The quality of Education

Most students go to class expecting to learn something, hopefully something related to the subject matter of the class. But what happens if the teacher is incompetent? or even worse simply has no clue what they are talking about. What is there to do? the Student can't complain to anyone, they have no recourse for action, and the teacher can play with the students grades. There needs to be better oversight in Academic institutions at all levels from Elementary to Collegiate. Part of the problem are policies like tenure. What other profession has such a ridiculous notion? There needs to be more liberal thinking at higher levels of education. Im not talking about crazies on the far left who think that everyone who thinks differently from them is wicked. In the past Academic institutions are where ideas for reform and genuine betterment of humanity have arisen. Education can not become stagnant and eventually decay; that way lies damnation. I fear what shall become of a future where academia becomes just another form of politics.

Someone dead said it better

I love quotes I figured I needed a running list.
It is better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep!
-Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.-
I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.
”History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
It requires more courage to suffer than to die“- Napoleon
What they did to me created me.- V
Never get out of the boat, absolutely god damn right, unless you were going in all the way.
I dare do all that may become a man who dares more is none.
People Should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.-V
Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof-V
I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence.-V
A man can fail, he can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten but 400 years later an idea can still change the world.-V
Then you have no fear any more, your completely free.-V
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among human creatures.
Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty - his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.-Aldus Huxley
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security- Big Ben Franklin
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered. D. Thompson
We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.-Epictetus
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves.-Douglas himself
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.-Goethe
Great men were made by other great men. Patton had Rommel. Grant had Lee! -Bethlehem
I know what your problem is. Do you know why you won't fight? Because you have nothing to fight for! You don't care about anything! You don't value anything! You don't believe in anything!Bethlehem
Law one. You will obey orders without question. Law two: Punishment shall be swift. Law three: Mercy is for the weak. Four: Terror will defeat reason. Five: Your allegiance is to the clan. Six: Justice can be dictated. Seven: Any clansman may challenge for leadership of the clan. Law eight: There is only one penalty. Death. Bethlehem
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
They have not wanted Peace at all; they have wanted to be spared war -- as though the absence of war was the same as peace.- Big Lady D. Thompson
Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous.-Shaw
It is not only the living who are killed in war.- Asimov

The sounds of Silence

People need to learn how to listen. I'm not the first person to say it, I doubt I'll be the last. So when will people start listening? A lot of time people ask questions that they would already known the answer too, had they taken the time to listen. Kundera said all conversation is, is one person talking about themselves while everyone else sits around waiting for their turn, to talk about themselves. The problem with Kundera is he is 100% accurate. We as human beings need to rise above that. We need to start listening to other people, otherwise we will remain doomed. Esse quam videri- to be, rather than to seem, we need to actually listen. Not for the sake of them but for our own sake. Look forget the other person's feelings in relation to your listening to them, but if you can't hear really hear what they're saying than why waste your time? your not gaining anything from it?
THe Talmud says a coin for your thoughts, two for your silence. Your thoughts, your verbalization of your thoughts have value. But, but you can learn far more from your silence. By staying silent you hear better, I'm no scientist but I think that's a pretty reasonable and easily proved assertion. Try talking and listening at the same time, Now just try listening which works better? assertion proved. Not only do you hear better, thus understand better what is going on around you, you are able to absorb more than you other wise would. The benefits don't stop there. Try listening to silence, eventually you'll hear the sound of silence. Stop speaking long enough your bound to hear it. The sound of silence will teach you more than any other sound. Once you stop talking don't just listen to what the other person is saying, listen to what they aren't saying. What did they leave out of conversation? What are they avoiding this will often tell you more than all their words. You can learn more from a person by what they don't say than what they do say, in case I wasn't clear before. Try it. Try listening to The sounds of Silence it might change your life.

