Chicago's Public Schools: Stuck on Stupid

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Public
Schools' central office can't hack their way out of being
stuck on stupid with newly draconian, illogically-stultifying
cuts and proposals to the public schools.  According to
Art Golab at the Chicago Sun-Times (06/21/'13), students
at  much-touted Whitney Young will be paying an "extra"
$500 next year if they want to take a seventh period class.
(-?) What does "extra" mean? Aren't the public schools
free education, attendance mandated by law?

The other outrage, perhaps more serious, is the reduction
in  Reading, English,  Physical Education, Technology
programs, and outright elimination of Art classes at Burley
Elementary, a top-scoring school.  (More schools will
be following suit shortly.)  So what will we be
producing here in the future? Young people who know
nothing about where they came from, who express
themselves ever more egregiously erroneously than
Americans currently do, bank on it.

Then there's the Republic, which is becoming more
primitive and uncivilized by the week. We seem to
be sliding back to evil old days, and only a relative
few are rising to protest such sad phenomena...
more schooling on diverse subjects is vital, NOT
optional.

But drunk with power, stupidity and ego as these
Chicago "higher-ups" now are, I don't see a swift
solution, except to ensure Emanuel's term of office
in  the singular...

Let's make Rahm run away after one term;  let's
not stay stuck on stupid.

Still An Uncivilized Earth: Rapes, Other Outrages Occur Worldwide

Here at home, in our military around the world, in the Middle
East, everywhere else as well: where there is no respect for
women or children, where racism and class status hold
dominant sway, where human and animal lives are held
cheaply--how can these practices be part of any "civilization"?
If by that term you mean the web, pretty architecture, arts and
sewer systems, I'll grant you, those exist. But those organizing
and culturally-assuaging accomplishments don't, sadly, create
true civilization, meaning, that higher thing, where meaningful
dialog, peace and respect rule worldwide.

So far, there has been no civilization...only certain civilized
INDIVIDUALS and  small communities of kindred
spirits here and there over the past 10,000 years of Earth's
human history....

Earthlings, evolve soon, or the destruction of life on this
planet happens sooner than even the climatologists' crystal
ball  prognosticates.

Accord Accorti No Mercy--Call the North Ridgeville Ohio Police...

clog up their phone lines, demand this cruel criminal be fired.
Why did this "peace" officer shoot a litter of eight week-old
kittens to death in front of a horrified Ohio mother and her
CHILDREN? Even worse, he has been cleared of the charges,
returned to work. What is going on in North Ridgeville? It is
time to look into this little nook of iniquity. I think I'll find out who
the U.S. House Rep is from that congressional district, call
him/her, and yes--

I intend to make a federal case out of this--

WATCH MY SMOKE.

NSA Leaker Ed Snowden: Not Quite Bright Enough

A young and "bright" boy, 29, formerly of the NSA and CIA,
has exposed just how broad and deep a sweep domestic
surveillance has become since 911 and the success of the Patriot
Acts,  both versions. According to various press reports, his
reasoning and concern for the public's privacy privileges
(read: rights) seemed spot on--until you get a load of where he
escaped to...Hong Kong, a huge CHINESE metropolis. (-!?)

So this disenchanted U.S. citizen, presumably well-informed,
well-studied, well-read, picks China, still a firm bastion
of mind and action control of the populace. Tianenmen Square
may be their most striking recent example of repression and bad
behavior, but there are other, smaller ones since then ( such as
sending the U.S. bug-infested lumber and lead-infested cat
food, etc.). Internet control is a stellar instance of this; I just hope
Chinese intellectual activists haven't thrown out all their old fax
machines, a technology which greatly aided in ending the Cold War.

To top it off, he grandiloquently pronounces that he selected
Hong Kong as a semi-autonomous entity interested in a free press
tolerant of dissent. We'll see...I think this wunderkind didn't really
research all the ramifications to himself and/or others. He
couldn't WAIT to take "credit" before reaching his final safe haven.
(Just another American proving true maturity mostly eludes us
until after 30.)

But maybe Snowden can successfully escape further to Iceland,
his real relocation destination, which he shrewdly revealed to the
press...

That is, if Iceland actually allows this little claim-to-famer into
their space.

San Onofre Shutdown: Singing a New Song's Congratulations

"SONGS" (San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station) is shuttering,
tremendously terrific news for the surrounding environment,
people and animals within the 75+ mile ingestion pathway. But
nuclear reactor Units 2 and 3 won't begin the process for at least
three more months, as the fuel rods must be agonizingly slowly
removed first. Ted Craver, Edison International Chief Executive,
reminds us "...that full decommissioning of the site is...a multi-
decade process." Unit 1 has been shut down since 1992; the
entire nuclear park at San Onofre (near San Diego, off the Pacific)
will eventually close.

What is that area's long-term future? Can it be brought back to
"Greenfield" status? Will the utility use the SAFESTOR method
or a more immediate removal plan? These extremely important
questions have yet to be decided/answered.  I vote for the
most rigorous safety standards objective nuclear engineers can
devise. [People swim near there, apparently. (-!)]

Meanwhile, several other reactors' operators have decided to
close down here in the U.S., to say nothing of Germany's
ambitious anti-nuke plans. For those of  us in the anti-nuke
camp, all these developments are congratulations-worthy.
But alas, we need to look closer: the thorium front and new
nukes folks have been gaining ground.

Even though former NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko opposed
these new nuke projects in the USA's southeast, citing no new
nuke significant safety plans post Fukushima ("311"), he was
outvoted by the other four NRC "deciders" (February 2012).
These new plants are the first to be granted operating licenses
since 1978, the year before the Three Mile Island 40% core
melt disaster. 

Good golly, Miss Molly, I find more sense in a Chinese fortune
cookie: "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."  Regarding
nuclear power technology disaster and/or operations planning
(forecasting scenarios), the "worst" is almost never thought of,
here at home, Japan or elsewhere.

For now, we'll celebrate the safety positives where we find them:
"Gone, gone, 'SONGS' soon will be gone...."

Springfield, IL: Lack of Conscience Made Cowards of Them All

...to paraphrase William Shakespeare. The Illinois Legislature,
widely assumed to be battling into the last wee hours instead
chose to leave early on the Spring Session's last day, without
casting a single vote on contentious pension reform or gay
marriage. --2014 Illinois elections, anyone? Thus hath ambition
made cowards of them all, almost, with a huge dollop of lack
of conscience thrown in.

Really, will such a blatantly selfish move guarantee re-election
to Springfield next year? I have to believe SOME IL Legislative
Districts have a more informed and active populace than that.
But they were required to implement some form of federally-
mandated Conceal and Carry, despite its being a horrible idea
for any in the U.S.--so, at the point of a gun, figuratively, they
reacted and enacted.

Perhaps D.C. could enact some strictures of its own-not allowing
the "several states" elected to leave for home with their tails
between their legs if vitally important bills (those with sweeping
implications for millions) are left on the table.

If apathy will JUST die a speedy death, dreaming gives way
to intelligent, practical action, well, there's some hope for
Illinois escaping third world realities. But banking on such
an evolution WILL just hurt your heart.