A War of Two Worlds – Part 1

Measuring the effectiveness of Op-Ed Articles

In this, Part I of a three part article, the author presents a new method to evaluate the potential effectiveness of Op Ed or other expository writings. Part 2 considers the barriers faced by activists as they attempt to influence citizen motivation to participate in the political process. Part 3 looks at the targets of policy change, the Politicians, and the potential for changing their behavior.

Using Cross Tabulation

In this article, I introduce the essential statistics necessary for viewers of cross tabulation tables to obtain the power that these tables offer.

New Fndings about the location of Sarcasm

There was nothing very interesting in Katherine P. Rankin’s study of sarcasm — at least, nothing worth your important time. All she did was use an M.R.I. to find the place in the brain where the ability to detect sarcasm resides. But then, you probably already knew it was in the right parahippocampal gyrus.

Katherine P. Rankin, a Neuropsychologist, Studies Sarcasm - NYTimes.com

Habeas Ruling Lays Bare the Divide Among Justices - washingtonpost.com

Habeas Ruling Lays Bare the Divide Among Justices - washingtonpost.com:
"The Supreme Court's decision that detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have a right to challenge their imprisonment before a judge revealed in vivid detail the justices' deep divide over the role of the judiciary in wartime."

How Your Brain Makes Political Decisions - Newsweek Sharon Begley - MSNBC.com

How Your Brain Makes Political Decisions - Newsweek Sharon Begley - MSNBC.com
Ever wonder why fear-mongering seems to work so well at the polls—while appeals to reason often leave the electorate cold? A new book applies neuroscience to politics to figure out why the Democrats struggle to push the buttons in voters’ brains.

Exploring the neurochemistry of fairness

Using the Ultimatum Game (UG) investigators demonstrate the effect of seritonin on the perception of fairness
Exploring the neurochemistry of fairness

American Democracy: The 10 Alarm Fire We're Ignoring

American Democracy: The 10 Alarm Fire We're Ignoring

A Nation at Growing Educational Risk

In this collection of articles, I present a frightening view of the current state of American Education:

A Nation Still at Educational Risk

Political Prediction Markets

In this article, I compare Political Prediction Markets with traditional polling, setting forth the many advantages of the former.

Thr Meaning of America

It is not that often that I find articles which are so compelling that they demand to be included in my blog -- but this is just such a piece. Read this thoughtful analysis of the impact of our government's willingness to torture, with comments which rise to the level of the original piece:

The Meaning of America

Time for you to get your Money!

The Hidden Rip-off

Hundreds of thousands of computer workers, throughout the country are being denied a big chunk of the wages they have earned. How? These workers have been improperly classified as “Salaried - Exempt Employees.” Any employee so classified, receives a fixed annual salary. Every paycheck will be exactly the same, no matter how many hours the employee worked each week.

That classification saves employers millions of dollars a year, by the simple trick of not paying overtime wages. Whether out of ignorance, or deliberate intent, many companies automatically assign this category to all employees who are classified as “Computer Workers.”

Sorry, employers. It’s not up to you. Instead, both Federal and State Law sets forth the conditions by which employees may be classified as Exempt Workers. By far, most computer workers are mandated to be classified as “Salaried – Non exempt.” That means they are required to be paid the following

1.5 times their calculated hourly rate (annual salary/2080) for each hour beyond 8 hours in each day worked, or each hour exceeding 40 hours in a week.

2.0 times their calculated hourly rate for each hour beyond 12 worked in a single day.

Salaried Non-Exempt personnel must also be paid for two fifteen-minute rest breaks within each eight hour period worked.

2.0 times their calculated hourly rate for each hour worked on a legal holiday.

What Qualifications Must the Employer Meet to Assign Exempt Status?

As of September 2000, California recognizes an hourly computer professional exemption for certain employees in the computer software field. A computer software field employee is exempt from overtime pay if all of the following requirements are met:

1. The employee is primarily engaged in work that is intellectual or creative and that requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment; AND
2. The employee is primarily engaged (spends more than half his or her time) in duties that consist of one or more of the following:
1. The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures including consulting with users to determine hardware, software, or system specifications.
2. The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications.
3. The documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs related to the design of software or hardware for computer operating systems. AND
3. The employee is highly skilled and proficient in the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized information to computer systems analysis, programming, and software engineering; (Job title not determinative) AND
4. The employee's hourly rate of pay is not less than $45.84 per hour for every hour worked.

