The State Of The Union

Disclaimer:

People will either dismiss this topic and not say anything (ignorance is bliss) or it will turn into a very controversial topic. People from all nations are welcome to discuss as what America is and does affects the entire planet.

 

Please keep the hate to a minimum. Use constructive criticism, which means if you have an issue to raise, propose a solution, don't just rant on hate endlessly.

This is a very real and serious issue that has been growing for the past 50 years. It has now come to a point where it is blatant and is affecting the health of us humans globally. Yet, it being so obvious is still somewhat new so people are still able to pretend to ignore it hoping it will smooth out. This doesn't smooth out. It only grows exponentially. It is up to us, WE THE PEOPLE, to stand up and declare what we feel is right and fair. I personally think we need to take our government back from the corporations that now run it.

It seems daunting when looking at it as a whole, but in reality, where do these companies get their money? The answer, of course, is from our support. So we are supporting the tyranny. We are allowing millions of innocent civilians being terrorized and bombed. We have allowed the radiation from our ammunition to plague a nation and enter our atmosphere to be spread throughout the world. We have allowed corporations to take the money we give them and buy the politicians who, in all, only care about themselves.

Better health care? Better education? Lowering the poverty level? Not profitable!! Growing tobacco in irradiated soil giving us cancer, engineering seeds to not reproduce forcing farmers to have to buy seeds every year from the same coporation, using serious toxins in every day products ... all of this is done for the companies best interest. For the profit of the key individuals who run the company. Yet, we reward them by filling their pockets with our hard earned money.

We support the initiative that has made the human mother's breast milk poisonous. Prove me wrong. Interested in alternatives? Interested in solutions?

Watch this video from comedian George Carlin and discuss what his message means to you. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?

How does it make you feel?

What do you think we can do to solve this growing crisis?

Thank you for participating.

I could rant a long time on this topic. I just finished watching a show on pollution, and it is mind boggling.

Ultimately I think people have to say No.

No Im not buying that junk.

No Im not eating that junk.

No Im not listening to that junk.

Politics isn't one of my strong points and I just want to say ArrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrGh.

The sooner the Australian troops are out of Iraq the better.

The sooner my neighbours learn to recycle I'll feel better.

If smokeing was banned tomorrow It would be ok with me, Id hang out like the rest of the smokers.

The sooner the Japaneese stop shooting whales In the name of science I will feel better.

Sometimes /me like lots of ppl think "The Issue Is so big and I'm only one person, what can I do about War, my neighbours, tobacco farming, whaleing, global warming".

Let alone our prime minister.

Now this one Is a doozy. The last one was real quick to jump Into bed with bush. The new one ( Kevin Rudd ) speaks mandarin chineese and no doubt If you live In Australia or America you may have seen when Bush and Rudd met.

The G5 summit just finished with not much hope of reducing carbon emmisions cause of the Global Tradeing Emmisions Scheme.

The point of this rave Is Take It To The Top. Get leaders that are what they say they are.

Clinton and obamma are a joke. and a sad joke at that.

Well it's a shame. I had hoped techgear patrons would participate. Guess you all drew the ignorant card. Let us hope you are the minority...

While I do love his comedy there are several flaws in his ideas.

Let's start with education. Education isn't going downhill. Nowadays they expect kids to learn faster and more and at earlier age groups. For you old folks out there like me, ever tried helping your child with their homework and thought wow this is pretty advanced for his age. Kids are subjected to so much more these days and are able to process more and more information. I think the problem of education is not with the students but with the school boards and teachers. In my home state there is a ridiculous amount of school districts with superintendents for each one making a killing. Money wasted on them that could better be used in classrooms. Teachers that are more concerned with state mandated curriculum than wondering if what they are teaching kids is right.

Continuing on the subject of education. Does having a college education make you smarter than someone who doesn't? Because you hold a masters in history does that make you smarter than someone who doesn't? Who decided knowledge in certain areas and not in others automatically makes you superior or inferior.

