Detention

A New School Year...

Well another school year has started here in good ol' California. Last August, the state budget office got together with all of the school district superintendents and told them just how much money they had and gave them suggestions on where to spend it depending on what kind of situation their district was in. Last year the teachers in my district bit the bullet so to speak and reduced the cost of health care to our district and saved them some big bucks. The state said there was enough money in the pot to give everyone in all districts a 4.5 per cent Cost of Living Allowance ( COLA ) and that they should make sure that pass it along to their employes. Its not often that the state budget office says something like that, but they did. They did it in front of reporters, California Teachers Association representatives, and superintendents from all over the state. Now one would think that the superintendents would follow the advice of the state budget office. One would think that keeping your employes happy would be a priority in these difficult times. Was I shocked and dismayed to find out that my superintendent, Robert Hodges, told our Association president, Rich Laabs, that the district was 3.5 million in the hole and that there would not be any money for Cost of Living Allowances.
Our district has a very solid backup savings account for emergencies. Last time I checked it was twice the amount that our district says its deficit is. So why the outright lie? Where did the 4.5 per cent for a COLA go? Last time I looked COLA stood for COST OF LIVING ALLOWANCE not, buy more books allowance or pay for cost overruns on construction projects. Of all the things a district can do, this is the one thing that can piss off a majority of teachers. Teachers have the power. Test scores can drop, the district can go down the tubes test wise and and the state will have to step in and run it. The teachers could strike. There has never been a strike in Redlands. Why? Because past superintendents and Boards of Education have treated the teachers very nice. Why not now? This area has grown so fast, classes are so crowded, and there is more pressure to raise test scores, even if those scores are meaningless! Yes Redlands is a nice place to work, but that is changing. I have 173 students this year! that's about 34 students per class. Studies show that the optimal student to teacher ratio is 15 to 18 to 1! Not only that but I have students who are non-english speakers. One of my classes has 9 RSP students in it and 26 regular ed. students. The point of all this is that we deserve the 4.5 percent COLA. We earn every cent that we are paid. Its the least the district can do is keep our pay in line with the cost of living. Teachers work on a 10 month contract, so they only get paid for 10 months. If we have summer jobs, the income is taxed at 40% because it is considered a luxury income. The pay is $32.22 per hour. That is about half of what a teacher with a masters degree earns. If I work overtime ( like teach and extra period) I get an hourly wage $30. By the time taxes are taken out its $22! Teaching is the only job where you work overtime and get half the hourly wage. Everywhere else you would get time and a half! The COLA is an important item for us this year... just because we teach does not mean we don't live in the real world. Our cost of living has risen with everyone elses. Robert Hodges... give us the 4.5 percent COLA. Its time for you to bite the bullet for once.

Proof love at first sight exists ! Duh!!!

Love at first sight may not be just for old romantics, according to scientists. It turns out that people decide what kind of relationship they want within minutes of meeting, this according to a study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Researchers at Ohio State University paired off 164 students, focusing on same-sex friendships - but said it could be applied to dating. Report co-author Artemio Ramirez said it suggested speed dating had value as people did not want to waste time. "It's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. We make a prediction about what kind of relationship we could have with a person and that helps determine how much effort we are willing to put into developing a relationship. "If I think we could become friends, I'll communicate more, tell you more about myself and do things that will help ensure a friendship does develop. "If I have a more negative prediction about a future relationship then I will restrict communication and make it harder to develop."
Professor Ramirez, who conducted the study with Michael Sunnafrank of the University of Minnesota, said it contradicted previous assumptions. "Earlier research had assumed there was a cumulative effect that happens in the first days of meeting that helps determine how relationships will develop. "But we're finding that it all happens much sooner than that - literally within a few minutes." After the first meeting, which lasted between three, six and ten minutes, the students completed a questionnaire which asked them to predict how they envisaged a future relationship developing. They also stated how much they had in common and how much they liked the person they had just met.

Nine weeks later the participants were asked what kind of relationship had developed. People who rated the potential relationship more positively tended to sit closer to their partner during class and talk more to that person.
After nine weeks, they were more likely to have developed a close relationship, the study found. The results were the same for people who talked for three, six or ten minutes. Prof Ramirez said: "That tells you things are happening very quickly. People are making snap judgements about what kind of relationship they want with the person they just met."

Gee... and it took them all this time to figure it out..... Such is life!

Later,

Dr. Know

Social Science Rules! Defoliate Bush in 2004!