If the employer cannot show all of the above, the employee is non-exempt and entitled to overtime pay and other benefits. Such employees can recover wages going back three years (and in some cases four years) from the date a complaint is filed, but only up to those wages earned since September 2000.

If you are working as a computer worker for a company, you don’t need a law degree to determine whether you should be qualified as a Salary Exempt worker. First, let’s determine whether you are, indeed in that category generally qualifying for the classification, “Computer Worker.” Here is a list of titles and tasks which will be instantly suspect, if classified Exempt:

· Computer Technicians

· Software Engineer

· Customer Training Consultants

· System Administrator

· Graphic Designers
Software Testers

· Hardware Testers

· Debuggers

· Coders

· Engineers, Administrators, Analysts Employed by any of the Gaming Industry employers

· Systems Analysts

· Programmers

· Tech-Support

· Computer Hardware and Software Installers

· Computer Operators

· Desktop Services

· Configuring Employees

· Bug Fixing Employees

· High Tech Employees, Computer Professionals who do not require and advanced degree beyond a B.S. or B.A.

· Information Technology (Regardless of Title)

· Trainees or entry-level employees (Technicians to Programmers)

· Employees in computer-related occupations who have not attained the skill and expertise necessary to work independently and without close supervision

· Employees who are engaged in operation of computers or in the manufacture, repair, or maintenance of computer hardware and related equipment

· Engineers, drafters, machinists, or other professions whose work is highly dependent upon or facilitated by the use of computers and computer-aided design software, including CAD/CAM, but who are not in a computer systems analysis or programming occupation

· Employees who write material related to computers for print or on-screen media or who write or provide content for computer related media such as the World Wide Web or CD-ROMS)

· Employees who create imagery for effects used in the motion picture, television, or theatrical industry

· Employees engaged primarily in technical support and client support

But if you have any doubts, go back to item 4. If your annual salary is less than $95,000 per year, and have one of these titles, or do these tasks, you are probably qualified to be classified as Salary Non Exempt, entitled to overtime wages, now, in the future, and for three or four years in the past.

So, How do you Collect?

You are not going to do it simply by complaining to your employer. Employers tend to have corporate personalities much like that of George Bush. They are the “Deciders,” especially, when you tell them something they don’t want to hear.

Unless you have kept very accurate records of your overtime hours, the employer can simply brush off your complaint, by saying you have no proof that you have worked these hours. Having classified you as a Salary Exempt worker, the employer has no obligation to track your hours, as it does when you are Salary Non-Exempt. You have the burden of proof that you indeed did work the claimed overtime.

Also, unless you have been laid off already, in an age where firings and layoffs are rampant, lodging a complaint is a quick way to hear, “Don’t let the door hit your butt as you leave.”

What it all comes down to is that it is far more difficult to take on the company as an individual, than as a group. Having successfully done so, I can tell you that it is a lot of work, a lot of frustration, and a lot of time spent waiting. If you wish to pursue that route, in California, your next step is the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). There will be similar departments in each of the remaining states, but the law will vary. California is largely seen as among the most employee friendly states with respect t this issue.

The Class Action Lawsuit

The Class Action lawsuit is to the 21^st Century knowledge worker what the labor union was to the 20^th Century blue collar worker. It requires group action by a large number of workers within a company taking concerted action to collect the overtime wages. Someone has to start the ball rolling by collecting the names of all computer workers within the company.

Once you have made the decision to explore the possibilities for a class action, that is the time for you to consult with an attorney specializing in this just this kind of action. This group of workers comes to be called the Class. One of few barriers to this kind of action is that you have to have a substantial number of individuals composing the Class, in order to make it worthwhile for an attorney to spend the time and money necessary to pursue this action. I am told that having at least one hundred in the class is a good starting number. (This is why I was forced to use the DLSE route. I took my action after being laid off, and no longer had access to my many co-workers, so had to resort to an individual action.)

Word of mouth is he best way to do this. Do not use company computers, company Blackberries, company cell phones, employee’s company email addresses, or the company IM. Instead, make your contacts personally, outside off company facilities, phone from home, use your personal email to the personal emails of others.

Your selected attorney will give you valuable advice on organizing and getting members of the class ready to pursue action. There are a whole number of advantages which may come very shortly after action begins.

