From American Corespondent Kyle Brady…

America has an education problem.

It’s not that the United States doesn’t have an educational system or is somehow perennially cast as having an exorbitantly low IQ, but rather that the system itself is dysfunctional and not producing the results intended . For three decades, since the arrival of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency in 1981, public education has been under attack through the backdoor-privatization known as charter schools , the over-specialization of magnet schools , and, more destructively, underfunding.

For most of modern history, when a state government finds itself in a problematic budget situation, the funding to public education gets cut – not just at the college level, but typically across the board. Rather than substantially cutting the salaries of public workers/civil servants with higher salaries (such as six-figure salaries for members of the state senate), closing tax loopholes, raising taxes on those who should be expected to pay their proportionate share (the rich), or ending expensive pet projects, the default choice is to defund the school system, along with other detrimental, self-inhibiting actions. This same tendency is observed at the national level, where members of Congress choose to cut funding to state education programs, rather than making more logical cuts.

The result of three decades of the slow destruction of the public education system is that it’s immensely dysfunctional and nationally embarrassing: graduation rates for the United States have dropped over time, and they now stand below nearly half of the world, including most of Europe. There are other indicators that show American children are no longer as proficient at math, science, and analytical processes than in decades past, a reality noted by President Obama in his 2011 “State of the Union” address. Economists, educators, political scientists, a majority of pundits, various think tanks, and a large swath of the American public all acknowledge that the educational system needs reform, which includes greater funding at more stable levels. Why the disconnect?

A disconnect between the American people and those governing the country exists on the issue of education for a simple reason: the funding of education has no short-term results. Whether an educational program is given greater or lesser funding has no immediate effect on any politician’s constituents, and, therefore, their election cycle. The politicians in control of United States policy, at both a federal and state level, have great difficulty in seeing and planning for the future – their interests are of the moment and in what is better for their next re-election (as discussed in Chapter 7 of the upcoming book, Modern America: The End of Political Discourse.

Education, especially effective public education made available for all, is crucial to the growth and development of a state, and the United States is no different: the various booms and advances of the country’s history are, largely, due to the initial efforts of a group of well-educated individuals. Science and math are essential in a world that is increasingly reliant upon electronics for daily use, much less a future of alternative energy and cyborg dreams. Yet, science and math are eschewed as nerdy and unnecessary – until they’re suddenly vital and under strenuous demand. Other subjects, such as English, composition, and foreign languages, are also crucial to the continued cultural and economic growth of the nation.

Politicians must quickly acknowledge that the educational system is not available for pilfering, should the budget require more available funds than actually exist. In fact, the cuts made to education over the last three decades must be quickly reversed (after adjusting for inflation), reforms must be implemented that reward effective teachers, and marketing programs must be begun to draw the attention of teenagers back into the classroom, away from the culture of celebrity and sports that seems to have taken over the public discourse. A failure to do so will result in nothing less than the increased dependence of the United States on foreign states and an immigrant work force in order to continue living as a First World state, placing America and all its citizens in an extremely vulnerable and volatile position.

Without proper education, there can be no booming modern economy; without a booming modern economy, all the benefits of power and funding that politicians have enjoyed will fade away, in parallel with the decline of American civilization.

Kyle Brady is a young political scientist and writer interested in everything from domestic politics to foreign policy to political theory, currently living in San Jose, CA.  He blogs at kyle-brady.com, is writing a book on the modern political scene in America, is on Twitter as @brady_kyle, and can be reached at kyle@kyle-brady.com.

From American Corespondent Jack Walsh…

Marijuana occupies a curious cultural and political space in the world right now.

Banned for reasons that have no doubt been incoherently recounted to you by a stoned person, its illegality is increasingly becoming irrelevant. The addictive and criminal ravages of crack, meth, and heroin have put cannabis in perspective for most law-enforcement agencies, and many cops no longer care about possession at this point. Law-and-order conservatives have either caught their kids with it too many times or smoked too much of it to get worked up about the demon weed anymore. There are entrenched interest groups still fighting the good fight, but as far as their actual popular support goes, they’re working on credit.

Much as stories about obesity always show fat people's corpulent bodies from the neck down, stories about weed always include pictures of smoking mouths cut off below the eyes.

Also, the medical marijuana crusade has made major inroads. More and more states are legalizing marijuana for medical use, buying into the massive charade that the marijuana-rights lobby has pushed for years. Marijuana is not medicine in the same way booze is not medicine: you could certainly use it to alleviate a few specific symptoms, but it’s just too crude to be real medicine. It’s a plant which you burn to create 1,600 combustion products, and while people are known to toss a few addys or pain pills to their friends, you usually don’t assume you’re welcome to someone’s prescriptions when they take them in the same room as you.

