Cheney Shake

While idiots compare Cheney’s handshake to Obama’s bow, the real news is happening in China – a nation that is positioning itself to be the new MAJOR WORLD POWER! Does that mean that Chairman Mao was right all along? There are over a billion Chinese people. That means that not only do you have a huge market for foreign investment, but the government is also collecting lots of taxes from productive workers. While their economy chugs along, ours is sinking. I wonder why that is? Under Chairman Dung, the Party began to rethink the notion of private property and enterprise. While maintaining a stanglehold on political power, they were able to create an environment where people who worked their butts off were rewarded for their labor in kind. In this quasi-Capitalist environment, four decades of protectionist policies that spit in the face of international trade & copyright laws, China is rising like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes of its Twentieth Century past.

So what to do about China? While they continue to oppress their people, they still enjoy most favored nation status as an economic trading partner. We need to shut the door on China and soon. That’s right. Protectionism. China is warming up to wage economic war on the U.S. Where do you think their 9% annual GDPs come from? U.S. goods and services flowing across from China to U.S. in a lopsided game that will soon cause our ship to go under. Our trade deficit amounts to surrender to the Chinese. Who’s to blame? Corrupt American businesses and greedy shareholders who said, “Go away!” to the American workers. “We can find much cheaper labor in China and India.” So off went all our jobs to India, China, Pakistan, Cambodia, even Thailand got a piece.

I was going to buy some shrimp today and then I saw it was farmed in Thailand. Gross! I tossed the shrink wrapped styrofoam packaged insult back on the shelf. You see, Thailand picked one industry in the U.S. to destroy; that is, the shrimpers. People who’ve made their livings catching wild (and yummy) shrip in places like the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay have been ruined by the Thai onslaught of disgusting pre-frozen, farmed shrimp. Hurricane Katrina didn’t help the shrimpers very much either. Note how quickly they got those offshore oil rigs up and running again! Do you think FEMA money went into that? Let’s ask opensecrets.org!

The main reason that the oil and gas industry has been so supportive of Landrieu may be because of her action on offshore drilling. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Landrieu became the first Louisiana lawmaker to push through legislation allowing the Pelican State to recoup lost revenue by sharing royalties from offshore drilling, according to Congressional Quarterly. During fiscal year 2007, Louisiana received $23.1 million from offshore leases–and the state expects this number to go up dramatically in the next decade–and has put the funds toward coastal restoration. Those receiving a piece of the offshore pie have not been shy about contributing to Landrieu: oil rig operator Edison Chouest Offshore ranks fourth among her top contributors between 2003 and 2008.

Economists refer to Japan of the Nineteen Ninetie’s as the Lost Decade. What happened? Japan “hollowed” out its economy by exporting all their manufacturing operations – the factories – to China and India! They were the number one bankers in the world with the most liquidity of any nation. Now there are homeless in every big city. The country seems to have shrugged its shoulders and said, “I give up.” I blame not only the tyrant bosses of this country for putting greed above the land that gave them so much opportunity, but also the workers who did nothing while their jobs went “bye-bye.” In the olden days, the autoworkers in Detroit would have burned down the state capitol in Lansing, rather than watch their jobs get shipped to Mexico or Taiwan. So while right wing idiots play the Ewe-Tube video over and over again with glee, their jobs and the value of their labor, continue to cross the U.S. border to lands where people don’t care if they get fringe bennies, or not. How low will the Religious Right go to regain power? Just keep watching YouTube to find out. I suggest John Boner, the minority leader’s web site. You should see the commentary posted by his racist, mentally deficient followers. Remember – Boner comes from a district that is 90% white and the median income is over $45,000. My congressional district BTW is wonderfully diverse : 20% White, 30% Black, 12% Asian and 35% Hispanic. That’s why minority leader Boner’s constituents wealthy, greedy, corrupt fools. The American people are the most passive, lazy bunch of slobs and it shames me that I might be confused for one! Vive la France!

Hat tip to Prometheus 6, which famously insists, “Don’t lie on Black folks, don’t lie about Black folk,” and “Don’t lie to Black folks.”

You’ve probably seen commercials by a company, Blue Hippo, claiming that it would allow consumers to buy brand-name computers on layaway. I have. I even thought about looking into Blue Hippo for buying a desktop or a laptop computer. The company was flogging its services everywhere, from New York, to Georgia, to Wisconsin, daily and even late at night.

But then, I found other opportunities where I could get a computer: Best Buy’s clearance outlet on eBay; WalMart, and CraigsList. In these hard times, layaway is particularly attractive for many who have lost their credit standing or who don’t have a credit card. But unlike stores like K-Mart, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, Marshall’s, Toys-R-Us, TJ Maxx, and at eLayaway, the FTC says that Blue Hippo consistently didn’t come up with the goods. Its customers are still waiting for their computers. In short, it was indeed like taking candy from the poor.

Don't ever buy a computer from this hippo (Courtesy: Ars Publica)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has had it with the company, which offers computers on layaway to those too poor to buy one outright. Buyers put up $99 to $124 in down payments, then make regular payments of $36 to $88. After 13 of these payments, the company says it will send out a computer, while the payments continue until the balance is paid off.

Unfortunately for the friendly folks at BlueHippo, the FTC smelled a scam. People were simply not getting machines, and BlueHippo’s “cancelation policy” required people to send in prepaid money orders first even if their account had enough money to cover the necessary fees–not allowed under FTC consumer protection rules. In 2008, BlueHippo settled with the agency. Under the terms of the deal, BlueHippo would pay up to $5 million into a “consumer restitution pool” to reimburse those who had been burned

[...]

According to the FTC, the company’s brazen business model continued without interruption after the 2008 settlement. “In fact, in the year following entry of this Court’s Stipulated Final Judgment and Order for a Permanent Injunction, BlueHippo financed—at most—a single computer to the over 35,000 consumers who placed orders for computers that could be financed during the period,” the FTC told a court yesterday. In the meantime, the company took in a cool $15 million in payments from consumers, who don’t appear to have received anything in return.

You certainly can’t believe everything you see on TV. Skip Blue Hippo as a company to which you can trust your dollars.

Melissa Leo discovers how cold the world can be.

(Sony Classics) Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Michael O’Keefe, Charlie McDermott, Mark Boone Jr., James Reilly, Jay Klaitz. Directed by Courtney Hunt

When times are hard, our moral compass is tested. How much of our integrity and our ethics will we compromise in order to survive? Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Ray Eddy (Leo) lives in a trailer with her two kids, 15-year-old T.J. (McDermott) and 5-year-old Ricky (Reilly). They live in Northern New York near the Canadian border and also near the Mohawk reservation. It is the middle of winter and with Christmas approaching, things are pretty bleak.