Julia Child, dead at 91 ... You will be Missed

Aug. 13, 2004 -- Julia Child, the celebrated chef, author and television personality who brought French cooking to American audiences, died at her home in Santa Barbara, California. She was 91. Julia taught millions of Americans how to cook and helped to elevate the nation's culinary standards. She was one of the pioneers of what is now a billion dollar industry in America. Julia Child and James Beard began the food revolution that said fresh is good, processed is not that tasty and good cooking can be done easily and quickly. She was a major influence for me. I am not a professional chief, but I do love to cook. I am the family cook, and dishwasher. One of the first books I ever read was part of a two volume set published after WW II, called The Art of French Cooking. Julia Child and Seimone Beck wrote the first volume together. It had no photographs in it, but the drawings were lovely line illustrations. I remember reading that book over and over. I was 10 at the time.
My mother and Julia had something in common. They both worked for the OSS. The Office of Strategic Services, which was the predecessor to the CIA. Julia was in France, my mom was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Julia and her husband Paul, stayed in Europe until it was too dangerous to stick around and then they came back to Boston. Then Julia was assigned to solve a problem for U.S. naval forces during World War II: Sharks would bump into explosives that were placed underwater, setting them off and warning the German U-boats they were intended to sink. "So... Julia Child and a few of her male compatriots got together and literally cooked up a shark repellent," that was used to coat the explosives so the sharks would not tip off the German's to the presence of the anti-submarine mines.

I grew up in Santa Barbara. One day I had to do some shopping at the Von's in Monteceito, which is right next to Santa Barbara. I was picking up some turnips, and other root vegetables. I was in the check out line and I heard a voice behind me ask what I was going to make for dinner. I turned around and to my surprise it was Julia Child. She and her husband had just moved out to California so he could be near the medical specialists he needed. She was a very tall person. Over 6 feet as I recall. That was my first encounter with Julia Child. The last time I saw Julia was in the late afternoon, as the sun was setting. I was ending my shift at a local Santa Barbara Radio Station, I came out onto the street and there Julia and Paul were. Holding hands, walking down the street into the sunset. Here was this tall woman, with a shopping bag in one hand with foodstuffs hanging out, and in the other hand was her husband's hand and they were walking off into the sunset. I just stood there, relishing the moment. As it turned out, Paul died several months later.

What made Julia so accessible to people? She had a strange voice, but that never got in the way. When you watched her TV show, The French Chief, you found yourself taking notes! She made everything so easy to understand. It appeared that her goal never seemed to be perfection, only pleasure. She stood fearlessly before calories and rich food armed with her wise strategy of moderation: eating a little bit of everything to avoid missing anything. Julia was a great chef, and she was funny. Her death leaves a hole in America's cultural heart. But her legacy should keep the country well fed for decades to come. Child's signature mix of wit, culinary skill and telegenic appeal made her a welcome ambassador of French cooking. Thanks to the magic of archives, television doesn't die. Julia's cooking shows are still broadcast. So her energy, enthusiasm and humor will live on. And Julia Child will continue to be a perfect example of the joy that comes from doing what you love. We all should be so lucky.

later,

Mr. T
Social Science Rules!
Defoliate Bush in November 2004!

Freebagging??? Ok... I guess its a down under thing....

The Thong Thing. Is it a new fashion trend? Nope. Is it a bathing suit? Not this one. Read on and all will be exposed... so to speak.

Move over, Victoria's Secret. Women's underwear has a new shape with the advent of an Australian design -- the backless thong. The backless thong? Humm. Now that's a mental picture to hold onto. Jan Digney, who lives on Australia's Gold Coast, had a visible G-string problem and asked her daughters for advice. They told their mom that they "freebag it." "We don't wear undies, Mum." Mom's response? "Well, there's got to be something out there to stop people from doing that." So some Fifty-odd prototypes later, Mrs. Digney came up with a pair of undies that have bra-style straps that tuck under the cheeks of the wearers butt. "It's like freebagging but you're protected," she says. Um, protected from what? What would you wear that would necessitate one using a backless thong? Jan and her husband Chuck have spent $300,000 on the first run of 35,000. The challenge, says Chuck, is to get people to believe they stay up. Stay up??? Is that the only thing they have to do to make their product successful? One wonders just what the ladies are wearing ... ah hem, down under.... oh bad pun... I know, I know....

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science rules!
Defoliate Bush in 2004!

An Op-Ed piece by Springsteen

I was unable to sleep this morning, so I got on the net and began to look at the morning newspapers online. I like the NY Times not only for its wide range of information, but because it is been around so long that it one of the "sources" historians use when trying to sort and understand the events that make up the American experience. As I was looking at the stories, I came across an OP-ED piece by a Bruce Springsteen. Yep, That Springsteen. That opinion piece is reprinted here because I feel this election is a very important one. Read on and when the time comes, get out and VOTE!

NY Times
August 5, 2004
Chords for Change
By BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

A nation's artists and musicians have a particular place in its social and political life. Over the years I've tried to think long and hard about what it means to be American: about the distinctive identity and position we have in the world, and how that position is best carried. I've tried to write songs that speak to our pride and criticize our failures.

These questions are at the heart of this election: who we are, what we stand for, why we fight. Personally, for the last 25 years I have always stayed one step away from partisan politics. Instead, I have been partisan about a set of ideals: economic justice, civil rights, a humane foreign policy, freedom and a decent life for all of our citizens. This year, however, for many of us the stakes have risen too high to sit this election out.

Through my work, I've always tried to ask hard questions. Why is it that the wealthiest nation in the world finds it so hard to keep its promise and faith with its weakest citizens? Why do we continue to find it so difficult to see beyond the veil of race? How do we conduct ourselves during difficult times without killing the things we hold dear? Why does the fulfillment of our promise as a people always seem to be just within grasp yet forever out of reach?