He talked of big business wanting to keep people stupid so they could get over on them. Because you take a job that requires more manual labor than mental brainpower doesn't make you any less beneficial to society. The world needs ditch diggers and i'm sure there are some pretty smart ditch diggers in the world. Many times in this world we do what we have to do to make ends meet. Not everyone wants to spend their life in the pursuit of money and power. Many people focus on other things such as family. Happiness comes in all forms and how dare someone think less of a person's intelligence based on the job they hold.

You want to talk about knowledge equating to how far you go in school. How bout we look at these college and pro athletes that can barely form a complete sentence. They are getting a free ride through some of the best educational systems in the world yet when you hear them give an interview you wonder how they got out of highschool.

I'm pretty sick of people thinking money, power, and status somehow makes them smarter than other people. Not everyone strives for or has the opportunity to get those things.

And onto this america this and america that crap.

Don't people realize that America is made up of every country? Is there a group of people anywhere in this world that are not represented in vast numbers inside the usa? People keep mistaking the American govt for the american people. What they don't realize is that we are not anymore happy with our govt than they are with it. It's so corrupt that it's basically unfixable at least in the short term.

My country isn't perfect but it is the most important country in the world. Everything we do has world wide consequences both good and bad. We have forgotten that our country isn't people like george bush. It's normal people that are just trying to live the best way they know how. And it's a very sad day when you let someone make you think less about being an American. I for one am proud to be from the U.S.A and while george is a very funny guy you may wanna think twice about listening to a person talk about how smart people are when he has made some pretty stupid decisions in his life. So i guess smart people can make mistakes too. I do find his comedy funny as hell and do agree with some of the things he says but remember he is just one of those poor souls that didn't go to college so big business has him right where they want him right???

on to other things:

yes it's true that our money has done all those bad things but you seem to be forgetting all the good things our money has done. How many american companies has advanced healthcare or technology. When you start naming the most influential inventions and products in the world today most of that came from right here. Using our money. Money is the root of all evil and a more correct quote has never been made. Money is like a gun.. In the wrong hands it can do great harm to many people. But in the right hands it can protect those same people. The thing is there is evil in this world. No i'm not getting all religious on you. but almost anything good can be used for evil given to the wrong person. You can't just focus on the bad things and ignore all the good things. You have to acknowledge both. I see people talking about freedoms they lose here in america and injustices they see. I tell you want. If you have never left america then you haven't seen true loss of freedom. You haven't seen what injustice really is. While things here aren't great they are a far cry better than most others have it. But just because we have done all these great things doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels. We let the govt get to where it is. And only we can change our future. If we leave it up to all those smart guys in washington the U.S.A will never be what it should.

Let's start with education. Education isn't going downhill. Nowadays they expect kids to learn faster and more and at earlier age groups. For you old folks out there like me, ever tried helping your child with their homework and thought wow this is pretty advanced for his age. Kids are subjected to so much more these days and are able to process more and more information.

I agree.

I also know that schools and many of the modern teachers have made a tremendous effort to instill a spirit of questioning and critical thinking into children, in order to prevent at least some degree of mass brainwashing.

Much of the school system now teaches and encourages children to question, critically think about, and even reject information given by authority figures. This caused alot of friction with old style teachers who simply wanted to transfer traditional knowledge, rather than teach thinking skills. I think the last of those old style of teachers have about retired now.

While alot of our history has been based on teaching people what to think, rather than how to think. Our school systms are now making a conscious effort to teach children how to think - and that was a conscious change in teaching strategy that happened quite a number of years ago.

Well it's a shame. I had hoped techgear patrons would participate. Guess you all drew the ignorant card. Let us hope you are the minority...

Can't say I see how you can say we drew an ignorant card. Some of us have realized that talking about this is useless. So, we'd rather save our breath (or typing fingers) on something we can either talk about reasonably or something we know about.

Can't say I see how you can say we drew an ignorant card. Some of us have realized that talking about this is useless. So, we'd rather save our breath (or typing fingers) on something we can either talk about reasonably or something we know about.

