The US is considered by the world's people to have the worst impact on the world among all countries other than Iran and Israel--who were ranked number one and two respectively in a recent international poll conducted by Time magazine. No longer a beacon of freedom and democracy, we're seen as an aggressive hegemon in the minds of most humans. Incidentally, Canada, our frigid neighbor to the north, has claimed the title of country believed to have the most positive impact on the world.
I don't suppose that this has anything to do with the fact that we are still one and three-fourths years away from the election and already the front runners are clearly established and settled in for long campaigns. Apparently the rest of the world isn't alone in getting excited about the possibility of a new administration--Americans are chomping at the bit to vote for a replacement for George II.
Hillary has the lead among Democrats, but against Giuliani she's not holding up well--she'd lose by five points if the two went head to head right now. Obama, who is still behind in his own campaign for just the Democratic nomination, is doing better among moderates and is surprisingly neck and neck with Guiliani in the general election. Obama seems to be capturing the middle--interesting considering that his voting record is as liberal as it gets. He has charisma though. As a former college debater, I love to hear the man speak.
I can't get Modest Mouse's new song out of my head. "Dashboard" I think gives a fantastic new direction for a band that continues to surprise me after ten years on my radar. I think this song is comparable (not in style, but in quality) to classic Modest Mouse tracks like "The Third Planet" and "Polar Opposites".
JC
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Global Warming, Denial, and a book called Letter from Tomorrow
I remember sitting in a college composition class (I teach college composition now) and trying to decide on a topic for my persuasive paper. Being a gen-x child of the nineties, I wanted to write about the legalization of marijuana; but my teacher told me she refused to ever read another paper about abortion or marijuana, because it just came down to individual belief. Of course that was before I'd ready any post-modernism and realized that everything in life comes down to personal beliefs, but still I felt compelled to find a way around her dictum.
My solution was to research deforestation--I figured that if we started using hemp for paper we could reduce deforestation. Little did I know that reason would never allow me to read extensively about our environment and escape discovering the real environmental issue that faces us in the twenty-first century. Back then hardly anyone had ever even heard of global warming, and those who had thought that it was caused by the hole in the ozone (if you still think this, please do some research--they are two separate issues). But the more I read the more I realized that this was going to be the single most important problem for the people of the twenty-first century.
I wrote my college composition paper on global warming, and I included a lot of that evidence in Letter from Tomorrow. The fact that now, just over a decade later, scientists have reached a near consensus that the effects of global warming are readily apparent in the arctic and antarctic is a surprise--I thought then that it would be around fifty years before hard data began to come in. But the reality of fossil-fuel induced warming is not a surprise to anyone who has spent any time reading actual scientific work rather than the idiocy that comes out of the internet media.
Back then I thought that one of the most difficult things about writing the book Letter from Tomorrow would be convincing people that global warming is an important issue. Now I feel that the scientific evidence is out and anyone who reads my book will find that the predictions Sharanrala makes are on their way to becoming fact. So why is it that the number three most popular video on google video is "The Great Global Warming Swindle"? Who is swindling who? Which is more likely--that oil and coal companies are feeding us a bunch of propoganda with this video so that they can continue ripping us off, or that our non-profit-motivated scientists studying the issue in depth and having reached near consensus are trying to "swindle" us?
JC
My solution was to research deforestation--I figured that if we started using hemp for paper we could reduce deforestation. Little did I know that reason would never allow me to read extensively about our environment and escape discovering the real environmental issue that faces us in the twenty-first century. Back then hardly anyone had ever even heard of global warming, and those who had thought that it was caused by the hole in the ozone (if you still think this, please do some research--they are two separate issues). But the more I read the more I realized that this was going to be the single most important problem for the people of the twenty-first century.
I wrote my college composition paper on global warming, and I included a lot of that evidence in Letter from Tomorrow. The fact that now, just over a decade later, scientists have reached a near consensus that the effects of global warming are readily apparent in the arctic and antarctic is a surprise--I thought then that it would be around fifty years before hard data began to come in. But the reality of fossil-fuel induced warming is not a surprise to anyone who has spent any time reading actual scientific work rather than the idiocy that comes out of the internet media.