I don't think John Kerry and John Edwards have all the answers. I do believe they are sincerely interested in asking the right questions and working their way toward honest solutions. They understand that we need an administration that places a priority on fairness, curiosity, openness, humility, concern for all America's citizens, courage and faith.

People have different notions of these values, and they live them out in different ways. I've tried to sing about some of them in my songs. But I have my own ideas about what they mean, too. That is why I plan to join with many fellow artists, including the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Jurassic 5, James Taylor and Jackson Browne, in touring the country this October. We will be performing under the umbrella of a new group called Vote for Change. Our goal is to change the direction of the government and change the current administration come November.

Like many others, in the aftermath of 9/11, I felt the country's unity. I don't remember anything quite like it. I supported the decision to enter Afghanistan and I hoped that the seriousness of the times would bring forth strength, humility and wisdom in our leaders. Instead, we dived headlong into an unnecessary war in Iraq, offering up the lives of our young men and women under circumstances that are now discredited. We ran record deficits, while simultaneously cutting and squeezing services like afterschool programs. We granted tax cuts to the richest 1 percent (corporate bigwigs, well-to-do guitar players), increasing the division of wealth that threatens to destroy our social contract with one another and render mute the promise of "one nation indivisible."

It is through the truthful exercising of the best of human qualities - respect for others, honesty about ourselves, faith in our ideals - that we come to life in God's eyes. It is how our soul, as a nation and as individuals, is revealed. Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.

Bruce Springsteen is a writer and performer.

Well said, Bruce.

Later,

Mr. T
Social Science Rules! Defoliate Bush in 2004!

Is the World Ready for more CS Terrorists Attacks?

The leaders of Al Qaeda are at it again, only this time we know a little bit more about the things they want to do because of an arrest in Pakistan of a computer operator, who just happened to operate the web based communications of Al Qaeda. This arrest and the information gleaned from it is why Tom Ridge announced to the world the names of specific targets on the East Coast. Way to Go Tom! Set up a self-fulfilling situation why don't you? It should come as no surprise that the targets are economic in nature. Create a depression and you have a weakened enemy. The NY Times said today "...the desire by Al Qaeda's leaders to inflict economic damage on the United States, Britain and other Western countries is not a new goal. An Arab intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said intelligence accumulated since even before the Sept. 11 attacks showed that Al Qaeda and its affiliates wanted to attack financial institutions. "This was not something that was just learned yesterday," the official said. However, there had been a spike in recent intelligence pointing to financial targets. He said he believed that two banks in New York were specific targets, although he declined to identify them. He also said intelligence showed that Al Qaeda and its affiliates wanted to bomb banks in Britain and Switzerland. "They don't just want to attack buildings - they want to attack the financial structure of the United States, Britain and other European countries." Since the Sept. 11 attacks, terrorists have struck economic targets numerous times. The October 2002 bombings in Bali were intended to harm the tourist industry. Last November, terrorists bombed the Turkish headquarters of HSBC, the London-based international bank, as part of coordinated attacks in several locations in Istanbul, including the British Consulate, that killed a total of 62 people. And in recent months, terrorists in Saudi Arabia have struck at the infrastructure of the oil industry. "They know they are hitting the Saudi system at its most sensitive points, because of what the price of oil means to the American economy and the world economy," Michael Chandler, the former chairman of the United Nations Monitoring Group concerning Al Qaeda, said yesterday. "They are not stupid, these guys. They have some very good ideas, and they know what will have an impact.''
They may know what will have an impact, but they seem not to be able to see what will happen as a result of their actions in the long term. Mr. Bin Laden and company had better review their Western Civilization History books, especially United States History. He will find that the US is able to recover from just about any problem that may come our way. Mr. Bin Laden has not included in his calculations the nature of the American people. Through out our history, whenever we have been attacked, we have responded by becoming stronger. We have the ability to put aside differences, focus on the problem and solve it. I would like Mr. Laden to look at what Adoph Hitler and the Axis powers tried to do in the 1930's and the study the price they paid for their efforts. We have weathered the Great Depression, and became a world power because of the things we had to do get out of the depression. Our Banking system was revamped because of the abuses that helped usher in the depression. If the United States is attacked again, we will respond by doing what is needed to protect us, then correct the problem, and then eliminate the threat. It may take 10 years, but we can and will do what it takes to survive. There are reasons why the West triumphed and the East declined after the Middle Ages. Those reasons are still valid today. That is why we invent the technology that everyone else uses. ( If you want to read about those reasons, I suggest Will and Ariel Durant's Story of Civilization.) I want the world to be a safe place for my 7 year old granddaughter. She should be able to travel the world and see its wonders without being concerned that she is a target for terror just because some leader has a grudge against another leader and thinks its OK to kill randomly to make their point. Remember Mr. Laden and company, Allah is watching you and is recording what you do in his name.

Later,

Mr. T.
Social Science Rules! Defoliate Bush in 2004!

