America The … Illiterate


Hotdogs and Chihuahuas!! Yes, this article is about hotdogs and Chihuahuas. I hereby decree the next two statements to be true: All sources of meat, means of preparation and recipes involving meat all are derived from hotdogs! All breeds of dogs originated with the Chihuahua! Give me 50-60 years, a huge budget for court fights, and power to mandate that to be taught in school curriculum and everyone will then agree.

So why the title America The…Illiterate? It may surprise you but to many in the rest in the world, citizens of the USA are starting to look like lazy fools who can’t read or think. Here in the USA, the primary focus for the last few decades has been on selfish gains. I am not talking material gains either. I am talking about attitudes and egos. We rush about day to day thinking of only our own concerns usually in the pursuit of money or self-appeasement. In doing so, we ignore taking care of our own minds and growing them as we should to acquire a better understanding of the world around us. With the focus on ones own life issues, entertainment, and other me first and right now attitudes, we have forsaken the ability to think and have allowed ourselves to be programmed by others that mean to control our attitudes and thoughts.

When a debatable topic is presented, most will resort to spewing out what they have been programmed with instead of READING qualified source material, thinking about it, and then formulating observations. In my two demonstrations on current hot topics, I am not about to enter into the standard non-thinking debates or take sides.

Let’s just keep it to the facts.

Hotdogs!! Get your hotdogs!! The complete definition of all that is meat!! Every recipe, every cut of meat, every means to prepare it, and every source of meat comes from a hotdog!! Yes, that sounds totally ludicrous and it is. In order to believe it, one would have to forget that meat is the muscle tissue of the animals it comes from such as cattle, pigs, chickens, turkey, tuna, etc. Each animal is cut in different ways to produce different choice parts to it. Those in turn have a variety of recipes to bring out the tastes and flavors. We know this about meat and hotdogs. Hotdogs can be argued to be the reject of the meat world.

So why mention this?

A current topic shows this kind of irrational thinking in the USA: separation of church and state.

Separation of church and state is one of those really hot topics led by the charge of the ACLU and company. It is a wonderful way to start up arguments between people as one side tries to remove any and all reference to Christianity in the public setting while the other side counters with arguments based in Christianity.

Neither side is correct.

The USA is founded on 2 silly little pieces of documents – the Declaration of Independence the Constitution of the United States. READ them, study the history of the co-authors, READ the mounds of documentation that is available in the Library of Congress from the founding fathers then formulate an observation and argument. To speed up my article, I will include the necessary quotes from those two documents and definitions from the dictionary.

In the history of the USA, “separation of church and state” or the more appropriately worded “wall of separation between church and state” occurred only 2 times in the first 150 years. Then in the last 50 years or so, there have been over 6000 cases regarding “separation between church and state.” The phrase was taken from 2 letters Thomas Jefferson wrote. Interesting factoids on Thomas Jefferson: Thomas Jefferson was a proclaimed deist. He believed in a creator God in accordance to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths but not in the deity of Jesus.

However, he did hold the moral teachings of Jesus in very high regard particularly in the areas of standard of reason, justice, philanthropy and the belief of a future state.

President Jefferson was raised in the Church of England and spent time in France which framed much of his views on religion and the state. As a historical note, the Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England (funded by taxpayers) and is a senior branch of the Anglican Communion. When his texts are READ in the complete context, Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom underlined his desire to keep the funding of religious entities apart from the government and for the government to not be involved in religious matters as it tends to end up in the restraint. His view of “separation of church and state” was so that one Christian denomination did not gain political favor over any other Christian denomination.

The common arguments that one can hear now are “The Founding Fathers didn’t use God as their foundation” and the argument of separation of church and state. Well, READ the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

By definition, a creator Deity is a Deity responsible for creating the universe or specific aspects of the world. The only religions that follow the monotheistic creator deity are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. So for the first argument, the hotdog vendor is waiting outside. By the way, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence with some revision help from Benjamin Franklin.