We’re not just talking about the landscape. Ray’s husband has deserted them, leaving his car one night at the bingo parlor and getting on a bus, presumably to Atlantic City. He has a gambling problem – that would be an understatement – and has taken all of their savings with him. Ray is trying to keep her fingers and toes in the dike but the leaks are beginning to chip away at the dam. They dine nightly on microwave popcorn and Tang.

T.J. is fully aware that his dad has left them in the lurch and isn’t coming back. He wants to drop out of school and find a job, something Ray is adamantly opposed to. She works at the Dollar store part time and scrambles for more hours and maybe a promotion but the paycheck doesn’t quite stretch far enough. Their television set is about to be repossessed, something that Ray wants to avoid because she wants to keep Ricky feeling somewhat secure.

Lila Littlewolf (Upham) works at the bingo parlor and is terribly nearsighted, but can’t afford to buy glasses. She has a baby who is being raised by her mother-in-law, who refuses to allow her contact with her own child; Lila resorts to perching in a tree outside her mother-in-law’s home in freezing weather just to catch a glimpse of her baby.

Lila notices the abandoned car in the parking lot with keys conveniently in the ignition and drives off with it. Ray, who had gone to the bingo parlor to see if she could find some clue to her husband’s whereabouts, sees this and follows Lila home. She confronts the girl and takes the car back. Lila needs the transportation desperately and lets Ray in on a potential payday; if they drive across a frozen river at the Canadian border, they can make $2000 for bringing something back to the U.S. no questions asked. Furthermore Ray is less likely to be stopped than Lila, being white.

Ray is desperate so she agrees. When they arrive at Lila’s contact, Ray is shocked to discover that what they are bringing across the border are illegal aliens – mostly Pakistanis and Chinese. Ray is initially reluctant but it’s too late to back out. Once they successfully make it to the other side, Ray is ready to call their relationship quits.

Money talks however and Lila needs a lot more of it and so does Ray. They decide to make a few more runs, enough for Ray to replace the money that her husband stole for her and for Lila to get her baby back. However, as much as you try to keep your business in the dark, inevitably your actions will emerge into the light. In making things right for her kids, Ray could risk making things even worse for them.

Writer-director Hunt was nominated for an Oscar for her screenplay, as was Leo. While Hunt’s nomination really didn’t get a lot of buzz, Leo attracted a lot of notice from the critics and deservedly so. This is a career-making performance. Leo makes Ray a real, breathing woman, someone who the audience can identify with and root for. As good as Leo’s performance is, I think that despite the nomination Hunt’s script got lost in the shuffle because Leo was given a great character to play with, a woman pushed into a corner by a cold, unfeeling world and doing whatever it takes to keep her family together.

While Upham didn’t get the acclaim Melissa Leo did, nonetheless she delivers a terrific performance that nicely compliments Leo; not to take anything away from Melissa Leo but without Upham’s performance it’s entirely possible her own performance might have been overlooked. Part of what makes the role work as well as it does is the relationship between the women, one born of desperation and pragmatism.

As a director, Hunt captures the environment nicely. Mostly working class and the working poor, she nails what it’s like to live close to the edge where even one paycheck can mean the difference between survival and catastrophe. What the women do is dangerous but Hunt wisely doesn’t focus on that. Instead, she places the emphasis on the characters and the movie is much better as a result. In lesser hands, this would have been a run-of-the-mill drama with elements of suspense. A movie of the week, in other words.

This is a solid indie film that has authenticity oozing out of every frame. You never get the sense that the filmmakers are manufacturing anything; the events and characters seem organic to their environment and the story flows nicely without being formulaic. It can be hard to watch because of the unrelenting grim tone, but then again that’s just the way some people live. Worth checking out for Leo’s performance alone, this is one of those rare movies that come out of left field and attract the right kind of attention. It should also have your attention as well.

WHY RENT THIS: A standout performance by Melissa Leo elevates what could have been a mundane drama into something better. Director Hunt captures the despair and desperation of the characters and their situation nicely.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: An unrelenting grim tone may turn some viewers off.

FAMILY VALUES: A lot of rough language and adult situations may make this a little too much for younger sorts.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: McDermott and Reilly, who play brothers in the film, are cousins in real life.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

TOMORROW: The Men Who Stare at Goats

President Barack Obama talks to Wright Middle School children about staying in school and what it means to succeed (Courtesy: WhiteHouse.gov)

I saw the speech on one of the local stations here in Mad City. That speech was for the adults; the real speech happened beyond this photo opportunity. The kids are so nervous that they are rigid in their seats. This is the President of the United States before them. The Real Deal. It’s worse than getting in front of their parents. Let’s hope they loosened up a bit more after the cameras were off them, and really talked to President Obama.

James C. Wright School is a charter school on the Southside of Madison. It is predominantly black children and children of color (Latino and Asian), with a spattering of young white children. Most have one thing in common–that they are low-income, that is, poor. But so was President Obama a long time ago. These kids needed to see this man in person.

The President’s opening remarks to the children of Wright School is here.

The speech to the politicians (Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, the latter highly touted as a Dem candidate for governor), the other students, their parents, and school administrators seemed to be a reworking of his usual speeches about education, but there is more to it than that. Here is the speech itself. I am still trying to find video of the entire speech–with the introduction by the students and Governor Jim Doyle, etc.–but this will have to do until it is released. Naturally the local TV news anchors boosted the speech and the appearance as having historical implications. Wisconsin does need a boost as far as educational opportunities for its population, which is rapidly turning from dairy and other rural farming and factory work to more modern careers and industries, like in health care and engineering. “Race to the Top” is Obama’s answer, as the Los Angeles Times said. We’ll see what the teachers’ unions have to say about that.

Obama called for the abolition of “firewall” rules, which prevent many schools from judging teacher performance based on student performance.

To win the grant money, they’ll also have to develop internationally competitive standards, find innovative ways to recruit educators and track the progress of students to make sure every child graduates ready for college.

“If a state wants to increase its chances of actually winning a grant, it will have to do more,” Obama said. “It will have to collect information about how students are doing in a particular year — and over the course of an academic career — and make this information available to teachers so they can use it to improve the way they teach. That’s how teachers can determine what they should be doing differently in the classroom. That’s how principals can determine what changes need to be made in our schools.”