Back then I thought that one of the most difficult things about writing the book Letter from Tomorrow would be convincing people that global warming is an important issue. Now I feel that the scientific evidence is out and anyone who reads my book will find that the predictions Sharanrala makes are on their way to becoming fact. So why is it that the number three most popular video on google video is "The Great Global Warming Swindle"? Who is swindling who? Which is more likely--that oil and coal companies are feeding us a bunch of propoganda with this video so that they can continue ripping us off, or that our non-profit-motivated scientists studying the issue in depth and having reached near consensus are trying to "swindle" us?
JC
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Fort Collins, Democrats, Overpopulation, and the Denver Broncos
George Bush
Any of the candidates that are now in the running would be better than this man. Right now I'm pulling for Barack Obama, but I have serious doubts about his electability nationally. I would vote for Giuliani before Hillary, though it would be nice to get Slick Willy back in the white house as first . . . gentleman. He could focus more on the interns and the diplomacy and use some of his famous charisma. As a fringe benefit, of course, he could resume being the most powerful (sorry Hillary) man in the world instead of being so bogged down in actual policy-making decisions like he was during the greatest decade in history.
Iraq
Three peoples forced into a unity that doesn't make sense by the British after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The only solution is to explain that the use of the word "peoples" in the previous sentence is perfectly accurate under the rules of standard English, and that the Iraqi people are not one people. They are clearly three separate entities who need a central ruling government to facilitate the transfer of oil resources that must take place between the Sunni and Shi'ite (Shea) in order to create a lasting peace. The Kurds have already created a de facto Kurdistan, and the exodus of Turkish Kurds has not only been less dramatic than previously imagined, but even the Turkish government is beginning to see that those Kurds who do not leave Turkey will not clamor for their own nation--they will either emigrate to Kurdistan or quietly continue to live as Turkish citizens. The only workable plan on the table is to partition Iraq into three nearly-independent states and maintain only a peace-keeping force to protect the Kurds and to monitor the transfer of oil revenues between Sunni and Shea.
Education
I'm an actual teacher. I mean, seriously. I teach ninth and tenth grade English every school day in Loveland, Colorado. So what do I know about education? Here in the United States we have the worst public schools in the industrialized world and the best universities in the world. How long can we maintain the latter if we cannot account for the former? I believe in the power of education; which is why I worry so much about America's future.
No Child Left Behind is forcing schools to find ways of bringing up their standardized test scores. Obviously, any student who is not enrolled at your school doesn't count against your test score. So why is the national drop out rate close to 40% according to some estimates? Why are schools increasingly pushing kids out? Now, as a teacher I believe that students who are violently aggressive, or outrageously disruptive, and who aren't taking the basic steps to learn don't belong in a classroom with students who are trying to get an education. But why do we keep calling it No Child Left Behind? The policy is to expel or allow students to drop out in order to raise scores on standardized tests in an attempt to reach an impossible goal of "100% proficiency" by the year 2014.
I believe that raising the bar is a good thing for America's schools. But not every kid is cut out for studying Shakespeare, advanced Biology, and Calculus. One of the biggest flaws in education in the United States is that we provide only one style of education--an outmoded model that doesn't account for the specialization of modern society. The world leaders in education (Japan and Germany) carefully and purposefully track their students from a very young age, so that they take classes and subjects suited to their ability level and interests, not just their age. Yes, let's push the kids who want to reach the top and help them compete in the new global economy; but let's not forget about the kids who are dropping out but could still get an education and work an honest, well-paying job--if we give them that opportunity in a setting a little bit different from a traditional high school.