The two party system needs to end

In America we have a two part system, any school kid can tell you this. But what's the point, besides of course that, that is just the way things have always been done. Today people think the words Democrat and Republican are just political parties, they don't even bother considering the ideals of the words Republic and Democracy. The two parties of today, as any student of history can tell you , are almost ideologically the opposite of what they were after the civil war through the gilded age and past. All that besides, politicians are terrible human beings by the mere fact that their livelihoods depend on impressing vasts amount of people, and people can't agree on anything, so to be a politician one must compromise. Since there are only two parties by necessity the parties are basically just two huge sides of moderate political ideals. Look at the patterns of American presidents, with an exception here or there one party is in control for a few elections than people grow dissatisfied, because people as a whole are inherently dissatisfied--but that's another issue--, and then they vote for a person of the different party, Now usually this switch happens when the opposite party not currently in power has a more charismatic leader. The problem is with only two political parties each party is forced to compromise and become similar, we need more parties. We need more parties that can represent smaller and more accurate portions of the population. An excellent example of this problem of moderation is if one examine religious voting statistics for the past several years, now I don't waste my time supporting my facts on a blog because all facts are biased and unfair so go look up your own, you'll probably find that most religious denominations vote relatively 40-60% for each part sometimes its dead on 50-50%. One notable exception are Jews who vote 85-90% in favor of democrats, with the exception of the issue of Israel in which the reverse is true where 85-90% agree with the Republican party who likes Jews and Israel far more than Democrats, Im sure I pissed off a bunch of people so comment and we can argue or discuss. However this points to the fact that, the facts are useless if around 50% vote for 1 of 2 parties what does that tell you? not much. We need more political parties just like almost any other representative democracy in the world. So for now I remain a firm supporter of our nations greatest president and only major third party Politician, Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose party.

taking a stance

Have you ever been in a show of hands voting type forum? the choices are yes, no, abstain. well this post is to you people who abstain, don't be a child, don't be weak willed take a stance. That is the problem with the world today, people don't take a stance. Sometimes people think there is such a thing as neutrality, this is just a way for those people who abstani to assuage their guilt. Germans who stood by while Jews, cripples, Gypsies and many others were killed supported the Nazis and should be considered Nazis themsevles. It says in the opening scene of the popular movie The Boondock saints, we must all fear evil men but more than that we must fear the inaction of good men in the face of evil. Not fighting an atrocitiy is supporting it. This extreme example is easily applicable for less serious matters, but the message is still the same pick a side. In situations such as these its not a matter of a grey area, we aren't talking about moral quandries, murder is wrong a person, a person who murders is evil, a person who stands idly by while murder occurs is evil. Neutrality is a good idea, rarely it might even be possible in the real world but don't fool yourself not taking a stance, Is taking a stance.

Jesus Freaks

This does not refer to Christians of any particular sect or denomination or level of belief. This is about those guys who walk around with signs that say something like" fornicators, adulterers, sinners repent you are going to be cast into Hell" or some other flashy fire and brimstone type subject. These people feel the need to push their beliefs on to people in a forceful, gaudy and embarrassing manner, however this post isn't about converting and what not. Anyone who holds up a sign like that is not only mentally unstable they have no understanding of their own religion. Matthew 1-2 Judge not, that ye be not judged./ For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. This is a common phrase in Christianity that gets bandied about pretty freely. However I think it is pretty clear in a faith where God is all knowing and all powerful only the figure of the Divine can judge a man, yet here men are condemning other men. That makes them hypocrite's as well as blasphemers. These Jesus freaks are freaks because they really hate the message of Jesus, which is why they seek to twist and pervert it to suit their own concept of what Christianity should be- thus they are the heretics so don't waste your time picking fights with these dumb schmucks.

Who Watch's the Watchmen?

A famous yet chilling line from one of the greatest stories ever told "Watchmen", this line forces us to ask ourselves the same question. Who watches the Watchmen. We as a society are forced to assume that police are good men who want to protect us, what a joke. Who overlooks law enforcement? other government agencies. Why isn't there a civilian oversight committee to start answering all the questions about police corruption, brutality, racism the list goes on. What about the questions that don't get asked? the less obvious questions? do the police men even know the law they are supposed to enforce? are they trustworthy individuals? What safeguards does the ordinary citizen have from the police? none, a cop can take any person into jail because they want to. This person is either forced to deal with getting out of jail, maybe even court dates not to mention maybe contending with dangerous criminals. Some will answer that's why we have the justice system, we have judges and lawyers to fight that sort of thing. That takes time and money both of which are hard to come by for Joe Schmoe. Some of you might believe police are good men let's ask Serpico. Police are the scum of the earth, only sadists become police. Don't believe that bullshit about how cops want to help people. If they wanted to help people they would have become firefighters, if they wanted to fight for freedom and protect lives they would have been soldiers, no they want to use a gun to scare kids. What differentiates the police from vigilante type character's in the "Watchmen" I can only think of two things, a shiny badge and an organization to help you get away with planting evidence, or beating kids up.