—-

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
November 04, 2009
Remarks by the President on Strengthening America’s Education System
James C. Wright Middle School, Madison, Wisconsin

1:40 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Hello, Madison! (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. Everybody, please, have a seat. Have a seat.

It is good to see all of you. Good to be back in Madison. I want to first of all just say that Jim Doyle is not only one of the finest governors we have in the country, but is also a great friend, a great supporter; his entire family has been wonderful. And so I just could not be prouder to associate myself with the outstanding work that Jim has done in the state. Please give him a big round of applause. (Applause.)

We’ve got two wonderful mayors in the house. First of all, your own, Dave Cieslewicz, is here. Dave. (Applause.) And Milwaukee’s outstanding mayor, Tom Barrett, is in the house. (Applause.)

I am so impressed with the work that’s been done here at Wright Middle School and I know that Principal Nancy Evans deserves a huge amount of credit, so please give her a big round of applause. (Applause.) And to the faculty and the staff, but most importantly, the students, who I had a chance to meet with earlier today, they are just some outstanding young people. So if there are any parents of students in the house you should be proud — and give them all a big round of applause. (Applause.)

Now, it’s great to be back in Madison, great to be back in Wisconsin. And I’ve heard great things about Wright, so I’ve got very high expectations for all the students here — and I told them this. I expect them to keep up the good work that you’ve already been putting in to make sure that you succeed not just in middle school, but also in high school, also in college, and for the rest of your lives. And parents, I want you to stay on them because — because that is an absolutely critical ingredient for their success.

You know, one year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see. (Applause.) Election Day was a day of hope, it was a day of possibility, but it was also a sobering one because we knew even then that we faced an array of challenges that would test us as a country. We already saw that there was a financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into a great depression — the worst that we’ve seen in generations. We had record deficits, two wars, frayed alliances around the world.

Facing this reality, my administration had two fundamental obligations. The first was to rescue the economy from imminent collapse. And while we still have a long way to go, we have made meaningful progress toward achieving that goal. We acted boldly and swiftly to pass a Recovery Act that has made a difference for families right here in Wisconsin, and Jim, your governor, described the difference that it’s made.

We’ve put a tax cut into the pockets of 95 percent of hardworking families. We created or saved over one million jobs, including 4,000 education jobs right here in Wisconsin. We’ve taken steps to unlock our frozen credit markets so that the ordinary American can get the loan that he or she needs to buy a home or a car, to go to college or start a new business. We’ve enacted measures to stem the crisis in our housing market to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes and curb the decline of home values overall.

So all these things contributed to the first quarter of economic growth that we’ve had as a nation in over a year. The rate of job loss is slowing, although not nearly fast enough yet. The work continues. But we’re moving in the right direction, and we are going to keep on fulfilling our obligation to do every single thing we possibly can to pull this economy out of the ditch and to make sure that people can find jobs that pay good wages. That’s our top priority. (Applause.)

So that was the rescue part of our job, just solving the immediate crisis. But we also came into office with another goal, another obligation — not simply to do what needed to be done to deal with an emergency crisis, but to make those long-term investments necessary to build our economy stronger than before. It was an obligation to tackle problems that had been festering, problems that had been kicked down the road year after year, decade after decade; problems that have to be overcome for America to move forward.

See, even before the crisis we were having big problems. We were just papering them over. Manufacturing was declining and we weren’t producing as many high-tech, high-skilled jobs as we needed to be. We had an energy situation where suddenly oil producers or speculators want to constrict supply, and next thing you know you’re paying four bucks at the pump. So we didn’t have energy independence. Health care costs were skyrocketing — before the crisis — so that families were seeing more and more out-of-pocket costs and essentially trading away salary and wages just to keep up with their premiums.

So we had an obligation to create a better health care system that works for our people, our businesses, and our government alike. (Applause.) And that’s why we’ve been pushing so hard on health care reform. That’s why we took up the cause of a clean energy economy that will free America from the grip of foreign oil and generate millions of good-paying jobs in the process — green jobs in retrofitting old buildings to make them more energy efficient, creating the batteries and other technologies needed for plug-in hybrids that can get 150 miles a gallon — and will help to curb climate change. And that’s why we’re taking up the cause that I’m here to talk about today, and that is offering the best possible education to America’s sons and daughters. (Applause.)

This boy, Ari Davis, practiced for hours and hours his simple opening remarks, leading the assembly to say the Pledge of Allegiance and to introduce two other girls singing the National Anthem (Courtesy: WhiteHouse.gov)

American prosperity has long rested on how well we educate our children. But this has never been more true than it is today. In the 21st century, when countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, there is nothing that will determine the quality of our future as a nation and the lives our children will lead more than the kind of education that we provide them. Nothing is more important.

And here is what we know: Over the course of a lifetime, those with a college degree — and I want the young people here especially to listen to this — over the course of a lifetime, those with a college degree earn over 60 percent more than those with only a high school diploma — 60 percent more. Most of the fastest growing jobs require a bachelor's degree or more. This is what we were talking about earlier in the classroom. Four out of every 10 new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training within the next decade. So put simply, the right education is a prerequisite for success. There was a time when if you just got a high school education and you were willing to work hard, you could get a job in a trade or in the factory that paid a middle-class wage. And those days are declining. The currency of today's economy is knowledge.

And yet we continue to trail other countries in a number of critical areas. The United States, a nation that has always led the way in innovation, is now being outpaced in math and science education. A handful of states have even gone in the wrong direction, lowering their standards at the very moment that they should be raising them. We used to rank number one in the number of college graduates and advanced degrees. That's not the case anymore. Meanwhile, African American and Latino students continue to lag behind their white classmates — an achievement gap that will ultimately cost us hundreds of billions of dollars because that's our future workforce.

Of course, these problems aren't new. We've heard about them for years. But instead of coming together to solve them, we've let partisanship and petty bickering stand in the way of progress. (Applause.) It's been Democrat versus Republican — it's been Democrat versus Republican, it's been voucher versus public schools, it's been more money versus more reform. In some cases, people have seen schools as sort of a political spoil having to do with jobs and contracts instead of what we're teaching kids. And this status quo has held back our children, it's held back our economy, and it's held back our country for too long. It's time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it. It's time to make education America's national mission. (Applause.)

