Month: June 2013

24 Million Children Under 18 Do Not Have A Father: Truly Tragic!

Ronald 5 Comments

As we celebrate Father’s Day, and I rejoice in my two sons, both of whom I am very proud of, the shocking statistic is that 24 million children under the age of 18 do not have a father in their lives!

Some have lost a dad to death, the only good reason for a dad NOT to be in their lives.

But others have dads who fathered them and then left the mother for good!

And others might be known slightly by their children, but are not supporting them financially or emotionally!

And some who are involved sometimes are more a detriment to their children, and can harm them by their casual, uncaring attitude, and inconsistency of their commitment to their children.

It has been said that anyone can father a child, as it is very easy to do that, but to be a dad requires commitment and sacrifice.

There is no greater honor in life than to be a parent, and this author has often said that his greatest accomplishment in life are his two sons, with his published book, blog, and 41 year teaching career (and counting), as minor accomplishments by comparison!

The greatest gift one can possess is the ability to have children, and to spend the rest of one’s life dedicated to their growth, happiness, and success, so that they can cope with the loss of their parent, when that ultimate event occurs.

The fact that this author underwent a quadruple by pass heart surgery nine years ago on June 25, and survived, and has had an opportunity to enjoy and treasure his two sons’ successes since, is the greatest gift that I could have had!

As I write about fatherhood, let us give tribute to the millions of mothers who spend their lives devoted to their children, particularly those who do it alone, without a man in their lives to share the responsibility. They are true heroines, who gain too little recognition, but richly deserve praise!

The Hopelessness Of The GOP In The 2016 Presidential Election Is Clear Cut!

Ronald 15 Comments

Republicans and conservatives live in illusion and fantasy, and their horrible Congressional performance—working against women’s rights, college students, minorities, the middle class, the poor, young people, the elderly, gays and lesbians, the environment, labor—will insure that they will never become the majority in a Presidential election for the long haul!

One would think that after having lost the popular vote for President five of the past six Presidential elections, that they would have realized the wrong of their ways, but instead, they are doubling down, appealing to the Religious Right, the Neoconservatives, the Social Conservatives, and to the top two percent, as if that is a winning strategy. Somehow, they think the dwindling white older population will sustain them in the long term, and in that belief, they are truly delusional!

If they had any common sense or brains, they would realize that the Democrats have won 18 states and the District of Columbia over the past six national elections since 1992, and a total electoral vote of 242 electoral votes, and NONE of these states are likely to be lost in the future to the right wing GOP! So the “Blue” states are:

Maine
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
District Of Columbia
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Washington
Oregon
California
Hawaii

Plus, three other states voted Democratic five of the six national elections, a total of 15 electoral votes, bringing the total up to 257, 13 short of the 270 needed to win the White House, including:

New Hampshire (except in 2000)
New Mexico (except in 2004)
Iowa (except in 2004)

So the GOP, if it does not radically change its tune and quickly, will NOT win the Presidency any time in the next few generations, with the growing Hispanic-Latino vote, and the dying off of the white conservative senior citizens who wish to prevent the future, and are failing at that long term, in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, and in the near future in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Montana! The “Red” States are dwindling rapidly!

John F. Kennedy’s Two Great Speeches In Two Days: Unmatched In American History!

Ronald 3 Comments

John F. Kennedy was one of our most brilliant orators in the history of the American Presidency, but many may not have realized that he gave two speeches in two days, which rank among the greatest speeches ever delivered by an occupant of the White House!

As stated on my June 11 blog entry, Kennedy spoke up on the need for a Civil Rights law, immediately after the infamous George Wallace tried to prevent the integration of the University of Alabama earlier on that June 11, fifty years ago.

But the day before, June 10, at an American University commencement speech, only seven months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy called for peace between the superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, calling for an end to the Cold War.

Kennedy managed to accomplish, before his death that November, the accomplishment of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, with the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France, a treaty still being obeyed by the Russians today, an amazing development!

So as we near the 50th anniversary of JFK’s tragic death, we are coming to realize more than ever, even with his shortcomings and warts, just how great a leader JFK really was, on the premier issues of his time, Civil Rights and the Cold War!

College Graduates Now One Third Of Those Ages 25-29: The Highest Percentage Ever

Ronald 37 Comments

Higher education has reached more and more Americans over time, and now among those 25-29, one third have at least a four year undergraduate degree.

More Americans have started and graduated college in recent years, spurred on by the Great Recession, and the recognition that unemployment levels among college graduates is 3.3 percent for those ages 25-34, compared to 11.8 percent for high school graduates.

Still, too many students fail to finish a four year, or even a two year degree, and in many states, the graduation rate is much lower than in others, with the trend being that the “Blue” states have higher graduation rates than the “Red” states, another indication of two Americas in our midst, one in the 21st century, and the other moving back socially to the 19th century in many ways, sadly!

And low income American families still see only about one out of ten of their children going on to college and graduating in a six year period, while high income families see seven out of ten children gaining a college degree.

And women are graduating at higher rates than men, another disturbing issue regarding the emotional maturity of young men, many seeing just having any job as enough, making more women more highly educated than men, and in many cases, choosing not to marry someone of lesser educational attainment.

And Asian Americans continue to have higher percentages of college degrees, followed by whites, blacks and Hispanics, respectively.

The road to the future in a technology based and digital economy is higher education, so those not attaining that goal are at a long range disadvantage in the American economy of the future.

Flag Day And Six Month Anniversary Of Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre

Ronald 9 Comments

Today is Flag Day, when we honor our flag, and appreciate what the flag represents: freedom, democracy, and the greatness of our nation, and its history of supporting freedom and democracy around the world.