The Denver Broncos
I have been a fan since before I was born. Sports in general only interest me in a peripheral way--I keep track of the Nugget's games and Tiger Wood's records in the newspaper, but I watch every single snap of every Broncos game. I must make it clear to anyone who wants to contact me about the Chiefs or the R------ that I am not an NFL fan. I am a Broncos fan first, an AFC fan second, and a football fan as a result. And John Elway is the greatest athlete ever to wear a Broncos uniform. His place in the ultimate standings is irrelevant--the best player ever on the greatest team in sports is good enough for me.
Fort Collins
I love this town. Best place to live, anywhere, ever.
JC Clarke
Any of the candidates that are now in the running would be better than this man. Right now I'm pulling for Barack Obama, but I have serious doubts about his electability nationally. I would vote for Giuliani before Hillary, though it would be nice to get Slick Willy back in the white house as first . . . gentleman. He could focus more on the interns and the diplomacy and use some of his famous charisma. As a fringe benefit, of course, he could resume being the most powerful (sorry Hillary) man in the world instead of being so bogged down in actual policy-making decisions like he was during the greatest decade in history.
Iraq
Three peoples forced into a unity that doesn't make sense by the British after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The only solution is to explain that the use of the word "peoples" in the previous sentence is perfectly accurate under the rules of standard English, and that the Iraqi people are not one people. They are clearly three separate entities who need a central ruling government to facilitate the transfer of oil resources that must take place between the Sunni and Shi'ite (Shea) in order to create a lasting peace. The Kurds have already created a de facto Kurdistan, and the exodus of Turkish Kurds has not only been less dramatic than previously imagined, but even the Turkish government is beginning to see that those Kurds who do not leave Turkey will not clamor for their own nation--they will either emigrate to Kurdistan or quietly continue to live as Turkish citizens. The only workable plan on the table is to partition Iraq into three nearly-independent states and maintain only a peace-keeping force to protect the Kurds and to monitor the transfer of oil revenues between Sunni and Shea.
Education
I'm an actual teacher. I mean, seriously. I teach ninth and tenth grade English every school day in Loveland, Colorado. So what do I know about education? Here in the United States we have the worst public schools in the industrialized world and the best universities in the world. How long can we maintain the latter if we cannot account for the former? I believe in the power of education; which is why I worry so much about America's future.
No Child Left Behind is forcing schools to find ways of bringing up their standardized test scores. Obviously, any student who is not enrolled at your school doesn't count against your test score. So why is the national drop out rate close to 40% according to some estimates? Why are schools increasingly pushing kids out? Now, as a teacher I believe that students who are violently aggressive, or outrageously disruptive, and who aren't taking the basic steps to learn don't belong in a classroom with students who are trying to get an education. But why do we keep calling it No Child Left Behind? The policy is to expel or allow students to drop out in order to raise scores on standardized tests in an attempt to reach an impossible goal of "100% proficiency" by the year 2014.
I believe that raising the bar is a good thing for America's schools. But not every kid is cut out for studying Shakespeare, advanced Biology, and Calculus. One of the biggest flaws in education in the United States is that we provide only one style of education--an outmoded model that doesn't account for the specialization of modern society. The world leaders in education (Japan and Germany) carefully and purposefully track their students from a very young age, so that they take classes and subjects suited to their ability level and interests, not just their age. Yes, let's push the kids who want to reach the top and help them compete in the new global economy; but let's not forget about the kids who are dropping out but could still get an education and work an honest, well-paying job--if we give them that opportunity in a setting a little bit different from a traditional high school.
The Denver Broncos
I have been a fan since before I was born. Sports in general only interest me in a peripheral way--I keep track of the Nugget's games and Tiger Wood's records in the newspaper, but I watch every single snap of every Broncos game. I must make it clear to anyone who wants to contact me about the Chiefs or the R------ that I am not an NFL fan. I am a Broncos fan first, an AFC fan second, and a football fan as a result. And John Elway is the greatest athlete ever to wear a Broncos uniform. His place in the ultimate standings is irrelevant--the best player ever on the greatest team in sports is good enough for me.
Fort Collins
I love this town. Best place to live, anywhere, ever.
JC Clarke
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