Now, I'm proud to say that thanks to one of the best secretaries of education America has ever had, Arne Duncan, who's here today — stand up, Arne, so everybody can see — (applause) — thanks to Arne's passion and understanding of these issues and the ability to bring people together, that's exactly what we're going to do. We are making this America's national mission: improving our schools not in unrealistic ways, not in abstract ways, not in pie-in-the-sky ways — in concrete ways we are putting our resources behind the kinds of reforms that are going to make a difference.

In the coming weeks, states will be able to compete for what we're calling a Race to the Top award. We're putting over $4 billion on the table — $4 billion with a "b" — one of the largest investments that the federal government has ever made in education reform. But we're not just handing it out to states because they want it. We're not just handing it out based on population. It's not just going through the usual political formulas. We're challenging states to compete for it.

And I have to tell you, this was not an easy thing to get through Congress. This is not normally how federal dollars work. But because of Arne's tenacity and our commitment to make sure that reform happens, that's how we've structured it. We're saying to states, if you are committed to real change in the way you educate your children, if you're willing to hold yourselves more accountable, and if you develop a strong plan to improve the quality of education in your state, then we'll offer you a big grant to help you make that plan a reality.

Now, before a state is even eligible to compete, they'll have to take an important first step. And this has caused some controversy in some places, but it shouldn't be controversial. Any state that has a so-called firewall law will have to remove them. Now, here's what a firewall law is: It basically says that you can't factor in the performance of students when you're evaluating teachers. That is not a good message in terms of accountability. So we said, if you've got one of those laws, if you want to compete for these grants you got to get rid of that law.

And we'll encourage states to take a better approach when it comes to charter schools and other innovative public schools. When these schools are performing poorly, they'll be shut down. But when innovative public schools are succeeding, they shouldn't be stifled — they should be supported.

And I'm proud to say that already a number of states have taken us up on this challenge. Across the country, different groups are coming together to bring about change in our schools — teachers unions and parents groups, businesses and community organizations. In places like New Haven, educators and city leaders have come together to find a smarter way to evaluate teachers and turn around low-performing schools. In states like California and Indiana and Wisconsin, you're seeing steps taken to remove these so-called firewall laws so we can have a clear look at how well our children are learning and what can be done to help them learn better. States like Delaware and Louisiana, Tennessee and Illinois are all making efforts to let innovative charter schools flourish.

So, a race to the top has begun in our schools, but the real competition will begin when states apply for the actual Race to the Top grants. See, they had to make some changes just to even join the race. But now the race starts, and we're going to start seeing even more interesting changes at the local level. So we'll take a hard look at states' applications to determine whether they measure up. We'll take a look at a state's track record to determine whether the steps they've taken have had real results when it comes to their students' education. We'll take a look at whether states are taking an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to reform. And in particular, we'll take a look at how states are doing when it comes to four key measures of reform.

And I want to get into some details about this because I want you, as parents, as well as the educators, to understand what the data and the science and the studies and the research show actually make a big difference in terms of school improvement — because that's what we are basing this stuff on. We didn’t just kind of make it up, didn’t just do it because it sounded good, this is what the research shows is really going to make a difference.

The first measure is whether a state is committed to setting higher standards and better assessments that prepare our children to succeed in the 21st century. And I'm pleased to report that 48 states are now working to develop internationally competitive standards — internationally competitive standards because these young people are going to be growing up in an international environment where they're competing not just against kids in Chicago or Los Angeles for jobs, but they're competing against folks in Beijing and Bangalore.

This is something I called for earlier this year, and I want to commend the leadership of the governors and school chiefs who've joined together to get this done. And because of these efforts, there will be a set of common standards that any state can adopt, beginning early next year. And I urge all our states to do so and to upgrade what's taught in the classroom accordingly to meet these international standards.

I also challenge states to align their assessments with high standards — because we should — we should not just raise the bar, we should prepare our kids to meet it. There's no point in having really high standards but we're not doing what it takes to meet those standards. And I want to be clear. This is not just about more tests, because I know that in the past people have been concerned about, you know, is this about standardized tests, or are we going to have our young people being taught to the test? That's the last thing we want. (Applause.)

But what we want to do — what we want to do is finally get testing right. So it's not about more tests, it's about being smarter about our assessments. It's about measuring not only whether our kids can master the basics, but whether they can solve challenging tasks, do they have the skills like critical thinking and teamwork and entrepreneurship; assessments that don't just give us a snapshot of how a student is doing in a particular subject, but a big picture look at how they're learning overall; and assessments that will help tell us if our kids have the knowledge and the skills to thrive when they graduate.

So we're not just interested in can they fill out a bubble. What we want to do is to take a look generally — are kids learning and gaining the critical thinking skills that they need to succeed. Now, these are the kinds of assessments that our states should be putting in place, and we're setting up a separate competition where they can win grants, extra grants to help them do just that.

So, standards and assessments, that's the first measure; are we doing that well? If the state wants to get a Race to the Top grant, they've got to do that well. And because we know that from the moment our kids enter a school, the most important factor in their success — other than their parents — is the person standing in front of the classroom, the teacher. The second measure is whether a state is committed to putting effective teachers in its classrooms and effective principals at the helm of its schools.

Now, it's time to start taking this commitment seriously. We've got to do a better job recruiting and preparing new teachers. We've got to do a better job of rewarding outstanding teachers. And I've got to be honest, we've got to do a better job of moving bad teachers out of the classroom, once they've been given an opportunity to do it right. (Applause.)

And that means creating alternate pathways to teaching for talented young people by expanding programs like the one used in Boston, where aspiring teachers work side-by-side with effective mentors in a year-long residency. It means bringing quality teachers in — it means bringing quality teachers to the neighborhoods that need them the most, because right now a lot of what happens is, is that some of the best teachers, as they get seniority, they move on to the places — the school districts that pay better and, frankly, are easier to teach. And we've got to give them some incentives to stay so that the kids who need the most help are getting some of the best teachers. (Applause.)

It means boosting the number — the numbers of quality teachers who can help our special education and English language learners meet high standards — and you've done that here at Wright, so congratulations on that. (Applause.) It means improving instruction in science, technology, reading, math, and ensuring that more women and people of color are doing well in those subjects. (Applause.) So that's the second — the second factor.

Third factor, third measure we'll use in this Race to the Top competition, is whether states are tracking the progress of our students and teachers to make sure every child graduates ready for college and a career. (Applause.) So as I said earlier — as I said earlier, before a state can even apply for a grant, it has to change any laws that prevent us from factoring in the performance of students when they're evaluating their teachers. But that's not enough. If a state wants to increase its chances of actually winning a grant, it's going to have to do more. It's going to have to collect information about how students are doing in a particular year and over the course of an academic career, and make this information available to teachers so they can use it to improve the way they teach.