1. Except for a named individual who represents the class, all others in the class are completely unknown to the employer.
2. All members of the class, including the named representative, are completely protected from any retaliation by the company. That may mean, that if you or other members of the class were to have been laid off, the company can quite possibly be stopped from taking this action, because it could easily be interpreted as retaliation – for which the penalties are very severe. Thus, if you know that layoffs are scheduled in the next several months, you might well use this as a mechanism to hold on to your current job while this action is in process.
3. But in the end, what are the monetary benefits you can expect to receive, should this action be successful?

a. All overtime wages due to you, for up to four years preceding the date of filing your claim

b. 10% Interest on these overtime wages

c. 30 days regular wages, as a “Waiting Time” Penalty against the employer, for having failed to pay your wages when they were due.

That’s about it. Know that the hardest part is getting yourself motivated to take action – All the rest is down hill.

When you are ready, contact this law firm. They are the ones I have used in the past, and I have been very pleased with the guidance they gave me.

Congress and the Return of the Body Snatchers

The behavior of members of the House and Senate is compared with the "Pod People," seen in the 1956 Sci-Fi Classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Proposed is the beginning of a solution.

Congress and the Return of the Body Snatchers

Could it be?

While by no means ready to abandon my previous position of a 9/11 conspiracy having a low probability of having originated with the Bush Administration, this article makes a compelling case for further investigation and review of the entire event.

Driving a stake in the heart of Conspiracy Theories

What makes conspiracy theories so tiresome is that they lead nowhere. While their construction may provide great pleasure to their authors, even in the unlikely event that they are accurate, because the alleged perpetrators are always presented as the mysterious ,”They,” there is no one to indict, take to trial, and convict.

In the seventy years since the “saucer” crashed in the New Mexico Desert, the little grey guys have yet to make a public appearance (except at costume parties and in motion pictures), so it seems safe to say that whether they exist or not has little consequence for most earthlings.

Think back to the JFK assassination. CIA? Mafia? Or maybe it was LBJ. (One report asserted he was seen chuckling over the Kennedy coffin as it was carried on Air Force One!) Among the most inspected historical events, none of the named suspects (and there were a lot of them) besides Oswald was ever convicted. There was, of course, prosecuting attorney Jim Garrison who took Clay Shaw, a shadowy underworld figure to trial in 1967. Charged with Conspiracy to kill the President, the Not Guilty verdict put an end to this effort, and incidentally to Garrison’s career.

Now we come to all of the extant theories, directed at explaining the 9/11 attack. There are enough holes here by which can be flown a hijacked jet. The first, if not the biggest hole, is the simple question of gain resulting from scenarios different from the official explanation. Suppose the twin towers were subject to the two plane crashes, but never collapsed. Would any of the national policies adopted by the Bush Administration have been different? All who were above the floors impacted by the plane would have died whether the buildings collapsed or not. Between impact and collapse, many in the floors below, escaped. Certainly more died from the collapses, but the marginal value of increased casualties, real, economic, and psychological is certainly elusive.

To posit that the Pentagon was impacted by something (missile, a different plane) other than Flight 77, seems even sillier. Whatever hit the building, the hole was there. More importantly, if it was not caused by Flight 77, where did the plane, crew and passengers go? The Bermuda Triangle, perhaps?

For every question conspiracy theories appear to an answer, more are instantly generated. If your inclination is to construct such explanations, no matter what the nature of the event you are trying to explain, there is a gauntlet of questions you must run before you can expect to gain credibility:

Keeping the Secret

When you are planning an event that is going to go down in the history books, it takes, you don’t accomplish it with two or three others; in an event as complex as seen with 9/11, a large number of individuals would have to know of, agree to, and participate in the preparation of the attacks. Moreover, there had to be coordination of timing of the events with the 19 terrorists. Enlisting training and coordinating the efforts of this diverse group of individuals, while keeping the whole thing a secret, boggles the mind considering the numbers, and the complexity of the tasks and the skill required of the conspiracy leaders.

The biggest question of all is simply this: With the large number of people required to successfully implement this conspiracy, how is it that not a single person has talked in the six years that has elapsed since the event?