As for the “separation of church and state,” there are numerous problems with that stance. A fact of USA law is the Constitution of the USA is the fundamental, supreme law upon which all other laws must adhere too. It is the duty of the Supreme Court to interpret the wishes of the Founding Fathers of the country. The largest problem with “separation” comes with a crucial detail. Thomas Jefferson was likely a good, smart guy. You likely know a doctor, gas station attendant or relative that is a good and smart person. He was also a President of the US just like FDR, JFK or Abraham Lincoln. He was a wise man of peace not too unlike Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, or Martin Luther King Jr. Jefferson held traits in common with all of them and also with Adolf Hitler, Vlad “The Impaler” Tepiche (real life inspiration for Dracula), and Sadaam Hussein – HE WASN’T A FOUNDING FATHER!!!

From 1785–1789, Jefferson served as minister to France. He did not attend the Constitutional Convention. The US Constitution was finished on September 17, 1787 and became law on March 4, 1789. The first 12 amendments were proposed by Congress as part of a block of twelve in September 1789 due to some critics which did include Jefferson. By December 1791 a sufficient number of states had ratified ten of the twelve proposals, and the Bill of Rights became part of the Constitution.

The First Amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Also according to the Constitution, only Congress can make laws – not the judicial system.

But where are the restrictions coming on namely Christianity? They are coming from the Supreme Court using Thomas Jefferson as a source. If this were a 1st degree murder case, Jefferson would not be allowed to be a witness as he had no connection to the events that took place. When the Supreme Court was given testimony by a historical expert regarding the Founding Fathers views on prayer in school and other religious topics, a Supreme Court Justice just had to say that either the Founding Fathers were hypocrites or didn’t know what they were doing. My answer to that Supreme Court Justice is simple. Know your job description. Step down, turn in your robe, go get a hotdog.

Why on earth would someone make a claim that the Founding Fathers didn’t know what they were doing when his entire career was founded on what they did? Hotdog vender is located just outside the building. Another Justice claimed they had no way of knowing what the Founding Fathers intended. Guess he didn’t READ. There are hundreds of volumes available detailing what they though in the Library of Congress.

Other minor problems with that stance, 22 of the 39 signatories on the Constitution had their Ministerial Degrees. (They were ministers, pastors and priests.) Oh and they started the initial Congressional session with 4 hours of prayer for wisdom, it is part of the public record. Guess with the massive legal standing of relying on Jefferson’s 2 letters, we can make our legal case for our hotdog ruling based on German immigrant Oscar Ferdinand Mayer’s and Gottfried Mayer’s, his brother, writings. (The case might be complicated as Oscar Mayer is part of Kraft Foods which is part of Altria Group – i.e. Phillip Morris the tobacco company. Need good lawyers for this one.)

Now how does the hotdog lead to the Chihuahua?

Well my next idea is that all breeds of dogs originated with the Chihuahua. Let’s ignore silly things like known timelines, geographical restrictions and trends, cultural history, and anything else that disagrees with my theory. After all, that is what happened with the ‘evolution’ of the horse.

Yup, you guessed it.

My next target is the Evolution Theory. Except I will be fair, I’ll nail the Creation Theory and the Intelligent Design Theory as well. Ready? All three are based on a false assumption. They are not theories. They fail to submit themselves to the scientific method.

I would suggest that one will READ the following:

From wikipedia, “The scientific method involves the following basic facets:

Description. Information must be reliable, i.e., replicable (repeatable) as well as valid (relevant to the inquiry).

Prediction. Information must be valid for observations past, present, and future of given phenomena, i.e., purported "one shot" phenomena do not give rise to the capability to predict, nor to the ability to repeat an experiment.

Control. Actively and fairly sampling the range of possible occurrences, whenever possible and proper, as opposed to the passive acceptance of opportunistic data, is the best way to control or counterbalance the risk of empirical bias.

Understanding. Identification of the cause or causes of a particular phenomenon to the best achievable extent. Before a factor that is the object of research can be said to be understood, the following conditions must be met:

· Covariation of events. The hypothesized cause must correlate with observed effect.

· Time-order relationship. The hypothesized cause must occur before observed effect.

· Elimination of plausible alternatives. This is a gradual process which requires repeated experiments by multiple researchers who must be able to replicate the results to validate them.

The last of these is the most frequently contentious area, which leads to the following:

All hypotheses and theories are in principle subject to disproof. Thus, there is a point at which there might be a consensus about a particular hypothesis or theory, yet it must in principle remain tentative. As a body of knowledge grows and a particular hypothesis or theory repeatedly brings predictable results, confidence in the hypothesis or theory increases.”