I think hes right about a lot of things (not all things)... I think it is true the "Owners" do not want well informed citizens.

Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. This applies to the world, and people will remain ignorant of the big gigantic "rhymes with chick" being rammed up their @§§.

George nails it on a lot of things, not everything but a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oboyox3L_MI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u6lCBnRoHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pow5_UYKaJ8

being well informed and being well educated is no where near the same thing. There is no excuse other than simply not caring when it comes to getting information

I agree with you shag that there are a lot of people that just do not care. That's our biggest problem.

I think you misunderstand the rant about education. I think it's great what he is saying about education. We are lowering our standards. Here in Washington they have and are doing exactly what he is talking about. We have a statewide test that every student takes which shows the level of our kids. Well the majority of the kids have been failing it. A slight majority, but still ... (Too much tv/video games ..hehe) Instead of saying, "ok we have a problem here we need to address!", they simply lower the test requirements.

The issue was you needed to get above a certain test score to graduate from high school, but too many kids weren't passing and parents were complaining. So their answer wasn't to address the education issue, they lowered the requirements. So we are sending out dumber and dumber kids. Highschool graduates with very poor english, horrible spelling and 6th grade reading level.

I think this is pathetic and embarassing. Someone is dropping the ball here. (Parents allowing their kids to be slackers is what I think.)

Anyways, this is what his rant about education is. People don't care about education much. Americans know very little history or geography for instance unless they are really into it and take it to college level. It amazes me the amount of spelling and grammatical errors I find in the professional world. Math? Yeah right, what do I need math for! I have a computer/cell phone calculator.

I'm not saying I'm perfect by any means, I'm saying we are lowering the standards for education.

yes but maybe the standards we have aren't the right ones. Is knowing your geography more important than knowing how to run a computer. Which is a more valued subject to be knowledgeable in. Does a degree in history make you smarter than a degree in agriculture? I think it's time we look into what we are teaching our kids. History and geography are important things to know but of what use are they to the average person in the work force. I think that is why trade schools are becoming so popular. You can decide what you want to be and go and study just that.

It's not just standards that are the issue.

There is more for kids to do these days and it's harder to get them to focus on education.

Teachers are overworked and underpaid but that is no excuse for them not to do their job. Either do it or quit i'm tired of hearing them cry about it

I've had jobs that didn't treat me right so i quit.

You can't expect kids to do what grownups aren't willing to do. ( there is too much about that to go into )

I'll give you a prime example of where education rates in the u.s.

A local community college decided to go to a 4 day class week instead of 5 because of the price of gas

Now many think hey that's a good idea

Is it?

trading education for gas money is a good idea?

never occured to them to maybe cut the costs of books or school a little.. of course not they want their money they aren't concerned with the students or their education.

The system doesn't care about you or your kids and never will. Raise the standards through the roof or lower them to the floor it doesn't matter.

Tell me what the worst thing about lowering the standards would be. maybe graduating a child and sending them off to a college they wouldn't normally get into. If one out of ten of those kids actually makes it through college isn't it worth it.. I mean the college is gonna get their money regardless.

I don't like it anymore than you do. I see the dumbing down of america but i also see us pandering to everyone in sight so why leave the kids out.. If anyone of us deserve it they do.

ah i have too much to say about this with every sentence i type i want to say more but i think it will fall on deaf ears so i'll end it now.

I understand your point but there are more things to life than making money. If we created a species whose sole purpose, drive and mindset was based around money it would be a very boring, uncultured group. History, geography, philosophy, sociology, these teach culture. They give a larger base of reference when considering everyday instances in life.

History teaches us of our past and the path of mankind as we know it. This gives us insight into who we are as a whole and an individual comparitively. Geography shows us how small we are compared to the world, and how many different cultures there are out there. Without these subjects I would think the world revolved around me and make the same mistakes our ancestors made. Philosophy is out there to give a base of what has already been discovered so we can add to it and take it up a notch, without it everyone could easily be mulling over the same ideas every 100 years.