This is the problem with any struggle: it will ultimately shape the cause. People who are faced with nigh-insurmountable obstacles to something they want will inevitably oversell the righteousness of their mission, and the pro-marijuana camp has adopted all manners of asinine dogma in their efforts to prove they’re less of a burden on society than crackheads: it’s not a drug. It’s not addictive. It doesn’t cause lung cancer. It doesn’t make you stupid or lazy if you do it all the time.

Marijuana is a drug, full of nasty shit you’d be better served to not put in your lungs, and anyone who has ever looked at a piece of drug paraphernalia knows that full well. It can rob almost any user of direction or motivation with adequate use. Also, take it from someone who, though several weeks inactive, can’t see it depicted in movies or write a blog post about it at 1PM on a Thursday without craving some just a little bit: weed is addictive. It takes some serious work to get addicted to it, and you need a supportive group of friends to get you to that point, but psychological addiction is addiction nonetheless.

I have it on good authority that they did not get rid of this bong after the story broke, and that it hits pretty nice.

So we are left with one of those situations which would be pretty straightforward if not for human nature: the issue could be laid to rest with a little pragmatism and honesty, but there are simply too many agenda-driven parties still prepared to fight this battle like it’s the fucking Marne. If the legalization set could admit that elements of marijuana use and legalization are undesirable, we’d assuage the other side’s concern for their vulnerable children. If the opposition could admit that it’s not dangerous enough to warrant prohibition and focus on preventing their vulnerable children from firing it up so enthusiastically, we could collect excise taxes out the ass.

That’s the heart of my argument. With $5-$8 per gram in federal and state excise taxes, we could raise billions of dollars a year for healthcare and education, to say nothing of the previously-undeclared income added to the IRS’s rolls. While the austere stoner might balk at that tax figure, the specifics of certain international treaties mean that the legalization of pot in America would yield the legalization of pot in basically every country outside of Southeast Asia and the Muslim World, meaning that globalization would drive prices down for marijuana as it has for everything else. Also, you don’t have to pay for the risk of legal products, and cheaper mass-production methods would result in a situation similar to tobacco where the production costs are lower than the taxes. A side-effect of that tax hedge: the artificially smaller margins between cheap outdoor shit and the finest green would push the market towards high-potency production.

I also find it slightly suspect that news stories about weed never fail to include pornographically filmed close-up shots of cured marijuana

Admittedly, I think we should be getting taxes on cocaine, heroin, and all the other hard drugs as well. The problems of drug addiction will be there anyway, and we should stop giving murderous criminals and terrorists total control of the blue chips to end all blue chips. We could pacify Afghanistan and build up their economy with the one industry they’ve proven any good at, cement South and Central America’s current path of stabilization, and decimate terrorist financing worldwide. Still, the conspicuous ravages of hard drugs make for a harder fight, and we should start with the only popular drug that doesn’t destroy lives (okay, maybe it ruins one here and there). The government is beating itself up trying to fight the deficit by increasing existing taxes. If our elected officials could simply see past their misguided quest for public morality , they could stop throwing away an untapped source of tax revenue that our country so desperately needs.

From United States Correspondent Gibbs Burke…

From the country that gave you parking on a driveway and driving on a parkway, The United States of America now brings you the most backwards political system – “American Democracy.”

Sure the thought of having, “Governments… instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” (Declaration of Independence) seems like a logical and fair system. But what happens when the system looses its grip on reality? The reality is that the U.S. is currently in the worst depression in its history, unemployment is at a peak, and yet the Government has done absolutely nothing.

Yes, we have had the stimulus package that helped save a possibly even greater financial problem. But when nothing is getting done, and every other week the Legislative branch seems to be on vacation, the people see a government that isn’t working. So how has America lost faith in itself? Why do we feel our Government is all just smoke and mirrors? The blame doesn’t simply fall on the officials themselves, the responsibility falls on us, the American peolpe, as well.

How would like a job where you got a 2% raise every year? What about if you were allowed to make rules that didn’t apply to you? Well my fellow Americans - I give you the United States Legislative branch.

That’s right Congressional members get a 2% raise every year and the kicker is, they don’t even vote on it. The sheer aspect of not voting means they get their raise. Congressmen can retire receiving their salary for life after only one term of service, and they don’t even pay into social security. Many of the laws to which Americans citizens are subject, members of Congress are not; some of which include sexual harassment or the recently passed Health Care Bill.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote, “that all men are created equal” apparently there was a footnote that American Politicians are created greater. These are not just some rants from a man in a straight jacket. The above mentioned information is FACT.