Explosives Needed

Along with tens of people who assisted in the 9/11 attacks, there was a non-trivial collection of explosives needed, along with whatever weapon is alleged to have made the large hole in the Pentagon wall. Whatever that was, it had to be acquired from somewhere. Unless you want to assume that all forensic investigators from the FBI and the ATF are either a part of the plot, or painfully incompetent, evidence of explosive residue would have been found in the weeks and months following the attack. Nothing could possibly have better rescued the forever damaged reputation of the bungling FBI, than being able to announce that there were identifiable domestic participants in this terrible act.

Risk/Benefit

Whoever the mysterious leaders of this horrendous conspiracy, they had to have seen enormous value in adding to the destruction they already knew was coming. That value had to greatly outweigh the almost inexorable odds of getting caught. If you are going to spin the conspiracy story, you must, more than anything else, have to account for this difference in value and you must present a scenario by which the conspirators could have confidence that they would go undetected.

The Need for Alternative Explanations

Among all the issues related to the development of conspiracy theories, this one is for me, the most puzzling. Perhaps only the Kennedy assassination has received the attention of so many law enforcement agencies, and authors. Yes, there are always going to be some details which will escape total consistency, and will remain unanswered. The physical world in which we live contains uncertainties, anomalies, and unexplainable events. “Beyond a reasonable doubt,” means just that. There is always a possibility that the convicted criminal is in fact, not guilty. The stuff of which conspiracy theory is composed is a grey, foggy area of the just possible doubt. It is that tiny sliver of possibility between reasonable doubt and absolute certainty.

That sliver of the “just possible,” is simply not enough to propel us from proposal to action. No prosecutor has convened a Grand Jury to investigate these claims; there are no congressional investigations or hearings to give life to these fantasies. All that can be accomplished is to raise the anxiety level of the uninformed, and titillate the fantasies of the like-minded.

The only result from the publication of these fantasies is, frankly, negative. Our country is populated by a significant percentage of those who are at best, ignorant and gullible, and at worst, paranoid, in their readiness to accept some very bizarre and incredible explanations for events. When three Republican candidates for President express their outright disbelief in evolution, you know you are in trouble. The number of Americans who are convinced they have been subjects of alien abductions can be nothing less than frightening. How many individuals have had their identities stolen, directly resulting from the most rudimentary carelessness while online?

Dating back years before the availability of the Net, there still remains, in our culture, the apparently unshakeable belief that if something is in print, it has to be true. While reading of books has become a lost art, this same readiness to believe has transferred itself to the blogosphere. In a time when students and adults alike have great difficulty in discriminating between sense and nonsense, you do them no favor in publishing fantasy as truth.

What's wrong with American Education?

Along with the Iraq war, dealing with immigration, and health care, the poor performance of the institution of American Education is among the most severe of the problems seen facing the nation. Yet, depending on the source, the definition of our unease varies widely.

The definition of Educations failure comes in many forms, largely based on the source from which it originates. The victims (students) of course, have their own definition school is boring, useless, with its only value one of meeting friends and, for some, participating in sports. Try asking a kid what he learned in school today, and you will get the thousand mile stare, which quickly informs you of your membership in the group of those, intellectually challenged.

Parents have many complaints. If children are in their teens or older, they have changed from the compliant, respectful children so fondly remembered, to defiant, lying, empty-headed, drug-using, promiscuous brats. (Think Beaver Cleaver morphing into Damien). They are certain that it results from their kids heads being filled with all kinds of ideas that have no place in a traditional American home. Worse yet, if the parents are financially supporting a $25,000 a year college tuition to get these results.

Teachers look at their unmotivated, cheating, noisy classes, with occasional deadly violence thrown in, and either leave the profession, or stay, longing for the days when students were eager to learn, respectful, did their homework, and trembled at the threat of a parent conference or a failing grade.

Employers come closest to describing the problem as they bemoan the inability of employees to perform their jobs, their lack of productivity, motivation, and perhaps most of all, honesty and integrity. Remedial and on-the-job training have become the norm rather than the exception in the private sector. There no longer exists a ready pool of exceptional candidates for positions requiring knowledge, skill, and judgment, even with many more graduates coming from the colleges and universities. Instead, employers seek an increasingly immigration-restricted pool of foreign technical and scientific workers. In Government, from the President of the United States all the way down to the lowliest DMV clerk, raging and complete incompetence is the rule of the day. None of them can get it right, even when they try, and most of the time theyre not even making the effort.

