Day: May 11, 2011

Two Major Milestones For “The Progressive Professor”: 2000th Entry In Exactly 33 Months, And Retirement From FULL TIME Teaching Career!

Ronald 1 Comment

Today, May 11, marks 33 months of this blog, started on August 11, 2008, and this entry is also the 2,000th entry in those 33 months, with the goal being for a long time to post 75 entries per calendar month!

The only days that the author does not post are when he is away on vacation, visiting his son in Washington, DC or traveling with a friend. The next five days, May 12-16, the author will be traveling with his son in Washington, DC, Maryland, and West Virginia, so the next entry will be on May 17 upon his return.

Also, this is an opportunity to announce that the author of this blog has retired FULL TIME from his career as a college professor of History and Political Science after 39 years, but is happy to announce that he plans to return to part time teaching after a year away!

Meanwhile, besides several trips over the next year, the author of this blog will continue to contribute his insights and judgments, and hopes his readers will continue to read and comment, making this blog all the better!

Natural Disasters Overwhelming America In 2011: Reminders Of The Dust Storms Of The 1930s And Mississippi River Flood Of 1927

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America seems to have been besieged by natural disasters this year, not that it is unique to 2011, but between the horrible tornadoes that hit Alabama and numerous other states in April, and the emerging Mississippi River Flood affecting many states right now, it reminds one of the natural disasters of the 1920s and 1930s!

In 1927, we witnessed the worst Mississippi River Floods ever, at least to now, with the possibility that we might see a worst disaster in the making as the author writes!

Back then, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, the winning candidate the following year for President, gained a great reputation for his efforts to help those in distress, even though he seemed inept to deal with the Great Depression which followed.

And on this day in 1934, a massive storm sent millions of tons of topsoil from the Great Plains eastward, affecting New York City, Boston, and Atlanta. This was the time of the Dust Bowl, which sent many farmers from the Great Plains out west to California and other western states in desperation.

Franklin D. Roosevelt took action to deal with the Dust Bowl, with federal regulation of conditions of growing crops and helping farmers in other programs under the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

With recognition that hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires can also do tremendous destruction, and have in the recent past in this country, it makes trying to cut the deficit in the budget and deal with the national debt all that much more challenging!

The Bush Apologists In Full Swing: Blame Clinton And Avoid Giving Full Credit To Obama Regarding Osama Bin Laden

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The Bush Presidency was when September 11 occurred, and everyone knows that George W. Bush was on vacation in Crawford, Texas, and did not pay attention to the memorandum warning of the intentions of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to attack America in a short period of time.

The Bush apologists went to work after September 11, placing a large share of the blame on Bill Clinton, because he had not resolved the threat of Al Qaeda during his administration.

Now that President Obama hasa accomplished the goal of eliminating Osama Bin Laden, after the Bush Administration had over seven years to resolve the issue and failed, Bush apologists are trying to take a lion’s share of the credit for his demise, pointing out the effects of waterboarding on gaining information as to his location, even though there is no proof that using torture actually worked. They have tried to give Bush the major credit for setting up the conditions for the successful mission, even though it occurred more than two years after Bush left office.

In both ends of this story, there is a refusal to take responsibility by Bush and his apologists for the failures, instead blaming Clinton and avoiding giving full credit to Obama.

This is an attempt at rewriting history, and taking Bush off the hook on the whole disgraceful matter of September 11.

Fortunately, intelligent and knowledgeable people KNOW that Bush is responsible for the failures in 2001, and has no right to ANY credit for the success of 2011!