I believe in Sweden, around the age of puberty kids are tested to see what fields they do well in and enjoy. Then they have the option of picking a field of study. Then you are taught it. The idea is to look at the individual, figure out what job they would enjoy the most and set them up in it. It is extremely important to enjoy your job. It also means they will excel at their line of work since they enjoy it so much. The colleges are run by the government so it is free. It is the government educating it's work force to support the government which is the people. Make sense? It isn't a profit system, it's a real life system. Doctors are doctors because they want to help people, not because they want a hot chick with fake boobs and a mercedes. Since medical school is free doctors aren't paying off tuition so they don't charge exorbitant amounts. Actually I believe it is all free healthcare but I'm not positive.

By the way, this knowledge of another way of living is what history and geography is all about.

okay, I just realized a drawback to history. If it weren't for the recording of history we wouldn't keep bringing back old styles like paisley or bellbottoms. Or rapping over some old hit song every year acting like you are so awesome for rapping over some old hit song. But I digress ...

I don't think we should leave out subjects just because they aren't immediately profitable.

ah i have too much to say about this with every sentence i type i want to say more but i think it will fall on deaf ears so i'll end it now.

That's exactly how I feel.

I have read bits and pieces of several replies in this thread.

We have to realize before we start making harsh criticisms of policies and laws, that if we are to change things and make them something else, SOMEONE OR SOMETHING is going to be left out.

We halt illegal immigration. Prices go up on certain luxuries, shortage in the labor market for certain fields. (No I don't believe in illegal taking jobs Americans dont want.) We keep illegal immigrants. Immigrants cost the US government 50 billion a year and yet they pay only I think 40 billion in taxes. That's a net fiscal deficit of around 10 billion a year.... Centers for Immigration Studies. http://cis.org

As you can see with everything, there are two outcomes, a good one and a bad one. There is always going to be someone left out no matter what decision we make in life.

------------------------------------------------I hope this above makes sense, it's 2 am and I'm tired.----------------------------------

America is ran on a capitalistic society. We ARE THE OLDEST SURVIVING FEDERATION IN THE WORLD, with our form of government being the most duplicated. We have been for hundreds of years. It's sad to say, BUT our greed and money have given way to some of the world's greatest inventions. We are still the world's ONLY REMAINING SUPERPOWER and we are the leader in the technological and medical fields. "Partly as a result, the United States maintains the highest labor productivity in the world. However, it no longer leads the world in productivity per hour as it did from the 1950s through the early 1990s; workers in Norway, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg are now more productive per hour." - Wikipedia. Despite American's wrong doings, we work hard. Americans do work hard for what we have. We are forced to by our society. Unfortunately there are the negatives. The downside to that is we have used other nations for their resources (oil, water, diamonds, work force, etc...) We are becoming more materialistic, more interested in material goods as a way of showing our wealth, intelligence, etc.. instead of using knowledge in sciences, history, math, etc... as means.

America in a sense has drifted away from our true meaning.

Like I said there is a good and bad to every situation.

blah blah blah, to be continued. I'm tired!

I'm pretty sick of people thinking money, power, and status somehow makes them smarter than other people. Not everyone strives for or has the opportunity to get those things.

yeah i talked about that as well.

I think some of the subjects we teach are outdated and less important than others. ( my personal opinion )

The future of trade schools will continue to rise in popularity

Public school has become a joke in many areas and state and federal mandates aren't going to make a difference.

If you want to make a difference it has to start with the Parents/Teachers/and local school board. Ask a Katrina victim what happens when you depend on the govt for something.

This is a sad joke, but to some of the KATRINA VICTIMS, they shouldn't have been stealing TVs and shooting at the government when they came to help. Just a thought?

don't get me wrong i really don't have that much sympathy for some of the people during katrina. If a storm that big is coming and you are told to leave then leave. If you depend on the govt to fix all your woes you are going to be in for a lot of disappointment in life.