen Durkin Roy, all Catholic Democrats, had signed the le
After a group of eight Catholic Democrats published an open letter in the Chicago Tribune Monday criticizing Cardinal Francis George for threatening to withhold charitable funding from an immigrant group that recently came out in favor of same-sex “marriage,” the cardinal fired back in a statement, calling the letter’s signers cynical and “intellectually and morally dishonest.”
The Chicago diocese’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) had been contributing between $25,000 and $30,000 each year to several member groups of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to aid humanitarian efforts in poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
But since CCHD funding agreements are contingent on recipients not supporting agendas contrary to the Catholic faith, Cardinal George recently notified member groups that CCHD will be unable to provide any more funding unless the groups sever ties with the ICIRR and publicly renounce support for gay nuptials.
On Wednesday, Cardinal George responded via a statement posted to the Diocesan website, explaining that ICIRR left the Catholic Church no choice but to withdraw funding after violating the terms of their contract.
“Donors to the CCHD give to this anti-poverty organization with the understanding that their money will be passed on to organizations that respect the teachings of the Catholic faith,” wrote the cardinal. “Organizations that apply for funds do so agreeing to this condition.”
“On May 23,” continued the cardinal, “the ICIRR board broke faith with its member organizations when it publicly supported so called ‘same-sex marriage.’ For its own political advantage, it introduced a matter extraneous to its own purpose and betrayed its own members, who were not consulted.”
Added Cardinal George, “The CCHD had no choice but to respect the unilateral decision of the ICIRR board that effectively cut off funding from groups that remain affiliated with ICIRR.”
The cardinal had harsh words for the Catholic Democrats who signed the open letter, writing, “It is intellectually and morally dishonest to use the witness of the Church’s concern for the poor as an excuse to attack the Church’s teaching on the nature of marriage.”
Added George, “Those who signed the open letter in the Tribune proclaimed their adherence to the Catholic faith even as they cynically called upon others to reject the Church’s bishops. The Church is no one’s private club; she is the Body of Christ, who tells us he is ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’
Because the signers of the letters are Catholic, they know that in a few years, like each of us, they will stand before this same Christ to give an account of their stewardship. Jesus is merciful, but he is not stupid; he knows the difference between right and wrong. Manipulating both immigrants and the Church for political advantage is wrong.”
He reminded the letter signers of Catholic teaching on marriage, quoting Pope Francis, who wrote last month, “…marriage should be a stable union of man and woman…this union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgement and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flesh and are enabled to give birth to a new life.”
“In other words,” wrote Cardinal George, “when it comes to marriage and family life, men and women are not interchangeable. The whole civilized world knows that.”
The cardinal said the Church is not turning her back on Chicago’s immigrant poor, and will continue to serve them through organizations that do not oppose the Catholic faith on matters of morals and doctrine, including Priests for Justice for Immigrants, Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants, and the Archdiocesan Office for Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education.
Bill Donohue of the Catholic League praised Cardinal George for taking a principled stand.
“Everyone knows that the Catholic Church has a long and proud history of immigrant outreach,” Donohue wrote in a statement. “Everyone knows that the Catholic Church, like virtually every religion in the history of the world, believes marriage should be confined to one man and one woman. It should come as no surprise, then, that Catholics who financially support pro-immigrant organizations expect that their contribution will not fund entities that reject Church teachings on marriage.”
Donohue dismissed the “angst” of the handful of Democratic Catholic politicians who penned the open letter, calling it “contrived.”
“As Cardinal George said … organizations that apply for CCHD funding do so knowing that they are expected to respect Church teachings,” Donohue wrote. “No one forces them to apply; they are free to secure funds elsewhere. But when they violate their agreement, and are called out for doing so, they should not pretend to be victims.”
Added Donohue, “If Cardinal George denied funding to a pro-immigrant organization that was aligned with racist or anti-Semitic causes, he would be heralded as a champion of human rights. But because the issue is gay marriage, he is condemned. The politics are so transparent that it’s making a joke of those promoting it.”
Cook County Commissioners John Fritchey and Larry Suffredin; Chicago aldermen James Cappleman, Patrick O’Connor, Proco “Joe” Moreno, and Danny Solis; City Clerk Susana Mendoza; and retired Cook County Judge Maureen Durkin Roy, all Catholic Democrats, had signed the le
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
3 million pack Copacabana beach for Mass with Pope
From: NBC NEWS.com
At least 3 million people jammed Copacabana beach early Sunday – many of them having slept overnight to secure their spot at the Pope’s final Mass of his trip to Brazil.
Normally a sea of bikinis and swimshorts, the world-famous beach was instead packed with Bibles, rosaries and crucifixes as pilgrims gathered to hear Pope Francis.
He is due to celebrate Mass on Sunday, the climax of his week-long trip to the city and neighboring Sao Paulo.
Many of the crowd spent the night in sleeping bags.
It will be his second day addressing the beach. On Saturday, he spoke there to a crowd estimated by the Vatican to be more than 2 million.
In his speech, he encouraged Brazil's young people, who have protested against corruption in their country, to continue their efforts to change society by fighting apathy and offering "a Christian response."
He received yet another rapturous reception, stopping his popemobile several times to kiss babies.
On Thursday, Pope Francis underlined his mission to lead a “church for the poor” Thursday, preaching against “selfishness and individualism” in an address to a rain-soaked Rio slum.
He was cheered by residents of the Varginha favela who hung out of windows and stood on rooftops just to get a glimpse he gave his address from a vast, muddy soccer field.
At least 3 million people jammed Copacabana beach early Sunday – many of them having slept overnight to secure their spot at the Pope’s final Mass of his trip to Brazil.
Normally a sea of bikinis and swimshorts, the world-famous beach was instead packed with Bibles, rosaries and crucifixes as pilgrims gathered to hear Pope Francis.
He is due to celebrate Mass on Sunday, the climax of his week-long trip to the city and neighboring Sao Paulo.
Many of the crowd spent the night in sleeping bags.
In his speech, he encouraged Brazil's young people, who have protested against corruption in their country, to continue their efforts to change society by fighting apathy and offering "a Christian response."
He received yet another rapturous reception, stopping his popemobile several times to kiss babies.
On Thursday, Pope Francis underlined his mission to lead a “church for the poor” Thursday, preaching against “selfishness and individualism” in an address to a rain-soaked Rio slum.
He was cheered by residents of the Varginha favela who hung out of windows and stood on rooftops just to get a glimpse he gave his address from a vast, muddy soccer field.
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