Home of Today's Common Sense

Published – Brownsville Herald 3/20/2005
According to a State of Texas interpretation of the “No Child Left Behind” requirements as they relate to English as a Second Language there is a mandate to determine the level of a students writing skills as “Beginning”, “Intermediate”, “Advanced”, and “Advanced High”. The local implementation of that program also requires that the students prepare 3 to 5 compositions specifically for that purpose which are evaluated and filed with the evaluation. Many teachers do not know what if anything will ever be done with those files. I wonder also!
I happened to have the opportunity to read several of the examples where the identity of the writer was not available to me. One related to “why would someone steal something” which resulted in many of the expected answers such as “revenge”, “because he could”, or for “financial gain”; but more interesting to me was the Social Studies subject, “What is freedom?”.
One young person, I would have to describe as very “Street Savvy” after reading the first paper, described what I believe to be the most insightful and pervasive understanding of how many view freedom in “today’s” America and possibly how many view America’s “influence and generosity” around the world.
The government is perceived as “having fooled Americans into thinking they are free and safe but are in reality nothing but another number assigned when born”. As evidence of this, the fact of free school, free food, welfare benefits, given to some, is submitted with real disdain, but then asks about the taxes that cause hard some working Americans to end up in bankruptcy because of those things. The accuracy of the perception is not as important as the fact it was voiced in the community that “America” deems as needy.
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Published – Brownsville Herald 3/8/2005
On the news lately, governor Schwarzenegger went to Washington to seek financial help in balancing the $8 billion dollar budget. On the same newscast reporters described some of the uses as sex change operations for Medicare patients and cosmetic surgery for prison inmates among the many outrageous items. I certainly would not approve of spending for these kinds of things but it may happen if the federal government bails them out. You and I will have to pay for things that Californians through their legislators volunteered to pay for.
When asked how did this happen, a commentator indicated that most residents don’t pay attention to what the legislators enact they just continue to vote the party line and the same legislators keep their job and keep spending. More »

Published – Brownsville Herald 3/6/2005 as “Government just wants to maintain its power”

Social Security just as with most of the other issues of the day such as: education, public assistance and public health care, the prohibition of the federal government to make laws with respect to religion, etc.; is more about centralizing power at the federal level and who holds the reigns of that power –really- getting re-elected. It has very little to do with “looking out for the folks”.
The two major political parties, work very hard to differentiate themselves by “talking about” differing ideological differences but when you really look; you see that the party of the working man that has repeatedly campaigned on the dangers coming to Social Security, civil rights for minorities and in the 1960’s a Democratic presidential candidate even espoused the “flat tax”. (I saw the speech)
On the other side “the party of the rich” is taking actions and accomplishing the goals of the “working man” and won over much of America outside the big cities. More »