One of the things that teachers get so frustrated about is these standardized tests come at a time when it's too late to use to actually help the students improve their performance. (Applause.) So if we're going to collect — if we're going to collect data on how kids are doing, let's make sure the teachers have it in usable form so that they can actually start doing a better job. (Applause.)

That's how teachers can determine what they should be doing differently in the classroom. That's how principals can determine what changes need to be made in our schools. And that's how school districts can determine what they need to be doing better to prepare our teachers and principals.

Now, even with stronger standards, better assessments, outstanding teachers, some schools will still be difficult to turn around. I want us to be honest about this. There are some schools that are starting in a tough position — a lot of kids coming from impoverished backgrounds, a lot of kids coming in that may have not gotten the kind of head start that they needed; they start school already behind. And even though there are heroic teachers and principals in many of these schools, the fact is that they need some extra help.

And that's why the fourth measure we'll use in awarding Race to the Top grants is whether a state is focused on transforming not just its high-performing schools, not just the middle-of-the-pack schools, but the lowest-performing schools. (Applause.) We'll look at whether they're willing to remake a school from top to bottom with new leaders and a new way of teaching, replacing a school's principal if it's not working, and at least half its staff — (applause) — close a school for a time and then reopen it under new management, even shut down the school entirely and send its schools — send its students to a better school nearby.

There's always excuses for why these schools can't perform. But part of what we want is an environment in which everybody agrees — from the governor to the school superintendent, teachers, principals, and most importantly parents and students — that there's no excuse for mediocrity. And we will take drastic steps when schools aren’t working. (Applause.)

So these are the kinds of vigorous strategies that are necessary to turn around our most troubled schools: transforming our lowest-performing schools; using timely information to improve the way we teach our children; outstanding teachers and principals in our classrooms and our schools that are getting the support they need; higher standards and better assessments that prepare our kids for life beyond a classroom. These are the challenges, the four challenges that states have to take up if they want to win a Race to the Top award.

And these are the four challenges that our country has to meet for our children to outcompete workers around the world, for our economy to grow and to prosper, and for America to lead in the 21st century.

Now, let me just close by saying this — I've said this before, but I never miss an opportunity to impress this upon an audience. Lifting up American education is not a task for government alone. It will take parents getting more involved — (applause) — it will take parents getting more involved in their child's education. It will take schools doing more to reach out with parents. It will take students — students — accepting more responsibility for their own education.

I was explaining to them that education is not saying where, you know, you just tilt your ear and you just pour it in your ear. (Laughter.) You've got to be an active participant in wanting to get an education.

These aren’t in my prepared remarks, but I think it's important to note that Malia and Sasha are just wonderful kids, and Michelle is a wonderful mother. But in our own household, with all the privileges and opportunities that we have, there are times — look, there are times when kids slack off. There are times where they would rather be watching TV or playing a computer game than hitting the books. And part of our job as parents — Michelle and my job — is not just to tell our kids what to do, but to start instilling in them a sense that they want to do it for themselves.

So Malia came home the other day. She had gotten a 73 on her science test. Now, she's a 6th grader. There was a time a couple years ago when she came home with like an 80-something and she said, "I did pretty well." And I said, "No, no, no. That's" — I said, "Our goal is" — "Our goal is 90 percent and up." (Applause.)

Here is the interesting thing. She started internalizing that. So she came and she was depressed, "I got a 73." And I said, "Well, what happened?" "Well, the teacher — the study guide didn't match up with what was on the test." "So what's your idea here?" "Well, I'm going to start — I've got to read the whole chapter. I'm going to change how I study, how I approach it." So she came home yesterday, she was — "I got a 95" — right? — so she's high-fiving. (Applause.)

But here's the point. She said — she said, "I just like having knowledge." That's what she said. And what was happening was she had started wanting it more than us. Now, once you get to that point, our kids are on our [sic] way. But the only way they get to that point is if we're helping them get to that point.

So it's going to take that kind of effort from parents to set a high bar in the household. Don't just expect teachers to set a high bar. You've got to set a high bar in the household all across America. (Applause.)

It will take teachers unions and parents and elected leaders working together as partners in common effort — not seeing each other as antagonists, but all of us having the same goal. It will take each and every one of us doing our part on behalf of our children and our country and the future that we share.

I'll never forget a moment many years ago — this is long before I ran for President, before I ran for elected office. I was just starting out as a community organizer in Chicago. And we had set up a meeting to figure out how to rebuild our neighborhoods that I was working in — very impoverished neighborhoods on the South Side. And nobody showed up to the meeting. This is my first big meeting — nobody showed up. So I was pretty depressed. I had some community leaders, some volunteers who had helped me try to organize this thing, and they were depressed. They felt so defeated they were talking about quitting. Everybody was too apathetic, they said, there's no point in trying.

But then, I looked outside as I was listening to them talk and I saw some young boys playing in a vacant lot across the street, and they were just throwing rocks at an old apartment building that was boarded up. And those boys reminded me of me, who didn't have a father in the house and who had gotten in some trouble when he was young. And I turned to those volunteers and I said, "Before we quit, I want to ask you a question. What's going to happen to those boys if we quit, if we give up on them?" And I thought, if we can't see that we have got a stake in those young boys, if we're not willing to do our part on their behalf, if we fail to recognize that the fight for their future is the fight for our own future, well, who is going to do it?

So one by one, those volunteers, they stayed. Family by family, we reached out to the community. Slowly people started coming to meetings. Block by block, we helped to turn those neighborhoods around and helped to improve some of those schools in the area.

And that's the common spirit — the spirit of common purpose, that all of us have to have in America today. And I'm absolutely confident that if we're all willing to come together and embrace that spirit — in the living room, in the classroom, and the State House, on Capitol Hill — then not only will we see our students reaching farther, not only will we see our schools performing better, not only are we going to help ensure our children outcompete workers abroad and that America outcompetes nations, but we're going to protect the dream of our founding and give all of our children, every last one of them, a fair chance and an equal start in the race to life. (Applause.)

Thank you very much, everybody. All right. Thank you. God bless, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END
2:13 P.M. CST

Jeffrey Sachs once said with regard to the Millennium Development Goals:

“My colleagues and I took a stand in our work several years ago that we would not look for the magic bullet, because there is none. These are just basic problems requiring basic work. Nothing magic about it.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander and President once said;

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

On September 8th 2000, the United Nations General Assembly after three days of world leaders meeting passed the Millennium Declaration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Millennium_Declaration). This declaration paved the way for the MDGs that are;

End Poverty and Hunger, Universal Education, Gender Equality, Child Health, Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDS, Environmental Sustainability and Global Partnership. The Millennium Declaration set the year 2015 as the goal to achieve all the goals.