If all of the above is true, how have we made the enormous leaps in technology, science, medicine, and consumer electronics during the last half century? The answer, it seems to me, is that this progress has resulted in spite of, rather than because of the institution of Education in this country. From the rebellious drive that fostered the Revolution through the tenaciousness of the 19^th century inventors, to the non-conforming brilliance of Einstein and the purposeful drive of the thousands of university academics and their graduate students, we still maintain a hugely rich source of intellectual power. Yet, we no longer stand alone as the worlds leader in brain power.

Billions of dollars, a giant bureaucracy (the Department of Education), new Internet instructional tools, and thousands of people have been thrown at the challenge, with no evident reversal of this problem. All of the statements above represent different perceptions of the results of educational failure, but fail to make clear what is and has been missing. Thus, it seems appropriate to attempt a specific description of those elements of the educational process which have proved to be so intractable to any and all efforts to remedy them.

If we look at the research, and engage in honest discussion with the participants (educators and students) the missing or distorted pieces of the puzzle are really not that difficult to isolate. They come down to three specific failures: Neurobiology, Mission Ambiguity, and Untaught Skills. The origin of these failures and how to fix them are well beyond the scope of this article; the dialog which must first be opened is to secure agreement about just what needs to be fixed.

Knowledge of Neurobiology:

Some things about the development of a growing brain are very evident. You don't expect a seventh grade student to handle the concepts of calculus. You don't need formal training in neuroscience to understand that this particular brain is just not ready to deal with such complex ideas.

Yet, parents and teachers are puzzled and concerned at the emotionally driven behavior demonstrated by high school students. Promiscuous sexual behavior, emotional outbursts, drug and alcohol use, and dangerous driving all come from the same cause.

That part of the brain responsible for careful judgment has far less power than does the amygdala, the center of the brain driving emotional impulse and behavior. Having peers around makes the situation even worse. Still, with all the research already assembled, many adults fail to accept that this is a part of the adolescents storm which must be weathered. Nonethelesas, adults interacting with this kid tend to react with anger, and mete out punishment, rather than providing responses appropriate to helping him gain control over his problem.

Mission Ambiguity

Ask any high-school student to name something he considers important, that he has learned today, this semester, or for that matter, during his school career to date. The chances are pretty good that he is going to have a difficult time providing a credible answer. Have friends who teach? Ask this: Suppose the classes you teach were removed from your schools class offerings. What would students taking these classes have lost? If everyone is being honest, any answer other than conformity to social expectations is going to be hard to find.

Students spend their lives in public schoosl, (and a good chunk of their undergraduate education) wondering just why they are there. For many, it is like learning a role for a play. You play your part, are rewarded with good grades, but when the curtain comes down (graduation), what are you left with? It seems to me that this ambiguity, this undefined sense of purpose and value, explains a good deal of the failure of the institution to impart genuine learning. Without a perception of real value, motivation directed at making use of what is offered simply is not going to be there.

Untaught Skills

American children spend something in excess of 20,000 hours attending school from the time they enter elementary education until they graduate some 12 years later. Yet, while repeatedly tested, it is really somewhat of a mystery what learning actually occurs. And there is a great deal of research that suggests that approximately 80% of everything taught in public education consists of rote memorization. Another 10 to 15% of learning is devoted to "problem-solving." This is stuff like solving an algebra problem, programming your computer, or building a birdhouse. Students, in essence, learn rules to achieve certain desired results.

When you ask those who are critical of education what it is that students lack, you will repeatedly hear the phrase, "critical thinking skills." Indeed, those are the skills moat students never are taught. In 1957, an educational psychologist, Benjamin Bloom, forever changed our understanding of the possibilities for structuring learning in our schools. He developed what has come to be known as a Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. This taxonomy (classification system) categorized all learning, using a set of descriptive action verbs, making it possible to objectively measure whether desired new behavior was or was not acquired by the learner.

Three categories of behavior, to which less than 10% of the instructional effort is devoted, comprise this sought after domain we call critical thinking. Using some of the definitions and examples as applied to employment settings, it is expected that most readers will agree that these tasks are both essential, but seldom, if ever a part of the public school curriculum.

Analysis: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between facts and inferences. Business Examples: Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction. Recognize logical fallacies in reasoning. Gathers information from a department and selects the required tasks for training.

Synthesis: Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure. Business Examples: Write a company operations or process manual. Design a machine to perform a specific task. Integrates training from several sources to solve a problem. Revises and process to improve the outcome.

Evaluation: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials. Business Examples: Select the most effective solution. Hire the most qualified candidate. Explain and justify a new budget.