The Pokia ... Return to the future?

Greetings to you all. Well summer school is over and I am free for the next 3 weeks. What a different 6 weeks its been. I had 45 students for the 1st "semester" read: first 3 weeks, and 39 students for the 2nd semester. I was teaching high school US history, Pre-history to the present! The class was 4 hours long and we did a chapter a day. It was like teaching a seminar class. The students were mostly high achievers, but the testing results were puzzling. Half the class consistently failed the chapter tests, but the did well on the midterm and final. And these were 11th graders. Oh well. I had to deal with the cell phone issue for the first time this summer. I caught several students text messaging answers in class, no they were not test answers but homework answers. Man they did a lot of typing on their phones, and they all got the answers... wrong! Sigh! Speaking of phones, have you heard of the latest in cell phones? Its an old fashioned telephone handset, wired to your cell phone. Read on for more info.

Newfangled cell phones sure are nifty. But some people wax nostalgic for the heavy-duty telephone receivers of the '60s and '70s. At least that's what Nicholas Roope is banking on. The Londoner has wired an old phone handset to a concealed cell phone; his invention, called the Pokia, has landed him on the covers of magazines and in newspapers in the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States. Roope says as futuristic cell phones get smaller and more powerful, design becomes less important. "The very simple, robust, focused, single-minded design loses its way," he says. Plus, he adds, the Pokia's a great way to get dates. "The first thing that happens is people say: 'Does it work?' And then inevitably you say: 'Phone me on it.' Then you have their number." From Wired News 7/30/04 Do a google search on Pokia and check out Nicholas's web page.

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!
Defoliate Bush in 2004!

Oh Boy... There are more Jobs in the US.... bummer the hourly pay is not keeping up with price rises

How is ol' dub-ya gonna splane this one? Good thing: more jobs, bad thing: people are making less and the cost of living is rising.... thanks to his F*****g war! The amount of money workers receive in their paychecks is failing to keep up with inflation. Though wages should recover if businesses continue to hire, three years of job losses have left a large worker surplus according to the NY Times. "There's too much slack in the labor market to generate any pressure on wage growth,'' said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a research institution based in Washington. "We are going to need a much lower unemployment rate.'' He noted that at 5.6 percent, the national unemployment rate is still back at the same level as at the end of the recession in November 2001.

Even though the economy has been adding hundreds of thousands of jobs almost every month this year, stagnant wages could put a dent in the prospects for economic growth, some economists say. If incomes continue to lag behind the increase in prices, it may hinder the ability of ordinary workers to spend money at a healthy clip, undermining one of the pillars of the expansion so far. Declining wages are likely to play a prominent role in the current presidential campaign. Growing employment has lifted President Bush's job approval ratings on the economy of late. According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, in mid-July, 42 percent of those polled approved of the president's handling of the economy, up from 38 percent in mid-March. Yet Senator John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, is pointing to lackluster wages as a telling weakness in the administration's economic track record. ``Americans feel squeezed between prices that are rising and incomes that are not,'' Mark Mellman, a pollster for the campaign, said in a memorandum last month.

On Friday, July 16, 2004 the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that hourly earnings of production workers - nonmanagement workers ranging from nurses and teachers to hamburger flippers and assembly-line workers - fell 1.1 percent in June, after accounting for inflation. The June drop, the steepest decline since the depths of recession in mid-1991, came after a 0.8 percent fall in real hourly earnings in May.

Coming on top of a 12-minute drop in the average workweek, the decline in the hourly rate last month cut deeply into workers' pay. In June, production workers took home $525.84 a week, on average. After accounting for inflation, this is about $8 less than they were pocketing last January, and is the lowest level of weekly pay since October 2001. On its own, the decline in workers' wages is unlikely to derail the recovery. Though they account for some 80 percent of the work force, they contribute much less to spending. Mark M. Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, a research firm, noted that households in the bottom half of income distribution account for only one-third of consumer spending. Nonetheless, coming after the bonanza of the second half of the 1990's, the first period of sustained real wage growth since the 1970's, the current slide in earnings is a big blow for the lower middle class. Moreover, the absence of lower income households could also weigh on overall economic growth - putting a lid on the mass market and skewing consumption toward high-end products. "There's a bit of a dichotomy," said Ethan S. Harris, chief economist at Lehman Brothers. "Joe Six-Pack is under a lot of pressure. He got a lousy raise; he's paying more for gasoline and milk. He's not doing that great. But proprietors' income is up. Profits are up. Home values are up. Middle-income and upper-income people are looking pretty good."