We the people need to look deeper into the way our government works. We need to realize we must elect people willing to change the status quo. The way the system works is not because of the men in those positions, but rather the result of the people that put those men there. “We the people…” are the biggest and greatest utensils for change, and the responsibility lies with us to make these changes.

From Gibbs Burke…

1)      $977,346

2)      1 Full-time Job Created

3)      Support via text 24/7

4)      Connect with others quitting

5)      Options to help prevent relapse

So the people who can actually afford to pay $9.00 a pack in this economy are finally reaping the benefits. Gone are the days of Marlboro Rewards or Camel Cash – usher in the new era of government paid smoking rewards. And for the countless number of Americans who remain jobless, there is the hope of landing the single job the program provides.  And let’s not forget to mention that the addiction to what many call Crackberries is thought to be even stronger than that to cigarettes.

For those of you trying to do the math in your head, here are some facts you might want to know before you decide:

1)      The average cost of a Blackberry® is around $400. This cost is drastically reduced when purchased with a cell phone plan.

2)      Due to the PDA nature of Blackberry’s®, all major Cell-Phone companies require the purchase of a data plan on-top of their voice plans. Cost – $30.

3)      Research in Motion (RIM) charges an additional cost to connect to there Blackberry® enterprise network.

Here are some further details to think about: (Be aware that these estimates are assuming that the government doesn’t pay for the phone service, but just provides the actual phone. It would cost exuberant amounts more to provide service.) 

1)      At the cost of retail pricing, the American government would be able to buy 2,443 Blackberries® with the 1 million dollars allocated for the program. At the average $30 a month data cost for the phone. Major cell phone companies would be making $73,300 a month just on data plans alone. This equates to about $880,000 a year on just the data plan, without inclusion of the voice plan necessary with the phone. This does not include the Money RIM would get from the additional users of there Blackberry® who subscribe to their services. ( Data from http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/10/technology/cell_phone_bill/)

 

2)      With the average start-up cost for a Small business being $10,000 to $15,000. With the money allocated for this program you could have started approximately 80 new Small Businesses. ( Data from http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/17/smbusiness/wells_fargo_study/index.htm) Eighty new businesses have the potential to not only stimulate the economy, but also provide jobs for the countless unemployed.

 I have only one question, (beyond how the hell this plan was ever approved) a question that rolls around my head every time something like this comes up in legislation.

Why do we, the taxpayers have to pay for such a program?

I understand people have addictions; I understand that sometimes these addictions are harmful and negative to ones health or lifestyle; I understand a majority of the time their choices not only affect them, but the people around them. But why must I pay for their choices? Reducing the overwhelming health care costs brought on by smoking is understandable, but where do we draw the line? Should I have to pay for the person who orders the double bacon cheese burger the day after getting out of the hospital for bypass surgery, in the name of a healthy society?

More specifically, the attack on cigarettes is like beating a dead horse. We have already done all we can to regulate and tax them. The 90’s saw the ban against cigarette advertisement, as Joe Cool, The Marlboro Man, and the Kool commercials disappeared from our TV screens. Heavy taxes came next, trying to force people to stop via economic means. Despite their efforts cigarettes, are as much engraved into the American cultural as is alcohol. Smokers will smoke – end of story.

And what’s next? When we finally exacerbate all the issues associated with smoking, will a new study appear showing the cost of drunk driving crashes, and there effect on healthcare costs? What’s next? Iphone for Drunks, with a beer application to give the illusion of drinking a beer?

But for all those users of illegal drugs, there looks to be no recovery help for you. I don’t foresee a “Palms® for Potheads”, an “LGs® for LSD”, or “Motorola® for Meth” anytime in the near future. You’vebeen and don’t deserve a PDA.

In the end, instead of providing jobs to all those people who would be willing to get paid to help addicted people, the government has decided to just give out free gifts. Now, instead of asking your friend in person if he wants to go for a smoke, you can send him a multimedia message with a picture of a pack of cigarettes on your new Blackberry® to let him know you need a cig.

Thanks for putting my government’s money to good use. Text-um if you got-um.

It’s become fashionable over the last few decades for Republicans, and otherwise conservatives, to proclaim that Big Government is unnecessary, a waste of taxpayers’ money, and generally bad – President Obama’s release of the FY2011 Budget was no exception to such cries of foul against the spending of money by the federal government; however, those who proclaim government spending to have such attributes have missed the central point that such spending is not only not evil, but necessary.

While it may be understandable that significant protests will rise out of announcing a federal budget for a year that numbers in the trillions of dollars in the midst of the Great Recession and record deficit spending, those with complaints should not only remember that President Obama inherited many of the reasons to spend such exorbitant amounts, but that federal spending is the tool that has kept America moving forward.  More importantly, federal financial support is the sword that many Republicans/conservatives have fallen upon by proclaiming its evil and then accepting, or even demanding, kickbacks as motivation to pass legislation – Senator Ben Nelson’s recent healthcare reform behavior is a prime example.