For the last forty years, schools have been using a variety of standardized tests and other measurement tools to compete in the mad scramble for funding, and escape the regulatory nightmares imposed by their respective state Departments of Education. During that period test scores have largely held their own or made modest gains. School integration, affirmative-action programs, and bilingual education all have impacted to varying degrees on the performance scores which have been reported.

If schools are doing as well or a little better than they did 40 years ago at providing instruction to students, what then serves to explain the increasing discontent with school performance? The answer comes from the tremendous changes in the American workforce during that same time. Our national requirements have changed from a workforce largely composed of those who performed physical labor, or provided services to customers to one which is predominantly requires knowledge workers. Those who are engaged in management, scientific, technical, and creative work must have the skills listed above, to a far greater degree then earlier required.

This problem will only be addressed if we apply the same principles and methods of political activism we use to affect public policy, to influencing the curriculum and environment in which public schools operate. There are many pressure points available to parents and teachers. School board elections, teacher unions, and Parent-Teacher associations all provide entry points to the educational system. Yet, nothing will change until there is consensus of just what has to be changed.

It's Time to Go!!

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President,

Even in the isolated environment that you have designed for yourself, I am certain you are now aware of the passionate call for your resignation issued by Keith Olbermann on his Countdown show for July 3, 2007. While it is unlikely that you gave much consideration to it (except perhaps amusement at its futility), I am writing to suggest that such an action would very much be in your own self interest, and perhaps serve to forestall some very unpleasant consequences in your future.

While not a physician, and not having access to your personal records, your performance provides many indications demonstrating that, for many years, you have experienced the effects of brain damage, resulting from your long-term alcoholism, along with extended cocaine usage. There is certainly ample evidence of your addictions, to these drugs, and equally to the inevitable consequences resulting from their use.

But for the fact that you selected a sociopath, far more intellectually capable than you, as your Vice President, the evident brain damage which you display would have triggered the 25^th Amendment, long ago. Your intractability with respect to the Iraq War, your support of politicalization of the Department of Justice, your disastrous mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina, your total disregard for the law demonstrated by the Libby commutation, individually and severally conclusively demonstrate your inability to hold the office of President of the United States.

What is particularly fascinating is your apparent total disregard for the views of your fellow citizens, and the media which report upon them. That none but a few show any support for any of your policies causes you not the slightest concern. Your serene movement through the swamp of contempt and disgust surrounding you is truly astonishing.

"...And yet Bush does not come across like a man lamenting his plight. In public and in private, according to intimates, he exhibits an inexorable upbeat energy that defies the political storms. Even when he convenes philosophical discussions with scholars, he avoids second-guessing his actions. He still acts as if he were master of the universe, even if the rest of Washington no longer sees him that way."

"You don't get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker," said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. "This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can't tell you which."

Since you have ample time to explore your interests, you might find it of interest to consider the end game for a man who must certainly rank among your short list of those you consider your heroes. Joseph McCarthy did his very best to use the tools then available, to foster the same kind of fear and loathing that has been the hallmark of your administration. His targeting of “Communists,” and the methods you employ to interrogate prisoners, stifle dissent, and wiretap American citizens have much in common. Yet, as you consider the end of McCarthy’s life, will you give even a passing thought to your life after January 20, 2009?

The senate investigations into the United States Army were televised and this helped to expose the tactics of Joseph McCarthy. One newspaper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, reported that: "In this long, degrading travesty of the democratic process, McCarthy has shown himself to be evil and unmatched in malice." Leading politicians in both parties, had been embarrassed by McCarthy's performance and on 2nd December, 1954, a censure motion condemned his conduct by 67 votes to 22.

McCarthy, who had been drinking heavily for many years, was discovered to have cirrhosis of the liver. An alcoholic, he was unable to take the advice of doctors and friends to stop drinking. Joseph McCarthy died in the Bethesda Naval Hospital on 2nd May, 1957. As the newspapers reported, McCarthy had drunk himself to death.

In his Special Comment calling for your resignation, Olbermann distinguishes your action from that of even Richard Nixon. He pointed out that once Nixon was finally convinced that impeachment was inevitable, he did the one final and honorable act that avoided the torture which the nation would have been put through; he resigned. While there is no indication that you have even the most passing interest in the lives of the citizens you govern, or the fate of the nation, it can be assumed that you have considerable interest in your own lifestyle once your cruel monarchy has ended.