Tales of tight budgets at the bottom are springing up across the country. "I haven't had a salary increase in two years, but the cost of living is going up," said Eric Lambert, 42, a father of three who earns $13 an hour as a security guard at 660 Madison Ave. in Manhattan. Silvia Vides, 43, who earns $11 an hour in a union job as a housekeeper at the Universal City Sheraton hotel in Los Angeles, said, "Sometimes I don't know how I pay the bills and food and rent." She has cut back on all nonessential expenditures and she is four months behind on payments on $4,000 in credit-card debt. Their woes are a product of supply and demand for labor. From 1996 through 2000 when employers were hiring hand over fist, real hourly wages of ordinary workers rose by 7.5 percent. Those for leisure and hospitality workers rose 9.6 percent, and retail workers' climbed 8.9 percent. The raises continued even as the economy slipped into recession in 2001 and businesses began to shed workers. From 2001 to 2003, 2.4 million jobs were eliminated, as businesses sharply reduced their work forces, refusing to hire back even as demand started picking up. Over a million of these jobs have been regained this year. Yet with the lowest number of people employed as a share of the population since 1994, there is still a plentiful supply of unused laborers looking for jobs.

Ms. Vides in California ticks off the items of a rising cost of living. She pays $850 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in Panorama City, $25 more a month than last year. The cost of a bus pass rose $10, to $45 a month. The electricity bill is much higher and food costs more. "I've got to do miracles with my salary," she said. So Ms. Vides said she was outraged that the hotels negotiating a new contract with her union were offering annual raises of 40 cents to 45 cents an hour each year for the next five years. The raise in 2004 would be about 4 percent, just enough to keep up with the 4 percent rise in prices in Los Angeles over the last year. "This is miserly," said Ms. Vides, who said the union wants $1.25 this year and $1.50 next. Colleen Kareti, president of the Los Angeles hotel employers' council, which represents the hotels, argued that negotiations had not yet gotten down to bargaining over wages. But she pointed out that times are hard for the hotel business, too. "It's been pretty bad for the last three years. We're nowhere near the levels of business where we were in 1998 through 2000," Ms. Kareti said.

Some economists warn that if wages remain depressed for a long time they may end up weighing on the economy. "The recovery will likely continue on despite the travails of lower-income households, but it cannot flourish," Mr. Zandi said. So far, spending has been fueled mostly by debt, as consumers took advantage of bedrock-low interest rates to whip out their credit cards and refinance their mortgages. But as interest rates rise to keep inflation in check, continued growth in consumer spending will depend more on jobs and wages.

Spending is still holding up, led by strong corporate profits as well as higher salaries and bonuses at the upper end of the income distribution. But the lagging earnings at the bottom end are making for a somewhat lopsided expansion. The upper echelons of consumer spending, at places like Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom department stores, are reporting gangbuster business. "I'm surprised by how well we've sold high-priced fashion at this stage," said Pete Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom's full-line stores.
But at the other end, sales at stores open at least a year at big-box discounters like Target and Wal-Mart have disappointed, while sales of used cars are declining year over year, government figures show. "We're not seeing the traffic, not even the same volumes of sales calls," said Richard Cooper, a sales manager at Jones Ford in Charleston, S.C.
Wages at the bottom should eventually recover, as businesses continue hiring to meet growing demand. The question is how fast. "As unemployment slides down, more of the benefits of growth should flow to the working class," Mr. Bernstein said. "But not until we reach truly full employment are they likely to see their earnings rise at a level closer to that of productivity."

And so it goes. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Some things never change. Sigh!

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!

Defoliate Bush in 2004!

Finland's seventh Annual wife-carrying world championship

Here is the latest sports news from up North... way up North...

An Estonian clinched Finland's seventh wife-carrying world championship, against 17 other couples who were vying for the world championship title. Using the "Estonian carry," where the woman clamps her thighs to the sides of the man's face while hanging upside down on his back, Madis Uusorg carried Inga Klauso 830 feet through a pool and over hurdles in just over a minute. The race in the remote village of Sonkajarvi, a few hours' drive from the Arctic Circle, has roots in local legend: apparently, stealing women from neighboring villages was common practice. It also harks to the story of Ronkainen the Robber, who made aspiring gang members prove their worth by carrying sacks of rye along a challenging track. "I just tried to run and not think about anything," Uusorg said. So you may wonder... just what did he win?? Madis won the "wife's" weight in beer and a sauna. Works for me....

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!
Defoliate Bush in 2004!

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

NEWS FLASH.... The Council for a Livable World sent this out today 6/24/04 it is republished here as a public service...

Fahrenheit 9/11, Academy Award winner Michael Moore's movie criticizing the Bush administration's actions in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, opens nationwide this Friday, June 25th.

Already the most controversial movie of the year, Fahrenheit 9/11, which the New York Times describes as "a powerful and passionate expression of outraged patriotism" was almost not released in the United States. Frightened by its anti-Bush content, Disney originally refused to release the film in the United States. After Fahrenheit 9/11 won the top prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and received glowing critical praise, the film makers were able to buy back distribution rights and find another U.S. distributor. In spite of this, there have been concerted efforts from the right-wing to stop theaters from showing the film.

Council for a Livable World is urging our supporters to see Fahrenheit 9/11 - on opening weekend if possible. If the film does well, it will encourage more theaters to show it. Also, a large opening weekend frequently spurs more moviegoers to see a film. Many political strategists believe that this film will encourage disaffected voters to return to the polls in November, and show those still unsure of who to vote for why another Bush administration will be a disaster. In an election which is expected to be extremely close, we need every vote we can get to avoid another four years of George W. Bush!