So what is the problem with all three of them? They can’t be tested. There is no scientific method to observe the results of conclusive experiments. There are no conclusive experiments. Most of the evidence for each of the three is circumstantial at best and heavily subjected to interpretation. So if there is no test, no observable results, they can not be theories. They are in fact merely untested hypotheses. That is not science. That is philosophy. Or is it more than that?

phi·los·o·phy Function: noun

1 a (1) : all learning exclusive of technical precepts and practical arts (2) : the sciences and liberal arts exclusive of medicine, law, and theology (3) : the 4-year college course of a major seminary b (1) archaic : PHYSICAL SCIENCE (2) : ETHICS c : a discipline comprising as its core logic, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology

2 a : pursuit of wisdom b : a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means c : an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs

3 a : a system of philosophical concepts b : a theory underlying or regarding a sphere of activity or thought

4 a : the most general beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group

b : calmness of temper and judgment befitting a philosopher

be·lief: Function: noun

1 : a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing

2 : something believed; especially : a tenet or body of tenets held by a group

3 : conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence

synonyms BELIEF, FAITH, CREDENCE, CREDIT mean assent to the truth of something offered for acceptance.

FAITH almost always implies certitude even where there is no evidence or proof

re·li·gion Function: noun

1 a : the state of a religious b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

So are the “Theories” of Creationism, Evolution, and Intelligent Design which fail to scientifically qualify as theories actually philosophical theories or in other words – Religion? Each “Theory” has its collection of circumstantial evidence for and against it.

But Creationism and Intelligent Design are not taught in the PUBLIC schools which are funded by the GOVERNMENT. Only Evolution is pushed heavily at the expense of the taxpayer. Evolution has over 360 fatal flaws in it that are conveniently ignored and instead the philosophy / religion is treated as an ‘accepted scientific fact.’

Timelines do not mesh, basic logic is ignored in favor of making the circumstantial sound better, there are extensive amounts of data from many different sides that would put this Government funded philosophy on the shelf but ‘mainstream belief’ keeps it alive. Last time the scientific community had such a strong belief was in the declaration the world was FLAT.

When there isn’t any scientific method available to substantiate any origin theory, why are any of them taught at the expense of the taxpayer? Wouldn’t it be better to have all three be taught as a Scientific Philosophy elective class or teach none at all? Nope, that would ruin the 50-60 years of mandating the curriculum of public schools, all that money in legal challenges wasted and modifying ‘science’ books to push one selected philosophy over another.

Indoctrinating children to a state funded system of beliefs with limited and restricted information sounds very familiar…hotdogs anyone? Get your hotdogs and Chihuahuas here!!

America The …Illiterate? Or will the citizens of the USA start to READ and think again? What do you think? Do you think?

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My "MySpace" article comment:
When Kids get Hurt, Who's to Blame?

In the physical world, when something goes wrong and assistance is needed there are proper locations to call on for aid. The Police, Emergency Medical and Fire Department are great examples of this. However, if someone were to suggest those departments should be held legally liable because they didn't stop something from happening without any notification, that person would be laughed at as having crossed the line into total ridiculous level. Humans are not omni-present and omniscient. The Emergency services have telephone numbers and 911. MySpace (and other service providers) can put age limitations (easily circumvented) or employ thousands to watch every single text dialogue, photo or video posting on their website or do what they have done (destroying the viability of the service with huge cost). MySpace has these "Emergency Contact" links at the bottom. "Contact MySpace", "Report Inappropriate Content", "Safety Tips" all sound like their version of 911 to me.

Like one poster said, "Should we sue the phone companies for providing a phone service that allowed two individuals engaging in unlawful or stupid acts to talk? Perhaps we should sue all car manufacturers when their vehicles were used in a crime? That would be ridiculous. Or should we sue fast food companies because their food made us fat? Oops, someone tried that and it was thrown out of court for being ridiculous. At least that judge understood the person who decided to travel to the fast food place, buy their food and stick in their mouth is responsible for their own mess. Parents need to do as much as is possible with raising their children right from the start and using the technology available to shield their children from wrong material. Ignorance is not an excuse in a court of law. Stupid decisions and foolish choices are not excusable either."

However, all blame can not be shifted to a service provider or the parent. The person who is typing on the keyboard bears the ultimate responsibility. If a child posts or participates in wrongful activity and it is reported so it can be caught, punish the child so they learn responsibility and accountability lessons.