As you know the last few posts have been on perspective with regard to government, corporate and consumer spending. I was going to continue perspective with respect to wages and gross national happiness but have decided instead to deal with the MDGs as I feel this is an important post to put up.

I also wanted to restate here, unequivocally, that I work for everyone in my endeavours as a Rainmaker to make the world a better place. I hope that by illustrating some very basic facts in the last posts that you all understand that it was not an attack on governments, corporations or consumers. I was giving some perspective and insight on spending data as relates to choices that we all make in our daily lives whether in government, corporations or in our homes. I did so in order to frame the eight posts related to the MDGs.

This post will address the first MDG and several elements related to gaining a deeper understanding, some insight and hope for the future as we move toward a better world.

The targets for this goal are subdivided into 3 major areas and then 9 subgroups within them:

Target 1: Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day
Poverty gap ratio
Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 2: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

Growth rate of GDP per person employed
Employment-to-population ratio
Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day
Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment

Target 3: Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age
Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

It was made clear when I was at the UN for the Global Financial Crisis Summit that the realities of the collapse of the global economy was having an extreme adverse effect on progress of the MDGs. The following addresses the current realities with charts taken from the MDG Annual Report 2009 and the International Labour Organization ‘Global Employment Trends’ January 2009 report:

Target 1:

Charts taken from Millennium Development Goals 2009 Report

There is no reliable global data that I could find which addresses the share of poorest quintile in national consumption. However, I believe (read assumption) that given the rising costs of food and the downturn in the economy that this may have had a significant negative impact on the progress on all areas of this first goal. Prior to the crisis significant reductions in poverty had been achieved and should (read hopefully) rebound once the prevalent economic conditions improve.

Target 2:

Target 3:

Progress

Clearly the financial crisis has had a negative impact on the developing world. After years of progress made on the first MDG the last year has threatened to undo much of the good. However, it seems apparent, that with improvements in the global economic position that it will start improving.

That being said, I wonder – Enough food is produced to feed the entire population the world over. Yet it is not being done. Our ability to produce enough food is not the issue. It would seem that in order to solve the first MDG we need to address the fundamental problems of:

How do we elevate the lowest quintile to an acceptable level of income?
What better ways exist or can be developed that give employment which covers the basic costs of living to the poorest?
How do we get the food to the people that need it?
What processes need to be designed to ensure food security?
How do we protect the poorest people in the world from higher food prices?
Where are the areas that offer the fastest and most effective gains in food production, delivery and distribution?
How do we rethink food strategy?

These questions are but the tip of the iceberg. It is paramount that we as a society immediately use our resources, mental, physical, financial inclusive to fundamentally rethink our strategies. We must redouble our efforts to ensure that a child in Africa, Asia or Latin America can have just one meal a day as simply as our children can have a Happy Meal.

The next post will look at the second MDG that is near and dear to my heart – Universal Education.

Franklin Roosevelt once said: “True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.”

Be Inspired Today!

The New Currency
SDM

I wouldn’t say it was solely one thing that has propelled me into the way I’ve been thinking about people lately. I would say it’s more of a group of things, a series of things.

Reading more about the struggles of the working poor in David K. Shipler’s book, “Working Poor: Invisible in America,” has made me see more of how people are placed into the hardships they are in. Working parents struggling with numerous jobs making wages that barely meet the funds needed for their most basic necessities. WHILE others are making millions on the backs of those doing all the hard labor. Poor individuals in low-income areas playing “catch-up” with their bills while institutions like the IRS are cutting them down in all their efforts. Inadequate healthcare. Undocumented immigrants trying to make a life for themselves with little or no aid from their employer much less the U.S. government.

Land of opportunity my ass. We can’t boast about a country that provides freedom to its citizens if modern day slavery still exists.

Recent news stories, like the young 15 year old girl in California who was raped and beaten at her homecoming night by boys (they believe there were at least ten) while others either laughed, watched, or joined in themselves. Out of all of these people that saw it, NOBODY made the initiative to call 911. This BAFFLES me. I understand, of course, that there have been phenomenas in the past about this so called bystander effect, and that people may fear getting involved to avoid getting hurt themselves, but to not call for help? There’s no excuse for that, none. I hope those people who participated pay with their lives; I hope those young boys are shot and killed and that this is done in front of the young victim so THEY feel powerless. These boys are old enough to know that this is wrong. For that reasons, they should be punished severely. Killing the boys may seem harsh to some, so I guess holding them in prison where they can be sodomized by inmates should prove an adequate punishment. They will have ruined that girl’s life, they should not be let off simply because they are under an age designation.

It’s hard not to feel disgusted by people when you witness them do horrible things. When the veil of ignorance is lifted and you realize that we believe our power over other beings is justified because we’re bigger or “smarter.” It’s hard not to feel disgusted when people believe they are greater than nature and that technology in science can trump the natural world. Disgust is rooted from the rights individuals have over others even though we are ALL HUMAN BEINGS and therefore equal beings. I’m disgusted when people are hurtful out of fear or misunderstanding. They’re all misunderstandings, right?

If everyone wore their worries & fears on the outside, we’d all understand one another better.

————-

There’s no doubt I would like to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector, but sometimes it makes me sad. Other days, it makes me mad. Lately, I’ve been feeling much more angry than somber and as a result, activism has come to mind. If the government is not going to help those less fortunate who need it because they’re so concerned with dropping bombs and making empty profits, we as the people, will have to do it grassroots fashion.

VIVA LA REVOLUCION.

Ein halbes Jahr habe ich es mir gestattet bei einer NGO-Firma für einen Netsch an Bezahlung zu arbeiten. Wieso?

Jetzt kann ich es auch von mir behaupten, Mindestlöhner – oder ein Working-poor-Communitymitglied gewesen zu sein.

Ob man das in seiner Vita braucht?
Ned wirklich.

Wieso ich das gemacht habe?
Ich wollte einfach nimmer arbeitslos sein.