Fahrenheit 9/11 has already broken single-day box office records in New York City, where it opened last night, 6/23/04 If you live in the Redlands the movie will be showing at the Kirkorian 14 theaters.

Later,
Mr. T
Social Science Rules!

Sex and Money... more money does not get you more sex....

Can you tell its summer yet???? Well there is good news for the loveless and impoverished. According to a study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, more money does not lead to more sex. The bureau, known more for its determination of U.S. business cycles, found that "sexual activity enters strongly positively in happiness equations," but that, "greater income does not buy more sex, nor more sexual partners." The group found that, while most Americans make the beast with two backs two to three times per week, only 6 percent of high-income respondents had sex four or more times a week, compared with 8 percent of the low-income group. (Less technology in those homes??) Researchers also found that happy people tend to have sex more frequently, but said the cause and effects were unclear. Now, I wonder if the looked at the size of ones wad when they were researching this information????

Later,

Mr. T.

Social Science Rules!

Defoliate Bush in 2004!

Support the Culture Jammers Network effort to unbrand America

These are frightening times. With all that's happening -- the war on terror, Iraq, crony contracts and the PATRIOT Act -- it has become hard to see the big picture, to know where we really stand. The July 4th seems to be the perfect moment to take stock of what has become of our country.

It seems that the revolutionary zeal America was built upon has slipped away. It led us to greatness; to independence, to abolishing slavery, to putting a man on the moon. Yet our proud democracy has devolved into what amounts to a corporate state.

This month the AdBusters Media Foundation is launching a campaign of symbolic protest to unbrand America. A full-page ad will appear before Independence Day in the New York Times with the Corporate American flag flying proud, and the following pledge scrawled across the page:

July 4th
Because my country has sold its soul to corporate power, Because consumerism has become our new religion, Because we've forgotten the true meaning of freedom, And because the 'war on terror' has hijacked our national agenda, I pledge to do my duty . . . and take my country back.

http://www.unbrandamerica.org

They need to raise $60,000 to make it happen. They are counting on your support to pull this off. When they do, they will reach more than two million people and jam the world's most influential news source. Together we can set a new tone for the dangerous months leading up to the presidential election.

For every donation of $100 or more, AdBusters will send you a free Corporate American Flag. You can also get the flag at cost and download flag stickers and posters from their website.

We don't have much time, so the next few weeks will be vital. There are four ways to get involved, so join the call at:

http://www.unbrandamerica.org.

Take the pledge. Fly the flag. Spread the word.

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!

Defoliate Bush in 2004!!!

More BS From the Bush Camp!

Lawyers Decided Bans on Torture Didn't Bind Bush --- N.Y. Times 6/7/04

What the hell is this???

WASHINGTON, June 7 — A team of administration lawyers concluded in a March 2003 legal memorandum that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal antitorture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security. The memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, also said that any executive branch officials, including those in the military, could be immune from domestic and international prohibitions against torture for a variety of reasons. One reason, the lawyers said, would be if military personnel believed that they were acting on orders from superiors "except where the conduct goes so far as to be patently unlawful." "In order to respect the president's inherent constitutional authority to manage a military campaign," the lawyers wrote in the 56-page confidential memorandum, the prohibition against torture "must be construed as inapplicable to interrogation undertaken pursuant to his commander-in-chief authority."
Senior Pentagon officials on Monday sought to minimize the significance of the March memo, one of several obtained by The New York Times, as an interim legal analysis that had no effect on revised interrogation procedures that Mr. Rumsfeld approved in April 2003 for the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Where in the Constitution does it say that??? Where? Dammit.... Who is running the country? This really ticks me off. We as a country, on one hand say we stand for freedom, liberty and fairness, then on the other hand we do exactly what we condemn other countries for doing. What a bunch of lying, crooked, ignorant, self-rightious bigots! Both Rumsfeld and Bush should be put on trial for the crimes they have committed against humanity and against the American public! Mark my words, we have not heard the last of this one! This will be the final nail in the coffin that will finish off the Bush presidency... A presidency that will live in infamy.... To the shame of Americans everywhere.

Get Buried Naked!!! Well at least without all those chemicals.....

And Now for Something Completely Deferent! What was old, very old is a new Idea again..... Are you one of those "eco-nuts?" Do you recycle everything? Do you have a "green toilet?" If so, then this service may be just what you are looking for especially if you aspire to leave no trace after you exit your mortal coil. A Marin County, California, business offers perhaps the ultimate carbon-neutral service: a nature preserve cemetery, where the deceased can be buried in a biodegradable box or nothing at all. "We do the dust-to-dust approach where people decay naturally," Kimberley Campbell, one of the owners of Memorial Ecosystems, told the Marin Independent Journal. People would be buried on about three acres of the 32-acre site; the remainder would be left as open space. "Our goal is to create a nature preserve with a cemetery function, but people could be married there or have their child baptized there or plant a tree," Campbell said. She allayed fears that wild animals might dig up the bodies. "When people are buried under seven feet of dirt, an animal is not going to dig them up."