But it is also the six month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre in Connecticut, and the realization that NOTHING has been done to deal with the level of gun violence in this nation, not even a thorough background check being able to make it through the US Senate, due to the tactic of the filibuster, preventing a vote, even though a majority want such legislation.

It is unconscionable that we have had 14 massacres of multiple numbers of people since December 14, and that a few thousand people have been murdered in the past six months, not including those who have committed suicide by gun.

How can a democracy which represents such hope and faith in the future allow this level of violence to continue, and to be more concerned about the right to own firearms over the mass loss of life caused by unstable people who have no problem gaining access to firearms, and causing such widespread death and suffering?

We are the most violent society in the Western world, and we should hang our heads in shame that we are powerless in the midst of this violence!

Two Important Supreme Court Anniversaries On June 13: Miranda Decision And Nomination Of Thurgood Marshall

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On this day, 47 years ago, the Supreme Court made one of its most important decisions in modern times, in the case Miranda V. Arizona, declaring that anyone stopped and questioned as a suspect by police officers must be read his basic rights before any questions are asked. While law enforcement was furious about this at the time, it has become one of the most important expansions of civil liberties in modern times, although one wonders if the Roberts Court would favor it, if a case came up to reverse it, as the Warren Court was a special, unique period in Supreme Court history.

Also, a year later on this day, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, who went on to a distinguished 24 year career on the Supreme Court as one of its leading liberals. Sadly, he was replaced by Clarence Thomas, who is the direct opposite of everything Marshall believed in, with the only common theme being that Thomas is the only other African American ever to serve on the Supreme Court.

These two events transformed the Court in major ways, and this is an occasion to celebrate both events, as we await major decisions facing the Court in the next two weeks!

150 Years Ago Today, Abraham Lincoln Justified Use Of War Powers: Food For Thought As Barack Obama Does Same In War On Terrorism!

Ronald 6 Comments

150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln justified the use of his war powers in a letter to Erastus Corning, regarding the arrest for treason of former Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham.

And now, we have President Barack Obama justifying his use of war powers in his allowance of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency having access to phone calls and emails and other electronic information of Americans, which apparently has, already, led to the prevention of many terrorist plots against the United States.

Both what Lincoln wrote and what Obama said create food for thought at a difficult time, and it makes one wonder how Obama will be looked at in history on this issue. Lincoln’s use of war powers in the Civil War is generally seen as justifiable in today’s world! Will the same occur for Obama over time?

46th Anniversary Of Loving V. Virginia Supreme Court Case, And Still Racism Is Alive!

Ronald 24 Comments

In 1967, on this date, the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage constitutional, and yet even today, there are still 14 percent of the American people, in a poll, who deplore that people of different races may marry.

The answer is that we now have one of seven marriages as interracial, and if bigots do not like it, so be it, but the world is not going to bow to their hate and prejudice!

And the same thing needs to apply to gay marriage, which faces a Supreme Court test in the next two weeks!

Whatever the Supreme Court does by the end of June, gay marriage is here to stay, and if the bigots do not like it, who cares? It is none of their business whether two men or two women marry, any more than whether a man and woman of different races marry!

And since many of these bigots claim to be “good Christians” on both issues, they need to look in the mirror as to their religious beliefs, why in the name of Jesus Christ, a Jew, they feel a need to hate people because of their race or sexual orientation!

50 Years Since Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers Was Killed In Mississippi

Ronald 5 Comments

A sad anniversary was reached today, as 50 years ago, civil rights activist Medgar Evers was killed in Mississippi by gunfire, as he stepped out of his car at his home, just hours after Alabama Governor George Wallace had stood in the door of the Registrar’s Office at the University of Alabama, attempting to stop the registration of two black students at the university, which had led to President John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Speech that evening, one of the greatest Presidential speeches in American history!

It was just past midnight, when Evers, the Mississippi Field Secretary of the NAACP, was slaughtered, leaving three young children and a wife, Myrlie Evers-Williams, who survives him after 50 years, and later became the Chairwoman of the NAACP.

His assassin went free after a hung jury, but was later convicted on new evidence thirty years later, and served time in prison for the last seven years of his life.

A community college in New York City was created within a few years in his honor, and Evers has remained a leading part of the civil rights story.

His death also shaped the thoughts of a young generation of whites and blacks, and stained the reputation of both Mississippi and Alabama, as the two worst states on civil rights above all others, with Mississippi often compared in many ways to Nazi Germany in its treatment of its minority population, before the federal government intervened and enforced civil rights on all states by legislation in 1964, repudiating the arguments of states rights!

89th Birthday Of President George H. W. Bush: His Stature Has Risen!

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Today is the 89th birthday of former President George H. W. Bush, the 41st President, and we almost lost him at the end of 2012, when he was in the hospital for a long time, and it seemed as if he was not going to make it through bronchitis and other ills.

The fact that the senior Bush was a moderate Republican, who took us through the Gulf War; had the courage to raise taxes, even though it helped to defeat him in 1992; and promoted the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, one of the most important civil rights laws in our history; all this helps to add to his stature as we look back after twenty plus years since he lost reelection to Bill Clinton.

While Bush will never make it to the top third of our Presidents, he has gained respect and recognition as a President who, even with faults and shortcomings in office, contributed in important ways to the advancement of the United States, both domestic and foreign, so today is a day to salute the 41st President and wish him many more years of enjoying his children and grandchildren, and the appreciation of the American people for a job done with full commitment to his nation!

It is wonderful that longevity has become a norm, not only in society in general, but among Presidents, as now Bush is the fifth longest lived President, after Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, both of whom reached 93 years of age; and John Adams and Herbert Hoover, who both reached 90. And on October 1, Jimmy Carter will also reach the age of 89, and is in far better health than Bush is at this time. Both Bush and Carter have already surpassed Harry Truman, who died at age 88 and seven and a half months.