Also, ein halbes Jahr für weniger arbeiten als ich Arbeitlose gekriegt habe. WEITAUS weniger, wohl gemerkt. Alles in allem, war’s eine schöne Erfahrung. Ich hatte sehr nette Kollegen, lernte eine Menge dazu. Auch ärgerte ich mich über Überstunden, die nicht bezahlt wurden, Sondereinsätze, die ebenso wenig bezahlt wurden wie die Überstunden … Das macht selbst den geduldigsten Menschen irgendwann mürbe. Hätte die Bezahlung gestimmt, ich wäre wahrscheinlich heute noch dort.

Jetzt geh ich also wieder einmal im Monat zum AMS. AMS – geliebte Heimat? YAK! Immer noch haben die Herr- und Frauschaften beim Arbeitsamt nix dazu gelernt. Immer noch blanke Unwissenheit quer übers Gesicht bei Fragen meinerseits, die vielleicht ein bisschen jenseits des Mainstreams gestellt werden. Und wieder wurde mir ein Kurs “angeraten”. Diesmal allerding ein wirklich guter, der sogar in mein Berufsfeld passt.

inDesign heisst das Zauberwort.

Zwei Wochen lang an zwei Tagen drücke ich also wieder die WIFI-Schulbank.

Traute Heimat süßer Lehrstunden.

Ewiges Vergessen gewisser Kurzbefehle am PC.

Große Aha-Erlebnisse und ein wirkich nützliches Werkzeug an Kreativität.

Danach geht’s ans Eing’machte …
Der große Karriereschub.
Der Traumjob.
Die Traumbezahlung.

Fromme Wünsche. Ich schätze, ich werde sie gleich mal am richtigen Ort und an richtiger Stelle deponieren. Morgen. Vielleicht hört der große, gehörlose Mann da oben einmal auf mich armes Erdenwürmchen hier unten, dass sich nach ein paar wesentlichen, allgemein gültigen Dingen sehnt …

This country is fucked up. Forget about “it’s falling apart.” Right now is in shambles, is in ruins and are masquerade it by buildings and delusions of grandeur of “how great our country is” despite the recession. The fact is people are losing, families, children and seniors are left behind by a government that listens to the voice of the mega-rich, millionaires and lobbyist for their own benefit of saving their skin.

This week a man did the unthinkable sacrifice, despite his wife losing battle with Cancer, he was out of options to help her get the care she needs with respect and dignity without worrying about how much a simple chemotherapy or other procedures cost. He decided to join the Army at age 39, where in the past the maximum age to be recruited is at 35, because to have health insurance for him and mostly for his wife. And still there’s no doctor in sight to not worry about money able to help them. In other case, a few years ago a man throws his ill wife (also from Cancer) four stories down because he simply couldn’t pay up her outstanding medical bills. Same illness, one call, two different outcomes and measures.

That’s what’s happens when people are laying off, losing their health coverage and the government instead of giving them a hand, they’re giving them the iggy button because even thought they pay taxes, they’re hardworking, they’re “independent”, when they need help from, the insurance companies are giving them the boot, and who could turn to the most? The government! And what does the government do? It doesn’t listen to you, it listen to the ultra rich society to do what’s best for them.

Right now, people. This health care debate is going nowhere. First, they’re playing the magic chair constantly at the cost of million of Americans not having a proper and dignified health care ending up filling for bankruptcy for ones and facing death for others. They don’t realize that! We’re gave them the opportunity to fix such a “complicated” and “hard” issue and they just play around with our minds for how long, how much. It’s plain and simple, capitalism took a toll on everyone every since the beginning of it. Our forefathers didn’t know about supply and demand, they knew about morals, ethics and common sense. But you know the rest of the story, some fuckin’ rich bastard screw it up for the sake of themselves and that’s how capitalism got born, sadly.

I have been writing for the sake of myself and the ones who are uninsured in this state of Idaho. “The Gem State” doesn’t have nothing shiny about when it comes to the uninsured. Specially in the Silver Valley, if you don’t have cash either, you go to the ER and get into court a few years later because you can’t pay your medical bills, or you have to be treated on a “Free Clinic” that opens twice a month. That’s how fucked up it is. “Any little, helps” is NOT enough for families and individuals who are struggling to find out what they’re having whether is a physical, mental or dental condition. You know what’s heartless? Leaving kids without a dad or a mom because they died because of being uninsured. Even sadder is the fact that people who have health insurance, don’t get the support back from their insurance companies and they’re mostly the same as they were when they’re uninsured. We’re both on the same ground, the same road thanks in part by these Greedy, Heartless Private Health Insurers who steal billions of dollars a year. Don’t forget about the doctors who sadly, are on the same greedy ideals, driving their porches, their BMD’s, spending thousands on designer’s clothing while denying care for thousands who truly need the care they need, because simply they can’t afford it.

How long do these politics would realize that? At least Ted Kennedy got the health care he needed it, without worrying about price tag, thinking that’s the way it supposed to be for all Americans. But his dreams of changing Health Care couldn’t finalized it, because of his passing. But thanks in part by Capitalism, we can’t get it either.

This world of politics shocks me, specially when I have to put the foot (involuntarily) in the bill for that those fat assholes in the Congress eat themselves silly, go to movies, have their own insurance that they can get away with it, drive in their luxurious gas guzzling SUV’s, and yes, cheat with their associates. Things that I didn’t know about how they “work” in Congress until now.

While you work from early in the morning to late in the evening, some even have two or three jobs to make ends meet almost for the whole week: these so-called leaders are showing to work from late in the evening on Tuesdays by 6:30pm and get the fuck out of the premises by Thursdays afternoon only to what? I just wanna know? Because if they’re making fuzz about how the fuck they’re going to put a decent, fair health care it doesn’t supposed to be that short timing to think. Hey! If they have the money to buy expensive suits and dresses, they can come up to effective ideas to bring serious issues to the table and solve it in short time flat using the Constitution as their base. All those years of drunken parties at Ivy, Harvard and Yale reality kicks in when it comes to the real world, where we elected them in faith that they will fix up our battered country of ours for then later, they forget it and start going to parties with lobbyists and rich assholes obeying what they have to say for their own fuckin’ sake.

I mean, you can’t complete your job in three days flat. You have to complete these issues more than 5 days a week. It requires a 24/7 operation. But then… millions of people are struggling, filing bankruptcy and losing homes and lives because of their inefficiency to provide with an answer to solve the health care crisis and other important issues. It’s a shame that other “third world” countries solve that ions ago while still these so-called politicians are playing the dancing chair.