Federal spending is what launched American astronauts to the Moon, saw the success of World Wars I and II, built the national highway/interstate system, partially funds the ever-popular Medicare and Social Security programs, subsidizes public education, defends the nation, finances longterm scientific research programs, and considerably more – the federal government is arguably responsible for America being one of the leaders of the world in technology and innovation, as well as allowing the nation to remain a singular entity.  For those that believe the intervention, or simple existence, of the federal government is intrusive and unnecessary, a question looms large:  would America still be an independent entity encompassing the majority of a continent as a federation of states into a large nation?  Or would states have long ago imposed their own border restrictions, broken from the union, or been conquered by other nations?  The latter is the likely answer, especially during the earlier years of republic.

NASA has received a budget expansion, so long as the Constellation and its associated endeavors program is terminated, and this has caused an outcry from Congress on both sides of the ideological dividing line – especially from those representing states with substantial interest in the funding of space, irrespective of the definition of “expansion”.  Many of these selfsame Congressmen are those that eschew government spending and federal involvement in a state’s business, in which there is substantial irony, or, perhaps, a revelation of corruption and two-faced behavior.

It is absolutely necessary for the federal government to spend money on a large scale, lest they lose control and let the United States degenerate into a chaotic mishmash of nation-states that have no interest in each other.  In an era where states are essentially broke and choose to cut funding to education and other important programs, rather than pet projects or their own salaries, federal intervention is more important than ever, and the Obama Administration realizes this.

The most important point, however, is that federal spending is managed intelligently and delivered on an as-needed basis – there is no room, both now or in the future, for wasteful spending and pet projects that should be funded by other means, including the military industrial complex.  For the nation to climb out of the massive hole of debt, taxes must be raised on those that can afford it, such as investment bankers, and spending must be trimmed to the minimum amount necessary to continue to exist as a nation and advance its interests.  The cycle of tax cuts, corporate loopholes, and increasing debt must be stopped before it’s too late, but not at the expense of the people, their health, their livelihood, or their safety – Big Government is absolutely necessary, but it must be guided by individuals with the requisite knowledge to steer it in the proper direction.

From Kyle Brady…

Kyle can be found on his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

From David Anthony Hohol…

One of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s most enduring television comedies, “This Hour has 22 Minutes” gained headlines recently, when given a quote by the Republic Party porfessoinal celebrity Sarah Palin. Palin, who’s quickly become one of the most famous politicians on the planet, was approached by CBC comedian Mary Walsh while playing her beloved character Marg Delahunty.

At a book signing in Ohio for Palin’s new memoir “Going Rogue,” Walsh did a little gonzo ambush Michael Moore style comedy.

“We told her we’re from Canada, and we’re just looking for a few words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so tirelessly to destroy the socialized medicare that we have. She told us to keep the faith, something like that, and said we’re all trying for the same thing,” Walsh said.

Palin refused to take questions during the book signing, in and of itself a bizarre move.

Walsh was then forcefully removed from the book signing. Undeterred, she remained outside and in character near Sarah Palin’s bus. When Palin emerged from the bookstore she said, “Hey, remember us, we’re the Canadians! We came all the way here from Canada! When we asked you that question, we didn’t hear your answer.”

Unexpectedly, Palin walked over to Walsh and looking through an iron barred fence from atop the loading dock in back of the store said, “Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.”

For all of Canada’s health care issues, and there are plenty to discuss, at least there aren’t millions of people dying every year because they are refused the care they need to simply stay alive. This happens in the United States, year in and year out, in exchange for a lower taxed populace and more profit for the aforementioned private sector. The socialized medical coverage in countries like Canada, France and the UK, however, is not welcome by many Americans. At their core, those who oppose such a system feel no responsibility to look out for all, but only themselves.

“It was great fun, but also very strange. We’re in a bookstore, at a public event, in a place one would think was a bastion of free speech. And no one was allowed to ask questions. What are they afraid of?” Walsh later asked.

Most likely, Palin’s handlers want her on a firm leash at all times. They know full well she needs to be rehearsed and prepped at all times, so as not to repeat the many gaffes she’s carried out in the past. She has no real policies and rarely takes a firm stand on anything, only going rogue with off the cuff statements that reveal her extreme limitations as a lawmaker of any kind. For the former beauty queen, however, her folksy humor and down home realness is her ultimate weapon. She is the most significant politician of insignificance to come along in years and despite being what many refer to as incapable, she has legions of followers. A run in 2012 is likely, a victory within her own a party… who knows? If not, maybe afterwards she’ll immigrate to Canada.