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!
Defoliate Bush in 2004!

California Toughens Laws Concerning wreless telephones... ita about time!

Last Thursday, after 4 years of arguing with wireless providers, California became the first state in the nation to adopt consumer protections for cell phone customers. Supporters say the reforms will make wireless carriers more accountable by forcing them to do a better job explaining rates to customers and to provide better service. In one of the biggest changes, dissatisfied consumers will have the right to cancel their wireless service within 30 days of signing a contract. Wow! You will no longer be fined for changing your mind! What a concept. Other key reforms include: requiring all rates, taxes and other services terms to be clearly posted on the Internet; requiring all key contract terms to be listed in 10-point type so vital information isn't written in fine print; requiring carriers to list the address and toll-free number of regulators to make it easier for customers to file complaints. This landmark set of rules was passed by the state PUC on a 3 - 2 vote. The commission said it received more than 5,000 complaints from consumers last year about wireless companies. Nationally, the Council of Better Business Bureaus said wireless carriers are the No. 2 topic of complaints filed with its bureaus, second only to auto dealers. The regulation passed after an acrimonious debate about whether the reforms represented enlightened regulation or ham-handed meddling into the free market. People are still thinking that utilities should not be regulated??? Look what happened to California when the unregulated electric power industry was manipulated by greedy TEXANS! (Enron) ... (I know that not all people from Texas are greedy... so.. cool your jets.)
"These are 'Thou Shalt Not Deceive The Customer' rules," said PUC board member Geoffrey Brown, who wrote the proposal. PUC board member Susan Kennedy, who wrote a proposal seeking to give carriers an escape hatch from the reforms, predicted the changes will fuel perceptions that California is unfriendly to business and ultimately drive more wireless carriers from the state. Please write Susan Kennedy and re-enforce the notion that California consumers will be hostile to anyone or Company that tries to screw us... and if that means driving carriers and other companies out of the most populated state in the Union... so be it. It will be their loss and our gain."There is a high probability that this agency will screw up the competition that gives consumers all the choices that they have today," Kennedy warned before the vote. With Kennedy making statements like that one wonders if she is getting bribes from the wireless companies. Think of it. We might loose wireless choices, because we the people want to know what we are being billed for in a manner we can understand! Ms Kennedy... do you listen to what you say??
The reforms adopted Thursday dropped some of the provisions included under a tougher proposal drafted by PUC board member Carl Wood, who began exploring the bill of rights concept in 1999. Brown's proposal excluded regulations involving the industry's marketing practices and customers' privacy rights. Nevertheless, consumer activists hailed the new rules as a long-overdue breakthrough that could provide the regulatory framework for similar reforms in other states. "California is the first state to take a look and make their telecom regulations appropriate for wireless," said Tim Morstad, a policy analyst in the Austin, Texas office of Consumers Union. The new rules are "a tremendous step forward for consumers in California and the rest of the United States," Wood said.
Wireless industry leaders vehemently disagreed and promised to explore all options to overturn Thursday's decision. "These rules simply represent a leap to judgment that is fundamentally inconsistent with a vigorous and competitive marketplace," said Steve Largent, president of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, an industry trade group. The industry doesn't have to adopt many of the California reforms until late November. Other changes aren't scheduled to take effect for another year. Wireless carriers still hope to derail the reforms, possibly in court. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, an industry trade group, said it "will consider all possible options to challenge the unnecessary and sweeping rules." The reforms' opponents, led by wireless carriers, contend the rules will create new layers of bureaucracy and impose new costs that will be passed on to consumers. The industry has estimated the price increases triggered by the rules could range from $4 to $17 per month. Consumer groups are confident the reforms will benefit California's 19 million wireless phone users. "The wireless industry has made it clear that they'd rather spend millions on lobbyists and public relation campaigns than on implementing a few common sense rights that would ultimately keep their customers happy," said Janee Briesemeister of Consumers Union. One has to wonder why they do thing. To my way of thinking they must think we are stupid and deserve to pay through the nose for an item that is rapidly becoming the normal way to communicate. This is, after all the 21st Century!

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!

Defoliate Bush in 2004! The Commander in Chief of the US needs to step forward and take responsibility for his troops actions!

America! Have you had enough yet? or are you willing to keep on spending and spending and spending... ?