The best future you have to which you can look forward is one of wealthy isolation. The nation and its media will wish to forget you as soon as possible. You can be certain there will be little, if any, demand for your gifted speech making abilities. Nor will there be a line at your door to seek your executive acumen being put to work as a director of many companies. Being left alone and forgotten is a best-case scenario for you.

If you have gotten this far, you are asking, “So, why should I resign?” The answer, George, is really very simple. While time, logistics, and pure politics make it unlikely that you will be impeached, there are a whole lot of people just waiting for the time you can be indicted for the many high crimes and misdemeanors you have committed during your two terms in office. How long do you think it will take either the new Administration or a petition from the public to convene a Federal Grand Jury, certain to indict you on any of a number of charges?

A solution to your problem looks something like this: Prior to resigning, you arrange with your crime partner, Cheney, to issue you a complete pardon, issued within hours of the time he takes office. Of course, he will shortly be impeached, but I’m sure with all the highly capable lawyers hanging around the White House, he can figure out a way to protect himself. After all, Spiro Agnew was able to walk away from criminal prosecution, and Cheney, all will agree is among the most gifted of criminals.

Timing is everything

All across the blogosphere are heard calls for the impeachment of Bush and/or Cheney. Others suggest that a Federal Grand Jury be convened via public petition. The point that everyone seems to miss is that with only 18 months left to go, and with the composition of the current Congress, the probability of removal from office of either or both is at best, very low.

Whatever your level of fear, loathing, contempt, and disgust for the evil twins, it comes down to the fact that we let ourselves get conned when we reelected them in ’04. Collectively, we as an electorate had plenty of evidence of just who and what these people were. The lies, the repression of dissent, the disregard for our position in the world, the failure to secure our borders, were all more than evident by the time we went to the ballot box, that November.

Before moving on, consider for just a moment what would happen if Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as President sometime in early 2008. Gonzalez would be gone, having left the Justice Department in total shambles. Being an election year, even the most competent and honest of the Bush Administration would be scrambling to get out and find new jobs for themselves. Pelosi clearly would not be a candidate for continuing incumbency. Obstructionism would be the word of the day from the Republican side.

It would be most interesting to hear from readers as to how such a scenario is more desirable than is the current one, where Bush is functionally totally isolated. He can continue the war, for a while, but even there, there are signs that constraints will soon become imposed on his ability to keep our troops facing the current level of danger. Domestically, he is paralyzed by increasing resistance and suspicion from Congress.

Looking back, failed presidencies and failed candidacies have both contained a common element – broken promises. LBJ was going to win and end the Vietnam war, which instead deteriorated to a stunning failure; Bush 41 promised no new taxes, and drove the popularity derived from the stunning management of the Gulf War to the cellar with the deep recession of his last years in office. While there were many factors in play, Kerry lost the ’04 election because he failed to communicate a clear philosophy of governance.

So, instead of concentrating your time and attention on Bush/Cheney, it seems far more productive that we insure the next President and Congress will reverse the direction taken by the current administration and their now diminishing congressional support. We can do this by demanding of candidates that they make commitments in as specific terms as possible, their policy intent, should they be elected.

Participation in nominating and primary campaign election activity, particularly for members of the House, would seem to be among the more beneficial uses of time and effort for those who have genuine interest in bringing about reform --- rather than whining about that which we cannot realistically change.

This is not to say that Bush/Cheney will escape responsibility for their criminal behavior. Indictments can be quickly obtained once the new administration and Congress are in place. An honest government will bring with it far more opportunity for real prosecution without the chaos and interruption that impeachment or indictments would bring today. And one thing we can be certain of… there won’t be any pardons which they can expect to receive.

A Cancer on the Face of America

With the most recent NBC poll showing sixty-eight percent of Americans see the country as moving in the “wrong direction,” this represents a level of pessimism about the nation’s future, seldom, if ever, seen before. While it is true that we are immersed in a war without a discernible end, a President who is incapable of resolving national problems, and a Congress mired in endless argument, the direct effects of this incompetence are relatively unfelt by most citizens.

This in no way mitigates seriousness of the problems we face. A Middle East, where peace is a distant dream, an immigration flood with no solution in sight, a national debt beyond anything we have seen before, all confront us on a daily basis. Yet, the nation has faced equal or more severe crises than currently experienced and have met them with confidence, enthusiasm, and pride.