I was a teacher and I'm a father. It all starts with the role models we as parents give to our kids. Then it falls to society as a whole to quit blaming others like whiners and value personal accountability for all ages. I have also had the displeasure of watching the blame others game in full action. I’ve watched it happen in the lives of my siblings. It has only served to destroy their own lives as those who won’t accept the responsibility and doomed their young (under 10 yr old) children to a much more difficult life trying to overcome their parents’ poor example. At the same time, I know of some adults who chose as a young child to follow the better road despite their environment and role models. It ALL comes down to personal choice and taking the responsibility and accountability for those choices. No excuses for anyone.

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Homeschooling

This is a category that I have direct experience in. There are groups out there that are helpful to “homeschoolers” and all those we come across we’ll introduce and link up to. There are also many misconceptions about homeschooling which I will elaborate on. Some will surprise you. As a brief intro, there are a number of reasons why people choose to home school or use a virtual school system. The first reason happens to be the most common criticism of homeschooling. “What about the social side?”

So the top 4 reasons are thus:

1.)Social aspect of child development

2.)Lack of proper challenge for the student in public schools

3.)General disdain of the public school system

4.)Personal reasons of the family, parents, and child

You may be surprised as to why this area is growing. Hopefully, this will also serve as a resource site for people to ponder this and research the topic further.

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Everything Else

What can I say? The term General or Misc. Thoughts is so overused on the Internet. This section is where I will cover things such as general observations, submitting concepts for pondering and other such things. Do not be surprised if I voice some pretty bold statements or controversial things here. I’ll call it as I see it but with respect to individuals and entities. This could also be considered my area of Random Musings but I wanted some category to start with the letter E.

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Disability Issues

In this portion, I will share from the heart issues those with disabilities face as I have one of my own. Many, many people have their opinions on this topic but most haven’t been in the shoes of one with disabilities. Hopefully, I can bring you into our world but not for sympathy as I don’t need it. The goal is to bring you enlightenment as to what life is like. I will also include resources and encouragement for those with disabilities of the physical, mental or emotional sort. However, I will as always give it to you blunt and honest. Some of it you may not like as I will not put the gloves on. You won’t mistake where I’m coming from.

I’ll part this introduction on this note. Whether a person has a physical, mental or emotional disability, they are not truly “disabled”. In my opinion, we are limited in some choices and face a few extra challenges. But as per the saying that we adopted in this household, “the only disability in life is a bad attitude.” That is what stops people not a medical or other challenge. A bad attitude will doom you every time.

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Concerning the Curriculum

I am a former K-12 teacher with an emphasis on Special Education and in particular those with Emotional Disturbances. I’ve spent lots of time in varieties of rooms both as a full time and a substitute teacher. In all of my exposure to the public school setting and education in general, I’ve noted a rather serious problem. Blatant falsehoods, distortions and outright omissions from curriculum are being taught to our children as if they are factual. This does not serve our children or society well.

So in this section, I will be confronting the problem. I will be giving you, the reader, solid information in the areas of History, Social Studies, Science and Math. I’ll introduce concepts, omitted information, and illogical premises being pushed in all of the subjects and back it up.

It is my goal to provide a good starting point on a research project as a resource for anyone. Also, I hope to contribute to fostering a desire for honesty and truthful information. In my opinion, one of the greatest challenges facing our children today is telling the difference between facts, opinions, and misinformation. My overriding guideline is an Administrative Code from Wisconsin that basically reads that all textbooks (and all other subsequent info) must be factually accurate. It is a fair guideline but often not followed. Translated it means – tell the facts and be able to prove it.

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Are You Thinking?

In this section of my blogs, I will be targeting items in the news and my personal life that strike me as particularly poor examples of thinking (or really good examples of not thinking). What I will do is target the actions and statements of individuals and groups. What I will not do is judge the individual or group.

I believe every person needs to take responsibility for all that they say or do. No one else is opening their mouths for them or making them do this or that action. So this section is to take a jab at the bad remarks and decisions of not only the individuals making the statements but sometimes the editors and reporters who thought it was a good idea to print such stuff.

The saddest part about everything that will be posted here is it will all be true – especially my series on “What Not to Do in a Divorce”.

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