Well ol' George W has done it again. He wants Congress to fess up $50 Billion for the "Iraq Freedom fund." Yep, you read it correctly, $50 BILLION! I am ill at the thought of throwing all of that money away. If you do a little research you will find that the Prez is not that good of a business person. He has always relied on his family and friends to help bail him out of his failing businesses. Well its starting to happen again. Spain has said goodby, Italy is on the verge hanging it up in Iraq and England is not too far away from joining them... and that will be with or without Tony Blair. That will mean that America will be on its own in dealing with the problems in Iraq. Can we as a country afford it? NO! That money could be better spent in helping the poor, or spent on turning America into a country that is not dependent on oil, thereby removing us from the oil blackmail list and freeing our country to grow. It would also help the earth by reducing harmful emissions, and give terrorists one less thing to be angry at the US about. So why don't we do this? Why is the President continuing to have Americans killed in a foreign country? I'm not sure, but I really don't like it.
A thought. Today I was giving a lecture on President Lincoln and the reasons why he issued the emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Lincoln needed two thing in order to issue this proclamation. One, he needed a Union victory, and two, he needed the legal power to free the slaves. The battle at Antietam gave him the victory he needed, but the Constitution did not give him the power to free the slaves. Lincoln used his power as Commander in Chief of the Military to free the slaves. It worked like this. As Commander in chief, the President is responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in the theater of war. Yes, EVERYTHING. Like President Truman's desk top sign said, "The buck stops here." Meaning of course that the President is ultimately responsible for everything that his government does. Lincoln used his power as the commander in chief to free the slaves in all territory occupied by the Union army, and that was most of the Confederate states. Slaves in the areas not occupied by the Union army were not affected. How could Lincoln do this? Because he was the Commander in chief and responsible for everything in the theater of war. (An aside. The reason the slaves were freed was to crush the Southern states economy and bring the war between the states to a halt.)
Now I ask you, Who is our commander in chief today? Yep... good ol' George W. That makes him responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in Iraq. Now the question is will Americans hold him accountable in November? Accountable for bankrupting our great country, killing our young men in foreign countries, and other items too numerous to mention. Its a sad day when I have to write things like this, but at least I can voice my opinion thanks to the United States constitution and the freedoms it guarantees.

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!

Defoliate Bush in 2004!

News From the Pews ... Not many Backers for a Ban on Gay Marriages

Well what do you know? Just four months after an alliance of conservative Christians was threatening a churchgoer revolt unless President Bush championed an amendment banning same-sex marriage, members say they have been surprised and disappointed by what they call a tepid response from the pews. Most of the groups supporting the proposed federal constitutional amendment concede that it appears all but dead in Congress for this election year.

More Youths Opt for G.E.D., Skirting High-School Hurdle

A testing system created more than half a century ago to help World War II veterans earn the equivalent of a high school diploma has increasingly become a way for teenagers to short-circuit high school. Roughly one of every seven high school diplomas granted in the United States in recent years has gone to someone who has passed the tests, known as the G.E.D. And the proportion of school-age students taking that route has risen sharply. Nationally, teenagers accounted for 49 percent of those earning G.E.D.'s in 2002, up from 33 percent a decade earlier. Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York were among the states where teenagers accounted for more than half of those earning G.E.D.'s. In 2002. The proportion of teenagers getting G.E.D.'s has doubled since 1989, while overall high school graduation rates have declined slightly. Most educators view the G.E.D. As a valuable option for people who do not make it through high school, but they do not consider it equivalent. The G.E.D. was intended to be a second chance for adults; it was never intended to replace a high school education. Experts attribute the flood of young people in part to the difficulty in finding a decent job without a high school diploma, and in part to the increased difficulty of earning a traditional high school diploma in many states. New York, for example, has made passing five Regents exams a condition of graduation, and no longer offers a lesser diploma for weaker students. In California students have to pass the California High School Exit Exam. Known as the dreaded CAHSEE test.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind law and state efforts to hold schools more accountable, schools have more incentive to discourage weak students from staying. Students who transfer to G.E.D. programs are usually off school rolls, but in many states are not counted as dropouts. Mr. Chaplin, of the Urban Institute, said he had "found pretty strong evidence that the G.E.D. option has been encouraging kids to drop out of high schools nationwide." "The rules governing the G.E.D. have become more lenient over time," he said. "Under No Child Left Behind, we're holding schools very strictly accountable for test scores, but barely holding them accountable for students who drop out or go into G.E.D. programs. It is like holding hospitals accountable for the condition of patients who leave, but ignoring the number who die. It's a perverse incentive system."

Bush's Actions Drive Up the price of gasoline!!! I'm PISSED!

I went to fill up my good ol' PT cruiser the other day and was I shocked to see the price of gas had risen to $2.56 a gallon for the least expensive, regular, unleaded fuel. So I decided to put the old Internet to use and see if I could find a cause for this unjustified attack on my very limited financial resources. The more I dug, the more I came to understand the relationship between the political actions of the Bush administration and the rise in gas prices. What really gets my goat is that the cost of fuel will influence the cost of everything and I really mean EVERYTHING!! Not only has Bush and Company spent all of the money the US had in surplus, but has now placed us in major DEBT, caused an American to be beheaded, and had untold numbers of American fighting men killed needlessly. All this in the name of defending America's Freedom! ARGGGGH!
The price of crude oil surpassed $40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. Attacks on oil facilities in Iraq and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks have largely been responsible for driving up the price. Crude oil for June delivery rose $1.13 a barrel, or 3 percent, to close at $40.06, the highest since the October 1990 market spike in the wake of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, when prices briefly reached $40.60 a barrel.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOTHERS OUT THERE!

Later,

Mr. T

Social Science Rules!

Defoliate Bush in 2004!