If this perception is correct, how do we explain the deep national depression in which we find ourselves? Having lived through the Administrations of twelve Presidents (Truman to Bush 43), I can remember no time when there was such public cynicism, while at the same time an unwillingness to participate in changing or managing the national leadership responsible for our problems.

In a recent blog, Joel Hirschhorn makes a telling comment:

“For a nation that was built on a revolt against oppressive governance by the British, something has been lost from our political DNA. We apparently no longer have the gene for political rebellion. It has been bred out of most of us. And those of us that urge a Second American Revolution are seen as fringe, nutty subversives.”

It’s not as if there were no options available to people. Ultimately, as a nation, we could “throw the bums out,” through the use of a provision of the U.S. Constitution contemplating just such a situation as that in which we find ourselves. This is the provision for a new Constitutional Convention.

Article V -- The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Hirschhorn argues that we are not yet in sufficient distress to make the massive effort which would be required for such a major reorganization of governance. He further takes the view that the Internet provides a “release valve,” allowing free complaint, while damping pent up demand for action.

There is little reason to doubt the validity of these arguments, but I believe that, at this point in our national experience, there is an additional element at work. George W. Bush and all who have been his ardent supporters, have introduced a cancer into the system which has metastasized to an effect on the national spirit which may prove to be fatal. This symptoms of this cancer are already manifest:

1. The Rule of Law no longer exists: The operation of any legal system requires that once a law exists, it must be enforceable. George Bush has demonstrated that breaking the law is readily achieved with complete impunity. From ending of Habeas Corpus, the politicization of the Justice Department, the treatment of prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay to the disregard for FISA protections, we see a continuing pattern and practice of failing to even acknowledge law applies to him. He is after all, “… the Decider!”

2. Congress is a law unto itself: Congress has chosen to take its own path, passing legislation which directly counters the desire and needs of the citizens who they represent. Moreover, they have failed to hold the President accountable for his winding detour from the constitution. Instead, they focus on granting amnesty to illegal immigrants, a position opposed by 80% of the citizenry. Presented with overwhelming evidence from their own investigations, they are unwilling to even issue a non-binding vote of No Confidence in the “leadership” of Alberto Gonzalez.

The defining characteristics of the American spirit are those of honor, trust, integrity, selflessness and sacrifice for others. Telling the truth, keeping promises, loyalty are the ideals which upon which all of our commitment to and pride in country are based. There are, of course some aspects of American life where these values remain constant. We see them reflected in the courageous behavior of the vast majority of our combat-engaged military.

Yet, that qualities of behavior and attitude are far more the exception than the rule. For most of us are sole experience with this nation’s leaders, be they in business or government, leads us to distrust all that they say or publish. We have been fooled sufficiently often, to have an instant response of distrust and cynicism.

That is the cancer that has spread unchecked, through the body of America. It has spread into every facet of our interactions not only with institutions, but with our personal lives as well. Do we have to look much beyond dishonesty to find the most likely explanation for our soaring divorce rate? How about the billions in uncollected taxes resulting from the cheating of average citizens? What lies abound on our resumes? Then, there is the scandal of the protection of sexual predators by church leaders. I challenge readers to identify any area of their lives where truth is the rule.

Worst of all is the spread of approval of dishonesty to our children. Do you need evidence of that? Just spend some time reading this article about a major cheating scandal by school administrators in Camden, New Jersey. While there are some educators who will forever battle cheating by their students, its rampant prevalence makes this effort a lost cause. In this kind of atmosphere, those students who seek genuine knowledge must be the increasingly few, since reward comes all so clearly to those who dishonor themselves, and choose to take the easy path.

I wonder whether this was the same mechanism that ended or diminished of the great civilizations that have gone before, Greece, the Roman Republic, and the British Empire. Those who question the threat of man’s influence on global warming point to the cyclical history of world climate. Perhaps it is inevitable that all civilizations, as wonderous and powerful as they may be at apogee, must fall into the same pattern of decline and rebirth as those that have gone before.

The New Atheists

A careful look at the prevalence of atheism in the United States

RichardDawkins.net - The Official Richard Dawkins Website

Religion and the Dumbing of America

Religion and the Dumbing of America: "Description: A discussion of the impact of religion and the conservative orientation in the development of the intellectually incompetent; Consequences and a possible solution are presented."