Immer wieder wird der Kampfbegriff “Leistungsträger”, überwiegend aus den Reihen der FDP, aber auch von der Union in den politischen Diskurs eingebracht. Dabei wird Leistung seitens der “Christdemokraten” und der “Liberalen” durch eine minimale Gleichung simplifiziert: Leistung = Einkommen
Angela Merkel müsste als Physikerin eigentlich wissen was Leistung ist, vielleicht hat sie es inzwischen vergessen. Zur Erinnerung Frau Bundeskanzlerin: Mechanische Leistung W = F x s, also Arbeit = Kraft mal Weg. Elektrische Leistung definiert sich nach der Formel P = U x I, das bedeutet Leistung = Spannung mal Stromstärke. Würde man die sogenannten „Leistungsträger“ im Sinne von schwarz-gelb nach rein physikalischen Kriterien bewerten, bekämen die nicht einmal eine Fahrradlampe zum Leuchten.
Aber, wer trägt nun die Leistung in unserer Gesellschaft?

Jeder der seinen Anteil zum Funktionieren unserer Gesellschaft beiträgt, ist ein Leistungsträger!
Die Marktwirtschaft alleine generiert keine gerechten und fairen Löhne, so dass sich Leistung oftmals nicht durch Einkommen ausdrückt. Genauso wie der Konzernchef und der Bank-Manager, sorgt auch die Kassiererin im Supermarkt, die Erzieherin, die Altenpflegerin, der Automechaniker, der Hilfsarbeiter auf der Baustelle, der Müllmann und die Klofrau, dafür dass der Motor der Wirtschaft läuft, unsere Gesellschaft funktioniert und das Leben für uns alle angenehmer gestaltet wird. Das gilt insbesondere auch für die prekär Beschäftigten, Zeit- und Leiharbeiter, die sogenannten “working poor”. Selbst diejenigen, die keiner Erwerbstätigkeit nachgehen, z.B. Mütter, die ihre Kinder erziehen, sie auf den rechten Lebensweg begleiten und sie zu wertvollen Mitgliedern der Gesellschaft machen, sind Leistungsträger, ja sogar der Rentner oder der Arbeitslose, der sich ehrenamtlich sozial engagiert, leistet in meinen Augen mehr für unser Miteinander, als jene Spekulanten & Investment-Banker, die am Geldfluss sitzen, monetäre Ströme meist von “unten” nach “oben” umverteilen, sich einen nicht unbeträchtlichen Anteil in die eigenen Taschen fließen lassen.

Laut dem Buch Arm durch Arbeit (Leseempfehlung) von Markus Breitscheidel sind 63% aller Tätigkeiten, die unsere Gesellschaft stützen, keine Erwerbstätigkeiten!

Liebe Unions- und FDP-Politiker,
wenn Ihr mal wieder postulliert, man müsse die “Leistungsträger” entlasten, denken Sie dabei bitte an alle Leistungsträger! Würden Sie es ehrlich meinen, dann hätten Sie nichts gegen Mindestlohn einzuwenden, oder? Alternativ wäre da noch der Vorschlag meiner bescheidenen Wenigkeit, bei den sogenannten “Aufstockern” nicht auf, sondern deutlich über Hartz4-Niveau aufzustocken, damit die hohle Phrase “Arbeit soll sich wieder lohnen” mit Inhalt gefüllt wird. Der “Mittelständler” dagegen, verdient vergleichsweise, trotz der kalten Progression immer noch recht gut.
Weil Sie die Bedeutung des Wortes “Leistungsträger” m.E. verfälschen, dadurch hintergründig aussagen, für welche Wählerklientel Sie wirklich stehen, ist das ein Grund mehr, heute an diesem schönen Sonntag, an dem die Sonne den strahlend blauen Himmel anlacht, meine Stimme gegen schwarz-gelb abgeben.
Herzlichst, Ihr wahlberechtigter Bürger
Tom.

I follow quite a few Japan-related blogs, so here are summaries and links to some stories you might have missed.

Japan Probe

9/21/09: Ozawa favors granting voting rights to foreigners with permanent residency
Ozawa, a powerful member of Japan’s now leading Democratic party, says that he favors granting permanent residents the right to vote. A debate follows in the comments section regarding the difficulty of becoming a citizen in Japan, the rights of Japanese-born Korean residents, and dual-citizenship in Japan.

9/18/09: Japanese fast food chains offer reduced portions Several of Japan’s fast food restaurants have been offering “mega” (supersized) portions of meals, but now they’ve started to scale downwards in an effort to appeal to female customers. These cheaper, “puchi” sized meals sound like a great idea to me, though I have a feeling they wouldn’t do very well in America. Then again, I guess those snack wraps at McDonald’s are still on the menu, so maybe there’s some hope after all.

9/16/09: Chikan: Groping on Japanese trains
Although the chikan phenomenon seems to be fairly well known here in America, I had never seen video of it actually happening. Don’t worry, the videos aren’t explicit in the slightest (the all-powerful Japanese blur is put to heavy use), but they’re still plenty frightening. It’s stories like this that remind you why there are female-only train cars in large cities. Luckily the worst I had in Japan was an old woman tugging and rubbing my hair while on the bus because she said it was “just like a doll’s.” Creepy, but not criminal.

Pink Tentacle

9/16/09: Space caramel made from giant jellyfish Japan gets a huge influx of giant jellyfish every so often, and by giant I mean growing to over six feet in diameter and weighing up to 450 pounds. They’re mostly considered pests, but some enterprising students have managed to make candy from them by boiling down the animals and making a fine powder which can be added to sweets. Sweet and salty caramels? Might not be that bad, actually!

Néojaponisme

9/18/09: Otaku and Zen Buddhism?
An interesting essay on the connection (or rather, lack thereof) between Japan’s otaku culture and its religious past. Is such focused obsessiveness somehow rooted within Japanese culture? The article warns that many, including the Japanese, often describe “cultural tradition” as the basis for widespread trends and actions that most likely occur for a host of different reasons.

JetWit

9/22/09: Crayon Shinchan creator Yoshito Usui dies after falling off a cliff Yoshito Usui, the creator of Crayon Shin-chan, fell to his death after accidentally slipping off a cliff while taking photos. Crayon Shin-chan is a very popular manga and anime in Japan, and has been airing on TV Asahi since 1992.

Tokyo Times

9/23/09: Tokyo’s under-supported underclass?
Photos and a discussion of Japan’s growing homeless population as its economy, like the rest of the world, continues to decline. The post also links to some interesting articles about Japan’s working poor, and it reminds me of Sean McAllister’s excellent BBC doumentary in six parts: Japan: A Story of Love and Hate.